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Seniors are often the target of fraud aimed at obtaining money or personal information from them which will make it possible to obtain money using the identifying information. About one-third of the victims of identity theft are over the age of 50, according Michelle Tabler, Alaska Regional Manager of the Better Business Bureau. Tabler says the individuals in this age range are a popular target because many will be too embarrassed to talk about money which they have lost to a trick. In addition, she notes that some people may be easier to take...
From July 1 to Sept. 30, 2013, the participants in Mature Alaskans Seeking Skills Training (MASST) performed 25,545 hours in community service statewide while learning skills that helped them find unsubsidized employment. In the program, qualifying participants are matched with agencies, located all around the state, that are able to train in skills the participant needs to find a job. Participants are trained on how to get a resume ready to apply for a job, where to look for jobs, and how to...
Sweet Thai sticky rice with coconut milk, fragrant Indian basmati rice pilaf, glistening sushi rice and creamy Italian parmesan risotto – rice elevated from dull to delicious with some seasoning and respect. By respect, I mean the methods of preparing and cooking. In many cultures with strong affections for rice, an electric rice cooker has replaced the stovetop as the cooking method of choice. Several types of rice cookers can be found in most kitchen equipment stores. A simple rice cooker c...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following peer support meetings and trainings in June. This month’s theme is “Honoring Cancer Survivors Through Prevention.” Please join and share your experience as a caregiver or to support someone who is a caregiver. June 3, “Ways to Reduce Your Risk for Cancer,” Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. June 10, “Ways to Reduce Your Risk for Cancer,” Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. June 17, “Cancer Symptoms You’re Most Likely to Ignore,” Kenai Senior Center, 1 p.m. June 24, “Cancer Sy...
I sat there, transfixed by the diversity in the room. "Sad, sadder, saddest," Cindy Johnson said to the group. She wrote the three words on the board at the front of the classroom, then drew simple faces wearing these three expressions. She passed out paper. "Draw," she told the class. It seemed as if the world had found its way to one room that morning. Sitting at the long, classroom tables were several people from both Sudan and the Dominican Republic, someone from Somalia and Mexico,...
Gov. Sean Parnell has named nine Alaskans to serve on the Medicaid Reform Advisory Group, which was created by the governor to bring in stakeholders and craft a proposal for meaningful reforms to the state’s Medicaid program. Specifically, the group will engage stakeholders such as physicians, specialists, pharmacists, dentists, the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association, community health centers and other non-profit health care providers, behavioral health providers, tribal health leaders, veterans affairs, insurers, and c...
Alzheimer’s Resource of Alaska will offer “Savvy Professional” training workshops this month in Ketchikan, Anchorage, Fairbanks and Palmer. Sponsored in part by the Trust Training Cooperative, the workshops are designed for those who have a working knowledge of dementia and are in roles that support individuals, families and/or direct care workers. Learning objectives include: • Compare the current state of one’s personal and organizational practices with those identified as best practice in person centered care. • Identify quality indicators...
The Alaska Commission on Aging will hold its quarterly meeting April 30 and May 2 at the Anchorage Senior Activity Center in Anchorage. The commission has provided the following draft agenda: Wednesday, April 30, 2014 8:30 a.m. Good Morning & Welcome All! Breakfast snacks will be provided. The public may call in to listen on April 30 from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and 12:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and on May 2 from 12:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Public comment is scheduled for Wednesday, April 30 from 10:45 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The toll-free number is 1-800-315...
My mom loved her own home - a wooded, two-acre property on a rural country road. She liked caring for her home and relaxing on her small, screened porch with a view of birds at the feeder and flowers in her garden. She liked having friends and family come for visits. Her own dishes, her own bed, her own music, eating when and what she wanted. As her vision declined and she stopped driving, she did think that it would be sensible to find a new home in town where she could walk to the library, hairdresser or grocery. Dad, on the other hand,...
Alaska Health Fairs, Inc. continues its spring health fairs this month, featuring free health screenings and education, low cost blood tests and more. The tests can help you learn about your health and detect potential problems early, when treatment or changes in personal habits can be most effective. The test results give you and your health care provider important information about your physical condition and vital organ functions. A complete and comprehensive chemistry/hematology test is available for only $45 and panels 27 different tests...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following meetings and trainings in April, which is National Stress Awareness Month. A 60 minute video, “Humor Your Stress,” will be shown and discussed at these meetings. Please join and share your experience as a caregiver or to support someone who is a caregiver. April 1, peer support meeting at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. April 8, peer support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. April 15, peer support meeting at Kenai Senior Center, 1 p.m. April 22, peer sup...
Nora Velez of Anchorage was flipping through archival black-and-white photographs when she came across a familiar face – her mother, Lucy Kelly, who recently passed away. Nora was emotional: She had never seen this picture before. It was taken in Old Harbor in the 1940s and showed her mother as a gradeschooler wearing a jaunty cap and a shy smile. The image was taken by teachers Etta and Foster Jones. After Etta's death, the Anchorage Museum acquired the couple's photographs. The image of L...
This year, I have assumed the duties of the Democratic leader in the Senate. Senator Johnny Ellis passed the torch to me, and taking over from such a people’s champion is humbling. I want to take a moment to bring you up to date on what’s happening in Juneau. Last spring I wrote about oil tax reductions that had narrowly passed. I reported that as a result of that decision we had lost $4.5 billion to three of the richest corporations in the world, and I expressed my concern that this would lead to a loss of funds for vital services such as K-12...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following meetings and trainings in March. The caregiver training topic this month is “Eat Well to Feel Well and the Mayo Clinic Mediterranean Diet.” March 4, Caregiver training at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. March 11, Caregiver training at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. March 17, Caregiver training at Kenai Senior Center, 1 p.m. March 25, Peer Support Meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. There is no charge for these services and everyone is invited to attend. Tra...
