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Pension | Health | Elder Rights | GAA Videos
PENSION
US
Obama Warns Social Security Checks Might
Not Go Out on August 3 (July 12, 2011)
President Obama
officially said on Tuesday that unless an agreement is reached on
reducing the deficit, he cannot guarantee that retirees will get their
Social Security checks on August 3. The coming weeks are critical.
Republicans and Democrats ought to get their act together and resolve
this issue; otherwise retirees will be the ones who pay the price.
AARP's
New
Social
Security
Calculator
(July 12, 2011)
When is the best
time to begin collecting Social Security? Given current talks about
making changes to Social Security, people are now considering
collecting as soon as they are eligible. For some people that might be
logical, as they don't stand to gain much from waiting. For many others
that would be unwise. AARP is introducing a new calculator that can
help in the decision-making. Although this tool is non-comprehensive
and lacks some key factors, it is still a helpful educational tool, and
improvements are to be expected in the near future. Try it!
WORLD
HEALTH
US
Systems
to
Catch Medicaid and Medicare Fraud Inadequate (July 12, 2011)
A
very
recent report shows that the federal government's systems for
catching Medicare and Medicaid fraud are inadequate and underused;
analysts have not been trained to use them, states have limited access
to the data, and funding for improving the technology has been delayed.
This is making it difficult to detect the billions of tax dollars paid
out each year in fraudulent claims for these programs. This technology
seems to be the perfect first step to controlling healthcare spending.
A Medicare Reform Model
Everyone Can Love (July 11, 2011)
How
can
Congress restrain Medicare spending without sacrificing access to
necessary care? The author proposes the following: take Medicare and
make it look more like Social Security. Giving Medicare enrollees the
money--enough to buy decent coverage-- and letting them decide what to
spend it on, would increase their incentives to avoid wasteful
spending. From the political perspective, this approach would satisfy
Republicans' desire for control as well as Democrats' goal for
preserving Medicare benefits.
Technology Might
Give Elders
Independence (July 10, 2011)
Healthcare
technology
and what is being termed "connected independence" are on the
rise. Seniors can now stay at home while receiving medical care,
assisted by technology that gives constant supervision to their
symptoms and diseases, enabling doctors to provide truly personalized
medicine. Studies show that keeping elders at home decreases the cost
of healthcare dramatically. However, obstacles still remain. Among
other things, Medicare does not cover the cost of these technologies,
and awareness is still fairly limited. So, what is the next step?
WORLD
Greece:
Seafood, Naps and
Coffee Cause Greek Islanders to Live Long (July 14, 2011)
(Article in Chinese)
According to
Greek cardiologists and professors at the University of Athens, people
live longer on Ikaria Island, a small island within the country,
because of three major reasons: eating lots of seafood, taking naps and
drinking coffee every day.
World: Bodybuilding Good for Seniors (July
14, 2011)
(Article in French)
According to
research, bodybuilding is very beneficial for seniors to strengthen
muscles and bones, and also to improve metabolism. However, they need
to spend more time working out than younger persons to maintain their
muscles.
World:
Helping
Seniors
Stay
on
Their
Feet (July 14, 2011)
Falls pose a
serious problem, but there are some simple steps seniors can take to
lessen the risk. Falling is not a normal part of the aging process. And
so many falls can be prevented. Falls are a result of underlying
things. It's the tip of the iceberg. You always want to drill down and
find what made that person fall versus saying it's because you are old.
It could be a number of reasons.
China: Surrounded by Nature, Pingqi People
Live Longer (July 12, 2011)
(Article in Chinese)
Pingqi is
considered the "oldest" rural area in China. The current population is
5,240, and 1 out of 4 people are elderly. Most of them live long lives
because of the green setting of the area--mostly mountains and rivers.
World: A Revolutionary Cane for Older
Persons (July 11, 2011)
(Article in French)
Lithuanian
designer Egle Ugintaite has created a revolutionary cane that helps
people to walk. This tool helps older persons walk the same way as any
other cane, but it also states the health of the person (temperature,
blood pressure, and pulse) and programs the best itinerary both in
cities and the countryside. Finally, it is equipped with an SOS button
on the handle to provide the person's location in case of an emergency.
Germany: Spices for Elderly Appetite (July
8, 2011)
(Article in Arabic)
According to the
German Society for Nutrition in Bonn, the number of taste buds is
reduced as people age. Since older people have fewer taste buds, it is
recommended that more herbs or spices be added to their food so it
won't be so bland or tasteless. Flavors help open up their appetite and
prevent the serious consequences of malnutrition.
France: "Valso": A Pitcher and a Glass for
Older Persons (July 6, 2011)
(Article in French)
Two designers
from the Ecole Normale Superieure de Cachan designed a pitcher and a
drinking glass adapted for older and disabled persons to overcome grip
problems. The design function allows a person to grip, hold, lift and
pour from the pitcher to the glass using a simple motion, benefitting
from a design that is better than regular paramedical tools.
