Monthly Archives for May 2012

The Best of…AARP Report Sheds Light on the Needs of Older Disabled Persons

Published May 26, 2012, Pawtucket Times   

           AARP, a Washington, DC-based aging advocacy group, generates a new report to provide direction to the nation’s policy makers as to how to keep America’s age 50 and over disabled population independent and in  control of their daily lives. 

           According to the latest AARP study, lack of affordable services, a fragmented delivery system and the caregiver’s limited knowledge of the delivery system, are barriers that keep age 50 and over Americans with disabilities from living active and independent lives. 

           The AARP report, “Beyond 50 2003: A Report to the Nation on Independent Living and Disability,” incorporates data obtained from the first ever national survey of Americans age 50+ with disabilities, documenting the gap between what they say, need, and what is available to them. 

           “Long-term independence for persons with disabilities is an increasingly achievable social goal, AARP Policy and Strategy Director John Rother says in a written statement released with this report.  “But it will require time and the collective creativity of the public and private sectors,” he added. 

           “Meanwhile, even minor changes can lead – at least in the short-term – to important life-style improvements for those with disabilities today,“ Rother said.  On the other hand, long-term improvements will require fundamental policy changes.

           “As the influx of Boomers enters their 50’s and 60’s, they will bring their attitudes of competitive consumerism to health care delivery, and will demand greater choice and control of available services,” explained Rother.   “The good news is that there is time to prepare for those demands, he said.  “Along with improvements in medicine and health, we are seeing some declines in disability.  New technologies are also extending Americans’ years of independence.”

           According to the AARP report, 46 percent of the over 50 respondents with disabilities (including nearly 60 percent of those between the ages of 50 and 64) believe that having more control over decisions about services and the help they need would bring a major improvement in the quality of their lives.   However, they report that their greatest fear is loss of independence and mobility.

           The AARP report, the third in a series of comprehensive studies on the status of Americans over age 50, found that 51percent of older persons with disabilities are managing independently; 49 percent are not receiving any regular help with daily activities, such as cooking, bathing and shopping.  More than half of those with disabilities (53 percent) tell researchers that they were unable to do something they needed or wanted to do in the past month – quite often basic tasks such as household chores or exercise.

           Most (88 percent) of the assistance the older disabled persons reported receiving is volunteer assistance from family or other informal caregivers.  Sixty one percent strongly prefer this type of assistance with everyday tasks, while only one out of three uses any community-based service. 

            The AARP report found that independence, for older disabled persons, can be easily enhanced by using assistive equipment (such as walkers and wheelchairs) and new technologies that are now more widely available.  However, caregiver assistance with daily activities will take more time and resources.   The researchers estimate that as many as three million persons over age 50 with disabilities (almost 25 percent) need more assistance than they receive now with daily activities. 

           Furthermore, the report said that persons 50 and older with disabilities place inadequate health insurance on the top of their list of issues that are not being adequately addressed. Specifically, Medicare coverage still does not pay for prescription drugs and assistive equipment is not covered by some health insurance.

           Adds Rhode Island AARP Director Kathleen Connell, many of the issues addressed in the newly released AARP report are not just about today’s persons with disabilities, but about all of us, who if we live long lives (and longevity is increasing) are likely to face disability.

           “This is about long-term independence and not long term care, which refers not just to what we need during the most vulnerable and frailest stages of our disability, as ‘long term care’ suggests, but to what we want during what, in most cases, is a longer, more functional stage of disability,” Connell tells All About Seniors.

           While minor fixes would make a difference, other improvements will require longer-term fundamental changes and more public dollars.  Based on the “Beyond 50” findings, AARP has outlined a number of policy changes for making critical long-term improvements:

  • Older persons with disabilities must be insured against the high costs of accessing long-term supportive services.  Ways must be found to share the risk of these unpredictable costs more widely among public and private sources. 
  • Public funding for long-term supportive services needs to be reoriented toward more options for home and community-based care. The nation also must provide more options for “consumer-direction” in publicly funded programs.
  •  Communities need to be made more physically accessible for more people with disabilities.
  •  Information and services need to be more navigable for those who are trying to learn more about available long-term services and whether or not they are eligible.
  •  America’s health care system must adjust its focus to enhance functioning and health-related quality of life, not just provide acute and curative care.

