If you are an individual who focuses on personal data security, one of the most surprising things you discover when it’s time to offer support to aging parents is that Social Security numbers appear right on the front of the Medicare card. Americans are told not to carry their Social Security cards around, but once they … Continue reading
Tagged with seniors …
A Great Infographic on Scams: Print, Put Together & Post
Keeping ahead of scams — a perplexing and frustrating problem. Almost every day at my house the phone rings with a suspicious caller. It’s the same at my parents home. It used to be that people needed to worry about door-to-door and telephone scams, but now there are many more. We need to caution our aging parents (and … Continue reading
Help Elders Understand More: A History of the Way the Web Works
My parents and other elders often ask me questions about the Web — the way it works, how it really got started, how it’s evolved, and how why it changes so much. I have the answers to many of these questions and willingly take the time to explain, but often wish I could hand the … Continue reading
Older Entrepreneurs Start More Successful Businesses Than Younger Ones.
Check out this interesting article, To Save the Economy, Teach Grandma to Code, posted at the PBS News Hour website. Appearing on the Making Sen$e section of the site, the article by Vivek Wadhwa, points out that most businesses in the United States are aging and that one of the biggest and underused resources these businesses have … Continue reading
Gazing at Aging Through the Reunion Prism
When I attended my first school reunion with a family member, just a few years after graduating from college, the people attending their 35th, 45th and 50th reunions seemed really old. At a Saturday luncheon table near the back of an old-fashioned field house, we watched and clapped, somewhat wondrously, as the different classes stood … Continue reading
Some Retirees Are Starting Businesses
Those of us edging closer to retirement may be in for some surprises. We may discover that some of our friends and colleagues are thinking less about taking it easy in their later years and more about using the time to start a business. A Bloomberg Personal Finance article, Older Americans Shun Retirement at 65 … Continue reading
A New Twist With Personal Safety Device Scams and Seniors
Adult children should be sure that their parents understand the clever strategies that telephone scammers use as they encourage elders to part with credit card information. Over the past several days I’ve received two phone calls on my home landline, aiming to convince me that I ordered a personal safety device and that it was … Continue reading
Increasing Numbers of Seniors in Social Networking World
Those of us with seniors and elders in our lives should continually be aware that a growing number of people over 65 are enthusiastically latching on to social networking sites and using them on a fairly regular basis. This amazing graph depicts the percentage of adults at various ages who use social media sites, and … Continue reading
Phone Scam About Personal Safety Devices?
It appears that seniors are receiving phone calls that attempt to scare them into making personal safety device purchases with a credit card, and it feels like a scam. I received one yesterday on my mobile phone. An urgent voice asks for a senior citizen noting that break-ins, robbers, medical emergencies or falls are scary … Continue reading
Elder Parent Caregiving During and After SuperStorm Sandy
When my husband’s mother lived in an excellent assisted living community, we found severe weather to be a challenge. Huge storms, no matter what the season, made it difficult to stay in touch. Gail Sheehy’s November 3, 2012 article about elder and medical caregiving during Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy is posted over at Caring.com. It’s a must-read … Continue reading
More on Rising Medicare Part D Drug Premiums
Take a few minutes to read As Medicare Drug Premiums Soar It’s Time to Shop Around, another informative article about prescription drug plan open season. This October 2, 2012 Reuters article by Mark Miller goes into considerable detail about the rising premiums and explains what steps Medicare beneficiaries can take to shop around. Best Quote from … Continue reading
50 Percent of Older Adults are on the Internet: Pew
In another of the excellent surveys from the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, data show that more than 50 percent of older adults, 65 and over, use the Internet or e-mail. The survey was conducted via telephone interviews during the month of April 2012. This survey is significant because the older adult age group had experienced … Continue reading
Technology: It Even Transforms Elders
The other day, at a pre-Mother’s Day weekend event, I sat in a room with hundreds of seniors — mothers, grandmothers, dads, grandfathers — and guess what? A good many of them had smartphones. I was amused to observe, that a fair number of people in that large room were texting or at least checking … Continue reading
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 on April 28th (that’s this Saturday). Participants can safely get rid of pills and bottles that are sitting around … Continue reading
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 Computers in the Palm Beach Post News. The student teachers at this … Continue reading
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 Institute on Aging (NIA), a part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published … Continue reading
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 Using her iPhone Her first … Continue reading
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 more advantage of communication opportunities. Best Quote Technology should be a two-part gift, where in addition … Continue reading
More Men are Becoming Caregivers
The Chicago Tribune has a story today (Valentine’s Day, 2012) about men who are caring for family members. In The Increasing Male Face of Caregiving Doug Wyman, who is semi-retired from a career in sales and marketing, explains how he assists his wife, who has Alzheimer’s disease. The couple has been married for 63 years. … Continue reading
Different Falls – Different Interventions
If you have aging parents who falls — and recently one of my parents took a spill — read the article about senior falling in the September 2010 Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Mobilize Boston, the organization that conducted the research stated on its website that, “The purpose of the study is to collect information that will … Continue reading
As Our Parents Age So Do We 