Exercise helps 91-year-old stave off potentially deadly illness

Originally published by the Cleveland Jewish News.  

When Dr. Moises Moschkovich retired from his family practice in March, he didn’t immediately start a new hobby to keep busy, nor did he even have much of a chance to enjoy his newfound free time.

Instead, he spent about 10 days in the intensive care unit at Lake West Medical Center in Willoughby – across the street from where his practice was – being treated for and recovering from double pneumonia.

“I had to be in the hospital for the second time in my life,” said the 91-year-old Pepper Pike resident, noting that the first time was five years earlier when his cancer-stricken bladder was removed.

Moschkovich’s pulmonologist was Dr. Gary Kaplan, a colleague who said his patient’s outlook wasn’t encouraging.

Doctor: ““no doubt” that workout routine made a difference in his ability to recover as well as he has”.

“It was very bleak,” he said. “He needed a lot of care and a lot of support. He was very weak.”

Moschkovich explained that due to the treatment and medications required to care for such an illness, it’s often the condition of the heart – not the pneumonia itself – that is the biggest concern for patients his age.

“Because of my age, it became very serious,” he said. “My level of oxygen was very low, and my heart might not have been able to take it, but it did.”

But “take it” Moschkovich did, and ironically, it was a hobby, of sorts, he started 30 years ago that helped him pull through: exercise.

Kaplan said there’s “no doubt” that Moschkovich’s workout routine made a difference in his ability to recover as well as he has. READ MORE.