Tag Archives for AARP

Campaign reminds Veteran caregivers to “Take Care of Themselves”

Published in RINewsToday on January 17, 2022

Since 2011, AARP and the Ad Council have launched public service announcements (PSAs) encouraging America’s caregivers to care not only for their loved ones, but also for themselves. Over the years, these PSAs s have targeted women aged 40 to 60, male caregivers aged 35 to 60 and Hispanic/Latino and African American/Black caregivers with an emphasis on women ages 35 to 60.The partner-driven ad campaign directs viewers to AARP’s Family Caregiving site, where caregivers can find free care guides, self-care tips, planning resources, legal and financial guidance and more.

Now AARP and the Ad Council’s have released the PSA, “Roxana’s Story,” on Dec. 9th. The latest evolution of the Caregiver Assistance campaign aims to acknowledge the unique challenges that military veteran caregivers face and provide them with free resources from AARP to better care for their loved one and themselves.

Roxana Tells Her Caregiving Tale

In 2003, Roxana, a full-time student, became the full-time caregiver of her husband, Victor. In the PSA she recalled receiving a 4 a.m. phone call where she learned that her husband had been wounded in action in Afghanistan, having received a moderate traumatic brain injury. Roxana was suddenly thrust into the role of caregiver to Victor, through his initial recovery process, and then having to adjust to his injury for the rest of their lives.

Reflecting over the last 18 years, Roxana stated in the PSA the realization that one of the most important components of being a caregiver is taking care of yourself. “I didn’t want to forget that I also had goals, and a life,” she said, noting that she asked Victor to “meet me halfway.” With assistance from his therapists, he was able to help with everyday chores.

The PSA, the first-ever targeting caregivers of veterans and current members of the military, addresses the unique caregiving challenges facing these individuals, reminding the more than 6.5 million military veteran caregivers that there are resources available to them. The PSA is recorded as either a :30 or 60-second message, was filmed and directed by military veterans from the veteran-owned creative shop Gig line Media (the production arm of We Are the Mighty).

Military veteran caregivers experience unique challenges when providing care. For many in this group, their caregiving journey starts earlier in life (85% are under 40) and lasts longer, according to Caregiving in the U.S. 2020, a report by AARP and the National Alliance on Caregiving. They deal with challenges that civilian family caregivers don’t normally face, including unseen injuries and wounds. They also consistently experience worse health outcomes, greater strains in family relationships, and more workplace problems than non-caregivers. Many also spend more time helping with emotional support or social interaction due to mental or behavioral health diagnoses.

“Oftentimes those caring for veterans and current member of the military experience a high emotional and physical toll, including consistently worse health outcomes and greater strains in family relationships compared to other caregivers,” said Bob Stephen, vice president of family caregiving and long-term care at AARP in announcing AARP’s lates PSA campaigned targeting military veteran caregivers. “Through this campaign, AARP will continue to recognize and provide resources to support these valued caregivers who play such a vital role for veteran and military families,” he says.

For caregivers who are unsure about seeking help because they think it’s selfish or a sign of failure, the PSA campaign reminds them that they can’t care for their loved one without also caring for themselves.

The PSAs direct viewers to AARP’s Family Caregiving site at www.AARP.org/Caregiving and www.AARP.org/Cuidar, where caregivers can download a free military veterans Caregiving Guide for self-care tips, planning resources, legal and financial guidance, and more in English and Spanish as well as AARP’s new Veterans and Military Families Health Benefits Navigator, a one-stop-resource in English and Spanish to help make the process less confusing and overwhelming when it comes to available options for U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs (VA) health benefits, military Tricare, Medicare, private insurance and Medicaid.

“Taking care of a veteran in your life often means that you start younger and care for longer. In many cases, this means you’re forced to manage situations other family caregivers aren’t forced to face,” said Michelle Hillman, Chief Campaign Development Officer of the Ad Council. “We’re humbled to continue this campaign to remind the millions of military veteran caregivers that they do not face these unique challenges alone.”

For more information about caregiving resources, please visit AARP.org/Caregiving or call 1-877-333-5885 or www.AARP.org/Cuidar or call 1-888-971-2013 for Spanish resources.

