A1. WHAT FAMILY CAREGIVING WOULD LOOK LIKE IN AN IDEAL WORLD
by Andrea Cohen

Across the nation, more and more people are involved in caring for elders and disabled family members. It is estimated that each of these family caregivers spends an average of 697 hours per year providing "free" care, with a total market value of almost $7 million. The United States is home to at least 44.4 million caregivers providing unpaid care valued at over $196 billion, yet their Herculean efforts are rarely recognized. Most often, new caregivers are unprepared for their roles and don"t know how to get the help they need. Lack of support by American society adds to caregiving woes; caregivers in the workplace often fear job discrimination and far too many caregivers are unaware of their options.

As more of us find ourselves caring for elderly parents, it is important that we play a proactive role in helping our parents age gracefully and with dignity. In a perfect world, family caregivers would be confident that they're making informed decisions about their parents' health care and living arrangements. They would be aware of all the existing services and living options, and understand the tradeoffs each involves. In a perfect world, family caregivers would have confidence in their decisions because they would have access to a medical team who takes time to answer their questions and explain treatment options in ways they can understand. Every family caregiver would also have easy access to reliable information about health, housing, and service options.

For family caregivers, each transition comes with new challenges and opportunities for support. For example, when a parent is discharged from a rehab facility, he or she often can't drive, and may need extensive help at home while recuperating. Ideally, families would know that their parents will have everything they need when they go home, including a team of compassionate caregivers who treat them respectfully, whether they're using private pay or subsidized services. For this vision to be realized, families must be connected to a reliable service network that "owns" each problem. If there's a problem with patient care or services at any time, the ideal service provider will find an appropriate solution, relieving family of the burden. These service providers would always show up, be professional, and make communication with patients and their families easy.

And finally, in this ideal world, families could balance the demands of caring for parents with their other responsibilities and activities. Adult children would know and accept their limits before they get overwhelmed, and would be forgiving of themselves when all does not go according to plan. They would understand that it is truly impossible to do it all--particularly when combining caregiving with the demands of parenthood and employment.

A2. ELDERCARE IMPACTS EMPLOYERS' BOTTOM LINE by Neil Johnson

The average length of family caregiving is 4.3 years. And this is while these family members also work fulltime at their own jobs. In fact, one-fifth of today's workers are also elder caregivers. On average, long-distance caregivers, those who live more than an hour away from their loved one, miss 20 hours of work per month. Given that the senior population is expanding as Baby Boomers reach 62, how are businesses going to absorb the impact on their employee forces resulting from this imminent age wave?

Technology can certainly play a role in enhancing eldercare as well. Telehealth service management, electronic medical records, and a variety of assistive technologies can all improve service levels. (A nurse using telehealth equipment, for example, can potentially make up to 15 visits a day, rather than the standard five). Sensors can be placed around the home to remotely monitor a senior's activities and movement.

Planning and saving for retirement may seem like goals that are far in the future. Yet saving, especially for retirement, should start early and continue throughout your lifetime. Here are four reasons why saving matters to women--and especially to you!

* Women are more likely to work in part-time jobs that don't qualify for a retirement plan. And working women are more likely than men to interrupt their careers to take care of family members. Therefore, they work fewer years and contribute less toward their retirement, resulting in lower lifetime savings. If you work and if you qualify, join a retirement plan now.

* Of the 62 million wage and salaried women (age 21 to 64) working in the United States, just 45 percent participated in a retirement plan. Remember, even small amounts can earn interest and add up over time.

* On average, a female retiring at age 65 can expect to live another 19 years, 3 years longer than a man retiring at the same age. Savings can increase a woman's chances of having enough money to last during her retirement.

* By and large, women invest more conservatively than men. Choose carefully where you put your money and learn how to make your investments grow.

Find related books on saving money at: http://www.seniorresource.com/SRBaz.htm

 

2. Enjoying the New Freedom of Retirement
Whether you are already retired, or planning to retire, don't miss this opportunity to make retirement a truly life-transformative experience.

