ProAging Information Network

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Tuesday, June 30, 2009, Primetime @ 10:00 PM and Nightline @ 11:30 PM EDT
 
Who:                     There are approximately 35 million Americans age 65 and older and more than 4.5 million suffer from Dementia. The increasing numbers of elders with Dementia could create the largest crisis in the history of healthcare.
 
Seven out of 10 Alzheimer’s patients live at home where family and friends provide 75 percent of the care, yet studies show that these caregivers are not formally trained to provide the support needed for those living with dementia.
 
What:                     A scientifically proven method designed to build sensitivity and awareness in individuals caring for those with Dementia is now available. The Virtual Dementia Tour™, available in both Group and Family Editions, http://secondwind.org/virtualdementiatour.html, is a Dementia simulation tool kit created for anyone seeking to understand the physical and mental challenges of those with Dementia. This unique, interactive product has been proven to improve communication and care. In fact, the VDT-Group Edition has been experienced by more than 10,000 care givers, changing countless lives.
 
“Working with Cynthia McFadden, who co-anchors Primetime, and witnessing her emotional reaction to the Virtual Dementia Tour was the experience of a lifetime for me,” said P. K. Beville, creator of the Virtual Dementia Tour.  “This dementia simulation program, which is being used by Alzheimer’s caregiver groups all over the country, can be a tremendous help to so many families impacted by this dreaded disease.”   
 
Why:                      Learning to create a positive environment for those with Dementia can only come from attempting to walk in their shoes. Created by P.K. Beville, a specialist in Geriatrics, this valuable, easy to follow experiential kit is designed for individual and family use, both to identify with and understand your loved one’s behaviors and needs. The Virtual Dementia Tour is distributed by Second Wind Dreams® www.secondwind.org located in Atlanta, Georgia.  Revenue from the sale of the VDT helps fulfill dreams for residents of nursing home and assisted living facilities.
 
How:                      The purpose of the Virtual Dementia Tour™ is to help family and professional caregivers better identify with the dementia patient’s day-to-day struggles, thereby improving their ability to provide care. The VDT offers hope to caregivers, providing tips and tools necessary to create an environment that supports the disease and lessens confusion. 
 
Contact:                 Bob DeBusk, Executive Director
                                Second Wind Dreams®, Atlanta, Georgia
                                Phone: 678-624-0500
                                Cell: 404-664-8414
                                E-mail: bob@secondwind.org

Source: http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-tinetti-geriatric-health.artjun28,0,3449617.story
MARY TINETTI AND LEO COONEY
Addressing Congress earlier this month, President Barack Obama reiterated his goals for health care reform: lower costs, higher quality, consumer choice and expanded coverage. These are absolutely essential goals. Achieving them, however, will be difficult unless reform also ensures an adequate supply of physicians and other health care professionals who are prepared to care for all patients — including the oldest, frailest, most vulnerable and complex.

Unfortunately, it’s difficult, and getting harder, for older Americans to find physicians and other professionals trained to meet their unique health care needs. Roughly 20 percent of Medicare beneficiaries have five or more chronic conditions. These complex patients account for 70 percent of Medicare spending.

Geriatricians, physicians who get advanced fellowship training that prepares them to provide appropriate, cost-effective care for even the most complex older patients, are already in dangerously short supply. In Connecticut, nearly half a million older adults make up almost 14 percent of the population. Yet there are only 149 practicing geriatricians statewide. That’s roughly two-thirds of the number needed, and leaves nearly 50,000 of the state’s vulnerable elders without access to a geriatrician. That shortfall is projected to nearly quadruple by 2030, when the state’s population of vulnerable elders will top 238,000.

With seniors making up more than 12 percent of the U.S. population, the situation is equally worrisome in the rest of the country. By 2030, when the youngest baby boomers reach retirement age, the number of Americans 65 and older will have doubled, topping 70 million. The American Geriatrics Society’s Geriatrics Workforce Policy Studies Center (funded by the John A. Hartford Foundation) estimates that 21 million of those Americans will need care from a geriatrician for multiple, complex health problems. Given current recruitment and training trends, the center estimates that the demand for geriatricians — and other geriatrics health care professionals — will far exceed the supply.

