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Membership Medicine: When the Doctor Is Always In April 4, 2017 by Leigh Ann Hubbard - Adina Cook’s teenage son was skateboarding one evening. He tried to jump 10 concrete stairs and landed smack-dab on his shoulder. Instead of rushing him to the emergency room, Cook, 52, called the family’s doctor, Tracy Ragland, who met them…
Is Medical Marijuana Good Medicine for Older Adults? It’s Complicated April 4, 2017 by Liz Seegert - After Jane broke her ankle, walking even short distances was a painful challenge. The 63-year-old had been an avid hiker and gardener and was stifled by her limited mobility. To make matters worse, she couldn’t tolerate the side effects of prescription painkillers.
It’s Never Too Late to Exercise—but Starting by Midlife Is Best April 4, 2017 by Leigh Ann Hubbard - Harrison Caldwell had a good excuse for not being athletic: one of his legs was about a quarter inch shorter than the other, thanks to a childhood bout with polio. Plus, his feet were so flat that the Army turned…
Can Your Cherished Possessions Shorten Your Life? March 28, 2017 by Dana DiFilippo - In a corner of Sarah’s living room, a decades-old phonograph sits ignored. Sarah doesn’t use it anymore, doesn’t even know if it still works. Only the housekeeper pays any attention to it, or to the dozens of records stacked nearby,…
What to Do If You’re Not the Athlete You Once Were March 28, 2017 by Leigh Ann Hubbard - At 55 years old, Heidi Christensen relishes the chance to defy stereotypes. “You didn’t just get passed by an old person,” she says of the 20- and 30-somethings she zooms by on bike paths. “You got passed by an old…
Loneliness Can Lead to Health Problems March 28, 2017 by Holly C. Corbett - Wednesday mornings are all about spending time with friends over coffee and eggs for Frank Colvin, 66, of Warwick, NY. The former teacher has breakfast with about 25 men from his retirement community, at a trading-post-turned-restaurant called the Country Dream,…
Vulnerable LGBT Elders Are Going Back into the Closet March 28, 2017 by Ellen Rand - Lawrence Johnson and Alexandre Rheume were an interracial couple who had been together 38 years until Rheume—22 years older than Johnson—needed professional care as his health declined.
When There’s Big News about Health, Should You Believe It? March 28, 2017 by Leigh Ann Hubbard - To be fair, at first glance, it did sound like a huge story.
“Metastatic Prostate Cancer Cases Skyrocket,” proclaimed the press-release headline in July of 2016. New cases of an incurable form of prostate cancer rose a whopping 72 percent from 2004 to 2013...
100 Years and Counting: What Makes a Centenarian? March 28, 2017 by Flora Davis - People who survive for 100 years or more owe their long lives to: their genes a healthy lifestyle a healthy bank account great medical care an upbeat personality a sheltered, low stress life all of the above Don’t give in…
Successful Aging—It’s Not Impossible March 28, 2017 by Leigh Ann Hubbard - Maybelle lives with her daughter, Ella, in a two-bedroom house in rural Nevada. At 76 years old, Maybelle controls her type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure as best she can. Years of caring for her ailing husband left little…
It Takes a Village to Age in Place March 28, 2017 by Robert Miskimon and Flora Davis - When Janet Swenson enrolled her 87-year-old mother in Lincoln Park Village, a Chicago organization for older people, she was delighted with the results. Suddenly, her mother had help with household maintenance, someone to call for transportation or to find a…
Tim Carpenter: Retirement Can Unleash Creativity March 28, 2017 by Leigh Ann Hubbard - When you’re talking to Tim Carpenter about how he envisions the future of old age, at some point it strikes you: he’s talking about older people as … people. They’re not “seniors.” They’re not “the 62-and-older crowd.” They’re not … other.
The Power of Positive Aging March 28, 2017 by Flora Davis - Do you feel good about growing older? If you do, you may very well live longer than those who dread old age. This good news (or bad news, depending on how you feel about aging) emerged from a study done…
Single and Childless: Will That Be a Problem in Later Life? March 28, 2017 by Dana DiFilippo - Cindy Abrams never married or had children, a fate forged partly by chance and partly by choice. The Connecticut woman once dated a man she thought could be The One but chucked him when her dad objected because he wasn’t…
One More for the Road? Maybe Not March 28, 2017 by Holly C. Corbett - Baby boomers are working harder and playing longer than previous generations—and toasting life to its fullest at the end of the day. But for many, it may be time to think about holding back a bit as we pour the…
Transitioning Out of the Fast Lane March 27, 2017 by Liz Seegert - Are you a go-go or a go-slow? Or maybe even a no-go?
It’s not some new Dr. Seuss book, but another way to describe the various stages of growing older. Barring a catastrophic event, older adults typically fall into one of five major life stages that take them from active and healthy to completely dependent on others.
How to Save a Life March 27, 2017 by Leigh Ann Hubbard - Sally Jacobson had about a month to live. A few months before, she’d been tired, sure—not feeling so great. But she was bustling along, balancing work and family in Grand Forks, ND. Then she got some great news: a promotion…
Armed and Aging: Is That a Problem? March 27, 2017 by Dana DiFilippo - Richard Swift grew up in the era of John Wayne and Gene Autry, cinematic cowboys whose armed antics drove his daydreams. He had a BB gun years before the first whiskers sprouted on his chin. At 12, he got a…
Can a Fighting Spirit Cure Cancer? March 27, 2017 by Leigh Ann Hubbard - The pink teddy bears were what really got her. Here she was, a 59-year-old woman with breast cancer, and a stuffed animal was supposed to make her feel better. No thank you. “That did not go down well with me.…
How Long Are You Likely to Live? March 27, 2017 by Flora Davis - In the United States, life expectancy at birth is 79. Some people won’t live that long while others will survive much longer. What are the odds you’ll make it to 80? To 100? From heredity to gender and education to…
Senior Centers Are Evolving - The first time Sue and Mike Miller visited their community’s senior center in Portage, MI, several years ago, they found a few people playing pool or bridge—and decided it wasn’t for them. But the couple tried again in 2022, when…
The Upside and Downside of Being Owned by a Cat - I love my cat, but until now, I hadn’t thought of her as a way to stay healthy. In fact, when I first brought Velvet—a small, feisty black kitty—home, I thought of her as a dog substitute. My beloved dog…