In his new book, Loving Life in Retirement: Making Your New Freedom Work, Marvin H. Berenson, M.D., Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the USC Keck School of Medicine, will guide you on the road to self-discovery, growth and fulfillment--to an exciting and vital retirement. Enriched with specific mental imagery exercises, the book provides methods to eliminate obstacles and negative feelings that can interfere with creating a happy and productive life. In his private practice, Dr. Berenson has successfully treated hundreds of seniors with the same methods and programs that are in this book.

Now is the time to make every moment count. Loving Life in Retirement opens doors to a wealth of ideas that can help you reinvent your life. No matter how much you have accomplished, this is the time to go beyond your expectations. The book includes new approaches to mental and emotional health, creativity, friendship, dieting, exercising, love, romance, and education. Seniors can make this period of life the best years of all. Imagine finding new paths and activities that stir and inspire you.

Imagine achieving a positive level of well-being, happiness, and purpose in life. Loving Life in Retirement can offer you the ideas and techniques to make your new freedom work for you.

To ORDER this practical and inspirational guide GO TO http://www.drmarvinberenson.com

Marvin H. Berenson, M.D,. Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry at the USC Keck School of Medicine. For more about Dr. Berenson, visit: http://www.drmarvinberenson.com

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Dr. Berenson's book, "Loving Life in Retirement," offers information about mental imagery, changing mindsets, and overcoming obstacles in retirement.

Additional aging process information may be found at http://www.seniorresource.com/ageproc.htm

1. Finding Good Nonfiction Books
There is a plethora of nonfiction books that are as good as their fiction brothers. The trick is to find those that interest you. World War II buffs are not likely to be looking for the autobiography of Lena Horne. For some helping in finding the right book, visit LibraryThing (http://www.librarything.com). The books on the site are ranked by readers "votes." They list over 45 million books, 1.8 million of which are nonfiction, catalogued with reviews for over 300,000. Readers can also enter the books they have read and find others tht may be similar.

2. Social Security Sign-up Made Easy
Social Security has an online retirement application. Called "It's so easy!" You can apply for retirement benefits from the comfort of your home or office at www.socialsecurity.gov . There's no need to drive to your local Social Security office or wait for an appointment with a Social Security representative. You can complete the new online retirement application in as little as 15 minutes. Want to know more? Want to know how you can use this to help yourself, clients, members or employees? Either way, you can retire online It's so easy! You can see the Social Security's webinar -- "Retire Online. It's So Easy!" Go to http://www.socialsecurity.gov/webinars/ for a demonstration of the new online application and a discussion of key features of the new application.

Smart Answer # 9
A truck driver is tooling along on the freeway. A sign comes up that reads "Low Bridge Ahead." Before he knows it, the bridge is right ahead of him, and somehow he gets stuck under it. Cars are backed up for miles. Finally, a police car pulls up. The cop gets out of his car and walks to the truck, puts his hands on his hips and says, "Got stuck, huh?" The driver says, "No, I was delivering this bridge and ran out of gas."

Senior Nuts
A tour guide is driving with a bus full of seniors down a highway, when a little old lady taps on his shoulder. She offers him a handful of peanuts, which he gratefully munches up. After about15 minutes, she taps him on his shoulder again and she hands him another handful of peanuts. She repeats this gesture about five times. At the sixth time he asks the little old lady why they don't eat the peanuts themselves. She replies that because of their old teeth, they are not able to chew them. "Why do you buy them, then?" he asks, puzzled. The old lady answers, "We just LOVE the chocolate they're covered in!"

SPONSOR'S INFORMATION: We welcome appropriate entities to provide sponsorship support. If you are interested please contact us at: publisher@seniorresource.com Do you have an article to share with others? We will consider any appropriate material for this publication. Please send such to publisher@seniorresource.com

This issue has been edited by Betsy Day (Betsyjday@aol.com).

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