Best Retirement Destinations

 Portfolio.com has ranked the attractiveness of 157 retirement destinations.  Criteria for rating these destinations included: 

• the percentage of residents age 65 or older
• the median age of residents
• the number of seniors born out of state
• the percentage of seniors who moved to this area in the last 12 months

This data was taken from the 2009 American Community survey by the U.S. Census Bureau.
The top three retirement destinations were: Bradenton-Sarasota; Prescott, Arizona; and Lake Havasu City, Ariz.  Other Florida areas on the list included: Cape Coral-Fort Myers (4th), Naples (5th), Palm Bay Melbourne (6th), Homosassa Springs (7th), Ocala (8th), Punta Gorda (9th), Port St. Lucie (10th), and Tampa (11th).  The full list can be found here.

Here are some statistics about the Bradenton-Sarasota area:

• the median age is 48.1
• 27% of residents are are 65 or older
• 95% of the seniors in this region moved here from out of state

For more information, you can read the entire article here.

NIH Senior Health Website adds information about Anxiety Disorders

The National Institute of Health provides an excellent health resource for Older Adults called NIHSeniorHealth.  This website provides easy to understand health and aging information.  It is very accessible because it offers adjustable text size, text color, and the ability to have the text read aloud.  This website is a good place to start to find health information about a particular condition, such as diabetes or kidney disease.  The latest addition to the website is a section about Anxiety Disorders, which is located here.  Anxiety disorders "... are characterized by persistent, excessive and disabling fear and worry and get progressively worse if left untreated.  It is estimated that anxiety disorders affect between 3 and 14 percent of older adults in a given year" (National Institute on Aging press release).  More in-depth information about anxiety disorders can be found on the following web pages:

• National Institute of Mental Health: Anxiety
• MedlinePlus: Anxiety

Senior Holiday Social at Hugh Embry Library

Seniors, enjoy a festive sing-a-long, games, prizes and holiday refreshments, followed by your favorite card games!  Bring a friend or two! Thanks to Friends of Hugh Embry Library for their generous support of all our programming.

                  Note our new time: 2 PM!
Who: Adults
What: Senior Holiday Social & Cards
When: Friday, December 17, 2010
Time: 2:00 p.m.
Where: Hugh Embry Branch Library 
              14215 Fourth St., Dade City, FL 33523


Questions? Call 352-567-3576

National Influenza Vaccination Week

This past week was designated the "National Influenza Vaccination Week" and Thursday was "Older Adults Vaccination Day". The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) are urging people 65 years and older to get vaccinated.  Vaccination is important because this age group is at the greatest risk of serious flu-related complications (such as pneumonia). For example, each year about 9 out of 10 seasonal flu-related deaths and more than 6 out of 10 seasonal flu-related hospital stays in the United States occur in older adults (press release). For more information about the flu, visit Flu.gov for Seniors.

Senior Fun Fest and Jamboree in Plant City

The Senior Connections and Mature Lifestyles magazines will be sponsoring a "Senior Fun Fest" on Wednesday, December 15th, from 9:00am - 2:00pm. Admission and parking are free and the event will feature:

• Square Dancing
• Live Entertainment
• Free Health Screenings
• Games
• Free Coffee and Muffins
• Prizes and Giveaways

Strawberry Festival Grounds

2202 W. Reynolds St.
Plant City, FL

For more information about the Senior Fun Fest, please call 813-653-1988.

Veterans History Project

The Library of Congress began the Veterans History Project in 2000. The purpose of this collection is to collect first hand accounts of American war veterans and the civilians who supported them. This project includes accounts from World War 1, World War II, the Cold War, the Korean War, the Vietnam war, the Persian Gulf War, the Afghanistan conflict, and the Iraq conflict to the present. The stories are collected as audio files, videos, or as typewritten accounts. You can find out how to participate in this project by clicking here. You can search the collection and listen to the accounts by clicking here.

(found via the All Things Aging blog)

Senior Cards and Social at New River Library

Come join us for cards, board games, Wii bowling,

and refreshments 

Friday, December 3rd at 1:00 pm

New River Library
34043 State Road 54
Zephyrhills, FL 
813-788-6375