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Text File | 1994-02-01 | 12KB | 207 lines

                        OF NOTE...
                        News to Use

Special Senior Edition (41-50)                        December 1, 1993
Earl Appleby, Jr., Editor                             CURE, Ltd.

                         Alzheimer's Research

"For the Dec. 27 issue of last year, Judith Echaniz, a writer of keen
perception, wrote a sketch called 'All the Way to Heaven,' in which
she painted a picture of my wife, an Alzheimer's patient and myself...
Alzheimer's has been one of the great incurable diseases of the world.
As it is a brain disorder, it should be treatable by checking or
reversing the brain deterioration that produces it. So far such
efforts have yielded no lasting results; which does not mean that
results will never come. Meanwhile we should accept the cross of
Alzheimer's as a message from God that, however long it may remain
incurable, it will continue to be a conduit of His Mercy, by bringing
out the good in both the sufferers and those who care for them." (In
Light and Shadow, Paul Hallet, op ed, National Catholic Register, 7/11/93)

                               Body Language

"All across America, nursing homes are filled with elderly people
whose muscles are so weak that they need help with simple tasks such
as getting up out of a chair. 'They're institutionalized not because
of any disease or cognitive impairment but because of muscle
weakness,' notes William Evans, director of the Noll Laboratory for
Human Performance Research at Penn State University....Evans has given
this age-related muscle loss a name, 'sarcopenia,' from the Greek for
'flesh reduction.' By identifying this costly and life-threatening
condition as a disease,...he hopes 'it will get the widespread public
attention that's already been given to other degenerative conditions
of old age such as osteoporosis and arthritis.'" (Senior Power, Carol
Krucoff, Washington Post Health, 10/26/93)

                           Food for Thought

"One of the great insults of aging is the advice from family members
to eliminate or curtail a lifelong coffee or tea habit because of
concerns about is effects on heart conditions and cancers. Two new
studies are suggesting that caffeine may not play a troublesome role
for women...Pamela Starke-Reed, the coordinator for nutritional
research at the National Institute on Aging,...said that caffeine may
be useful as a cognitive stimulant in older people. But she cautioned
that for about 5% of Americans, caffeine 'either makes them too hyper
or its acid content causes gastric problems.'" (Quiz Caffeine's Impact
on Older Women, Sandy Rovner, Washington Post Health, 10/26/93)

                             Mal-Practice

Conventional wisdom among physicians notwithstanding, poor patients
are not more likely to sue doctors for poor practice. According to
Harvard researchers, the poor and near-poor are only about 10% as apt
to sue for malpractice, even when they are victims of serious,
ngeligent injuries, since they have less access to legal
representation. Older patients are also less likely to file
malpractice suits. CURE Comment: By eliminating or restricting
contingency fees, malpractice tort reformers would compound the
discrimination poor victims of medical negligence face by virually
eliminating their slight access to competent legal counsel. (Poor Are
Less Likely to Sue Their Doctors, Sandra Boodman, WP Health, 10/26/93)

                             Nursing Home News

Like a growing number of continuing care communities, Goodwin House is
not simply a senior citizens' residence or nursing home. For a hefty
upfront fee, ranging from $54,857 for a studio to $116,541 for two-
people in a one-bedroom apartment, plus monthly fees of $1,238 to
$2,407, it is claimed that "residents can live independently in their
own apartments as long as they are able; if their health fails, they
are guaranteed whatever assistance they need, up through-nursing home
care." (Finding a New Home, Albert Crenshaw, WP Health, 10/26/93)

                               Old Story

Disguised as a woman in her 80s, Patricia Moore moved at a slower
pace, needed to have things repeated to her, and fumbled for change in
her purse. Younger people saw her as a hindrance or a nuisance. Doors
were slammed in her face. As she struggled to board city buses, she
was subjected to verbal abuse by impatient riders behind her. "I was
knocked over in the Buffalo airport," Moore recounts. "Knocked to the
ground like a turtle on its shell. This guy bumped into me while i was
on the telephone and just kept going. I couldn't get up because I
couldn't bend my knee. I eventually flipped to my side, and somebody
helped me up." ABLEnews Editor's Note: Since my 1992 auto accident, I
use a cane to navigate stairs, etc. As I descend and ascend escalators
on my way to work in Washington, I'm often bumped by TABs racing to
wherever it is they are in such a hurry to go. As I descend stairs one
at a time, that is, one foot after the other on each stair, people
pass me no matter how narrow the stairway even to board a train that
will not leave for another 15 minutes. I've often said the Lord knew I
needed patience and through my accident, is teaching it to me. I just
wish He would teach some others as well. (Undercover Among the
Elderly, Michael Ryan, Parade Magazine, 7/18/83)

More older Americans enter hospitals because of alcohol-related
problems than from heart attacks, costing Medicare over $230 million a
year in hospital bills. Patients 65-and-over are second only to 45 to
65 year olds in the alcohol-related hospitalization rate. Alaska had
the highest rate at 77 hospitalizations per 10,000 people, 65 or
older, and Arkansas the lowest at 18.9. "We have almost certainly
underestimated alcohol-related problems in this population," concluded
Wendy Adams, Medical College of Wisconsin, and colleagues in the
[September 1] Journal of the American Medical Association. (Alcohol
Problems Prevalent Among Elderly, Washington Post, 9/8/93)

