Discretionary Spending Falls But Health Care Costs Rise With Age:

One of the reasons the income replacement method doesn’t work is that spending in retirement falls with age—you’re not likely to be spending as much at age 85 as at 65, so you won’t need a constant replacement rate of pre-retirement income. ”The main reason is that health deteriorates with age, and that means people can’t necessarily do all the things they planned,” says Sudipto Banerjee, research associate at EBRI and author of the report.

Discretionary spending on things like vacations and entertainment fall.”

But nondiscretionary spending on health care and housing doesn’t—in fact, health care costs generally increase with age. In 2009, people in the 50-64 age group spent about 9 percent of their total budget on health care, while those 85+ spent 18 percent.

For the report, EBRI looked at 5,000 retired households nationwide between 2000 and 2009. Overall, retirees spent about 80 percent of what working households spent, but only brought in about 57 percent of the income that working households did. Wealthier retirees used savings and assets to make up for gaps between income and spending, maintaining surplus savings throughout retirement. And less-wealthy retirees?

Overall, households in the lower half of income distribution experience a rising gap between income and expenditure even before retirement. Households in this group are seeing savings deteriorate between ages 50 and 64—a period of life that should be years of high savings accumulation for retirement.

The gap only becomes wider as low-income retirees age. Demographic groups such as singles, blacks and high school dropouts were struggling most in retirement, EBRI found.

Friday Quick Hits: 

• The budget plans proposed by both Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich include huge tax cuts that would drastically raise the nation’s debt, according to the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Romney’s plan would also add to the deficit, albeit less so; only Ron Paul’s budget plan would “reduce the flow of red ink” at all.

• A California state senator is proposing legislation that would create a retirement savings plan for private sector workers who don’t have job-related retirement plans. The state is currently facing a tidal wave of “discarded seniors” who will retire with little or no financial support other than Social Security, he warned.

• Ways to put savings on autopilot.

• America’s ‘unbanked‘ masses? Millions of Americans lack access to checking accounts, consumer loans or other traditional banking services, the Wall Street Journal reports.

• And a new report on older drivers from transportation organization TRIP explores the pros and cons of age-based driving tests. It notes: “Some research suggests that age-based mandatory assessment programs may not effectively identify and manage the small portion of older motorists whose driving should be limited or stopped,” it notes. And they may prematurely curtail the mobility of drivers who were already self-regulating and managing their driving.”

Photo: Andrew Bret Wallis/Getty Images

Check out these four opportunities where we can expand our community giving: (Links provided are en español)

Food Drives: You can volunteer at or donate money for a food pantry in your community. The time commitment varies from less than an hour per week and up. Also, read our recommended list of nonperishable food for everyone and our detailed toolkit on how to organize and manage a food rally. Looking for a family-oriented activity? Join a local community farm or garden.

Education: Our boomer generation has many skills that maybe very useful for our youngsters. We seem to be pretty good with math, sciences and reading. You can also volunteer as a tutor at a local school or even help your relatives; career, financial and legal advice could very useful if you’re an expert on any of these areas. Learn more.

Health: We all know that getting into and maintain an exercise routine on your own is not an easy task. Maybe it is time that you get together with your pals and gals and organize your fitness group. A good place to start could be a walking team. We give you a detailed guide on how to do it.

Legal Advice: Older adults, new immigrants and low-literacy minorities face a greater risk and need extra help. Safeguarding your identity against predatory practices from companies and learning a few steps to steer clear from trouble could make a big difference. Download our toolkit on preventing fraud and how you can organize a document-shredding day in your community.

Learn more about AARP’s Compartir es Vivir campaign or Create the Good (en inglés)

Also, donate to the AARP Foundation’s virtual food drive to help fight senior hunger.

Photo credit: AARP

The following is a guest post from Suzie Mitchell. 

My 29-year-old son has lived in a different state than me since he graduated college six years ago. When he lived in New York, once or twice a week, he’d call me on his five minute walk from the subway station to his apartment—me savoring those minutes.

Occassionally, he would return home to Michigan, and during his visit, he would complete various home repairs and check on my computer to be sure it was operating efficiently.

Now he and his wife live across the ocean in Israel.  So our conversations have switched to G-chat or Skype, and I’ve hired a handyman to do the repairs.  However, he is still keeping tabs on my computer, thanks to a great new program called Soluto.

A few weeks ago he sent me an email invitation that included a very nice picture of him.  I was delighted to see his smiling face and immediately felt connected.  Next to his photo were the words “I want to help you with your computer.”  Words that make a parent melt.

The invitation went on to say: “Soluto is a small piece of software that helps me take care of your computer and spot problems before they have a chance to bother you.  It’s perfectly safe and I’ll never see any of your personal stuff, just technical details about how your computer is running.  All you have to do is download Soluto.  I’ll do the rest.”

How could I resist?  My son wants to help me?   My husband, the skeptic, wasn’t as quick to jump on the bandwagon.  He was concerned that our files be kept private from our son. “How can you be so sure he can’t see our banking files?  I don’t want him snooping around on our computers.  You should check it out more,” he warned.

And so I did.  I went to Soluto’s web site where a diagram explained how “power users” – those who are techies, like my son and daughter-in-law — can use the Soluto web service to help their friends and relatives from anywhere in the world.   The illustration explained that the power users could make their loved ones’ computers run faster, help alleviate crashes, install important apps, spot when hardware repairs are needed, and silently upgrade programs–even if the PC is turned off or in another country.

The diagram concludes with the trusty “lock” and explains, “Plus it’s safe and secure. Soluto cannot see your personal files, desktop or browser history, just the anonymous technical details of your PC’s performance to help make it better.”

There is even a cute little video with a child helping mom as an example.   It sucked me right in—pulling on my heart strings.

But the reporter in me was skeptical—so I kept investigating.

I also checked out the company blogs to see how Soluto advises the power users about how to help a PC user, and to check that the message was consistent.  The blog says that power users can NOT see into the others’ computers.  What power users can see:

• A list of the existing apps on that PC that can be updated, followed by a list of apps the user doesn’t have that can be remotely installed.
• A timeline with different frustration events (applications that crashed or froze) that plagued the user.  Power users could see when a problem occurred and what might have caused it.
• All of the applications running during start-up and in the background, including recommendations for those that should be removed or delayed so the start-up is quicker.
• A place to enable or disable the firewall, install antivirus software (AVG or Microsoft Security Client) or update Windows.
• A detailed overview of the hardware, including laptop battery health, and the option to clean up the hard drive.

Because nothing is deleted from your  computer during this process — selected applications are removed from start-up or set to run at a more convenient time for optimal speed, for example – changes can be undone.  For instance, if your daughter or nephew removes a toolbar favorite from your internet browser, you can say, “bring that back, I want that,” and voila, easily returned with one click of the mouse.

So if you have a techie in the family, or you know a techie, you can ask your techie to help your computer run faster by using Soluto.  Just tell them to go to Soluto’s website and sign up.  The techie will be directed to send the invitation to you, and from there, it’s just a few simple instructions.

The program is free for up to five PCs, its quick and you won’t even notice what’s going on, only that your computer starts up faster and it doesn’t freeze up.   And when your techie has checked in on your computer, a cute little message complete with his or her photo appears, saying “David just improved your PC. “

I’m sure there are other similar programs out there, but I haven’t seen such a simple one that is as effective and unobtrusive.

However, I think the biggest bonus of Soluto is that you know a loved one is looking after you, even if it’s remote and you can only see his or her photo.

Could a Boomer parent ask for more?

What’s the best tech tip you’ve learned from your children? Any other programs like this we should know about? Let us know in the comments!

Previously: Apps every boomer should know. 

Suzie Mitchell is a 25 year PR vet who specializes in marketing tech products to Baby Boomers.  She is a professional journalist and public affairs and public relations consultant.  She also is the co-author of the book Growing Into Grace: Adventures in Self Discovery through Writing. Follow her on Twitter here.

Whether it is being able to keep your adult children on your insurance plan or having coverage options and protections that you never had in the past, the health care law—called the Affordable Care Act— provides benefits for many of us. In fact, the law has already helped millions of older Americans with the cost of their prescription drugs and will help millions more get affordable insurance.

Like most laws, the Affordable Care Act is complex. That is why AARP created the Health Law Guide at www.aarp.org/healthlawguide. It is a web tool that simplifies the law and gives you the facts to make informed decisions about your health care choices.

With the Health Law Guide, you can learn how the health law benefits you and your family in just minutes. Find out what benefits you have right now. Did you know, there are new provisions you can use today such as expanded coverage for preventive care and screenings? There are also protections against insurance cancellations and lifetime limits on health insurance coverage. I expect you will find this as reassuring as I do. The Health Law Guide also provides you with state specific programs and resources if you are having difficulty finding coverage or if you are uninsured.

Since different parts of the law will go into effect over a number of years, the Health Law Guide is updated regularly. So bookmark the page and check back often to learn about the new benefits as they become available.

I encourage you to join AARP in a free webinar on March 1^st at 7pm to learn more about your health benefits and see a demonstration of the Health Law Guide. Register today.

Nebraska has a bill before it’s legislature that will address the difficult issue of a deceased person’s online life by giving access to the executor of that person’s estate. The bill does not just focus on Facebook, but takes into account the myriad social network, blogging and email accounts that a person can acquire over the years.

The bill states:

“A personal representative shall have the power, unless the personal representative’s authority has been restricted by will or by court order, to take control of, conduct, continue, or terminate any account of a deceased person on any social networking website, microblogging, or short message service website, or email service website.”

We leave behind a larger footprint now in the world. One that truly includes the most important information and the most trivial missive.  So that our lives may have ended, our tweets and timeline still go on… and our kids get to sift through it all. Like sands through the hourglass, so are the posts of our lives.

Full text of the bill may be found here.

Photo credit: Svadilfari on Flickr.

The winner also gets custody, for one year, of a retired version of our Movies for Grownups Chaise d’Or trophy (This one dates from about two incarnations ago, as the MFG Trophy goes through tweaks the way Joan Rivers goes through noses).

I’ve mentioned this before, but even I find it amazing that I have never, ever won an Oscar pool in my entire life, even though I’m the only person in my circle who actually writes about this stuff for a living . The trouble is, I can’t help but choose movies and performances I feel ought to win. And so, in a pitiful attempt to be right even when I am wrong,  herewith are both my lists: who will win the Oscar race Sunday night…and who I think deserves to.

Best Picture

The Tree of Life

Who’ll Win: The Artist

Who Ought to Win: The Tree of Life

A friend of mine said she didn’t like Tree of Life because “it wasn’t about anything.”  I loved the movie because, to me, it was about everything—from one family’s intensely personal tragedy to the realm of creation to the very nature of God. Were it to actually win Best Picture, Terrence Malick’s epic art house film would be perhaps the most flawed movie ever to walk away with the Oscar. But Tree of Life’s missteps are glorious, courageous ones, and the film is the year’s single most indelible work of art.

My runners-up are Hugo, The Descendants, and The Artist—but really, this year any one of the nine nominees is a worthy contender.

Best Actor

Who’ll Win: George Clooney, The Descendants

Who Ought to Win: Gary Oldman, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy 

Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"

Great performances are sometimes about screaming to the heavens, or sobbing unashamedly, or standing steely-eyed in the face of adversity. In other words, they show us something. But spies in master spook George Smiley’s world live and die by how effectively they conceal both information and their emotions. As Smiley, Oldman magically manages to convince us that he’s a veritable stone wall to all those around him—while as an audience, we can somehow read him like a book.

George is great in The Descendants, as is Demian Bichir in A Better Life. Had Brad Pitt been nominated for his role as the conflicted dad in The Tree of Life instead of the smug baseball executive in Moneyball, I would have been tempted to go with him.

Best Actress

Who’ll Win: Viola Davis, The Help

Who Ought to Win: Glenn Close, Albert Nobbs 

Glenn Close, "Albert Nobbs"

A perfect bookend to Oldman’s turn in Tinker, Close’s performance is a master class in exquisitely measured control. Playing a woman who spent her entire adult life disguised as a man, Close breathes life into a character who is corseted to the point of strangulation both physically and emotionally. Almost subliminally, Close enables us to witness not only what the world sees of Albert, but also what Albert sees, from the inside looking out.

There is always, of course, the possibility that the Academy’s voters will succumb to star-powered delirium and vote once again for Meryl Streep (The Iron Lady) or, more likely, Michelle Williams’ scarily fetching invocation of Marilyn Monroe in My Week With Marilyn.

Best Supporting Actor

Who’ll Win: Christopher Plummer, Beginners

Who Ought to Win: Plummer

Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"

I think they’ll get this one right—the veteran star is irresistible as a man who simultaneously informs his son (Ewan McGregor) that he’s got deadly cancer and that he’s gay. Twinkly eyed with delight and discovery, Plummer is the most energetic and engaging member of a cast that averages half his age.

I’d be just about as happy if Max Von Sydow won as the mute grandfather in Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Best Supporting Actress

Who’ll Win: Berenice Bejo, The Artist

Who Ought to Win: Bejo

Berenice Bejo, "The Artist"

If Hollywood still did hokey things like crown actresses The “It” Girl or America’s Sweetheart, Bejo would be a natural candidate. Indeed, even if The Artist weren’t a 1930s Hollywood period piece, she would still seem right at home on the cover of Photoplay or Modern Screen. Bejo’s the most delightful thing in one of the year’s most charming movies, and we can only hope she’ll come back from France and make a talkie here someday.

Overcome with guilt for not awarding Glenn Close her most deserved Best Actress award, the Academy voters just might turn around and honor her Albert Nobbs costar, Janet McTeer.

Best Original Screenplay

Who’ll Win: Asghar Farhadi, A Separation

Who Ought to Win: Woody Allen, Midnight in Paris 

Woody Allen Directing "Midnight in Paris"

The Oscar voters are going to do everything they can to support Asghar Farhadi, the Iranian filmmaker who defied government bullying to make his touching story about a married couple facing stark domestic decisions.  But really, Woody should win for his most imaginative, heartfelt screenplay in years, a fantasy that speaks to everyone who suspects, deep down inside, that they were born at the wrong time.

Best Adapted Screenplay

Who’ll Win: Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin,  Moneyball

George Clooney in "The Descendants"

Who Ought to Win: Alexander Payne, Nat Faxon, and Jim Rash, The Descendants  The most gratifying company I’ve ever had has been with people who find ways to laugh, or at least smile, through adversity. The appeal of The Descendants is not in its soapy premise—a husband discovers that his now-comatose wife cheated on him—but in its dogged refusal to wallow in the suds. This is the way real people face real problems: they find a way to go on living, and that sometimes means collecting yourself, shaking your head with a sad smile, and moving on.

Hollywood loves Sorkin, who to my ear writes the least authentic-sounding dialogue this side of The Front Page. I suspect the voters are tripping all over each other to give his Social Network Oscar a twin brother.

Best Animated Feature Film

Who’ll Win: Chico and Rita

Chico and Rita

Who Ought to Win: Chico and Rita You haven’t seen this Spanish-British coproduction, because it has yet to open here. But the story of a musician and the beautiful singer he loves, told against the backdrop of 1940s Havana, New York, and Las Vegas is a hand-drawn marvel. Every frame is anti-Pixar, the bold colors recalling the Jazz silkscreens of Henri Matisse, the outlined figures reminiscent of Cuban folk art. And if you don’t go home from Chico and Rita at least humming “Besame Mucho,” well, you weren’t listening.

After the unforgivable sin of overlooking Sylvain Chomet’s The Illusionist last year, the voters may attempt redemption by voting for the delightful (and also hand-drawn) crime caper, A Cat in Paris. But if they still feel compelled to honor an American-made film, we can only hope they’ll bypass the by-the-numbers Kung Fu Panda 2 and Puss in Boots in favor of the quirky lizard western, Rango.

Annnnd one last time … 

And what about the debate last night—did we learn anything scintillating or new? Not particularly. Romney, Paul and Gingrich used the opportunity to attack newly anointed front-runner Santorum—he’s usurped Gingrich as Romney’s chief rival, and polls show Santorum leading the race nationally and in several states—about spending in his home state and support for Congressional earmarks. Time’s Swampland blog probably has the best summary of how this portion went:

Here is a typical exchange: “Attached to a bill? Attached to a bill?” asks Romney. “As part of the bill. Congressman Paul…” says Santorum. “And the president can’t veto it?” asks Romney. “He can veto the bill,” says Santorum. “The whole bill, but he can’t veto the earmark?” asks Romney. “Well, we tried to do that, by the way. I supported a line-item veto,” says Santorum. “That’s what I support. That’s what I support,” says Romney. “Hold on. Hold on,” says Santorum. Democracy in action.

Santorum and Romney were the only ones to (briefly) mention Social Security or Medicare; both also said that repealing ‘Obamacare’ would save the U.S. trillions. According to the New York Times‘ politics blog, these savings projections are exaggerations:

Mr. Santorum said repealing the health care insurance law that President Obama signed in 2010 would reduce the deficit. His rival Mr. Romney has repeatedly made the same claim in debates and repeatedly been judged incorrect.

Going into the debate yesterday, Romney introduced his ”Restore America’s Promise” plan, which calls for raising the Social Security eligibility age for younger people; indexing growth in benefits to inflation instead of wages for wealthy retirees; creating a Medicare voucher system; tax cuts for individuals and corporations; and eliminating the inheritance and Alternative Minimum taxes. Romney’s announcement came the same day President Obama released his business tax plan, which would cut the corporate tax rate from 35 to 28 percent and eliminate certain tax loopholes.

Thursday Quick Hits:

• Three older actresses—Meryl Streep (62), Viola Davis (46) and Glenn Close (64)—are up for the best actress Oscar. [More Oscars coverage? See our Movies for Grownups page.]

• A Bank of America survey finds most wealthy Americans support raising the Social Security age.

• Financial advisers who specialize in retirement planning may need to hone their listening skills.

• In Canada, most boomers now plan to work past traditional retirement age because they can’t afford not to (sound familiar?); only 30 percent think they’ll be able to fully retire at 66.

• And 10 important ages for retirement planning.

Photo: Jack Kurtz/ZUMAPRESS.com/Corbis

A team of researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City found that the death rate from colorectal cancer was cut by 53 percent in patients who had a colonoscopy with removal of precancerous polyps, or small tumors.

The evidence was based on 2,602 adults, who had polyps removed during colonoscopies from 1980 to 1990, and who were then tracked for more than two decades.

“This is very strong evidence that provides assurance that there is a long-term benefit to removing these polyps,” lead author Ann Zauber, a biostatistician at Sloan-Kettering, told HealthDay News. “Over more than 20 years, we’re getting this very consistent decrease in colon cancer deaths, so that’s very exciting.”

The study was published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Doctors compared the subjects’ death rate from colorectal cancer with that of the general population and found that there were only 12 deaths in the study group, compared to 25.4 deaths in a group the same size in the general population, the New York Times reported.

A colonoscopy can detect small, precancerous growths, allowing doctors to remove them before they become malignant.

Although research has shown that removing these polps greatly reduces the incidence of colorectal cancer, Americans still don’t get the exams as often as they should. That’s probably because a colonoscopy exam is invasive — the bowel is viewed with a tiny, insertable camera — and patients must be sedated. It also involves a day-long cleanse, using laxatives, of the lower intestine before the exam.

Even so, colorectal cancer — the third deadliest in the U.S. — is one of the few cancers that can be prevented with screening. According to the most recent federal statistics, about 143,000 Americans will be diagnosed with the disease this year, and about 53,000 will die from it. Although the death rate has been slowly declining, only about half of Americans get the exam.

A second study in Spain of 53,000 patients, also published this week, found that the relatively inexpensive, non-invasive stool sample test found similar numbers of colon cancer cases, but colonoscopies found advanced growths in twice as many people as those who took the stool test. Colonoscopy also found 10 times more people with less serious growths than the stool test did.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that as many as 60 percent of colorectal cancer deaths could be prevented if Americans age 50 and older would get screened regularly.

A colonoscopy should be done once every 10 years for those 50 and older whose initial exam didn’t find polyps; if polyps are found, you should have it done every three years, medical experts say.

In other health news:

Judi Dench, James Bond’s boss, has degenerative eye condition. Oscar-winning actress Judi Dench, 77, perhaps best known as James Bond’s mysterious boss M, has been dealing with two different forms of macular generation — one in each eye. According to Reuters, she can no longer read scripts and has to have someone read them out loud to her, “like reading me a story.”

For male hair loss, leg hair transplant may be one solution. Doctors may have a leg up on baldness: Transplanting hair from a patient’s legs to his head for what may be a more natural look. In the February issue of the Archives of Dermatology, Dr. Sanusi Umar explained that the finer, softer hair found on the leg is an ideal candidate for hair grafts that aim to recreate the hairline, HealthyDay News reports.

Photo credit: sportsnhealth.net

For too long, fiber has been a neglected orphan in the American food family. Gritty drinks, supersized pills and cardboard-like bran cereal seemed to be the only alternatives for adding fiber to one’s diet. Maybe the lack of options explains why the typical American consumes only half of the recommended daily amount of fiber (25 to 38 grams).

Fiber’s numerous health benefits, however, cannot safely be ignored. A reduced risk of heart disease is one important benefit of a high-fiber diet. Fiber also stabilizes blood glucose levels, thereby helping to prevent and manage diabetes. Consuming essential fiber also lowers the risk of infectious and respiratory diseases. And a diet high in fiber has one additional advantage for those of us seeking to lose weight: foods high in fiber keep us feeling fuller longer than nonfibrous foods do, thereby making our appetite and impulse eating more manageable.

Because of the cumulative benefits, fiber is in the driver’s seat for food manufacturers who are busily incorporating fiber into food products. For example, inulin, a prebiotic fiber found in chicory root, is being used as a fat replacement in milk products (such as cottage cheese and yogurt), margarines, baked goods and dressings. Inulin tastes creamy, so the additive can be incorporated into foods without advertising its status as a fiber.

Other isolated fibers being added to food include maltodextrin, oat fiber, soy fiber, modified wheat starch, sugarcane fiber and polydextrose. These added fibers, however, do not provide the benefits of fiber found naturally in vegetables, fruits and whole grains.

In our commitment to eat more healthfully, we don’t have to sacrifice taste or rely on food additives. Here are 10 delicious tips for adding more fiber to your diet:

1. Change your spreads. For example, make a hummus spread (chickpeas, olive oil and spices) for a sandwich filling.

2. Bake healthy. Replace flour in baked goods with puréed breakfast cereal. Run the breakfast cereal through a blender and substitute an equivalent amount for up to half the flour in baked recipes. Oatmeal works particularly well in pancake recipes. Replace calorie-laden crusts with crushed cereal-laden crusts. Purée whole-grain crackers or cereal and add enough melted butter and water to press into a crust.

3. Choose whole fruit over juice. For maximum fiber, eat fruits with edible seeds, such as blueberries, kiwi, raspberries and figs. Other fruits high in fiber are apples, pears, oranges, dried and fresh plums, raisins, pineapples and bananas.

4. Eat plenty of vegetables. Vegetables high in fiber include greens, eggplant, beets, winter squash, cabbage, broccoli, carrots, okra, artichoke hearts, peas, corn, white and sweet potatoes and beans. Snack on popcorn and nuts.

5. Fake fried chicken and fish. Purée your favorite cereal with spices. Coat chicken or fish first in low-calorie yogurt, then roll in cereal bread crumbs. Bake in oven for crispy treat.

6. Eat occasional vegetarian meals. Add vegetables in sandwiches, top pizza with vegetables and incorporate vegetables in sauces. For example, pureed carrots added to spaghetti sauce increase fiber.

7. Give your salad some crunch salad. Toss a fistful of your favorite cereal on your salad before you put on low-calorie dressing. And add unpeeled salad fixings (cucumbers, carrots, tomatoes, radishes and so on) for extra fiber.

8. Top off dishes with cereal. Use a fistful of cereal as a topping for yogurt, ice cream, pudding, cottage cheese or even soup.

9. Make your own fiber bars. Combine oatmeal, other cereal, raisins, cranberries, dried cherries or other dried fruit. Pour a mixture of melted chocolate chips and skim milk over the cereal and stir. Chill in a flat pan, cut and serve.

10. Replace white pasta and white rice with whole grain pasta and brown rice. Quinoa pasta can double as both a carbohydrate and source of protein. Other grains are also high in fiber, such as barley, bulgar, kasha, amaranth and couscous.

Use these creative tips to make sure you consume adequate amounts of fiber. You can be confident that consuming a diet high in fiber will tip the scale in favor of weight loss and optimum health.

Photo credit: little blue hen on Flickr.

“You can wear your pajamas all day!” exudes one co-worker. ”Yeah, you don’t even have to wear a bra!” exclaims another. I don’t how they dreamed up these crazy ideas but I can assure you I’m working in non-pajama-type clothes and wearing a bra.

I know there are fellow work-from-home caregivers that are perhaps dealing with the same sort of perception. I have a daily routine to keep me motivated as a caregiver and productive as an employee. I thought I’d share with you to try to help you stay productive, healthy and compartmentalized:

1. You Time Is Y-O-U Time

The hardest thing to do as a caregiver is to not feel guilty about taking time out for yourself. For those who work from home and tend to a loved one(s), that guilt is doubled.

If you don’t have the down time to yourself, you’ll be no better off than the loved one you’re caring for and won’t be all that productive of an employee, either. What to do?

• Go to a movie by yourself or get a pedicure or massage after business hours. Many salons stay open until 8 or 9 pm.
• Meet up with friends or co-workers for lunch or dinner.
• Walk the dogs. Go to the gym. Take a yoga class.
• Just get out of the house once, alone, daily!

These precious escapes, even during crazy times, are going to help keep you centered and focused. Think about it: At the office many of your co-workers go to the gym during lunch or go shopping right after work. Why should you be any different since you work from home?

2. Scheduling Is Key

I block out one weekday afternoon to assist my parents with appointments, errands, etc. I work late some nights or on weekends to make up this time but by carving out one afternoon to run errands, I don’t feel rushed to do it on other days. I let my internal and external clients know when I’m out of the office by attaching a note to my email signature that I’m out of the office on Wednesday afternoons. They appreciate it and respect that I’m out of reach during this time.

It’s also important to keep an updated calendar and give everyone access to it. Block off time when you’re going to be out of the office. If people see that you’re gone they’ll likely contact you when you’re around and it’s easier for you to respond.

Talk to your manager and explain your needs. A good boss will work with you on making sure you’re not overwhelmed with personal obligations so that your production is suffering. Just make sure you check-in with your manager on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to evaluate your performance.

3. Keep ‘Em Separated

It’s hard to keep work and caregiving separate, especially if your parent(s) live with you or you see them daily. Now I might go against the norm here, but I don’t share work goings on with my parents. They certainly know when I’ve had a bad day but I don’t like burdening them with work problems. Why? Well, my mom is a master worrier (Think a silver medal in the Mom Olympics in Worrying) and I know she has a lot on her mind.

I keep everything separated. I have a personal mobile phone and a work mobile phone, same as a personal computer and a work computer. By keeping my two worlds separated — except for the calendar — I don’t feel obligated to work when I’m not supposed to be. Which brings me to …

4. Don’t Overwork

Teleworker employee flagrant foul No. 1 is overworking. Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as overworking. And sometimes I don’t adhere to my own advice.

