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Here’s an interesting question: The last time you were admitted to the hospital, were you admitted to the hospital as in inpatient? “Kirk, you’re crazy as a loon,” you might respond, “of course I was an inpatient the last time I was an inpatient. What else would I be?” But that wasn’t my question. You were admitted, given. But were you admitted as an inpatient? “I was,” you say, “and I have a plastic wristband to prove it. They kept me for several days, poked my arm for blood a bunch of ti...
Q. A few weeks ago I read that Apple was killing iTunes. How will I load music onto my iPod? A. In early June there was a flood of dire sounding news about the end of iTunes. Let me put some of the more alarmist implications to rest. Apple is replacing iTunes with several applications. However, the iTunes app you have now will continue to work. iTunes is a very old app. By splitting the tasks it does into smaller pieces, the experience should be better for everyone. In the meantime, the current version of iTunes will continue to support users...
Being surrounded by grandchildren and children from the community is a blessing for anyone, and especially when you are given an opportunity to share what you have learned in your life. While we are doing interviews in Elders’ homes across Alaska, we are always surrounded by children and the joy visible on the Elders’ face, in their stories, and passion for their futures and learning what it means to be a healthy Native person. This desire to share your knowledge, stories and to teach the youth, is a stage of human development we achieve in...
A child drawn to the rainbow stickers on display was heard asking his mom, “What’s a Pride?” “Pride is when you get to celebrate loving who you are,” was her perfect response. For the lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender community, much of the focus is on the “coming out” time of life. Who will you tell and how will they react? Will your family reject you or embrace you? Will you lose any friends, your apartment, or your job? Coming out happens over a period of time as you reveal your authentic self to more and more people. What escapes...
While leaving a recent nonprofit meeting another member was muttering aloud, obviously annoyed. I questioned why. He said: “Ugh, ‘A’ means ‘Ally’, it has always meant ally, not ‘Alternative.’” I agreed; he was correct. What frustrated him was discussion with a younger volunteer who insisted the “A” in LGBTA meant one thing; in essence negating the other “A” which stands for straight allies. This discord reminded me of a recurring thought. The initials “LGBT” became common in the 1980s to combine gender identities and create an inclusive fra...
Caregiving provided by grandparents serves as a safety net for children in need of parenting regardless of race, ethnicity or sexual orientation. Approximately 2.9 million grandparents make breakfast, organize their grandchildren's activities, arrange doctor's appointments, help with homework, and worry about how they are going to afford college coupled with their everyday household expenses. Since the 1970s, the number of grandparents raising grandchildren in the United States has rapidly...
To get to his construction job site those early summer mornings in 1974, my husband, Gary, could either drive 24 miles into Fairbanks and then another 25 miles to Eielson Air Force Base, or drive 4 miles down Chena Hot Springs road, park the car, take the canoe across the Chena River and get a ride with a co-worker who was camped there in the campground. The shortest route usually won out, and so a lot of river crossings took place - to work in the morning and from work in the evenings, six days...
Seventy-seven years ago this month Japanese Zeros bombed Dutch Harbor and then occupied Attu and Kiska in the Aleutian Islands. Why? Because they thought that two months earlier James "Jimmy" Doolittle had led the U.S. Army Air Forces in the first-ever bombing raid on Japan from an airstrip in the Aleutian Chain and wanted to prevent further attacks on their homeland. The Japanese bombers probably were surprised when they did not find any military air bases in the Aleutians. Turns out Doolittle...
As one of the most popular television shows in the late 70s to early 80s, "Happy Days" helped propel many cast regulars into the production side of show business. Ron Howard, Henry Winkler, Don Most and Anson Williams all achieved recognition behind the camera as producers, directors and/or writers. Williams played Potsie – the naïve, well-meaning friend to Ron Howard's Richie Cunningham character – and says the show was almost shelved when the pilot didn't sell and then aired by ABC for an e...
Ah, retirement -- the “golden years.” Visions of fit youngish-looking seniors cavorting on a white-sands beach. Beautiful perfect-teeth smiles glowing on their faces, palm trees swaying in the breeze, and brilliant blue-green waters glistening in the background. This is how retirement is portrayed in the travel brochures and the financial products advertisements. Alas, the economic realities of retirement are less uniformly euphoric. According to the recently released 28th Annual Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS) conducted by the Employee Ben...
Seated across the desk from me is the dejected widow. Arrayed around her are her children, there to give support. The mood is sad, as it always is in the days after a husband and father has died. “I’m very sorry to hear of your husband’s passing,” I say, “please tell me what I can do to help.” She sighs. “Apparently there were some assets which were just in my husband’s name. I understand we’ll have to go through probate. Can you tell us how to do that?” “Certainly,” I say, then ask a key questi...
Q. What advice can you share for traveling with personal tech devices this summer? A. Plan ahead for Internet connectivity, storage space and power. Our phones and tablets thrive in environments with speedy internet. When the internet is slow, intermittent or absent altogether, smart devices dumb down fast. The problem is compounded by several factors. While many places have reasonably good internet, many more places do not, especially in rural areas. Worse, the devices expect the user to know what will happen when the data spigot suddenly turn...
