International Day of Older Persons

The United Nations celebrated the "International Day of Older Persons" on October 1st, 2009.  This year's theme was  "Celebrating the 10th Anniversary of  the International Year of Older Persons: Towards a Society for All Ages".
    

The United Nations has developed "Principles For Older Persons" to "address the independence, participation, care, self-fulfillment, and dignity of older persons". To learn more about the United Nations Programme on Aging, please click here.

Recent Grandparents Survey

The MetLife Mature Market Institute recently published a survey about grandparents. Highlights of this report include:

•  63% of grandparents provided financial support for their grandchildren in the last five years.
• Only 32% of grandparents gave their children financial advice (such as start saving early in life).
  
• 26% of grandparents provided money for their grandchildren's education.
• 25% reported that they increased their financial support of grandchildren due to the poor economy.
  
• 22% believed that providing this money had a negative effect on their own financial situation.

This survey polled 1,077 U. S. adults aged 45+.  More information about this survey can be found here. 

Free Medicare Diabetes Screening

The American Diabetes Organization and more than twenty other organizations have created a national drive to promote diabetes testing in older adults. Diabetes testing is important because 1 in 3 older adults aged 65 and over have diabetes, but nearly 50% do not know that they have this disease.  In addition, another 40% have pre-diabetes. Individuals with diabetes are at risk for serious health problems such as blindness, poor circulation, and kidney damage. You can learn to manage your diabetes, but not until you are aware that you have this condition.  For more information about diabetes, click here.
  Medicare covers the cost of diabetes screening for most older adults aged 65 and older. You can qualify for the free blood glucose test if you are 65 and older, enrolled in Medicare, and have one of the following conditions:

• high blood pressure
• high cholesterol
• are overweight
• have a family history of diabetes
• a history of gestational diabetes

You can read more about how to qualify on this webpage.

If you want to enroll in Medicare, please click here. If you would like to find a health care provider that accepts Medicare, please click here. 

PBS Series about the Boomer Generation

Life (Part 2) is an interesting PBS series about the Boomer generation and how they are redefining middle age. The series will have "... a combination of roundtable discussions, on-location field pieces, one on one interviews, and provocative video essays..." 

Episode topics will include:

• Boomer Marriage
• Generation Gaps
• Caregiving
• Dancing with Doctors
• Fighting Ageism
• Encore Careers
• Boomer Grandparenting

The first episode will be available on the PBS website on 9/16/09. The full episode can be watched here.

Here is a clip from the Generation Gaps episode:

National Grandparents Day

National Grandparents Day is the first Sunday after Labor Day, which is September 13th this year. President Jimmy Carter proclaimed 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.

Martha Barbis is the 2009 National Grandparent of the Year

Come join us at New River Library this Saturday, September 12th, from 2:00pm -4:00pm. We will be celebrating National Grandparent's Day by hosting an ice cream social. There will be Wii video games, craft activities for children and their grandparents, and you can make your own ice cream sundaes!


New River Library
34043 State Road 54
Zephyrhills, Fl.33543
Phone: (813)788-6375

Healthy Aging Seminar @ New River Library

A representative from the Visiting Nurse Association of Florida will be presenting a health program at the New River Library on Friday, September 4th, at 1:00pm. The program is called "Healthy Aging through Safety Awareness and Fall Prevention". Falls are not just the result of getting older. Come learn how you can prevent falls, so you can remain safe and independent. Refreshments will be provided.

New River Library
34043 S. R. 54
Zephyrhills, FL 33543
Phone: (813)788-6375

Growing Old in America: Expectations versus Reality

The Pew Research Center recently published the results of a phone survey of 2,969 adults. This survey investigated people's perceptions about aging. Four age groups were studied: 18-29; 30-49; 50-64; and 65+. This study found that older adults experienced fewer of the negative benchmarks of old age (illness, memory loss, depression) than younger adults reported that they expect to happen as they grow old. However, older adults also reported having fewer of the expected benefits of old age, such as having more time for hobbies or traveling more.

Other highlights of the study include:

• 60% of adults 65 and older say they feel younger than their age.
• 45% of adults 75 and older report that their life has turned out better than they expected, while only 5% stated that it turned out worse than they expected.
• 70% of older adults 65 and older say that they have more time with their family.
• 80% of adults aged 65 and older reported reading a book, magazine, or newspaper daily.
• men and women have similar expectations about growing older.
  

The full study can be accessed online here.

There were also regional differences in how older adults view aging. Older adults from the western part of the United States reported feeling younger and healthier than older adults in other parts of the United State. However, 63% of older adults in the northeast and the south reported that they get more respect as they age, compared to only 44% in the west. For more information on regional differences, please see this Pew Research report.