In order to make sure you’re sticking to your 40 hours, write down on a desk calendar your start and finish time each day and be diligent about it! If you sneak in three hours on a Saturday, that counts! Write it down. Trust me, it’s the same approach dieters take when they write down everything they eat. It’s very eye-opening!

Sometimes you have to say “no” and stick to it.

5. Get a Pet

If you don’t already have one, get a cat, dog, whatever.  I have two dogs that keep me on my toes and entertained. I know that for some the stress of caring for an animal might add to the stress (and expense!) of caregiving. Trust me, I get that. I had the dogs before I started with my parents but they have become therapy dogs for my dad and everyone is a lot happier … including the pups!

It’s just nice to have a friend in the house that nestles up to you after that bad day.

So there they are. I hope they help you. Please comment below and let me know what you do to keep you an effective employee and caregiver.

Now excuse me while I slip into my PJs and take off my bra. KIDDING!

Know how some people light up when they talk about their jobs? Nurse Ann Doshi of Atlantic Health System, who teaches new Operating Room nurses the intricacies of the O.R., definitely lights up. After you watch the clip below, you’ll probably agree that Ann would be able to illuminate an entire hospital if they happened to have a blackout.

Since they were named one of AARP’s 50 Best Employers for Workers 50 and Over, it’s not surprising to hear that people at Atlantic Health are big fans of seasoned workers. What’s more surprising? Hearing younger co-workers citing the benefits of being mentored by a long-timer and using terms like ‘innovative’ and ‘right on top of’ new equipment and trends. And although they have a higher than average number of older workers on the payroll – 38 percent – HR Manager Lesley Meyer points out that Atlantic Health’s own health-care costs actually declined a bit last year. 

Atlantic Health clearly values the contributions of all generations (they also made the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list). Take just a couple of minutes and watch Poppy Harlow’s inspiring segment “Help Wanted: Older Workers Welcome” for CNNMoney; you’ll find that some myths get busted on multiple fronts.

Seeing a company take so much pride in its older workers is a welcome change from the many stories we hear about valued employees being laid off and finding themselves unemployed for years– or about blatant age discrimination. Clearly, more older workers need to have a shot at becoming re-employed.

Unfortunately, seasoned and suitable candidates often don’t make it to the interview stage since many employers screen them out. Peter Cappelli, a Wharton School Management Professor, thinks these employers don’t know what they’re missing. He explains that employers often see higher overall job performance, broader knowledge and stronger interpersonal skills among more seasoned workers. There also tends to be lower turnover and absenteeism.

The good news is that many employers want things to change.* AARP has partnered with SHRM, the world’s leading membership organization for HR leaders, in an effort to help raise awareness among employers and combat age discrimination. Business owners, leaders, HR managers, workers — anyone who cares about this issue — should consider talking to someone in your HR department about the AARP-SHRM Workforce Assessment Tool.

Let’s hope that we see more stories about people like Ann Doshi, and that we hear fewer ones about older workers not getting in the door to interview. If you’ve been in the workforce for decades – especially if you had a close-knit community of colleagues and a workplace where you feel felt valued – you know firsthand that not having a job has emotional ripple effects that can often rival the financial ones.

AARP has information and resources to help older workers find jobs, whether you’re looking for full-time or part-time work (scroll below below for more links).

Here’s to more employers like Atlantic Health (they’re hiring, by the way) and to more job opportunities for older workers – and for all generations.

Readers, what do you think needs to happen to have more workplaces where all generations are valued? Comment below to weigh in.

Are you 50+ and looking for a job? Or considering becoming your own boss? Find free information and tools at www.aarp.org/work, including job-hunting resources, winners of AARP’s Best Employers for Workers Over 50 Awards and this list of employers who value older workers, job-hunting webinars, and more.  

*Do you work for an employer who values older workers and wants to raise awareness in your workplace? Read about AARP’s partnership with SHRM in this article from AARP CEO A. Barry Rand and see the Workforce Assessment tool; also learn about our best employers awards program.  

Photo credit: LOVE cupcake courtesy of Weenee via Flickr Creative Commons.

AARP Volunteer Zig Sokolnicki with AARP Staffer Carmenza Millan and Social Service Program Coordinator Tim Andriano

Congrats Maria, Andrea, Debbie, Kimena, Bernestine, Sara, Michele, Deidrea, Donna, Viola, and Laura!

Are you interested in becoming an AARP Illinois Volunteer? We’ve got lots of opportunities to fit your skills. From online to offline advocacy, to helping us out in our Chicago and Springfield offices, to public speaking and beyond, we’d love to have you join us! No matter where you live in Illinios we’ve got something in the works! Just give us your contact information below and one of our staffers will contact you ASAP.

Aging In Appalachia: 

There is a limit to what the state and federal governments are going to be able to do,” said Ohio Department of Aging head Bonnie Kantor-Burman.

Wednesday Quick Hits: 

• New data shows one in every 33 boomers has Hepatitis C, a sexually transmitted virus that killed more people than AIDS in 2007.

• Psychiatrist and brain-imaging expert Daniel Amen talks about how you can decelerate the aging of your brain to look and feel younger.

• At a White House blues concert Tuesday night, President Barack Obama joined Mick Jagger and B.B. King in singing “Sweet Home Chicago.”

• Lois Campbell, 104, still lives at home, goes to church every week and was driving until last fall; the centenarian discusses her exercise routine (which she does three times weekly), diet and supplements.

• And one in four Americans has more credit card debt than savings.

Photo:  Suzy Allman/Getty Images

When you’re a man grieving the death of your wife or partner, casseroles just don’t cut it.  They have to deal with their loss and adjust to a different life. In the old days, if you were a guy, you toughed it out by yourself until you “got over” it.

Women more typically vent and share their anguish through established venues like support groups. Sure, men can attend too, but often don’t return, finding themselves outnumbered by females and uncomfortable opening up. There have been few all-male grief groups.

Until Sam Feldman. In 2008, his wife of 53 years died. Adrift, Feldman started a peer-led, male bereavement group on Martha’s Vineyard. That morphed into the Men’s Bereavement Network.

Last week, the group changed its name to the National Widowers’ Organization. (It wants to tackle widower-hood exclusively and found men contacting them with other kinds of grief problems.)

The organization connects widowers around the country, lists existing support groups nationwide, helps them start groups in the area, advocates for research to determine what their needs and issues are, and raises public awareness.

The national group deals with subjects beyond the immediate grief: perhaps an adult daughter who doesn’t want Dad ever dating again; the impact of the death on the rest of the family; and help transitioning into a new life sans wife.

The timing couldn’t be better.  According to the organization, nearly 415,000 men in the U.S. become widowers annually. Since 1990, the number of widowers has increased 26% percent, from 2.3 million to almost three million.

Men are living longer and the deluge of baby boomers means a lot more husbands will outlive their wives. “We think there’s a huge, underserved portion of the community,” says Fred Spero, National Widowers’ Organization’s executive director.

Not that women don’t need more support, too. The all-male group is collaborating with the W Connection, a widow’s group in New York which shares similar values. Among them: the belief in peer-led support groups; the need for national support; and fresh research on those who lose their mates.

The National Widowers’ Organization hopes to hold a national conference for widowers within the next year and is rolling out a mentoring program. Men who don’t have time to join a bereavement group or have none in their area will be able to talk by phone with a widower. The group’s thoughtful approach is a powerful antidote to isolation. Thumbs up to brotherhood!

Here’s a list of the NWO’s most common asked questions.

What do you think: Do men and women grieve differently?

Photo courtesy of the National Widowers’ Organization.

This would be a great way to make up for last year’s Oscar invite snub (see the video below for details). Plus, they could give some perspective and insight on all of the red carpet madness by say, oh, I don’t know, asking, “what aren’t you wearing?” to a scantily clad tween for example.

Fine, I promise to leave the joke-writing and hilarity to the pros.

What do you think? Do you agree that this duo would be amazing on the red carpet? If you need any convincing, check out their web series, Stiller and Meara. First Time on the Internet is my favorite episode.

I think Stiller and Meara would give Sofia Grace and Rosie a run for their money.

Two of my proudest posessions: My personalized Louisville Slugger bat and my Roy Hobbs autographed baseball (don't ask about the lizard)

At last, I can focus on a mitt other than the one named Romney–they’re breaking out the bats and balls in Florida and Phoenix, and another baseball season is about to get underway.

This is, of course, the year my beloved Washington Nationals go deep into the playoffs (you read it here first, or at least early). But until the season starts in earnest, I’m happy to settle into my own spring training regimen, soaking in these great movies about the greatest game.

Click on the highlighted type for a preview of each…

Bang the Drum  Slowly (1956, 1974) Mark Harris’ landmark baseball novel, about a slick star pitcher and the simple-minded third-string catcher he befriends, was terrifically realized in ’74 with a young Robert De Niro as the ill-fated, awkward country boy. Vince Gardenia was nominated for an Oscar as their prototypically gruff manager. By all means, see it — but take a look at this remarkable Golden Age of TV version starring an impossibly young Newman. He plays the pitcher, and his closing monologue will leave you in tears, guaranteed. Here is a splendid example of how sports movies often manage to delve into the most secret parts of the human heart.

Kill the Umpire (1950) Pug-faced William Bendix was born to play an ump, and he’s gloriously grumpy in this comedy about a guy whose sole pleasure in life is in heckling the officials who call the local minor league baseball games. When he suddenly gets laid off from work, guess what’s the only job available? Yep. “Tryin’ to make an umpire out of me,” he moans, “that’s the lowest thing that can happen to a man!” Of course, when he puts on that mask he finds himself subjected to the same abuse he dished out for so long (it doesn’t help that, when the umpiring crew walks out on the field, the stadium sound system plays “Three Blind Mice”).Written by Frank Tashlin, who directed many of the great Warner Brothers ‘toons of the 1940s, Kill the Umpire is a manic masterpiece.

The Pride of the Yankees (1942) Who knows — if Lou Gehrig played baseball today, especially for the Yankees, we might know all sorts of unsavory things about Iron Man Lou. Then again, nah. By all accounts — and certainly by the account of this stirring biography starring Gary Cooper — Lou was a gentleman, a trusted teammate and a loyal husband. It’s hard to believe that in a single year after Gehrig’s death from ALS the Hollywood Dream Factory could fashion such a well-crafted tribute to the fallen star. But Paul Gallico’s story is heroic without being cloying, and Damon Runyan’s written prologue thoughtfully links Gehrig’s bravery in the face of death to the heroism of U.S. soldiers just beginning the long slog of World War II. Rooting for the Yankees in the days of Gehrig and Babe Ruth may have been like rooting for General Motors (these days you’d replace GM with Microsoft), but the Big Pinstriped Machine played with uncommon heart and sheer love of a game that, at the time, seemed to transcend the foregone conclusion that the American League Pennant had a permanent home above the House that Ruth Built. The Pride of the Yankees, with Ruth playing himself in honor of his teammate and sometime rival, captures that moment with unflinching sentiment, without cynicism, without apology.

The Rookie (2002) It’s the fantasy that lurks in the soul of every grown man who ever dirtied his sneaks in a childhood sandlot: You’re sitting in the stands at Yankee Stadium, the manager strides out to the mound, takes the ball from his pitcher’s hands, and turns to you. “Hey you! Yeah, you! Think you can pitch us out of this jam?” That’s the nub of The Rookie, the marvelously told tale of a 39-year-old high school coach (Dennis Quaid) who tells his kids if they win a title, he’ll go try out for a Major League Baseball team. Of course they win, he goes and, what do you know, Coach makes the team. Quaid, he of the dimples so deep he could be hiding his fugitive brother Randy in there, is at his engaging best as coach Jimmy Morris. But what makes The Rookie the best motivational film ever for recovering couch potatoes is this: Jimmy Morris was a real guy, he really did make that team, and pitched in the Bigs with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays.

The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg (1998) Even if the old joke is not true — if the thinnest book in the English language is not really “Great Jewish Sports Legends” — then chapter one has still got to be about the courageous Detroit Tigers first baseman Hank Greenberg. This stirring documentary chronicles the future Hall of Famer’s breakthrough years with the Tigers, when as the first Jewish sports superstar in U.S. history — Greenberg refused to play ball on Yom Kippur in 1934 — he endured a torrent of anti-Semitism.

A League of Their Own (1992) For once, throwing like a girl is a good thing — this story of an all-female baseball league during World War II has one of the great ensemble casts of all time, including Geena Davis, Madonna, Rosie O’Donnell, and of course Tom Hanks as the team’s ever-exasperated coach. But the real stars are screenwriters Lowell Ganz and Babaloo Mandell (Parenthood), who deliver one priceless line after another, among them, “There’s no crying in baseball!” The best part of the ’92 trailer is the narration by the great Dodger announcer Vin Scully.

Cobb (1994) Tommy Lee Jones may have won his Oscar that same year chasing Harrison Ford in The Fugitive, but he earns it here, starring as Ty Cobb, the most ruthless, ornery cuss ever to sharpen his spikes.  Jones makes not even a gesture toward sentimentality. His Cobb is easy to hate, impossible to forget.

Major League (1989) You’ve got to hand it to the Cleveland Indians organization — the team’s historic streak of World Championship-less seasons stood at 41 when the team OK’d the script for this comedy, about a new owner (Rene Russo) who intentionally fields a bad team in order to get out of her stadium contract. We all remember Charlie Sheen surprising us with his razor-sharp comic timing, but take another look at the film’s pitch-perfect supporting cast, including Dennis Haysbert as Pedro Cerrano and Wesley Snipes as Willie Mays Hayes. It’s been another 23 years, the Indians still haven’t won the World Series, and Major League is still one of the funniest movies ever made about baseball.

The Naked Gun (1988) OK, it’s not really a baseball film, but this hilarious-from-the-opening-credits cop comedy does have a hypnotized Reggie Jackson trying to kill Queen Elizabeth. And during a game at Angels Stadium, the Jumbotron shows some truly wacked-out baseball “bloopers,” including a second baseman being devoured by a rampaging lion.

The Natural (1984) The mythic iconology of baseball has never been more majestically re-created on screen than in Barry Levinson’s ode to the world’s greatest game. The images of The Natural seem to have been burned into our consciousness before we even saw the film: The Wonder Boy Bat, hewn by lightning hitting a tree; the sepia-toned images of hot summer days in single-deck stadiums; the very face of Robert Redford as the middle-age “kid” who comes out of nowhere to become a phenomenon, the perfect combination of small-town good guy and tragic hero. And swelling above it all, Randy Newman’s magnificent score, destined to play in our heads with each small victory, played out in our small lives, as we aspire to be something bigger than ourselves, just like the gloriously ordinary Roy Hobbs.

Bad News Bears (1976) Walter Matthau is in full grump as the wonderfully named Morris Buttermaker, the grudging coach of the worst team in a Southern California Little League. Determined to field a winning team he brings in a couple of ringers, including a hot-armed girl played by Tatum O’Neal. I do regret that Bad News Bears ushered in the era of foul-mouthed kids in the movies — I’m convinced that at least some of the incivility that plagues our society today can be traced back to the “modernization” of child characters in films. But the final scene of Buttermaker and his Bears after the championship game against their hated rivals (the Yankees, of course) remains a stand-up-and-cheer moment.

Fear Strikes Out (1957) Jimmy Piersall was still playing for the Boston Red Sox when Tony Perkins played him in this remarkably frank look at the outfielder’s lifelong battle with bipolar disorder. In later years Piersall distanced himself from the flick, which he felt was a bit too tough on his dad. Understandable: As Piersall’s pushy pop, Karl Malden is a monster.

Last February when we were snowed in, we hosted an impromptu dinner party for a handful of neighbors who were brave – and tall – enough to wade through the snowdrifts and reach our front door. The dinner fare was pretty basic, prepared entirely from food we had on hand in the pantry and freezer, which is actually a pretty fun way to cook.

But it was the dessert – a toasty warm cherry-berry cobbler served with the last half-scoops of vanilla ice cream from a nearly empty carton – that had everyone at the dinner table salivating and questioning whether it was truly homemade.

Since it just happened to be the week of President’s Day, I had the satisfaction of responding to my dinner guest’s query in character: “I cannot tell a lie,” I said solemnly. “I did make it myself…but I did not cut down the cherry tree.”

Here’s my recipe for the simple but scrumptious cherry-berry cobbler I made that evening in my beloved crockpot, a perfect tribute to both George Washington and getting creative with whatever cooking ingredients you have on hand:

• 1 can (20 ounce) cherry pie filling (“No Sugar Added” type is plenty sweet for this recipe)
• 4 cups frozen berries (any type of berry or combo will work just fine)
• 1 roll (16 ounce) prepared sugar cookie dough
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Slivered almonds or other chopped nuts (optional)
• 2 tablespoons of cherry liqueur or cherry bandy (optional)
• Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream

Spray the inside of the crockpot with a light coating of spray cooking oil to make cleanup easier. Mix the pie filling, frozen berries, cinnamon, and cherry liqueur/brandy together in the crockpot. Crumble or coarsely cube the sugar cookie dough, and spread it evenly across the top of the mixture. Top with almonds/nuts if desired.  Cook on high heat for 4 -5 hours, until cookie dough is browned and fully cooked, and the cobbler is bubbling.  Serve warm, with ice cream or whipped cream on top, and ideally on a snowy February night with some good friends around the table.

Photo by outdoorPDK via Flickr Creative Commons.

]]> http://blog.aarp.org/2012/02/21/cherry-berry-crockpot-cobbler-a-presidential-salute/feed/ 0 jeffyeagerultimatecheapskate Yeager blog cherries1 http://blog.aarp.org/2012/02/21/eprognosis-life-expectancy-website-older-patients/ http://blog.aarp.org/2012/02/21/eprognosis-life-expectancy-website-older-patients/#comments Tue, 21 Feb 2012 13:28:41 +0000 Elizabeth Nolan Brown http://blog.aarp.org/?p=19378 ]]> Crystal Ball 2.0: In the five weeks since a team of California doctors launched ePrognosis, the life expectancy-predicting website has attracted more than half a million visits. The site contains 16 questionnaires—or “prognosis calculators”—that can estimate an older patient’s survival odds for the next six months up to five years. Intended as a tool for geriatric doctors and other health professionals, many older patients are using the website themselves, says Alexander Smith, a geriatrics professor at the University of California. And to Smith, that’s a good thing.

We hope this will stimulate a national dialogue,” he said.

Prognosticating about life expectancy was once a typical part of what doctors did. But with today’s marvels of modern health care and technology, the focus has shifted to diagnosis and extending lives. Doctors and patients now are much less likely to discuss death and end-of-life planning—which can be awkward, depressing and difficult—as they are treatment options.

Yet a growing number of health care professionals and ethicists say the cost and benefits of screenings, surgery and end of life care for older patients need to be discussed more openly. Sometimes the cost or short-term risks associated with screenings, surgeries or medications exceed any potential benefit for patients with little time left.

The ePrognosis creators hope tools like the site’s calculators will help doctors and patients decide what kinds of tests and treatment are prudent or necessary. And it’s not all about cutting back—for older patients thought to have many healthy years ahead, this could mean care not generally recommended for people their age.

David Reuben, chief of geriatrics at UCLA’s medical school, says he just saw a patient like that. “She was 86 years old, and I told her that in her state of health, we need to be thinking about the next 15 years. She has a good chance of living over 100.” Reuben ordered a mammogram — a test not routinely recommended for women that age, who are very unlikely to die of breast cancer before they die of something else.

Tuesday Quick Hits: 

• For aging boomers, the workforce is fundamentally different than it was for their parents’ generation—and so are retirement prospects.

• Neuroscientists explore how your brain deals with financial risk or loss.

• Three insurance agents have been charged in a $100 million fraud scheme that involved taking out life insurance policies for straw buyers, when the true owners of the policies were third-party investors.

• And America needs to look for new roles for older citizens, says Stanford professor Laura Carstensen. ”The shame is that we’re only looking at the problems” of any aging population, she said. “There are problems, but we’re not looking for opportunities.”

Yeah, right.

Noisy hospital rooms are so pervasive, researchers at the University of Chicago decided to find out if patients’ sleep was suffering because of it.

To no one’s surprise, they found that hospital room noise levels are well above recommended levels and can spike to nearly that of a chainsaw.

“The hospital environment is certainly not a restful environment,” lead author Vineet Arora, M.D., told Reuters Health.

The study, published last month in the Archives of Internal Medicine, looked at 100 adult patients and found that noise levels in their rooms at night tended to be somewhat lower than during the day, but they almost always exceeded recommendations for average and maximum noise level.

According to World Health Organization recommendations, hospital room noise levels shouldn’t get above 30 to 40 decibels, but the Chicago researchers reported that the average noise level in patients’ rooms was close to 50 decibels, and sometimes spiked as high as 80 decibels — almost as loud as a chainsaw, they said.

Much of that extra noise was due to talking between doctors and nurses, but the loudest interruptions were from alarms and intercoms, Arora said.

The researchers found that in general, patients slept more than an hour less in the hospital than they’d reported sleeping at home, and often had restless, poor-quality sleep.

“One of the most common complaints that patients will report is that they had a difficult night sleeping,” a factor that could delay their recovery, Arora said.

And the problem is not getting better. In 2005, Ilene Busch-Vishniac, an acoustical scientist at McMaster University in Hamilton, Canada, analyzed recordings collected at dozens of hospitals around the world and found that hospital noise levels were about three or four times higher than they were in 1960.

Another sleep expert suggested that hospital patients wear noise-cancelling headphones in order to get some rest.

Unfortunately, the noise problem for recovering patients is a nothing new.

Pioneering nurse Florence Nightingale, writing in 1860, described unnecessary noise as “the most cruel absence of care which can be inflicted either on sick or well.”

In other health news:

Aging of the eyes blamed for range of health woes. A new body of research on the aging eye finds that the gradual yellowing of the lens and narrowing of the pupil as the eye ages contributes to a wide range of health problems, the New York Times reports. “We believe the effect is huge and that it’s just beginning to be recognized as a problem,” says one eye researcher.

Diet soda and heart attack risk. Older adults who drank diet soda every day were 44 percent more likely to suffer a heart attack, according to a new study. However, researchers caution that this does not prove sugar-free drinks are to blame — it could be that those who drink them daily tend to have other unhealthy habits.

Photo credit: heart-valve-surgery.com

Do you know who John Tyler was? What was your first thought? What about James Garfield? No, that is not the full name of the cat in the cartoon! Both of these men are past Presidents of The United States. This week we celebrate Presidents’ Day. Do you know who the twelfth president of the US was? Quick, no running through some poem or little song in your head you learned in third grade. I have no idea who he was; I’m not even going to try and lie about it. Do you know which President died one month into office? Or who the tallest President was? Do you know how many Presidents never attended college or which President was responsible for the annexation of Texas? Isn’t it amazing that this is a day that we set aside each year to honor these men, and yet we know so little about them. What did you do February 21st to celebrate Presidents’ Day?

There really are no traditions set aside for Presidents’ Day as there are for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Some people get a holiday; some don’t. However, this nation has been shaped and molded by the actions of these men we refer to as Presidents. These 44 men have served this country in a way that is unimaginable to me. Most of them go into office facing insurmountable odds. They are expected to make split second life alternating decisions, bring people together in times of stress and strife, and fight for the American way. It’s really hard for me to fathom how they juggle all this, and still try to make time for their personal life. There was actually only one president who was never married. Hmmmm, wondering who he was aren’t you? It was James Buchanan. If you said, oh yeah…you did not know that! Maybe the tradition that we can start is to try and honor these men with our actions and our choices.

As Americans we too have the ability to give back like all these men who we will be remembering. No, you are not a commander-in-chief, although sometimes SJ does tell me I act as if I am. However, we can emulate these men and the oaths they took when they placed their hand on the Bible on Inauguration Day. We can be difference makers and take part in the same ideals and principals that they did. Our choices and our actions can have an impact on the prosperity of our country. Let’s choose not to make racial statements; let’s choose not to use profanity; let’s choose to be helpful to others; let’s choose to be responsible; let’s choose to be kind to each other; let’s choose to make every effort we can to do the right thing; let’s choose to always tell the truth….does that sound difficult to you? It sounds Presidential to me. It can do nothing but strengthen this country’s foundation if we abide by these choices. These men believed they could make a difference and that is why they ran for office. You do not have to run for President to adopt these characteristic traits. You can make a difference even if you are not the President.

This situation somewhat mirrors our adoption of Michael Oher. Adoption is a wonderful thing, and I highly recommend it, yet it is not for everyone. We tell people even if you don’t adopt, there is something you can do in the life of a child to improve his or her lot in life. The same theory applies here. You don’t have to run for the office of President, yet you can have a presidential attitude and leave your footprint on this country. Let’s look at our founding fathers, reflect on their leadership, their bravery, and their belief in this great country of ours and maybe we can create some meaningful change. The current system seems to need a little adjusting to say the least. Our 34th President, Dwight D. Eisenhower, said it so well, “Our real problem, then is not our strength today; it is rather the vital necessity of action today to ensure our strength tomorrow.” Are you making good choices for tomorrow? Use all the skills you have been blessed with to create a lifetime of tomorrows for our county. Make this Presidents’ Day one in which you start a new tradition of reevaluating your commitment to doing what’s right. It will ensure long term success for our nation and hopefully grow men of character who will be future Presidents! By the way, the 12th president was Zachary Taylor. William Henry Harrison died one month into office. Lincoln was the tallest president, 8 presidents never attended college and John Tyler was responsible for the annexation of Texas! Happy Presidents’ Day.

Photo credit: yorgak on Flickr.

And if you think hearing loss is just a problem among the most senior adults, think again: The 50-somethings in this country are in denial over their worsening hearing.

There are 4.5 million adults ages 50 to 59 experiencing hearing problems, but only a measly 4.3 percent are using hearing aids.

The Hopkins researchers their study shows how under-treated hearing loss is in this country.

Among those in their 50s, many don’t even realize their hearing has been gradually worsening, or they think it’s a minor problem and they can get by.

“These people are still working and going to meetings,”  Frank Lin, M.D., assistant professor in the department of otolaryngology and epidemiology, told ABC News.  “They are the people who need it the most.”

In the study, published last week in the Archives of Internal Medicine, Lin and co-author Wade Chien, M.D., found that of the 26.7 million Americans age 50 and older suffering from “clinically significant, audiometrically defined,” or real, hearing loss, just one in seven used hearing aids. The results are based on federal health data collected from thousands of Americans from 1999 to 2006.

Among the biggest obstacles to people using hearing aids — other than vanity and denial — is that few insurance plans in the U.S. cover them, Lin said. However, even in parts of the world where the devices are covered, the rate of usage is not much better than in this country, he added.

Also, those in their 50s who did get hearing aids often stopped wearing them because of insufficient counseling and training.

Hearing aids, said Lin, are “complex devices. It’s not like putting on eyeglasses.”

Lin and other hearing experts say ignoring hearing loss can have serious negative consequences. It can affect thinking and memory, and can lead to social isolation, depression and even dementia.

In other health news:

Acid reflux can change your voice. Heartburn — or acid reflux disease — is annoying, increases the risk of more serious esophageal illness and, researchers now say, impairs your voice, the L.A. Times reports.

