How We'll Age by Louise Aronson, M.D.

How We'll Age is a sidebar as part of the article Live Wrong And Prosper, a piece about the future of families in the July/August 2020 issue of Wired magazine.

In the main article, Laurie Penny offers: "Many of us are failing to build the secure, stable households we were taught to desire. Not only is that OK, it's the future of families"

Louise Aronson, M.D., author of "Elderhood," and a geriatrician comments further in this sidebar. She emphasizes the variety of experiences among the elderly which are impacted by income, ethnicity, etc.

"Even before the pandemic, we'd done a lot to strip older lives of purpose and meaning." I would suggest this is not done actively, but as a result of negligence.

Nursing homes are much in the news due to the pandemic, but Aronson notes 93% of "older people do not live in facilities." For-profit owners account for 70% of nursing homes, which have a strong lobbying effort. Penalties for not abiding by regulations are small, and staff are generally underpaid. Add to this the prospect of the workers contracting Covid-19, which makes the job even less desirable.

Aronson suggests there may be creative solutions such as having the elderly "tutor children or immigrants," but this needn't be the only purpose that they should be given, In fact, it is preferable that each senior person develop a plan to actualize their own purpose well before they become less physically able. This approach has led me to create the Eudaimonia Project, meant to make known the need for citizens to find a purposeful pursuit that will carry them into elderhood.

Amazon Kindle eBooks: purchasing with a gift card

Sporadically I receive a gift card for participating in a survey, and recently I decided to purchased a Kindle eBook with this card. Once I was at the book's Web page on Amazon.com, I was only given the option of using the "Buy now with 1-Click©" button." This would apply this purchase to my credit card listed as my default payment option. I didn't want to do this.

I had Amazon help call me, and after 40 minutes with a courteous and kind rep, I had to end the call without resolution. But I did receive a very sincere email explaining a work around:

In this case, As you would use Visa Gift Cards to purchase Kindle books, What I suggest is, Whenever you get a Visa Gift Card, Don't add it to your Amazon account, But convert that Visa Gift Card into Amazon Gift Card balance by reloading your Amazon Gift Card here: https://www.amazon.com/asv/reload/order?_encoding=UTF8&ref_=asv_yab_reload_your_balance . Once money is reloaded from your Visa Gift Card to Amazon Gift Card, You can use the 1-Click to purchase your Kindle book and 1-Click will use the Gift Card balance. By this, you do not have to switch the default payment methods in 1-Click settings.

I've completely made the transition to buying mostly eBooks for several reasons: ability to highlight & annotate, not having the bulk and weight of paper books, etc. If I can't find a Kindle version of a book, I immediately check if a used copy is available.

"Older Americans Month" Proclamation by POTUS

Yesterday afternoon, President Trump held a presser where he announced the May will be designated as "Older Americans Month" by a proclamation he had signed. (The official home for this initiative seems to be on the Administration for Community Living website)

Various initiatives would be undertaken:

Medicare teleheath would continue to increase as it has already risen from 11,000 to 650,000 cases.

National Guard Chief Gen. Lengyel mentioned that 45,000 troops were already helping sanitize long-term health facilities, and staffing food banks, replacing the mostly senior volunteers.

FEMA Administrator Peter Gaynor said that the 15,400 Medicare- & Medicaid-certified nursing homes will receive supplemental PPE shipments. CMS will receive $81 million through the CARES Act for inspections.

Coronavirus cases in nursing homes will be reported directly to the CDC, with testing data to be posted online. Cases will be reported to residents and family members.

The Coronavirus Commission for Safety & Quality in Nursing Homes has been established to address continuing problems, and will release a report in this month.

First impressions: "The Price We Pay" by Mark Makary, MD

It was a lucky accident that I heard an interview this morning on the local Omaha news/talk radio station with Mark Makary, MD about his book released yesterday: "The Price We Pay,"

"Financial toxicity" is the term he uses to describe the main problem with our broken healthcare delivery system with issues such as inappropriate care, over treatment, excessive billing practices, etc.

I'll probably take the deep dive into his book tonight, and develop this story further. Stay tuned.

UPDATE

Thought I'd share the toc:

9/11 Memories

Eighteen years ago, I was standing on a hilltop on the northern tip of Staten Island, looking at the smoke billowing from the World Trade Center towers some 6 miles away, when the first tower crumbled to the ground.

The small group of people I was with, looked at each other, but no one could say a word. With the hard blue, cloudless sky, it seemed that the colors were enhanced, and the impression I remember is that it seemed like watching a disaster movie, it was that cinematic and incomprehensible.

I walked back to my condo, and stowed a video camera in a backpack along with a hospital ID. I thought that this would allow me to board the ferry and volunteer in whatever capacity I could. This was my week of vacation from the surgery program at the local hospital.

The scene at the ferry terminal was chaotic, cell phone service was down and just before I went to board the mostly empty ferry, some inner voice struck me, saying "don't go." Perhaps it was more curiosity than altruism that was goading me on. I turned around, and went back, watching the day unfold along with the rest of the nation.

I remember walking out again, looking up to see fighter jets in the sky at about 2:30 in the afternoon, thinking that why was this such a late response.

I was called to return to the hospital since it was not known how many wounded would be sent there, but it turned out extra staff were not needed. I spoke with one of the surgeons who went into Manhattan, and he said there was nothing much for additional medical professionals to do there. He said he left when it came down to a group of doctors arguing about the arrangement of cots at a potential receiving facility.

In later weeks debris from the cleanup effort was transported to 48 of the 2,200-acre Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island. The name may seem tragically ironic, but the name (from the Middle Dutch word kille, meaning "riverbed" or "water channel") comes from the landfill's location along the banks of the Fresh Kills estuary in western Staten Island. Until its closing soon after, it was the only landfill that accepted New York City's residential waste. To the dismay of the survivors it would become the final resting place for the remains of some of  the victims.

When I eventually took the ferry into Manhattan, there was a noticeable difference throughout. What I was used to navigating the hurried stream of people on the sidewalk, rushing to some important meeting. Now, it was different. People looked into others faces, regarding them wordlessly. like the group I was with on that hill on the eleventh.

Elder Lives, a newborn blog

I guess I should begin with a statement of purpose for the vision I have for this blog and the organization it represents.

Among the many movements in the health care field to "raise awareness" about some disease or condition, the issue of an aging population in America requires that the elders in our society become even more engaged. We can talk about the ethics and responsibilities we have, but for me I'd rather discuss practical solutions to very specific problems.

Part of this involved dispelling myths about aging, such as declining mental and physical abilities that disheartens the elderly from taking a more active approach to living. This leads into the myth that change, adaption and learning is only for the young.

Besides myself, many are writing on this topic, and I'll recommending and reviewing the materials that are the most useful and compelling. Afterall, a blog is all about curated content.

Also, it's necessary to keep in mind the younger generation need to be inspired to follow their instincts as well as study the disciplines to create the world they will later pass on to their descendants.

To see aging as a continuum, as a natural process, is my goal.

(more to follow...)