2013 Service to Seniors Awards Program
Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of committed, compassionate CSAs make a difference in the lives of seniors every day – but their stories often go untold. SCSA is currently seeeking nominees for the 2013 Service to Seniors Awards Program. Click here to learn more!
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Nine Foods to Help Prevent Dementia
A new report says that one out of three seniors die with Alzheimer’s. Some research suggests that certain foods may help protect against mental decline and even prevent brain-wasting diseases such as Alzheimer’s. These nine foods even taste good. Click here to find out more.
A new report from the Alzheimer’s Association says that one out of three seniors die with Alzheimer’s, although that is not necessarily the cause of death. While research is still ongoing about how to stave off Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia, some research suggests that certain foods may help protect against mental decline and even prevent brain-wasting diseases. Alzheimer’s is identified with inflammation, so the thinking is that foods with anti-inflammatory properties may be able to delay age-related cognitive disorders. Nine commonly available foods could help prevent mental deterioration, and they even taste good.
1. Dark chocolate. Studies show that the flavonoids in cocoa increase blood flow to the brain and may help to protect against conditions that reduce cerebral blood flow, such as dementia and stroke.
2. Red wine. Drinking wine in moderation can protect cognitive function and decrease the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. This is due to the high levels of flavonoids and possibly other polyphenolics such as resveratrol in red wine.
3. Clams. It’s thought that when vitamin B12 levels are low, blood levels of homocysteine will raise, significantly increasing the risk for dementia, heart attack and other ailments. Clams contain 98.9 micrograms of vitamin B12 in just a 100-gram serving, or 1,648 percent of the recommended dietary allowance.
4. Asparagus. One study found that individuals who were deficient in folate, a form of vitamin B9, were 3.5 times more likely to develop dementia. One cup of asparagus will take care of nearly 66 percent of your daily folate needs.
5. Wild salmon. According to one study, an average of three servings of oily fish a week adds up to an almost 50 percent lower risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. The reason is the omega-3 fatty acid and other nutrients such as vitamin D and B12 can help to prevent neurodegenerative disorders.
6. Walnuts. In moderation, walnuts were found to help improve motor and cognitive skills in older rodents, due, it is believed, to a combination of polyphenols, omega-3 fats and other bioactive substances.
7. Cherries. The antioxidant compounds, anthocyanins, which give cherries their bright red color, possess anti-inflammatory properties that could work like pain medications but without the nasty side effects.
8. Turmeric. A study found that curcumin in turmeric, commonly used in curry dishes, removes plaques from the brain. Plaques are thought to contribute to the degradation of brain cells and lead to Alzheimer’s disease.
9. Apples. The skins of apples contain quercetin, found to protect the brain from damages associated with Alzheimer’s disease, in studies conducted by Cornell University.
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Meet CSA, Erika Walker
Like many other professionals, Erika Walker has taken some exciting pathways. After many years of math teaching, directing an Asian capital market research institute and developing international business programs, in 2002, she found herself in the field of aging as Director of SAGE Institute under the division of geriatrics. Read her story.
Like many other professionals, I have had a career that has taken some exciting pathways. After many years of math teaching, directing an Asian capital market research institute and developing international business programs, in 2002 I found myself in the field of aging as Director of the SAGE Institute under the division of geriatrics in a large hospital system.
At first, the learning curve was tremendous! Those who have moved from one industry to another understand how each has its own language, opportunities and challenges, not to mention acronyms! I quickly learned the strengths and weaknesses across the aging service “continuum of care” as I was charged under a Duke Endowment grant to analyze and identify best practices.
Personally visiting and exploring operations at 200 senior services across the southeast and analyzing national best practices helped me to truly understand the complexity of the industry. Conducting aging service focus groups to identify weaknesses/gaps at the same time brought that depth of experience to a whole new level. Working with an advisory board of experts, we developed criteria for analyzing best practices, evaluated contenders and presented the top “cross-industry” services at a conference in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2004. The success of this program led to the development of aging service network teams who worked to partner and replicate best practices leading to new services including transportation, community case management and geriatric services.