Medicine by microchip. A wireless microchip, implanted in a small group of Danish women, delivered daily doses of osteoporosis medicine, raising hope for a new kind of drug delivery system that would allow patients to avoid injections.

New drug approved to treat glaucoma. The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new drug, Zioptan, to treat open-angle glaucoma, the most common form of the disease. The new drug reduces the mounting pressure within the eye that damages the optic nerve. According to drug-maker Merck & Co., Zioptan is the first preservative-free form of this type of medication. Preservatives used with some glaucoma drugs have been linked to some adverse side effects.

Photo credit: Infobarrel.com

Our guest blogger Michelle Seitzer.

Series recap: We opened with an overview of the levels of senior care and housing, then continued with tips on how to initiate a conversation about options and search for the best care. Next, we focused on independent living and assisted living; dove into assisted living in greater detail; and now, we’ll answer some of the most common questions about this level of service.

Ultimately, choosing assisted living care often comes down to these basics:

How can I pay for assisted living?

Like independent living, assisted living is primarily private pay only. More states are now recognizing assisted living as part of the home and community-based services (HCBS) spectrum, which means that Medicaid may cover a portion of the cost (typically, room and board) for eligible seniors in participating states. Families may use retirement/pension funds, proceeds from a home sale, Social Security income, funds from long term care/health care insurance coverage to pay the bill. To learn more about what Medicare may, in special circumstances, cover on the home care or assisted living fronts, visit Medicare.gov/LongTermCare.

Who provides assisted living care and services?

Nurses, CNAs (certified nurses’ aides), nursing assistants, activity directors, dining staff, administrative staff, directors of nursing (DONs), executive directors, caregivers, physical therapists, social workers, and chauffeurs are among the many staff members you’ll find in assisted living communities and home care agencies. Professional background, years/type of experience, and training requirements are determined by the provider, often in accordance with state regulations.

How are assisted living communities licensed?

Assisted living communities and home care agencies are licensed by the state (generally the state department of health, aging services, or public welfare), so regulatory requirements in Alaska and Alabama are completely unique. Go to the National Center on Assisted Living’s Regulatory Review for a listing of each state’s specific guidelines.

Where can I find assisted living options?

Check out ElderCare.gov, the Assisted Living Federation of America, the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging or the National Center for Assisted Living.

Next post: Taking a closer look at skilled nursing and ancillary care services. Stay tuned! Here’s the Closer Look series to date:

• Week 1:  Housing Choices: Find the Right Home for You or Your Loved One
• Week 2:  Starting the Search for Care: When and How
• Week 3:  How to Choose the Best Care and Housing Provider
• Week 4:  Taking a Closer Look at Independent Living
• Week 5:  A Closer Look at Assisted Living
• Week 6:  A Closer Look at Assisted Living, part 2

Editor’s Notes: Michelle Seitzer has blogged for the senior living search site SeniorsforLiving.com since 2008, and is the co-moderator of #ElderCareChat, a bi-monthly Twitter-facilitated discussion group for family and professional caregivers.

John Glenn in orbit. So, where's MY silver suit??

Where were you? Fifty years ago this week, my whole kindergarten class gathered in Mrs. Kipp’s room to hear the news reports as John Glenn became the first American to soar into orbit (no classroom TVs in those days—a transistor radio did the job).

We all sat there amazed, dreaming of the not-far-off day when we, too, would float weightless in space. And by the time Neil Armstrong walked on the moon not 10 years later, we knew there’s be no stopping us.

Well, here we are. And unless Richard Branson comes knocking on my door with a $200,000 gift certificate for a ride on his Virgin Galactic space plane, I’m not going to fulfill my childhood dream of rocketing into the Void anytime soon.

 That’s why I’m glad filmmakers have been merrily creating simulated space trips for more than a century.

CLICK HERE TO SEE A GALLERY OF MY FAVORITE SPACE MOVIES OF ALL TIME…

“The Celebrity Apprentice” returns tonight (2/19), and, as the Wall Street Journal pointed out, “Star Trek” and gay rights icon George Takei is the season’s biggest get.   I called him up to find out how things went during filming.  Brad Altman, George’s husband since 2008 – and man in life for 21 years before that – passed the phone over to him.

“It was fun, stressful, bracing, engaging, exhausting, enriching and exhilarating,” George said.  “It brought a smile, a frown, a tear of both joy and stress.”

I could listen all day to George waxing poetic in that euphonic baritone of his.  But we had to move on.  How did liberal George find dealing with Mitt Romney endorser Donald Trump?

“Our give and take was limited to the formal parts that you see on TV,  in the boardroom and when he is giving instructions,” he replied.   Of course, George, whose world is large enough to encompass Howard Stern as well as the Human Rights Campaign, could probably get along with just about anyone.  He tries to be a gentleman, he said, and added, ” I can work with The Donald, or Rick Santorum.”

He particularly enjoyed teaming with fellow contestant Penn Jillette, whom he considers “a very good leader.  He’s very good at picking up on people’s strengths and shortcomings, and organizing them in the best way.”

This season’s cast of 18 celebrities includes seven in their fifties or sixties, in addition to George, who is 74.  Those are: Penn, Twisted Sister’s Dee Snider, Lou Ferrigno, Arsenio Hall, “American Chopper’s” Paul Teutul Sr., funny lady Lisa Lampanelli and Cheryl Tiegs.  The business projects they’re asked to undertake are tough — but not as tough as trying to restore the ratings luster that faded from the show last season.   As George would say:  Oh, my.

Black History month celebrates the perseverance of a determined people. Each year we’re reminded of how African Americans have survived, overcome and excelled despite major obstacles, challenges and injustices.

Edna Kane-Williams

Black women have always figured prominently in African-American progress, from education to entrepreneurship to activism. As strong pillars of their families and communities, African-American mothers often sacrificed their own advancement to make sure their children got a good education for a chance at a better future.

Women take pride in caring for others – children, spouses, loved ones as they age – often at their own expense. They readily forgo time, money, health and career opportunities to secure the well-being of family and friends. And like Black women before them, they meet these challenges courageously, head on.

AARP recognizes and supports Black women and their commitment to family. The Association wants to raise awareness about its available resources to help women appreciate themselves more by improving their earning potential through education and planning for their future.

Research shows women are at greater risk of having insufficient financial resources in the second half of life due to lower earnings and work patterns that often differ dramatically from most men – like taking time off to raise children, caring for family members, working in part-time positions or in jobs without significant benefits.

Today, access to education has improved exponentially and young Black women are earning undergraduate and graduate degrees in numbers unimaginable half-a-century ago. However, hard-working older Black women with basic educations, limited incomes and benefits, also dream of achieving new levels of financial stability and success, but can’t afford advanced training or college education.

For these women, AARP Foundation’s Women’s Scholarship Program is creating opportunities to support their dreams. Last year, AARP Foundation awarded over $500 thousand dollars in scholarships, ranging from $500 to $5,000 each, to low income older women of all backgrounds; one fourth of the recipients were African American. This assistance helped them get into college and training programs that had been out of reach. Now, they’re adding value to the lifetime of skill and ability they’ve already developed.

The scholarship application period for the 2012-2013 academic year will be open until Friday, March 30, 2012 at 5:00P.M. CST.

But education is only part of the equation. Many women have cared for one or more older relatives, but haven’t considered their own needs for the future. That’s why AARP developed a campaign dedicated to helping women start planning for the future they envision for themselves – Decide. Create. Share.^SM

Specifically, the campaign tools help women think about important long-term plans, such as how they’ll maintain their best health; what long-term care costs they’ll face down the line and how to cover them; how to make sure their long-term wishes will be honored through advance directives; and how and where they want to live as they get older. While at AARP’s site, African-American women, family and friends can also visit the Black Community page to interact online with other 50+ African Americans.

 During February especially, African Americans work diligently to promote growth in the present to create an even greater legacy for future generations. AARP and the AARP Foundation are proud to be part of that growth.

Boomers are lovin their smartphones.  Take a look around a local coffee shop at mid-day and you’ll see throngs of Boomers reading and punching away on them.

Check out all of the tables and sometimes you see two or three Boomers together, all on their individual smartphones—doing what we chastise our kids for doing—not talking to each other.

“I love my smartphone, my 60 year-old sister-in-law says.  “I use it while waiting in doctors’ offices for my appointments, I can catch up on my email, play games, I’m never alone,” she exclaims.

My sister-in-law is a big smartphone gamer; and sometimes I have to remind her to get her eye off the smartphone and back into our conversation.

Being the first one to have something new, or being “in the know” is a badge of honor for Boomers.  So it’s only natural to find them showing off their latest downloaded app to their friends.

“Check this out,” I hear one middle-age-man say to his buddy.  “This app is great.  I can keep all my data in it and I can access it wherever I am,” he explains about Dropbox.

“Really,” his friend adds.  “Show me how it works.”

And for the next half-hour these two guys are engrossed in operating a new app.

According to Dr. Ken Dychtwald, author of Age Wave,   Boomers make excellent product advocates.

Here’s why:

•   On average, most baby boomers are asked for product or service recommendations about 90   times per year.

• Nearly 90 percent of boomers who were asked to give advice gave it to their fellow boomers.
• Practically all boomers consider their family and friends to be their most trusted sources of information

Add that to the recent findings of eMarketer that 86% of Boomers own mobile phones and that the Internet will be accessed via mobile browsers or installed apps by nearly 25% of this demographic—it’s easy to understand what the chatter is all about.

So here are 8 free apps that my Boomer friends have told me “I just had to download” and the implication if I didn’t download them—I would be out of it, so uncool.  And Boomers still do not want to be uncool.

• Dropbox—this is a recommendation from my business friends who travel between office and home, or between their northern homesteads and their snowbird houses in the south and west.  Dropbox lets you bring your photos, docs, and videos anywhere and share them easily. You load it on your computer and your smartphone then you never email yourself a file again.  It’s easy to use and easy to set up.
• Flixster– Read reviews, get customer ratings, see screenshots, and learn more about movies.  You can find the theaters, get show times, and watch trailers (what many Boomers once called previews).  It’s fast, visual and easy to use.
• Words with Friends—this app is a takeoff of Scrabble.  This is a personal favorite of my sister-in-law, who plays it at every opportunity with friends and strangers.   It’s mostly played on smartphones and iPads.  Very good to keep your mind engaged.
• Whitepages—Stop paying for directory assistance calls from your phone.  Use this free, easy to use app from your smartphone.  Find, people, businesses and reverse phone lookups from those unknown numbers that show up on your phone.
• Zite—this is probably one of the coolest sites I’ve seen in a long time.  Users select categories of magazines that interest them.   Then as you read articles on certain subjects, Zite sends you more articles on those subjects.  You have options to email the articles to others or save them later to read on your iPad.  This app is so incredible you have to try it yourself to grasp the full experience.
• The Weather Channel—More than 200 meteorologists provide interactive and beautiful hour by hour weather imagery.  Great for planning outdoor activities, car washes or snow shoveling.
• WebMD—first aid information, symptom checkers, drugs and treatments, information on various conditions and local health listings.  There are also many videos on treatments and common conditions like bad backs, fevers, diabetes signs.  An excellent app for Boomers and Seniors.
• Flashlight—So easy and so helpful.  With a single touch your phone turns into a valuable flashlight that can be used to find your keys or read a menu.  Great app.

Suzie Mitchell is a 25 year PR vet who specializes in marketing tech products to Baby Boomers.  She is a professional journalist and public affairs and public relations consultant.  She also is the co-author of the book Growing Into Grace: Adventures in Self Discovery through Writing. Follow her on Twitter here.

Colette Cassidy’s Mom with her youngest child several years ago. Her family was already seeing memory problems and increased anxiety, but never dreamed it was Alzheimer’s.

As many times as I read reflections of a daughter writing about her mother with Alzheimer’s, it never gets old; it never fails to punch me in the stomach; it never fails to make me tear up.  Such is the case with Colette Cassidy, a former news anchor, trained to be dispassionate about every story.  But there is no being dispassionate about your mother living with Alzheimer’s.  Thank you, Colette, for sharing your poignant story:

As a TV reporter, I thought I had seen it all.  In Philadelphia I covered every local story imaginable, and travelled for hurricanes, political conventions, a presidential impeachment and the Grammys.  At MSNBC I anchored brief news updates and hours of breaking news, including live coverage of an impending storm called Katrina.

But every event I’ve covered, every story I’ve told, pales in comparison to the one I’m witnessing right now: the horrors of Alzheimer’s disease.

My mother has Early Onset Alzheimer’s, an aggressive form of the disease that hits before the age of 65, often in the 40’s and 50’s. My mother started showing symptoms in her 50’s and is now in the final stages of this horrific disease.

I use the word “horrific”, but the truth is, there is no word sufficient to describe the way Alzheimer’s ravages a human being and human mind, and the exhausting, heart wrenching journey loved ones are on as they struggle to care for someone who no longer knows them.

Like many Americans, I quickly realized how much I didn’t know about Alzheimer’s.  Even though my grandfather also had it, I was not prepared for how it would hit my mother.  A friend who went through it said, “It comes at you with the speed and force of a freight train, and there’s nothing you can do to stop it.”

How true.  I learned Alzheimer’s is much more than memory loss.  Forgetfulness is just the beginning, the earliest symptoms.  The disease slowly kills brain cells, robbing the victim of their most basic functions and abilities.

So my mother, married 48 years with 6 children and even more grandchildren, doesn’t know her husband. She doesn’t think she ever had children.  She rarely recognizes her large, loving family.

But more than that, a lifelong elementary school teacher can no longer follow simple instructions.

She doesn’t understand the difference between left and right, up and down. She is confused by a toothbrush, has used it to brush her hair.

She looks at a meal, unsure of how to eat, how to even pick up a sandwich.

She lives in a world that is increasingly confusing and foreign to her, which leads to uncharacteristic bouts of anger and suspicion. She needs constant supervision. And she is only 68 years old.

Women my mother’s age are anchoring evening newscasts, hosting talk shows, working as executives.  Others are enjoying retirement, travelling, spending time with family. All this has been stolen from my mother – and father – by Alzheimer’s.

It took us several years to recognize and accept my mother’s condition.  We knew something was wrong, she was suddenly asking the same question repeatedly. Where are we going? Who was just here? An expert says it’s the inability to “learn” new information, to remember the answer to an already asked question. She would re-introduce herself to people at events, forgetting she had already said hello.  She began hugging us repeatedly.

Do you call the doctor because someone is hugging you more?

Since she was young, we were given (and were maybe quick to believe) other reasons for her behavior.  A neurologist said while it might be Alzheimer’s, it could be anxiety, and we should be hopeful.

We’ve now learned my mother was “compensating”, a term for how an Alzheimer’s patient tries to cover their condition. For my Mom, it was lists and calendars that she studied faithfully.  She could tell you what day it was, not because she knew it, but because she studied it. She had instructions for preparing breakfast, how to get to the store, directions to her daughter’s house and a description of her granddaughter. My mother is one of the smartest people I know, and that helped her hide the disease from her closest loved ones.

My Aunt Gertrude recalls my mother fussing over a list once, confiding that her memory was “getting really bad.”  But she never confided her concerns to my father.  Maybe she thought she could outsmart it.  Maybe she wanted to protect her husband and children as long as she could. I think she was desperately trying to hold on to normalcy, even as Alzheimer’s was giving her the fight of her life.

I now know that Alzheimer’s disease is the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S. without any treatment, cure, or way to slow its progression.  Every expert I’ve spoken to, every article I’ve read, warns it’s on the verge of exploding - with the potential to destroy relationships, bankrupt families, and bring our health care system to a breaking point.

While other major diseases decline, Alzheimer’s is rising, up 66% in just 8 years according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

The increase in cases is startling.  A leading researcher at the University of Pennsylvania said, “I fear it will be a natural disaster worse than Hurricane Katrina… it is terrifying.”  Last June experts testified before members of Congress that Alzheimer’s is “the single most significant health crisis of the 21^st century.”

Do you know someone who survived cancer, a heart attack or stroke? You don’t know any survivors of Alzheimer’s.  There are none.

The reporter in me wants to share these facts as thoroughly as I can.

The daughter in me wants to somehow save my mother, or at least do something to stop the disease and save someone else’s.

I don’t want anyone else to go through the horror of Alzheimer’s.  Explaining it and experiencing it are two very different things. I don’t want anyone to see the confusion and terror in a parent’s eyes that I have seen in my mother’s.  I don’t want your children to see it in you.

You do not want a front row seat to this disease. Trust me.

We need to make fighting Alzheimer’s a national priority. And we need to end it in the most fitting way: let’s make it a distant memory.

You can contact Colette Cassidy at ccalz@hotmail.com and follow her on Twitter @cc4alz.

Photo courtesy Colette Cassidy.

Who Do You Trust?

Republican presidential candidates Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich have all embraced some of the ideas laid out by Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., whose 2011 Medicare plan would have abolished traditional Medicare for those under 55, replacing it with a “premium support” system that would give a set amount of money to beneficiaries to shop for private health coverage.

Romney’s Medicare reform plan would use the premium support model laid out by Ryan, but also allow Medicare beneficiaries who like the current government-run insurance plan to opt for that instead of private insurance. It’s a compromise similar to the one proposed by Ryan and Sen. Ron Wyden, D- Ore., in December. Gingrich also endorsed the Wyden-Paul compromise plan. Santorum said he supports the plan, but he’d rather it didn’t preserve traditional Medicare.

President Obama, on the other hand, wrote in his 2013 budget plan that he would “not support … efforts to turn Medicare into a voucher.”

The president says he wants to preserve Medicare’s current guarantee to cover set benefits, but curb costs through greater efficiencies, such as strengthening incentives for doctors, hospitals and other health care providers to give high-quality care, and cutting expenditures for those who get care through the Medicare Advantage program. …

In his budget proposal, the president sought additional savings by increasing premiums for higher-income beneficiaries, raising the price for some home health care services and increasing efforts to reduce fraud and waste.

Ron Paul’s Medicare plans are vague (he’s previously called the program unconstitutional, but also admitted that doing away with it wasn’t practical).

Meanwhile, two Republican senators Thursday unveiled a new Medicare overhaul proposal. It features a quicker transition to private health insurance plans for many older adults, a gradual increase in the Medicare eligibility age, and higher premiums for middle-class and upper-income retirees. The plan itself is unlikely to go anywhere this year, but it will help define the debate for presidential and congressional candidates this year.

Friday Quick Hits: 

• Age discrimination suits are on the rise—but becoming harder to win.

• Psychiatrists debate whether grief is the same as depression.

• With older adults working even as they begin collecting Social Security or taking distributions from retirement accounts, financial experts say a tax strategy for “retirement” has never been more important.

• A new device can deliver medication via a remote-controlled microchip implant. It’s “equivalent to an injection without the pain or trouble,” said researcher Robert Farra.

• And beginning with spending levels at age 65, household expenditure falls by 19 percent by age 75, 34 percent by age 85, and 52 percent by age 95, according to a new study.

Last week here at the office they changed out my computer, and for some reason that forced to the front of my desktop the file into which I have been dumping these audio files for upwards of a decade. Some are interview fragments, some are movie clips, some are music snippets. This morning, rather than my usual musical background, I clicked onto the first of the sound clips and just let the whole collection roll.

What resulted was a strangely fascinating stream-of-consciousness cavalcade of unexpected sound bites.

Here are some of my favorites:

The last moments of the Wicked Witch of the West

Excedrin Commercial, 1964: Grumpy Hubby

Fred Flintstone Hawking Winston Cigarettes, The Flintstones, 1961

Larry Bud Melman Introduces the first episode of Late Night With David Letterman, 1982

Soupy Sales Performs The Mouse on Ed Sullivan, Feb. 9, 1964, warming up the audience for The Beatles

The Greatest Movie Soliloquy of All Time: Robert Shaw, The Indianapolis, Jaws

Director David Lynch (Eraserhead) explains to me how meditation changed his life, and why it should be taught in schools,  2007

James Cagney and Edward G. Robinson: Two of Hollywood’s original tough guys

Johnny Carson Introduces First-Time Tonight Show stand-up by Rita Rudner, Drew Carey, David Brenner, Roseanne Barr, Steven Wright, Jerry Seinfeld, plus Rodney Dangerfield. From the terrific DVD set The Best of the Tonight Show: Stand-Up Comics.

It was less than two years ago that advocates, legislators and state government got together to craft legislation that has significantly improved care and safety conditions for thousands of nursing home residents in Illinois. AARP was at the center of the reform along with SEIU, Illinois Citizens for Better Care, The Jane Addams Senior Caucus, and the Community Renewal Society.  State Senators Heather Steans and Jacqueline Collins, and State Reps. Barbara Flynn-Currie and Sara Feigenholtz championed the legislation in the General Assembly, and Gov. Quinn signed it into law on July 29, 2010.

The law was necessary to correct intolerable conditions for nursing home residents that had been reported by several media outlets, especially the Chicago Reporter and the Chicago Tribune and highlighted by national reports. The new law enhanced staffing ratios so that residents received adequate staff time, established penalties for underperforming institutions, and improved screening processes.

The law was a significant first step to correct serious issues and protect residents from unsafe conditions and substandard care.

But it was exactly that – a first step. Further steps are needed so that residents can age with dignity and safety while receiving the quality of care they need.

That’s why AARP is working again with its advocacy partners and the General Assembly to craft a second round of reforms aimed at strengthening the law.

State Representative Kelly Cassidy (D-14) will be the chief sponsor of a  bill requiring that all resident deaths be immediately reported to the state even if the death does not happen inside a facility; cases of abuse and neglect would also be immediately reported to the state and the resident’s next of kin; all facilities must maintain insurance against risks from neglect of a resident; facilities must cooperate with the State Police to train staff on abuse prevention; and facilities must comply with enhanced training requirements for staff, including an increase in minimum age and education requirements for nurses.

Additionally, the bill would require that the same nurses are assigned to the same residents to the extent possible, except in those cases where nurses request reassignment.

Keep checking back as we will be providing updates on this critical piece of legislation.

Quick tip: If you have concerns about a certain nursing home facility, click on this link to access contact information for Illinois’ Long Term Care Ombudsman.

A Supreme Court ruling, combined with a seemingly never-ending cycle of long-term unemployment, has had a chilling effect on age discrimination cases. They’re more frequent and harder to prove, according to experts cited in this NPR Morning Edition segment.

People over 50 don’t need news headlines to tell them that age discrimination is alive and well. They know firsthand.

On average, it takes someone age 55 or over three months longer to find a job than a younger person. Many 50+ workers can relate to the plight of Jack Gross, who was 54 and a vice president at FBL Financial, when he was among a dozen employees demoted in the wake of a merger. Although there has been some progress in the battle against age discrimination, more can — and should — be done. 

From hiring to firing and everywhere in between, age discrimination shows up throughout the entire employment life cycle (HR-speak for the time when you get recruited to join a company to when you leave). The tough economy and high unemployment across all age groups certainly doesn’t help.

If you want to take a glass half-full view, there are some silver linings to the Gross v. FBL case.

More public awareness about age discrimination. There is periodic media attention about the many forms of age discrimination (Speedos, anyone?), and finding out more about the issue isn’t hard. Just ask someone you know who is is 50+ and unemployed about their experiences. It will likely be eye-opening and perhaps heart-wrenching — especially if they’re among the long-term unemployed. The good news: more employers also want things to change.

Resources to help employers be more age-aware (and it can start with you). AARP has partnered with SHRM, the world’s leading membership organization for HR leaders, in an effort to help combat age discrimination and raise awareness among employers. Business owners, leaders, managers, workers — anyone who cares about this issue — can talk to someone in your HR department and let them know about the AARP-SHRM Workforce Assessment Tool.

More employers seeing the value of older workers. Some progressive organizations and hiring managers are ahead of the curve on the wisdom and bottom-line benefits of hiring and retaining older workers. Success stories come in many forms, from employers who won a Best Employers for Workers Over 50 Award to a timely opportunity for DC-area baseball fans.

The Washington Nationals had so much success with mature workers last season that they’re partnering with AARP’s Washington, D.C. Office to spread the word about February job fairs. We call that a home run.

Greater success in the lower courts. According to Dan Kohrman of AARP Foundation Litigation, some plaintiffs are having better luck winning age discrimination cases in state courts. As noted in the NPR interview, New York, Michigan and several other states are seeing an uptick in favorable rulings.

The bottom line: we need to take heart at progress while stepping up efforts to move forward. When I got my first full-time job, entry-level women in my field were generally hired as receptionists and secretaries. Men with the same qualifications were junior account executives, with higher pay. Fair, no. Reality in the 1980s? Yep.

Fortunately, times have changed.

Let’s hope that sooner rather than later, age awareness will be right up there with topics like diversity and gender discrimination and preventing sexual harassment. And I hope things change not just because of court rulings or legal threats, but because more and more employers will see that it makes good business sense to value older workers, and to prevent discrimination – age-based, and in all other forms.

Employers, now is your chance. Carpe diem.

Readers, what do you think needs to happen to combat age discrimination? Comment below to weigh in.

Are you 50+ and looking for a job? Find helpful resources at www.aarp.org/work. See more on age discrimination on our web site, from legal definitions to first-hand accounts, to what to do if you think you’ve been a victim to making your case. Get resources to prevent age discrimination if you’re an employer, and learn about the  AARP Foundation Litigation team’s work in this area.

Photo via NPR’s Morning Edition web site. 

Missing Out? 

Many Baby Boomers might think mom and dad are doing OK,” says Sandy Markwood, chief executive officer of n4a. “It’s really a time to find out and make sure they’re safe. There might be free services to help them if they need it.”

The NCOA and n4a’s new campaign, “You Gave, Now Save,” aims to reach the “millions of low-income Americans who are struggling to make ends meet” yet “missing out on billions of dollars of services and benefits that can help them,” said James Firman, president and CEO of NCOA. The economic downturn has been rough on older Americans, and the winter months—with their high heating bills—are especially tough for folks living on a fixed-income. According to U.S. Census data, nearly one in 10 older Americans lives below the federal poverty level.

To see if you or your loved ones qualify for assistance, visit the NCOA’s website, BenefitsCheckUp, which lists more than 2,000 public and private programs for low-income seniors. In 2011, 71% of all BenefitsCheckUp users were missing out on potential benefits, NCOA reports. It claims to have helped 3,079,331 people find over $11.1 billion worth of benefits since launching BenefitsCheckUp 10 years ago.

AARP Foundation, the charitable wing of AARP, also provides an online tool to check whether or not you qualify for benefits. Visit www.aarp.org/quicklink to access the AARP Benefits QuickLINK tool. And you can check with the U.S. Administration on Aging’s Eldercare Locator (eldercare.gov, 1-800-677-1116) to find local agencies that offer support.

Thursday Quick Hits:

• More American retirement communities find a niche with LGBT seniors.

• Writer and FierceWithAge CEO Carol Orsborn thanks the Grammys for “using the world stage to demonstrate that old is not synonymous with hopelessness, marginalization or abandonment.”

• And home health care companies are fighting an Obama administration proposal to require them to pay home health aids the federal minimum wage.

Photo: Evy Mages/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Because even though it’s the slowest start in 30 years, the flu season has officially begun, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

In its FluView Surveillance Report, the CDC reports that for the first time this season, more than 10 percent of respiratory samples collected in the U.S. tested positive for the flu. According to the CDC, surpassing 10 percent means “flu season is beginning.”

