Mick Smyer launched the website Graying Green to help foster a social movement that would “energize older adults around what is arguably our most important issue.” And where others – including climate change scientists – only saw tired victims, Smyer saw possibilities.
Long considered the step before hospice, palliative care can actually be offered at any stage of a serious illness and focuses on humane treatment. It is sometimes called “comfort care.” It’s quickly becoming mainstream just as hospice – unknown before the 1970s – has now become standard medical procedure for those with fewer than six months to live.
Overwhelmed family caregivers feel lost and frustrated, unable to navigate a fragmented and confusing system of support that should integrate adult daycare, long-term care and respite care for exhausted caregivers, while educating families on complex topics like dementia.
Nearly everyone has a healthcare horror story. For William and Madeline Jay, theirs is worse than most.
Whether it’s partner dancing, yoga, walking, riding motorcycles or climbing trees, older adults are sustaining good health and reducing chronic disease by getting off their butts in newly creative ways that emphasize flexibility rather than sweaty exercise or muscle-bound weightlifting.
Launching online this Sunday, the Age Without Borders Virtual Summit joins over 50 global experts who will discuss health and wellness, technology, global breakthroughs, retirement, travel, caregiving, housing, finance, nutrition, spirituality and activism.
“Aging With Dignity” interviews Ashton Applewhite (author of “This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism”) before her appearance at San Francisco’s Institute on Aging on Monday, February 13, 2017.
In November, The Dignity Fund supporters claimed victory when San Francisco voters overwhelmingly approved a unique cash infusion for aging and disability services inspired by similar efforts a quarter century ago to benefit kids: The Children’s Fund.
Blue Zones are those rare communities where residents live healthier and longer lives, the result of nine factors that include good food and close community ties. Loma Linda is one of only a handful of Blue Zones worldwide, with its tight-knit Seventh-day Adventist community that emphasizes a vegetarian diet free from alcohol and other mind-altering substances.
If you want to spend a devastating hour in front of the TV, watch the excellent PBS documentary on Alzheimer’s disease Every Minute Counts, which aired last week and is still available online.