Christopher Gardner, MKCreative Blog
#ProAging: Mandated Cuts In Medicare Stifle Expansion Plans
The MKCREATIVEnonprofit BlogThis past October 1st, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) put into effect new regulations concerning the payment or reimbursement of services to skilled nursing facilities and certain types of housing for …
#ProAging: How Might The 7 Billion Humans Age?
The MKCREATIVEnonprofit BlogEarlier this week, the human race passed the 7-billion mark, and continues to expand. Much of the attention given to that milestone as focused on the many thousands of births that take place each second all around the world,…
#ProAging: Which US Cities Offer The Best Lifestyle To Their Older Citizens?
The MKCREATIVEnonprofit BlogDave Letterman offers only a “Top 10″ list, but Bankers Life and Casualty has just published its Top 50 “Best US Cities For Seniors 2011″ and the list contains a few surprises – though, admitted…
#ProAging: Telestroke/Telemedicine Tests Show Excellent Cost & Health Benefits
The MKCREATIVEnonprofit BlogIn a wonderful synthesis of health care needs, patient choice, cost effectiveness, and beneficial outcomes, a recent report from The Mayo Clinic‘s ‘Telestroke’ program demonstrates the payoff of the pilot p…
#ProAging: Guidance For Older Americans Looking For Work
The MKCREATIVEnonprofit BlogThe unemployment rate of 9.1% seems pretty bad psychologically, especially for Americans that can remember the myth of unemployment rates of 2-3% a decade or so ago. But the unemployment rate flattens out some really horrifi…
#ProAging: Social Security Recipients Enjoy COLA For First Time In Two Years
The MKCREATIVEnonprofit BlogSocial Security has built into its law and budgets a ‘Cost of Living Adjustment‘ (COLA) tied to inflation and/or rising prices. Those prices have, if anything, fallen during The Great Recession, so recipients hav…
#ProAging: Touchscreen Ease Available For Those Who Don’t Want An iPad
The iPad has inspired many older Americans to expand not only their computing skills, but also their short-term memories and their social(-media) circles. Nevertheless, the iPad was not created with our oldest citizens in mind. The screen is not especially large, for example. The computer company Telikin in Chalfont, PA is developing a desktop machine [...]
#ProAging: Medicare’s Open Enrollment Opens – Save Elders From Poverty
Medicare’s open enrollment for next year begins on October 15th and runs through December 7th (an unfortunate date in the lives of many of the GI Generation). Information on Medicare’s medical plans can be found here. General informa…
#ProAging: iPad Technology Can Draw Out Memories And Skills For Elderly
One stereotype of the elderly and long retired is that they fear new technology. Yet many of the GI Generation and Silent Generation were, in fact, the ones who started the phenomenal research and development in the middle of the twentieth century that give us our hybrid cars and smart phones today. A recent report [...]
#ProAging: Study Shows Americans Optimistic and Unprepared For Heath In Retirement (Part 2 of 2)
Last Thursday we shared a report conducted by National Public Radio (NPR), who has been presenting the findings of their in-depth survey concerning how recent retirees and soon-to-be retirees (those over 50) view retirement. The report was conducted by NPR, the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. The takeaway of the survey shows that those [...]
#ProAging: Study Shows Americans Optimistic and Unprepared For Retirement (Part 1 of 2)
Over the last few days, National Public Radio (NPR) has been presenting the findings of an in-depth survey and study of how recent retirees and soon-to-be retirees (those over 50) view retirement. The report was conducted by NPR, the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation and the Harvard School of Public Health. The findings show a general [...]
#Tech: Pew Internet Project Breaks Down Use Of Communications Tech Across Generations
The contours of the findings of the Pew Internet and American Life Project report on ‘Generations and their Gadgets’ you probably already know: Younger Americans use more mobile devices than older Americans. Older Americans generally access the internet from a desktop computer, whereas those under 35 tend to do so with a laptop/netbook. Etc. But [...]
#ProAging: Small Ailments, Left Unchecked, Can Lead To Big Concerns
Most (post-)industrial western societies tend to see aging as a decline from the creativity and energy of young adulthood. The experiences and wisdom of longer life tend to be downplayed against the physical changes wrought by age. But older people tend to know better: they want the young to appreciate that the teens and early [...]
#Aging: Nielsen’s Latest Survey Of Social-Media Use Shows Continued Expansion Among Those Over 55
It may not be news to any of us that the use of social media continues to grow. Nor is the fact that mobile acces to social media via cell phones and tablets grows faster still. What the Nielsen survey for the third quarter of 2011 demonstrates, thoug…
#Aging: A Good Read On Changing Retirement Opportunities For This Rainy Day
As the Eastern seaboard tries to find somewhere to put all this rain, besides on top of all the rain Irene left us, you might be looking for a good policy read to while away the dark and stormy night. Researchers Richard W. Johnson, Barbara A. Butrica,…
#Aging: We May Have To/Want To Work Longer. Will We Live Longer?
For many, the Stock Market Crash of 2008 wiped out most of their retirement savings. For some, working longer past the traditional retirement age is a key to ongoing engagement, community involvement, and mental health. For most, working beyond 65 (o…
#Aging: Social Networks Bring The World To Seniors
The phenomenal growth of social network sites over the last decade or so is beyond repute. But for most of those years the growth came from those of Generation X (late 20s through 40s) and Millennials (born after about 1975) – both of whose membe…
#Aging: Advancements In Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Can Lead To Advancements In Treatment
Dr. Kejal Kantarci, a radiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, and her team of chemists and brain surgeons have recently published findings of their work that might be the clue to screening those likely to develop some form of dementia – as much as twenty years before visible signs appear. The report came out [...]
#Aging: Health-Care Reform Showing Small Advantages For Medicare Recipients
Politics have roughed up most of our attitudes towards health reform. Sometimes it is difficult to sort out what has changed, what seems to be improvement or expansion or cut in service or cost. As the reforms of 2010 move through the courts, we all might need ever greater concentration to keep an eye under [...]
#Aging: Caregiving For Parents So Common Most Do Not Report It
Caregiving among younger people as their Boomer parents move toward retirement is so common that they do not even consider it caregiving. The American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) considers any fairly regular activity, like taking a parent to the doctor or over-the-counter testing for blood sugars, as part of their ‘Caregiver’ category, though the [...]
