Sarah Palin, the elderly, the disabled, older Americans and rural Alaska

[revised]

naomidagenbloom 2008 September 2

Vuee, Vuee, We need to hear MORE from you now about the way Alaska has come into our consciousness via your governor–the believer in “stakeholders.”

Readers can’t get off that easy, Little Red Hen– what questions do folks have?

The reason I have been rather quiet, blogwise, is because the news from rural Alaska about living there isn’t good. There has been next to nothing improved since earlier posts, this includes the past 18 months of the personable Gov. Sarah Palin. I’ll give examples below, but they sound depressing. So readers, what do enquiring minds want to know? If nothing else, I can at least point you to some good sources of facts or commentary from Alaska perspective.

An older friend of mine (from Tucson) sends this musing upon the early photo of Sarah Palin and her caribou ( http://newsminer.com/photos/galleries/2008/sep/01/sarah-palin-growing-alaskan/1156/. It is the photo of the red-nosed caribou NOT a reindeer.)

>My deep reflections, caribou inspired::
1. Macho women don’t need to wear pantsuits to assert themselves.
2. Most currently popular female names go from my daughter Michelle to my mother Sarah.
3. Sarah definitely shoots better than Dick. How about Joe’s expertise with firearms?
4. Candidates should not be judged only on basis of age, gender, and looks.
5. Candidate’s children are given on-stage prominence. It should be unfair to have the youngest ones debate politics, but what about having a food fight?

————————————-

• there’s the older gentleman who is resigning himself to move 400 miles away from home to be near his grandkids because his grown children had to move to Anchorage to find work to meet the utilities payments
• there’s all the older people who need an assisted living arrangement or nursing home (a 400 mile trip, if one can afford to get into Bethel from the village to get on the jet)
• there’s fuel oil at $6-15 a gallon
• there’s the Bush-Cheney stimulus payments which only went to those who have taxable income. They don’t go to those who cashed in IRAs early to pay electricity or who struggle to make sense of their returns.
• there’s electricity at 40 cents or more per kilowatt hour (with a subsidy for residences) in rural Alaska (Wasilla pays considerably less, without subsidy)
• there’s gasoline, needed to go out and “grocery shop” on the tundra or out in the river, at $6 to $18 gallon.
• there’s gaining grandmother status at 34
• there’s raising grandchildren at 70
• there’s having your one-time $1200 “energy check” from the state stolen by your children for smokes and booze

2008-09-04 Look guys, what someone else found
gov-sarah-palin-call-in-kyuk/

2008-09-04 Fact Check of Governor Palin’s Speech http://progressivealaska.blogspot.com/2008/09/saradise-lost-chapter-twenty-five-obama.html

PALIN: “Senator McCain also promises to use the power of veto in defense of the public interest – and as a chief executive, I can assure you it works.”
REALITY: PALIN OPPOSED CRUCIAL EDUCATION, HEALTH CARE AND SENIORS FUNDING [...]

Andrew Halcro does a fine job at http://www.andrewhalcro.com/grading_palins_speech_a

Also: tech support has a listing of reasonable sources at Sarah Palin content

2008-10-27 Palin’s gaffe about her policy on “special needs” while her record shows she has none
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/BlueOasis/~3/431498178/showDiary.do

---

Site Search Tags: Sarah+Palin, caribou, elderly, Alaska, aging, Little+Red+Hen, diasability, long-term+care

Alaska Long Term Care Community Forum August 2008

Not exactly community-involvement but at least comments are possible on the draft.

[deadline]

Long Term Care Community Forum for Stakeholders of State Long Term Health Care Services and Supports [sic]

The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS) has hired HCBS Strategies Inc. to develop recommendations for improving the long term care services it provides to older adults and individuals with disabilities of all ages. As part of developing these recommendations we have obtained feedback from stakeholders such as consumers and their families, providers and direct care workers. We are holding Community Forums to gain reactions from stakeholders on our draft set of recommendations before they are finalized. All those interested may attend.

Individuals are welcome to participate in person or through a web-enabled conference call. Individuals must pre-register for webinars in advance! For those that have limited computer or internet access they may participate by phone only by using the conference call numbers listed below.

Dates/Locations:
Tuesday, August 26th from1:00 – 4:00pm: Downtown Anchorage Marriott- Anchorage/ Via Phone: (702) 824-9512 Access code: 224-977-617 Audio Pin: #

Wednesday, August 27th 5:00 – 8:00 pm: Centennial Hall Convention Center- Juneau /Via Phone: (702) 824-9512 Access code: 126-987-378 Audio Pin: #

Friday, August 29th 1:00 – 4:00pm: Westmark Fairbanks Hotel- Fairbanks Via Phone: (702) 824-9512 Access code: 177-724-278 Audio Pin: #

To for more information or to register for the Forum webinars please go to www.AKLTC.com
If you have questions please contact Kristy Michael with HCBS Strategies by e-mail Kristy AT hcbs DOT info or by phone: 410-858-0807