The highest number of flu outbreaks have been reported in California, the L.A. Times reports. The central and northwestern U.S. regions are reporting an increase in influenza-like illnesses, with Missouri, Texas and Virginia reporting localized upticks.

People most at risk for flu are those age 65 and older, as well as those with chronic diseases or weakened immune systems. If you haven’t gotten a flu vaccine shot, it takes two weeks to take effect, so hop to it.

In the meantime, wash your hands or use sanitizer and stay away from sniffling, sneezing folks, if you can.

If you want to track the spread of flu in real time, there are several ways to do it:

*FluNearYou uses first-person reports to monitor the spread of flu nationwide. The project, a joint effort of Children’s Hospital Boston, the Skoll Global Threats Fund and the American Public Health Association, already has attracted more than 2,000 people willing to report weekly about their flu symptoms, according to msnbc.com. The goal is to speed up monitoring to be better able to predict where the flu will strike next. Participants register, and then agree to fill out weekly surveys that ask whether they’ve suffered flu symptoms such as aches, chills, fever and coughing in the past week, or whether they’ve had no symptoms at all. They’re also asked to report whether they’ve received flu shots.

*Google Flu Trends is an analysis based on users’ search terms related to flu symptoms. It lets experts detect flu at least two weeks faster than the laboratory-confirmed surveillance system used by public health officials, including the CDC.

*FluView is the CDC site for tracking influenza based on laboratory-tested samples. It also includes a weekly summary of flu findings.

In other health news:

Rules force hospitals to trash scarce drugs. Mounting shortages of crucial drugs are creating a new dilemma for the nation’s hospital pharmacists, who say they find themselves caught between breaking government rules for storage and safety — or throwing away vital and lifesaving medications, an investigative report by msnbc.com finds.

Red means lead: FDA analysis find the most contaminated among popular red lipsticks. The recent analysis of 400 types of lipsticks found many contaminated with elevated levels of lead. Five lipsticks made by L’Oreal and Maybelline ranked among the top 10 most contaminated of the cosmetics, the Washington Post reports. Two Cover Girl and two NARS lipsticks also landed in the top 10, as did one made by Stargazer. Check out your favorite brand by clicking on this link to the FDA list.

Get a grip. Hand grip strength and walking speed may predict risk of dementia. Simple tests such as walking speed and hand grip strength may help doctors determine how likely it is a middle-aged person will develop dementia or stroke, according to a new study of more than 2,400 adults, average age 62, at Boston Medical Center.

Photo credit: jcblair.org

“I’m thrilled to be here.  There are terrific people working on this show,” she notes.  She’s glad not to be carrying the series.  “That’s Poppy Montgomery’s job, and she’s really good at it.  I pop in as needed, and I like that a lot.”

Jane knows what it’s like to star in an hour drama from her experience making a pilot that never sold years ago: “I was in every scene and we worked 17-hour days which is just wrong.”  In fact, she says she was so punchy from fatigue, she jumped off the third floor ledge of a Federal Building instead of pretending to almost jump.  The director planned to cut and then have stunt people substitute for her and Peter Riegert, but “When he said, ‘One, two, three,’ I was airborne.  I landed in the dumpster they had set up.”

Jane stays in touch with cast mates from all three of her former long-running shows.  “I saw John on Monday,” she says during a Thursday’s conversation, speaking of her “3rd Rock From the Sun” cohort, John Lithgow.   “I saw Bill Murray and Laraine Newman two weeks ago,” she says of those fellow “Saturday Night Live” alumni.  And she occasionally sees her former fellow “Kate & Allie” title star, Susan Saint James.  “Susan and I bump into each other at this great clothing store in Litchfield that we both go to.”  Now, that would be worth seeing.

But over the years I’ve learned that even in February, in many parts of the country, there are some yard and garden chores you can already get cracking on. Best of all, by getting an early start you can save some serious green – as in cashola – come springtime, when most gardening rookies break out their hedge trimmers for the season. 

Consider these money-saving gardening tips to tackle in February:

• Start plants from seeds indoors: Save big money by growing vegetables and flowers from seeds rather than buying them as seedlings in the spring. In general, you want to start the seeds indoors, approximately 6-8 weeks before the date of the expected last frost in your area. Find more info on starting plants from seeds here. 
• Get garden equipment and tools in shape: Bring your lawnmower and other garden equipment in for repairs and tune-ups now, before repair shops are overwhelmed by the spring rush. You may even be able to get a discount on repairs just by asking nicely, since this is traditionally a slow period for this service industry.
• Stock up on rock salt for summer weed control: I always keep my eyes open at the end of snowy season, when many retailers sell their remaining supplies of rock salt for next to nothing. I use it in the spring and summer to control weeds on gravel and mulch-covered garden paths and other selected outdoor areas. That’s just one money-saving alternative to traditional chemical-based herbicides that I discuss in this article.
• Contract for outdoor building projects now: If you’re planning to add an outdoor deck or patio, or maybe install a fence or retaining wall, this could be the month to get a bargain price from your local contractor. For so-called “hardscape” projects like these, it may be sufficiently warm to have the work done now, before contractors get overwhelmed with work in the spring and their prices often increase. Also, this is a good time of year to prune many types of trees or have unwanted trees removed.
• Don’t throw that away! From worn-out pantyhose and little slivers of soap, to eggshells and coffee grounds, there are all kinds of would-be throw-away items you can stockpile now to repurpose in the yard and garden this summer. Here’s how.  

And be sure to take a moment in February to simply appreciate the solitude and beauty of nature in winter. It’s free, and like that stale houseguest, eventually you may kind of miss it once it’s gone.

Photo by Ennor via Flickr Creative Commons.

Medicare Fraud “Strike Forces” Off to a Good Start:

I am particularly proud to note that FBI activity resulted in the dismantling of nearly 70 criminal enterprises engaged in health-care fraud, and the operational disruption of more than 230 criminal fraud organizations.”

The Obama administration has been focused on fighting Medicare fraud and general health care fraud—and it seems efforts are paying off. Between 2009 and 2011, the federal government collected $7.20 for every dollar spent fighting fraud (up from $5.10 per dollar spent from 1997 to 2008). The $4.1 billion recovered in 2011 is the highest amount ever recovered in a single year. And the number of health-care fraud defendants charged (more than 1,400) was also at an all-time high.

Much of the success can be attributed to the Medicare Fraud Strike Forces, said Holder. The strike forces were sent to nine areas with high rates of suspected Medicare fraud: Miami, Los Angeles, Detroit, Houston, Brooklyn, Baton Rouge, Tampa, Chicago and Dallas. Medicare data on these ares show “hot spots of unexplained billing levels.”

Medicare fraud costs taxpayers billions of dollars and drives up health care costs for everyone. For more on how you can avoid health care scams and how AARP is working to stop fraud, see our “Fight Health Care Fraud” page. 

Wednesday Quick Hits: 

• Healthy older adults are happier than any other age group, according to a new study coming out in the Journal of Aging Research. 

• Why aren’t Latinos in the U.S. saving more for retirement? Forbes blogger Kerry Hannon says there are cultural issues at play.

• Same retirement issues around the world: Elderly farmers in Taiwan have to keep working to keep their insurance and annuities.

• Those who love what they do and don’t feel stressed by it—a group researchers are calling “engaged workaholics”—may not suffer the same ill effects (more heart attacks, more divorces, poorer social relationships) as classic, compulsively driven workaholics do.

• And millions of older Americans could be missing out on aid that could help pay for food, medicine and heating, according to the National Council on Aging. The group has launched a campaign, “You Gave, Now Save,” to raise awareness about the funds that are available for low-income retirees.

Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

And that’s exactly what a new study, published this week in the Journal of the American Medication Association, has found.

Antibiotics are no more effective at ending a simple sinus infection than just relieving the symptoms with nonprescription medicine and waiting for the infection to pass.

Researchers with the medical school at Washington University in St. Louis found that an antibiotic, like amoxicillin, didn’t relieve symptoms or get patients back to work any sooner than taking a placebo.

“Compared to a placebo, amoxicillin doesn’t seem to provide any benefits,” study author Jane Garbutt, an associate professor of medicine and pediatrics, told CNN. “In terms of patient satisfaction, side effects, symptom relief, days missed from work, et cetera, we did not see any difference.”

Many sinus infections are caused by a virus, which won’t respond to antibiotics, but even bacterial sinus infections aren’t helped much by an antibiotic.

“Most patients get better despite antibiotics, not because of them,” says Garbutt.

The study involved 166 adults age 18 to 70 with moderate to severe sinus infections. Half of the subjects took amoxicillin three times a day for 10 days, and the other half took a placebo. In addition, every patient was given acetaminophen, cough medicine, and decongestants to use as needed.

Both groups reported that their symptoms improved at the same rate, although the antibiotic group at day seven said they felt measurably better than the placebo group. Unfortunately, the improvement wasn’t big enough to make a difference to most patients, researchers said.

The main reason doctors prescribe antibiotics is that patients have come to expect them, Garbutt and her colleagues wrote. Currently, one of every five prescriptions for antibiotics in the U.S. is written for a sinus infection.

One solution, Garbutt says, might be to give patients a prescription, but tell them to fill it only if symptoms worsen, a common protocol in Europe.

In other health news:

Uh-oh. Flu season has started. After the slowest start to flu season in decades, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports flu is on the rise.

Reduce your blood pressure. Go for a swim. Swimming reduces blood pressure and improves artery health in older adults, according to a study in the American Journal of Cardiology. Previous studies have found similar advantages from walking exercises, the Wall Street Journal reports, but this was the first to demonstrate swimming’s vascular health benefits for older, sedentary adults.

The best food for your brain? Big surprise — it’s not french fries. A Mediterranean diet may reduce small-vessel damage to the brain, according to a new study published in the Archives of Neurology. In other words, a diet made up of fruits, vegetables, olive oil, legumes, whole grains, little red meat and a glass of red wine here and there may be good for your brain, reports ABC News.

Photo credit: healthywaukesha.com

Photo by barockschloss via CreativeCommons.

An un-news flash: Caring for a spouse, parent, other family member or friend can cause mental and physical stress. Frankly, many caregivers would rather be doing anything but.

Or would they? A new study from the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College reveals that older Americans who are highly engaged in caregiving have enhanced well-being. In fact, it rates right up there with paid work, education and training, and volunteering. The study measured levels of engagement in these four areas.

By “engagement” researchers mean feeling enthusiastic, dedicated and absorbed in their activity rather than simply participating.

“We thought caregiving might be an anomaly in the group,” says Jacquelyn James, the Sloan Center’s research director.

Not so. “It had the same benefits of well-being as the other roles, especially in the 65+ group.”

The study surveyed 850 people and found 13% cared for an older adult, 3% for a disabled family member under age 65, 28% for their own child, and 31% provided multiple types of caregiving.

Here’s what the study suggests:

• If caregivers find the task a drag—obligatory and negative—then it doesn’t boost their well-being. If they view it as a meaningful experience, though, a time to grow closer, say, or feel they are making a difference, then it has a positive impact.

• Results refute the common belief that older adults often don’t take part in major societal responsibilities. They’re a busy (I mean engaged) group.

• We should be selective in what we do, participating in activities that make us feel our lives matter. For some people, that is caregiving.

On another front, more results are in to give caretaking’s rep as a wretched proposition a makeover. This week I heard Lisa Fredman, an epidemiologist at the Boston University School of Public Health, speak about her studies comparing elderly female caregivers to non-caregivers.

The findings are dramatic—and again show the positive effects of taking care of  relatives (parents, siblings) and spouses. The task is ultra stressful and yet, caregivers were 26% less likely to die over an eight year period than non-caregivers.

They were also more physically active than those who weren’t caregivers and less likely to become frail three years later.

And when you are in the caregiving trenches, remember this: Their short-term memory also happened to be better over two years than their non-caregiving counterparts.

This research might be cold comfort today, but it’s good to know that there’s a warmer side to the better known caregiver’s story.

What do you think of these results? Can you relate to any of the findings?

View more from Sally Abrahms at www.sallyabrahms.com.

St. Valentine’s should be an occasion to renew our commitments, maybe spice up relationships and discover that it is never too late to be romantic. I would be willing to bet that, if you conduct an informal poll among your Latino friends, they would tell you that love manifests itself in everything from our cuisine, music and, even, our work. Most importantly, the reverence for our families is proof that love goes beyond the conventional sentiment and transforms into passion for life itself.

At AARP, we believe there’s so much we live for. We provide tips on how to organize an intimate three-course dinner for two, suggestions for finding the right boleros to set the mood, and advice on how to keep things glowing in the bedroom. Our relationship expert Claudia Campos talks about how to enjoy a healthy love life after 50, while adjusting to changes in our bodies. Also, Dr. Pepper Schwartz recommends literature that may add a little sizzle to your sex life.

Showing your love should not be a seasonal thing, but a philosophy of life. And Latinos have cracked the code on how to do it best. Most importantly, live life with intensity and stay true to your affections.

Visit AARP en español’s hub on love and sex for interesting articles on improving your intimate life.

Photo Credit: AARP

As AARP’s Sustainability Manager, Pam Evans has led the effort to incorporate environmentally responsible practices into AARP’s internal business operations. She’s passionate about educating members on the importance of responsible use of resources, and the direct connection between the declining health of the environment and the health of our, and future, generations.

It’s early February in DC, yet when I headed out my front door the last two mornings, I was greeted not by grey, gloomy weather, but by perfectly gorgeous, crystal clear blue skies! The sunshine through my car windows made it so cozy I had to turn down my heater, even though the outside temp was in the 30′s! How glorious to enjoy a beautiful clear blue sky and breathe in healthy fresh air. All Americans should be able to breathe clean air, yet according to the American Lung Association, nearly half of all Americans – 48 percent – still live in areas with unhealthy levels of smog pollution.  And those unhealthy levels lead to more asthma and upper respiratory attacks by both children and adults, including the elderly. Exposure to smog pollution can exacerbate respiratory illness and even cause premature death.

I think my appreciation for clear blue skies is due in part because I was raised in one of the smoggiest areas in America; Riverside-San Bernardino California. In fact, it ranked  #1 in unhealthy air according to a 2011 report by Environment America .  That area, home to more than 3 million residents, had unhealthy air on one out of three days in 2010. I can only imagine how bad it was in the early ‘70’s, when we would come home from swim team barely able to take a deep breath without coughing. (Baltimore, MD; Washington, DC-MD-VA-WV; Philadelphia, PA-NJ; Houston, TX; and Atlanta, GA made up the rest of the top smoggiest metropolitan areas list for 2010.)

I’m not sure why we’re still willing to sacrifice our health for jobs, when it’s actually a win-win situation. Independent analysis by the White House Office of Management and Budget concluded that the Clean Air Act (CAA) saved Americans between $121 billion to $193 billion, while costing just $23 billion to $27 billion, between 1992 and 2002, a financial return of 500 to 700%. The environmental technology industry—spurred by environmental regulations and particularly the Clean Air Act—created 1.3 million total jobs between 1977 and 1991. Exports of environmental and pollution control technologies grew by 130 percent between 1993 and 2003, and were valued at $30 billion in 2004.

If you’re still not sure if the EPA and clean air advocates are really making a difference, take a look at the Clean Air Promise website and watch some of the stories of people whose quality of lives are significantly affected by the quality of the air they breathe.

Do you have a story or a friend, grandchild or loved one (or yourself) whose health is put at risk by air pollution? Let us hear about it.

Valentine’s Day is usually a time for flowers and candy, but according to MedlinePlus, it’s also a day when approximately 2,800 people—parents, aunts, friends, siblings, uncles, cousins, children and grandparents—will suffer a heart attack. Of these, nearly 1,400 will die—leaving a tragic trail of broken hearts. If you have been diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure or elevated cholesterol, your chance of contributing to these grim statistics goes up.

Carole Carson—dubbed “An Apostle for Fitness” by the Wall Street Journal and the author of From Fat to Fit: Turn Yourself into a Weapon of Mass Reduction—says, “February, which is American Heart Month, hosts Valentine’s Day, an occasion to celebrate loving relationships. What better way to say ‘I love you’ than by setting a positive example through healthful eating and regular exercise.” She suggests three ways to show you care by getting FIT:

F: Face the facts. A clear sense of your risks based on health measures (blood pressure, weight, and blood sugar and cholesterol levels) will give you and your loved ones an incentive to make needed changes. Instead of fearing the future, proactively invest in your health by making better choices today. Knowing the inevitable heartache that could come from continuing your current lifestyle will help you find the willpower to walk by the ubiquitous aisles of tempting Valentine’s Day candy and goodies.
I: Initiate a walk. Nothing conveys the essence of love more powerfully than two people walking hand in hand, whether they are lovers, a parent and a child or simply good friends. And while you’re out walking, pick up a gift for your sweetheart that promotes fitness, such as a pedometer or heart monitor.
T: Treat yourself and loved ones to heart-healthy cookies. Take your favorite cookie recipe and cut the recommended amount of sugar in half. Substitute applesauce or yogurt for the oil or shortening. You and your sweeties can enjoy the cookies twice as much knowing they reflect a commitment to extending your lives through wholesome eating.

Carole adds, “Loving others gives meaning to our lives. But we can’t forget to love ourselves as well—and that includes improving our eating habits, exercising regularly and shedding unhealthy weight.”

By joyfully embracing a healthful lifestyle, you can reduce the risk for heart-rending medical problems and improve your chances for enjoying future Februarys with those nearest and dearest to you.

Photo credit: Gabriela Camerotti on Flickr

‘Til Death Do Us Tweet: After 76 years of marriage and 82 as a couple, Lionel and Ellen Buxton know a thing or two about making relationships work. Now the pair—”Britain’s oldest married couple,” according to The Daily Mail—have joined Twitter, where they’re inviting younger users to tweet them with their love problems.

A wedding video company, Shoot It Yourself, set up @lionelandellen, the Buxton’s newly minted Twitter account.

Lionel, 99, and Ellen, 100, met in 1930, when both worked at the Henley Cable factory in London’s East End. In honor of Valentine’s Day, the Buxtons—who already have 1,155 Twitter followers—will beginning replying to romantic queries this afternoon.

For 7 secrets to a happier marriage, tips on Internet dating after 50 and more, check out AARP’s love & sex section.

Tuesday Quick Hits: 

• Millions of people with hearing loss don’t use hearing aids, according to a new study from Johns Hopkins University researchers.

• NPR’s “All Things Considered” tackles the growing number of retirees trying to re-enter the workforce—and the trouble they have convincing employers to hire older workers.

• Courtney Cox’s “Cougar Town” kicks off season three. And “it’s not about cougars!” Cox insists. “It hasn’t been about cougars since the first four or five episodes.”

• San Francisco celebrates the 50th anniversary of Tony Bennett’s SF anthem, “I Left My Heart.” [See AARP's interview with Tony Bennett here.]

• And House Republican leaders have reversed course, and are now agreeing to extend the Social Security payroll tax cut without insisting it be paid for with spending cuts. A vote could come this week.

The study looked at 1,200 adults, ages 70 to 89, none with dementia, but 163 with mild cognitive impairment.

The researchers found that those who ate more than 2,142 calories a day had nearly twice the risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) compared to those who ate fewer than 1,526 calories a day, according to study author Yonas Geda, M.D., a neuropsychiatrist at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale, Ariz.

“The higher the amount of calories consumed each day, the higher the risk of MCI,” Geda said in a prepared statement. “Cutting calories and eating foods that make up a healthy diet may be a simpler way to prevent memory loss as we age.”

Mild cognitive impairment is an intermediate stage between normal forgetfulness as we age and the more pronounced decline of dementia, according to the Mayo Clinic. It increases your risk of later developing dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease, although some people never get worse and some can get better.

In the study, participants were divided into three groups based on their daily caloric consumption. A third of the group ate between 600 and 1,526 calories per day, another third consumed between 1,526 and 2,143, and one-third stuffed themselves with between 2,143 and 6,000 calories daily.

The researchers found those in the highest calorie group had the greatest risk of having MCI — more than double of those who consumed the least. There was no significant risk in the middle group.

The study will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in New Orleans in April.

In other health news:

Should you avoid teaching hospitals? A Medicare study finds a higher rate of complications at teaching hospitals, the Washington Post reports, and Medicare has begun publishing the rates of complications as a step toward using them to set payment rates for thousands of hospitals. The heads of those hospitals, however, strongly dispute the findings. Medicare has published the information on its Hospital Compare Web site (hospitalcompare.hhs.gov).

FDA investigates as more dogs sickened by chicken jerky pet treats. And let’s guess where those pet treats are from. Yup, China. More than 500 dogs have been sickened by chicken jerky pet treats imported from China, msnbc.com reports, and government health officials are ramping up port inspections for dangerous toxins.

Photo credit: spokanefitnesssecrets.com

Have you ever wondered why we fall in love with the one person and not another? We all have been on life’s roller coaster of phases of love. You know they range from the first love-puppy love to that everlasting love and even the love of your life. I think your head analyzes the situation and surroundings and then your heart puts it all into perspective.

Invest in your L-O-V-E

Your head is the one asking the questions. How does he look? Is she dependable? Is he financially sound? Are her teeth straight? Then the heart has its own set of questions that are laced with emotions such as sacrifice, commitment, honesty, and passion. So while all these complexities are zinging back and forth between the heart and the head, the reality of the situation sinks in and you realize there are really no guarantees in some of these love stages – and it’s not like buying a car that comes with a 5 year warranty or a new blender that comes with a full refund if you don’t like it. No, there really aren’t any assurances of performance or longevity. However, once you say those two simple words, “I do,” then the heart and the head should close off all the escape routes, throw away all the keys and keep love captured until death do us part!

I hope you will use February 14th as a reminder of that honor and responsibility. I know, Valentine’s comes pretty quickly after Christmas, and you’ve just had to figure out what do for that occasion, but think flowers, mushy cards, champagne and chocolates. Everyone scrambles around like a rat in a maze trying to decide where to eat, how much to spend, what to buy and even what to wear. This special day is as much about the doing, as it is the getting. It is about the romance and the roses. Valentines’ is a day to strengthen that trust and that bond between two people. So many times the romance fades after months of dating or the honeymoon. You ask yourself, “Where is that chemistry?” Let me ask you. Are you putting in the effort? Are you investing your emotions? Are you making sure that significant other knows he or she is worth working through the disappointments, the flaws, and the bad times?

Love needs nourishment and everyone wants to be loved. We have an entire generation of kids who need to see what real love looks like. They need to see commitment, trust, honor and until death do us part. Relationships are not easy. They require daily work just like everything else in life, yet we think just because the heart and the head make a selection that we can mark the love box off the list and just move onto the next item and the relationship will flourish. News flash! That ain’t happening! Invest in your relationship; invest in your marriage!

Let’s face it, we are all not Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, be we all have endearing qualities that when polished and honed will hopefully put us in the “secure” phase of love. It’s a place we should all hope to be. So use February 14th as a reminder to cultivate the romance for the rest of the year. Mark a day each and every month to remind you to invest in your 401k called love. Don’t just use this one day a year as the only occasion that your heart and head prepare and plan to be romantic, but let it be a reminder to be enthusiastic all year about your relationship. Make a habit of holding hands, opening the car door, asking an opinion, passing a compliment, leaving a note in the briefcase or the car seat. The gift doesn’t always have to be purchased. The heart and the head are pretty smart cookies; give them a little rope and they will give you longitude and latitude to spread your love even to those people who have been labeled unloved! Hopefully this will keep the “wishing we had done it differently” to a minimum and ensure you of many years of happily ever afters!

Photo credit by: SeeMidTN.com (aka Brent)

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @LeighAnneTuohy and play #TuohyTrivia on Tuesdays for a chance to win a $25 donation to the charity of your choice for answering the question correctly. Learn more about my family’s charity at The Making It Happen Foundation.

Miss one of my previous posts? You can view them all HERE

For those who are in possession of a romantic’s heart, Valentine’s Day is a wonderful opportunity to proclaim your love to those most dear.

As I contemplate such proclamations, and in particular, proclamations made while traveling; my mind immediately races to a day, twenty-seven years ago, when my soon-to-be wife asked me to record a song for her while we were traveling in Nashville, Tennessee.

We were on a week-long vacation in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and decided to make a day trip to Nashville.  As we were walking through one of the tourist areas, Carol spied one of those recording studios that markets themselves to passerby’s offering the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a recording in Nashville, Tennessee.

With the foreknowledge of my college degree in vocal performance, she batted her eyelashes and asked if I would be willing to make a recording for her.

Immediately, a part of me felt hearts of love swirling in the air as I imagined the opportunity to proclaim my love to her in song; something I had yet ventured to do.

However, as quickly as that thought entered my mind, a second, powerful thought came rushing in with warnings of tearful displays of emotion.  After all, my upbringing taught me that it was somehow un-masculine to display such emotion.

As the desire to display my love did battle with the fear of an emotional display, I threw caution to the wind, and into the recording studio we went.

With my heart pounding in my chest, we entered the small sound-proof room and decided that I would sing Kenny Roger’s “Lady”.  We both put on headphones that would allow us to hear the background recording as well as my recorded voice.

The music started.  My heart was pounding so loud, I was afraid it might be audible to the microphone.  I started singing.

As I got my first wobbly phrase out, I looked over at my betrothed.  That was a mistake!  My voice cracked.  I had difficulty keeping my diaphragm under control.  My eyes started to well up with tears.

Immediately, I determined to pretend she wasn’t there and attempt to work my way through this recording.  After all, I knew that she would be sharing this recording with every breathing creature on the planet. If I didn’t want to wind up sounding like a croaking frog, I’d better get a grip.

Well, suffice it to say, I didn’t die that day from strong heart palpitations.  And, although this was far, far from my best performance; it is certainly one of our most cherished.

I’m going to share this recording with you.  I ask only one thing: please give me a little grace, and give me about 30 seconds into the recording to gain a little composure.

OK.  Here we go…

Do you have any romantic travel memories to share?  If so, share with us in the comments section below.

David and Carol Porter are contributors on the AARP blog, blog regularly at theroamingboomers.com and keep us updated on their travels via their Facebook and Twitter accounts.

Series recap: We opened with an overview of the levels of senior care and housing, then continued with tips on how to initiate a conversation about options and search for the best care. Next, we focused on independent living and assisted living; today, we’ll continue our exploration of assisted living care.

Our guest blogger Michelle Seitzer.

Though it may be difficult to think of something as highly personal as senior care in a business sense, assisted living communities and home care agencies vary greatly depending on the provider’s business model: the approach to care, the layout of the building, the type of employees hired, how revenues and expenses are handled — this is what distinguishes one from the next.

That is why families and individuals considering something as highly personal as home care or assisted living care must carefully evaluate senior care options in person and not just online or on paper. These are great places to begin, however, they must be followed up with interviews of home care agency candidates and/or several tours of the communities that interest you or a loved one prior to signing a contract.

Within the assisted living care category, the following services are provided:

• assistance with daily tasks
• meals and snack
• activities
• transportation
• social services
• limited health care services
• memory support services (meal reminders, medication assistance)
• medication management
• companion care, among others

Generally, a “core services” package — which includes room and board and a minimal level of services — comprises the monthly assisted living charge, with supplemental services added on.

