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An ethical will is a document which expresses your wishes, hopes and maybe blessings. It’s something you share with family members while you are still alive. Sound unimportant? Think about it. You could look at it as a way to impart wisdom to those you will leave behind. It’s easier than a memoir and a good way to convey important ideas. I had a friend – Annette – who suffered a serious brain injury at age 42. Before she went into a surgery, which she knew she might not survive, she wrote short letters to her daughters, husband, parents...
Medicine helps us tremendously, but occasionally we experience negative side effects, allergic reactions or other problems. Sometimes they’re quite serious. It’s important to be aware of potential problems so you can watch for them and report them right away before they become dangerous. An Anchorage woman recently contacted me and asked me to share her tale, in the hopes that it might spare others some of the trouble she’d had. I agreed, because I’ve heard so many similar stories over the yea...
My friends, I always regret it when I have to report not so good news to you. The Medicare Part D Prescription Drug Plans for 2015 are the unpalatable ones that I always knew they would be since the program started – there are no good policies that I can suggest to my clients. The lowest premium (Humana Walmart) is $15.60, but it comes with a whopping $320 deductible. In fact, most of the plans have a deductible of $320. Why do you think that is? Is this collusion? And why is there still a ...
Healthy Christmas party choices This Christmas season the nutritionists say think red wine, dark chocolate and berries for heart health. New studies show you need to watch for the calorie counts and added sugars but these foods in particular may help fight heart disease and protect the brain. Berries, including blueberries, cranberries, raspberries and strawberries are a good source of beta carotene and lutein, polyphenols, vitamin C, folate, potassium and fiber. Red wine contains resveratrol,...
Last summer’s viral “ice bucket challenge” focused attention and helped raise money for ALS – amyotrophic lateral sclerosis – a disease that impairs motor function so people often can’t talk or even move. But while public attention focused people on the disease, Medicare changes already in the works could now seriously curtail coverage of communication tools that ALS patients need. Unless it is delayed, beginning Dec. 1, people with ALS could lose access to technological advances that allow them to better communicate, as a result of what Med...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following peer support meetings in December. This month’s meetings will focus on fall prevention. Dec. 2, Caregiver support meeting at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. Dec. 9, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Dec. 11, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program in the Blazy Mall, 5 p.m. Dec. 16, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Senior Center, 1 p.m. Dec. 30, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. P...
A series of online trainings will be available beginning in January, sponsored by the Area Health Education Center (AHEC), UAA Office of Health Programs Development, and the Trust Training Cooperative. The series is a partnership with the Northwest Geriatric Education Center, and will offer 10 weeks of trainings from Jan. 6 through March 10, to Alaska via virtual classroom on the Internet. The series is designed to give community-based providers working in the field of aging – physicians, nurses, physical and occupational therapists, p...
Here's something new from Social Security, which has just launched "my Social Security account," a personalized online account people can establish at www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount, beginning in their working years and continuing throughout the time they receive Social Security benefits. With a "my Social Security account," people can access their online Social Security statement, which provides workers age 18 and over their complete earnings history and estimates for future retirement, disab...
Because I am a dietitian, friends sometimes ask me to help them interpret their health fair blood test results. This fall, I had the unhappy chore of telling a friend that the test results showed “prediabetes” and to talk with a physician. Wanting to put a positive spin on things, I also said that it was great to find out about the prediabetes because there are some simple and effective ways to deal with the problem. My friend is one of the 86 million people in the United States with “prediabetes”. This is a condition in which the blood s...
Fall in Alaska is that short period of time between summer fun and six months of cold snowy weather that lasts until after you file your taxes. As the leaves turn bright colors and fall from the trees, you remember it's time to winterize everything, pull out the blue tarps and have the sled tuned up. But the most important ritual for the fall should include a trip to the VA influenza clinic and see the Alaska VA Flu Coordinator, Marylou. The Alaska VA could not have made this annual visit any...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following peer support meetings in November. This month’s theme for discussion is “Coping With Holiday Stress.” Nov. 4, Caregiver support meeting at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. Nov. 11, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Nov. 13, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program in the Blazy Mall, 5 p.m. Nov. 18, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Senior Center, 1 p.m. Nov. 25, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior C...
Prehabilitation may benefit hip and knee replacement patients All hip and knee replacement patients have physical therapy after their surgery. However, a new study is suggesting that prehabilitation may be highly beneficial to some patients. Researchers found prehabilitation could significantly diminish the need for postoperative care. In some cases, postoperative care was cut by nearly 30 percent, resulting in a significant cost savings. The study included more than 4,700 patients and it found...
November is Thanksgiving month, a time when we reflect on our blessings and often celebrate them with food and drink — so it is also a good month to think about the tricks your food and drink can play on your medicines, like leftover Halloween pranks. Here are a few food-and-drug facts worth reflecting on: There are 249 drugs that interact with grapefruit juice. Grapefruit juice can interfere with how the body metabolizes (takes up and processes) medication. When medicine isn’t passing thr...
Alaska Health Fairs, Inc. wraps up its 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. The test results give you and your health care provider important information about your physical condition and vital organ functions. Unless another phone number is listed, for more information on the events below, call...
Do you respect the “rights” of your medications? By that I mean taking the • right medication, at the • right dose, at the • right time, in the • right way. If you read the first column in this series, you may recall that three-quarters of Americans — yes, 75 percent — don’t manage to do so on a regular basis. Why? Well, it can be a lot less simple than it sounds. That’s what the Med Ed website and this column series is about — identifying common barriers and giving you strategies to get aro...
The Annual Enrollment Period for Medicare is October 15 through December 7, 2014. This is the ideal time to evaluate your Medicare Prescription Drug plan costs and coverage*. You can switch into a different plan that may work better for you in 2015 during this timeframe. The Alaska Medicare Information Office is ready, willing and able to assist Medicare beneficiaries with this confusing process. If you or someone you know needs our help, please gather up your red, white and blue MEDICARE card and be prepared to provide us with the names and...
Higher dose flu vaccine may benefit older adults For older adults, it may be better to go with the high dose when it comes to the flu vaccine this year. A new study has found that the high dose influenza vaccine is 24 percent more effective than the standard dose vaccine in protecting adults 65 and older against influenza illness and its complications. The Fluzone high dose vaccine is an inactivated influenza vaccine that contains four times the amount of antigen in the standard dose Fluzone...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following peer support meetings in October. This month’s theme is “Dental Hygiene Awareness Month”. Oct. 7, Caregiver support meeting at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. Oct. 14, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Oct. 16, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program in the Blazy Mall, 5 p.m. Oct. 21, Caregiver support meeting at Kenai Senior Center, 1 p.m. Oct. 28, Caregiver support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m...
There are 1,001 great reasons for you to be exercising, especially if you are over 50. I’ll bet you can even tell me what at least 10 of those reasons are. Even if you don’t consider yourself a health nut, just about every newspaper, magazine, news program and talk show touts the benefits of exercise. So, I won’t beat you up with more reasons why you should be exercising. I will talk to you about why you’re not exercising and give you a quick “How to” guide to get started. Let’s start with a list. I call this list, “The top 10 reasons people...
Alaska Health Fairs, Inc. continues 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...
The geese have headed south and the Alaska summer is now just a memory. There is one more thing you should do before the snow comes — get a flu vaccine. While there is no way to ensure that you will not catch the flu, there are several things you can do to reduce your risk. Practicing these “habits of healthy people” and encouraging those around you to do likewise will go a long way in reducing the spread of flu. • Wash your hands often with soap and water. Some people find that singing through the entire ABCs while they wash is a good way to...
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...