---

Site Search Tags: deadline, longterm+care, assisted+living, Alaska, DHSS, comment, public+involvement

Grants, fellowships– caregivers, planning, poetry

Health and Aging Policy Fellows Program
Supported by The Atlantic Philanthropies and administered by Columbia University, this national program seeks to provide professionals in health and aging with the experience and skills necessary to make a positive contribution to the development and implementation of health policies that affect older Americans. Deadline extended: May 27, 2008. For more information, see http://www.healthandagingpolicy.org/apply/index.html

The Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation Family and Informal Caregiver Support Program
The Weinberg Foundation will help community partnerships develop innovative ways to support these devoted caregivers. Available Funding: Up to $9 million over three years, the Family and Informal Caregiver Support Program will support from 12 to 20 community-based Projects with grants ranging from $100,000 to $300,000 per year. Deadline: Letters of Inquiry: Thursday, June 12, 2008 http://www.epa.gov/aging/grants/grant-list/2008_0612_grant_ofo_1.htm

Elder Care Initiative Long-Term Care Grant Program
The Indian Health Service announces the availability of grants to support planning and implementation of sustainable long-term care services for American Indians and Alaska Native elders. Deadline: June 20, 2008.
http://www.ihs.gov/NonMedicalPrograms/gogp/index.cfm?module=HHS-2008-IHS-LTC-0001

2nd Annual Rachel Carson Intergenerational Poetry, Essay and Photo Contest
The EPA Aging Initiative, in partnership with Generations United and the Rachel Carson Council, Inc., is inviting submissions for its Second Annual Rachel Carson Sense of Wonder Intergenerational Poetry, Essay and Photography Contest. The contest’s intergenerational approach reflects Carson’s desire to have adults and children share a sense of wonder about nature to discover nature’s gifts. Entries must be an intergenerational project. The deadline for entries is Monday, June 16, 2008. For more information see http://www.epa.gov/aging/resources/thesenseofwonder/index.htm

revised 2008-04-19
[from BHIC. See sidebar. Because so many older people are now raising their grandchildren, this program may be of interest.]

Mentoring Children of Prisoners: Caregiver’s Choice Program
Caregiver’s Choice makes it possible for many more kids across the country to have mentors, and for many more families to enjoy all the benefits of mentoring. This program is unique because it gives the child’s caregiver the power to choose—to look at the possibilities and decide on the best mentoring program to meet their needs and the needs of the child. Through Caregiver’s Choice, you can: – Access funding to serve more children; – Tap into federal funds; – Manage your participation level; – Leverage national efforts to recruit children of prisoners; and – Benefit from cutting-edge training and tools. For more information visit, http://www.mentoring.org/find_resources/caregiverschoice/

---

Site Search Tags: grants, funding, awards, fellowships, aging, children, environment, caregivers, respite, CBR, EPA, IHS, aging_initiativ, prison, grandchildren, revised

Amenities for those in LTC

Maya’s Granny (see sidebar) unfortunately had a heart attack recently and is struggling back. While she isn’t blogging as regularly as before, she does explain why. In addition, her children have also helped everyone keep up with news. This is an excellent although unplanned use of a web log.

Today she posted a list of items from the expert’s perspective (recipient) that we all too often forget or wished we knew when a friend or family is in care.

Amenities:
If you know anyone staying for a while in a hospital or extended care facility, among the things that will make life good for them, are: [...]

• Maya’s Granny http://mayagranny.blogspot.com/2008/04/errata.html

I would add a flannel shirt or some other easy to use coverup. Add your suggestions to Maya’s Granny or below.

---

Site Search Tags: long-term+care, assisted+living, nursing+home, mayagranny.blogspot, in+patient, comfy

Liz Taylor takes comments

One of the best reads ever on aging deliberately is Liz Taylor–

Her series has been mentioned previously -

• A say in one’s or other’s life?
• Dad deserves a say about his life, even if he’s wrong
• Elder neighbor in crisis?
• Prisons Not Geared to the Needs of the Elderly, Study Finds
• How to fall-proof your body and your home
• nesting in place
• Think ahead to stay safe at home
• Growing Older – Liz Taylor (major series under old title)

I just discovered that the columns published at Kitsap Sun Stories: Liz Taylor: Aging Deliberately allow comments (registration required) and have an RSS feed . This is so much more convenient and useful than the Seattle Times venue. I’m not sure which is the primary home for Liz’s work, however, and Kitsap may not carry all her columns. At the Seattle Times I have to subscribe by E-mail to their health series (once a week e-mail, all health stories which are interesting) to get notice of her columns. Otherwise I have a Google News Alert for Liz Taylor+ aging, which sometimes brings in notice of National Velvet. [the colors behind some items below mean nothing except straightening out the code remains to be done.]

Liz Taylor began her career as a federal consumer-fraud investigator and was appointed by Elizabeth Dole in 1976 to direct a nationwide investigation of the nursing-home industry. She’s worked in the aging field ever since.

