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Seniors everywhere are getting notices they have been turned down for certain benefits and are having insurance companies terminate their policies because of a long laundry list of seemingly unnecessary reasons. For just $15 for a lifetime membership, seniors in a few select locations are reveling in top shelf benefits.

The Friends Five-O Senior program, developed by Jean Walsworth and her doodle on a piece of paper, has now grown into an official club with 1,200 members. Walsworth, director of the senior program at Natchez Community Hospital, said the program has now made its way to Biloxi Regional Medical Center (BRMC) and Gulf Coast Medical Center (GCMC). The two hospitals have partnered to adopt the Friends Five-O program that provides the best in education lectures, quality medical services and health screenings, and exciting activities such as dancing and travel
opportunities.

“It was originally a senior organization, Humana Seniors, that was the first portion of it,” Walsworth explained. “When the hospital was sold and we broke away from the Humana Seniors, I told my boss we could do this on our own, so it was derived from that. You have to be 50 to join
and I was doodling and came up with Friends Five-O. But, we expanded our program to just do things that are more in tune to people on a local basis. People are basically the same, but felt we needed to customize this senior group to fit the people that we have here. We’ve done calligraphy, art, and line dancing. We’re going to be starting a new exercise class more to the South American beat, there again customized
to the senior population. And, our yoga classes will be starting again.”

Wanda Shaw, director of Friend Five-O, BRMC, notes only two meetings
have been held so far and membership has already reached 95.

“Some of the topics we include in our education are hurricane preparedness, transportation, online privacy, identify theft and scams,” said Shaw. “We’re also offering an AARP Driving and a Women’s Forum at Gulf Coast Medical Center.”

Shaw said the program began at Biloxi Regional in June.

“The hospital is constantly looking for ways to keep the community informed of health changes, various screenings, and worthy information for people of all ages,” Shaw said. “We identified the needs for a program of this type post-Katrina to allow those ages 50 and older opportunities to get involved and learn more about their health. GCMC is a partner in Friends Five-O.”

Emily Burke, senior marketing and volunteer coordinator, GCMC, said the decision to partner with Biloxi Regional’s Friends Five-O program was
an easy one.

“We’re both owned by Hospital Management Associates and had already
begun to do joint efforts. Our tagline is ‘preferred healthcare
of the Gulf region.’ Our first meeting was at Biloxi Regional
and the second was here at Gulf Medical. There’s a good mixture of members from both hospitals at the meetings. We want to give them different and interesting topics and a chance to have fun.

“One thing is that we want them to be prepared for hurricanes. Mike Reader with WLOX spoke at our first meeting about hurricane preparation. This is not something we’re trying to make money off of. We just want to try and provide something for the community. It’s a winwin situation for speakers who get their message out and for seniors to learn and enjoy doing things together.”

Burke said when planning trips, the seniors do pay their own way, so attempts are made to get inexpensive group rates. A trip to Savannah is currently planned, as is a day to learn Tai Chi. Every meeting celebrates birthdays. Volunteers who donate their time to teach lessons, plan
activities and do education have been full of ideas and very supportive.

“This is their group. It’s what they want to make of it. They can tell us what they’d like to hear or do and we try and provide it for them. It’s really a great program,” Burke said.

Brent Johnson of The People’ Bank spoke to Friends Five-O about banking scams and identity theft.

“It happens to everybody, but people prey on seniors more, I think,”
Johnson said. “These are specialists who make everything and all documents look real and many seniors see them as a good way to get ahead. I talked to them about the different kinds of banking scams, how to spot
scams, things they can do at home to help prevent identity theft by shredding documents and what to do if they do become a victim.”

Complaints by consumers over fraud and identity theft for those
ages 50 and over have increased from 109,416 in 2003 to the most
recent reported, 155,719 in 2005.

“This is a staggering number and a good reason why we need to continue to raise awareness of this problem; how to identify it, and what to do should you become a victim,” Johnson said. “As a member of the banking community, I hope we do a better job raising community awareness
about this issue in order to cut down the number of instances this
happens.”

Walsworth said the idea behind Friends Five-O boils down to being healthy.

“You’ve got to be happy to be healthy. That’s the key, “Walsworth
said. “This is the goal to not only offer the finest quality best healthcare, but to also offer them, as they say in Louisiana, lagniappe. They like to travel, not so much by themselves, but they love doing group
travel. We’ve been to Italy, Ireland, all over Europe, Alaska several times, the Caribbean more times than I’ve got toes and Hawaii several times. That being said, they’ve also taken advantage of what’s available in the good ole USA. There’s something for everyone.

“It’s funny when you hear around town: ‘I can’t wait until I get 50.’”



September 2007

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