Although geriatricians report the highest job satisfaction among medical specialists, new medical school graduates are bypassing the discipline and established geriatricians are leaving the field. Fewer than 264 residents entered geriatric medicine fellowships in 2007, for example, and almost 50 percent of certified geriatricians are opting not to maintain their certification in geriatrics.

There are several contributors to inadequate recruitment rates — including unpredictable work hours and low pay. Medicare reimbursement policies make geriatrics one of the worst paying specialties in the U.S. And that’s something that new physicians — who typically finish medical school with more than $100,000 in student loan debt — need to take into consideration.

U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro, D-New Haven, has introduced a bill in Congress that would provide loan forgiveness — repayment of loans — for geriatricians, geriatric psychiatrists and other geriatrics professionals. This bill would enable these professionals to participate in the National Health Service Corps Loan Repayment Program, which forgives up to $25,000 for the first two years of obligated service. Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., has introduced a similar bill in the Senate. Both bills are important steps toward addressing recruitment and retention of the elder care workforce.

It’s essential that Congress include such measures to correct fundamental problems in the way health care is financed and delivered. For older adults these fundamental problems have resulted in fragmented and expensive health care of sub-optimal quality.

Although Congress is considering including enhancements to programs such as the Geriatric Academic Career Awards, which are important Title VII training grants, more must be done to ensure that we have an adequate supply of geriatrics health are providers.

•Mary Tinetti is the Gladys Phillips Professor of Medicine and Public Health and the director of the program on aging, at the Yale University School of Medicine. Leo Cooney is the Humana Foundation Professor of Geriatric Medicine and chief, section of geriatrics at the Yale University School of Medicine.

Source: http://psychservices.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/abstract/60/7/958
OBJECTIVE: A number of data sets can be used to estimate the size of the nursing home population that has mental illness; however, estimates vary because of differences in methods of data collection. This study sought to compare estimates from three nationally representative data sets of the number of nursing home residents who have a mental illness, determine which data set provides the best national-level estimate, and identify the types of policy and monitoring questions that can best be answered with each. METHODS: The study compared estimates of the number of nursing home residents who had either a primary or any diagnosed mental illness from the National Nursing Home Survey (NNHS), the Minimum Data Set (MDS), and the Medicaid Analytic eXtract (MAX) files. RESULTS: The NNHS produced the most valid national-level estimates of residents with a mental illness—nearly 102,000 with a primary diagnosis in 2004 (6.8% of residents), of which about 23,000 were under age 65 and 79,000 were aged 65 and older. However, data from the NNHS cannot be broken down to the state level; therefore, state- and facility-level estimates would have to be generated with the MDS or MAX data sets. CONCLUSIONS: Policy makers and program managers need to be aware of the strengths and limitations of the data they use in order to make informed decisions. Users of the NNHS, MDS, and MAX data sets should be aware of the differences in recorded diagnoses among the three, especially the relatively limited diagnoses in the MAX and imprecise diagnoses in the MDS.

Ann D. Bagchi, Ph.D., James M. Verdier, J.D. and Samuel E. Simon, Ph.D.
The authors are affiliated with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., 600 Alexander Park, Princeton, NJ 08540 (e-mail: abagchi@mathematica-mpr.com).

Source: http://www.rgemonitor.com/us-monitor/257177/the_world_is_aging

This is not a US-centric issue: the World’s population is aging. The Census Bureau reported that the World’s older population, 65 years or older, is expected to triple by 2050. In the US, the number of people 65 years and older is expected to exceed those 15 years and younger by 4 million by 2050. As a point of reference, the number of persons under 15 currently outnumber the older population by 60%. And by 2030, people aged 65 years and over are expected to account for 12% of the World’s population, up from <8% now.

The chart illustrates the average annual growth rate of population by age through 2050, as projected by the Census Bureau (the data for World and age projections is listed here, while the data for the US population projections is listed here).

Hmm. Kind of makes you wonder what will happen to aggregate demand for goods and services as an increasing number of people retire, effectively switching from saving mode to dissaving (spending) mode. Price pressures?