             The “Beyond 50” report found that people with disabilities 50 and older give their community poor grades (between C+ and B- in their efforts of making it possible for them to live independently. In many communities, the researchers say, that public transportation is oftentimes rated poorly.

          The researchers say that the troubling findings reveal that the nation is ill-prepared to meet the calls of age 50 and over persons with disabilities for more control and independence in the lives.    

           AARP’s report is a wake up call for state and national policy makers who will be charged with making sound policy decisions for a grayingAmericawith disabilities.  If policy makers heed the recommendations of AARP’s report, systemic changes may well give dignity to millions of older persons with disabilities who only want to remain independent and control of their daily lives.  Just like the rest of us.

           Herb Weiss is a Pawtucket-based writer covering aging, health care and medical issues.  The article was published in May 2003 in the Pawtucket Times.  His articles also appear in state and national publications. He can be reached at hweissri@aol.com.

Sleep Apnea is Hazardous to Your Health and Well Being

Published May 25, 2012, Pawtucket Times

In 2003, Rehoboth resident Art Warner got strong messages from his surrounding environment about his health, both during the day and at night.

At that time Warner discovered he had great difficulty staying awake at his job, oftentimes falling asleep right at his desk.  Coupled with his sleepiness during work hours and his wife’s constant elbowing in the middle of the night to wake him up because of his loud snoring, a very tired Warner became extremely frustrated.  His worried wife would regularly watch as he stopped breathing during his sleep as he snored.  The overweight, middle aged man was finally forced to recognize the he had a health condition that could not be ignored.

After an examination from Warner’s primary care physician, he signed him up for a sleep lab study, which surprisingly revealed to the patient “sleep apnea.”  This serious sleep disorder caused hundreds of short stops of breathing each night, which kept Warner, a public relations executive, from getting a good night’s sleep..

Ultimately, it was a medical treatment prescribed after the sleep lab study that would finally allow Warner to get the sleep he needed and stop his snoring. No longer falling asleep at his desk, or getting sleepy behind the wheel while driving his car, instead   a good night’s quality sleep has resulted in Warner living “a totally different life,” because he feels rested.. With this newly-found lifestyle, he has more energy to workout at the gym, and even stay up past midnight.

Very Observable Symptoms

According to the Sleep Apnea Association, 12 million Americans [including Warner] have sleep apnea, a common medical chronic condition in which the person has one or more pauses in breathing, or shallow breathing when asleep   The Washington, D.C-based group estimates that another ten million people may remain undiagnosed.

Dr. Michael A. Pomerantz, a pulmonary specialist who reads sleep lab studies for Rhode Island-based Coastal Medical, reports that untreated sleep apnea is associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes, in addition to traffic accidents caused by falling asleep at the wheel. “Those are all pretty good reasons to be evaluated,” he says.

Snoring, night time awakening and day time sleepiness are three prominent symptoms of having sleep apnea, adds Pomerantz.  Frequently, a bed partner may observe heavy snoring or long pauses (lasting at least 10 seconds) in breathing during their companion’s sleep, causing the sleeper to wake up periodically throughout the night, states Pomerantz.

According to the medical literature, the typical sleep apnea male patient is over age 40, obese, and familial.  Smoking and alcohol also increase the risk of this medical condition.  Dr. Pomerantz, who has practiced his medical specialty for over two decades, adds that 50 percent of sleep apnea patients also complain of early morning headaches.

Diagnosing and Effectively Treating Sleep Apnea

        If sleep apnea is suspected, an over night visit at a sleep lab is considered to be the best diagnostic test to this serious medical condition, notes Dr. Pomerantz, who has  successfully completed his sleep board certification .  Among other things, the patient is hooked up to equipment by wires which monitor the level of sleep, in addition to the airflow to determine if the sleeper is breathing or not, the deepness of sleep, oxygen levels, chest wall movement, and pulse rate, he says.

