Silver Planet Aging
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Getting Mom to Give Up the Car Keys
It’s never okay to wait until there’s an accident
Imagine that the phone rings—it’s the police department in the city where your 85-year-old mother lives. She’s been in a car accident. She hit a pedestrian. Could you have prevented this? -
SilverRide Recognized for Meeting the Lifestyle Transportation Needs of Seniors
Door-through-door (even arm-through-arm) service
The word “lifestyle” is not normally paired with “transportation,” but SilverRide founders Jeff Maltz and Susan Steiner Saal say the word is essential to describing what they’re all about. -
Few Medicines Work as Well as Exercise
Vocabulary word for the day: sarcopenia
Dr. Sheldon Zinberg, founder of the Nifty After Fifty workout centers: "Starting at about age 40, we lose 1% of our muscle mass each year. That accelerates to 1.5% at age 60, which means we're half as strong as we should be by age 80." -
Consumer Alert: Exposing the Flaws in Medicare’s Nursing Home Rating System
Self-reporting causes problems in five-star rating system
Facilities often fight citations through the hearing process, and the degree of the violation for which a facility is cited can end up being reduced before the public even learns of it. -
A Tuneup via Computer for Older Brains
Improve reaction times and reduce crash risk by up to 50%
Rena Wiseman, 88, uses computer games to help keep her mentally sharp and improve her driving skills. She equates it with exercise—"fun exercise"—like the ballroom dancing she used to do several nights a week. -
A Third Party Can Help Ease Elders' Driving Issues
Your loved one's doctor can be a friend indeed
How to get parents to stop driving is a frequently asked question from people who are only beginning to see a decline in their elders. My short answer for them is that they need to involve a third party. -
When Is It Okay to Take the Car Keys Away?
Having “the conversation” with your senior parent
Eventually, in every caregiving workshop, comes the question of when it’s okay to take the car keys from an aging parent. To this I often remark that if you are ever bored and want to engage in a “fun” conversation, float that trial balloon. -
Caregivers of All Types Share Bond
The National Family Caregiver Support Program offers assistance
Whether we are caring for our parents, our spouse, our growing family, or a disabled child or friend, we are caregivers, and chances are great that we are emotionally, and often physically, stretched to the limit. -
Research to Slow Aging Gains Momentum
George Burns: "You can't help getting older, but you don't have to get old."
Scientists are claiming discovery of molecules that control aging, but not all of us are made the same way. As science writer David Stipp says, "It's hard to live past 90 without getting lucky in the genes game." -
Tips to Educate the Public and Help Well Spouses
Seek support groups offered by the Alzheimer’s Association or other appropriate agencies
Although most caregiving information can be used by all caregivers, the Well Spouse Association has been working hard to make support for well spouses available across the Internet. -
The Long and Winding Road?
Increased longevity raises important public policy questions
People often opine that age is just a number. Well, as you know, there is some truth in that (except maybe early in the morning or in the middle of the night). Attitude, it has been said, is a major factor in how we see our own aging. -
Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Love Story with a Twist
Newsman Barry Petersen shares his unique love story
There’s been a lot of publicity about Jan’s Story: Love Lost to the Long Goodbye of Alzheimer’s. The author is well known, and his publicists have been generous with review copies. The publicists say this book “reads like a novel.” After reading my copy, I had to agree. -
What Do You Want More Of?
Questions beget more questions. . . .
Really. What do you want more of in your life? More peace? More time off? More fun? More inner tranquility? Unless we identify what it is that we truly want, we tend to be so caught up in daily life that we don't even think about what will make us truly happy. -
Dad Likely Would Say I Did Okay
Happy Father's Day, Dad
Many of you are caring for the father who once cared for you. You see him partially paralyzed from a stroke, or you see his once-vital brain diminished by dementia. You are doing your very best to care for him. But you wonder, “Am I doing well enough?” -
Death Isn't Easy, No Matter the Age
Focus on the happy moments
I would have been married 30 years this month, if Bob had lived. He died five years ago, just three days after our 25th anniversary. He died six months after my oldest son, Tom, died from an accidental overdose of painkillers and antidepressants.