Assisted living space runs the gamut from rooms of various sizes in renovated hotels or boarding homes to rooms/apartments of all sizes in small communities, mid-size campuses, or large complexes. Some also provide non-medical home care services (like companion care, assistance with meal preparation, and light housekeeping) for those who may be physically or cognitively capable of completing these tasks but wish to have a helping hand. For elders caring for a loved one (spouse, sibling, etc.) at home, the need for additional support often prompts this connection to service.

The ability to manage ADLs (activities of daily living, like eating and bathing) and IADLs (instrumental activities of daily living, like balancing a checkbook or driving to a doctor’s appointment) is often the foundation for eligibility. However, some very independent seniors still choose assisted living care simply to be in a community setting, with help available as needed, and to prevent or delay a future move for as long as possible.

There is typically no age requirement for assisted living or home care. Though seniors are most often thought of as the primary consumers, individuals of all ages with traumatic brain injury, mental illness, or other disabilities that limit the ability to carry out ADLs/IADLs may reside in assisted living or receive home care services.

Many assisted living communities also offer Alzheimer’s care in a separate wing or building; these are often called memory neighborhoods and are usually secured via an alarm system, locking doors, and other environmental/architectural features that promote safety and prevent wandering.

Check out the next post for answers to commonly asked questions about assisted living.

Here’s the series to date:

• Week 1:  Housing Choices: Find the Right Home for You or Your Loved One
• Week 2:  Starting the Search for Care: When and How
• Week 3:  How to Choose the Best Care and Housing Provider
• Week 4: Taking a Closer Look at Independent Living
• Week 5: A Closer Look at Assisted Living

Michelle Seitzer has blogged for the senior living search site SeniorsforLiving.com since 2008, and is the co-moderator of #ElderCareChat, a bi-monthly Twitter-facilitated discussion group for family and professional caregivers.

Photo by Danny Guy

Turning 100 is a significant milestone in and of itself, but Dana Jackson decided to also tie the knot on her one hundredth birthday. Jackson met Bill Strauss, 87, some time ago the Western Kentucky Active Day Center. They were reunited at the Rosewood Health Care Center(where they both now live) in Bowling Green, Ky. They got hitched last week.

Jackson has been married three times before, but this was her first wedding with both a wedding dress and an engagement ring. Friends made sure to throw her a bridal shower at a local restaurant, too.

“It’s hard to come by a nice woman,” Stauss said. “I never thought I’d get married again, but I found one that’s just as nice as can be. Treats me good. Like a human being should be treated. It’s rare to find a girl like that.”

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Strauss!

I hope their story, and this video by Zack Conkle, warms your heart.

Passing your driver’s test and getting your driver’s license is one of the most important milestones in life—and in most cases, it’s the first hurdle you jump on the road to adulthood. For me, and I imagine for most people, having my driver’s license provided me with my first real taste of freedom and independence.

I got my license around 1974, and my first car was a light blue Volkswagen “Squareback,” which they don’t make anymore. It had a sunroof, which was a pretty big deal back then, and it was the perfect accessory for the many trips my friends and I took to Folsom Lake outside of Sacramento, where I grew up.

Everyone remembers their first car. This week I asked the AARP Driver Safety team to tell me about their first cars. I received some fantastic stories, proving that not only does everyone remember their first car, but we all have a powerful story to share about how driving—and our first cars—impacted our journey to adulthood.

This is part one of a series in which I share the Driver Safety team’s first car experiences. I also encourage you to share your first car story with us!

“In 1994, when I was 15 years old, I bought a 1966 Ford Mustang. It needed some work, but I thought it would be a great project. The plan my dad and I had cooked up was to spend all summer fixing it up, to get it in shape by the time I turned 16. My first car was going to be an American classic. We brought it home and began to dream up all of the ways we could make it as good as new.

But we made one slight miscalculation: we hadn’t included my mom on this plan. What could she possibly say about getting a great car that we could work on together and, after all, was inexpensive? 

It only took three words. She looked at the car, took a walk around it, sat in the driver’s seat, and asked, “Where’s the airbag?”

I could go on to tell you about the arguments that ensued, the diplomatic reasoning my dad considered and then abandoned, and the countless, “You’ve got to be kidding me’s” that I repeated.  Standing in the garage that day, I learned that I was not going to be driving a 1966 Mustang on my 16^th birthday. 

My first car ended up being a 1991 Oldsmobile. It turned out to be a good first car, and of course I was excited to even have a car. When I sold it after graduating from college, I made sure to tell all of the prospective buyers about its “accident free” life and original air bag.” – Josh

“I got my driver’s license when I was 16 years and 1 month old. My parents had just purchased a 2001 silver Honda Civic for their “third car” (a.k.a. my car). Because I have a November birthday, I was the first of all my friends to get my license. Thus, I instantly became the most popular girl in my grade! Just kidding—but people did use me for rides all the time. It was so great to not have mom and dad driving me to school, field hockey practice, friends’ houses, and awkward high school dates. Driving allowed me to have an independent social life, without being dependent on my parents’ schedules.

Driving also represented a new level of maturity and growing up. Since I’m the oldest of four children, having a driver’s license meant I also became responsible for driving siblings around and helping out with family errands.

Now that I’m grown and living in the city, I don’t even own a car. I use public transportation to get everywhere, and find that I miss driving. I’m saving my money to purchase a car of my own. Any recommendations?”  – Leah

“The year was 1980. It was official: I was now living an ‘adult’ life. I had graduated from high school, started college, got a job, and was officially engaged to my high school sweetheart. Now I was making the ultimate purchase for someone my age: a new car. 

But I didn’t want just any car. I wanted a Ford Mustang! And not just any Mustang – the one I bought was a flashy, blue metallic color with a ‘T’ roof. Not only did it get me to work and school, but it was also the transportation we used for weekend getaways to Ocean City, visits to my friends at their colleges, and the car we traveled in to Florida for our honeymoon destination. I made so many memories in this car, and I’m glad cars can’t talk!” - Sharon

“My first car was a gray, 1986 Honda Civic. It was used, and handed down from my uncle in 1993.

It burned plenty of oil, and with every step on the gas, smoke clouds blew from the exhaust.

I loved it though—I spent all my money on its maintenance and sound system. Having my own car at 16 meant no more school bus for my brother and me. My own car gave me the independence and ability to start taking care of myself without having to rely on others.” – Kyle

Look for more stories soon in part 2 of this series. What was your first car? Tell us your first car story in the “Comments” section below! Post your “first car” photos to our Facebook page! 

Photo thanks to kenjonbro.

See Also: Grammy Awards Trivia Quiz >> 

Five-time Grammy winner Glen Campbell literally brought the celeb-filled crowd to its feet as he performed his best-known song, “Rhinestone Cowboy.”  The 75-year-old country showman revealed his Alzheimer’s diagnosis and released his final album, Ghost On The Canvas, in 2011. But lively and spot on as ever last night, Campbell showed no signs of trouble (as the crowd cheered and the lights went down, he even joked “Where do I go?”). He was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award Grammy this year.

Three members of the original Beach Boys—Brian Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine—reunited on the Grammy stage last night to perform “Good Vibrations,” alongside pop groups Maroon 5 and Foster the People. It’s the first time Wilson, Love and Jardine have played together in more than 20 years. They’ll be joined by Bruce Johnston and early member David Marks this spring for a new album and a reunion tour.

Bruce Springsteen, 62, and the E Street Band opened the show with a politically charged new single, “We Take Care of Our Own,” which—like Campbell’s performance—had the audience on their feet. Paul McCartney later played a low-key version of “My Valentine,” from his new standards album.

At the pre-telecast awards, Betty White beat out Tina Fey and Val Kilmer for Best Spoken Word album, for her book If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won’t). Tony Bennett also received a pre-show Grammy— best pop performance by a duo or group—for his duet with Amy Winehouse. Bennett invited the late singer’s parents to join him on stage when he accepted the award.

Speaking of late singers … Whitney Houston’s death loomed over the Grammy ceremony, with her memory invoked often by presenters and performers. Jennifer Hudson gave a tribute performance of Houston’s “I Will Always Love You.” Grammy host LL Cool J—who opened the awards with a prayer in honor of Houston—said Hudson’s cover “sends chills through your spine. She is obviously a different singer, different diva, but she’s the closest thing we have now to Whitney.”

Monday Quick Hits: 

• Civil rights activist and novelist Patricia Stephens Due has died of thyroid cancer; she was 72.

• The geography of government benefits.”Older people get most of the benefits, primarily through Social Security and Medicare, but aid for the rest of the population has increased about as quickly through programs for the disabled, the unemployed, veterans and children,” the New York Times reports. And even critics of “safety net” programs increasingly rely on them.

• Overeating may double the risk of memory loss.

• And a Bronx nursing home is collaborating with Carnegie Hall musicians. The patients, ages 57 to 98, work with the Carnegie pros to create and eventually perform original pieces. The performance “reminds us that living in an institution does not define who we are,” said Concetta M. Tomaino, executive director of the facility. “It shows that life can and continues to be a very rich experience.”

Photo: Mario Anzuoni/Reuters

Or so it seems among some of the upscale retirement communities around the country, where the main dining rooms has been declared off-limits to their residents who are in poor health or disabled.

The New York Times reports that several of these continuing care retirement communities, that include assisted living or nursing care along with independent-living apartments, have enacted policies that bar their sicker residents from eating in the main dining hall with the independent apartment folks.

In the case of one posh Norfolk, Va., retirement community, those in assisted living or nursing care were not only banned from the dining room, they were also barred from community events like the Fourth of July celebration.

Even married couples living in different parts of the facility (one in assisted care, the other living independently, for example), found they couldn’t dine together in the regular dining room;  they had to use the smaller assisted living dining room.

As the son of one man put it, “I can take him to any restaurant in Norfolk or in the state of Virginia, except the one in the building he paid $600,000 to move into.”

Whether these retirement communities can deny access to certain residents is a controversial issue that has arisen around the country, said Susan Silverstein, an AARP senior attorney interviewed for the story.

Lawsuits have been brought against some places on the grounds that the policy violates the federal Americans With Disabilities Act, the Fair Housing Act, and some state laws.

“You don’t bar people simply because they have a physical or mental impairment that doesn’t interfere with other users or require additional services,” Silverstein told the Times.

But the growing popularity of these of all-in-one complexes, where residents can gradually shift to higher levels of care, increases the potential for these questions to arise.

There’s also some suspicion on the part of residents that management feels a dining room devoid of the disabled looks better to potential customers.

But healthy residents have also complained that some of their impaired neighbors pose a safety risk, behave inappropriately, or disturb the “ambience of fine dining,” as one resident said.

Others see it differently. “We’ve been excommunicated,” said one 83-year-old assisted living resident. “I thought segregation ended in 1954.”

In other health news:

Whoa. Cake as part of a balanced breakfast? Carbs and protein eaten at breakfast may keep us full throughout the day, plus allow for some sweets to stem cravings for these foods, according to a new Israeli study that involved obese participants allowed to have a small “dessert” item along with their healthy breakfast. Those allowed a sweet item were better able to stick to the diet and continue to lose weight than those who weren’t. Some dietiticans, however, think this is plain crazy.

Alzheimer’s families clamor for skin cancer drug. In the wake of research suggesting a skin-cancer drug may have benefits in treating Alzheimer’s disease, physicians and advocacy groups are getting a flurry of calls from patients seeking to use the drug off-label, the Wall St. Journal reports. Researchers announced last week that mice in the early stage of Alzheimer’s disease had some of their brain abnormalities reversed and their declining mental function restored when they were given low doses of this rarely used cancer drug, bexarotene.

Want to downsize that order? When people were asked if they wanted to downsize portions of their side dishes at a fast food restaurant, as many as a third opted for the smaller – and thus lower calorie – option, according to the report published in the journal Health Affairs.

Photo credit: thecedarsportland.org

What do you remember?

The Bodyguard.  “I Will Always Love You.” That time she performed at the 1987 state fair in Syracuse, New York. A concert one night in Lansing, Michigan. Our Facebook fans have been sharing their memories since we heard the news. A magical performance of “All the Man I Need” in 1991.

Most often, we’ve heard “that time she sang the anthem before a Super Bowl,” and since that happens to be our Whitney memory too, here it is. That time she sang the anthem. Setting the bar, Whitney Houston:

This is a guest post by Heather Taylor. This freelance writer, consultant and radio producer has happily served as a job coach in the AARP Foundation WorkSearch Program since January 2011, helping adults 50+ who are unemployed to find satisfying work. 

With more than 135 million members, LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network. Increasingly, employers are using LinkedIn as a source to find good talent. With that kind of reach and influence it makes plenty of sense to join if you’re job-hunting – or even if you aren’t.

What if you’ve joined LinkedIn and you haven’t made any useful contacts? The key is to use LinkedIn effectively to make it work for you. Take time and care to build informal relationships through LinkedIn networks. If you’re actively seeking work, it’s especially important to ‘show up’ via LinkedIn the right way.

Consider these questions and whether you might want to do anything differently – and if you do, we have some suggestions.

• Is my LinkedIn profile complete? And how compelling is it?
• Am I coming across as passive or overly aggressive via LinkedIn?
• Am I being helpful to others?

Polish your profile. Having a 100%-complete profile with a photo, up-to-date past employer information, education, and other fields filled out is just the beginning, says social media expert S. Lynn Cooper of Socially Ahead. After reviewing the profile of a client who was a talented, experienced IT professional, “it was apparent that [his] profile was complete, yet it wasn’t compelling,” she says. It didn’t capture his own unique qualities that would make him stand out among the competition.

Cooper urged him to take a close look at other LinkedIn profiles similar to his background to get a better idea of what to aim for when crafting his own. He made changes to highlight his industry knowledge. He also explored a host of LinkedIn functions that were new to him, which helped him expand his network. Within six months, he landed a senior level tech position at a consulting firm.

Remember that networking is a two-way street. A key to using LinkedIn effectively is to clearly understand the meaning of networking, says Jan Vermeiren, the best-selling author of How to REALLY Use LinkedIn. (By the way, he’s giving away a million free downloads of his book.)

Too often, explains Vermeiren, many users inadvertently are “too direct and they end up spamming people” when looking for a job. The solution?

Approach networking without expecting to get anything immediately in return, Vermeiren says. Share information in groups and discussions “in a reactive and proactive way.” When it makes sense, help connect people with others you know. This helps build your credibility and trustworthiness among peers in your profession.

Take heart in success stories. Juanita, an attorney, moved from New York to D.C. last May and used LinkedIn to identify firms in her field. She completed her profile and began joining relevant groups. She frequently participated in discussions, offering creative solutions to questions on different topics. The result? Someone with hiring authority noticed. In fact, she caught the attention of three law firms and by July, she became senior counsel at one of the firms.

It’s a good idea to keep an eye out for the “Juanita” types in your professional circles. See who stands out to you and what types of information and advice they’re offering, and how you might do the same to share your unique knowledge and experience.

Check out this LinkedIn primer, along with other material about finding work and organizations that welcome seasoned workers on AARP’s web site. Also be sure to ask others in your field how they’ve used LinkedIn well.

If you’ve had some success with LinkedIn, tell us what strategies worked for you so other readers can benefit from your experiences.

The following is a guest post by  Kim Sedmak, Executive Producer of “Your Life Calling TODAY” with Jane Pauley. You can watch the Your Life Calling series here.

It’s a good thing Jenny Bowen is a former filmmaker. She and her husband Richard didn’t blink an eye when I told her our “crew call” to set and light for the TODAY show interview with Jane Pauley was 5 a.m.! On that early chilly morning last December, Jenny opened the door to their Berkeley, California home in her flannel pajamas. Our small army of production professionals got to work transforming her Asian inspired living room into a set.

The night before the TV shoot, Jane Pauley hosted the Purpose Prize event at Cavallo Point in San Francisco. Under an enormous white tent, with high speed winds blowing so hard we all thought it might collapse; Jenny received the 2011 Purpose Prize for Intergenerational Innovation sponsored by AARP. The prize comes with a $100,000 grant to be used for furthering Jenny’s work on behalf of caring for Chinese orphans. Sponsored by Civic Ventures, the Purpose Prize, now in its seventh year, is the nation’s only large-scale investment in people over 60 who are combining their passion and experience for social good.
I keep telling everyone, this story is unlike any other from our series “Your Life Calling.” You immediately sense an ease and a flow about Jenny that obviously keeps her centered. I couldn’t help catch a glimpse of Richard greeting her with an impassioned kiss and an early morning hug in the front hall. He’s the quiet and strong partner who has supported and believed in Jenny’s mission right from the very beginning. His eloquent book Portraits from a Chinese Orphanage has been front and center on my office credenza since I started working on this segment. It’s a testament to “Half the Sky” and their work as a team.
As dawn began to break and the coffee and bagels arrived, there was a buzz beginning to transcend the space as we craftily worked to take two medium sized rooms and make the viewer feel as though Jane and Jenny might be in China.
By the time Jane arrived around 11 a.m. we were in full swing. After shooting 21 segments with her, the one thing I know for sure, she comes with a lot of stuff so we need to be prepared to place her somewhere. This shoot — Jane’s Ground Zero was Jenny’s master bedroom. An assortment of make-up bags, hair brushes, notes, lap top computer, more brushes, gels, a flat iron, and sprays all come flying out of her bags. We know Jane has arrived!
I dare say after the interview, all of us were even more amazed by Jenny and her story. How someone with no formal education in childcare, no foreign policy experience and doesn’t speak Chinese could persuade the Chinese government to let a middle-aged American woman take over directing the care for thousands of children living in government institutions. It is astonishing!
Jane’s schedule unfortunately precluded her from traveling to China. However, this story could not be properly told unless we saw Jenny there in action. So in January we hired a Chinese crew in Beijing to accompany Jenny as part of her monthly trip to China. We shot far more than we were able to use in the TODAY show piece. However, the pictures tell the story and Jenny’s infusion of loving and nurturing energy through the work of “Half the Sky” is working miracles. Jenny Bowen is a filmmaker who knows most definitely how to create a happy ending!

For more on Jenny’s story, read John Briley’s post for the backstory.  

Consumer credit card debt soared in the last quarter of 2011, climbing to nearly $16,000 per family. In running up this tab, consumers seem to have resumed the habit of borrowing from tomorrow’s wealth to meet today’s wants and desires.

According to economists who note the anemic economic recovery, consumer spending is outpacing reality. Good-paying jobs with benefits are still scarce, real estate has yet to recover its former value and savings are showing modest returns.

At the same time, two-thirds of adults are overweight or obese. In addition, about 1 out of every 3 children is overweight or at risk for obesity. In accumulating surplus pounds, these individuals and families are borrowing from tomorrow’s health to meet today’s wants and desires.

As long as no medical problems surface, these individuals can reasonably expect to enjoy their good fortune indefinitely. But as American author Bret Harte wryly observed, “The only sure thing about luck is that it will change.”

Medical care has become increasingly expensive. An initial visit to a doctor for treatment of a minor problem along with a follow up visit and a single prescription can cost several hundred dollars. Compounding the problem is the number of uninsured individuals who, when they lose their job, also lose their medical insurance. One major illness can bankrupt the uninsured and underinsured family.

The timing for the rise in the cost of medical care couldn’t be worse. Medical problems resulting from lifestyle choices, such as pooreating habits and inadequate exercise, are starting to show up in dramatic numbers. Forexample, Type 2 diabetes has reached epidemic levels for both adults and children. Dr Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization, characterizes the spread of diabetes as a “slow-motion catastrophe.”

But unlike consumers who can file for bankruptcy, remove their debt and start over, there is no equivalent process when it comes to our health. There is no court that can remove a disease or medical condition and give us back the freedom that comes with good health.

Here are three tips to help you assume fiscal and physical responsibility for your wealth and health (FIT):

F:  Find a way to make achieving your fitness goals fun. Find food you love to eat that won’t pack on pounds and ways to exercise that make you feel young and playful. If you create and impersonate a positive image of your new self today, you’ll shift your attitude from “I have to” to “I want to.” Flipping this switch will make you more willing to adopt and maintain your new habits.

I: Invent the future you want. Implement the changes you want to make today. Don’t wait for the perfect time because there isn’t one. Your dream today can bereality tomorrow—your imagination is your only limit. And consider making all your changes at once. Recent research confirms that people who tackle all their changes together fare better than those who take a piecemeal approach.

T: Tell everyone you can about the changes you are making. Be specific about your actions and about how you will measure your progress. As social creatures, we are profoundly influenced by the behavior of everyone around us. Use this insight to create a support team and to be a positiverole model for others.

We change the oil in our cars and rotate tires to keep our automobiles functioning and prevent engine failure.  That same principle holds for our bodies as well. Prevention of medical problems is farless expensive than treatment once chronic conditions have developed. Automobiles, however, can be replaced while our bodies must last a lifetime.

Invest your time and energy in maintaining yourbody. The investment will pay big dividends today through greater energy, vitality and a zest forliving. And the return on the investment long term will be even greater. Start today before the window of opportunity closes. Your future is riding on your decision.

Photo credit: epSos.de on Flickr

Help is on the way! Marc Lagneau via Creative Commons

In the same year Margie Harris’s marriage imploded, her elderly mother had a stroke and moved into her San Antonio home. A big enough disaster, but her mother had been living with, and taking care of, Harris’s blind brother.

Talk about stress! It turns out, that’s exactly what Harris, 59, wanted to do–talk about stress with other overwhelmed caregivers. But, she had no time to leave the house.

Not a problem, thanks to The Caregivers Tele-Connection, a free one-hour telephone program designed to reach isolated caregivers. The idea is to make it easy for them and affordable. No scrambling for respite care or hassling with transportation. Sessions at different times of the day and in Spanish, too.

Harris goes to the caregiver website and sees a list of topics that will be discussed. If they interest her, she dials a number and listens to other caregivers’ challenges, interacts with them, if she chooses, and gets info and resources from an expert (physician, therapist, financial pro, gerontologist, attorney). They also answer callers’ questions.

“From the program I’ve learned that isolation is poison to your soul, so you’ve got to reach out,” says Harris, who has taken up yoga and exercise and sat in on 15 sessions so far. “I’ve found out I’m not alone.”

Since the Wellmed Charitable Foundation began offering sessions in May 2010, first in San Antonio and now statewide, close to 500 caregivers have participated. Wellmed is partnering with organizations, some disease specific, and agencies so they can share it with their members.

The Caregivers Tele-Connection, modeled on the Canadian program Care-Ring Voice, expects to go national this July (although Wellmed already has some participants outside the Lone State). The beauty of the telephone is that you can live anywhere and take part.

Paula Solomon, a social worker and life coach, conducts telephone talk groups, which she calls “psychological respite for caregivers” from her office in Arlington, Mass.

“It is not a therapy group,” says Solomon, who has also run similar sessions for her local Parkinson’s chapter. “It’s a place where caregivers can talk about meeting their own needs in a way that doesn’t feel like letting their loved ones down.”

Solomon’s point is that if you take care of yourself, both your quality of life and the way you care for your parent or spouse will be better.

A real voice at the other end of what otherwise may seem like a very lonely, long line is one way to try and find this balance.

Participated in any sessions? What was it like? Know of others?

To find a telephone caregiver group:

• Caregiver Tele-Connection 
• Paula Solomon
• Your local area Agency on Aging
• Disease specific groups and associations (Alzheimer’s,  heart, Parkinson’s)

1-Star Nursing Homes Not Getting Better:

“You’d like to think the marketplace would deal with it and residents wouldn’t get placed there, but sometimes they don’t have a choice,” said Larry Minnix, president and CEO of LeadingAge, an association of nonprofit nursing homes.

Among the consistently low performers, almost two-thirds were for-profit nursing homes that are owned by chains.

Overall, however, nursing home quality is improving. The share of nursing homes receiving one or two stars dropped from 2009 to 2011, while those receiving four- or five-stars increased 5 percent. 

Friday Quick Hits: 

• Brian Wilson will join the Beach Boys in kicking off a 50th anniversary tour with a performance at the Grammys on Sunday.

• A battle over dining rooms being segregated by health status in a Virginia retirement community is raising questions about just how much autonomy assisted living or retirement facility residents have.

• A national survey from trade publisher Hanley Wood found 30 percent of homeowners were “doubling up,” sharing a living space with roommates or relatives.

• Boomers outpace Gen Y at online shopping: 40- and 50-somethings are the most likely to purchase health, beauty, food and beverage products on the Internet.

• U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron said loneliness is more dangerous for older adults than smoking, making a bid to encourage Britons to keep working beyond traditional retirement age.

• And Paul McCartney finally got his own star on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame Thursday, becoming the last of the four Beatles to do so.

Photo: Vetta/Getty Images

The 401(k) Paradox:

But despite this uptick in contributions, the year-end average for Fidelity’s 401(k) participants was down $300 from 2010, the company reports. What gives? The stock market, for one thing. It performed well in the first half of the year, but then sank over the summer. Year-end rallying helped somewhat, but not always enough to offset earlier stock losses. And 401(k) fees, paid to plan managers and administrators, also helped eat up savings increases.

Maybe the topsy-turvy stock market is one reason why more workers are opting to put their 401(k) investing on “auto pilot” by choosing target-date mutual funds.  These funds—which allocate risk based on a target retirement date, skewing more conservative closer to retirement—get mixed reviews from financial analysts (some think they’re too aggressive, even nearing retirement dates). According to Fidelity, 26 percent of its participants had 100 percent of their 401(k) assets in target-date funds at the end of 2011 (up from 17.4 percent in 2009).

So says new guidelines for travelers by the American College of Chest Physicians, which point out:

“Traveling in economy class does not increase your risk for developing a blood clot, even during long-distance travel; however, remaining immobile for long periods of time will. Long-distance travelers sitting in a window seat tend to have limited mobility, which increases their risk for DVT (deep vein thrombosis).”

The doctors also noted that they found no definitive evidence that dehydration and drinking alcohol during the flight increases the risk, but they warned against taking an aspirin as a preventive measure without first checking with your doctor.

If you’re already on blood thinners to prevent clots, your risk is minimal.

Deep vein thrombosis, or DVT, is a serious condition in which a blood clot forms in one of the large veins of the leg. The danger is that the clot may move and cause a potentially fatal blockage in the lungs.

DVT is rare among travelers, but occurs more frequently among people who sit on flights longer than 8 to 10 hours, guideline co-author Mark Crowther, M.D., of McMaster University in Canada told the Wall Street Journal.

Risk factors for blood clots include: Advanced age, severe obesity, sitting by the window, a history of DVT, limited mobility, recent surgery, having a malignant cancer, pregnancy, and use of oral contraceptives.

For those at risk, properly fitted compression stockings are recommended.

The researchers found that, based on previous studies, DVT occurs in 3.6 percent of passengers on long flights, but compression stockings dropped that rate to 0.2 percent. The stockings should provide 15 to 30 mm Hg compression at the ankle and must not be too tight near the knee.

Other recommendations for those at risk for clots:

*If you can, choose an aisle seat.

*Get up and walk around frequently.

*Do calf-stretching exercises.

