Zoomer Magazine July/August 2020

QUEEN OF THE ROCK I LOVE MARY WALSH [May/June]! Amazing to learn she lives in St John’s! I was horrified to read that Young Triffie was a failure. That was one of the funniest movies ever made. I told everyone to watch it. Who decides it is a failure? On the other side, I do not dress like an “old lady” and love new things. My grandkids are proud of the clothes I wear. Who did that to Mary’s hair? I laughed and laughed – I really hope it was meant to be funny. If not, I apologize a hundred times. —A. Beausaert, via email ROCKING ON I loved the Gordon Lightfoot piece [”Just Like a Paperback Novel,” March/April]. Living in Toronto in the ’70s, it was an April…

WE PRODUCED THIS ISSUE, featuring a special report on the pandemic that has upended our collective lives, from the safety and comfort of our homes. We are incredibly grateful for this luxury and for the priviledge of bringing the stories we have covered to light. Our goal is to keep you informed and, therefore, empowered to deal with the key issues that have and will continue to affect your life. I have hope that this reckoning will lead to a new normal, especially when it comes to the needs of older Canadians who built such an extraordinary country for younger generations. Daily on everythingzoomer.com and in future issues, too, we will continue to track the COVID-19 response, the recovery and what it will mean to you. Thank you for…

AS AN ER DOCTOR, I have been working on the front lines since COVID-19 hit North America earlier this year. In truth, I consider myself lucky to be able to go to work each day and try to help people. Seeing people with the infection also demystifies the disease. At the time of writing this, I’ve seen about 50-plus confirmed COVID-19 patients. The majority are well and can go home and ride out the illness with supportive treatment through the advice of their province’s health network. A significant minority, especially those who are older (70-plus) and have comorbid conditions (lung disease, liver disease, kidney disease, obesity) have needed hospitalization but recover, and a smaller minority become critically ill. What is evident about the disease is how contagious and how…

HOW COULD WE have thought we’d be immune? As late as early March, we were going about our normal lives, even as we watched devastating scenes from hospitals in Italy and Spain. I am mentally kicking myself, though it is early for hindsight. As of this writing, we may be at the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, but our leaders are warning that the lockdown could continue for months. We are better prepared than some countries because of the lessons of SARS. But those preparations did not account for the particular deadly quirks of the novel coronavirus or the complacency that took hold in the 17 years between the two pandemics. Our leaders are us, comfortable citizens of a prosperous land, who have never been through the hardships our…

“Always remember, tomorrow will be a good day” “THAT’S ONE SMALL step for man,” Neil Armstrong declared as he began his historic lunar walk 51 years ago this summer. But this April, when Capt. Tom Moore, 99, took his own first step en route to completing 100 laps of his Bedfordshire garden to raise money for the National Health Service Charities Together, the British Second World War vet may as well have been walking on a distant planet himself. After all, a deadly pandemic had gripped the globe, shuttering shops, isolating humans and bringing civilization to a standstill. And yet, hunched over a walker, Captain Tom began walking, as he told the BBC, “for the sake of the nurses and the NHS we have because they are doing such…

BILL LAPSCHIES, 104 The Oregon veteran lived through the Spanish flu, the Great Depression and service in the Second World War. He recovered from the coronavirus in time for his 104th birthday. CORNELIA RAS, 107 The Dutch have an expression for amazement – “Now my wooden shoe is breaking” – which is how many of us felt upon hearing that the Amsterdam native is likely the world’s oldest coronavirus survivor. CONNIE TITCHEN, 106 NHS Trust representatives suggested she could be Britain’s oldest coronavirus survivor but, for her part, Titchen said in a statement that she feels “very lucky” and simply “can’t wait to see my family.” ADA ZANUSSO, 104 When asked by Sky News how she managed to rally and beat the coronavirus, the Northern Italian woman’s answer was…