Woman Earns Judo’s Highest Honor at Age 97
Keiko Fukuda defied Japan’s male domination, first to learn the martial arts of judo and then to become one of only four people to gain its highest level—and the only woman. Click here to view article.

Not only did Keiko Fukuda defy Japanese tradition to learn judo, but she became the highest ranking woman in judo history. At age 99, she became the first and only woman to hold this honor. A movie about her life, Mrs. Judo: Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful, has just been released. As a young woman in Japan, Fukuda was expected to become a wife and mother. But her grandfather was a master of the martial arts form jujitsu and taught the man who would develop judo. When Jigoro Kano opened his judo school, he encouraged women to learn, a daring act at a time when women could not show their legs in public.

When her judo teacher died prematurely, Fukuda started teaching judo herself, first in Japan, where she braved the streets of firebombed Tokyo, and then in the United States, where she moved in 1966. She settled in San Francisco during the height of the women’s movement and opened her own studio. Shelley Fernandez, who was the president of NOW in San Francisco, was one of her students and helped get Fukuda promoted to judo’s 6th dan (level) after she was frozen at 5th dan for 30 years, making her was one of only three women in the world ranked at that level.

Fukuda never married, instead dedicating her life to judo. Always an advocate for women, in 1973 she publishedBorn for the Mat: A Kodokan kata textbook for women, an instructional book. In 1974, she established the annual Joshi Judo Camp to give female judo practitioners the opportunity to train together. She established a scholarship to encourage and enable women to continue their formal training in the art.

Two institutions awarded Fukuda, who stood at 4 feet 11 inches tall and weighed less than 100 pounds, the 8th dan rank: the U.S. Judo Federation (USJF) and the Kodokan, which is the headquarters of the worldwide judo community, making her the first woman to receive a rare red belt by the Kodokan. In 2001, the USJF promoted her to USJF 9th dan for her lifelong contribution to the art of judo, and in 2006, the Kodokan followed—the first time it had awarded this rank to a woman. In 2011, USA Judo and USJF awarded Fukuda, at age 97, the rank of 10th dan, judo’s highest honor and a position held currently by three people and never before by a woman.

Until her death in February 2013 at age 99, Fukuda continued to teach judo three times each week, host the annual Fukuda Invitational Kata Championships and teach at the annual Joshi Judo Camp. Yuriko Gamo Romer, the director of the film, said that “Fukuda’s legacy to female athletes around the world is that women are never second to men. And that you can achieve anything you truly commit to accomplishing.”

Fukuda’s personal motto was: “Be gentle, kind, and beautiful, yet firm and strong, both mentally and physically.”

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More Seniors Religious, Living Longer
As we age, we face the bigger questions of life. As a result, many older people seek to explore their religious and spiritual beliefs. There are many ways to engage in or deepen one’s spiritual and religious practices. Click here to view article.

At 87, Margaret continues to attend church every Sunday and Wednesday and engage in prayer every day. Having faith in God and belief that there is a higher purpose in life sustains her through the difficult times of aging.

Margaret is not alone. Although religious affiliation has decreased over the years in the U.S. general population, it has increased among older adults. People age 70+ are more religiously affiliated (92 percent) than younger people age 18–29 (74 percent) (Pew, 2008).

The reasons are many: As adults advance in age and face the reality of death, questions naturally arise as to the meaning of their lives and what happens next; they seek religious support and spiritual fellowship that can help them navigate through these important issues.

Longevity Tied to Religion

At the same time, many studies are showing that adults who are religious and/or spiritual live longer than those who have no belief in a higher power. Increased longevity can be traced to a number of known factors that reduce stress and thus contribute to good health: belonging to a group or community and believing that your life has meaning. One theory posits that reduced cardiovascular risk, possibly related to lifestyle or other cardioprotective effects of religious behavior, increases longevity among healthy, religious persons.