Lifelong farm researcher Sig Restad was awarded the "Life-Time Achievement Award" by the Mat-Su Farm Bureau at its annual meeting in Palmer on February 19. The Mat-Su Farm Bureau is organized to improve the economic well-being and expansion of agriculture in the Mat-Su Valley with a focus on enriching the quality of life for Alaskan farmers. Sig Restad worked as an Agriculture Extension agent in Minnesota when he received the opportunity to relocate to and work in Alaska in 1958. Restad...
Staff from Alaska’s Social Security office will be available for questions via videoconferencing at the following locations and times: Kodiak Job Center, on the second and fourth Tuesday of each month (March 11 and 25), 9 a.m. to noon. Kenai Senior Center, on the first and third Wednesday of each month (March 5 and 19), 9 a.m. to noon. Ketchikan Job Center, Thursdays (March 6, 13, 20 and 27), noon to 3 p.m. Social Security provides toll-free telephone service to all of Alaska. Residents in Alaska’s southeast communities can call the Juneau Soc...
This year, AARP Foundation is again providing free tax assistance and preparation for taxpayers with low to moderate income through the AARP Foundation Tax-Aide program. AARP Foundation Tax-Aide, in its 45th year, is the nation’s largest free tax assistance and preparation service, giving special attention those 60 and older. You do not need to be a member of AARP or a retiree to use this free service. In 2013, AARP Foundation Tax-Aide’s 35,000 volunteers at nearly 6,000 sites provided 2.6 million people with free tax help. Taxpayers who use...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following meetings and trainings in February. Because this is National Heart Month, caregiver trainings will focus on being heart healthy. Feb. 4, Caregiver training at Sterling Senior Center, 1 p.m. Feb. 11, Caregiver training at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. Feb. 17, no meeting, President’s Day Feb. 25, Peer Support Meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 p.m. There is no charge for these services and everyone is invited to attend. Training sessions provide 2 hours of C...
Dorothy Dickson McLaren, child-resident of Alaska and daughter of one of the state's pioneer bush pilots, recently glimpsed a picture taken from the 1938 Fur Rendezvous. Memories of that wonderful day remind Dorothy of leading the Queen's procession and fur style show at the 1938 – "biggest and best" – Third Annual Anchorage Fur Rendezvous. Now a senior citizen, Dorothy recalls the excitement surrounding the coronation of the Queen of the Fur Rendezvous, Miss Grace Bailey. Indeed, Grace wen...
Did you know that the Alaska Commission on Aging (ACoA) monitored a total of 45 bills and resolutions and actively supported 25 pieces of legislation that affected seniors during the FY2013 legislative session? We also provided committee testimony and letters of support to bill sponsors, legislative committees and Congressional members. Senior advocacy is a “team effort.” We invite you and other Alaskans in your community to be active this legislative session by participating in the 2014 ACoA Senior Legislative Teleconferences. The purpose of...
Early registration is open for a one-day workshop on Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia, to be offered in February in Anchorage, Fairbanks and Sitka. Sponsored by Alzheimer’s Resource of Alaska, the interactive workshop, titled “Accepting the Challenge,” will feature Teepa Snow, a renowned expert on Alzheimer’s and dementia care. Snow is an occupational therapist currently working as a dementia care and dementia education specialist with an independent practice. She has clinical appointments with Duke University’s School of Nursing and...
Older Persons Action Group held its annual meeting on Nov. 15, conducting general business and board member elections. Existing board members were re-elected, and a new member was added. Welcome Edgar Blatchford, associate professor in the Department of Journalism and Public Communications at the University of Alaska Anchorage. He also has taught journalism at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, owned and published the Seward Phoenix Log newspaper and served as mayor of Seward from 1999 to...
More than once have my well-intentioned suggestions for maintaining health been dismissed as not worth the effort. Even my wonderful mother, at 89 years, will sometimes say, “I don’t care if I live longer so stop telling me to exercise and eat right.” Other things I’ve heard are “we’ve all got to go some time” and “getting old is just a natural part of life so why resist it.” One of my latest suggestions to mom was that she improve her sleep. Living longer maybe isn’t the goal but living well while you are here certainly is worth some attentio...
The Kenai Peninsula Family Caregiver Support Program will hold the following meetings and trainings in December: Dec. 3, Caregiver training at Sterling Senior Center, 1 to 2 p.m., “Living Old: Modern Realities of Aging”. Dec. 10, Peer support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 to 3 p.m. Dec. 11, Peer support meeting at Seward Senior Center, 1 to 3 p.m Dec. 23, Caregiver training at Kenai Senior Center, 1 to 3 p.m. “The Power of Forgiveness.” Dec. 31, Peer support meeting at Soldotna Senior Center, 1 to 3 p.m. Note: the Homer Support Group w...
Felix Pedro joined the Klondike rush in 1898 from the Carbonado coalmines in Washington state. But his lucky number failed to come up, so he and Frank Costa, another Italian prospector, wandered over into the valley of the Tanana to prospect its streams and creeks. Deviled by mosquitoes, and forced at times to eat some of their dogs, they traveled through the wooded valleys, climbed the rugged hills and faced moose and grizzly bears. In July 1902, Pedro struck gold on a small stream just 24...
