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Q. What is the least expensive way to improve Zoom calls? A. Adding more light and positioning the camera so you look straight ahead are the easiest things to upgrade. But the improvement that delivers the biggest impact is better sound. Most people will watch low-quality video for a much longer period of time than they will tolerate noisy or hard to hear audio. As a result my best suggestion for better Zoom calls is to get a better microphone. Searching the web for a microphone might trigger sticker shock, but hold off clicking that buy...
I’ve been writing about the chance to participate in medical research by applying for clinical trials that could not only help oneself, but countless others. Being in the Chicago area, there are plenty of medical trials to choose from, so I decided on the osteoarthritis knee study at Northwestern University. For years, I’ve growled that we can put a man the moon but can’t make cartilage regrow or even replace it with another material. This study would involve a regular injection of a drug to do just that (or you get a placebo). I took the overh...
It gives me a good feeling to spend my final days surrounded by family, friends and lovers. We are a great generation. We all were out at sea for our five year migration and life cycle. Most of us didn’t make it back. But look around... We are the lucky ones. We made it back. And not only that, we successfully spawned. Now here we are in our last days, swimming to stay in one place, to stay with our community. We are elderly now. We’ve stopped eating but we have grown larger teeth. Ironic, isn’t it? In our final days we have large hooked noses...
I have noticed the last few years that although I love gardening and working outside, it seems a little harder each year to lift watering cans, bend and kneel on the ground, and work compacted soil. Gardening’s positive effects include relieving stress and anxiety and providing exercise, plus gardening may reduce the risk of dementia by as much as 36% (quoted in the Dubbo Study of the Elderly), so how do we continue an activity we enjoy without relying on bending and having to be in peak fitness condition? We have found a few ways to garden s...
Regardless of the area you live in, there are ‘must dos’ for the summer months for Alaskans. It is a time to plant, gather, harvest and, for many, fish. On the Kenai Peninsula, fishing is active with subsistence, dipnetting, setnetting, drift fishing and just plain fishing. And that is often followed by smoking, freezing and canning. All of this in preparation for the winter months, along with tending the gardens, and fighting with the birds as to who will get berries. It is also a time for building and repairing the structures we call hom...
Q: I was recently treated in the emergency room for falling when stepping out of a boat. One week later, my ankle is still painful to touch and I am tired. A: Thankfully you were treated by medical professionals in the ER soon after your fall. Rest, ice, compression and elevation should be applied up to 48 hours after an injury such as yours. An acute injury is defined as a sudden, sharp, traumatic injury that causes pain. Impact or trauma from a fall, strain, sprain or collision can cause an...
Alaska has a diverse range of habitats and ecosystems that support over 534 different species of birds. Most of these birds are migratory and travel great distances to spend the brief summers here to nest and raise young. But some birds live in Alaska year-round, despite our long winters and extremes in weather, including a few of our most visible and spectacular birds - raptors. There are 22 raptors that regularly make Alaska their home, all of them incredible in their abilities to survive....
"I think I opened the wrong door and went into the 'men's'", her friend said to my sister, Shirley, after returning to their car, which was parked in the driveway of my house. "The one I went into had a urinal." Shirley laughed and said, "No, you found the right place...his and hers in the same outhouse." They had stopped at my house for a pit stop on their one-day trip from Glennallen to Anchorage a few months into COVID. Sometimes Shirley would call and give me a "heads up" first, but not...
When Land Office chief Andrew Christensen opened the auction for townsites above Ship Creek on July 10, 1915, bidding became so brisk that prospective lot owners couldn't hold down prices. After sales closed a week later, 655 lots had sold for almost $150,000 (more than $4 million in today's dollars). Christensen claimed the sale had "injected confidence in the people of the town" that soon would become Anchorage. But that confidence may have been tempered somewhat when the residents realized th...
Emmy-nominated actress Cynthia Geary was immediately drawn to her latest character Charley Copeland, a hospice nurse in the compelling new drama series "Going Home." Season one began streaming in June on Pure Flix, a faith and family-friendly media service (see www.pureflix.com). "The death of a loved one is something we will all experience, but I feel like the show sends a positive message in a sad but cathartic way," said Geary from Palm Springs while traveling from her home in Seattle. Set...
Dear Savvy Senior: What types of financial resources are available to help seniors pay for long-term care? My 86-year-old mother will need either an assisted living facility or nursing home care in the near future, but she doesn’t have long-term care insurance and her savings are minimal. - Searching Daughter Dear Searching: The cost of assisted living and nursing home care in the U.S is very expensive. According to the Genworth cost of care survey tool, the national median cost for an assisted living facility today is over $4,600 per month, w...
Dear Savvy Senior: How do I go about selling unwanted burial plots in my hometown cemetery? When my parents died about 25 years ago, my husband (at the time) and I bought two plots near them in the same cemetery. But we’ve gotten divorced since then and have both moved out of state. Besides that, I would like to be cremated instead of buried. - Looking to Sell Dear Looking: Life changes such as relocating, family disputes and divorce, along with the growing popularity of cremation in the U.S., is causing more and more people to sell p...
In a corner of my office is an old Underwood typewriter. It was built sometime around the 1920s, it weighs a ton, and there is no electricity involved in its operation. The keys still work, but if I used it the ribbon would tear. Why is it there? Because it was from the law office of Howard Kirk, my grandfather. Having the typewriter there is a useful reminder, for me, of my family heritage in the practice of law. But it also serves another function. On those days when the computer is driving...