This is the first in a series of articles by Jordan Lewis, PhD, with comments and reflections on “Alaska Native Successful Aging - What it means to be an Elder,” which are two studies completed in 2009 and 2019. Jordan is an Associate Professor with the WWAMI School of Medical Education, University of Alaska Anchorage, and Director of the National Resource Center for Alaska Native Elders at University of Alaska Anchorage. A huge smile across Mary’s (not her real name) face, the deep wrinkles show she has lived a full and healthy life. That hear...
The abuse and neglect of American Indian and Alaska Native Elders occurs with alarming frequency in tribal communities. Tribal leaders from across the country have identified three major challenges in addressing elder abuse and neglect issues on reservations, including: There is a need to increase training among tribal healthcare providers and tribal governments about elder abuse and neglect, There are few tribal codes that specifically address elder abuse issues, and There are few established policies and procedures for tribal agencies handlin...
"If you have room, would you like to take a petunia wave basket?" asked Evelyn Bush, a former employer of mine. "You can't just give away baskets for free," I replied. But when her granddaughter, Michelle, said Evelyn could very well do whatever she pleased, I accepted. Of course I could find room in our truck camper for a free flower basket, even if it was already full. Bushes Bunches Greenhouses and Garden, just outside Palmer on the Old Glenn Highway, was my husband Gary's and my last stop...
After Alaska became part of the United States in 1867, the U.S. military ruled America's newest possession for about 17 years. Then on July 4, 1884, U.S. President Chester A. Arthur appointed Republican John Henry Kinkead of Nevada as the District of Alaska's first governor. And Kinkead has the distinction of serving as the district's governor for the shortest amount of time – less than a year – as he resigned in May 1885. Kinkead, who served as Nevada's governor from 1879 to 1883, knew qui...
A staple on the old TV westerns, Don Collier got his first break as a lead actor in the short-lived series "Outlaws" in the early 1960s. "I interviewed for the role in December 1959 and they called me back for three weeks the following January/February when we shot the pilot," recalled Collier. "NBC wanted a prime time slot for Ralph Edwards ('This is Your Life') and they had to move either us or Bonanza. Bonanza was in color and we were black and white (for the first season) so we lost out. But...
I recently saw the movie "Bohemian Rhapsody", which tells the story of the rock band Queen and its lead singer, Freddie Mercury. Having come of age in the ‘70s, I found it interesting enough to look up some of the background. One of the more interesting stories told in the movie, and with fair accuracy, is Freddie’s relationship with Mary Austin. For many years, Mercury referred to Mary as his “common-law wife”. Even after they broke up, he referred to her as his “only true friend”. He even bou...
Q. Most retail stores accept merchandise returns, but what about software? Is it possible to get a refund from the App Store? A. Although the details are often buried in the fine print, both the Google and Apple stores provide a return policy for apps. In the Google Play Store, time is of the essence. You have to request the refund within two hours of purchase. If you miss the two-hour deadline, there is another path best tried within the first 48 hours. The procedures vary slightly by media type. For example, movies, music and apps have...
Congressional Democrats are pushing an ambitious plan to expand Social Security and put it on a sustained long-term footing in an effort to overturn 20 years of attempts by congressional Republicans to scale back entitlement programs like Medicare and Social Security. The New Deal social insurance program had been one of the primary targets of former House Republican Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., since his arrival in Congress in 1999. Ryan always believed Social Security “is an undeserved entitlement,” and lawmakers have often suggested that it...
Working at the office of the Long Term Care Ombudsman, I am often asked, “What exactly, do you do?” The answer is simple, we visit elders who live in assisted living homes and nursing facilities. We listen to what they have to say and work to resolve any problems they are having. Elders face a range of problems from disliking the food being served or staff being mean to elders, to physical and sexual assault. As Long Term Care Ombudsman, our job is to resolve the problem to the satisfaction of the elder. If the elder is not able to com...
A decade ago, Rushern Baker III started seeing signs that something was wrong with his wife when she was still in her late 40s. Christa Beverly was forgetting things and losing things. It took some doing, but he convinced her to see a doctor. She was tested, and at age 49 was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's. Within a few years of the diagnosis, Christa had lost most of her functions. Today, at age 58, she is unable to talk, walk or eat on her own, but she remains at home. Baker, 60, has r...
It’s National Social Security Month and this year we’re highlighting some of the time-saving features of the “my Social Security” account. Once you create an account, you’ll see that we already have your work history and secure information to estimate what you could receive once you start collecting benefits. With your personal my Social Security account, you can also: Request a replacement Social Security card; Set up or change direct deposit; Get a proof of income letter; Change your address; Check the status of your Social Security applicati...
Staff from Alaska’s Social Security office will be available for questions via videoconferencing at the following locations and times in April: Kodiak Job Center, on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month (April 9 and 23), 9 a.m. to noon. Kenai Senior Center, on the first and third Wednesday of each month (April 3 and 17), 9 a.m. to noon. Ketchikan Job Center, every Thursday (April 4, 11, 18 and 25), noon to 3 p.m. Social Security provides toll-free telephone service to all of Alaska. Residents in Alaska’s Southeast communities can cal...
As adults we tend to think only kids need to know how to behave around dogs. But actually we all need to know how to be safe around dogs. Anchorage Animal Care and Control teaches kindergarten through sixth grade students how to behave around dogs to prevent dog bites. But adults often need the same lesson. April 7-13 is Dog Bite Prevention Week, so here are some tips and illustrations from our school presentation for everyone in the family: When a dog is happy and feels secure, their face...