The social networks formed by religious communities can help people live longer. Members often provide support and encouragement for fellow practitioners who face serious issues such as hospitalization, chronic illness and death of a spouse. Certain religious strictures may outlaw risky alcohol or drug use. The social networks formed by religious communities contribute to a sense of well-being and help people live longer. At the same time, many spiritual practices emphasize prayer or meditation that can reduce stress.

Many studies have found a connection between religion/spirituality and longevity (see sidebar).

How to Find, Deepen Spirituality

Although the concept of spirituality and religion spans different cultures, religions and centuries, a common theme is the search for answers to questions about the meaning of life and death, our purpose here, God and the universe and our connection to others. Different people approach these big questions in different ways—from organized religion to less traditional and perhaps more personalized methods. (Suggestions below from “Seniors and Spirituality,” Caring Right at Home.)

Those who are part of a church or other religious community can use the church’s resources such as attending worship regularly. If you have given up driving, many religious organizations have volunteers who can offer rides. Many retirement communities also provide transportation to nearby places of worship; others provide worship opportunities within the facility. If you desire help with spiritual matters, contact your minister, priest, rabbi, or other religious leader.

Others who consider themselves to be spiritual but not religious also have several resources. Spirituality is a popular topic these days, and your local bookstore or public library will carry a variety of titles that approach spiritual reality from many perspectives. Find groups in your area that reflect your own belief systems.

For those who are homebound or don’t have time to participate in religious or spiritual activities, there’s the electronic alternative. Religious organizations offer spiritual nurturing through radio, television and Internet. Television evangelists, religious talk shows and Internet chat rooms that focus on spirituality draw thousands of spiritual seekers. (However, beware of so-called religious organizations that prey on vulnerable individuals, promising spiritual benefits but bombarding them with increasingly urgent pleas for money.)

Defining Spirituality

How does one define spirituality or being religious, besides going to church every week or meditating? Charles Puchta, a Certified Senior Advisor®, equates spirituality and religion with caring. As founder of Aging America Resources in Cincinnati, his mission is to equip, empower and encourage church staff and lay leaders to help support and address the needs of adult children taking on the role of family caregiver and older members of their congregations who are encountering challenges due to health and aging changes.

His main focus is to encourage compassionate care, often just by listening to people’s concerns and offering support and encouragement. For caregivers who want to help loved ones but lack the confidence to carry it out, his organization offers guidelines, education resources and spiritual guidance to help care partners more consistently and purposefully turn good intentions into meaningful interactions.

Puchta also accepts referral from churches. For example, he recently talked to one woman who was struggling with how to best care for her father, who was nearing the end of his life. He listened to her as she shared her concerns and challenges, and advised her of some of the risks and rewards associated with each of the possibilities. Their conversation helped her approach her dad with confidence and talk about the issues, and make an informed decision. For her, helping her dad recognize the value of hospice care in his home turned out to be a good solution for everyone.

In another instance, a church approached him about a member in her late 70s who was driving to church, even though her driving skills had deteriorated, and had no active support from family members. Puchta suggested ways the church might offer support and encouragement, and made a few phone calls and found the county agency that would do an assessment of the situation. It turned out the woman could get meals delivered and get driven to appointments, so didn’t need her car. When he identifies issues that are common among churches, he works to develop guidelines and helpful resources which his organization then packages and offers for the benefit of all churches that may be facing similar challenges.

Puchta became interested in aging issues after both his parents went through long bouts of illness and realized that many others faced the same challenges he did in his care giving. Yet everyone was struggling to figure out how to handle the challenges on their own, without any guidance. When he first started his company in 2001, it was aimed at businesses who wanted to better understand and address age related issues their clients were likely to encounter. Since 2006, his organization has been a nonprofit focused on serving churches and addressing care ministry needs. In addition to offering support to people facing unfamiliar challenges,www.CareMinistry.com offers educational resources, small group studies and series of care guides addressing the issues of aging, caregiving, health and hospital/home visit, end-of-life, and death and after care to help church staff and lay leaders provide appropriate support and encouragement.

Studies link religion and longevity

Investigations of the link between spirituality and religion number over 200, going back as far as 150 years (“Where the Evidence Stands : Spiritually And Longevity,”EnCognitive.com). People with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, stroke, cancer and colitis have all been shown to benefit from spirituality.

