10 Senior Housing Trends for the Next 10 Years
What will be the 10 big senior housing development trends in the next 10 years? Here's a look.
Tiger Woods and Nike Aren't Honoring Tiger's Dad, They're Using Him
Yuck! This Nike Tiger Woods ad is completely creepy. Nike and Tiger aren't honoring Tiger's dead dad; they're using him. Check it out. What do you think?
Here's the 30-second ad that features the voice of Earl Woods, Tiger's father who died in 2006. The commercial aired on ESPN and the Golf Channel on the eve of Woods' return to competitive golf in Thursday's opening round of the Masters. Nike clearly used this simply to create buzz - it's purposely a very limited run ad - that's getting bloggers like us at Changing Aging to write about it. In fact: Nike is paying to promote it on YouTube.
Tiger . . . honor your dad . . .stop shilling . . . sleep at home . . . play with your kids . . . and hit the ball straight.
The CLASS Act and Health Care Reform - Let the Design Begin
The CLASS Act (Community Living Assistance Services and Supports) is now officially part of America's future after President Obama signed the health care reform bill. And in the coming months and next two years we are going to hear a lot more about it. It will be the world's first public voluntary long-term care insurance plan. You can read the full text of the bill here.
Thanks to everyone who advocated for this legislation, including members of Ecumen's Changing Aging advocacy network.
What happens next? . . . .
Now that President signed the bill, attention turns to the Office of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. This is where full implementation of The CLASS Act and the marketing/communications strategy to roll it out to America will be developed. Based on information we've heard, sign up for The CLASS Act likely won't begin until 2012.
At some point in our human and American evolution, we'll all have long-term care coverage. Another step in history is unfolding with passage of The CLASS Act . . . .
Following are other posts on The CLASS Act: New Old Age Blog (N.Y. Times), Future of Aging Blog, National Public Radio, Caring for Our Parents. Also, here's a perspective from a person in the long-term care insurance industry who opposes the CLASS Act.
Alzheimer's Housing and a Tale of Two Cities
Can't help but be struck by this contrast:
In Woodbury, Minnesota, several parents of young children are scared of people with Alzheimer's living near them and are opposing Alzheimer's housing. In Duluth, Minnesota, meanwhile, Ecumen at Lakeshore, which includes memory care housing, may be welcoming a children's day care later this year if the fundraising works out.
Birth Classes and Death Classes
Three years ago my wife and I had a baby. Prior to our son entering our lives, we attended a number of "New Beginning" classes with other parents-to-be at United Hospital in Saint Paul. I might be wrong in this, but I seem to recall our insurance paid for these. United Hospital's teachers did a fantastic job of preparing us for our baby's birth.
With all the resources we put in health care toward birth and beginnings, should we be doing the same with death and endings? Would people find benefit in having classes to prepare for their inevitable end? Or would no one show up because death is simply not something people want to deal with before its time?
NIMBY And Memory Care in Woodbury, Minnesota
It's been interesting - and sad - to watch how some people in one Twin Cities neighborhood are reacting to the possibility of having seniors with Alzheimer's living near them.
What kinds of communities and neighborhoods do we want as we age?
It's a question for all of us in this era when a person is diagnosed with Alzheimer's every 70 seconds.
Today the Minneapolis Star Tribune and Minnesota Public Radio looked at the story of the proposed housing and the neighbors' reaction. (Ecumen has been a consultant to the Woodbury developer). Both insightful stories. Bob Collins' MPR piece provides a video story from a Duluth TV station at memory care at Ecumen's Lakeshore community in Duluth. It's a great look at life in memory care.
We'll all benefit if our neighborhoods and communities are neighborhoods and communities for a lifetime.
Happy Birthday Sid Hartman
There are not many people who more than a million people know by just their first name. Sid is one of those rare folks.
For those who aren't within earshot of Minnesota, I'm talking about Minneapolis Star Tribune sports columnist Sid Hartman, who yesterday turned 90. To say he outworks people 60 to 70 years younger than he is, would be an understatement.
WCCO-AM has some classic Sid moments here. Enjoy.
How Long is Your Sex Life?