Q. Is it possible to block a website from view? A. Yes, but like so many questions, the how-to part of the answer begins with “it depends.” There are many different apps that filter website content. They use various methods behind the scenes and sometimes provide unexpected results. The different methods include apps that block specific sites and apps that filter certain types of content. For example, in one case you may only see a “page not available” message, in another case you might be forwarded to a different page. Other utilities can rew...
Editor’s note: This press statement was received June 9, 2022. Congressman Peter DeFazio and Senator Bernie Sanders today introduced joint legislation, the Social Security Expansion Act (SSEA), to strengthen and expand Social Security for current and future generations. “As a trained gerontologist, I have devoted my career to protecting and expanding programs that are vital to seniors. One of my highest priorities is protecting Social Security, which millions of Americans rely on, including hundreds of thousands of Oregonians” said Rep. DeFaz...
Q: Due to a change in my health and physical capabilities, I moved to assisted living away from close friends. I’m not happy about this new situation. I feel lost and alone. A: Starting a new phase of life can be stressful. I understand and empathize. Coping with changes big or small, planned or unplanned, takes adjustment time. At first, we yearn for the ‘way our life was before’. We pine for friends and identifiable faces. There’s a sense of security, safety and confidence with recogni...
The Alaska state legislature failed to pass any bills this session to replace the campaign finance laws that were struck down by a federal court recently. So now, there are no limits to how much a person can donate to one or more candidates running for office. Attorney Robin Brena, in a recent article regarding this issue, boasted that he had just donated $25,000 to one candidate. He was the attorney who brought the lawsuit against the state claiming its laws were unconstitutional, and he won. It is doubtful that the bulk of Alaskans have that...
Note: This story was updated after the printed version went to press. AARP Alaska advocates for public policies that matter most to Alaskans age 50 and older and their families. During the 2021-22 legislative session, we passed 15 of our 22 budget and bill priorities benefiting older Alaskans. We saw successful passage of policies that support family caregivers, improve healthcare access and promote health. With wins ranging from dementia awareness and telehealth to expanded scopes of practice for Physician Assistants, Advanced Practice...
Is your “lifestyle” correlated to your health? Although the intuitively obvious answer is a resounding “yes”, very little credence is given in the standard of care to the powerful impact of your day-to-day choices on your wellbeing. It’s not just about living longer, folks. It’s about living longer with energy, grace and satisfaction. Our health care system, unfortunately, is mostly monetized to support illness, not wellness. Therefore, we are largely on our own to promote and maintain good health. Fortunately, there is increasing awareness,...
We all love summer and sometimes our Alaska summers are warmer and smokier than others. How do you stay cool? Seniors need to be careful of overheating, our bodies don’t adjust as well to higher temperatures, and we tend to get more dehydrated. Medical conditions can change body response to heat. Some prescription medicines can also have an impact on our bodies’ ability to stay cool. Following are a few tips we found to stay cool: Don’t wait until you feel thirsty – drink plenty of cool water throughout the day. Popsicles, flavored ice cubes f...
Living at our place on Chena Hot Springs Road out of Fairbanks the spring of 1975, my husband Gary and I wanted to be as self-sufficient as possible. We had five acres, but no electric power. Besides tending our garden, greenhouse and two honeybee hives, we decided to raise our own meat. So, we purchased thirty Cornish Cross chicks and two Holstein calves. Of course, these cute little peeps soon outgrew their cardboard box. We built a small plywood shelter and created a fenced enclosure with chi...
Some courageous pioneers saw the possibilities of the Yukon Basin years before the Klondike Gold Rush. And a few stand out above the rest, including Leroy Napoleon "Jack" McQuesten, Alfred Mayo and Arthur Harper. Had they not seen the need to establish supply centers, it is possible that gold rushes to the Yukon and Alaska would not have boomed during the late 1890s. These men met up in British Columbia in 1873 and continued on to Fort Yukon together. The first winter, Harper went prospecting...
Chances are, every time velvet-voiced Johnny Mathis takes center stage during his current U.S. tour, the atmosphere could turn Misty. Sure, some devoted Mathis fans might swoon teary-eyed with waves of emotional nostalgia witnessing the 86-year-old singing icon in person, but many will just dutifully sway to the familiar soothing melodies as the veteran performer delivers his signature ballads such as "Wonderful! Wonderful!," "Chances Are," and, of course, his 1959 hit, "Misty." Interrupted...
A long time ago, in a land far, far away (well, Juneau is pretty far away) there was a group of legislators who tried to do the right thing. They wanted to update and improve the laws about what happens when someone can’t make their own decisions about medical care. And as part of that change, they wanted to offer a form people could use, so that people could say for themselves who would make those decisions for them. They wrestled with this for four long years. And finally, one day, they had i...
Q. How do I listen to podcasts? A. As the old saying goes, “there is an app for that.” Many different apps, in fact. And beyond apps, most podcasts are just a click away on the Web. Podcasts are audio-only programs that have exploded in popularity in the last few years. The best place to start depends on your device. For a personal computer, a Web browser and a Google search is an easy place to start. On mobile phones, podcasts are the perfect companion for keeping your mind occupied while driving or working around the house. For Android own...
