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New York Times
4 days ago
- Health
- New York Times
Pumping Iron Is Their Secret to Aging Well
The clang of weights rang out through Greysteel Strength and Conditioning on a recent Friday morning. Over the pumping music came chirps of instruction and affirmation: You got this, push! Ann Buszard, 84, strapped on a thick leather belt before stepping up to the barbell she had loaded to 170 pounds. She exhaled and hinged, lifting roughly the weight of a medium-size refrigerator fluidly off the ground, then reversed the move to gently set it down, safely completing a deadlift. Ms. Buszard, a retired nurse, had never so much as touched a weight until she was 74, when she found herself struggling to stand up after kneeling down. She wanted to get stronger, and her son had heard of a local doctor who was moonlighting as a weight lifting coach. She wound up at Greysteel, a no-nonsense gym in Farmington, Michigan, outside Detroit. While many gyms around the country offer programs for older people, Greysteel distinguishes itself by focusing on old-school barbell lifting. The logic behind Greysteel is straightforward: Stronger muscles and bones are associated with longer life and better health. And heavy barbell lifting programs are proven to build strength. If you combine those two ideas, the inevitable decline that comes with aging is perhaps not quite so inevitable. Ms. Buszard said that as a widow living alone, building strength has helped her stay independent and do the things that matter to her, like taking cross-country trips to visit her grandsons. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
BBC News
30-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Former nurse, 84, removed her own eye cyst after years of waiting
An 84-year-old retired nurse removed a cyst from her own eye after waiting years for treatment, a report has account was revealed in a citizen experiences report presented during a meeting of the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board on Thursday, which looked at the long delays facing people awaiting treatment for conditions in north found some frustrated NHS patients were taking matters into their own hands, with another patient carrying out their own tooth filling with a kit from the health board said it acknowledged that "significant work" remained to address challenges in a "sustainable, long-term way". The woman, who is still waiting for an eye operation, initially waited three years to be seen after being placed on the ophthalmology waiting list in had some procedures but said they "did not help", so was eventually driven to carry out the dangerous procedure herself, according to the report."She is waiting for an eye operation, which was requested in October 2023, and her eyesight is deteriorating rapidly," it said."As a former nurse and nurse manager, she has given her working life to care for other people. Now she needs some care of her own."The report described long waits experienced by patients in the emergency departments at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Ysbyty Wrexham Maelor, and Ysbyty Glan Clwyd were found to be waiting up to 36 hours and "overcrowding, uncertainty, and discomfort" were also common public consultation had been part of a "listening and understanding" initiative aimed at improving the design and delivery of care and had been 300 enquiries from MPs and MSs over their constituents' experiences, with waiting times the main focus. Another case was a man who wanted to join the Army, but was unable to because of the health of his report said the man had not been able to find an NHS dentist nearby due to a "chronic shortage" of dentists in north Wales, and private dentists quoted a minimum of £3,000 for conversations highlighted issues over outpatient waiting times, access to services, ambulance and emergency department delays, and was found to have had a "catastrophic impact" on one patient's life who suffered daily pain, and another, awaiting an operation for bladder stones, endured "continual bleeding". Llais, the body which gives people a "voice" when accessing health services, also gathered data which found people had "significant challenges" accessing timely and affordable primary care, difficulty accessing GP appointments and the absence or loss of NHS dental treatment or self-management of dental problems had manifested sometimes in "unsafe or distressing" ways, including one patient "filling their own tooth with a kit from the dentist". Another patient reported waiting "12 hours in a corridor on a trolley".Long delays for specialist services, including audiology, cataract surgery, neuro-developmental assessment, and respiratory care were also "a major concern".A meeting to discuss the report heard that despite many people highlighting "dissatisfaction or frustration", many other participants had also expressed "gratitude" and praise for the "professionalism and compassion" by hospital staff, members and report said measures had been taken by the board to address calls for dental care, this included creating contracts worth more than £1.5m to expand NHS dental provision and a new dental access portal, launched in February, was also helping "simplify and centralise" access to procurement exercises, covering general dental services, orthodontics, oral surgery, and non-urgent access, also totalled more than £ to areas such as emergency departments, dermatology, gynaecology, physiotherapy musculoskeletal, cancer services, and a midwifery ward bereavement suite had also been neuro-developmental services, it said a child and adolescent mental health improvement programme was in place to provide mental health support for children and young people.