In other health news:

Drinking problems in assisted living? A survey of 800 aides who work in Pennsylvania assisted living facilities found that nearly 70 percent of residents drank alcohol, more than one-third drank daily and 12 percent abuse it. The worry is that too much alcohol can contribute to falls and other health and safety risks.

Breast cancer is more deadly among older women. Older women, particularly those over 75, are more likely to die from breast cancer than women under 65, probably because they receive less treatment, according to a new international study of 10,000 post-menopausal women. “I suspect it’s under-treatment. We did show the rates of chemotherapy and radiation therapy are less in the older group,” said Stephen Jones, medical director at US Oncology Research in Texas and one of the study’s authors.

Doctors may fudge the truth on your prognosis.  A survey finds that some doctors aren’t always completely honest with their patients. More than half admitted describing someone’s prognosis in a way they knew was too rosy. Nearly 20 percent said they hadn’t fully disclosed a medical mistake for fear of being sued. And 1 in 10 of those surveyed said they’d told a patient something that wasn’t true in the past year.

Photo credit: Gadling.com

The AARP Foundation Tax-Aide program is nationwide. No matter where you live, there is usually a site near you. Sites are open from February 1st through April 15th. Tax-Aide is run by fully trained and IRS-certified volunteers who love their work. Tax-Aide is completely FREE. You don’t even need to be an AARP member to utilize the Tax-Aide program? Does it get any better? If you’ve never taken advantage of one of our Tax-Aide sites, here are some insider tips to help you fly right through the process.

Before you go:

• Our volunteers do simple income tax returns – if you own two homes, a yacht and have some offshore bank accounts, you may want to consider having your taxes done by a professional accountant.

• As you can imagine, many of the sites are BUSY BUSY BUSY. It’s best to make an appointment now. (Insider tip – if you want to try to get away with a walk-in appointment, wait a few weeks – sites tend to be less busy in March).

• AARP Foundation Tax-Aide is geared towards doing taxes for the 50+ who have a limited incomes.

Don’t forget:

While helping out at a site last year, I cannot tell you how many people forgot to bring along critical documents which prompted panicked cell phone calls, repeated trips home, etc. Make sure you bring the following with you:

Any Income Documents

• Last year’s tax return

• Social Security cards or other official documentation for yourself and all dependents

• Checkbook if you want to do a direct deposit of any refund(s)

• W-2 from each employer

• Unemployment compensation statements

• SSA-1099 form showing the total Social Security benefits paid to you for the year, or Form RRB-1099, Tier 1 Railroad Retirement benefits

• 1099 forms reporting interest (1099-INT), dividends (1099-DIV), proceeds from sales (1099-B), as well as documentation showing the original purchase price of your sold assets

• 1099-R form if you received a pension or annuity, especially if you had a portion withheld for income tax purposes

• 1099-MISC form showing any miscellaneous income

Payments
You will need to bring all forms and canceled checks indicating federal and state income tax paid (including quarterly estimated tax payments).

Deductions
Most taxpayers have a choice of taking either a standard deduction or itemizing their deductions. If you have a substantial amount of deductions, you may want to itemize. You will need to bring the following information:

• 1098 form showing any home mortgage interest

• Receipts or canceled checks for medical/dental expenses (including doctor and hospital bills and medical insurance premiums), receipts for prescription medicines, costs of assisted living services and bills for home improvements, such as ramps and railings for people with disabilities

• Receipts for contributions to charity

• Receipts or canceled checks for all tax income and property taxes you paid, as well as records of tax refunds

To find the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide site nearest you use our online locator tool or call our toll free number 1-888-227-7669.

With the recent outbreak of norovirus aboard two cruise ships, let’s take a bit of a look at maintaining health during travel.  Getting out and about is great fun, and with a few bits of choice knowledge, you can make your trip safer as well.

Airplanes are one instance that presents several situations, from cramped quarters to low air pressures. So the guy next to you is sneezing like crazy the whole flight and you feel like you just walked out of the Sahara with all that dry air, you might find these recommendations helpful when jaunting around the country at 35,000 feet:

• Hydrate and chew gum. That will ease issues with the dry and pressurized cabin.
• Wash your hands often or use alcohol-based hand gel.

Then when you get to your destination and drag out the camping gear, there are local conditions to consider. We have a large country with diverse environments.  The American landscape begs to you to get out an enjoy it. And you may think that odd or strange diseases are found in more far flung regions across the globe. But we have some home grown wonders here that can knock you flat just as well as anything they have over seas.

• Check for ticks every time you come in from outside.
• Use insect repellent, long sleeves, and mosquito nets for nights spent out.

Being informed is the best defense. It is always a good idea to check for local conditions and warnings for the area you are traveling. The Centers for Disease Control offer resources to educate travelers on local situations. If you like traveling or camping or fishing and any number of adventurous activities, you may be well experienced with some of these issues. But you’re also probably not going to let that get in your way getting out on the Appalachian Trail or traveling to India.  Get out there. Just wash your hands before you eat.

Photo thanks to kevindean via Flickr.

Retirement Tax Forms ‘Contradictory and Confusing’:

Given the magnitude of underreporting, even small improvements in the IRS’s examination of tax returns with retirement income could increase taxpayer compliance and generate substantial revenue.”

The IRS assesses whether you’re correctly reporting taxable retirement income by matching what you put on your 1040 with forms employers or financial institutions send to you and the IRS. That form—1099-R, Distributions From Pensions, Annuities, Retirement or Profit-Sharing Plans—should be your guide for reporting taxable retirement income. But this form can be “contradictory and confusing” the report notes. The IRS has agreed to TIGTA’s recommendation that the form be revised to more clearly “clarify taxpayer responsibilities and the amounts to report.”

The IRS also says it will engage in more “taxpayer education,” but dismissed a recommendation meant to crack down on folks who cash out their retirement accounts and miss the 60-day rollover period for moving the money back into a qualified plan.

“It behooves you to study the rules and keep track of your contributions to retirement accounts—whether they are made on a pre-tax or aftertax basis—to make sure that you don’t run into the opposite problem of overpaying  tax on retirement income,” Forbes editor Ashlea Everling recommends. See AARP’s tip-sheet on taxes and retirement here, or visit the Money/Taxes section of the site for all sorts of tax articles and info (including “What’s New For Taxes in 2012“).

Wednesday Quick Hits: 

• Florence Green, the world’s last living veteran of World War I, died last weekend in England, two weeks shy of her 111th birthday.

• A federal appeals court ruled that older Americans who receive Social Security cannot opt out of Medicare eligibility.

• A Senate highway bill would generate revenue with a series of tax increases, including raising taxes on retirement savings.

• Is drinking a problem in assisted living facilities?

• A new book by Eric Klinenberg explores “the extraordinary rise and surprising appeal” of living alone—something which 11 million elderly Americans do.

• And Rick Santorum seizes the spotlight by sweeping the Missouri, Colorado and Minnesota primaries.

Photo: Tetra Images/Getty Images

That's the way the Ball Bounces

How many times have I said, “Life’s not fair”??? We’ve discussed how inches really make a difference. I’ve talked about how you can either be in the game or on the sidelines. Sunday during the Super Bowl, each and every one of those analogies rang true, even up to the very last play of the game. Tom Brady chunked a Hail Mary pass and it could have gone either way. It was just as great a possibility for that ball to have been caught as it was intercepted. For 4 seconds, millions of people gasped as they waited to see the outcome of that pass.

For the Giants, it was a moment of celebration. Yet, as the camera showed the box where the Patriots’ owner and fans were sitting, it was apparent they were doing just the opposite. You could see the pain and frustration written all over their faces. One’s life somewhat mirrors the Super Bowl. Your life is the biggest game you will ever play!  Sometimes the calls are in your favor and sometimes they  are not.

Was it fair that the Giants beat the Patriots? Was it fair that pass interference was not called on a play that could have been a game changer earlier in the game? Is it fair that a young man who practices hundreds of free throws gets up to the line to shoot one to win the game and misses? What about the kid that chunks the ball from half court and the ball goes swish – right through the basket for a game winning shot! Is that fair? Why do innocent children suffer often at the hands of family and friends? Why do I have a home and the guy next to me in the parking lot is homeless? Why was I able to birth two beautiful and healthy children and adopt another great kid and so many people long to have children and are never successful? Why do you have a car and your neighbor rides the bus? I could list example after example of the haves and the have nots. We’ve all asked these questions a thousand times. I once read when we get to the place that has all the answers, the questions won’t really matter anymore. I for one believe that with all my heart. Nobody likes to be on the have not end- the rejection side.

It is not a good position for anyone. No one likes not to be called back after a job interview or not be approved for a loan or not to be accepted for a date or not invited to the party. These are self-esteem killers. However, as unfortunate as it is, it is a part of life. I guess what I would like you to understand more than anything is just because the ball doesn’t bounce in your favor, doesn’t mean that you are no good. You should not let rejection keep you from trying again. We have to learn to pick ourselves up, brush ourselves off and get back in the game. There will be other opportunities. In my personal life, there have been rejections and even though at the time I was dealing with them, I had no clue that they actually were the biggest blessings in the world. Just remember in the game of life, there’s no one who is going to throw a red flag for a review of the play; there are no time outs! We all commit personal fouls each and every day.

Unfortunately, there is no ref to blow the whistle and charge us with a penalty for bad behavior because things didn’t go our way. We are not going to hear an umpire yell 15 yard penalty for life not being fair today.  What we need to take to heart as an adult is that EVERYTHING we do counts! The importance of doing the right thing does not vary from circumstance to circumstance. Many of us are aware of what the right thing to do is, but my question is are we doing it? Even when life is not fair, do we still do the right thing?

Apparently Tom Brady’s wife missed this memo as she was caught making a very “unsportsmanlike comment” as she was leaving her box after Sunday’s game. She definitely should have had a flag thrown on her for an absolute flagrant foul. Yes, she knew what the right thing to say was, but she was not a happy camper about the Patriots’ loss and said an inappropriate thing. Yes, I am probably picking on her because she is gorgeous and perfect, but it paints the perfect picture of the point I want you to get…life is not fair. When the ball doesn’t bounce your way, when you are grabbed by the face mask by life’s unexpected demands, when situations arise that are beyond your control, when a major crises happens, or bad news you didn’t expect to hear is thrust upon you, I hope you realize that you still have options. A victory dance is still a real possibility. This is just a mere delay of game!

You need to regroup and gather your team and come up with a new game plan. Use this as preseason training to reevaluate the situation and recommit to yourself, your plan and your goals. There are many lessons in life we can take from athletics. We are all a part of the team of life and how you handle whether you think the other team members are treating you fair or not is up to you.

There is very little outward difference in teams. The color of their uniforms, their mascot, weight of a player etc., but for the most part they are very similar, yet those little differences makes a big difference. Next time the ball doesn’t bounce your way, I hope you will be a big difference maker. Insist that the rules be followed, refuse to be part of mean-spirited, disrespectful behavior, sacrifice personal gain for the benefit of the team, follow the rules and insist the other members do the same. Take a stand against what is wrong and remember every play counts. I realize this is asking a lot, but we think you are up to the challenge and have great potential, I see you as the next Eli Manning, the MVP, most valuable player of the game!

Photo credit: Roger Smith

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @LeighAnneTuohy and play #TuohyTrivia on Tuesdays for a chance to win a $25 donation to the charity of your choice for answering the question correctly. Learn more about my family’s charity at The Making It Happen Foundation.

Miss one of my previous posts? You can view them all HERE

Credit: Gage Skidmore

Missouri was a nonbinding “beauty contest,” meaning no delegates were at stake. Those will be chosen at GOP party caucuses in mid-March. But it doesn’t tarnish the bragging rights of going three for three against the Mitt Romney juggernaut, especially because Romney won Colorado and Minnesota by lopsided margins in 2008. The tables were turned Tuesday, with Santorum racking up impressive totals of 55 percent in Missouri, 45 percent in Minnesota and 40 percent in Colorado.

There were no exit polls, but a careful read of  pre-election surveys by Public Policy Polling suggests the inclinations of older voters in the three states:

Minnesota. Remember that Minnesota is home to two unsuccessful GOP candidates: Tim Pawlenty, who endorsed Romney, and Michele Bachmann, who this week called herself the “perfect candidate.” So much for them. While the pre-election polling showed Romney as the top choice of older-than-65 voters, Santorum fared better among 46- to 65-year-olds. The oldest Minnesota voters identified themselves as evangelical and conservative but not supporters of the Tea Party movement.

Missouri. Talk about a missed opportunity. Newt Gingrich was ahead in the pre-election polling but didn’t even qualify for the ballot. That cleared the field for Santorum. He trounced Romney among older-than-65 voters and had a healthy margin in the 46-65 bracket.

Colorado. Pre-election polling suggested a convincing Romney win. ‘Nuff said. Among the older-than-65 voters, eight in 10 said they were conservative and half called themselves evangelicals, but only a third identified themselves as Tea Party supporters.

In a primary season with more complexities than Medicare Part D, Tuesday’s results serve notice that the GOP presidential nominating contest will trudge into March.

Read all Election 2012 posts here.

The new criteria for diagnosing mild Alzheimer’s were issued last year by experts with the National Institute on Aging and the Alzheimer’s Association.

John C. Morris, M.D., director of the Knight Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center at Washington University in St. Louis, decided to look at how the new criteria would affect those diagnosed under the older criteria.

He studied the neurological evaluations of 17,535 adults — average age about 75 — who were diagnosed as having normal cognition, mild cognitive impairment or Alzheimer’s disease.

He found that that 99.8% of the people currently diagnosed with very mild Alzheimer’s disease and 92.7% of people currently diagnosed with mild Alzheimer’s disease could be reclassified as having mild cognitive impairment under the new guidelines.

So what difference does a new diagnosis make?

A lot, Morris contends.

Without the new criteria, there is too much overlap between people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), who are simply having trouble performing some daily tasks, and those with early stage Alzheimer’s with mild dementia. Deciding whether a person is diagnosed with MCI or Alzheimer’s is often “artificial and arbitrary,” Morris writes in the current issue of the journal Archives of Neurology.

The result has been that people with MCI are unnecessarily prescribed drugs that are more appropriate for people with Alzheimer’s because doctors “often do not distinguish the two conditions when faced with issues of medical management,” Morris says.

The new criteria, writes Morris, allows for better patient care and a better way for doctors to categorize mild cognitive problems from early-stage Alzheimer’s.

In other health news:

Smokers have more teeth problems, but go to dentist less frequently.   A new federal survey finds that more than a third of smokers have three or more dental problems, ranging from stained teeth to jaw pain, toothaches or infected gums — more than twice as much as people who never smoked. But 20 percent of smokers haven’t gone to a dentist in five years. Why not? Half of the smokers said they couldn’t afford it.

Heart-healthy food advice can be confusing. Trying to eat a heart-healthy diet can be confusing — the advice seems to change day-to-day. Nuts are good, oats are good, but what about eggs? The Washington Post takes a look at the solid evidence behind which foods are best for your ticker.

New Weight Watchers Points Plus program not scoring points with some dieters. Since Weight Watchers announced its new Points Plus plan, allowing for more fresh fruit, dieters have been having a harder time losing weight. So now WW is revising things.

Photo credit: diseaseandsymptoms.com

A group of volunteers conduct a walking audit.

Necessity truly is the mother of invention.

About 20 years ago, I found myself at a disadvantage with my engineering counterparts in the Florida Department of Transportation. I was reviewing plans for an intersection and I realized many of the elements that support people, not just cars, were being left out. As I spoke, the engineers’ eyes glazed over. I said, “My ideas aren’t coming across, so let’s take a walk!”

We drove to the intersection — because, ironically, there weren’t safe sidewalks for us to use. With engineering drawings spread on car hoods, I explained how the proposed design would not work for people using “active” modes of transportation. I suggested that to refine the design, it would be helpful to study what people were doing—or attempting to do—at the intersection.

• We saw a parent and child start to cross with the “WALK” signal, but then quickly return to the curb when the signal flashed, “DON’T WALK.”
• We saw vehicles cutting off pedestrians as they attempted to cross.
• With each crossing we successfully made, and with each observation, eyes were opened wider and wider: it was a series of ‘a-ha’ moments.

Dan measures a street.

Thus was born the now-popular walking audit. Since that day, I’ve conducted thousands of walking audits in communities all over North America, and am happy to see that many of these places have turned their streets around and are seeing not only better public health, but better economic development and social health.

Why are walking audits so powerful?

• Well, they help participants see streets through a different lens, one focused on people.
• They also help community members understand that they have many shared values; almost all of us—whether we live in rural, suburban or urban places—want our communities to be safe, healthy, economically vibrant and socially connected.
• Getting people out on walks together helps them see those similarities.
• It also cuts through theoretical discussions and “aerial” planning, and focuses on what’s really happening on the ground.

I’ve seen many changes in thinking since I started leading walking audits. I’ve seen fire marshals who insisted they needed broad cul-de-sacs change their thoughts after a walking audit.

During a walk, all people become equal; issues are clearly identified; and reasonable, practical solutions are found.

It is easy to organize and conduct a walk. In fact, a non-expert can organize one to teach friends, neighbors, elected leaders and government staff where shortcomings exist and how people have been left behind and turn their roads into complete streets.

Photos courtesy of the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute.

Numerous organizations, including the WALC Institute, AARP’s Create the Good, the Pedestrian and Bicycle Information Center, the National Center for Safe Routes to School, WalkScore.com and others provide walkability checklists and guidance.

Why not download some online resources and go out, take a walk and see for yourself how your streets are performing? Document what you find, and you can be part of making active living and active transportation a natural and safe activity again.

Dan Burden is the executive director of the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute. 

Oliver Litondo Accepting his Movies for Grownups Chaise d'Or Trophy

There were four standing ovations at the 11th Annual Movies for Grownups Awards Gala in Beverly Hills last night:

1) For Sharon Stone, accepting our Lifetime Achievement Award.

2) For Martin Scorsese, receiving the Breakthrough Achievement Award for his mind-boggling 3-D masterpiece, Hugo.

3) For Meryl Streep, accepting our Best Grownup Love Story award on behalf of The Iron Lady.

So far, so good, and so expected. Stone, Scorsese, and Streep are Hollywood royalty, and it’s no surprise that the audience leaped to their feet the moment they took the stage.

Litondo in The First Grader

But consider Standing Ovation Number Four: For Best Actor honoree Oliver Litondo, the Kenyan newscaster-turned-actor who starred in the little-seen drama, The First Grader. I’d dare say not a quarter of the people in that room had seen The First Grader, which slipped in and out of theaters virtually unnoticed last year, and is only now becoming available on video-on-demand and DVD. All they’d seen was a 50-second clip from the movie, of Litondo’s character, an illiterate Kenyan elder named Kimani Maruge, begging a first grade teacher (Naomi Harris) to teach him how to read. Yet so gripping was that little vignette, and so powerful was the realization that Litondo had come all the way from Kenya to receive this award, that this packed ballroom of Hollywood’s elite couldn’t stay in their seats.

Litondo was gracious and humble–his strongest words were a plea for filmmakers to come make movies in Kenya, where “our young people are educated but unemployed.”

Litondon with fellow Movies for Grownups Honoree Meryl Streep

For me, it was perhaps my proudest moment of the evening,  because Litondo’s award, and the reception he got, so graphically validated what Movies for Grownups is all about. The First Grader was no box office giant, and aside from Naomi Harris, its cast was unknown to American audiences. It slipped in quietly among the films under consideration for our awards this year, and as our editors, one by one, watched The First Grader, the enthusiasm for it grew. When we finally voted for our winners in early December, among the George Clooneys and the Gary Oldmans and the Kevin Spaceys, Litondo was as close to a unanimous choice as I’ve ever seen.

And that’s what the Movies for Grownups Awards–indeed, the entire franchise–is all about. We’re gratified when we see our selections echoed by the Golden Globe and Oscar nominations; it’s always fun to run with the Big Boys. But even more satisfying is when we discover something special; something that the rest of the entertainment world has somehow overlooked. How many more First Graders , and Oliver Litondos, are out there, just waiting for us to shine a spotlight on them? We never know until we find them, and that’s the endless challenge and the ultimate delight we find  in presenting these awards each year.

Tax season is a stressful time for many, but AARP is here to help: AARP Foundation Tax-Aide helps low- to moderate-income taxpayers have more discretionary income for everyday essentials, such as food and housing, by assisting with tax services and ensuring they receive applicable tax credits and deductions. 

A 2011 Customer Satisfaction Survey shows that 95% of 2.6 million people who have used this volunteer-run service are very satisfied, and 86% said the service they received was excellent. Interested? Use the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide Locator to find assistance in your area. The program has helped seniors in need for more than 40 years in every State.

As with every year, there are some new filing changes taking effect in 2012. For example, personal and dependent exemptions along with thresholds for tax brackets will increase. Also, some pension plan limitations might affect your contributions to Roth IRAs and 401(k)s. Ask your Tax Aide assistant about how these changes will affect your filing submission.

To help you stay protected, AARP has highlighted 12 sensitive areas on your tax return that can trigger red flags and an IRS audit. Pay close attention to your homebuyer credit claims and charitable deductions. Also, claiming too many business expenses could attract negative scrutiny. And, of course, try to avoid mistakes when filling your tax return in print format. Before sending your paperwork, make sure it is complete and accurate. Tax Aide volunteers can help you avoid mistakes.

Did you earn a little extra cash this year? If you are like many Americans who earned extra income by selling baked cookies or renting out a room, then you may be required to estimate your taxes on that income and send a quarterly check to the IRS. If you don’t, you may have to pay late fees and penalties along with your tax contribution.

Check out AARP’s Tax Help Hub featuring links to tax forms as well as helpful articles with important information about how to report income, savings, investments and real estate.

With proper preparation and assistance, you can avoid costly mistakes and serious headaches this tax season. ¡Buena suerte!

Please support the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide by making a donation.

Photo credit: Arvind Balaraman/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

The Trouble with Online Cupids:

It overloads people, and they end up shutting down,” report author Eli Finkel said.

Ah, the paradox (and paralysis) of choice! Much psychological research has shown that when presented with too many choices, people tend to shut down or make poor decisions. But what about those sites with the personality tests and proprietary matchmaking algorithms—surely they’ve got to make things better?

Probably not, according to Finkel. ”Developers of matching algorithms have tended to focus on the information that is easy for them to assess, like similarity in personality and attitudes, rather than the information that relationship science has found to be crucial for predicting long-term relationship well-being,” he said in a press release. “As a result, these algorithms are unlikely to be effective.”

See Also: 8 Ways to Find Love Online >>  

Does that mean online dating is all bunk, then? Of course not. If you’ve never found love online yourself, you probably know at least one person who has. Plenty of people do meet partners from these sites. But as far as paying extra to be matched up with folks based on personality, interests or whatever else? You may be better off saving the dough. As another of the report’s authors, psychology professor Harry Reis, said: “There is no particular reason for people to use sites that charge a lot of money to offer something they cannot deliver.” 

Tuesday Quick Hits: 

• Did Super Bowl commercials ignore baby boomers?

• Teaching older drivers new tricks: A new study finds that while older drivers do have higher crash rates than other drivers, it’s learned bad habits—not the problems of aging—that deserve the most blame.

• Republicans are still split on extending the Social Security payroll tax cut, while the House and Senate are deadlocked over preventing cuts to Medicare providers.

• Medicare’s ‘observation care’ loophole can result in unexpected expenses for hospital stays.

• Kid heading to college? Don’t risk your own retirement security to take on college debt.

• And a retirement home in New Hampshire has collected residents’ WWII memories into a book, World War II Remembered.

Photo: Mimi Haddon/Getty Images

If you’ve been following this series, we started with the basic levels of senior care and housing, and continued with tips on how to initiate a conversation about options and search for the best care. Last week, we focused on independent living; today, we’ll cover assisted living.

Assisted living is the new kid on the block, an adolescent in the industry and a category of care that is anything but static. Adding to its ever-evolving “in-between” status, every state defines and regulates assisted living differently, making it even harder to pin down.

Our guest blogger Michelle Seitzer.

Though visiting nurses and doctors were the norm hundreds of years ago, home care is a relative newcomer too, an option that is gaining popularity and growing so fast that sometimes the industry itself can barely keep pace.

But assisted living at its most stripped-down definition is just as it sounds: assistance, on varying levels, with various daily life tasks.

There are terms for these life tasks, referenced frequently in senior care: ADLs and IADLs.

• ADLs are activities of daily living, such as bathing, dressing, toileting, feeding, and other types of self-care (the most basic human needs).
• IADLs are instrumental activities of daily living; examples include balancing a checkbook, making doctor’s appointments, food preparation, transportation, laundry, and shopping. Many of these tasks do not have to be completed on a daily basis, but are integral life skills nonetheless.

Determining what type of senior care is the best fit has a lot to do with the individual’s ability to maintain ADLs and IADLs. Yes, residents of independent living may take advantage of transportation services or meal plans, but they are capable of furnishing their own transportation and preparing their own meals. But for those individuals who physically cannot drive, for those who do not have the cognitive ability to make transportation arrangements, for those who cannot prepare their own meals or procure the items to make them – in these situations, assisted living, home care services, or a family caregiver fills in the gaps.

How many ADLs and IADLs an individual needs assistance with — and to what extent they need the help — has a lot to do with how much you’ll pay for home care or services in an assisted living community (in addition to room and board, which is typically charged separately). In the next post, we’ll break down these costs, licensure and regulatory requirements, learn about “who’s who” in assisted living communities and home care agencies, and more. Stay tuned!

Some resources to consider:

• The Department of Health and Human Services’ Eldercare Locator. Find the closest Area Agency on Aging (AAA) office and the state long-term care ombudsman’s office
• Assisted Living Federation of America
• American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging

Here’s the Closer Look series to date:

• Week 1:  Housing Choices: Find the Right Home for You or Your Loved One
• Week 2:  Starting the Search for Care: When and How
• Week 3:  How to Choose the Best Care and Housing Provider
• Week 4: Taking a Closer Look at Independent Living

Editor’s Notes: Michelle Seitzer has blogged for the senior living search site SeniorsforLiving.com since 2008, and is the co-moderator of #ElderCareChat, a bi-monthly Twitter-facilitated discussion group for family and professional caregivers passionate about quality senior care.

Nearly 500 passengers got sick on two Princess Cruises ships based out of Fort Lauderdale, and about 200 fell ill on Royal Caribbean’s Voyager of the Seas, sailing from New Orleans, forcing all three ships to have surfaces cleaned and disinfected before they could depart.

So what is it with this virus and cruise ships?

Unfortunately, cruise ships get all the publicity when the stomach bug hits because the cruises lines are required to report outbreaks to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which then has the ships undergo a “vessel sanitation program” — an effective scrubbing that helps prevent and control the spread of any further illness.

But noroviruses, which can cause vomiting, diarrhea,  stomach cramps and sometimes a low fever, are liable to show up wherever large numbers of people are in close quarters. As the CDC explains, “outbreaks occur more often where there are more people in a small area, such as nursing homes, restaurants, catered events, and cruise ships.”

In fact, last month a new study found that the norovirus was the leading cause of infection outbreaks in U.S. hospitals.

Nearly one-third of the outbreaks occurred in facilities that included rehabilitation units, long-term acute care hospitals, psychiatric/behavioral health units, and skilled nursing facilities. Unlike the cruise ships, however, only half of these outbreaks were reported to an outside agency, like the state health department.

