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North Star Council on Aging, Fairbanks Senior Center and Senior Corps are very proud to announce the startup of our local Senior Companion Program. We were awarded a grant which makes this outstanding program possible and are currently rolling out in Fairbanks, closely followed by Delta Junction, and then we will expand to North Pole and Two Rivers. We are recruiting folks, age 55 and older, to volunteer helping seniors and disabled adults remain in their own homes as long as possible. The volunteers should have an income below $29,680 per...
When looking back at her career in theater, Diane Benson shares its surprising beginnings. "I wanted to be a diesel mechanic," she reveals with a laugh. "I had no intention, no ambition to be in the theater. "I couldn't get funding to get into diesel mechanics school," she says. She went on to have an illustrious career as a truck driver, one of the first female tractor-trailer truckers on the Trans Alaska Pipeline. Fate took a peculiar turn when the Bureau of Indian Affairs popped up with a...
In the fall of 2015, Martin Shkreli, the founder and former chief executive of Turing Pharmaceuticals, ignited a firestorm when his company raised the price of a little-known drug to treat toxoplasmosis to $750 a tablet from $13.50. Earlier that year, Valeant Pharmaceuticals bought the rights to a pair of life-saving heart drugs, Nitopress and Isuprel. The same day as the purchase, the company jacked up their list prices by 525 percent and 212 percent respectively. Last year, Mylan, supplier of roughly 95 percent of the nation’s EpiPens, an e...
You may file for your 2017 Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend today. If you choose, you can designate a portion of your PFD to support non-profit organizations in Alaska who are eligible for the Pick.Click.Give. program. Older Persons Action Group is eligible and will appreciate all Pick.Click.Give. donations, which will help us continue our programs, including publication of Senior Voice and the Directory for Older Alaskans, free Medicare counseling, free educational forums and more. Visit https://pfd.alaska.gov/ to file online. Pick.Click.Give....
Editor’s note: This press statement was received on Feb. 13, 2017. AARP has launched a comprehensive campaign to protect Medicare in the face of proposals by some in Congress that would hurt hardworking Alaskans who have paid into the program their entire working lives. Over the next few weeks, AARP staff and volunteers will meet with members of Congress to underscore the importance of Medicare to Alaska’s beneficiaries and the workers who currently pay in to the program. Congressional proposals to change Medicare into a voucher system wou...
In the sixth grade, my daughter was working on a school project and began asking a series of questions about family economics: “How much is our house payment? What does it cost to heat the house? What do we spend on groceries?” Our family records are in QuickBooks so I offered to run a report for her. She studied it carefully and said, “This doesn’t make sense, there’s more money going out than coming in! How does that work?” I asked her, “Well, what would you cut?” After looking over the report again she replied, “Cut all my brother’s stuff!...
I love the Senior Voice. However, I have a question regarding the January 2017 edition, page 25 statement: “The opioid crisis has hit nearly every corner of the country, with nearly 80 million Americans dying every day from heroin or opioid overdoses.” Google reports that the 2017 population count for the United States is 325,482,678 people. With 80 million of them dying every day due to heroin or opioid overdoses, the United States will run out of living people in five days approximately. We will be burning towers of dead Americans from overdo...
Editor’s note: This is the fourth in a series of articles from the Diverse Elders Coalition, looking at different segments of the senior population. The importance of friends and family to our health is well understood by American Indians and Alaska Natives (AI/AN). Though the specific traditions of tribes, pueblos, nations and bands can differ quite a bit between one another, we as AI/AN share our respect for, inclusion of, and focus on elders as a common link between our communities. In today’s culture, many elders are separated from their co...
Dave called to his wife Barb as he was leaving the house, "I'm headed up to church for my exercise class!" Barb was quick to respond, "Don't you mean the gym?" "No, our new parish nurse Mary is leading us in some Tai Chi, she says it will help my balance. I asked her to explain this new medicine for my blood pressure when we are done. I bet she could even help you figure out those Medicare forms you've been so frustrated with." What does a registered nurse do in the setting of a faith...
Type 2 diabetes is one of the most common and costly chronic diseases in the United States. Type 2 diabetes is a disease that occurs when your blood glucose (or blood sugar) is abnormally high. Diabetes is often referred to as “a touch of sugar” or “the sugar,” however having diabetes is far from sweet. Diabetes is a serious condition that can have a major impact on overall health and quality of life. Diabetes is the leading cause of kidney failure, non-traumatic lower-limb amputations, and new cases of blindness among adults. Diabetes is also...
The 16th Annual Full Lives Conference for Direct Service Professionals takes place March 22 and 23 at the Hotel Captain Cook in Anchorage. The event features national and Alaskan experts presenting on key issues that affect direct service professionals and the people they support, including but not limited to: developmental disabilities, behavioral health/mental illness, chronic alcoholism and other substance abuse, traumatic brain injuries, FASD and Alzheimer’s disease and other age-related dementia. Attendees choose sessions based on their p...
Alaska Health Fair, Inc. offers free health screenings and education, low cost blood tests and more. These tests can help you learn about your health and detect potential problems early, when treatment or changes in personal habits can be most effective. So take time out of your busy week and join Alaska Health Fair when they bring an event to your local area. A complete and comprehensive chemistry/hematology test is available for only $45; with 27 different panels for conditions ranging from diabetes, kidney and liver function, to anemia and...