Tech use flourishes during pandemic, particularly among seniors

Published on January 10, 2022 in RINewsToday

Over the course of 71 episodes of the widely-acclaimed Sopranos, Dr. Jennifer Melfi met with Tony Soprano in her office. The office had paneled walls, was decorated with a diploma on the wall, and next to that was a bookshelf filled with books. Melfi was counseling Mob Boss Tony Soprano for anxiety and depression. This was the typical office setting in any community before the COVID-19 pandemic spread like wildfire across the nation.  But now with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, therapists are using alternative ways to reduce increasing depression and mental health needs of the patients. The typical face-to face therapy, like Melfi offered Soprano and her other patients, has been replaced by computer and smartphone-based tele-treatment. 

While it remains unclear whether the technique is as effective as face-to-face psychotherapy that takes place in an office, they do offer a promising alternative to address the growing mental health needs spawned by the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, and in a safe way, according to a research study published last month by the Washington, DC based American Psychological Association.  

“The year 2020 marked 30 years since the first paper was published on a digital intervention for the treatment of depression. It also marked an unparalleled inflection point in the worldwide conversion of mental health services from face-to-face delivery to remote, digital solutions in response to the COVID-19 pandemic,” said lead author Isaac Moshe, MA, a doctoral candidate at the University of Helsinki in a Dec. 13 statement announcing the study’s findings.

“Given the accelerated adoption of digital interventions, it is both timely and important to ask to what extent digital interventions are effective in the treatment of depression, whether they may provide viable alternatives to face-to-face psychotherapy beyond the lab and what are the key factors that moderate outcomes,” he said.

The research article, “Digital interventions for the treatment of depression: A meta-analytic review,” was published online in the journal Psychological Bulletin. Psychological Bulletin, published on Dec. 13, 2021.

According to researchers, digital interventions, instead of the face-to face counseling sessions, typically require patients to log in to a software program on a computer website or app to read, watch, listen to, and interact with a series of content structured modules or lessons. Individuals oftentimes receive homework assignments relating to the modules and regularly complete digitally administered questionnaires relevant to their presenting mental health problems. This allows clinicians to monitor their progress and outcomes in cases where digital interventions include human support. Digital interventions are not the same as teletherapy, which has gotten much attention during the pandemic, according to Mosh, noting that teletherapy uses videoconferencing or telephone services to facilitate one-on-one psychotherapy.

“Digital interventions have been proposed as a way of meeting the unmet demand for psychological treatment,” notes Moshe. “As digital interventions are being increasingly adopted within both private and public health care systems, we set out to understand whether these treatments are as effective as traditional face-to-face therapy, to what extent human support has an impact on outcomes, and whether the benefits found in lab settings transfer to real-world settings,” he said.

According to the website article, researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 83 studies testing digital applications for treating depression, dating as far back as 1990 and involving more than 15,000 participants in total, 80% adults and 69.5% women. All of these studies were randomized controlled trials comparing a digital intervention treatment to participants on a waitlist or receiving no treatment at all, or those receiving treatment as usual or with face-to-face psychotherapy. The researcher primarily focused on individuals with mild to moderate depression symptoms. 

Overall, researchers found that digital interventions improved depression symptoms over control conditions, but the effect was not as strong as that found in a similar meta-analysis of face-to-face psychotherapy. There were not enough studies in the current meta-analysis to directly compare digital interventions to face-to-face psychotherapy, and researchers found no studies comparing digital strategies with drug therapy.

But digital treatments that involved a human component, whether in the form of feedback on assignments or technical assistance, were the most effective in reducing depression symptoms. This may be partially explained by the fact that a human component increased the likelihood that participants would complete the full intervention, and compliance with therapy is linked to better outcomes, according to Moshe.

Depression is predicted to be the leading cause of lost life years due to illness by 2030. At the same time, less than 1 in 5 people receive appropriate treatment, and less than 1 in 27 in low-income settings. A major reason for this is the lack of trained health care providers,” Moshe said. “Overall, our findings from effectiveness studies suggest that digital interventions may have a valuable role to play as part of the treatment offering in routine care, especially when accompanied by some sort of human guidance.” 

Tech use by Seniors skyrocketed

As noted above, while the continuing COVID-19 pandemic has increased the popularity of using digital intervention, teletherapy uses videoconferencing or telephone services to facilitate one-on-one psychotherapy, a newly released AARP Tech Trends reports an increased use of technology by seniors to facilitate social contact to families and friends to reduce isolation.