Although 200 people getting sick on a cruise ship is a lot of green faces, keep in mind that most of these ships carry some 3,000 passengers, so the majority felt ok.

And there are things you can do to prevent getting the stomach bug, whether you’re cruising or somewhere else where you might be exposed to it.

Here are some suggestions from the CDC:

* The norovirus is highly contagious, spread by touching surfaces, food or drinks contaminated with the virus, or by being exposed to someone who’s sick. People are contagious from the moment they start feeling sick, to about three days after they begin to feel better.

*Wash your hands, especially after using the toilet and before eating or preparing food. Soap and water are best, but if they aren’t available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.

*Avoid shaking hands during outbreaks.

*If you get sick, drink plenty of fluids and wash hands often to keep from spreading your germs. Advise medical staff of your symptoms.

In other health news:

10 warning signs of Alzheimer’s. How do you know if it’s just a memory glitch or a more serious problem? The Alzheimer’s Association offers 10 signs that indicate it’s a more worrisome development.

Male smokers lose brain function faster as they age.  A large, long-term study in Britain finds that men who smoke suffer a more rapid decline in brain function as they age than their non-smoking counterparts, with their cognitive decline as rapid as a nonsmoker who’s 10 years older. Male smokers have dementia-like cognitive difficulties showing up as early as the age of 45, researchers found. The study looked at more than 7,000 men and women with an average age of 56.

Photo credit: inflexwetrust.com

As AARP’s Sustainability Manager, Pam Evans has led the effort to incorporate environmentally responsible practices into AARP’s internal business operations. She’s passionate about educating members on the importance of responsible use of resources, and the direct connection between the declining health of the environment and the health of our, and future, generations.

There’s the obvious ways we’ve all heard about to reduce our home energy bills, like turning off the lights when we leave a room, using a programmable thermostat, and making sure the dish and clothes washers are full before running them.  But hidden ‘energy vampires’ add an extra 5 – 10% to the average energy bill!  Televisions, DVR’s, cable boxes, and video-game consoles are among the worst ‘vampires’, but even little things like cell phone (and other) chargers and anything with a digital display are drawing power that adds to your energy bill each month. Check out this great  Energy Savers Booklet from the Department of Energy.

Do you have an old refrigerator in your basement or garage?  You could be paying as much as $100 a year or more just to keep a few sodas and beers cold! (Check how much your extra fridge is costing.)

So how is reducing our energy consumption better for our health? Increased energy efficiency equals reduced reliance on coal and other fossil-fuel power plants, leading to cleaner air, water and soil. (Power plants are among America’s biggest polluters, sending mercury and scores of other toxics into our air. Mercury poisons the brain and can cause learning disorders and other developmental problems in infants and children, and it’s not so good for seniors either!)

Do you have a success story about reducing your energy bill? Please share it with us.

Photo thanks to danoconnorspeaker via Flickr.

She was crying when she came onstage.

“Oh, Marty.. I must’ve died and gone to heaven. I’ve gotten a lifetime achievement award from MARTIN SCORSESE. MARTIN SCORSESE.”

Sharon Stone is 53. She’ll tell you that, too. She’ll tell you about her 40s, and how she always states her age.

She’ll tell you about not getting any calls a decade ago, and now that she’s 50, her wrinkles are suddenly in style. She’ll tell you about falling, and getting up, and that the latter is the part you really need to worry about.

“On screen, she’s like that old nitrate film stock – you guys remember that? – where the silver makes the whites glisten and glow.” Martin Scorsese

She wasn’t the only one. Oliver Litondo’s smile filled the room; Meryl Streep yet again pulled the house to their feet. Age was everywhere, and defied everywhere. What wrinkles?

I’m 25. Old enough to know about M.A.S.H., young enough to not care. Yet Alexander Payne, Descendants director, said it best:

“We discount our young people, thinking they only want to see watered down entertainment.”

For all our Movies for Grownups coverage, head here.

However, I get that most families aren’t as harmonious. It’s a tragedy, really, when that happens. But I won’t wax philosophical about another’s family politics.

What I will tell you is that we here at AARP know this is an issue and we’re here to help. Aside from the question, How can I get paid for being a caregiver?, the second most popular question we’re continually asked is: What happens when my siblings don’t like how I’m caring for mom/dad? Well, here’s your chance to ask.

We’re hosting a webinar: Family Feuds: What to Do When Families Disagree About How to Care for Mom. Our caregiving experts will tell you that there are various reasons why a sibling might not like what’s going on: denial, avoidance, poor communicator —  just to name a few. Please share this with anyone you know having a similar issue. Here’s the info on the webinar:

• When: 7 pm ET on Thursday, Feb. 23.
• Who: Any caregiver in this tough situation and their families.
• How: RSVP here, write on your calendar, keep your PIN and come with questions.

See you there!

I didn’t get to watch a lot of movies as a kid. (It’s a long story.) The few ones I did watch left indelible impressions. As it turns out, when you watch the Sound of Music close to 30 or 40 times as a young teenaged woman, Christopher Plummer sticks in your mind. (As does the soundtrack. These are a few of my favorite things…La la la la…) 

I can recognize that voice anywhere, even in the villain from Up. When I saw this trailer, I remembered the Captain I knew as an adolescent, and couldn’t help reconciling that character to his portrayal of Hal Fields. What a career, Mr. Plummer. Well done.

Full list of Movies for Grownups winners here. Follow our awards ceremony on Twitter tonight, February 6, right here. 

• Breakfast in bed. Skip the crowded, overpriced dinner out. Surprise your valentine with breakfast in bed instead. Set your alarm a little early and try my romantic favorite: pieces of toast with a heart shapes cut out and eggs fried in the center, like this. Breakfast in bed is always a treat, especially on a Tuesday morning!

• A lifetime’s worth of roses. Rather than shell out big bucks for a dozen roses that’ll be dead in a few days, buy your lover a rosebush to plant outside. Many varieties of rosebushes can live 30 or more years, and attractive landscaping increases the value of your home. Depending on your climate, some rose bushes can be planted right now; or order one for delivery when it’s planting time and just include a picture it in your Valentine’s Day card. 

• Chocolate crockpot fondue. No holiday is complete without breaking out the crockpot. Forget about the $30 heart shaped box of chocolates, and try this simple, inexpensive recipe for chocolate fondue made in the crockpot instead. It’s something the whole family can enjoy.

• Now that’s hot lingerie. I guess priorities and tastes change as you grow older, but last Valentine’s Day my wife and I exchanged bright red “union suits” – one piece sets of thermal underwear – with each other to wear instead of pajamas. We both think they look kind of sexy (in a lumber camp sort of way!), and I like the fact that we can turn down the thermostat at night, because between our union suits and each other, we stay nice and warm.

• Private-label cheap champagne. I’ve ranted before about the high price we pay for fancy packaging. Instead, buy an inexpensive bottle of champagne or other libation you think your sweetheart will enjoy, and then make it really fancy by removing the cheap label and using this free website to design and print out a romantic “private label” for your Valentines celebration.

• Anything homemade, from the heart … or in the shape of one. It’s truly the thought that counts, and nothing says “I’ve been thinking about you” more than a gift you make yourself. Here’s a picture of the pin I made for my wife the first Valentine’s Day we were married. I carved it from a piece of wood I’d secretly saved from the first Christmas tree of our marriage the December before. The cost: free. The reaction when I gave it to her: priceless.

Have a happy Valentine’s Day, but Stay Cheap!

Watch Jeff’s cheap tips on Fox news.

LOVE cupcake courtesy of Weenee via Flickr Creative Commons; homemade heart by Jeff Yeager.

]]> http://blog.aarp.org/2012/02/06/6-frugal-valentines-day-gifts-for-romantics/feed/ 0 jeffyeagerultimatecheapskate LOVE cupcake heart http://blog.aarp.org/2012/02/06/its-the-donors-money/ http://blog.aarp.org/2012/02/06/its-the-donors-money/#comments Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:00:56 +0000 Jen Martin http://blog.aarp.org/?p=18376 ]]> This is a guest post by David P. Whitehead. David is Senior Vice President and Chief Development Officer for AARP and AARP Foundation. He is responsible for leading all fundraising efforts, including efforts to support charitable, advocacy and social impact programs. He has been a non-profit leader for over 23 years, having helped a number of national and international organizations become more effective through strategic investments and revenue growth. David lives in Fairfax Virginia with his wife, Beth, and four children.

David Whitehead

Have you ever noticed that when you buy a tube of toothpaste from the grocery store, that you never think the money you spend still belongs to you? Fact: you exchanged the money for the toothpaste. Toothpaste belongs to you and the money belongs to the store you bought it from. Quid pro quo, tit for tat, or as some say, “We’re square.”

Not so with donations!

After 23 years in fundraising, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard from very kind and generous donors, “so, what good did you do with my money.”  They didn’t refer to it as your money, or the organization’s money.  It’s, “Did my money help?  Were you able to do what you said you would do with my money? “

Even after the funds have been spent – and the building was erected, the program implemented or the tenured professor hired – the reference to whose money it actually belongs to remains – the donor!

And rightly so!

Simply, the non-profit organization exists for the public good – to serve the community addressed in its mission.  It is supported by those in the community who believe that service is important – the donors. The organization’s board represents that community and has the responsibility to collect and apply those donations in a way that best meet that service or need.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work this way.

The most recent court case concerning Garth Brooks’ donation in 2005 to the Integris Canadian Valley Region Hospital in Yukon Oklahoma is the perfect example. The gift was emotional, heartfelt and would make a significant difference to the hospital that was going to use it to fund a women’s health center named after Mr. Brook’s mother, Colleen. The hospital’s President agreed to use and acknowledge the funds as the donor directed.

The hospital quickly forgot and decided it was their money to do with as they wished. They were wrong.

A court made the hospital pay Mr. Brooks back to the tune of $1 million – more than what he gave. An important win for donor’s rights and a reminder of the non-profit organization’s obligation to honor donor intent.

It’s the donor’s money and nonprofits need to remember that.

You can follow David on Twitter at @Whitehead_Dave.

“Hugo,” based on Brian Selznick’s illustrated novel The Invention of Hugo Cabret, is Martin Scorsese’s magical, majestic, fantastically told 3-D tale of Hugo, an orphaned 12-year-old boy. After the disappearance of his clock-maker uncle, Hugo struggles to survive in the dark labyrinths of the subterranean train station of 1930s Paris by secretly winding all the station clocks. The ticking-of-time serves as visual and thematic metaphor, enabling Hugo to take on a beyond-his-years philosophical dimension as both agonist and antagonist. Along his curious and circuitous journey, Hugo establishes an unlikely bond with a forgotten cinema legend that brings Hugo into further magical regions. 50+ viewers will appreciate Scorsese’s unabashed flirtation with the mercurial and mysterious realms of early cinema.

Did you see this film with your kids or grandkids? Is it important for younger audiences to have an appreciation for the golden age of cinema?

Full list of Movies for Grownups winners here. Follow our awards ceremony on Twitter on Monday night, February 6, right here. 

It’s no surprise that the auto industry had a strong presence during the big game, and nearly every commercial break featured at least one car commercial. Here are five of the most memorable:

1. Toyota: Camry Reinvented

Toyota highlighted its “reinvented” 2012 Camry throughout the game, and was directing users to take the conversation to Twitter to post about what other kinds of products should be reinvented. This commercial, with its “reinvented” couch, baby, police officer and rain, was my favorite in the series.

2. Chrysler: It’s Halftime in America

Many Super Bowl ads used comedy to impress their viewers, but this two-minute commercial featuring Academy Award-winner Clint Eastwood was more of a drama. It highlighted the progress that has been made in our national auto industry and ignited a sense of unity and patriotism as we look forward to America’s “second half” out of the recession.

3. Honda: Matthew’s Day Off

Honda’s “Matthew’s Day Off” generated a lot of pre-game buzz for its clever play on Ferris Bueller’s Day Off—so much buzz that some viewers may have been disappointed when seeing the ad live. But I really enjoyed it, and the extended version is even better.  Save Ferris!

4. Volkswagen: The Dog Strikes Back

An overweight dog puts himself through rigorous training to be able to chase the new 2012 Beetle. This commercial, a sequel to last year’s popular “The Force” ad, was definitely the cutest in the car category.

5. Acura: Transactions with Jerry Seinfeld

Like Honda’s Matthew Broderick, the Acura commercial generated significant buzz thanks to its celebrity endorser (Jerry Seinfeld) and clever narrative. Overall, the commercial, which showcased Acura’s new NSX, was fun and light-hearted.

Honorable mentions go to Audi for its “Vampire Party” commercial and Chevy Sonic for its clever Sonic’s “Firsts” commercials.

Do you watch the Super Bowl for the game or the commercials? What was your favorite ad from the Super Bowl? What was your favorite car commercial?

Madonna Is 53:

Did you see the halftime show? Madonna was so good. And very age-appropriate.

She went on about Madonna’s age-appropriateness for several minutes; I chalked this up to some weird quirk of my mother’s. But it turns out she wasn’t the only one focusing on Madonna’s age last night—far from it. The New York Times review of last night’s halftime performance is titled “No Longer An Upset: Madonna Acts Her Age” and opens: The bad girl is a grown-up now. One of the most-used phrases on Twitter last night? “Madonna is 53.”

The tone of the age-focus on Madonna has been mostly positive. People are expressing admiration for Madonna’s body, her gymnastic ability, her kick-butt performance and her “stylish but hardly provocative” outfits. Of course, I can’t help but wonder if the male halftime performers of the past few years—Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Tom Petty, Sting—received as much age scrutiny (though it’s also hard to imagine anyone saying Keith Richards looks good for his age…)? And a portion of the age commentary has been snarky or downright mean (“Madonna almost falls off step on stage; I’m sure her AARP health plan covers that stuff,” columnist Norman Chad quipped).

There’s no doubt that Madonna is continuing a recent trend of older acts taking to the spotlight for the Super Bowl halftime show. Business Insider notes that from 1992-2003, the average age of the Super Bowl halftime act was 38 years old. In the eight Super Bowls since 2003, the average age of the halftime musical performers has been 55.

And could Super Bowl coaches be trending up in years, as well? The Giants’ head coach, Tom Coughlin, is 65—making him the oldest coach to win a Super Bowl and the second oldest to win an NFL Championship (oldest was George Halas, at 68, for the 1963 Bears), according to the Wall Street Journal. A lot of folks have speculated that the Super Bowl win would be the perfect retirement backdrop for Coughlin. But the coach has no such plans.

I feel good,” Coughlin said. “Retire to do what?”

Monday Quick Hits: 

• In a final tally from the Nevada presidential caucuses Saturday, Mitt Romney finished with 50 percent of the vote, followed by Newt Gingrich with 21 percent, Ron Paul with 19 percent and Rick Santorum with 10 percent. The older the voter, the better Romney fared: Among 50- to 64-year-olds, he won 55 percent; among those 65+, he won 57 percent.

• Queen Elizabeth II celebrates 60 years on the throne.

• The Los Angeles Times is running a two-part special on navigating issues with aging parents: 1) How to help them stay out of the nursing home by making safety adjustments to their homes and 2) How to talk to aging parents about lifestyle changes (hint: It comes down to r-e-s-p-e-c-t).

• And Betty White outshines relative youngsters Christina Aguilera and Adam Levine in a Super Bowl ad for ‘The Voice.’

Photo: Jeff Haynes/Reuters

That’s the argument a team of health researchers from University of California, San Francisco, put forth in a report in the February issue of the journal Nature.

Robert Lustig, M.D., and professors Laura Schmidt and Claire Brindis, contend that it’s simplistic to dismiss sugar as merely “empty calories” that make people fat. Those so-called empty calories have serious health consequences, they write.

“Sugar changes metabolism, raises blood pressure, critically alters the signaling of hormones and causes significant damage to the liver,” effects that largely mirror the effects of drinking too much alcohol, the researchers point out in a prepared statement. “A little is not a problem, but a lot kills….slowly.”

Lustig, a professor of pediatrics who specializes in childhood obesity, calls sugar “toxic beyond its calories.”

The researchers support taxing sugary foods, like soda and candy, and controlling sales to kids under 17. They propose putting an age limit on those allowed to purchase drinks with added sugar and creating laws to restrict the access of children to convenience stores after school.

Schmidt, a health policy expert, wrote for CNN that:

Many of the health hazards of drinking too much alcohol, such as high blood pressure and fatty liver, are the same as those for eating too much sugar. Alcohol, after all, is simply the distillation of sugar. Where does vodka come from? Sugar.

The authors also note that the addictive craving for sugar — and the resulting sugar-high — is similar to the effect of drugs on the brain, which is why it’s so hard for Americans to cut back on our desire for sweets.

Americans consume 22 teaspoons of sugar a day, according to the American Heart Association, and teenagers consume even more — 34 teaspoons a day. This then contributes to obesity, which  is linked to chronic diseases like diabetes and heart disease.

The UCSF researchers say they’re not asking for sugar to be banned. “We’re talking about gentle ways to make sugar consumption slightly less convenient, thereby moving people away from the concentrated dose,” explains Schmidt.

“What we want is to actually increase people’s choices by making foods that aren’t loaded with sugar comparatively easier and cheaper to get.”

Other countries, including France, Greece and Denmark, have levied an extra tax on sodas, and a soda tax is being considered in at least 20 U.S. cites, reports Time magazine.

Having to flash an ID in order to buy a Kit Kat or a Coke seems a bit much, but maybe a soda tax isn’t so crazy.

As Lustig pointed out in a popular 2009 lecture, “Sugar: The Bitter Truth,” that was posted on YouTube, our love for sugar has some not-so-sweet health consequences.

In other health news:

Green tea — the secret to a healthy old age? Older adults who regularly drink green tea may stay more agile and independent, according to a Japanese study that covered thousands of people. The new study, which followed 14,000 adults age 65 and older for three years, found that those who drank the most green tea  were the least likely to develop “functional disability,” or problems with daily activities or basic needs, such as dressing or bathing.

Warfarin and aspirin are similar in preventing deaths and strokes. In the largest and longest head-to-head comparison of two anti-clotting medications, warfarin and aspirin were similar in preventing deaths and strokes in heart failure patients with normal heart rhythm, according to new research presented at the American Stroke Association’s international conference. While there were more benefits from warfarin in patients followed for four years or more, warfarin also increased the risk of more bleeding. “There is no compelling reason to use warfarin, especially considering the bleeding risk,” said the study’s lead author.

Want to cut prescription errors in hospitals? Use a computer. One in seven hospital patients suffers some form of error in care and a third of those has to do with prescription errors. But a new study shows those errors drop by a whopping 60 percent if prescription orders are entered on a computer.

Photo: wtvr.com

Watch: Max Von Sydow interviewed 

“Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close” tells the story of a young boy’s heartbreaking search for meaning following the agonizing loss of his father in the aftermath of 9/11. Eleven-year-old Oskar, sensitive, exceptional in intellect, and extraordinarily gifted, sets out to uncover the mystery behind a key that his father has left in an envelope marked “Black.”  Convinced that it holds a secret meaning just for him, he combs New York City in the hope of making sense of his father’s tragic death. The age-old search for love, solace, and meaning are themes that will resonate with older audiences.

I’m particularly partial to Jonathan Safran Foer’s original book, whose gentle scratching of New York’s wounds through the eyes of a boy caught my heart off guard. Caught in little Oskar’s imaginings, he wrote this:

“What about little microphones? What if everyone swallowed them, and they played the sounds of our hearts through little speakers, which could be in the pouches of our overalls? When you skateboarded down the street at night you could hear everyone’s heartbeat, and they could hear yours, sort of like sonar. One weird thing is, I wonder if everyone’s hearts would start to beat at the same time, like how women who live together have their menstrual periods at the same time, which I know about, but don’t really want to know about. That would be so weird, except that the place in the hospital where babies are born would sound like a crystal chandelier in a houseboat, because the babies wouldn’t have had time to match up their heartbeats yet. And at the finish line at the end of the New York City Marathon it would sound like war.”

Did you watch? Did you read the book? How do you feel about its treatment of 9/11?

Full list of Movies for Grownups winners here. Follow our awards ceremony on Twitter on Monday night, February 6, right here. 

The older the voter, the better Romney fared. Among 50- to 64-year-olds, he won 55 percent; among those 65 and older, he won 57 percent.

Mormons made up an outsize proportion of the caucus-goers, and 9 of 10 voted for Romney, a Mormon.

Still, there was a cautionary note for Romney. His share of the vote fell just shy of the 51 percent he won in 2008, giving voice to the Republicans who appear to be searching for an alternative. But the alternatives are looking a little raggedy: Newt Gingrich won only 23 percent of the vote in Nevada, Ron Paul 19 percent and Rick Santorum 11 percent.

The economy, not surprisingly, was the top issue. Nevada’s unemployment rate is the highest in the nation. Among workers 55 and older, the jobless rate is 12 percent. The state also has the highest percentage of homes in foreclosure or “underwater,” meaning more is owed the bank than the house is worth. Of those most worried about the economy, 6 in 10 voted for Romney.

Two upcoming primary states, Arizona and Michigan (both voting on Feb. 28), are enduring the same economic challenges as Nevada. The votes in those states could set up the finale of the GOP nominating contest.

Read all Election 2012 posts.

Is Albert gay, straight, asexual?  We’re not sure.  “I’m not sure Albert knows,” as costar Janet McTeer puts it.  “Albert is a damaged human being.”

Close and McTeer (a runner up to Vanessa Redgrave in “Coriolanis” in Our Movies for Grownups Supporting Actress category), are jubilant about the attention “Albert Nobbs” is getting thanks to their critical huzzahs and awards attention.  Both actresses are in the running for Academy Awards.  “I’m so proud of Glenn.  It took her hundreds of years to get this off the ground, you know, and the fact she did it with such grace, such collaboration — she never got dictatorial or possessive about it,”  McTeer tells me.  Close first played the role of Albert Nobbs some 30 years ago onstage, you may recall, and the film version has been her long-time labor of love.  “We just kept waiting for funding.  Truthfully,” says McTeer, “I think we started filming before we got the money.  It was a hard slog.”

“The Descendants” takes an understated, emotionally uncompromising look at a family in crisis. The movie is set in paradisiacal Hawaii, a contrast against the slow unraveling of its main character, played by George Clooney, who faces a series of emotional challenges that test his limits. Older audiences will identify with the film’s surprisingly stark look at true-to-life family dilemmas. (You can read our full review here.)

“I just have to share getting older with everybody in the world on screen and it’s a little trickier, but I’m OK with it. I felt this was a good place to talk about fears and loss in your life and Alexander Payne was the perfect director to do it with. In this film I got to rediscover what it was like to not be confident.”

- George Clooney, interviewed by The Telegraph. 

Did you see the Descendants? What rang true for you?

Full list of Movies for Grownups winners here. Follow our awards ceremony on Twitter on Monday night, February 6, right here. 

“The Artist” is a nearly silent film that resonates deeply with 50+ viewers who appreciate its classic French cinema feel. Adult viewers will find a visual feast in the film’s pastiche of 1920s Hollywood. Jean Dujardin plays the protagonist, a silent movie star whose fortunes fade with the advent of ‘talkies’, and as demand for silent movies wanes. With a focus on high drama, emotional nuance and human pathos, ‘The Artist’ is a reminder that the past continues to inform the present, and the persistence of memory serves one of the most powerful human needs; to aestheticise, archive and remember our collective past.

“I also love black and white, which some people assume they don’t like. For me, it’s more stylized and less realistic than color, more dreamlike, more concerned with essences than details,” Roger Ebert says.

Does the silent-film format still have an appeal in today’s fast-paced era? Would your kids watch a silent film? What were your favorites?

Full list of Movies for Grownups winners here. Follow our awards ceremony on Twitter on Monday night, February 6, right here. 

Led by Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-Ga.) and Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.), Congressional Republican physicians recently sent a letter to AARP, emphasizing the importance of addressing the challenges facing Medicare. AARP’s Nancy LeaMond responds.

Guest blog by Jacqueline Beauchere, Director, Privacy, Accessibility & Online Safety, Trustworthy Computing Communications, Microsoft Corporation

We all know that old saying … And, as those kids move into their teen years, their remarks become that much more intelligent, insightful, and astute.  Never was this more apparent to me than at a roundtable discussion led by Microsoft in partnership with AARP, with a group of 18 American teenagers in New York City.

During lunch, we talked about their favorite online activities, Internet habits and practices, and how they’re connecting with adult family members using technology.  My key take-away: they don’t believe some massive, technological abyss of knowledge exists among the generations and, if a relatively small gap does persist, they don’t think it needs to be filled.

Still, adults are embracing technology and, to the extent they’re doing so to keep connected with kids, young people ask that we at least “do it right.” They articulated what I’d call two stages of online interaction:  “fundamentals” and “basics-plus.”

In the “fundamentals” category, they want adults to learn to use the PC and/or laptop correctly, as well as understand the essentials of navigating the web.  Parents and grandparents, they say, should send email “properly,” be authentic, and act and behave like adults online.  One teenage boy told us he scolded his 55-year-old mother when she was trying to be a little too hip in the digital world.

If adults are going to send text messages or move into the realm of social networking—“basics-plus”—young people have some additional requests.  For instance, they want us to know how to send private messages, be attuned to social etiquette, and they’d prefer that we keep it light and fun, just like they do.

“Adults seem to always have an agenda,” complained one savvy 17-year old. Others echoed that sentiment, noting that the older generation sends text messages of multiple paragraphs, as opposed to being short and to the point.

Microsoft, together with our online safety advocates, help young and older alike learn and appreciate the benefits and risks of life online, including how to communicate effectively.  We offer a wealth of resources at our Safety & Security Center.  And, you can follow us for other great tips on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

Safer Internet Day (SID), an annual event dedicated to promoting responsible use of the Internet and mobile technology is February 7, and this year’s theme is “Connecting Generations.”  In conjunction with SID, Microsoft and AARP will release the results of joint related research.  But, in advance, why not take action early and, as a parent or grandparent, start a discussion within your family about how best to communicate using technology – taking care to address each family member’s needs and preferences.     After all, while the younger generation may have tech expertise, older adults possess the wisdom.

Then, if you’re still a little reticent about diving head first into the always-on digital lifestyle, as one pragmatic 16-year-old noted, “Everyone owns a phone; we can all just make a call.”

Participants in MoMA Alzheimer's program. Photo courtesy MoMA.

Picture this: It is Tuesday, the day New York’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) is closed to the public, and yet I  am in their galleries surrounded by Van Goghs, Dalis, and Cezannes.  It is one of those “life moments” now etched in my brain.

There are no crowds or distractions, just seven caretakers, their spouses and parents with dementia, and a Museum educator, all animatedly discussing Picasso’s very abstract “The Seated Bather.”

The educator: “Why did Picasso choose to paint this way? There is no torso or brain. What do you see?”

“A hollow woman,” says one man with Alzheimer’s. “An empty-headed woman,” says another. “What a sexy broad!” he continues.

There may be laughs, but this is a serious approach to improving the lives of caregivers and their impaired spouses and parents. The MoMA Alzheimer’s Project’s Meet Me at the MoMA, a free monthly 1.5 hour program that attracts around 90 participants (divided into six groups) at a time, is one of many such museum programs around the country and abroad.