For treating milder cases of sleep apnea, Dr. Pomerantz recommends simple ‘life style’ changes and treatments such as shedding weight, avoiding alcohol, sleeping on your side or abdomen, or keeping nasal passages open at night by using prescribed medications.  A dental device can also move a jaw forward to make breathing easier.

In moderate to severe cases, a C-PAP, or “continuous positive airway pressure” machine can deliver an increased air pressure through a mask covering the nose or mouth.  The air pressure generated by this machine is somewhat greater than that of the surrounding air, just enough to keep the person’s upper airway passages open, preventing the apnea and snoring.

“Compliance with sleep apnea is not always great,” Pomerantz, says, because patients may feel discomfort with the C-PAP machines. “For some patient it’s only a matter of getting use to it and finding a more comfortable mask,” he says, because their masks may feel overly confining or obstructive.

New Studies Link Sleep Apnea to Cancer

In addition to those  research studies associating  sleep apnea with increased risks of hypertension, cardiovascular disease, depression and early death, the New York Times recently reported that two new research studies presented at the American Thoracic Society conference this week have discovered that this chronic condition  has been linked to an increased risk of cancer in humans.

According to the paper, in one study Spanish researchers followed thousands of patients at sleep clinics, finding that those patients with the most severe forms of sleep apnea had a 65 percent greater risk of developing cancer of any kind.  Meanwhile, lead researcher Dr. Javier Nieto, chair of the Department of Population Health Sciences at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, says that his study of 1,500 government workers studied over 22 years showed nearly five times higher incidence of cancer deaths in patients with severe sleep apnea to those without the disorder, a result that echoes previous findings in animal studies.

A Personal Note…

Clearly research studies show that not being treated for sleep apnea or using your C-PAP machine, if diagnosed with this chronic disorder, is hazardous to your health and well-being…

As one afflicted with sleep apnea, this writer has experienced it all – from “denial” about the severity of my snoring to finally being sent by my partner to the couch for my very loud snoring that shook the walls of our house. Co-workers teased me about  falling asleep at noon time meetings or towards the end of my workday. Even with these severe symptoms, I denied having this medical problem for years until the urging of a  friend who had a severe case of sleep apnea nudged me to “get it checked out” .  With my ultimate diagnosis and finally the treatment with a C-PAP machine, my snoring has virtually ceased, and I now wake up refreshed and well-rested.  One of my few regrets in life was losing years of “deep” sleep because I chose not to see my physician to address my sleep apnea.

For more information about sleep apnea, visit the American Sleep Apnea Association’s website, www.sleepapnea.org. If you have sleep apnea symptoms, visit your physician.

Herb Weiss is a Pawtucket-based freelance writer covering medical, healthcare and aging issues.  His Commentaries are published in two Rhode Island Daily’s The Pawtucket Times and Woonsocket Call.

No Rocking Chairs for These Country Farmers

Published May 11, 2012, Pawtucket Times

Some aging baby boomers can’t wait to relax in their later years, with visions of travel plans on the horizon, or lists of hobbies & projects tucked away. But a growing number of seniors, like Ruth and George Handy, continue to work long after the traditional retirement age of 65 simply because they enjoy it.

Just 20 minutes from the City ofPawtucket, you will find a small rural home situated on over 100 acres of land – a ‘secret garden’ of sorts – that has widely become known as a gem of a place to purchase fine produce and beautiful lush and unique plants.   Just drive down a small country road off U.S. Route 118 in Attleboro, and you will find Ruth and George Handy hard at work in their green houses, pruning, primping and selling thousands of flowering annuals, perennials and tons of vegetables from 8a.m to 7 p.m. – 7 days a week.

Mostly by word of mouth, customers make this yearly spring pilgrimage to Fine Farms, traveling as far away asVermontandBoston, and then travel back home with their vehicles filled to the brim with colorful flowers and varieties you won’t find in many of the big-box stores.

According to Ruth, her locally grown flowers and vegetables are fresher than those shipped to and sold by the growing number of super center, superstore or mega stores.  “There really is a difference,” she asserts. “We give daily, tender loving care to our plants and they usually tend to be healthier and even grow bigger.”