ELDER
RIGHTS
US
Woman
'Sacked
for
Having
Grey
Hair'
(July 10, 2011)
Sandra Rawline,
52, was abruptly fired from the company where she had worked for around
6 years, after refusing to dye her grey hair; her boss even offered to
pay for the color job. Although the company has dismissed her
allegations as "baseless and preposterous," Rawline is suing them for
discrimination, especially after replacing her with a woman 10 years
younger within a week. Her comment is very simple: "this is who I am!"
Pandora
for
Old
People
Taps
Baby
Boomer Music Market (July 5, 2011)
AARP is known
for the following: retirement benefits, travel discounts, and
commercials of old people smiling, frowning, or falling down. But last
month, the nonprofit organization for those 50 and older launched a new
service that takes advantage of a massive untapped market in the
digital music industry: baby boomers.
Why Will the Great Recession Affect
Retirement Incomes? (June 30, 2011)
(Video)
In this video
transcript, Karen E. Smith --senior research associate at the Income
and Benefits Policy Center-- explains the reasons why the recession has
hit retirement savings so hard, what age and socio-economic groups have
been hit hardest, and how economic behavior might change as a result.
WORLD
Cameroun: Why Is Retirement Threatening?
(July 12, 2011)
(Article
in
French)
In Cameroun, some
public workers try, illegally, to continue working when they should be
retired. Why? They are not often well prepared mentally and financially
for such a change associated with old age and inactivity. According to
a sociologist, those persons are often victims of premature death,
linked to their stress and fear of tomorrow.
World: Building a Long-term Marriage
Prolongs a Man's Life (July 12, 2011)
(Article
in
Chinese)
People nowadays are
more open minded than those of the same age decades ago about marriage:
that divorces are not inappropriate when both parties agree to
separate. However, social scientists have learned that long marriages
are healthy to both the husband and wife.
Switzerland: Basel, Switzerland is Planning
to Set Up Health Facilities for the Care of Muslim Elderly (July 12,
2011)
(Article
in
Arabic)
If Spanish and
Italian immigrants have health facilities that care for the elderly,
why don't Muslim elderly immigrants have them? Creating these
facilities is already under consideration; however, the number of
Muslim immigrants in nursing homes is small due to Islamic traditions
where children and grandchildren take care of the elderly until death.
If this project were established, the Muslim facility would be similar
to the Jewish one where food, dress, religious practices and
relationships between the sexes are taken into consideration.
Dubai: Servants Are Taking Advantages of
the Elderly (July 9, 2011)
(Article
in
Arabic)
The director of the
community care home for the elderly in Dubai revealed cases where
servants blackmail the older people they are caring for, taking
advantage of their health and taking their money fraudulently,
especially those who live alone and are forced to hire domestic workers
to care for them. This organization makes an effort to get to the
elderly who need care, pointing out that the service has already
reached about 12% of the elderly who live alone or who get help from
domestic workers.
France: Thirty-eight New Cities Acting for
Older People Wellness (July 8, 2011)
(Article
in
French)
Thirty-eight new
French cities acquired the label "Bien vieillir, vivre ensemble" ("Age
Well, Live Together") in 2011. This is a distinction given to the
cities that accompany seniors in their daily life and assure their
integration into society. Labeled cities have to engage in an action
plan for five years.
Spain: A New Tourism Audience: Older People
(July 7, 2011)
(Article
in
Russian)
In Catalonia a new
tourist product has been introduced --tourism for people older than 55
years old. In its first year it will be available for most Eastern
European countries. Russia has not yet been included in the program,
but the plan is that it will become a part of it in the future.
Ethiopia: HelpAge Calls for Urgent Support
for Drought-Affected Older People (July 5, 2011)
Ethiopia--much like
Kenya and Somalia--is now facing the worst drought since the 1950s,
affecting 3.2 million people. Many are elderly. Older people are the
most likely to be malnourished and struggling to survive as they try to
feed and take care of their children, and are often the ones left
behind as they are unable to flee quickly. HelpAge and its partners are
funding projects that will specifically target older people in
providing emergency aid, and are calling on others to do the
same.
Aya
Elshakshuki
from
Libya
and
Shiyang
Lu
from
China
answer GAA President Susanne Paul's
questions about their internship experience with Global Action on Aging.
Interview
with
Dr.
Paul
de
Lay
of
UNAIDS
(June
10,
2011)
GAA interns
Shiyang Lu
and Shuang Wang prepared this wonderful video interview of Dr. Paul de
Lay, from UNAIDS. Dr. de Lay underlines ignorance as barrier to
integrating older people into HIV/AIDS prevention policies.
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