Sorted by date Results 671 - 695 of 966
Alaska Health Fair, Inc., kicks off their fall 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. A complete and comprehensive chemistry/hematology test is available for only $45; with 27 different panels for conditions ranging from diabetes, kidney and liver function, to anemia and tissue health, thyroid,...
September Morn, please stay for a while longer, for when you are gone it will be time for an introduction to snowflakes and a lonesome, cold winter. But for readers lucky enough to have a working fireplace, it will be nice to cozy up to it again. Please remember to get registered to vote, and I can’t stress enough the importance of voting this year. The next president will be selecting one or maybe two Supreme Court justices. Social Security Disability benefits Social Security pays disability b...
If someone is enrolled in a health plan (this can be a Marketplace plan through the Affordable Care Act, a private health insurance plan or an employer plan), when they become eligible for Medicare at 65 the plan they were in can seamlessly enroll them into one of their Medicare Advantage plans, if they have one. (A Medicare Advantage plan is one policy that covers Medicare Hospital Coverage A, Outpatient Medical Coverage B and Prescription Coverage D and sometimes vision or dental). Some people have health plans that have approval to...
Walking away from dementia Grab your walking shoes. Studies are continuing to show that the more physical exercise you get, the greater your chances of preventing dementia. Using the landmark Framingham Heart Study to assess how physical activity affects the size of the brain and one’s risk for developing dementia, UCLA researchers have found an association between low physical activity and a higher risk for dementia in older adults. The new findings suggest that regular physical activity could...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following peer support meetings in September. This month’s focus is “Substance Use, Misuse and Abuse Among Older Adults,” in support of National Recovery Month. Sept. 6, Caregiver support meeting at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. Sept. 13, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Sept. 20, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Senior Center, 1 p.m. Sept. 27, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Support meetings allow you to share your...
Did you know that your medication can damage skin? Most of you don’t even think about that as a side effect. Photosensitivity is a fairly common skin reaction that is sparked by taking medicines which interact with ultraviolet (UV) radiation from the sun or tanning beds. It happened to me once and luckily the red burning rash and tingling only affected my hands. It took only two hours of sun exposure on a shady trail while hiking in California. Still, it rendered me out of writing commission for a few days. The big problem is that p...
We’ve lived long enough to see science lose and gain favor with eggs, fats, red wine, some fruits and vegetables, and chocolate. Perhaps more confusing than studies around those food items are the studies surrounding coffee. Slate magazine noted in 2010 that there were more than 500 studies on coffee and human health. Well, this senior is not human until I have that first cup of coffee in the morning. Both as a coffee drinker and a health writer, I’ve been following the coffee conundrum for three decades. (And just for the record, an old...
Injectable devices may allow for organ regeneration Injectable medical devices are now reaching a new level. Researchers at the University of Chicago are now reporting they have come up with a light-activated injectable device that could be used to stimulate nerve cells and manipulate the behavior of muscles and organs. The new material is soft and tiny and less than the width of a human hair. It degrades naturally inside the body after a few months. Each particle is built of two types of...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following peer support meetings in August. This month’s focus is National Health Center Week, with presentations by Peninsula Community Health Services of Alaska. Aug. 2, Caregiver support meeting at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. Aug. 9, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Aug. 16, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Senior Center, 1 p.m. Aug. 30, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Support meetings allow you to share your e...
Orange juice holds a high position in the pantheon of American breakfast icons. Each year 620 million gallons of the orange ambrosial cure-all are consumed by Americans. However, is it truthfully fresh or are you getting jerked around? Ads tell us (wink, wink) it’s pure and natural so we obediently buy the orange au jus for the sentiment. Nevertheless, the majority of our American tradition is a year old and comes from, tell-me-it-ain’t-so, Brazil. The largest fabricators of “not from concentrate” or pasteurized orange juice keep juice in mill...
Mountain Pacific Quality Health will offer a free six-class educational series on diabetes self-management this month in Anchorage and on the Kenai Peninsula. The classes will meet twice a week over a three week period. The Anchorage classes will meet July 12-27, Tuesdays and Thursdays, at Cook Inlet Housing Authority’s Centennial Center, 9131 Centennial Circle. Classes will meet from 5 to 6:30 p.m. For information, contact Ann Lovejoy at alovejoy@mpqhf.org or 561-3202 ext. 105, or Cathy Colwell, 561-3202 ext. 103. The Kenai Peninsula c...
July and Independence Day is here. That may be good for some, but for others it is a sentence for loneliness. If you think that living into your near-nineties is always a blessing, I am here to tell you that for many it is not. Your contemporaries are no longer around – they’ve either just moved away or are deceased. You can no longer drive your car and have lost your independence and your eyesight is failing. You likely have no close relatives who live nearby and are willing and able to giv...
