Daily HealthBeat Tip

Happy birthday.

From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, I�m Ira Dreyfuss with HHS HealthBeat.

SOUND: Happy Birthday (under) (one second)

Senior citizens sometimes say a little hard work never hurt anyone. Certainly one senior believes it � Laura Sharer. That little chorus of Happy Birthday was for her. She�d just turned 100.

The birthday party was in Washington, D.C. Sharer was on hand for a ``Celebrate Long-Term Living�� event by the U.S. Administration on Aging.

Sharer says she�s been active all her life:

"I walked about two miles and a half to school. And get home from school and we had to go a mile and a half to get the cattles out of the field, out of the woods, bring them home and milk them." (10 seconds)

Sharer is still active. She volunteers with elementary school children, takes part in events with a senior center -- she lives with her daughter now in Monticello, Minnesota, and helps out around the house.

And, while there�s no guarantee that active living can keep you as vigorous as she is, it�s still not a bad goal to live so that, at age 100, you can hear people singing:

SOUND: Happy Birthday (under) (one second)

HHS HealthBeat is a production of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. I�m Ira Dreyfuss.

Last revised: July 22, 2005

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