"The con artists would ring cow bells when they reeled in another
victim. And their cohorts, busy at phones in the small office, would
stop and cheer. Police say they have busted a major phone and mail
swindle by an office of people (in Slidell, LA) who preyed on elderly
people across the United States and Canada. Police Chief Ben Morris
estimated that the operation bilked victims of more than $1 million
'We got major, major slime here,' he said." (Elderly Lose $1 Million
in Phone, Mail Swindle, Martinsburg Journal, 9/27/93)

"No sooner did Fernando Torres-Gil take over as the administration's
top official on aging issues than he found himself pulled in two
directions at once. Yanking him one way he tells a Bulletin reporter,
is the present--the unmet needs that older Americans now have. But
tugging him the opposite direction, he goes on to say, is the future--
the need to plan for the nearly doubling in the number of older
Americans over the next two decades." (Clinton's New Aging Chief in
Delicate Balancing Act, Robert Hey, AARP Bulletin, 10/93)

"Today,  we think of the flu more as a nuisance than as a plague. This
misconception costs lives." --Donna Shalala, Secretary, Health &
Humans Services (HHS), announcing  that the federal government will
pay the cost of flu shots for the elderly and people with
disabilities. (HHS to Pay for Flu Shots for the Elderly, WP, 10/1/93)

"Defying age, his children, and common sense, 100-year-old S.L. Potter
bungee jumped from a 210-foot tower earning what he hopes is a place
in history, Then he asked for his teeth back...He had decided at the
last second to jump sans dentures. 'I'm going home and going to bed,'
he said." (Man, 100, Bungee Jumps from Tower, MJ, 10/15/93)

"Betty Friedan does for the aging mystique what she did for the
feminine mystique: She smashes the stereotypes. In her new book, 'The
Fountain of Age,' the founding feminist warrior puts her lance through
the popular perception of aging as a tortuous slide into decrepitude
and wistful aging." CURE Comment: Stereotypes do not advance
understanding, but the problem of "smashing stereotypes" is smashing
the persons who meet their superficial criteria which must be rejected
and challenged not adopted as in "wistful drooling." Is it a crime to
drool? a social stigma? How shallow can we get? CURE believes that no
one: aged, ill, or disabled should have to do tricks-physical or
mental-to be accorded the dignity that is inherently theirs. (Old Age:
Half Empty or Half Full? Abigail Trafford, op-ed, WP Health, 10/26/93)

                             Social Insecurity

Shirley Sears Chater's first Capitol Hill appearance as Social
Security commissioner was before the House Ways and Means Social
Security subcommittee, which is skeptical that "re-engineering" will
solve the 65,000-employee mega-agency's problems. The Social Security
Administration (SSA) collects payroll taxes from 135 million workers
and mails 45 million benefits checks each month, with 6 million going
to recipients of disability benefits. Some subcommittee members,
including its chairman, Rep. Andrew Jacobs Jr. (D-IN), and its ranking
minority member, Re. Jim Bunning (R-KY), said the SSA should be taken
out of the even larger Department of Health and Human Services
(HHS)and made an independent agency.  (Skeptical Hill Greets Social
Security Chief, John O'Donnell, Baltimore Sun, 10/29/93)

"In her first interview since her name surfaced as the probable
nominee in July, Shirley Sears Chater seemed at times overwhelmed by
the sheer size of the agency. But she confirmed that the agency is
considering closing and consolidating some of its 1,300 field offices-
changes that could affect the agency's service to its
beneficiaries....'This city called Social Security Administration is
absolutely awesome,' said Ms. Chater, who is working 14 to 16 hours a
day to learn her way around the place and the issues. She confessed
that she could not find her way on her own from her Washington (DC)
home to her Woodlawn (MD)office because she is too busy reading during
her chauffeured trips to pay attention to the route." CURE Comment: We
hope Commissioner Chater will pay a little attention to the needs of
Social Security beneficiaries, including persons with disabilities,
who do not enjoy the luxury of chauffeurs and take time-say a few
years-to learn her job before axing offices at their expense. (Social
Security Considers Closing Some Offices, New Chief Confirms, Baltimore
Sun, 11/2/93)

                              Sporting Chance

"At least 50 years ago, while I was still in my mid-thirties, I would
marvel when reading that King Gustav V of Sweden was still playing
tennis at 85. Yet, here I am at 84, still hacking away and playing a
respectable doubles game, even against or with players many years
younger than myself." (The Net Benefits of Tennis, Frank Carey,
Washington Post Health, 10/26/93)

                        A Word From Our Sponsor

OF NOTE is CURE's biweekly digest of disability/medical news. This Special
Edition focuses on one of many topics it covers. The editor, Earl Appleby,
is the moderator of ABLEnews, a Fidonet backbone conference, featuring
news, notices, and resources of interest to persons with disabilities and
those sharing their concerns.

Special Editions include Abled, AIDS, Cancer, Family, Health Care,
Legal, Medical, Mental Health, Seniors, and Veterans.

...For further information, contact CURE, 812 Stephen Street, Berkeley
Springs, West Virginia 254511 (304-258-LIFE/5433).