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Glory Days & maturity ORLANDO, Fla. (MCT) — Don Kovac inserts a key, turns the lock and steps back in time. The one-bedroom, one-bath unit built in the 1960s has low ceilings, a small kitchen, little clos- ets and 557 square feet — reflecting a generation that didn't require much space in retirement. This is not what the baby boomers want in a retirement community. They want big kitchens with granite countertops and stainless-steel appli- ances, walk-in closets, showers instead of tubs (unless they are Jacuzzis), wall space for flat-screen TVs and wire- less Internet access. And this is why Lutheran Haven in Oviedo, Fla., is part of a national trend that finds retirement communities reinventing themselves for the next generation of retirees, the "silver tsuna- mi" of Americans just now entering their 60s. "The baby boomers want fitness, dining and fellowship," said Kovac, executive director of Lutheran Haven. "We have no fitness equip- ment. We have a horse- shoe pit nobody uses and a shuffleboard court. I don't think the boomers are going to want a shuf- fleboard court." Elsewhere, retirement communities are linking with universities to attract college-educated lifestyles Retirement communities restyled for boomers' tastes are computers in the library and on every floor. IPads are available in the assisted-living facility. Every apartment is wired for the Internet. Four floors of assist- ed-living rooms have been replaced with 45 larger, luxury apartments that have kitchens, granite counter- tops, walk-in closets and laundry rooms. They look more like upscale condos than retirement homes. updated she doubts she and her husband would have moved into the retire- ment high rise. "Urban living is what I MCT photo Jeanne Asher sits in her apartment at the Orlando Lutheran Towers, a retir- ment home in Orlando, Fla. boomers interested in lifelong learning. Glen Meadows, in Glen Arm, Md., boasts of becoming the first in the nation to offer "Masterpiece Liv- ing" — a program that stresses social, physical, spiritual and intellectual fulfillment. CantaMia, a retire- ment community in Ari- zona, recently won recognition for its devel- opment specifically designed for baby boomers, including solar- heated "green" homes and a 30,000-square-foot facility that offers healthy cooking classes, Zumba, an indoor lap pool and a resort-style outdoor pool. The wave of retirees is not here yet — the first boomer turned 60 in 2006 — but they are coming, and the retire- ment industry is already preparing for their arrival. "We need to start look- ing at this now," Kovac said. "The wave is com- ing, and our campus is aging." The transformation is taking place from work- ing-class retirement com- munities such as Luther- an Haven to upscale facilities like The Mayflower in Winter Park, Fla. Lutheran Haven's most expensive unit at $133,000 is about what the Mayflower charges for its entry-level apartment. Mayflower's most expensive $670,170 along with a monthly fee of $3,886. At Orlando Lutheran is Towers, a midlevel retire- ment center in downtown Orlando that opened in 1980, the small, simple apartments that satisfied previous generations are being enlarged to fit the supersized, technology- obsessed generation. The 18-story indepen- dent-living high rise, the new assisted-living facil- ity and the nursing home are all equipped with wireless Internet. There No longer enclaves of the old, ill and infirm, "continuum care" retire- ment centers are trying to appeal to a younger, more affluent retiree, said Ali- cia Labrecque, executive director of Orlando Senior Health Network, which operates Orlando Lutheran Towers. "We are selling the independent, urban-liv- ing lifestyle, and if you need health care you don't have to move. We have it right here," Labrecque said. That urban retirement lifestyle is just what Jeanne Asher was look- ing for when she moved six years ago into a 1,600-square-foot apart- ment carved out of three smaller units. Archer said she chose Lutheran Tow- ers because of the apart- ment's larger size, the ability to remodel it to her tastes and its down- town location. Without those options, wanted all along," said Asher, who moved into the apartment from a condo in Altamonte Springs, Fla. "There is something going on at Lake Eola every week." Giving retirement resi- dents choices on how they want their apart- ments remodeled has replaced the "one-size- fits-all" attitude of the past. Nancy Klingler said if she had to move into one of the standard villas at The Mayflower, she wouldn't have chosen the retirement center. Instead, she was able to customize her villa to include living room built- ins, two huge closets and a contemporary kitchen with an island. "With the normal ones, I wouldn't have been happy. They were old-fashioned. They were dated," said Klingler, 67. "I wanted hardwood floors. I wanted granite. I changed all the bathroom