A Stanford University study that tracked 1,500 individuals over an 80-year period found that women who were engaged in religious activity had an increased life span. Researchers said the cause was that religious women are less likely to smoke, drink or abuse drugs, and are also more socially involved than nonreligious women (“Everything You Know About Longevity Is Wrong,” A Place for Mom ).

Duke University researchers studied the spiritual practices of almost 4,000 adults ages 64 to 101 and found an association between private spiritual activities and longevity (“Spiritual Impact on Health,” Navigating the Aging Process). The research showed that low levels of meditation and prayer significantly predicted death in healthy seniors.

Another Duke University project studied patients with blocked coronary arteries (“Spiritual Impact on Health”). Patients who received both spiritual-related therapies (such as guided imagery, breath control and touch therapy) and standard medical treatment had 30 percent fewer medical complications overall.

A 1999 study (Hummer, Rogers, Nam & Edison) that followed 21,000 adults for nine years concluded that religious involvement prolongs life by about seven years (“Spiritual Impact on Health”). People in the study who did not attend religious services were about four times more likely to die from respiratory disease, diabetes or infectious diseases than those who did attend such services.

In another study of 5,286 people, those who attended religious services weekly or more were 25 percent less likely to die than infrequent attendees (Strawbridge, Cohen, Shema, & Kaplan, 1997, “Spiritual Impact on Health”). People who attended frequently were also more likely to make healthier choices such as quitting smoking, increasing exercising and expanding social contacts.

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More Seniors Becoming Entrepreneurs
Older adults are starting their own businesses for many reasons. Not only do they have the assets to do so, but also the knowledge and connections garnered over a lifetime. Two women who made the leap talk about the challenges and rewards. Click here to view article.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, seniors are the largest group of individuals starting new businesses. The reasons for this are many:

• Older adults tend to have accumulated assets and savings over their lifetimes, so have the money needed to start a business, establish a line of credit and withstand the initial period of little or no revenue.
• Their years of working experience give seniors the ability to make knowledgeable decisions about what works and what doesn’t, especially if they are starting a business in which they have previously worked.
• Years of establishing work and business relationships can benefit seniors with a ready-made customer and networking base.
• Older workers with experience have more confidence that they know what they are doing, and confidence is one of the key indicators of success.
• Baby boomers, now entering the age where most people retire, want to keep working.
• The recession has forced many companies to lay off older workers who have large salaries, as well as prevented experienced workers from being hired elsewhere. Many of those laid-off workers are starting their own businesses, whether small, home-based ventures or larger.

Following Your Values

One older adult who decided to embark on a new career is Karen DeLeeuw, MSW and a Certified Senior Advisor® (CSA). Before she started Seniors Helping Seniors®, which hires older adults to help seniors remain independent in their own homes, she had worked for the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment for 15 years. One of her projects dealt with the implications of chronic disease as our population ages.

“I came to understand the extent of some issues we faced as a country,” she says. . . . “Is society prepared to take care of such a large aging population?” DeLeeuw realized how few people go into gerontology or have backgrounds working with older adults. “The health care system is not prepared to deal with an older population,” nor is there “sufficient family or community structure to care for such a huge aging population,” especially one that is living much longer than previous generations. Clearly, help was needed.

About that time DeLeeuw, like thousands of other government employees across the nation, lost her job and decided to start her own business. She was drawn to Seniors Helping Seniors, whose focus is “keeping people at home so they can live independently and be treated with the dignity and respect they deserve,” she says.

The founder of the organization was born and raised in India and had worked with Mother Teresa for 14 years. When the Indian woman first visited the United States, she saw “seniors being pushed aside and not allowed to do anything meaningful nor have employment opportunities because of their age,” DeLeeuw said. “Other seniors had families living in various places throughout the country and thus were isolated and in need of help and social support. The Seniors Helping Seniors in-home care mission and model appealed to me, not only to help seniors remain in their own homes, which over 85 percent want to do, but to also help seniors who wanted to give back and help others.”

