Monday, September 21, 2015
NBC Today honors World's Alzheimer's Day with fashion guest
NBC Today honored World Alzheimer’s Day, September 21, 2015,
by presenting fashion designer B. Smith, with early onset, and her husband Dan
Gasby, link here. Husband Dan wanted to recognize caregivers,
who find they didn’t sign up for this by choice. 15 million Americans now care for someone with
Alzheimers. He recommended keeping a
journal. There is a social media
initiative to recognize caregivers, Take One Moment, not well explained on the
show, the link on Facebook seems to be here.
The Alzheimer’s Association also has a Longest Day on the
Summer Solstice, here.
Picture: Church birthday party, no relation to Alzheimer's, just art work.
Saturday, September 12, 2015
California legislature approves legal physician-assisted end-of-life with many restrictions
The California legislature has approved a bill that would
allow (for the terminally ill) physician-assisted suicide, but with
considerable procedural restrictions, as in the NBC story here.
It’s unclear if Jerry Brown will sign it.
The ability to extend life is creating more questions about
death with dignity and ending suffering, in some cases. It is normally acceptable to end life
support if that is the patient’s living advanced directive.
Many medications relieve suffering (as from
inability to swallow) in hospice settings at the end of life, and using these
is not controversial
NBC also reports that an argument used in a ruling by the
Canadian Supreme Court could gain traction here. That is, in Canada, the
fundamental right to life and liberty can be construed as including the right
to end one’s life, in some circumstances.
Yes, Jack Kervorkian provoked a lot of debate back around
1993, the same time that gays in the military was being debated.
Thursday, September 10, 2015
Large employers trending toward making retirement plan participation mandatory, then outsourcing it
Russell Research and Employee Benefit News have reported on
up to three trends in modern management of employee retirements plans.
The basic link at Russell ("The Future of Retirement") is here.
One idea is some sort of mandatory risk sharing between
employer and associate.
A second idea seems to be making some participation in
retirement saving mandatory.
A third idea is outsourcing to large third party providers (like
large life insurance companies) for mixes of defined benefit and defined contribution
plans.
EBN’s own link is here.
Wednesday, September 09, 2015
Family Health Group passes a reading list to me for new retirees
I did get an email from “For Family Health” asking me to pass along a series of links for
how that groups believes seniors should plan healthful retirement, within an
extended family context.
Bloom has a “Guide to Happy Retirement” addressing the
desirability of work in retirement, here.
A group that does certification tests has a training session
about talking to kids about a grandparent’s terminal illness.
There is a guide for home and family caregivers (as opposed
to hired or paid).
There is some old-fashioned advice on the diet. Eat your vegetables.
There is a list of most common health concerns (emphasis on
respiratory and colon).
There is a home health care group’s guide to Alzheimer’s,
including biology.
There is a paper from NIH on what seniors should ask their
primary care physicians.
Sunday, September 06, 2015
Prudential sponsors "Race for Retirement" in DC in October
Prudential Insurance is sponsoring a “Race for Retirement”
of 4.01 Kilometers at RFK Stadium in Washington DC on October 4, 2015.
Here is the link.
“One short run, to help us all save in the long run” is the
caption. Or, “running for a really good
cause: YOU”. It asks for a pledge to
save.
Friday, September 04, 2015
Sometimes, momentum keeps seniors going, with little medical attention
I may be “sloughing” on this blog – not a lot of new that is
really new (the debate on means testing keeps getting recycled, and filial
responsibility as a news topic hasn’t done much recently). But one thing I’ve
noticed, given my recent 72nd birthday (July 10), is the importance
of keeping my own momentum.
Yes, I have some issues.
Hip arthritis, constipation (which may be related to blood pressure
medication), some nuisance headaches. Some irregular heartbeat (sometimes when
waking up from intense dreams). But if I
went to the doctor over these, they’d do every possible test under Medicare,
and I’d spiral down into hospital culture.
Medical protocol doesn’t always save lives.
But once I get to the next stage in my own work (yesterday’s
post on the main blog), I’ll start getting more conscientious. I should do the
colonoscopy, but right now I can’t deal with the disruption of the prep. If they find something, then what? I don’t have the social support to do “just
anything”.
My paternal grandfather never got medical attention, was
active on his Iowa farm until one Saturday morning he lay down and died at 89
after breakfast. That’s the way it was then.
There wasn’t the pressure to watch everything. It was a lot better for some people.
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