According to AARP’s report released on Dec. 21, tech use by people age 50 and over, skyrocketed during the pandemic and those new habits and behaviors appear to continue.  What’s more, 70% of those surveyed purchased tech last year, with spending far greater today than it was in 2019; $821 now as versus $394, then. Smartphones, and related accessories, along with Bluetooth headsets topped the list of their purchases, but smart home technology was vital to them, too.

Unsurprisingly the researchers say that technology use has facilitated social connectedness with others throughout the pandemic. They found that the rates of reliance on tech for social connection is consistently high across age ranges: 76% of those in their 50s, 79% of those in their 60s, and 72% of people 70+ all count tech as their link to their families and the wider world.

“The pandemic redrew the lines: Tech has gone from a nice-to-have to a need-to-have for Americans 50+, and their new habits are here to stay,” said Alison Bryant, AARP Senior Vice President of Research in a Dec. 21 statement announcing the study’s findings. “Those who can afford tech are spending a lot more than they did just a few years ago – more than twice what they spent in 2019. And their motivations vary: Some use tech to work, others to stay connected to family and friends, and others still to enable them to age in place or get assistance with needs. At the same time, we’re also mindful of the digital divide, where a lack of affordability can also mean no access to tech and its benefits,” says Bryant.

The Tech report noted that seniors continue to incorporate tech into their daily lives. Certain tech behaviors formed during the ongoing pandemic appear to be here to stay such as video chat, making online purchases, ordering groceries, doing banking, and engaging in health services, with seniors making more purchases and financial transactions online compared to previous years. 

Researchers also found that during the last two years, older adults’ usage of a home assistant and owning a wearable has doubled. The Tech study also reveals that learning how to use and manage smart home technology is a top interest of seniors. Smartphones continue to be adopted in new ways to manage day-to-day living and entertainment. This year, one third of seniors ordered take-out food from a restaurant and one in four listened to podcasts on their smartphones. 

Health-related innovations and daily objects that automatically track health measures on tech devices are also of top interest, say the researchers, noting that 42% of older adults feel tech is not designed with them in mind.

Finally, the AARP Tech Trends report found that 30% of older adults are using tech to pursue personal passions, mostly with video content. Streaming content continues to increase with most of them subscribing on average to three platforms. 

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic not going away in the near future, the use of technology will continue to increase to maintain contact with family and friends, to access education, telehealth services, for use in financial transitions, shopping, and entertainment.  

Social Security learns from remote experience, plans field office openings

Published on December 13, 2021 in RINewsToday

On March 17, 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic rapidly spread throughout the nation, the Social Security Administration  (SSA) issued a press release announcing that its offices would only offer phone service and online services.

However, in-person appointments at SSA were scheduled for critical issues, specifically for those who were without food, medicine, shelter, or those needing to apply for benefits or to reinstate them. This decision allowed SSA to provide critical services while protecting its employees and older beneficiaries, many with underlying medial conditions. 

Congress Expresses Concern Over Closing of SSA Field Offices  

Almost four months later, House Ways and Means Social Security Subcommittee chairperson John B. Larson (D-CT) and Republican Leader Tom Reed (R-NY) sent two letters to the SSA Inspector General Gail S. Ennis asking for a review of SSA’s telephone service during the COVID-19 pandemic and SSA’s process for obtaining medical evidence for disability claims.

The correspondence to SSA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) noted that as the COVID-19 pandemic continues, beneficiaries are relying on their Social Security now more than ever. Except in dire need, beneficiaries are unable to access in-person services and are relying instead on telephone services.

Members of Congress warned that beneficiaries, especially those from vulnerable populations who lack internet connection especially in rural areas or don’t have a reliable phone number or mailing addresses, are struggling to gain access SSA while field offices are closed.

“As highlighted in the OIG’s recent report, even before the current crisis the pubic relied heavily in SSA’s telephone services, but often could not access timely information or assistance. In fiscal year 2019, SSA’s national 1-800 number and field  offices received over 143 million calls – but handled fewer than to 3 of these calls. Callers who did not get a busy signal or give up while on hold waited to speak with an SSA employee for an average of 20 minutes on the 1-800 number and three minutes at field offices.

