Rockridge Hosts Eye Presentation, Co-sponsors LGBT Film in October

NORTHAMPTON — Rockridge Retirement Community has announced two October events open to the public.

On Oct. 28, Rockridge will host Dr. Maribeth Erb of Optical Studio in Northampton to present on aging eye health, macular degeneration, cataracts, and glaucoma. Following Erb’s presentation, an optician will be present to adjust glasses and perform minor glasses repairs. The presentation will be held at 10 a.m. and is free and open to the public.

Erb received her doctorate of Optometry in 1989 from the University of Houston College of Optometry. Her bachelor’s degree in biology is from William Smith College in Geneva, N.Y. She holds membership in the Beta Sigma Kappa honor fraternity, the American Optometric Assoc. and the Mass. Society of Optometrists, for which she is a past district chair. She has been in private practice in Northampton for 18 years.

On Oct. 30, Rockridge, in conjunction with Smith College and SAGE Western Massachusetts, will show Gen Silent, a documentary film from award-winning director and documentary filmmaker Stu Maddux that asks six LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgendered) seniors if they will hide their lives to survive. The film will show at 2 p.m. at Stoddard Hall at Smith College, with a panel discussion to follow. Admission is free.

Gen Silent presents what experts in the film call an epidemic: LGBT seniors so afraid of discrimination in long-term health care that many go back into the closet. Their surprising decisions are captured through intimate access to their day-to-day lives over the course of a year in Boston. Gen Silent explores how oppression now leaves many elders not just afraid but dangerously isolated.

For more information about Rockridge, call (413) 586-2902 or visitwww.rockridgema.org.