ARTZ (Artists For Alzheimer’s) created a program for the Louvre and the National Gallery of Australia; it also runs free weekly museum tours among six museums in Massachusetts.

No doubt, it’s a challenge for an educator. People are at different stages of Alzheimer’s (although the programs are geared to those with mild cognitive impairment). Says Laurel Humble of MoMA: “You have to be on your toes. Some answers don’t make sense. There’s a fair amount of work to keep the conversation cohesive. I’m constantly reintroducing an idea.”

MoMA participants during program. Photo courtesy MoMA.

Not that it matters. As the caretaker, having that meaningful experience is a rarity. These initiatives are a break from the daily hum-drum caregiver/recipient interaction.

A New York University study of the MoMA program found other benefits: a boost in self-worth and positive mood that can last several days after a program for the one with Alzheimer’s.  And caregivers? Researchers discovered they feel less isolated by socializing with others also dealing with Alzheimer’s. Plus, they’re doing something for themselves–remember, they’re not the best at that taking-care-of-themselves thing.

“It’s my lifeline, my life support,” says one MoMA regular . “Without it, I don’t think I could do it. The program is intellectually stimulating for me and my husband. It’s not just looking at pretty pictures. Both of us get to use our mind.”

I met Tania Becker, who has just launched the Arts 4 Alzheimer’s program at the Columbus Museum in Columbus, GA. Here’s her take: “They’re so engaged! Sometimes when I walk out, I can’t tell which is the person with Alzheimer’s and which is the caregiver!”

For programs in your area:

• Your local Alzheimer’s Association or the national office
• ARTZ (Artists for Alzheimer’s)
• MoMA’s Meet Me program, to see a video

At AARP we often hear from members in their 50s, 60s and 70s who are unemployed and want and need to get back into the workforce…some desperately so. This month, AARP is shining the spotlight on older worker issues from a range of perspectives, from those who still need to work to have a roof over their heads, to those who seek meaningful encore careers or part-time work during what they thought would be their retirement years.

It’s about tools and resources to help seasoned workers find jobs, including http://jobs.aarp.org/— and how to succeed in what often proves to be a very different environment. It’s about helping employers understand the benefits of hiring older employees. 

It’s about celebrating those employers who truly get it, and have earned AARP’s Best Employers for Workers Over 50 Award…and others like them. And especially important, it means serving as a resource for employers who want to learn about the value of hiring and retaining older workers.

AARP CEO A. Barry Rand recently wrote an article for the Society of Human Resources Management on how to “Keep Experienced Workers from Walking Out the Door.” The fact that the world’s largest association devoted to HR management is actively addressing older worker employment strategies is encouraging.

Employers can access the free, online AARP-SHRM Workforce Assessment Tool, which helps employers analyze their efforts in eight key areas and provides suggestions on how to improve. The assessment has already been used by more than 3,000 organizations, including many Fortune 500 companies.

There are discussions going on at a myriad of organizations on these topics. On February 2, AARP Foundation hosted “A Critical Conversation: Positioning Older Workers for Hourly Wage Jobs in Demand.” This gathering featured panelists representing national employer groups, employment agencies, academia, non-profits, economic development and public policy groups. A key takeaway: the old rules are gone, and everyone is learning as we go.

Check out the Gates Foundation Report on Workforce Solutions, and stay tuned during the month of February for more on getting seasoned workers back to work. And if you know someone 50+ who is looking for work, tell them AARP has resources and tools to help.

Photo via Artiii’s photostream in Flickr Creative Commons

By Trish Vradenberg

Well, it’s a biopic so you have to expect that there will be quibbling over interpretation.  You know, the usual stuff: was he the favorite; was she a mean witch; was he a private cross-dresser?  Who really knows?

The new biopic The Iron Lady, currently showing in your favorite Cineplex, has sparked controversy – even outrage – due to the fact that the central figure, Margaret Thatcher, is still alive.

The crux of the objection is that the film depicts Thatcher as suffering from dementia.  Friends and foes alike are “uncomfortable” with –or even incensed by – the scenes depicting the former Prime Minister as a delusional older woman beleaguered by the effects of a hideous disease.

Indeed, Charles Moore, the authorized biographer of Mrs. Thatcher, was quoted as saying, “I was strongly against the film depicting a living person with dementia.  That was very upsetting for her friends and family.  It’s an extremely unkind thing to do.”

Upsetting for Mrs. Thatcher’s family…really?  Her daughter was the one who bravely announced that her mother had Alzheimer’s in 2008.

Conservative Members of Parliament in England have even called for a House of Commons debate on the movie. One MP said the movie painted an “intrusive and unfair picture” of Thatcher, and that the screenwriter and director should have focused more on the earlier years in Thatcher’s life.

So now the House of Commons is into rewriting scripts, to which I feel it fair to suggest: Write your own movie if you don’t like this one.

All these objections point to exactly what is wrong with the Alzheimer’s debate. The culture is still in denial, hiding, afraid to face the reality of a disease which is permeating our societies.  Alzheimer’s is unpleasant to look at and to deal with so let’s rewrite it so no one feels “uncomfortable.”

And that’s precisely the problem. We need to finally  come out of the closet and own Alzheimer’s and admit that, yes, even someone brilliant, beautiful, iconic can have this merciless disease.  Just ask the families of PM Harold Wilson, Iris Murdock, William DeKooning, Rita Hayworth and Ronald Reagan.

Meryl Streep, who plays Margaret Thatcher in what I believe is the finest portrayal of her dazzling career, said that it was the unraveling of Mrs. Thatcher into dementia that attracted her to this project.

It is the dimensions, not the perfections, of one’s life that gives it value.  But Alzheimer’s is one dimension we can live without – in more ways than one. We have to work together to stop Alzheimer’s by 2020.  With proper funding we can do that.  I am sure that would be Margaret Thatcher’s wish as well.

And what is the aforementioned Charles Moore’s quibble with Streep’s performance? The way she walked.

“Streep walks with a swinging hip, she’s a taller woman and walks more like an actress,” he said. “Mrs. Thatcher walked with small steps, leaning forward, walking really fast, clutching her famous handbag and piles of papers.”

Now there’s the essence of a great movie.

Photo credit: The Iron Lady Official Site.

Hockey Hall Of Famer Active Despite Dementia

He has what we call mild cognitive impairment,” his son Murray, a radiologist, said.

Murray and Howe’s physician think Howe’s problems might be ‘vascular in nature.’ He has suffered from heart disease that required a coronary stent to be implanted; it’s possible he’s also suffered a couple of mini strokes. Research has shown nearly a quarter of older adults may have experienced a silent stroke, outwardly undetectable but responsible for future memory loss.

Whatever is causing Howe’s cognitive issues, he isn’t letting them keep him down. A few years ago, Mr. Hockey suffered chest pains after any brief exertion, said Murray. But Howe began a program of regular exercise and is now quite fit. He’s also busy being the face of dementia for a fundraising campaign by Toronto-based health organization Baycrest. So far, the Gordie and Colleen Howe Fund for Alzheimer’s has raised more than $16 million.

Learn From Mistakes: Retirees with the best of financial intentions still tend to make certain retirement money mistakes. Seven of the most common are: 1) Being too conservative with money, 2) Putting off planning, 3) Bailing out the kids, 4) Paying too much in taxes, 5) Following financial advice from friends and family, 6) Underestimating the costs of health care and 7) Underestimating how long you’ll live.

See here for more on these mistakes and how to avoid making them.

Thursday Quick Hits: 

• “Soul Train” founder Don Cornelius died Wednesday. The “civil-rights pioneer disguised as a dance-music-show host” was 75.

• People pleasers tend to overeat in social settings in order to make other people more comfortable, a new study shows.

• President Obama yesterday proposed to expand assistance to homeowners by creating a new federal program that would have the government assume the risk for refinanced mortgages.

• And a new report highlights how the demand for health care and social assistance jobs will balloon over the next decade, driven by the aging population.

Photos: 1) LegendsOfHockey.net; 2) Bruce Bennett/Getty Images

In honor of February being American Heart Month — and the month for that other heart-related holiday, Valentine’s Day — the postal service is releasing two new stamps celebrating the heart. One reminds us to keep our heart healthy. The other offers a cheery heartfelt tribute to love.

Both are “Forever” stamps, meaning they are always equal in value to the current first-class mail one-ounce rate.

The Heart Health stamp, left, available now, was designed to raise public awareness about the importance of eating right, exercising and managing stress to help prevent heart disease.

And just in case you need a little extra push, on the back of each sheet of stamps are tips on staying healthy, including not smoking, getting enough sleep and getting regular health screening to lower your risk of heart problems.

And for you romantics, this year’s effusive, red Love stamp, right, will be issued on Feb. 14 (Valentine’s Day, duh).

Graphic designer Louise Fili used a design of satin ribbons to spell out the word “love” — perfect for mailing valentines, wedding or shower invitations or — gasp! — even a love letter.

Sent first-class mail, of course.

In other health news:

Repeat breast cancer surgery varies widely — with no clear reason. One in four women who get breast-conserving lumpectomies often undergo another operation to remove additional tissue, even though for half of them there’s no conclusive evidence of any lingering cancer, a study has found. The study pinpoints a persistent problem in breast cancer treatment: There is no agreement about how much healthy surrounding tissue to take out when removing a tumor, and surgeons often opt to remove more, despite a lack of evidence that it’s necessary.

The Big 9: The chronic diseases that cost $1.5 trillion yearly. Americans are living longer with chronic illnesses, but it’s costing the country a lot — $1.5 trillion yearly, says the Institute of Medicine, fully three-fourths of annual healthcare spending. A panel of experts called on policy-makers to do more to prevent these diseases and streamline care for patients who live with them. The Big 9: arthritis, cancer survivors, chronic pain, dementia, depression, Type 2 diabetes, post-traumatic disability, schizophrenia, hearing and vision loss.

Weight loss may prevent leaky bladder in overweight diabetics. Overweight women with diabetes may be able to cut their risk of bladder leakage if they lose even a modest amount of weight, a new study finds. Extra belly weight, in particular, increases the risk for incontinence. Unfortunately, the study also found that women who already had urine leakage were not helped by losing weight.

Stamp images: Copyright U.S. Postal Service

Clint With The Suit He Wore in "Unforgiven" at the Smithsonian

Warner Brothers invited me to the Smithsonian Institution ceremony last night at which Clint Eastwood was presented with the museum’s James Smithson Bicentennial Medal, and I must say it was a bittersweet moment for me.

That’s because Clint, for some reason, opted out of our AARP Movies for Grownups Awards Gala in Hollywood next week, at which we were going to present him with our Golden Chair Award for J. Edgar. Go Figure. I briefly considered bringing Clint’s trophy along to the Smithsonian and shoving it into his hands for an impromptu photo op, but then I realized he would have wrung my scrawny neck, the police would have become involved, and all in all it would have been a black eye for AARP.

The highlight of the evening was Clint’s short speech, which I video recorded with the shakiest hand this side of Don Knotts. Really, I look at this thing and it seems like someone was kidney punching me while I held the camera. But it’s a funny little oration about how Clint feels regarding gun control, a story he’s clearly related a million times, but one that he obviously takes delight in telling.

This statue of George Washington is just down the hall from the new Warner Brothers Theater at the Smithsonian. They might consider replacing his head with Clint's.

CLICK ON THIS LINK TO SEE CLINT’S SPEECH, AND FEEL FREE TO CLOSE YOUR EYES IN CASE OF VERTIGO. DRAMAMINE MAY HELP.

Last night they also dedicated the new Warner Brothers Theater at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, and it’s one sweet screening room (it also smells like a new car!). Warners pumped millions into the venue, and it’s state-of-the-art from the screen all the way back to the projection booth. They showed us a movie that reputedly celebrated Warner Brothers’ nearly 90 years of moviemaking, with clips from some true Warner’s classics, like Casablanca, The Jazz Singer, the Merrie Melodies and the Harry Potter films. But there were also some ringers in there: The Wizard of Oz (MGM), Citizen Kane (RKO), Gone With the Wind (Selznick International) and Singin’ in the Rain (MGM again) among them. Memo to the Brothers Warner: Just because you bought the  DVD rights to another studio’s classics doesn’t mean you get to claim you made them.

Maybe I’m being just a bit petty. After all, Warners deserves a ton of credit for stepping up to restore the Smithsonian’s 40-year-old movie theater. Plus, they served these cinnamon-apple mini turnovers that I would gladly have filled my pockets with if it weren’t such a classy occasion. Besides, if Clint caught me he would’ve wrung my scrawny neck.

First, I never imagined so many of you would enjoy my blog post on the time spent in the ladies’ room last Sunday. I’m so glad some of you enjoyed the experience, even if you were living vicariously through me. Secondly, you are not aware of this’ but AARP has this little button in AARP land and the button has a label that reads, “Leigh Anne’s Sensor button” and each week when I turn in my blog, they have to use that little button numerous times – sad but true. Last week they pushed that little button many, many times just so my blog received a rating acceptable for our readers! My husband is in current negotiations with them to try and secure the future rights to that button. He might have to trade Collins and a future first round draft choice, but he thinks it would be worth his future peace of mind.

Ok, so back to the ladies’ room for just a quick button up.  There was definitely one thing that I took away from that experience as I reflected back over that day. That take away was how level the playing field becomes in a setting like the ladies’ room at a football stadium. Suddenly, it didn’t matter what your socioeconomic status was, your color, faith, type of car you drove to the game, where your seats were located, etc….everyone in that space had common goals. We were all equal.

The path to Kindness

Recently, I spoke in North Dakota. We had been scheduled to speak earlier in the year and the event was canceled due to flooding of the town . The town was bringing us in to speak because they had a sudden population explosion resulting from the discovery of oil in the area. They had brought in thousands of workers to do all the manual labor. Their housing conditions were inadequate, and they were being treated very poorly. Suddenly this flash flood came upon the entire town, and it suddenly mattered not who you were, where you were from, what you lived in or drove or if you were educated. This disaster made everyone equal. It leveled the playing field.

Don’t wait for a disaster to be kind to people. My thinking is that we should be polite to all people, especially the rude ones not because we are wanting to convert rude people into nice people, but first and foremost because we are nice, and that is what nice people do. Don’t let bad behavior rub off on us!

Now one last thing about my blog from last week, the responses I have received have mostly made me giggle out loud. I believe for my female ego the one that I found most entertaining was one gentleman who posted to the AARP site. He felt, which is his right as an American, that it was ridiculous when important things such as Social Security and Medicare were in jeopardy that they would have a cute little blonde …a Dallas Cowboy cheerleader type blog for them. Please someone find that man and let me hug his neck! He can do my intro anytime he wants. It will be just my luck that he has sight issues.

However, I do appreciate the adjectives he selected in my description. I also understand what he was trying to say. AARP, like other companies, has numerous tentacles that touch many different entities, and yet they are thought of in correlation with Social Security and Medicare. There are some very serious issues in this country that should take a front seat to my afternoon in the ladies’ room. I think everyone in this country is aware of that. We are also aware of the money being spent, or wasted is a better word, week end and week out on this upcoming election, where grown men act like first graders on a playground and call each other names and point fingers. If we took the millions and millions and millions of dollars they are wasting, then we could probably house every homeless person in this country!

We are also aware that people will spend money betting on the Super Bowl Sunday. I believe the number I saw was over 90 million would be bet just through Vegas and that number would be even greater through offshore sites. Can you imagine what could be done with that amount of money? Every child in this country might go to bed with a full belly and our elderly might live out their final years in comfort and with dignity. We all know that is not reality. So yes, you are all entitled to an opinion about what I write and the freedom to express it. But remember, it takes everyone getting involved to make a difference. Your sitting down and reeling off a response to a blog is not going to change anything; it just takes up time. 

My blogs are hopefully meant to inspire and give you a glimpse into my world. This past week has made me more aware than ever that we all are passionate about different things, and that is good. If every person on this Earth were passionate about the exact same thing then there would be a vast amount of work left to be done. We all have that inner voice and a string that supposedly pulls on our heart when we see something that we feel is being neglected or needs attention. My advice to you is don’t let the noise from others’ passions and opinions drown out yours. We need to all be loud and proud about what we hope to accomplish and don’t let others drag us down. M.H. McKee said, “Wisdom is knowing the right path to take and integrity is actually taking it.” Take the right path and be kind to everyone along the way!    

Photo credit by: slack12

Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter @LeighAnneTuohy and play #TuohyTrivia on Tuesdays for a chance to win a $25 donation to the charity of your choice for answering the question correctly. Learn more about my family’s charity at The Making It Happen Foundation.

Miss one of my previous posts? You can view them all HERE

Soul Train was a funky forum for emerging talent and a place where young, super-cool dancers in the seventies, eighties and nineties could strut their stuff. It was also one of the longest running syndicated shows on television. Aretha Franklin, Michael Jackson, Chaka Khan, The O’Jays and Gladys Knight & The Pips are just some of the acts who performed on Soul Train.

Cornelius, a former radio disc jockey, hosted, wrote and produced the show. His contribution to popular culture is immense. He was a curator of cool who broke down color barriers. Through the Soul Train Dance Line, Cornelius and his show swiftly influenced fashion, hairstyles and dance moves. Cornelius is also credited with giving much of white America its first glimpse of black culture.

I remember Soul Train as my television oasis.  Growing up in pre-cable suburbia severely limited my tv viewing options. Clicking past sporting events, static, and local news, to finally find Soul Train on a Saturday afternoon was like hitting the jackpot.

Rest in peace, Mr. Cornelius.

Following up on our post from a few weeks ago about cracking down on financial  elder abuse in Illinois, I was  talking with staff lead Ryan Gruenenfelder about what else is cooking down in Springfield this session and how AARP will be involved.

He told me about an interesting battle that keeps cropping up over some increased protections that are now part of the Illinois Power of Attorney Act.

For the past couple of years AARP Illinois,  along with several other groups such as the Illinois  State Bar Association, Illinois Credit Union League,  the Illinois  State  Medical Society, and the Illinois  Hospital Association, has been very involved in increasing protections for those who name a person or an organization as their fiscal Power of Attorney (POA).

We advocated for things like making the language of POA agreements more consumer-friendly, requiring POAs to act in good faith  (seriously that needs to be written in to law?!  - I digress) and making sure that if abuse happens,  the person acting as POA is held liable (i.e.,  if your POA buys a new car instead of paying for your nursing home care, we believe that they should be held responsible.)

Long story short – the bill passed and enhanced provisions took effect in July.  There was much rejoicing in the land…or so we thought…

Turns out that the trust banks have now created a bill which would exempt themselves from abuse protections provided in the law (what’s up with that?). This is their second attempt to remove themselves.  Last session they got a bill passed,   but with opposition from AARP and its allies, the bill was vetoed by the Governor.

Why do they want to be excluded from the abuse protections?  Great question.  Looks like we’ll be fighting them again in the 2012 legislative session – we’ll keep you posted, let you know how to get more involved in the issue, and tell you who to call if we need to take action!

Photo Credit bloomsberries on Flickr

Unfortunately, this makes it difficult for doctors to determine exactly when the stroke began  – and clot-dissolving drugs have been considered effective only if given within 4 1/2 hours of when a stroke started.

But preliminary research shows that clot-busting treatments appear to be safe for wake-up strokes if patients can get to the emergency room quickly, according to a new study presented today at the American Stroke Association’s annual international conference in New Orleans.

In the study of 326 stroke patients at a London medical center, researchers found that wake-up stroke patients treated with the drugs had similar death rates, risk of bleeding inside the brain, and recovery rates when compared to regular stroke patients treated within the 4 1/2-hour window.

Doctors have been reluctant to give clot-busting drugs without knowing when symptoms began because of the bleeding risk, lead researcher Dulka Manawadu, M.D., of  King’s College Hospital in London, said in a prepared statement.

However, a significant proportion of patients who wake up with stroke symptoms may have suffered a stroke in the early hours of the morning and may still be within the window of time for using the drugs.

The study underscores how critical it is for people who experience stroke symptoms to get to the emergency room so treatment can be started. It’s estimated that about 60,000 Americans a year turn up at emergency rooms having suffered a stroke while they were asleep.

“Because wake-up strokes are common, occurring in up to a quarter of stroke sufferers, more research is needed on how to treat these patients,” Manawadu said.

In other stroke news from the annual American Stroke Association’s international conference:

Severe, rapid memory loss may be linked to — and could predict — a future deadly stroke. Research presented at the  conference found that older adults who died from stroke had the most severe and rapid memory loss in the years just prior to their stroke, as compared to those who survived or who never had a stroke.  Nearly 12,000 people age 50 and older were examined every two years for signs of memory loss and followed up to 10 years. Study authors say memory loss may help gauge a patient’s risk for a future fatal stroke.

Opening blocked neck arteries with a stent or surgery equally effective. A large study comparing two procedures to open blocked neck (carotid) arteries found that both a metal stent or surgery kept the arteries clear. Two years after the procedures, less than seven percent of patients had re-blockage, according to research presented at the annual stroke conference. This is much better than bare metal stents placed in coronary arteries, where re-blockage occurs about 20 percent of the time, said lead researcher Brajesh K. Lal, M.D., of the University of Maryland School of Medicine. About 10 percent of strokes are caused by blockages in the neck arteries, which supply blood to the brain.

Sleep apnea linked to silent strokes and small lesions in the brain. People with severe sleep apnea — more than five episodes per night — may have an increased risk of silent strokes and small lesions in the brain, according to a small study presented at the annual stroke conference. “Sleep apnea is widely unrecognized and still neglected,” said lead researcher Jessica Kepplinger, M.D. She and her researchers found that 51 of 56 stroke patients, average age 67, had sleep apnea and were more likely to have silent strokes and white matter lesions. They suggest that sleep apnea be recognized as another vascular risk factor, such as high blood pressure.

Photo: wenatexsleepblog.com.au

Seven in 10 Florida primary voters were 50-plus. In the 50-64 age group, Romney won 44 percent to Gingrich’s 34 percent. In the 65-plus group, Romney’s victory was even more pronounced, 51 percent to 34 percent.

Maybe Florida primary voters loved what Romney said about Medicare and Social Security, two lifelines in a state where 18 percent of the population is 65 or older.

“We will never go after Medicare and Social Security, we will protect those programs,” Romney said the other night, a statement clearly aimed at older voters who might not be so enamored of his support for Republican Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan to overhaul Medicare.

(See what GOP candidates told AARP about Social Security, Medicare and other issues of interest to older voters.)

Florida will be a November battleground, with its rich electoral pot and its diversity of voters. Watch the older vote: In 2008, Republican John McCain was the hands-down choice of 65-plus voters, but Barack Obama won the 50-64 age group.

Florida’s primary voters gave Romney a badly needed lift after his crushing defeat by Gingrich in South Carolina. Florida voters said Romney had a better shot at wresting the White House from President Obama. And half said that home foreclosures in their community are a major problem, and they put their faith in Romney.

But Gingrich vows to carry the primary fight forward, and he was buoyed by signs like this: Self-identified conservatives barely gave Romney the edge over Gingrich, and the strongest supporters of the tea party movement preferred Gingrich by a double-digit margin.

Next up: Nevada, on Feb. 4, a tea party hotbed.

See all Election 2012 posts.

These are sobering statistics that may help you understand why we started the AARP Foundation Women’s Scholarship Program in 2007 with the generous support of the WalMart Foundation and AARP. The program provides financial assistance to low-income women over 50 by funding education, training and skills upgrades that can lead to better employment and increased financial security.

The scholarship application period for the 2012-2013 academic year is open from Wednesday, February 1^st, 2012 at 9:00 a.m. CST until March 30^th, 2012 at 5:00 p.m. CST. Learn about how to apply, eligibility requirements and selection factors by clicking here.

Three years after it began, this program has awarded scholarships to more than 800 women forever changing their lives. Here are just a few of the inspiring stories of our scholarship recipients:

Annabelle Larsen (2011 Scholarship Recipient):

“Her advice to other women who are thinking of going back to school?  “Do it!  Don’t be intimidated – we have a lot more to offer than we think.  We’ve had so many experiences that younger people can learn from that we’re secondary teachers in a way.  We have a lot to give, and people actually need to hear from us.”

Elena Martinez (2011 Scholarship Recipient):

“The scholarship means that Elena can accelerate her studies and go to school full time for the next two years.  She will receive her associate’s degree in business administration in 2013, and then transfer to another college where she’ll study for her accounting degree.”

Keri Douglas (2010 Scholarship Recipient):

“In 2010, Keri got her first AARP Foundation scholarship, which allowed her to transfer to Howard University in Washington, D.C. to pursue a double major in photography and filmmaking.  “I was so glad that you didn’t ask me to write about dead artists on my application,” she says.  “You asked me to write about the artist who is me.”

She reapplied in 2011 and received another scholarship to study at Howard this year. “I can’t even begin to tell you how much the AARP Foundation scholarships mean to me.  Your support has been so wonderful – someone is always calling me or emailing me to check in and see how I’m doing, and that has been so important to me,” she says.

Finally, you can learn more about the current employment climate by reading the following reports:

• AARP Public Policy Institute’s fact sheet on the employment situation as of November 2011.

• A study by The Heller School for Social Policy and Management from Brandeis University on the growing racial wealth gap.

• Another study from the Pew Research Center explains that a “typical black household had just $5,677 in wealth (assets minus debts) in 2009; the typical Hispanic household had $6,325 in wealth; and the typical white household had $113,149.”

• Read: An Assessment of Labor Force Projections Through 2018: Will Workers Have the Education Needed for the Available Jobs?

• Also check: Employer Experiences and Expectations: Finding, Training, and Keeping Qualified Workers.

If you would like to help us change the lives of women like these scholars, you can go to www.aarpfoundation.org

Straight Talk, Please?

Most older voters say they don’t know what distinguishes the GOP contenders from each other when it comes to the future of the two programs,” notes the Boston Globe.

The GOP candidates—who have previously voiced approval for things like privatizing Social Security for younger workers (Gingrich) or raising the Medicare eligibility age (Romney)—might fear that real talk about their plans for these programs will put senior voters off. But a Kaiser Family Foundation poll found among Republicans 65 or older—whose Medicare status is secure—60 percent favor raising the Medicare eligibility age for future retirees. And even if older voters don’t agree with aspects of the candidates’ plans, they still wish the candidates would be honest about them. As AARP Florida director Jeff Johnson told NPR, whoever is elected president will have to deal with the issues of Social Security and Medicare and their long-term future.

“To not know before the election what the candidates think of those issues is really troubling.”

For more on where the Republican presidential candidates stand in regard to Social Security, Medicare and other issues important to boomers and seniors, check out AARP’s Video Voters’ Guide.

Tuesday Quick Hits: 

• Builders and remodelers are seeing more demand for so-called ‘in-law apartments’ or ‘mother-in-law suites’—home add-ons designed for aging parents.

• Retirees in West Virginia are ‘occupying’ Century Aluminum, which has canceled promised retirement health coverage for about 540 former employees.

• It may be harder for men to find beds in nursing homes than women.

• And car-dependent environments foster obesity, poor health, social isolation, stress and depression. But can the suburbs be saved?

Photo: Linda Davidson/Washington Post/Getty Images