In Brief
By Andy Humm
Rx – Watch for Scammers
The Medicare prescription-drug program does not go into effect until January 1, but the marketing by government-approved companies begins in October with enrollment available in November.
Helen Marks Dicks, an elder-law expert in Wisconsin, has told Congress that because there was such a great deal of confusion about the program, “it will be hard to tell the good guys from the bad guys because the window is so short.”
Washington Dateline reports that “fraudulent schemes playing off the new program” have already popped up in West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Watch out for scammers asking for personal information like your Social Security number, and telemarketers trying to pry your credit-card information out of you.
Fighting Falls
In August, the Keeping Seniors Safe from Falls Act was introduced to the Senate by Mike Enzi, Republican of Wyoming, and Barbara Mikulski, Democrat of Maryland. It notes that more than 10,000 deaths annually and 1.6 million emergency-room visits are attributable to senior falls. Falling is indeed a leading cause of death of Americans over 65.
The measure, if passed, will fund fall-prevention programs at local, state, and national levels, and will evaluate their effectiveness.
The Bumpy Road to Balance
A study at Chungman National University in South Korea, reported The New York Times, has found that participation in tai chi by people over 78 helps them improve their balance and lessen the chance of disabling falls.
Another study, this one by the Oregon Research Institute, finds that walking over irregular surfaces, like cobblestones – common in Chinese parks and parts of Manhattan – improves balance, reduces blood pressure, and increases walking speed. Fuzhong Li, the lead Oregon researcher, said that in the absence of cobblestones, walking on smooth surfaces is still recommended.
Watch Your Blood Pressure
More than three-quarters of Americans over the age of 80 have problems with blood pressure, a six-year study from Northwestern University has found. Dr. Donald Lloyd-James told the Voice of America: “We’re doing a very poor job of getting the blood pressure down,” mostly because people aren’t receiving proper treatment. He wants doctors to be more aggressive about treating high blood pressure, and urges older people themselves to start insisting on such treatment.
Boomers Won’t Bust
There are many who believe that as baby boomers retire in large numbers, the steady amount of money they take out of the stock market will cause it to crash. But Financial Times says this may not be the case. James Poterba, who teaches economics at MIT, has studied the relationship of market return to retirement since 1926, and concludes that the coming boomer exodus from the workforce should only reduce the market’s performance by one-half of one percent.
Many of the greater numbers of people living long past 65, says Richard Skelt of Fidelity Invest-ments, will continue to play in the market rather than cashing out into safer investments. There is also the hope that the increased wealth being produced in China and India will lead to greater overall investment in stock markets.
Diabetes Linked with Cancer Risk
The Mayo Clinic Cancer Center has determined that adults over 50 with new-onset hypoglycemic diabetes are eight times more likely to develop pancreatic cancer within three years. Dr. Suresh Chari of the clinic said that the cancer is hard to detect unless it’s at an advanced stage, at which point the chances for survival are slim. She wants to identify a marker in blood that will let doctors distinguish between diabetes associated with pancreatic cancer and the more common type-2 diabetes. This will enable physicians to screen diabetes patients for the cancer before it gets out of hand.
Beating the Heat
As New York City and most of America endured a miserable heat wave this summer, the New York City Council came up with a Comprehen-sive Heat Emergency Assistance Program.
Council Speaker Gifford Miller, who is running for mayor, said it would give seniors and people with disabilities who are on fixed incomes as much as 25 percent off their electric bills during the crisis periods. The city would provide up to $5 million to help pay the bills.
A similar law is already in effect in Dallas, Texas.
To Beat Back Pain
MedIndia.com reports that women over 60 can reduce back pain from osteoporosis-induced curvature of the spine by a back-support device – a specially weighted kypho-orthosis – and by doing certain exercises developed at the Mayo clinic.
Elder-Care and Orientation
In advance of the White House Conference on Aging in September, testimony was taken in Chicago this past July on issues of concern to older gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people. Those statements will be embodied in a five-page report to the conference’s policy committee.
One of the big concerns, reported the Windy City Times, was being able to share a hospital room with a same-sex partner who is terminally ill; correlatively, the right to make end-of-life decisions. Witnesses said there is an enormous need to educate staff in elder-care settings about the existence and needs of LGBT individuals.
Warnings on Anti-Psychotic Medications
The Food and Drug Admini-stration is finding that six drugs designated for use in treating schizophrenia and mania should not be used for treating dementia. Albifly (aripiprazole), Zyprexa (olanzapine), Seroquel (quetapine), Risperdal (risperidone), Clorazil (clozapine), and Geodon (ziprasidone) can cause a higher death rate among patients with dementia.
Symbyax (olanzapine and fluoxetine HCI), which is used for bipolar disorder, can also lead to a higher death rate if given to such patients. RedNova News says the FDA is considering warning labels on the drugs.
Let Older People Fight the War, Texan Says
James “Pete” Eastup, 78, is trying to volunteer for military service and is proposing that men 75 and over replace the young people serving now so that the young can lead normal lives. A World War II veteran, Eastup told MyWestTexas.com: “I think there are a lot of people that would go and just stop this nonsense of terrorism.”
Eastup insists he is sincere. “These young people over there [in Iraq] – really, we need them over here in America,” he says. “We might surprise some terrorists when they meet some old devils who really don’t give a damn. It would also let some of us die with a little dignity rather than in a rest home.”
The current cut-off for basic training is 35.
Call Your Mother
Ireland’s Senior Helpline saw a 50-percent increase in calls this year. Mary Nally, coordinator of the service, told IrishHealth.com: “Irish society is changing so rapidly that older people are often left behind. With less and less family time due to problems with commuting and more pressurized lives, it seems that people have less time for older relatives.” She also noted that the high cost of housing is forcing younger people to move away from aging relatives.
In Britain, the “A Call in Time” crisisline program for older people is being expanded to 15 sites nationwide with a £500,000 grant from the Zurich Community Trust to Help the Aged, a senior-rights group.