Here are some other thoughts from the Census Bureau’s release:

Europe likely will continue to be the oldest region in the world: by 2050, 29 percent of its total population is projected to be 65 and older. On the other hand, sub-Saharan Africa is expected to remain the youngest region as a result of relatively higher fertility and, in some nations, the impact of HIV/AIDS. Only 5 percent of Africa’s population is projected to be 65 and older in 2050. … There are four countries with 20 percent or more of their population 65 and older: Germany, Italy, Japan and Monaco. By 2030, 55 countries are expected to have at least one-in-five of their total population in this age category; by 2050, the number of countries could rise to more than 100.

Colin McEnroe 
 
Source: http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/courant-columnists/hc-colin-mcenroe-0628-column,0,6402078.column

During the great performer’s last year of life, a rock critic wrote of him: "His hair is dyed, his teeth are capped … his voice is a husk, and his eyes film over with glassy impersonality. He is no longer, it seems, used to the air and, because he cannot endure the scorn of strangers, will not go out if his hair isn’t right …" The critic was describing Elvis Presley, not Michael Jackson; but the similarities between one King and the other are eerie. "No longer used to the air." Hmmm.

Medical evidence may prove me wrong, but my theory is that Michael Jackson was killed, at least in part, by his own unusual approach to the whole problem of aging – which was simply not to do it.

There comes a time when King of Pop is a better description of the noise your back makes in the morning than it is of your place in the cultural firmament. Jackson was riding the caboose of the baby boom, a whole generation making the journey from Motown to Motrin.

He died at age 50. You almost have to turn 50 to know what that means. It’s when your reset button stops working. You do whatever your old trick was – lose 15 pounds, quit drinking for six months, go back to the gym, hit the hay an hour earlier, all of the above – and it doesn’t restore you to your former condition. It’s when the doctor puts up an X-ray of one of your body parts and says – instead of "Take it easy for three months and give this time to heal" – "I could replace this with something they make in Warsaw, Ind."

I’ve been noticing lately that movies – most of them made by people up at the front of the baby boom train – now frequently star people who look and move the way I do. I noticed it two years ago in "Live Free or Die Hard." By the time Bruce Willis announces, "I’m too old to jump out of cars," we already know that. Just getting in and out of car the normal way produces a creak and a sigh from his character.

But the most profound expression of that phenomenon, for me, was "The Wrestler," which was less a movie about wrestling and more about what it’s like, in general, to start feeling your age. It’s about those of us who think, who hope, who expect that we can do in our 50s what we did in our 40s, at the same pace and with the same force. And we get up the next morning feeling like somebody used a staple gun on our backs and then pushed us through a piece of plate glass onto some hard rocks.

The new Pixar movie "Up" – whose protagonist Carl is 15 years older than the most senior boomer – is full of gentle jokes about what is and is not possible for the no-longer-sprightly. Maybe it’s just me, but Carl didn’t seem like an extreme comic rendering of the aging process. He wasn’t Homer Simpson’s quivering, complaining dad. Carl was just a regular guy who happened to get old.

Fewer dispensations exist for rock and pop idols. There’s Mick Jagger/Bruce Springsteen.

And then there’s dead.

And then there’s grotesque. When Elvis couldn’t be Elvis anymore, he turned into a flabby phantom. Jackson spent 25 years trying to transform himself into some kind of ageless, raceless creature, and, by the end, he seemed only to have gotten the creature part right. (In that fourth "Die Hard" movie, Willis’ young sidekick, played by Justin Long, demands to know: "When was the last time you remember turning on the radio and listening to popular music? … I’m guessing – was, was Michael Jackson still black?") Jackson was getting himself ready for a series of overseas concerts and was apparently training with thespian Lou Ferrigno. OK, maybe not the most level-headed choice, but it probably does reflect the freakish quandary in which Jackson found himself. From early on, he was fighting a clock, and his career apex was 1982-83 when he dazzled the world with a series of moves cribbed from much younger B-boys in the street dancing scene. When he was 25, he was repackaging the footwork of guys who were 15, 16, 17. When he was 50, people still wanted to see him move, and he had persuaded the world he was never going to get old.