Lasers may help lead to new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease Scientists are now firing up their lasers to try to better combat Alzheimer’s disease and other illnesses involving the memory. A new method uses near infrared light to shed light on memory loss conditions. Researchers at Hiroshima University have developed a new laser activated technique for bridging missing links in memory flow. The Japanese researchers report that laser technology may help open up the mysterious world of neu...
As an older veteran, the last thing on your mind might be a home refinancing plan. You may have paid off your house and are basking in the lifelong dream of finally having no mortgage payment. Spending money on house payments are for the younger folks, right. Well, I want you to consider some salient points for pulling some cash out of the old homestead. First, interest rates are at an all-time low. With a little shopping, you should be able to find a VA lender offering rates on a 30-year fixed...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following peer support meetings in March. This month’s focus is caregiver training, featuring part two of a training DVD presentation with Teepa Snow. The DVD is titled “It’s All In Your Approach.” Training covers how a person with dementia perceives his/her environment and how to properly adapt one’s own behavior to increase communication and the care partner’s quality of life. March 7, Caregiver support meeting at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. March 14, Caregiver support mee...
Sweaters, strollers, pet pouches - the accoutrements of the small dog may make us giggle but they serve a valuable purpose for the less-than-20 pound citizens of the canine world. Small dogs are popular companions for people living in smaller homes or apartments. It's important to select the right dog for you and know how to provide for their special needs. Depending on their breed (or predominant mix of breeds) the exercise requirements of small dogs can vary greatly. A 15-pound West Highland T...
Every year before the early March start of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race, longtime but now retired Anchorage Daily News photographer Jim Lavrakas goes to South Peninsula Hospital's Long Term Care Unit in Homer and shares a slide show of his times covering the Iditarod. "I covered the race nine times, four times from start to finish, all 1,049 miles from Anchorage to Nome," Lavrakas told his eager audience at last year's slideshow. "At first, I flew in a plane from checkpoint to checkpoint, but...
"Russia has sold us a sucked orange," the New York World proclaimed after the U.S. government announced it was to purchase Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million in the spring of 1867. And most Americans agreed with this opinion 150 years ago this month. The historic decision was greeted with derision and a multitude of catcalls aimed at then Secretary of State William H. Seward. Terms bandied about for the tract of land that was one-fifth the size of the Continental United States included...
A couple of years ago, visitors to Carol Burnett's home might have observed the comedy legend glued to the TV set, binge-watching every episode of her old variety show. But it wasn't a case of extreme celebrity vanity sweeping through the Burnett household. "I'd been getting calls from writers wanting to interview me about the show," said Ms. Burnett from Los Angeles. "So I thought, maybe I should write a definitive history of the 11 years I worked on 'The Carol Burnett Show' because, after all,...
SENIOR VOICE STAFF Keep track of senior-related bills, budget decisions and other issues by listening in to the Alaska Commission on Aging Legislative Teleconferences. Hosted by local agencies statewide, and available by toll-free call-in, the teleconferences provide a convenient forum for seniors and advocates across Alaska to share information about issues and specific bills of concern, including Medicaid, state budget and funding, senior assistance and more. Teleconferences are scheduled 9:30 to 11 a.m. every other Thursday and weekly...
If you go to the movies very often, you might have heard of an actor named Philip Seymour Hoffman. He was quite a talented character actor, he even won an Oscar for portraying Truman Capote, and he was nominated for a number of other Oscars and Tonys as well. Don’t worry, I’m not about to turn this into a movie review column. My interest in the talented Mr. Hoffman is not that he was a good actor, but that he was a bad estate planner. When Philip Seymour Hoffman died in 2014, he left behind a s...
Interested in learning more about businesses and agencies providing senior services in the Anchorage area? Want to get the word out about your own service? The monthly Interagency Breakfast, sponsored by Older Persons Action Group, is an opportunity for all of the above. Informal, early and free, with breakfast provided. The March meeting is March 8, hosted by Serendipity Adult Day Services. Begins at 8 a.m. RSVP by calling Older Persons Action Group for more information on these events or to be added to our e-mail reminder list,...
Q. Is it possible to talk with Siri on non-Apple devices? A. The short answer is no, Siri is a feature only available from Apple. For readers who may not be familiar with that name, Siri is the voice-controlled Intelligent Personal Assistant installed on Apple devices. Controlling devices with voice commands is hot right now, and Apple Siri has plenty of company. Microsoft has Cortana. Google has Google Voice. Samsung has Viv. Amazon has Alexa. There are many others. Each of them has a common set of abilities, along with capabilities unique to...
Just a week in the sun makes Jack much easier to live with. Truly, the lack of sun in wintertime does tax one's sanity in Alaska. I was of the mind that I was a true Alaskan and didn't need any stinking winter vacation - until I took a week in Kauai. Before I went, someone said to me in Utqiagvik, "warm sand between your toes." The image almost made me break down as I looked around at the minus-degree scenery and blowing snow while I waited for a bus. Heeding the call, winter slipped by easily...
