What a welcome break! It’s good to be back! Yet, unexpected questions remain. With time, the answers will grow clearer. Until then, here are six article excerpts for busy care partners and loved ones.
Seniors head back to retirement communities as COVID lingers–‘I just didn’t want to be alone’.
“… for some, living near others like themselves gives them a sense of community, comfort, and security… Communities that include assisted living and memory care as well as independent living in some cases… such as Belmont Village Senior Living, based in Houston, with 33 villages [across] Texas, California, and… Florida, are thriving again.” “What we’ve seen in 2022 is a tremendous surge in demand,” says Patricia Will, Belmont founder and CEO. “At active adult communities, typically designated as 55-plus housing, single-family homes [instead of, for example, apartments] are often the only type of housing available.”
Potential Fabrication of Research Images Threatens Key Theory (Cause) of Alzheimer’s Disease
The highly influential paper, first published in 2006, has helped guide billions of dollars in US federal research. Meanwhile, a neuroscience image sleuth finds signs of fabrication in scores of Alzheimer’s articles, threatening a reigning theory of the disease. As federal agencies, universities, and journals quietly investigate Schrag’s findings, he provided his findings to Science in order to speed up the investigation process. By exposing powerful agencies, journals, and scientists, Matthew Schrag, a neuroscientist and physician at Vanderbilt University may jeopardize grants and publications essential to his own success. But he felt an urgent need to go public about work that might mislead the field and slow the race to save lives. “You can cheat to get a paper. You can cheat to get a degree. You can cheat to get a grant. You can’t cheat to cure a disease,” he says. “Biology doesn’t care.”
At 80, Paul McCartney Shows Us How to Age Gracefully
The most-recognized Beatle, Paul McCartney, discovers at age 80, “When I’m 64 is not what I thought.” To think, he became a parent once more at age 61. Paul McCartney’s secret to aging happily? Acting his age. He reminisces on what he’s accomplished through the years, yet remains in the present. He believes in saying goodbye to yesterday. Paul McCartney says hello, today.
Women More at Risk to Suffer from Long COVID than Men
“Researchers at Johnson & Johnson said that women are 22% more likely to suffer long-term complications of COVID than men in a new study. Some of these include ear, nose, and throat issues, along with low mood, skin problems, trouble digesting, painful joints, and fatigue… ” A surprisingly small number of articles address COVID symptoms by gender—35 out of 640,634.
Super Financially Secure or Destitute, Which Is It?
“One stereotype describes older adults as out-of-touch consumers who stockpile personal assets while drawing on public resources, including Social Security and Medicare. Another depicts older people as frail, vulnerable and living on the edge.” “A 2020 report from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis estimated that median household wealth of families headed by Americans who are ages 65 to 75, [to be] $269,000….” In most instances, this includes the family home, which they find harder to afford due to rising utility and property tax rates. The 2020 poverty rate for adults ages 65 and older is at 9%. This means that 5 million older Americans live in households below the federal poverty line with an income of $12,413 annually for single elders and $15,644 for an older couple.
Sex and the 60s—Plus: Boomers are Bringing ‘Summer-of-love’-Style Change to Intimacy in Their Older Years
While the title may lead one’s thoughts in another direction, this article addresses the rights of elders living in community settings to touch one another and to be intimate. For example, how do nursing homes and other residential care homes balance adults’ needs to have sex and enjoy intimacy when people with dementia are not always able to grant consent and therefore may be vulnerable. As the daughter-caregiver of my late father with Alzheimer’s, I answered telephone calls from the nursing home due to my father’s sexual forays. This article offers interesting points to ponder including the importance of intimacy and connection among human beings regardless of their age or condition.