One of my peak experiences was attending a lecture by Dominic O’Brien, the World Memory Champion who demonstrated some of his amazing memory abilities. He believes that you should exercise the mind every day just like an athlete stretches his or her body regularly. To achieve the rank of World Memory Champion, you must be able to perform several superhuman feats. For example, you have to memorize 1,000 random digits in less than an hour, the exact order of 10 decks of shuffled playing cards, also in one hour, and one shuffled deck in less than...
Fiber may pack some hidden health benefits Most people know that a diet high in fiber helps keep a person “regular.” Now, Australian researchers have uncovered a surprising benefit of this often-undervalued dietary component. They have found that eating the right amount of fiber from breads, cereals, and fruits can help us avoid disease and disability into old age. Using data compiled from the Blue Mountains Eye Study, which included more than 1,600 adults aged 50 years and older, the res...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following peer support meetings in July. This month’s focus is part two of last month’s “End of Life Care and Letting Go,” featuring a DVD presentation with Teepa Snow. July 5, Caregiver support meeting at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. July 12, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. July 19, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Senior Center, 1 p.m. July 26, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Support meetings allow you to share your e...
Do you whip up delicious meals without measuring a single thing? The oil you use in your kitchen can make or break your otherwise wonderful dish. Did you know that some oils are harmful? Did you know that fried chicken or french fries often use "hydrogenated" oils, which increase your risk of diabetes, heart attack, obesity and cancer? Some "partially hydrogenated" oils are even derived from soybean oil, discussed below. What's in your kitchen? Here are the good Look for oils high in...
What is more wonderful than a gloriously 70 degree temperature on an innocent day in June, especially when I am writing this on May 15 in Anchorage, Alaska? For those of you who do not believe in climate change, I feel sorry for you. I have been living in Alaska for 48 years and I have never seen a springtime like the one we are now having here. It is not so good for the fishermen and the rest of the people who live on the northwest coasts of our largest state, because they are losing land to...
In 2016, more than a million people will be diagnosed with cancer around the world. This alarming statistic affects people and families everywhere. On June 5, 2016, we observe National Cancer Survivors Day in the United States. In support of this day, Social Security encourages getting checkups to provide early detection, raise awareness through education, and recognizes the survivors who have gone through this battle or are still living with the disease. Social Security stands strong in our support of the fight against cancer. We offer...
A new scratch on the bumper or avoiding activities that require leaving home are often the first signs that families should talk with their aging parents about driving. Unfortunately, those conversations are not happening enough, according to a press statement by Home Instead, Inc. The May 17 press statement outlines results of a new survey by the franchisor of the Home Instead Senior Care network of offices that provide in-home care services to seniors. The survey found that 95 percent of the surveyed seniors have not talked to their loved...
Artificial vision device helping those with low vision A new portable artificial vision device is now helping those who are blind to read a message on an electronic device, a newspaper article or a menu. The promise of new software technology has now gone from the scientists’ bench to helping the blind in a way never before possible. The new device is called OrCam and it is capable of recognizing text, monetary denominations and faces, and can be programmed to recognize other objects. It i...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following peer support meetings in June. This month’s focus: End of Life Care and Letting Go, featuring a DVD presentation with Teepa Snow. June 7, Caregiver support meeting at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. June 14, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. June 21, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Senior Center, 1 p.m. June 28, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Support meetings allow you to share your experiences as a caregiver, o...
This is the second article in a multi-part series about diabetes self-management programs offered in Alaska. Type 2 Diabetes, a disease characterized by abnormally high blood sugar, is among the most common chronic diseases. People of all ages suffer from type 2 diabetes, but older adults are more likely to be diagnosed with this disease and experience diabetes-related complications. Luckily, there are many ways to reduce your risk of developing this disease, and it’s also easy to get screened. For more information about prevention and s...
We take for granted the comfort we feel in our hands and feet, but some people have lost that comfort, and they suffer all day long with strange nerve-related concerns. There is new research about aspirin which could help you, but first let’s talk about nerve pain, termed “neuropathy.” It feels like you are touching or stepping on pins and needles! It can affect you all over, not just your hands and feet. Depending on various factors (race, age, weight, alcohol consumption, insulin and A1c), your experience of neuropathy may also include pain,...
Alaska Health Fairs’ spring series of health fairs wrap up this month, featuring free health screenings and education, low cost blood tests and more. The 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 panels 27 different tests f...
Be cheerful in the merry month of May, a harbinger of Summer’s advent, and good times will soon be here. That is, if you all vote ... the right way. JOKE! Seriously, here are five reasons to vote: 1. To speak your mind, to tell elected officials how you feel about health care, Social Security, the environment, education (especially if you have children or grand children). 2. To control our future, elected officials make decisions that affect our daily lives. 3. To stop complaining and make t...