DeLeeuw, now 59, started the franchise business a year and half ago. Not only is the work “consistent with my values and employment history of wanting to make a difference “ she says, but she welcomed the autonomy, flexibility and chance to try her hand in the business world.

While having your own business affords many benefits, for DeLeeuw it’s been “more of a difficult adjustment than I anticipated.” For 40 years, she held high-level positions in work settings where she interacted with people all day long, frequently worked in project teams and had colleagues to help problem solve. “Making the transition to one where primarily I work alone and essentially made my own hours has taken some getting used to.”

To counteract feelings of isolation and contribute in other ways, DeLeeuw has become involved with a county “Aging Well” project, sits on the Jefferson County Council on Aging and is involved in local CSA activities and in other networks. “We all know changes can be difficult,” she warns. “When it comes to starting a new business, it’s important to persist; a common reason many new businesses fail is that they give up on things too early.”

On the other hand, the rewards have been great. DeLeeuw has enjoyed learning about a new field and developing new skills. She also gets calls from clients who are grateful that she’s been able to help them age in their own homes.

Her advice for others wanting to start their own businesses: It helps to have the entrepreneurial spirit, and it’s important to do research, to really understand what you’re getting into, both in terms of the business itself and the lifestyle changes it can bring. Over the past 18 months DeLeeuw took more than 30 classes and workshops, plus franchisee training. “Be prepared to make a commitment,” she said. . . . “Be prepared for the ups and downs, and have a plan for dealing with the downs, like a mentor or coach.” It really helps “to have a passion for the work you’re doing.”

Using All Your Experience

Erika Walker is another older adult and CSA who started her own business based on her previous work experience. She was in her early 50s when she started SAGE WAVE Consulting, which “provides strategic planning to help businesses and communities across the country prepare for the growing aging population.” For Walker, it was the latest “reinvention” of her career which she began as a math teacher and adapted as her husband’s career took the family from state to state. After one move, she earned an MBA, working as the director for a financial institute. When the couple moved to Montana, she reinvented herself again as the director of continuing education at a local university. Later in Seattle, she developed international business training programs, and in South Carolina, she ran a research institute that analyzed and replicated best practices for aging services and worked as the director of geriatrics at a hospital system. When that position closed, she decided to start her own business.

Like many others who start their own businesses, she is using many of her past professional experiences. “I have learned enough about the service sectors across the aging industry to help communities and organizations reduce gaps and replicate best practices from a business perspective. I have worked in the for-profit, non-profit and health care worlds, and have researched and replicated best practices in aging services across the continuum of care.”

In business for six years now, Walker’s main piece of advice for anyone who starts a business is that “success is based on the relationships you build.” She advises joining boards, speaking at national conferences and promoting opportunities for others. “Be persistent and don’t give up. Get out there and be part of the community. Networking and building relationships and trust with your communities and business associates will lead to increased business.”

In starting your own company, “You have to be flexible enough to financially take some risks and manage the inevitable ebbs and flows.” It helps to have a back-up income, like she had with her husband.

If your business is a “one-man show, you have to be willing to do everything—from budgets to the legal side, and market yourself,” Walker says. “It may take lots of effort and time before you start seeing a profit.” But the upside is that “you get a chance to learn about a world you may not have known about, in a new way.”

For those ready to make the jump into entrepreneurship, free help is available from several sources, both local and national (see sidebar).

Resources for 50+ Entrepreneurs

• On the local level, check out nearbySmall Business Development Centers, which offer technical assistance to small businesses and aspiring entrepreneurs. Clients receive free, one-on-one long-term professional business advising, low-cost training and other specialized services.
• Many cities and counties offer their own form of business assistance, as do local business associations such as the Chamber of Commerce. Check out classes at local community colleges and other educational venues.
• On the national level, the Small Business Administration (SBA) offers free online training, local assistance and loans, as well as information aimed specifically at seniors: “50+”.
• SCORE is a “nonprofit association dedicated to helping small businesses get off the ground, grow and achieve their goals through education and mentorship. In business for more than fifty years, SCORE is supported by SBA and utilizes volunteer mentors who share their expertise across 62 industries; free business tools, templates and tips online; business counseling in person or via email; and inexpensive or free local business workshops as well as webinars (online).”
• Another nonprofit organization helping people start businesses is My Own Business, which offers free business courses, including how to write your business plan.