In addition, SSA requests millions of medical records each year from health care facilities and health professionals across the country to obtain evidence of an individual’s medical condition. The medical records request is an important part of the disability process, but the most recent report on this topic from the OIG is from 2001 and does not reflect changes to the process over the past nearly 20 years.

“Social Security benefits are earned by hard-working Americans, and we must do everything we can to ensure people are receiving the quality customer service they deserve.  These reports will provide important information to make sure Americans are receiving the service they expect and deserve from SSA,” said Larson and Reed.

SSA Responds to the Closing of Field Offices 

Almost two weeks ago, Ennis released a 58-page Congressional Response report, “The Social Security Telephone Service Performance,” detailing the impact on the closing of about 1,300 field offices.

The OIG found that in FY 2020, SSA received over 150 million calls, more than any other federal agency surveyed, and handled over half of those calls. Calls to field offices increased dramatically, from an average of 4.6 million calls per month leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic to an average of 7.5 million calls per month from April to Sept. 2020.

According to the OIG’s report, SSA’s telephone services shifted to more calls to field offices in FY 2020 when the agency closed its offices and provided the public with more field office telephone numbers. The increase in field office calls resulted in increased busy messages and wait-times toward the end of FY 2020. During the pandemic, SSA adjusted national 800 number operations to reduce wait times and the number of callers who received a busy message. National 800 number performance began to decline toward the end of the fiscal year, though it was still better then pre-pandemic performance.

When comparing SSA to 13 customer service call centers from 10 other federal agencies, SSA had a higher call volume in FY 2020 with similar or better performance.

To reduce wait times, improve caller experience, and ensure more calls are handled SSA hired additional 800-number staff, modified automated service options, and plans to implement a new telephone system.

“This [IOG] report highlights that SSA’s telephone services are vital to the American public. While I applaud the hard work of SSA employees, especially during the pandemic, the report also highlights actions that SSA is taking to reduce telephone wait times, handle more calls and improve caller experience, said Larson, noting that SSA will need more funding to do so and that is why he is supporting House Appropriations and Chair DeLauro’s proposal to give SSA an additional $1.1 billion in FY 2022.

Adds Reed, “This report provides clear evidence that with determined agency leadership and the hard work of dedicated staff, the SSA was able to respond to the largest management crisis in its history. With the almost 65 percent increase in phone calls during the pandemic the report also demonstrates the public’s clear and continued demand for access to the SSA’s vital services.” 

Opening the Doors

According to newly released 19-page SSA reentry plan, after more than 18 months working from home, senior SSA leadership are beginning to return to their offices, in early December. Employees are scheduled to return to their desks by Jan. 3. Along with in-person appointments, the agency will now also embrace telework. 

The agency will lift its current “work from home by quarantine” policy starting Jan. 2, at which point related collective bargaining agreements and pandemic policies will end as well. Reentry dates could change with the spread of the delta and omicron variant.

“We will use the evaluation period to develop, assess, and, if necessary, adjust any personnel or operational policies to provide public service and accomplish our mission as well as or better than, before the pandemic,” the SSA reentry plan reads. “Each [deputy commissioner] will evaluate their operations to identify ways to improve service, hire and retain the best employees and to operate efficiently including the consideration of potential space savings resulting from increased telework and information technology improvements.”

Over the next six months, the agency will review metrics on customer satisfaction, employee experience, service availability, workload, and environmental considerations.

“Throughout the pandemic, Social Security has helped many people through in-person appointments for certain situations in local offices nationwide and through options like online, telephone and video service,” Nicole Tiggemann, an SSA spokeswoman, said in an email to AARP, reported by Writer John Waggoner in his Nov. 11 blog posting, “Social Security Takes Steps to Reopen Field Offices.

“We know that those options do not work for everyone, says Tiggemann. “In order to improve service, especially for people who have had difficulty reaching us during the pandemic, Social Security will begin implementing the reentry process agencywide as soon as possible, including taking steps to increase in-person accessibility,” she said.

AARP applauds a return to normalcy at SSA. “Obviously, from our point of view, we’d like to see those offices open and staffed as soon as possible,” says Joel Eskovitz, director of Social Security and Savings at the AARP Public Policy Institute,” in Waggoner’s blog posting.