My director experiences helped me to “see the light”! Having witnessed the waste of duplication of efforts, silos of services, inefficient use of funds and energy, as well as lack of understanding of successful business practices, it became clear to me that it was time to break down the barriers and work with communities and aging-focused businesses to help them develop win-win situations through partnership and strategic planning.
In other words, it was time to put the customers first by working together across the aging industry (for-profits, non-profits, government, education) to eliminate silos and truly create cutting edge successful, sustainable (dare I say profitable!) services.
In 2008 SAGE WAVE Consulting was born, and its accomplishments include providing consulting and strategic/business planning for city-wide, county-wide and national aging service providers; conducting a system-wide needs assessment for a hospital system; replicating national aging industry best practices; presenting at national conferences; and serving as a keynote speaker and business academy faculty member.
What makes SAGE WAVE Consulting unique? We understand the strengths and weaknesses across the aging industry and know the best practices. In addition, we keep up-to-date on the most recent research and services. The combination of this knowledge, our strategic planning expertise and our ability to facilitate successful partnerships helps us stand out. In addition, we can help you educate your clients and staff on what the aging industry is all about through training and seminars.
However, should you need more in-depth training, I strongly recommend enrolling to receive a CSA Certification. As a consultant working with businesses across the aging industry, I find being a CSA an invaluable tool for me to truly understand the customer’s needs and help my clients develop a stronger understanding of who their customers are.
In addition, the CSA curriculum covers a broad spectrum of aging industries helping anyone working in a specific industry to better understand the services “across the continuum.” So many aging credentials are industry or job-specific. The CSA certification provides its recipients with a “bigger picture”; helping them to enhance their services while connecting them with a network of industry-wide providers.
As a moderator and presenter at the upcoming 2013 CSA Conference: “Building Knowledge and Empowering Networks” (August 8-9, 2013, in Orlando), I am confident this event will help the small business person remain up-to-date on aging issues and trends, build a stronger client base, network across the industry and work towards business success.
The future is bright for those committed to strengthening the aging industry! I look forward to the continued growth of SAGE WAVE Consulting in facilitating the development of best practices.
Come join me in Orlando! I welcome the opportunity to share our stories.
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Guitarist B.B. King, 87, Still on Stage
The blues guitarist who Rolling Stone magazine ranked at No. 6 on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time is still touring, though he’s decreased his on-time schedule of performing 300 nights a year. And the boy who grew up on a cotton plantation in Mississippi now has a museum and radio station named for him. Click here to view article.
Legendary blues guitarist B.B. King has tour dates lined up through July 14, 2013, which wouldn’t be unusual except the man is 87 and has been performing since 1949. Over a period of 64 years, King has played in excess of 15,000 performances.
On its list of 100 greatest guitarists of all time, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No. 6, and Gibson’s Top 50 Guitarists of All Time has him at No. 17. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987, King is considered one of the most influential blues musicians of all time, earning the nickname “The King of Blues.”
He was born Riley B. King on September 16, 1925, in a small cabin on a cotton plantation in Itta Bena, Miss. Raised by his maternal grandmother, King got his first guitar at age 12 and played on street corners for dimes. In 1947, he hitchhiked to Memphis, Tenn., the Southern mecca for musicians and where every style of African American music could be found. There his cousin Bukka White, one of the most celebrated blues performers of his time, continued King’s education of art of the blues.
King’s first big break came in 1948 when he performed on a radio program in West Memphis. This led to steady engagements at a local club and later to a ten-minute spot on the legendary Memphis radio station WDIA. King’s spot became so popular that it was expanded. It was during this time that the man known as the Beale Street Blues Boy shortened his name to Blues Boy King and then just B.B. King.
In the 1950s, King was performing at a venue where two fighting men knocked over a kerosene lamp and started a fire. Though King made it out safely, he ran back to retrieve his guitar and narrowly escaped. He later found out that the men had been fighting over a woman named Lucille, and since then, he has named each of his Gibson guitars Lucille.
In 1956, when he founded his own record label, Blues Boys Kingdom, he had become a popular figure in rhythm and blues (R&B) music, with a long list of hits, including “3 O’Clock Blues.” That year, King began touring nationally, played an amazing 342 one-night stands and becoming one of the most renowned blues musician of the past 40 years.