In our era of record longevity, here's another reason to stay healthy longer: it extends your sex life, according to a new University of Chicago study:
Stacy Tessler Lindau and Natalia Gavrilova of the University of Chicago analyzed data about health and sexual activity collected by two nationally representative surveys. The surveys involved 3,032 adults aged 25 to 74 and 3,005 adults aged 57 to 85 between 1995 and 2006. Among key findings are:
- Men More Sexually Active: Particularly among individuals between the ages of 75 and 85, men report being more sexually active than women – 39 percent of men versus 17 percent of women.
- Sexual Life Span: Researchers found that the average person’s sex life winds down by the age of 70. By age 55, men can hope for another 15 years while women generally have another 11 years of sexual activity. But . . . At age 55, men in very good or excellent health on average gained 5-7 years of sexually active life compared with their peers in poor or fair health. Women in very good or excellent health gained 3-6 years compared with women in poor or fair health.
- Interest in Sex: Overall, people in very good or excellent health were 1.5 to 1.8 times more likely to report an interest in sex than those in poorer health.
- Interest Gap: Across all age groups, men were more interested in sex than women, and the gap increased with age.
Changing Aging Editor's Note: Seventy seems very young to have a person's sex life be depleted.
The Tenacity Factor
Some people age gracefully, some with panache. For many it's a bit rocky, or even painful, journey. It's not easy getting old, we've heard time and again. Sometimes it just takes stick-to-it-ness to finish the race. Literally.
Regular readers of the Changing Aging blog will remember my mom Nickie, the Facebooking 80 year old great-grandmother. Here, in her own words, is the story of her latest 10K cross-country ski race.
The race began at Telemark Lodge, in Cable, Wisconsin. In the past, we always were able to park in the parking lots fairly close to the Lodge. Well, this time all cars were shunted off the main drive to a parking field near the airport up there. We took a school bus in to the lodge area -- banging and clanking with our equipment, finding a seat, and disembarking. Then we trudged around the interior of the lodge (with our equipment), looking for the place to pick up our bibs, then weaving our way to the little girls' room because it was our last chance. Outside, after donning our skies and grasping our poles, we battled our way to the Start Line. Bang! We were off and sliding, jockeying for position and, in my case, being blindsided by a wayward skier. Yes, I fell, and in that short moment, time slowed down and I pictured my landing and the emergency crew coming to haul me off to the medical airlift. Bang! I landed and was fine, only a little embarrased as skiers sped by me, smiling and gliding. It was a beautiful day in the Northwoods - the sunshine made all the hill climbing worth it. After the breathless 10k's, I was coming into the finish area. A little three-year-old girl dressed in baby blue was ahead of me by about 50 yards. We were the last ones on the course, heading for the finish line. I had to beat this little kid or I would never forgive myself. I mustered up all the energy I could and beat the little darling by a couple of ski lengths. The next challenge was getting back to the car. The line for the buses (there was a sum total of two buses) was a mile long or so it looked to me and my companions. We elected to walk back, taking a "short-cut" designed for snowmobiles. Piece of cake. After carrying skis and poles a short distance, I found I needed help. My son-in-law carried my skiis and I used my poles to lean on as I trudged slowly behind. I spent the next day in my PJs on the couch. I decided that this will have to be my last year for the Cheqtel Family Fun x-c ski race. But then I remembered the sun slanting through the birch and pines, the beautiful snow conditions, and the joy of not being the last one to cross the finish line and knew that I would sign up next year for the priviledge of skiing in God's country.
As I often tell my friends, when I grow up I want to be just like Mom. ~Helen Rickman
Do You have $570,000 for Long-Term Care? Look at New Boston College Study on Long-Term Care Costs
Do you have $200,000 saved?
Do you have $260,000 saved?
Do you have $570,000 saved?
According to a new study by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, a typical couple would have to save nearly $200,000 to pay for their out-of-pocket medical costs from the time they are 65 until they die.
Now . . . add in long-term care costs . . . and they are likely to need $260,000.
Now . . . get this . . . About 5% of 65 year-old couples will face catastrophic medical and long-term care costs exceeding $570,000, according to researchers Anthony Webb and Natalia Zhivan. The Boston College researchers estimate those expenses would have exhausted the total financial assets of 85 percent of all retirees even at the peak of the stock market in 2007.
Another example of why we need to have a long-term care savings program in America.