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Tips for Choosing a Medigap Plan
For those ready to enroll in Medicare or those thinking about changing plans, the choices are many and complex. Fortunately, resources are available to help you navigate through the different Medicare Supplemental Plans. Click here to view article.

Seniors getting close to the eligibility age for Medicare are bombarded with appeals from insurance companies—both in their mailboxes and on their computers. For those who already have the health plan, the busy time comes during Medicare’s Part D (drug) and Part C (Advantage Plan) open enrollment period, which runs from October 15 to December 7. Each year, you can switch from Original Medicare to a Medicare Advantage plan or from one Medicare Advantage plan to another, or from one Part D to another, with the new coverage to commence on January 1.

Deciding which plans are best is not an easy decision because the choices are many and complex. To demystify the process, older adults can get help from guidebooks, classes and their insurance agents. Keep in mind that Medicare was never intended to completely pay for seniors’ medical costs. Basically, Medicare pays for 80 percent and you pay 20 percent. Over the years, more options have become available to fill in the gaps, with private companies offering ways to mitigate costs.

Choosing Between Original and Advantage

The first choice you need to make is whether to go with the Original Medicare Plan, in which the government directly pays for hospital and medical care (Parts A and B, respectively), or to use the Medicare Advantage Plan (Part C), in which the government pays a private health network (such as an HMO or PPO), which often covers Parts A, B, and D (prescription drugs).

With the Original Medicare Plan, you still must pay for copayments, coinsurance and deductibles. For example, Medicare requires a $1,184 deductible for the first 60 days of a hospital stay and 20 percent of the cost of Part B services such as doctor visits, outpatient treatments and laboratory tests. To cover these costs, you have to get supplemental insurance from a private insurance company. These plans are called a Medicare Supplement or Medigap policies.

The majority of Medicare users stick with the Original Plan, because they can choose their own health care providers rather than having to stay within the HMO network, which doesn’t work if you’re traveling outside of the HMO network. However, because HMOs carefully control costs, the Advantage Plans are often cheaper than the Original Medicare Plan.

Options for Medigap Plans

Choosing the Original Medicare Plan (in which the government directly pays your health care provider) opens a whole host of options. Supplemental plans, also known as Medigap, are confusingly named Plans A–N, although totally different than the Medicare Parts A–D. This is where most people’s eyes start to glaze over and you start wondering why someone couldn’t have chosen different names for all the plans.

Medigap policies come in 10 standardized benefit packages labeled as the letters. Each plan offers a different set of benefits, fills different gaps in Medicare coverage and varies in price. (Be aware that Medigap policies never cover long-term, vision or dental care; hearing aids; eyeglasses or private-duty nursing.) Some insurance carriers offer some of the plans but not all of them. Although premiums vary between carriers, each company conforms to the Medicare definition of that plan. That is, Plan C will always be the same no matter which insurance carrier you use.

The difference among plans has to do with how much each company pays for deductibles, coinsurance and copayments, and some plans offer to pay for emergency medical care while you are traveling in a foreign country. For example, Medigap Plans B, C, D, F, G and N cover the hospital deductible for each benefit period, while Plans K, L and M cover part of it. If you have to stay in the hospital, this benefit usually saves you money. Buyers need to carefully review insurance carriers’ offers, because premiums for the same plan can vary more than $100 per month.

The most popular plan is F, which pays for pretty much everything Medicare doesn’t, including the 15 percent excess charge from doctors who don’t accept Medicare as payment in full. Plan C is the next most popular. Plans M and N, the two newest options, are cost-sharing plans that have cheaper premiums, making them appealing to healthier retirees who don’t use as much health care (“How to Choose a Medigap Supplemental Policy,” Huffington Post). If, however, you live in Massachusetts, Minnesota or Wisconsin, you have different standardized Medigap plans that you can buy.