In 1968, King was first introduced to a young white audience when he performed at the Newport Folk Festival and at Bill Graham’s Fillmore West with rock stars who admired him. The following year, the Rolling Stones chose King to open 18 American concerts for them. In 1970, King continued his accomplishments by winning a Grammy Award for “The Thrill Is Gone.”
Since then, King has remained in the public eye, appearing on numerous television shows and one movie (The Blues Brothers 2000) and performing 300 nights a year, including at the 1988 Republican National Convention. This started a friendship with the Bush family; in 1990 George H.W. Bush awarded King the Presidential Medal of the Arts, and in 2008 George W. Bush presented him with the Medal of Freedom.
In 2008, King was honored with his own museum—the B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center in Indianoloa, Miss.—and with a radio station: Sirius XM Radio’s Bluesville channel was renamed B.B. King’s Bluesville.
His music has taken him far and wide: England, Switzerland, Brazil, France, Germany, Belgium, Finland, Denmark and Morocco. In February 2012, King performed at “In Performance at the White House: Red, White and Blues,” a celebration of blues music, with President Obama singing along to “Sweet Home Chicago.”
What’s left for this performer who shows no signs of retiring?
Source: Wikipedia and BBKing.com
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Be Prepared for the Funeral and After
In the wake of her sister’s sudden death, Amy Levine realized she was unprepared for all the tasks that fall to survivors of the deceased. To help others avoid that predicament, she has written a book providing such information about dealing with a funeral home, handling grief and finding a lawyer. Click here to view article.
Amy Levine’s sister, Laura, died suddenly, Levine had to figure out what needed to be done immediately. Her sister died in a city across the country, and the first stumbling block was bringing her sister’s body home. Before she could do that, she was told she would have to find a funeral home, so in the middle of the night in a strange city, she found herself desperately Googling funeral homes.
That’s just one piece of information she found out the hard way, and in a time when she was in shock and grief, barely able to function. Like 65 percent of Americans, her sister had never drafted a will, so the family didn’t know Laura’s wishes about distributing her assets. In fact, Levine’s family didn’t even know what her sister’s assets were.
After getting a crash course in what to do after losing a loved one, Levine, a producer and creative director for TV and media, was determined that others shouldn’t have to go through what she and her family did. The result is the e-book The Funeral Is Just the Beginning: Everything You Need to Do When a Loved One Dies.
Negotiating with Funeral Providers
Most seniors are better prepared than the general population for the inevitable, but even the most prepared will be surprised by some of what Levine discovered, such as your rights at a funeral home. In fact, she devotes three chapters to dealing with funeral service providers. One reason is that funerals are “an important ritual, society’s way of dealing with and saying goodbye to a loved one,” Levine says. A funeral is the third largest expense most families will have in a lifetime, after a home and a car, according the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The topic is so fraught with misinformation that the FTC issued a Funeral Rule, stating the regulations that funeral and service providers must adhere to, including clarity about costs.
Levine compares choosing a funeral home to buying a car; in both cases you should do your research and be prepared to deal with high-pressure sales tactics. For example, funeral service providers often use the term “traditional,” such as “it’s traditional to have six wreaths around the casket,” when in actuality the wreaths are optional and not a required part of the service.
Funeral homes are a $15 billion industry, with funeral costs averaging $7,500. Though many funeral providers are honest, some manipulate grieving friends and family into buying a bigger casket than originally planned, with suggestions that, “I’m sure you want the best for your loved one.” Says Levine: “People think, ‘I want to give my loved one a casket worthy of their value to me,’ but there’s no way to do that.”
Another tactic that some funeral homes use to get the family to upgrade the funeral package is to call and ask the family to come and identify the body, even though most funeral homes have procedures in place to ensure it’s the right body. But the face-to-face contact provides funeral personnel with another selling opportunity.
Distributing the Deceased’s Assets
As Levine notes, the funeral is just the beginning. The process of settling affairs can take between six months and a year. Survivors must make mandatory death notifications, list the deceased’s assets, file taxes and clean out the person’s residence, just to name a few necessary tasks.