In the 1980s, Liz became one of the first geriatric care managers in the Pacific Northwest, working with thousands of families and older adults to find high-quality services. In 2000, she founded Aging Deliberately, a business that teaches people how to prepare for their aging so they’ll have more control over what happens to them. In 2005, she served as a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging. She’s won the American Geriatrics Society’s 2007 Aging Awareness Media Award and the Washington Association of Homes and Services for the Aging’s Excellence in Media Award. http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/growingolder/

Liz Taylor Aging Deliberately New Kind of Retirement Ahead, Part Two 3/9/2008 12:00 AM

Aging Deliberately: Finding Out About Low Income Options

It’s relatively easy to age successfully if you’re wealthy. Money can’t buy happiness, but it certainly allows you to buy the things that make life more comfortable at any age. 1/26/2008 11:00 PM

Aging Deliberately: When the Wrong Person Is in Charge of Someone With Dementia

In my last column, I wrote about a growing problem: what to do when an older person who has dementia hasn’t named anyone she trusts to make decisions for her. This week I’ll tackle a tougher issue: what to do when the person she names does a poor job. 11/17/2007 11:00 PM

Aging Deliberately: When Someone With Dementia Resists Help

My e-mail has had a repeated theme recently: An older person with dementia, such as Alzheimer’s disease, isn’t paying bills, preparing meals, bathing, and other important tasks — but refuses to allow anyone to help.

11/3/2007 09:00 PM |

Aging Deliberately: Patient Numbers Grow as Geriatric Practices Decline

There’s a certain uniformity to finding a physician under Medicare these days. Rich or poor, if you’re 65 or older, you’re likely to have similar slim pickings (more so if you’re poor and on Medicare and Medicaid). 10/20/2007 11:00 PM |

Aging Deliberately: Becoming Eldercare Savvy

Most of us want to live a long time, but nobody wants to grow old. The irony is, most of us will — live a long time and grow old. It’s easy to do — all it takes is letting the days roll by. As long as you’re healthy, getting old is a piece of cake.

10/6/2007 11:00 PM |

Aging Deliberately: Where to Go When It’s Time to Move

It’s easy as pie to age well when you’re healthy. The friction comes when you become frail. Sometimes it’s self-inflicted, the product of isolation, poor eating habits, lack of physical activity and falls — all common problems for people who age in their homes but don’t plan it correctly. 9/22/2007 11:00 PM |

Aging Deliberately: How to Know When It’s Time to Move

A woman in her late 70s, a good friend, is pondering her options. Her home is two stories (or three, including the basement), with many stairs to her bedroom, bathroom and the washing machine. 9/8/2007 11:00 PM

Aging Deliberately: Reader Shares a Parental Care Success Story

Dad is 87, fun and funny, with moderate dementia. He lived “on the edge” in his own home for years while we kids worried sick. 7/28/2007 11:00 PM

Aging Deliberately: Living With Chronic Illness

When I was growing up in the 1950s and ’60s, cars were sort of round and later sort of square. My dad wore a hat to work and took the bus.

7/14/2007 11:00 PM

Aging Deliberately: Life’s Gifts Are Within Everyday Actions

I’m 75 and have lived in an assisted-living facility for a year.

7/8/2007 02:00 AM

Aging Deliberately: Good News on the Doctor Front

Older people are not simply younger people with wrinkles our bodies change dramatically as we age, both inside and out; some parts wear out before others, sometimes several at once.

6/17/2007 02:00 AM

Aging Deliberately: Safety Circles Good Way to Build Safety Net as We Age

Whether you live at home, in a retirement community, or in a yurt on top of a mountain, as you age, you want to do it consciously.

6/3/2007 02:00 AM

Aging Deliberately: Caring for Stubborn Parents, Part IV

5/20/2007 02:00 AM

Advance Directives Ensure Dignity

One of the best parts about writing this column is learning about breakthroughs that help readers — and me — grow older more successfully. Today is about one of those discoveries. 1/18/2007 11:00 PM |

Here’s the Seattle Times list of articles,

long-term care insurance

Part I: Long-term insurance a must
Part II: Government doesn’t pay
Part III: Shopping for insurance

Why rates are rising

Part IV: 3 more insurance essentials
Part V: Five factors driving costs
Part VI: Long-term care Q&A Lessons from the past

 2008

Monday, March 10  Hey, brother, can you spare some time to help Mom?

Monday, March 3 When parental care falls to one child’s shoulders

Thursday, February 28 Charting an eldercare path requires family teamwork

Monday, February 18 Even with trusts, Medicaid and eldercare, money is the bottom line

Monday, February 11 When the wrong person is in charge of an aging parent

Monday, February 4 Caring for a parent who has never been easy to deal with

Monday, January 28 Diversions help ease “addiction” to mail solicitations

Monday, January 21 Forever young – well, at least to ourselves

Monday, January 14 Funeral planning is a touchy topic, but it’s a must-have talk

---

Site Search Tags: Liz+Taylor,, aging,, ageing,, geriatric+case+manager,, RSS