Directory Is A Handy Resource
If you’re over 50 and don’t yet have a copy of “The Complete Directory for Seniors and Their Families,” here’s your chance to get one free.
This book is an invaluable resource not just for seniors and the elderly but for members of the “sandwich generation” and others who may be faced with the prospect of becoming a caregiver for an aged parent or grandparent, aunt or uncle, friend or neighbor.
In bookstores, the 176-page guide to growing older in the Inland Northwest costs $12.95. But Providence Health Services and Empire Health Services are collaborating to underwrite the publication and distribution of a fourth edition of the highly popular directory. It’s available at no charge at more than a dozen hospitals, clinics and other care centers in the area.
As usual, the book is divided into four sections, says John Goeller, editor and publisher with his wife, Gail. The first covers planning and managing financial, legal and security matters. Two is the most comprehensive guide to housing in the region.
The third section spans the spectrum of senior services from health care and support groups to food and transporaretation. Four focuses on “life-expanding experiences” in education, the arts, recreation, employment, and on and on.
The articles are new. So is much of the data on senior services, housing projects, and prices.
Goeller said each of the previous three printings was for 10,000 copies. This run is 15,000 books. Goeller and Debbie Lockhert of the Visiting Nurse Association of Spokane, liaison for the collaborators, said copies will be available at more than a dozen hospitals, clinics, doctors’ offices and other care centers operated by the two health service organizations.
“At what age does a person become a senior?” asks reader Cheryl Flemming of Spokane. “I have seen you use different ages in your columns.”
Quite so. Different organizations, government agencies, businesses, institutions and individuals are free to pick any age that suits their purposes. The American Association of Retired Persons, for example, starts recruiting people as they approach their 50th birthday. But AARP refers to its own senior driver education program as “55 Alive.” Most drug stores, restaurants, movie theaters and many other businesses don’t recognize seniors for discounts until they get up in their 60s.
Says Deanne Schulte of the Inland Empire Rental Association, “A senior is anyone who is at least one year older than you are.” Touche.
“With 10,000 baby boomers a day turning 50,” says Flemming, “wouldn’t it be a good idea if we got a better fix on who’s a senior and who’s not?”
To that end, readers who think they have an answer to this problem are invited to write, fax, or e-mail me with their solutions.
A man’s grip may be a predictor of physical disability in later years, says a study in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
The hand strength of 6,000-plus men age 45 to 68 was tested 25 to 20 years ago. Half have just been retested.
Researchers with the National Institutes of Health found that muscle strength does not fade over a lifetime. “People with greater strength during midlife are at a lower risk of becoming disabled,” the study concluded, “because of their greater reserve of strength regardless of chronic conditions that may develop.”