Computer Games are not just for kids!

Do you miss bowling, playing tennis, or playing baseball? Well, now you can play them again. The Nintendo Wii is a console gaming system that uses a hand-held remote which players swing to simulate these games.

Many retirement homes, retirement communities, and libraries are hosting Wii tournaments. For example, players from the Erickson Retirement Communities throughout the nation competed in a Wii bowling tournament. This competition and interviews with the players were videotaped and placed online.
Here is the Erickson Bowling tournament Youtube video:



If you would like to try out these games, there are two library events coming up:

Hudson Regional Library will be hosting a Senior Adult Gaming Experience on Saturday, January 10th at 2:00pm for ages 55+.

New River Library will be hosting a Senior Adult Gaming Experience on January 24th at 10:00am.

[Hudson Regional Library's address is 8012 Library Road, Hudson, FL and the phone number is (727)861-3040.]

[New River Library's address is 34043 S. R. 54, Zephyrhills, FL and the phone number is (813) 788-6375.]

Upcoming Programs About How to Avoid Scams and Fraud

Richard Zutell of AARP will be discussing how to pick an honest contractor and avoid home repair fraud on Wednesday, January 7th, at 2:00pm at the Hudson Regional Library. He will also be giving a talk about how to recognize the frauds and scams that con artists use on Thursday, February 12, at 2:00pm at Hudson Regional Library. Registration is requested for these programs.

[Hudson Regional Library's address is 8012 Library Road, Hudson, FL and the phone number is (727)861-3040.]

Online LIFE Magazine Photo Archive

Google has partnered with LIFE Magazine to digitize the photos and etchings from their archive. A Google blog post mentioned that only a small percentage of these photos have previously been published. Google has begun to digitize the images from this archive of 10 million photos. Many historical and cultural photographs are already online - for example, there are many Civil War photographs with descriptions. One can also click on each picture to see a full size image. These photos can be used for personal, noncommercial use. One can find these images on the "Life Photo Archive" page.


Another way to access these photos is to do a search in Google images using the search term "source:life", along with your topic word. For example, to see pictures of the Olympic games from the LIFE archive, type in "olympics source:life" in the search box on the Google images search page. Click here to view this example.

Another large archive of historical photographs is now available on the Flickr website. Flickr has partnered with the Library of Congress to host a sampling of their digital photo collection. You can also search the full Library Of Congress Prints and Photographs Online catalog here. This archive includes approximately one million images. More information about this archive can be found here.

Nursing Home Ratings

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) have recently created an online tool to help people compare Nursing Homes. This tool uses a five star rating system and ranks only nursing homes that are certified to participate in Medicare or Medicaid and which provide a level of care which is considered "skilled". The ratings are based on health inspections, staffing, and quality measures.

You can find out more about the rating system on this page. Please note that if you want to search by state, they have split the Florida into two parts, Northern and Southern Florida. Pasco County is considered part of North Florida in their system.

Other useful information provided on this website include:
Alternatives to Nursing Home Care
Nursing Home Checklist

You can get local information about adult daycare, senior centers, and general resources for older adults from the Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas. Their Senior Helpline number is 1-800-861-8111.

For more information about the Area Agency on Aging of Pasco-Pinellas, click here.

New Health Information from NIH

The National Institute of Health (NIH) has a Senior Health website - NIHSeniorHealth. They have recently added nutrition information about how to eat well and shop wisely. This information can be found here. More information about nutrition for Seniors can be found on the MedlinePlus website.

In addition, the NIHSeniorHealth website has added information about complementary and alternative medicine. Complementary medicine can include treatments such as acupuncture and nutritional supplements.

AARP Driver Safety Program

New River Library will be hosting a 2 day AARP Driver Safety Program on October 14th and 15th from 1:00 to 5:00 pm. This class is a refresher course for drivers age 50 and many insurance companies provide a discount to people who complete the class. More information about the AARP Driver Safety Program can be found here. Registration is requested for this class. To register for the class, please call (813) 780-9168.

[New River Library is located at 34043 S. R. 54, Zephyrhills, FL.]

National Grandparent's Day

National Grandparents Day is the first Sunday after Labor Day, which is September 7th this year. President Jimmy Carter added this celebration in 1978. Marion H. McQuade first championed the idea for this celebration and her descendants created a nonprofit organization, the National Grandparents Day Council. The organization website states:

"Our goals are to honor grandparents and to strengthen
the bond between grandparents and grandchildren.
Additionally, we strive to draw compassionate attention
to the eldest of society's elderly--those in nursing homes."

New River Library is having a Grandparent's Day program on Saturday, September 6th from 2:00pm -4:00pm. There will be Wii video games, activities for children and their grandparents, and refreshments.

[New River Library address: 34043 State Road 54, Zephyrhills, Fl.]