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Like most professions, financial advisors come in all varieties from great to self-serving and greedy. Before you trust your financial future to someone, make sure you’ve got a good one. White-collar prisons are full of people, male and female, each of whom appeared respectable and trustworthy, while bilking clients out of their savings. Many worked far harder to create a façade of success than they ever did to actually succeed at investing client money. That’s why it can be difficult even for sophisticated investors to detect the fraud at t...
I'm sitting in the office of Turnagain Social Club, early on a foggy, frigid January morning, and I hear loud chomping. "Not to worry," I'm told by Kori Mateaki, owner and president of the facility. "That's just Bunsy, eating some old paperwork." Finished chewing, the biggest bunny I've ever seen comes thumping across the floor to nibble my shoe. "He's a Flemish Giant bunny," Kori tells me calmly, as if all offices should have such a bunny. He's a giant, all right, and he's wearing paper...
The Alaska Commission on Aging Legislative Advocacy Committee has identified these three advocacy priorities for this legislative session: Preserve the senior safety net. This priority will focus on protecting funding and appropriate policies to the greatest extent possible in order to maintain existing core services for seniors. Specifically, this priority addresses (1) long-term support services (senior grant-funded services, Medicaid and Medicaid optional services, telemedicine/telehealth,...
Keep track of senior-related bills, budget decisions and other issues by listening in to the Alaska Commission on Aging Legislative Teleconferences. Hosted by local agencies statewide, and available by toll-free call-in, the teleconferences provide a convenient forum for seniors and advocates across Alaska to share information about issues and specific bills of concern, including Medicaid, state budget and funding, senior assistance, retirement, Pioneer Homes and more. Teleconferences are scheduled 9:30 to 11 a.m. every other Thursday and...
As we age, the more we need reliable health care, and an important part of the aging process is access to quality emergency and trauma care. As Republicans are looking to keep their promise to voters to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), it’s important for lawmakers in Washington to understand how to repeal without continuing the damaging cuts to Medicare that were part of the ACA. In 2010, as we all remember, there was a fierce debate around health care reform - what it would look like and how it would be paid for. And sadly, as I warned d...
As Long Term Care Ombudsmen for Alaska, our mission is to meet with residents of assisted living homes and nursing facilities to see if they have any issues they need assistance in resolving. An important part of this process is to make sure residents and their families know there is a Long Term Care Ombudsman to help them if they need it. Established by the Older Americans Act, the Long Term Care Ombudsman program is federally and state mandated to provide independent oversight and advocacy services to residents in Alaska’s nursing f...
Naw Gay Lay is a 77-year-old Karen refugee from Myanmar (Burma). The Karen people are an ethnic and religious minority group that has been persecuted throughout much of Burma's history. As a young woman, Naw Gay Lay worked in a rice field and began raising her family in a rural village in central Burma. When she reached her mid-30s, the whole village had to flee from Burmese military insurgents. She lost her husband in this brutal civil conflict and was forced to live in the jungle with her six...
“And on the banks, on both sides of the river, there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither, nor their fruit fail, but they will bear fresh fruit every month, because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for healing.” – Ezekiel 47:12 In an awakening world, there’s a surge of desire – a longing to return to Mother Nature for healing and medicine. Herbal medicine is widely accepted as we grasp its worth for preventing and treating disease, and to create whole hea...
The Alaska Training Cooperative is offering a one-day course, “Basic Concepts of Care Coordination,” designed for new care coordinators who are not yet certified. The course will be taught in Anchorage on Wednesday, Feb. 22 at the UAA Center for Human Development, 2702 Gambell Street, from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Cost is $35. The one-day course is formatted to be interactive and provide attendees the opportunity to participate in discussions and activities. Topics to be covered include: Ethics, How to Serve Someone with a Disability, Advocacy, and...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following peer support meetings in February. This month’s focus is caregiver training, featuring part one of a training DVD presentation with Teepa Snow. The DVD is titled “It’s All In Your Approach.” Feb. 7, Caregiver support meeting at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. Feb. 14, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Feb. 15, Caregiver support meeting at Anchor Point Senior Center, hosted by Paula Koch, 3 p.m. Feb. 21, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai S...
Alaska Health Fair, Inc., begins the 2017 series of health fairs around the state this month, featuring free health screenings and education, low cost blood tests and more. These tests can help you learn about your health and detect potential problems early, when treatment or changes in personal habits can be most effective. So take time out of your busy week and join AHF when they bring an event to your local area. A complete and comprehensive chemistry/hematology test is available for only $45; with 27 different panels for conditions ranging...
New treatments and prevention efforts paying off Thanks to a host of factors, cancer death rates are continuing to drop significantly. A steady decline over more than two decades has resulted in a 25 percent drop in the overall cancer death rate in the United States. The drop equates to 2.1 million fewer cancer deaths between 1991 and 2014, according to Cancer Statistics 2017, which is the American Cancer Society’s comprehensive annual report on cancer incidence, mortality and survival. The r...
Since the Yukon gold rush days, a road from the lower 48 states (outside) to Alaska had been discussed but it took WWll to jump start the project. The Lend-Lease Act of 1941, which authorized the transfer of military equipment to our allies before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, necessitated the construction of a land link between airstrips in western Canada and Alaska. These airfields were for refueling and maintenance points for aircraft being ferried to Ladd Field (now Fort Wainwright)...