In "The Wrestler" we see Jackson’s attitude toward pigmentation in reverse, as Mickey Rourke’s character dumps his tired, abused body into tanning beds to keep "that look."

Everything else is curiously the same: two men mortgaging their futures – with pills and injections and anything else that will help – to buy just a little bit more of the past.

"The Wrestler" ends with Rourke’s now-somewhat-famous speech: "You know, if you live hard and play hard and you burn the candle at both ends, you pay the price for it…. Now I don’t hear as good as I used to and I forget stuff and I ain’t as pretty as I used to be. … I’m still standing here and I’m The Ram. … The only one that’s going to tell me when I’m through doing my thing is you people here."

It sounds great until you realize that those fans consistently supported the worst possible choices: be a freak, entertain us, give us everything.

From Elvis to Cobain to Jackson, we have lots of evidence that rock ‘n’ roll is no country for old men.

On the other hand, Pete Townshend, the guy who wrote "hope I die before I get old," turns 65 next year.

Source: http://www.usnews.com/blogs/the-best-life/2009/06/29/downsizing-where-to-move-what-to-take-.html
June 29, 2009 11:00 AM ET | Philip Moeller
The Boomerater™ Report, our weekly collaboration with online baby boomer resource Boomerater,  this week follows up on our recent post about downsizing. A Boomerater member was seeking information about various housing types and other downsizing tips and members weighed in with their first-hand experiences.

Question: My husband and I are empty nesters, living in a large home and paying high property taxes. We figure we will be able to save more for our retirement if we downsize now instead of waiting. I’m looking for advice on the advantages/disadvantages of condos, co-ops, active adult communities, especially relating to owners’ rights, tax obligations, insurance requirements. Also, I need help deciding how to downsize our furniture and belongings; I don’t even know where to begin.

Co-op vs. Condo vs. Active Adult Community. Unless you live in New York City, or the northeast you probably won’t be looking at a co-op. Condominiums are much more prevalent in the rest of the country. Though the lifestyle is similar, there are important differences. With a co-op you don’t actually own real estate, you own shares in a company as part of a cooperative housing corporation. The corporation owns the common areas. Property taxes are assessed to the whole property and are charged back to the tenants as part of the monthly maintenance fee.

In a condominium you own your individual unit plus an interest in the common areas, like the pool, lobby and parking lot. Property taxes are charged individually to each unit, as they would be if you owned a house. You still have a maintenance fee, but it is usually lower with a condo because it does not include the built-in property tax assessment.

An active adult community is usually geared to people over 55, and it can be age restricted, requiring that at least one household resident is at least 55. Others are age-targeted, marketing to the 55-plus crowd, but not explicitly excluding younger residents. When deciding on an active adult community, keep in mind that the age of the development is a good reflection of the age of its residents.

Active Adult Communities can have social and convenience benefits. I moved into an active adult community for people 55 and over and it was the best decision I ever made. I save a lot on what I was paying on my mortgage, taxes and insurance. Plus, I now have access to a clubhouse, pool, gym and tennis courts without paying to be a member of a club. Also, I was paying a lot to have my grass cut, my driveway shoveled, my gutters cleaned and my pool maintained. I figure I have cut my costs in half by downsizing. On top of that I have a great new group of friends. We play bridge and tennis, take trips together and my social life is a lot better than when I lived alone. I even started dating one of the other members in my community.

Hire a Senior Move Manager. I was overwhelmed when my husband and I faced moving from our 3,000-square foot house to a much smaller home in a retirement community. The best advice I got was to hire a senior move manager through the National Association of Senior Move Managers. She helped us deal with how and what to sell. First, we asked our children if there were any items they wanted. It was easy to part with belongings knowing they would be kept in the family. We kept the small “convertible” pieces that would work in our new home. A small chest of drawers stores serving items that don’t fit in the kitchen. The sofa bed turned the den into a bedroom for guests. She also referred us to trustworthy estate sale agents to get the best price for selling items. Downsizing is not easy, but with the right help it’s a lot better than trying to face this arduous task on your own.

