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Aging in the Media

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Aging in the Media

You're Never Too Old To Come Of Age

What Are Friends for? A Longer Life, TARA PARKER-POPE, Published: Tuesday, April 21, 2009. http://www.blueridgenow.com/article/20090421/ZNYT04/904213021/1018

Long-term health care costs can put retirees' plans at risk, By David Pitt, Associated Press, Sunday, April 05, 2009, http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/04/05/pfcare0405ze.html

Catherine's Choice: To Plan A Death With Dignity by Richard Knox, National Public Radio, Morning Edition, April 13, 2009. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102923424&sc=emaf

From National Public Radio

* Mediators Help Families With Tough Choices Of Aging, by Joseph Shapiro, National Public Radio, Morning Edition, April 13, 2009, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102972077&sc=emaf
* Despite Promises, Elderly Evicted From Housing, by Joseph Shapiro, National Public Radio, Morning Edition April 17, 2009, http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103167437
* Fresh Air from WHYY, April 2, 2009 End Of Life Care In America, A Doctor's Diagnosis, Abigail Pope. Dr. Robert Martensen has held positions teaching bioethics and medical history at Harvard Medical School and Tulane University in New Orleans. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=102638208
* Thinking about Death, April 2. End of life issues like living wills and hospice care are things that nobody wants to talk about, but New York Times health columnist Jane Brody wants to change that. Her new book “Jane Brody's Guide to the Great Beyond: A Practical Primer to Help You and Your Loved Ones Prepare Medically, Legally, and Emotionally for the End of Life” covers both medical and emotional issues that Brody feels we all need to address before they're imminent. Listen at: http://www.hereandnow.org/shows/2009/04/rundown-42/

From The NY Times

* Treating an Illness Is One Thing. What About a Patient With Many? By SIRI CARPENTER, Published: March 30, 2009: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/31/health/31sick.html?_r=2&th&emc=th
* Longer Unemployment for Those 45 and Older, By MICHAEL LUO, Published: April 12, 2009: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/13/us/13age.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
* Shortage of Doctors an Obstacle to Obama Goals, By ROBERT PEAR, Published: April 26, 2009, Obama administration officials, alarmed at doctor shortages, are looking for ways to increase the supply of physicians to meet the needs of an aging population………….http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/health/policy/27care.html?_r=1&ref=todayspaper

At midnight on February 17, 2009, all full-power television stations in the
United States will stop broadcasting in analog and switch to 100% digital
broadcasting. Digital broadcasting promises to provide a clearer picture
and more programming options and will free up airwaves for use by
emergency responders. For information about the upcoming Digital TV
conversion see: https://www.dtv2009.gov/


Consumer Sites

Parkinson's Disease Information Added to NIH SeniorHealth Web Site
More than half a million Americans suffer from Parkinson's disease,
a brain disorder that leads to tremor and difficulty with walking,
movement, and coordination. Although not a normal part of aging,
Parkinson's occurs most often among people 60 and older, and the risk
increases with age. Older adults now can visit the NIHSeniorHealth Web
site to learn more about Parkinson's disease at
http://www.nihseniorhealth.gov/parkinsonsdisease/toc.html.

Medicare's annual open enrollment is from November 15th to December 31, 2008.
The list of national stand-alone prescription drug plans under Medicare Part D and state specific fact sheets can be found at: http://www.cms.hhs.gov/center/openenrollment.asp

Consumer Information

NIHSeniorHealth features authoritative and up-to-date health information from Institutes and Centers at NIH. In addition, the American Geriatrics Society provides expert and independent review of some of the material found on this web site. Each health topic includes general background information, open-captioned videos, quizzes and frequently asked questions (FAQs). New topics are added to the site on a regular basis.
See: http://nihseniorhealth.gov/listoftopics.html The list of topics includes: Alzheimer's Disease; Arthritis; Balance Problems; Breast Cancer; Caring for Someone with Alzheimer's; Cataract; Colorectal Cancer; COPD; Diabetes; Diabetic Retinopathy; Dry Mouth; Exercise for Older Adults; Glaucoma; Hearing Loss; Heart Attack; Heart Failure; Low Vision; Lung Cancer; Macular; Degeneration; Osteoporosis; Problems with Smell; Problems with Taste; Prostate Cancer; Shingles; Sleep and Aging; Stroke; Taking Medicines
The U.S. Administration on Aging's National Family Caregiver Support Program and Caresource Healthcare Communications, Inc. are pleased to announce the new consumer guide