One of the more complicated and lengthy duties is distributing the deceased’s assets, with different avenues if there is a will and if there isn’t one. However, all estates must go through probate court, unless the estate is worth less than $50,000 (figure may vary by state), in which case you can file a Small Estate Affidavit to avoid probate court. Although you can deal with the probate court yourself, without hiring an attorney, Levine compares it to being able to learn how to replace the transmission in your car: It could be done, but you would save a lot of time and energy by having a professional do it for you.
The personal representative for the estate, also known as executor, is either named in the will or, if there is no will, by the court. His or her responsibilities are many, including collecting inventory and appraising the deceased’s assets, paying off the deceased’s debts and taxes (from the estate) and distributing the remaining assets to the proper parties.
If a trust has been set up, the process is easier. In this case, the trust names the trustee, who is given the responsibilities of dealing with the deceased’s estate. Because estate laws vary by state, Levine recommends consulting an attorney before you begin the process. She also suggests how to find a lawyer and which documents you should bring to your first meeting, including the deceased’s bank and credit card accounts and balances, a list of personal property, health insurance policy information and real estate holdings.
Dealing with Insensitive Companies
Survivors must record all property and assets as part of the estate, which means you need to get the necessary information from banking, credit card, mortgage, utility and investments companies, to name a few. This process proved to be one of the hardest for Levine. “What happens is you’re brokenhearted, in shock, talking to people who are not kind and telling them the most intimate issues” about your loved one and his/her death.
In closing her sister’s accounts, Levine found that the company representatives were either indifferent or cruel, with one exception (a company that actually sent a condolence card). Her father had a conversation with one cell provider representative who insisted that her father couldn’t close the account because only the deceased could do that. She recounts the conversation:
“She’s dead. I have her death certificate.”
“I understand that sir, but technically we will need her to close the account.”
“She’s dead. I’m her father. I can send you her death certificate.”
“Sir, that’s our policy.”
“But it doesn’t make any sense. She’s dead.”
“I understand that, sir. But she has to close the account herself.”
“Fine. You can send her bill to the cemetery.”
As Levine says, no grieving parent should ever have a conversation like that about his or her child.
In some way or other, that conversation was repeated with other account representatives. “What astonishes me is surely they are dealing with this every day,” she says. Yet, the representatives are “not trained for this. . . I felt like we were the first of its kind. They should have a standard.”
Not only that, but her family was hounded by credit card companies to pay off Laura’s debts. “Credit card companies will do anything to get money owed to them,” she says. “Most people don’t realize they’re not accountable for deceased’s debts.”
She strongly advocates that everyone, young or old, keep records of all their accounts, including passwords and logins. In fact, Levine is putting together a workbook that allows people to record vital information in the event of emergencies. (See also the Information for Life Kit, a tool that allows seniors to put together a comprehensive compilation of their personal, legal, medical and financial information.)
If Levine’s family had all that information, they could have closed the accounts on their own and “could have circumvented clueless personnel” (although legally you have to notify banks about deaths).
Handling the Grief Process
When it comes to offering comfort to the family and friends of loved ones, many people are uncomfortable and don’t know what to say or do. “I’m sorry for your loss” comes across as trite, while some pretend that it didn’t happen and avoid bringing up the death, Levine says. It was especially hard when people asked how her sister died. “For me, the whole thing of having to retell the story was painful. For me, I’m tearing out my guts having to relive this one more time.” Her advice is to just show up—whether with a meal, groceries or to just listen: “Is there anything you want to talk about?”
The book lists Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ five stages of grieving: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. “My intention was to have people be able to know that what they’re going through is normal,” she says. “One day you’re fine, the next ‘I don’t think I can live.’ You start to doubt yourself. It’s helpful to have signposts. I can recognize this in me. It’s something you can tether to” so you don’t feel lost.
Beyond all the information she compiled for what to do after a death, Levine said it’s important to compile pertinent information for your survivors. “I learned it’s not really about you. The reason you write a will and how you want to be disposed of is not for you; it’s for the people and family who have to take care of all this. Think: ‘What’s going to be easiest for people I love dearly?’“ Preparing for your own death “alleviates pain and suffering” for those left behind who have to make hard decisions.
Funeral Planning Checklist
(From The Funeral Is Just the Beginning: Everything You Need to Do When a Loved One Dies.)
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