Here are a few questions that ProAging members on LinkedIn have raised. Maybe you can help them? Maybe you have some resources or questions you want to discuss, make sure you join this platform!

Click here to join: http://www.linkedin.com/groupRegistration?gid=2012650

Looking to speak with an individual/company that provides concierge services, especially bill paying, and would be willing to share some information about their corporate structure.

Direct Mail. Can anyone in the Senior Apartment Industry recommend a reliable company to buy a list from; the best price, most accurate and up-to-date list?

Please share your thoughts.

Agency Met Economic Challenge by Increasing Productivity and Emphasizing Key Services

Rockville, MD—June 17, 2009— JSSA (Jewish Social Service Agency), a nonsectarian provider serving the metro DC area, received the Nonprofit Community Impact Award from Greater DC Cares at yesterday’s Business and Nonprofit Philanthropy Summit and Awards in Washington, D.C.

            The award recognized the positive impact on the community this past year of JSSA’s revitalized and refocused mental health, employment and emergency financial assistance services.  JSSA’s emphasis on these key service areas was central to the agency’s response to the economic downturn and to the increased demand for critical care.

            The award was presented at a luncheon where First Lady Michelle Obama gave a speech about the critical importance of community service.

Rising Needs Prompted More Efficiency

 As requests for critical help were rising sharply in the community, JSSA launched a strategy to boost efficiency and increase productivity ensuring that as many clients as possible were served each day.

 Due to the economic crisis, JSSA’s mental health case loads swelled dramatically and the number of new cases opened this year increased by more than 40% over last year. For the first time in its history, JSSA had significant waiting lists for mental health services for adults and children. The agency secured funding for additional staff specializing in the mental health needs of children and teens and continues to actively fundraise for this purpose.

 During the last six months of 2008, requests for employment and career services rose by nearly 30% compared with the last six months of 2007. The agency added professional career coaches, revitalized program offerings and reduced service fees thus assisting clients, including those with special needs, find productive work leading to self-sufficiency.

 JSSA also kept pace with the doubling of requests for short-term emergency financial assistance resulting from the economic downturn. With crucial support from JSSA’s board, donors, volunteers and the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, the agency has more than doubled its financial assistance grants in the past year. These grants are available only to eligible applicants who face specific needs such as avoiding foreclosure, paying utility bills or affording essential medical treatment and have exhausted all other resources.  Recipients of financial assistance have also received additional social services from JSSA to support them as they move beyond their crises.

 “We are deeply honored and grateful for the recognition we have received from a very distinguished group of leaders in the Washington philanthropy and business community,” said JSSA’s CEO, Ken Kozloff, who represented JSSA at the summit. “The DC Cares award is a tribute to our hardworking staff, our more than 1,000 dedicated volunteers and our generous funders – especially the Jewish Federation.  Our success in meeting the increased demands of this unprecedented economic downturn has depended on strategic and innovative approaches. We are committed to continuing to retool our strategic initiatives in the months and years ahead to maximize JSSA’s positive impact on our community.
 

Source: http://www.fa-mag.com/fa-news/4250-women-face-more-retirement-risks-study-says.html

Women have more to fear than men when it comes to facing the financial risks of retirement, according to a new report.

Noting that one in five single women age 65 or older is living in poverty, the authors of the report warned that the situation could worse as more baby boomers step out of the work force.

“Women are at a real risk of living a life of poverty in their older years,” says Cindy Hounsell, president of the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER), which commissioned the report.

Based on surveys and a roundtable discussion with more than 30 retirement experts, the report lists a number of reasons why women are particularly vulnerable going into retirement. Among the findings:

-    Women at age 65 are expected to live, on average, another 20 years—four years longer than men. That means they will need to save more for retirement.
-    Less than half of today’s working women have access to pension or retirement savings plans at work.
-    Women are likely to spend some of their retirement years alone due to widowhood or divorce. For women age 85 and older, only 13% are married with a spouse present.
-    Nearly 40% of older women living alone depend on Social Security for almost all of their income, and more than half would be living in poverty were it not for their Social Security benefits.