Working Hard But Loving It

“Most people think that we go south for the frigid winters, but we are working hard for ten months out of the year,” says Ruth, a tanned, petite woman who is wearing a pair of blue jeans, a sleeveless blue cotton shirt and garden Crocs. Together Ruth and George, her husband of 43 years, are tilling 22 of their 120 acres by themselves.  This acreage has been in Ruth’s family since 1903, a legacy for which she is most proud.

“Retire?  Never!  We love what we do,” says the 77-year-old farmer’s wife.  At 75, George begins with his long work day at 4:30 a.m., usually finishing up and eating his supper around 9:00 p.m.    This is not a job for anyone to do, she says.

According to Ruth, because of the economic downturn that caused the closing of many of their wholesale accounts, compounded with the spiraling price of fuel, theAttleborocouple shuttered two out of their six greenhouses.  However, “this year we still planted about  20,000 packs of flowers and vegetables and 1,500 hanging plants,” prides Ruth, who explains “they start planting around January and in March they begin to transplant the seedlings”.

And that’s not all.  In between planting, harvesting and then selling produce at The Corn Crib farm stand later in the summer, Ruth is a part-time instructor of water aerobics and chair exercises at the Attleboro YMCA.  Ruth even penned The Fine Farms Cookbook, a compilation of 25 years of collected recipes and is currently writing a novel with her cousin. George also is active and regularly works out in his home gym.  Both are avid readers of mysteries and historic novels.

By mid-April the four remaining greenhouses are filled with huge hanging baskets, including a variety of colorful plants, from petunias, begonias, and impatiens, to a variety of herbs.  As Mother’s Day approaches there still remains a large variety of flowers and baskets for the rest of the month. At the same time, George begins planting a couple of acres of corn to be harvested in July.  When the greenhouses are depleted, usually in June, the couple shifts their focus on their vegetable fields.  .

By mid-July its harvest time and fresh vegetables are sold at The Corn Crib.  The Handys offer many varieties of bi-colored and white corn along with onions, potatoes, cucumbers, and tomatoes, at this quant farm stand, a mile down the road at the intersection of Tremont and Anawan Streets off Route 118 inNorth Rehoboth.

Over the past 25 years, avid gardener, Patricia Zacks, has bought her flowers and vegetables from Fine Farms.  Three generations of thisPawtucketresident’s family have traveled intoMassachusettsto visit the Handy’s greenhouses. “This has been my spring ritual every year, first with my mom and now with my son. It is always a treat for the eyes to be one of the first customers in the greenhouses – the colors are breathtaking!” In the summer I’ll travel for their corn – there is nothing more enjoyable than vegetables freshly picked just hours before being cooked”.

Take Time to Smell the Roses

Ruth explains that that George has been farming the land for over 60 years, since he was a teenager. .  Ultimately her husband bought The Corn Crib and the farm fields from her father, Hyman Fine, who continued to operate the flower business and greenhouses.  In 1972, her father died suddenly at a School Committee Meeting and George became responsible for all aspects of the farm business.

“The first year was very difficult for us, but as each year passed, the farm became more profitable and better run,” says Ruth.  Even in their mid-seventies the Hardys continue to farm while the younger generations are going their own way.  The couple have three children and 6 grandchildren, but no one is really interested in shouldering the long hours it takes running the family farm.

While Ruth and George work hard in their later years, they believe in setting time to enjoy the simple pleasures of life.

“Slow down and enjoy nature that surrounds you,” Ruth advises.  As a child she just could not wait to leave the farm to travel to the “big” city.  But now she appreciates the peaceful rural life of the farm and “would not trade her lifestyle for anything else.”

George urges aging baby boomers and seniors to look at their age as just a number.  “Don’t let [your age] limit you,” he counsels, noting that he works as hard now in his senior years as he did in his 20s.  “Work keeps me young,” he adds.

For more information about Fine Farms, call (508) 226-0616 or go to http://f-i-s.com/finefarms/. Or write 353 Smith Street, Attleboro, MA 02703.  Or email, Finefarms@aol.com.

Herb Weiss is a Pawtucket-based freelance writing covering aging, health care and medical issues. His Commentaries are published in two Rhode Island Daily’s The Pawtucket Times and Woonsocket Call.