Larry Haubner is a man who has lived to see age 107. How you may ask, it's nutrition that made him live this long. Not to mention exercise. Larry Haubner shows off his biceps and tells us how we all should exercise more often then we do. Even though I'll sound like a hypocrite when I say this (and yes I don't work out that often), I do agree.This health nut has also outlived his savings twice. Two years ago, supporters raised $56,000 to help Haubner stay in Greenfield, the assisted living center he calls home. Carol Ewing of Bridging Senior Care Solutions says she was sure the money was going to be sufficient. Carol Ewing holds power of attorney to manage Haubner's affairs.
Today, Larry seems just as vigorous as ever. He doesn't take medication and he can life his walked over his head. But his funds are expected to run out again in November. Without more help, he will have to apply to Medicaid and move into a nursing home. So friends are pulling togehter again to for a second campaign. They've raised more than $7,000 which is enough to pay his bills for three months.
Greenfield's director, Connie Miller says, "he doesn't have anyone. So we'v become his family." In Virginia, they do not allow Medicaid, which is a program to help low-income people obtain health care, to be used for assisted living services says the Assisted Living Federation of America.
Cindi Jones of the Virginia Department of Medical Assistance Services, said in most cases assisted living residents who run out of money and qualify for Medicaid move to nursing homes or move in with family. In Maryland and the District, they allow Medicaid payments for assisted living services but there is a waiting list in Maryland.
For most people, worrying about life after 100 is theoretical. The Social Security Administrative estimated that in a study that 1 out of every 25,000 men who are born in 1900, would live to see 107. Larry Haubner was born in 1902 and is blue-eyed and bald but answers to his nickname, "Curly." He lived alone in a Fredricksburg apartment up until he was 102. Locals knew him as the man who was often seen cycling around town. In 2004, he had fallen off his bike and was sent to the hospital.
Social workers had determined that he wasn't able to safely go back to his apartment. That's when they found him a place in Greenfield, a private pay facility. The 36 residents there personalize their rooms with pictures, pets, and furniture. Haubner's room is spare and furnished with mostly donations. A recliner chair is flanked by acient excercise equitment and includes a homemade weight which is a eight-kilogram lead ball inside a basket. He lifts his lead ball at least 20 times a day. Larry suggests that if you want to do the same as him, you should start with just five a day.
Robert Phrase, a physician who treats Haubner for free, says that he's in good health and there's nothing that's going to take him from us anytime soon. Haubner never was married and doesn't have any surviving family or friends. Other residents' families have adopted as part of their family and gives him presents for Christmas as well as birthday gifts.
In the first two years at Greenfield, Larry Haubner covered the $3,500 monthly bill with savings and $1,200 in monthly pension as well as Social Sercutrity payments, according to Ewing. It was clear in 2007 that Haubner's bank account was shriveling away even though he showed no signs of slowing down. Supporters of Larry Haubner made a site called www.savelarry.org in order to raise money and the media attention had brung in 375 contributers.
Ewing has not told Larry about the possibility of moving because she doesn't want to worry him. Greenfield and eight other assisted living facilitators are run by Greenfield Senior Living, based in Falls Church. Company spokeswoman, Olga Soehngen, says that Greenfield charges Haubner a reduced fee and cannot promise that he will not be able to live his life there.
Moving to a nursing home would go hard on Haubner says his supporters. It's not that nursing home are bad. But at 107, Haubner has earned his right to stay there says Ewing. Details on Larry Haubner's past is sketchy, gleaned from the stories he's told. He was born in Dubuque, Iowa and grew up in Tacoma, Washington, where his father worked on the railroad. "You might say we never had any money, " says Haubner.
He worked at the Tacoma lumbayard before enlisting in the Army in his late 30's. Then he moved to New York to work as a doorman and to pursue a dream of singing opera. He did have a teacher who believed in him. According to Larry Haubner, his teacher believed he had a voice that could make it even though he never sung professionally.
Haubner then moved to Virginia to live with his sister after her husband died. Fredericksburg resident Dianne Bachman said he often saw Haubner cycle to Rappahannock, dismount and croon to the river. "He didn't have to have an audience," she says. Haubner still breaks into song every now and then with a warbly voice. He's fond on sitting on the front porch at Greenfield. And he remains vigilant about exercise and diet. "Well I ate the cake but I don't believe cake is good food," he says at his last birthday celebration.
- Washington Post
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