HOULTON, Maine – Age-Friendly Houlton is overjoyed to welcome summer this week. These are the days that make the long cold winters worth it!
June brings not only summer, but Pride Month – a time for members of the LGBTQ community to come together in celebration of the freedom to be themselves. Members of the LGBTQ community encounter unique challenges related to aging, including a higher likelihood of living alone or without close relationships to other family members and being more vulnerable to neglect and mistreatment in care facilities.
That is why we’re highlighting the work of SAGE Maine, which provides advocacy and services for older people who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, or queer. SAGE offers a number of online events that help to connect older LGBTQ people, including twice-monthly virtual happy hours, regular meet and greets, and a monthly lecture series. Check out https://equalitymaine.org/sagemaine for all of the details !In addition, SAGE provides a national resource center with lots of useful information on LGBTQ aging at https://www.lgbtagingcenter.org/.
And as we head into the longest day of the year, it seems like a good time to remind everyone to wear a broad spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of at least 30 whenever you’re outdoors. UV damage to your skin accumulates across the lifespan, so starting a sunscreen habit early is really important. With one in five Americans developing skin cancer by the age of 70, sunscreen is a simple and effective insurance policy.
We’re also keeping an ear to the ground with regard to a new scam tactic that’s hitting people in the Houlton area. Folks receive a text message, purportedly from the post office, that indicates a package is undeliverable. They are redirected to a site, uspefficient.com, that has the USPS logo and other official-looking images and language. It asks for personal info and then requests your credit card to cover a $3 redelivery charge. Don’t give it up, because this is a scam designed to get you to share your credit card information, which the scammer will then use to make fraudulent charges.
If you receive a message like this, report it to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which collects scam reports, at 1-877-382-4357 (9:00 AM – 8:00 PM, ET).
And finally for this week, a heads up that the Putnam House offers a free blood pressure clinic on the last Monday of each month at 10 a.m. – which means that their next clinic is on Monday, June 27. Come in, get this important health check, grab a coffee, and make some new acquaintances.
Keep on top of all of our Age-Friendly news via our Facebook page (Age-Friendly Houlton) or on our website: www.agefriendlyhoulton.org.