February marks the opening of Tax-Aide sites around Alaska. The AARP Foundation Tax-Aide program is designed to prepare basic tax returns and anyone can use the service regardless of age or income. Sites are staffed by volunteers who are trained and certified by Internal Revenue Service and AARP Foundation instructors to prepare basic tax returns. By using AARP Foundation Tax-Aide, these taxpayers also avoid tax preparation fees and pitches for high-interest tax credit or refund loans. And the service is free. Following are the dates and hours...
Governor Bill Walker’s new operating budget for FY 2018 brings welcome news for the Alaska Pioneer Homes – no budget cuts for the homes. Since FY 2015, the Department of Health and Social Services, which includes services like the six Alaska Pioneer Homes, have seen the largest reduction in state funding, at $150 million in spending reductions. The homes have lost $1.3 million in funding, forcing numerous staff positions to be cut. “We lost 31 full time staff across the division since 2015,” says Julie Sande, administrator of the Ketchik...
This year’s Fur Rendezvous Festival is celebrated Feb. 24 through March 5. Some of the many events include the Amateur Photo Contest; Charlotte Jensen Native Arts Market; the GCI Snow Sculpture Competition; the Rondy Grand Parade; fireworks show; the Running of the Reindeer; Rondy Melodrama; the Miner’s and Trapper’s Charity Ball; and the annual Pioneer Pancake Feed. The Anchorage Senior Activity Center has its own extensive Rondy activities schedule, including the Fur Rondy Model Contest; art show and reception; and the annual Fur Rende...
Same incredible program, different local, non-profit, sponsor! The Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) is now actively serving and partnering with organizations in the Anchorage and Mat-Su region. This nationally-recognized program is sponsored and administered by the local non-profit, Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, Inc. (APIAI). The RSVP program is a federally-funded program and is one of the largest volunteer networks in the nation for people age 55 and older. APIAI was awarded the three-year project in April of 2015, and has...
The Alaska Commission on Aging will hold a quarterly meeting in Juneau, Feb. 6 - 10, 2017. Interested parties are welcome to attend in person or on the phone. The teleconference number is 1-800-315-6338, code 53250#. On Monday, Feb. 6, the meeting will start at 3 p.m. and will end at 5:15 pm. Tuesday, Feb. 7, the meeting will start at 8:30 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. Public comment will be heard from 10:45 to 11:15 a.m. Anyone is free to call in and give comments on senior issues. We love to hear concerns, challenges and success stories. Wednesday,...
Interested in learning more about businesses and agencies providing senior services in the Anchorage area? Want to get the word out about your own service? The monthly Interagency Breakfast, sponsored by Older Persons Action Group, is an opportunity for all of the above. Informal, early and free, with breakfast provided. The February meeting is Feb. 8, hosted by Access Alaska. Begins at 8 a.m. RSVP by calling Older Persons Action Group for more information on these events or to be added to our e-mail reminder list, 276-1059....
When Archbishop of Vancouver Island Charles John Seghers journeyed down the Yukon River in November 1886, he had no way of knowing he would never return to civilization. The Catholic priest, who originally came from Belgium, had spent many years doing missionary work in Canada and Alaska. Seghers first came to Alaska in 1873, as it was included in his diocese. He made five visits to the Great Land and set up a temporary headquarters in Nulato. In 1878, he was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of...
On screen, she amused TV audiences as feisty nurse Maj. Margaret Houlihan for 11 seasons in the highly acclaimed late 70s/early 80s comedy war drama, M*A*S*H. But away from the cameras, Loretta Swit surrounded herself with paintbrushes and watercolors instead of scalpels and plasma. A collection of her paintings appears in "SWITHEART – The Watercolour Artistry & Animal Activism of Loretta Swit" (see www.SwitHeart.com). Published in January, SWITHEART is written by Mies Hora with the full s...
Throughout the month of February, we honor African Americans by celebrating Black History Month. Created in 1926, this event coincides with the birthdays of Abraham Lincoln on Feb. 12 and Frederick Douglass on Feb. 14. African American communities have celebrated these birthdays together for over a century. Honoring our shared history and reflecting on the past is one way we can remember that in America, we believe in freedom and democracy for all. Another shared belief is that we all deserve a comfortable retirement, free of economic...
When I first discovered the estate tax (or if you like, “death tax”), way back in the 1980s, the rate could be as high as 55 percent. That’s right, once you got above a certain level, Uncle Sam was taking more than half of what you saved. Nowadays the rate is down to 40 percent, which is still pretty high, but the estate tax doesn’t kick in until you are around $5.5 million, so it doesn’t affect very many people. There is another tax, though, which can affect even fairly small estates,...
Q. My daughter keeps encouraging me to get a smartphone, but I fail to see any need. I don’t need the Internet on my phone. Are there other reasons? A. Information can save your life. And the smartphone can be an essential tool for recording information about your health. A smartphone can log medications and remind you when it is time to administer the next dose. It can record vital statistics, sometimes in concert with external devices like bathroom scales and blood pressure monitors. And it can also provide emergency responders with a p...
Cemeteries might not seem like a likely place to visit as a tourist but they are. Some people visit cemeteries to pay homage to presidents, artists, poets and other influential individuals. Others go to admire the art and architecture, while still others find the beautifully landscaped gardens a place to reflect. 1. Arlington National Cemetery. The military cemetery located just across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C., is the most visited cemetery in the United States. It is the grave...
