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The six senior centers in Mat-Su are exploring opportunities to minimize administrative costs and maximize available public and private resources to provide a wider variety of services to the seniors they serve. The Coalition of Mat-Su Senior Centers serve a geographically broad area, with some centers serving more densely populated areas, such as in Wasilla and Palmer, which both have large senior living campuses, and others where the population is more spread out and fewer services are...
Sovaldi, a new drug, which has been hailed as a breakthrough treatment for the 3.2 million Americans infected with hepatitis C, costs $1,000 a pill. While it is highly effective and has fewer side effects and takes less time than older therapies, it costs $84,000 for a typical patient. But lawmakers want to know why the U.S. price is much higher than in other countries, as well as previously estimated in the U.S. In a letter sent recently, two U.S. senators, Finance Chairman Ron Wyden, D-Ore., and Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Ia., asked Gilead...
The Alaska Commission on Aging (ACoA) will hold its quarterly meeting Monday, Sept. 15, through Thursday, Sept. 18 in Fairbanks. The commission business meeting will be held at the Fairbanks North Star Council on Aging Senior Center from 1 to 4:30 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 15. The meeting will continue at the Raven Landing Senior Housing Community Center from 1 to 5 p.m. on September 16. Finally, the meeting will conclude at the Morris Thompson Cultural Center September 18 from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. A public comment period will be held from 1 to 1:30...
September resource fairs will offer information about services for vulnerable adults, and celebrate dedicated advocates with a community service award. There will be fairs in three communities this year, the third year that Alaska’s Adult Protective Services has held the event. All the fairs will be from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 5 Anchorage BP Energy Center Sept. 19 Fairbanks Noel Wien Public Library Sept. 25 Juneau Mendenhall Mall & Library. The Juneau event will be broadcast by video conference to Cordova, Haines, Wrangell, Sitka, Hoonah a...
The Anchorage Senior Citizens Advisory Commission, as part of its Senior Needs Assessment, is hosting a forum to dialogue with interested community members and providers serving seniors about emerging and future trends vital to community health and behavioral health care for the elderly. Please join us! The forum will be held Wednesday, September 24 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Anchorage Public Library, Wilda Marston Auditorium. A panel of medical providers will be given five minutes to offer an overview presentation of how their organization...
Discussing aging issues, such as living arrangements, finances, dating, end-of-life decisions and driving, early and often can save families years of heartache, tension and even legal battles. Yet, research indicates that about two-thirds of American families put off these conversations, either because they are uncomfortable with the topics or they just don’t know where to start. Statistics show that 34 percent of adults surveyed are conversation avoiders. That is, they haven’t talked about any important end-of-life issues with their par...
I work as a chaplain visiting folks in their homes, and one of the questions I ask is: “Are you affiliated with a particular faith group?” How a person answers this question tells me a lot about them and their ideas and feelings about religion. Many people these days say they were raised in a particular denomination but they aren’t active. Often it’s too hard to get out and attend services anymore, or they define themselves as “spiritual” not religious. Others who use the word “spiritual” mean they are not, have never been, churchgoers, but the...
Doctors often prescribe statins for people with high cholesterol to lower their total cholesterol and reduce their risk of a heart attack or stroke. The dangers of statins often seem to be brushed aside. Most people taking statins will take them for the rest of their lives unless they reach normal cholesterol levels through diet, exercise, weight loss and nutritional supplements. This can make statin side effects more difficult to manage. For some people, statin side effects can make any benefit of taking a statin hardly worth it. Now,...
Alaska Health Fairs, Inc. kicks off its fall series of health fair 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. The test results give you and your health care provider important information about your physical condition and vital organ functions. A complete and comprehensive chemistry/hematology test is available for only $45 and...
You may be able to take fewer medicines and pay less for the ones you do take by simply asking questions. Many people figure they are prescribed a medication for a good reason, and don’t ask why. But sometimes there’s another option — some conditions can be controlled through diet and exercise, for example. You can hear from a real, live Alaskan who whittled his prescriptions down substantially by asking what they were all for at MedEd.Alaska.gov (Success Stories video #2). Questions for your pr...
I hope you said happy birthday to Social Security, which had its 79th birthday on Aug. 14. In a 1938 article, the director of the Bureau of Old-Age Insurance described the challenges faced by the Social Security program in registering workers and posting wages to get the program started. On the heels of the 49th anniversary of the signing of Medicare and Medicaid into law, CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) projected that the average premium for basic Part D Medicare Prescription...
Medicare provides vital health insurance for 50 million seniors and people with disabilities. But even when you have Medicare, health care is not free. People with Medicare pay premiums and have other costs that they pay out of pocket, like deductibles and co-insurance. For lower-income people, these costs can be overwhelming. There are several programs that help low-income people with Medicare pay their health care costs – but many Medicare beneficiaries don’t know about these programs. Let’s see if we can shed some light on them. Why might...