Different Methods to Determine Premiums

If all that’s not confusing enough, insurance companies have three methods of determining the cost of a Medigap policy premium. A policy that looks inexpensive when you first buy it at age 65 could end up being the most expensive when you hit 80, so it’s important to figure out what is best for the long haul. The three types are:

1. Attained-age: Premiums start low but increase as you get older.
2. Issue-age: Premiums increase with inflation rather than age. These policies may start out a little more expensive than attained-age policies but generally have fewer rate increases over time.
3. Community-rate: The same premium is charged to everyone, regardless of age. Issue-age and community-rated policies will usually save you money in the long-run (“How to Choose a Medigap Supplemental Policy”).

The best time to first enroll for Medigap is the three-month period before you turn 65, the month you turn 65 and the three-month period after turning 65 . During this seven-month period, insurance carriers must accept you without underwriting; that is, they must enroll you no matter your state of health and whether you have a pre-existing condition. After this seven-month period, you can enroll with (or change) different carriers every year, but insurance companies can reject you for any health reason.

The main differences among insurance companies are premium amounts and kind of service you get. Prices also vary between tobacco and non-tobacco users, for different zip codes and for city and rural areas. You can count on premiums going up as you get older.

How to Find the Best Plan

Beyond the costs, how do you choose a reputable insurance company? “Ask your doctor,” says Mickey Batsell, an insurance agent and Certified Senior Advisor®. “Does he or she have any experience with certain companies?” You’re looking for candid feedback.

Medicare provides information on the different types of plans. You can call Medicare at 800-633-4227 and ask them to mail you a free copy of the “Choosing a Medigap Policy” guide (publication 02110) or go online towww.medicare.gov.

Different organizations offer their own advice. Consumer Reports ranks health insurance plans nationwide. You can use the tool to choose a plan category such as private HMO or PPO, or Medicare HMO or PPO. Then, choose your state and customize your search to compare plans’ scores and their performance in measures such as consumer satisfaction and providing preventive services.

AARP has lots of information and several guides, including one just for baby boomers.

Your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) or state insurance department can give you information on your state’s rules, as well as provide free counseling about Medicare, Medigap and Medicare Advantage. SHIPs are federally funded programs and not connected to any insurance company or health plan. SHIPs were established to help beneficiaries with plan choices, billing problems, complaints about medical care or treatment and Medicare rights.

Beware of Illegal Insurance Practices

Selling Medicare supplement plans is a lucrative business. Medicare offers tips to avoid enrolling in policies you don’t need or want. It’s illegal for anyone to do the following:

• Pressure you into buying a Medigap policy or lie to or mislead you to switch from one company or policy to another.
• Sell you a second Medigap policy when they know that you already have one.
• Sell you a Medigap policy if they know you have Medicaid, except in certain situations.
• Sell you a Medigap policy if they know you’re in a Medicare Advantage Plan, unless your coverage under the Medicare Advantage Plan will end before the effective date of the Medigap policy.
• Claim that a Medigap policy is part of the Medicare Program or any other federal program. Medigap is private health insurance.
• Claim that a Medicare Advantage Plan is a Medigap policy.
• Sell you a Medigap policy that can’t legally be sold in your state. Check with your state insurance department.
• Misuse the names, letters or symbols of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS), Social Security Administration (SSA), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) or any of their various programs like Medicare.
• Claim to be a Medicare representative if they work for a Medigap insurance company.
• Sell you a Medicare Advantage Plan when you say you want to stay in Original Medicare and buy a Medigap policy.

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Living with Alzheimer’s and other dementias inspires Chicken Soup book

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The Alzheimer’s Association is partnering with the popular Chicken Soup for the Soul series to produce a book of essays about life with Alzheimer’s or another dementia. To create this book, we invite those living with Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia, caregivers, affected friends and family members to share their stories. Those interested in submitting a story can do so online through Oct. 23.

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