Finding and Wearing Protective Sunglasses
Whether we are talking about the eyes of our senior parents or our own aging adult child eyes, protection from the sun is critical for eye health. Urgent, in fact. The solar shield sunglasses given to me after my eye surgery are comfortable and filte…
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: an Entertaining Metaphor for Aging
The other night we went to see the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and boy, did we enjoy ourselves.
A group of British retirees, most seeking lower costs and a bit of adventure, ends up as the guests in a seedy, formerly grand hotel in Jaipur, India. In fact, the hotel is terrible. As the movie zooms in on the characters’ personal stories we found ourselves gazing through familiar late-in-life prisms. Did I mention some of the fairly obnoxious adult children?
Detached Retina: My Aging Eye, Part IV
Three weeks after the vitrectomy for a detached retina I see well out of my left eye. I mostly knew that after the first week of recovery, but other individuals with a detached retina may take much longer to know for sure. The concern about infection, …
Exercise, Computer Use, and Cognitive Impairment
A research study published in the May 2012 issue of the Mayo Clinic Proceedings finds an association between computer activities, physical exercise and reduced mild cognitive impairment. The article Computer Activities, Physical Exercise, Aging, and Mi…
Does High Tech Mean a Better Outcome?
Many of our aging parents live with heart issues, and making treatment decisions is not easy. Weighing all the evidence is especially difficult when we must decide between a high-tech, surgical procedures (heart bypass surgery or cardiac catheterizati…
Understand More About Age-Related Memory Loss
Just about everyone — aging parents and adult children — worry about memory loss, though many of us turn our angst into jokes about senior moments. This book looks interesting. While I don’t always learn cutting edge new information b…
Green House Homes News from Maryland
A Kaiser Health News article, Maryland’s First Green House Project Nursing Home Aids Low-Income Seniors, described a new community on the site of the old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Associated Catholic Charities will run the Green House Residence…
Get Rid of Old Meds
If you have old and unused medications stashed around your house — or if your elder parents have them — make a note of the 2012 Take-Back Initiative. It’s sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and coming right up o…
Detached Retina: My Aging Eye, Part III
Note: I received a good question asking why my head is up. I had jus gotten dressed, and the picture was snapped before I looked back down. My first week of recovery, following vitrectomy surgery to repair a detached retina in my left eye, is over. I…
Green House Construction Update at VMRC – April 8, 2012
Easter Sunday at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community Construction Site April 8, 2012 My posts on the Woodland Park Construction and other Green House® Homes information include: Green House Homes at Woodland Park (VMRC) Construction Up…
Helping Aging Parents (and Ourselves) Avoid Scams
Read Prime Targets for Spam Artists, Paula Span’s April 20, 2012 column over at the New Old Age Blog. The fact that victims may not report fraud due to embarrassment is troubling and of special concern to adult children. Span posted her second co…
Chronic Conditions of People Living in Residential Care
What are the most common chronic medical conditions of people who live in residential care facilities, including assisted living communities? This graph depicts the 10 most common chronic conditions of residential care residents. The data come from a …
Teens Teach Seniors Tech
Many of us know that our parents are eager to learn a lot about technology. My parents enjoy attending computer classes at Rockingham Memorial Hospital in Virginia — and they learn a lot at these classes. Read Teens Teach Seniors How to Use Compu…
Aging Abundantly Founder Points to New Look at Aging
I am tiring of “the boomers are coming” dire warnings that seem to be everywhere. Boomer bashing is nothing new — it’s been going on since it became clear that the demographic cohort would be a large one. Yes there are pro…
Sample Exercise Routine – National Institute on Aging
Exercising on a regular basis is a challenge for everyone. Older seniors, so busy with lots of daily activities, may need encouragement and support aimed at motivating them to make exercise one of those daily activities. In October 2011 the National In…
Time, Time, Time, Time, Time, Time…
Just like many adult children, I am in the habit of worrying about time. Whenever I have a lot of things on my plate, which is quite often, I become frustrated about not having enough — time, that is. Then I get even more frustrated because every…
My Mom Gets an iPhone, #2
When it comes to her iPhone, few learning difficulties have popped up for my mom, age 84. I am delighted at the ease with which she has transferred from her old flip phone to this one — a 3G that I retired when I updated my iPhone. How Mom is Usi…
Tribes of Eden — by Dr. Bill Thomas — Book Launch
Click on the image or visit Changing Aging, the site of Dr. Bill Thomas, to learn about his new book, Tribes of Eden, which comes out this week. Dr. Thomas’ post tells about the activities that will celebrate the book’s launch, but it’…
Green House Construction Update at VMRC – April 3, 2012
A few weeks ago I spent a day with my parents, and I checked out the Green House Homes construction at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community. The earliest part of construction, right now after the groundbreaking, is the most challenging time for eve…
When and Why Seniors Use Technology
I recommend checking out this short piece, Help Seniors Stay Connected Through Technology, published in The Tennessean. Written by Ann Bishop, the article suggests ways to help seniors and I might add, aging parents, engage with technology and take mor…
