ShAARP Session: Observations from AARP

We cornered our new to-be CEO yesterday in the AARP radio studios for an interview. Why did he take the job? Watch below.

You know those catchy commercials where a young guy sings about how his girlfriend's bad credit has them living in her parent's basement? The commercial touts free credit reports and encourages you to visit their Web site to check it out. Well, the Federal Trade Commission is getting the word out that the service these commercials talk about aren't free at all. You have to buy another service to get the credit reports for "free."

So what's a person to do? Check out AnnualCreditReport.com - the only place you can get truly free credit reports according to the FTC - - and pass around their spoof of the popular commercials to get the word out!

That's right folks, AARP announced a brand new CEO for the organization this morning, and the winner is...drum roll...A. Barry Rand!

After 8 wonderful years with Bill Novelli leading the ranks, Rand will be taking over next month as the organization's first African-American chief executive officer. He has a long history at Xerox as Executive Vice President of WorldWide Operations, where he worked for 30 years building the company to what it is, all the while making sure that minorities and women had equal opportunities.

Rand is also board chairman at Howard University, and helped to launch the renowned Executive Leadership Council, an organization that recognizes the strengths and impact of African-American corporate business leaders. In other words, this guy has been around! This is not to mention his experience as a caregiver for his father during the last 8 years of his life motivated his advocacy for the critical issues around AARP's agenda. Says Rand:

"AARP and I have long shared the belief that health care and long-term financial security should be the goals of this nation, goals we all have an obligation to help achieve--from government to corporate America to the individual."

"Lifetime health care and financial security are terms far too many believe are out of reach; not just for older Americans or aging Americans, but for all Americans . . . While we have come far because of the efforts of AARP, we have much left to achieve. I look forward to building on these successes as we continue our work in Congress and in state capitals across the nation. The fight will not be easy, but if I've learned one thing in my career, it's that nothing worthwhile ever is."

Sounds like we'll be in good hands with Rand. Read more about his work here at Bulletin Today. We'll have more to share in exclusive interview footage here on Shaarp Session in the coming weeks!

Social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace are a great way to stay in touch with friends and family. They also help to reconnect people who haven't spoken in years. It's no wonder then that older people are signing up to these websites in droves. Whether keeping tabs on grand children or looking up old classmates, older people are signing on to social networking sites by the millions. A few users might be upset at the thought of having to watch what they post with the watchful eyes of older relatives out there, but most are adjusting well and enjoy the connection. Are you a part of one of these websites? Let us know in the comments.

There has been a good deal of attention paid to the faults of our medical system here on this blog. However, I think this is a great chance to acknowledge that despite its shortcomings, medicine in the U.S. is capable of incredible works. Take seven-year-old Heather McNamara who recently underwent 23 hours of surgery to remove a tumor from her abdomen. The surgeons had to literally remove six of her organs to get to the tumor and then replace them back into her body. The one of a kind surgery has been deemed a great success and Heather is looking forward to getting home and playing with her dog. Just amazing!

Oh, how I love yoga. It's a workout for the body as well as the mind - not to mention can be super calming. Who would have thought exercising could be calming?? What's even better is that according to some researchers, yoga can decrease a fear of falling among older adults, a problem that many don't realize is a problem:

Fear of falling is an important public health concern because it can cause older adults -- even those who have not fallen -- to limit their social and physical activity. This effort to avoid falls can create a harmful cycle that can diminish health and quality of life.

But yoga combats this feeling, as well as it literally improves one's balance. To check out yoga basics as well as tips for before you begin a yoga class, check out AARP's review of the practice - it can be very useful for newbies!

Last week's unemployment report was just one more piece of bad news in what seems like an endless stream of negative numbers regarding our economy. The labor market has been shedding jobs left and right, yet despite all the bad news, the health care industry continues to hire new employees. While the country as a whole lost millions of jobs over the last four months, health care added about 100,000 during the same period. One bright spot in a pretty dark report.

A new study is showing that older adults are more impaired by drinking than their younger counterparts, not to mention they're less likely to realize how impaired they actually are.

Via WebMD, we find that the study was published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, in which a group of older and younger participants were given tests after drinking a certain amount of alcohol. Older participants took a longer time to finish the test and reported their feelings of intoxication as higher than the younger group. They were also less likely to realize or acknowledge they were impaired.

The danger in this? Sara Jo Nixon, a psychiatry professor at the University of Florida's McKnight Brain Institute comments, "[F]ive seconds is a big difference if you're in a car and need to apply the brakes . . . It can mean the difference between a wreck, and not-a-wreck."