fixtures." Choice also extends to food service in the evolv- ing retirement communi- ties. At The Mayflower, the formal dining room posts a different dinner menu every day. The more casual Grille Room, which serves beer, wine and pub food, resembles an upscale sports bar. Colored urine usually has a harmless cause to ask, but I have a question about urine. I have noticed the color of my urine changes, depending on how much water I've had in a given day or if I've taken a multivita- min. But recently my urine has looked orange, which is alarming. What does the color of urine mean for my health, and are there certain colors that are cause for alarm? Q: I'm a bit embarrassed A: It can be troubling to look down and see an unexpected urine color. An abnormal urine color can be an early sign of a serious medical condition. But there's no need to push the panic button yet. Urine can also change color for harmless reasons having to do with the foods you've eaten or medications you've taken. Most of the time, urine is a pale yellow color because it contains urochrome, one of the substances produced when the body breaks down hemoglobin, a protein in red blood cells. Dr. K by Anthony L. Komaroff, M.D. and waste products that your kidneys have filtered out of your blood. If your urine turns a dark yellow, it may contain less water and more waste prod- ucts than usual, which can be an indication that you're dehydrated. But seeing red or orange instead of the usual yellow can be alarming, espe- cially if there are also symptoms like a burning sensation or pain with urina- tion. To be on the safe side, you should dis- cuss it with your doctor or another clinician. Following is a brief run- down of some color changes and what they might mean. We'll start with orange, since you asked. Urine consists of water tract infection to ease painful urination. Large amounts of carrots or carrot juice may also give urine an orange tinge. RED: The red of red urine can vary from pink to a very dark red. A simple test can tell if the red color is due to blood in the urine. Inherited conditions such as sickle-cell anemia and tha- lassemia can cause blood in the urine. So can kidney stones, bladder infections or bladder cancer, and, in men, enlargement of the prostate gland. If the red of red urine is dark, it may look brown or even black. In such cases, the causes of brown or black urine may be the same as those of red urine. But urine can turn truly ORANGE: Several medications can turn urine orange, including isoniazid, the mainstay of tuberculosis (TB) treatment; rifampin, another TB drug; high doses of riboflavin, a B vit- amin; and phenazopyridine (Pyridium), a drug used in the treatment of urinary Urine can also turn red if it contains myoglobin, an oxygen-binding protein in muscle cells that is similar to the hemoglobin found in red blood cells. Strenuous exercise can also result in blood getting into the urine. It may come from jostling that damages the bladder in some way. Another possibility is aero- bic exercise, which can cause the breakdown of red blood cells. But there's also a per- fectly harmless cause of red urine called beeturia, which can occur after you eat beets. BROWN OR BLACK: brown. Bilirubin, another breakdown product of hemoglobin, sometimes builds up in the blood because of liver conditions such as hepatitis and cirrho- sis, or a bile duct blocked by gallstones, a tumor, or some other obstacle. If some of that excess biliru- bin gets into the urine, the urine can turn a brownish color. turn urine brown include fava beans and rhubarb. MILKY-WHITE: Uri- nary tract infections some- Foods that may times turn urine a milky- white color. Other causes of whitish urine include uric acid crystals from eating purine-rich foods, such as anchovies, herring and red meat, and phosphate crys- tals from excess parathy- roid hormone. GREEN: Blue pigment can get into urine and mix with the yellow urochrome, making urine look green. It's not an everyday occur- rence, but some common medications can cause green, or bluish-green, urine. The anesthetic propofol, the stomach acid drug cimetidine (Tagamet) and the tricyclic antidepres- sant amitriptyline (Elavil) can have this effect. The discoloration is a harmless side effect. Green urine can also be a sign of a urinary tract infection or a bacterial infection that has gotten into the blood (bacteremia). PURPLE: Purple is the only urine color that has a syndrome named after it: purple urine bag syndrome. It occurs when someone has a urinary catheter. Bac- teria colonizing the catheter, the collection bag or both produce two sub- stances: indirubin, which is red, and indigo, which is blue. They combine to make a bright purple color. Discolored urine can be a red-flag warning of a seri- ous medical problem. But it can also be a red herring, the innocent byproduct of certain foods or medicines. If your urine is a surprising Saturday, May 5, 2012 – Daily News 7A