For many active seniors, age is a number -- and an attitude

The Cleveland Foundation has tested out the idea to get seniors to stay active.
CLEVELAND (AP) -- Dennis Day, 70 years old and starting out on a new Internet-based career, is sometimes amazed when he sees customers his age and realizes how old they appear compared with his active self.
"I see people come in all the time my age and I think, 'My God, they are old," said Day, who says he feels 55. "They really, REALLY look old."
Day, who helps manage the Internet-based sales business "iSold It" in suburban Brecksville, is convinced aging is a matter of attitude.
That can-do spirit can be infectious, and the Cleveland Foundation set out to test the idea three years ago with $4 million in grants to community groups to figure out how communities can make the most of people getting old.
The grant money financed various programs to get seniors to stay active.
Need for a change
The foundation recognized that there was a need to transform the view of old age from the 3 "D's" -- disability, decline and ultimately death, said Marlene Stoiber, a consultant who worked on the project.
Cuyahoga County, with 1.4 million people, which includes the city of Cleveland, has nearly 200,000 people who are 60 to 79 years old and another 65,000 who are 80 and older.
The foundation dubbed its effort the "Successful Aging Initiative."
It will take years for Americans to reverse the attitude that people should retire at age 60 or 65, said Ron Browne of the Fairhill Center, a nonprofit agency for seniors.
"This idea [of successful aging] is one that has to creep out in the world," Browne said at a recent Cleveland Foundation forum.
Stoiber agreed. "Change takes time," she said at the forum.
Success stories
The foundation points to a number of success stories among agencies that got funding, like a retired high school counselor who eventually got a part-time job in a related field.
Could he have landed the job without the help of the Fairhill Center? "Sure," Browne said. "Would he have? We don't know."
Key Jan Ho, 76, of Cleveland, said through an interpreter that the program convinced her that she was on target in old age by emphasizing the need to stay active and trying to pass along a legacy to her family.
"God gave me an abundance of blessings in my life. I'd like to pass them along to others," said Ho, a member of the Chinese-American community in Cleveland.
Her formula for success? Staying active and exercising. "This is the key -- five times a day," she said.
Dr. Michael Roizen, a Cleveland Clinic researcher who has written books suggesting that a person has a chronological age and a "real age" reflecting a lifestyle, agreed that staying active makes a difference.
"Walk 30 minutes a day and find any group you want to be a part of and join," said Roizen, who wasn't connected with the Cleveland Foundation program.
That, he said, can lead to an attitude in advancing years that people can control their lives -- in effect defying the three "D's".
"One thing that seems to make the biggest difference in how well and how happy they are as they get old is having a purpose in life that is greater than them," Roizen said.
Dr. Jeffrey Halter, director of the Geriatrics Center at the University of Michigan, said tapping the talents of seniors can offer society an important opportunity.
Halter, who wasn't involved in the Cleveland Foundation initiative, said the program provides a "tremendous service" in highlighting how people can remain productive contributors to society in their old age.
Finding a purpose
Sharon Eichenbaum, 68, of Beachwood, felt the purpose draining out of her after she retired from her school principal's job. She turned to the Jewish Family Service Association and a job-referral program run under the auspices of a foundation grant.
"I was losing confidence and being depressed," she said. "I thought, 'If I have to read another book, I'll scream.' I like to read, but not all the time."
Eichenbaum landed a job running a program that provides part-time respites for people caring for elderly or sick relatives.
"When I was job hunting, I felt age was very much a factor. I think they [prospective employers] felt I wouldn't hang around very long," she said.
Back at "iSold it," Day, who retired after 34 years with a telephone company, said he wasn't concerned about his age while looking for a job because of his outlook.
"Age? It's not something I think about a lot," he said. "I'm with all kinds of people of all ages all day long and using a computer all day."