Information on Urinary Incontinence from The May Clinic WEB site, MayoClinic.com has extensive information on urinary incontinence that includes the following sections:
o Signs and symptoms
o Causes
o Risk factors
o When to seek medical advice
o Screening and diagnosis
o Complications
o Treatment
o Prevention
o Self-care
o Coping skills
See: http://mayoclinic.com/health/urinary-incontinence/DS00404

Just in Case: Emergency Readiness for Older Adults and Caregivers. This free consumer resource includes a 12-page fact sheet and checklist that will help older adults and caregivers prepare for emergencies. Special emphasis is placed on issues that affect older adults, disabled persons, and their caregivers due to medical conditions, physical challenges, assistive devices, and mobility issues. See: http://www.aginginstride.org/emergencyprep/default.htm

The Alzheimer's Association has a new interactive tool that helps you determine options for a loved one with Alzheimer's, and provides a list of questions to ask when screening a care provider.
Areas covered are:
Planning Ahead: Evaluating ability; Legal planning; Paying for care; Taxes
Care Options: Types of care; Good care; When to get help; What to ask Coordinating Care: Who does what; Communicating; Speaking up; Making changes Support and Resources: Finding support; Organizations; Fact sheets; Glossary See: http://www.alz.org/carefinder/index.asp

New from AARP Links to these and other reports can be found at:
http://www.aarp.org/research/whatsnew.html
o AARP Launches Driver Safety Online Course Nationwide
o Guardianship Monitoring: A National Survey of Court Practices
o In Brief: Guardianship Monitoring: A National Survey of Court Practices
o Boomers Turning 60
o Portfolio on the British Pension System
o Testimony Before the Senate Special Committee on Aging on Managing Retirement Assets
o Trends in Manufacturer Prices of Rx Drugs Used by Older Americans
o Cell Phones for Safety and Security in Case of an Emergency
o Fighting Identity Theft: Lessons from the United Kingdom /
o Comparing Long-Term Care Insurance Policies: Bewildering Choices for Consumers
o AARP Survey: Inheritances Are No Boon For Most Boomers /
o Images of Aging: A multimedia guide for teaching about the changing images of aging.

Consumer Sites

• The Guide to Medi-Cal Programs provides a summary of each program; a description of who is eligible and how many recipients are covered; and a listing of the corresponding aid codes. A specific section "Programs for seniors and people with disabilities" is included. The Guide to Medi-Cal Programs can be downloaded from http://www.chcf.org/topics/medi-cal/index.cfm?itemID=20387&subsection=medi-cal

FYI SENIOR NEWS:

Consumer Sites

• A report, 15 Falsehoods Told By Nursing Facilities by Eric Carlson of The National Senior Citizens Law Center can be found at:  http://www.nsclc.org/news/03/02/15falsehoods.pdf

• The ABLEDATA database contains information on assistive technology products  with detailed descriptions of each product including price and company information.  See:  http://www.abledata.com The booklet, What's Your Aging IQ?, is from the U.S. National Institute on Aging. It offers short stories about fictional older people coping with issues such as weight training and bone density, smoking cessation, vision problems, sexuality, and hypothermia.  It can be downloaded from:  http://www.niapublications.org/pubs/agingiq/aging_brochure.pdf
  

• The Housing & Urban Development (HUD) has a site that explains home equity conversion. See the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage Program at: http://www.hud.gov/progdesc/hecm--df.cfm
• The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has released performance data about the quality of care in all Medicare-certified home health agencies across the US. Information will is available free of charge through the Home Health Compare resource on the Medicare Web site at http://www.medicare.gov/HHCompare/Home.asp
• To help elders and others detect financial fraud, one can search for an investment adviser firm on the federal government's Investment Advisor Public Disclosure website. To view a firm's Form ADV that ivestment advisers fike to register with the SEC and/or the states go to: http://www.adviserinfo.sec.gov/IAPD/Content/IapdMain/iapd_SiteMap.asp Form ADV contains information about an investment adviser and its business operations. Form ADV also contains disclosure about certain disciplinary events involving the adviser and its key personnel.
• MyZiva.net is a site for consumers, healthcare professionals and other advocates to evaluate and compare Nursing Homes, understand the services that a Nursing Home provides, and be informed of how one pays for Nursing Home care.
• The Time Magazine (Nov. 17, 2003) article Planning Way Ahead: Long-term-care insurance is a lot cheaper while you're still young. Is it a good bet? by Sharon Epperson can be viewed for a short time at: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1101031117-538958,00.html

Tip from a Reader

If you need to access the number of residents for any city by sex, age, & race, go to census home page, http://www.census.gov, then click on Summary File 1, go to detailed tables, select the city, and go to P12. Sex by Age, and click "ADD", it will add sex by age to the "current table selection" box, then click the "show results" button.

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