For those of you not familiar with the Honor Flight program, it’s a national non-profit organization dedicated to providing World War ll and Korean War veterans an opportunity to travel to Washington DC to visit the nation’s capital and the various war memorials at no cost to the veteran. Sixty years after the end of World War ll, the country finally built a World War ll memorial after many of the “Greatest Generation” had passed away. We are losing World War ll veterans at the rate of one every 90 seconds. A seat on one of these all expense...
Stroke rates decreasing in older adults A new analysis has found that there has been a 40 percent decrease in the incidence of stroke in adults over the age of 65. The decline is much greater than researchers had expected and the decline occurred in both ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes. In addition, deaths due to strokes are also steadily declining in older adults. Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, with approximately 795,000 strokes occurring each year. In the...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following peer support meetings in September. This month’s theme is “Healthy Aging Awareness Month”. Sept. 2, Caregiver support meeting at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. Sept. 9, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Sept. 16, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Senior Center, 1 p.m. Sept. 30, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Enjoy “Teatime with Judy”. Please join and share your experiences as a caregiver, or support someone w...
Dear readers, it's time to say goodbye. I will retire next month and hand off the reins to a new Long Term Care Ombudsman. It has been a real privilege to hold this position. I've got the best staff and volunteers anyone could hope for, all of them passionate about defending the rights of older Alaskans. But the best of all has been you, the older Alaskans who show so much grit and independence in facing the daily challenges of aging. My job is to make sure our program provides seniors with...
Providence Seward Mountain Haven (PSMH) is a long-term care facility tucked away in the trees on the side of a mountain in Seward. I had the opportunity to visit Alaska Native Elders living there on two recent occasions and prepare traditional lunches for them. The staff purchased salmon, vegetables, berries and bread dough and we prepared the food on-site. I chopped vegetables for salmon soup, which included cubed salmon, carrots, celery, onions and rice with salt and a little bit of pepper. Wh...
Cyrano’s Theatre Company in Anchorage is presenting “4,000 Miles,” by Amy Herzog as its September production, playing Sept. 4 through Sept. 28. Although the title may be reminiscent of the classic ‘On the Road…’ films with Bob Hope and Bing Crosby and the play is a romantic comedy, it is most certainly far richer in its exploration of the relationships between young and old. It is the story of a 21 year-old young man who, after a lengthy bike trip, finds himself visiting his 91 year-old grandmother who lives in New York City. They are very di...
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 for business and agency representatives. The September meeting is Sept. 10 and will be hosted by Hope Community Resources. Begins at 8 a.m. Call Older Persons Action Group to RSVP and get directions to the event, or for more...
Russian fur traders wanted to build a fort called Mikhailovsk about six miles north of the present town of Sitka in 1799. They gave the Tlingits, who'd occupied that part of Southeast Alaska for more than 10,000 years, beads and other trading goods in exchange for a small piece of land. The Native people at first thought the Russians might be good trading partners. But soon they realized they'd made a bad deal with Alexander Baranof, chief manager for the Russian-American Company. Submission to...
Since retiring from acting over a decade ago, versatile character actor Nehemiah Persoff has become a successful artist, painting from his seaside home in Cambria, Calif. (see www.nehemiahpersoffpaintings.com). The Cambria Center for the Arts hosted a birthday celebration on August 4 for Persoff, who turned 95 a few days earlier. This included screening a selection of his films, and the artist even auctioned some of his works, donating the proceeds to the center. But in 1989 Persoff experienced...
You’ve heard of people who were declared dead, much to their own surprise. Think this cannot happen to you? The odds that it can happen are increasing. In 2013, NBC News reported the disturbing fact that roughly 28,000 erroneous deaths are logged into the Social Security Administration (SSA) Death Master File, each year. Mark Pinney, interviewed by NBC News, found out he was declared dead when the grocery store rejected his bank card. Imagine his shock when he went to the bank to ask why, and they told him his account was closed because t...
Dear Jonathan: I am a widower. I am retired and financially set. In fact, I have been advised that it would be a good idea for me to reduce the size of my estate because it is larger than that amount which is exempt from estate taxes, which I believe is $5 million. Consequently, I am considering passing along a good chunk of my estate to my children and grandchildren now. What are the current rules for gifting? Jonathan Says: In 2014, a person can gift up to $14,000 per person per year without incurring any federal gift tax and without having t...
Q. I am debating about buying a new laptop with Windows 8. I know that some people don’t like Windows 8. Do you think Microsoft will keep this format in the future or will it go back to something like XP or the Windows 7 format? How do you feel about Windows 8? A. I think Windows 8 is fine. I like the touchscreen interface, which is what it was designed for, though it certainly can be used with a traditional mouse and keyboard. Historically, whenever a new operating system makes its debut, there are people who like it and people who don’t lik...
Long before Dutch Harbor became America's No. 1 fishing port, there was Gloucester, Mass. Visit here and you'll be pulled up short at how old it is and how young Alaska is in comparison. Established as a settlement in 1623, a mere three years after the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock, it incorporated 19 years later. Founded on cod A tumbling, cheek-to-jowl town of windy streets and homes from lowly one-bedroom fisherman colonials to grand mansions, Gloucester has a rich history in fishing for...
