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JITTERBUG J: Best cell phone for seniors

20 September 2011, 1:51 pm

Jitterbug J Cell Phone

Digital media dominates all levels of  communication today.  Cell phones along with televisions, stereos, and computers have gotten smaller and smaller with many complicated features that make even the most simplistic devices difficult to use.  In terms of cell phones, the most important features are often lost amongst options for text messaging, ring tones and downloads from the internet.

What most seniors need is an inexpensive cell phone that is easy to use and offers only the necessary features to connect with friends and family.

Good news though from the company that brought consumers the easy-to-use Jitterbug J cell phone. Greatcall.com recently announced their win for the 2011 Best Cell Phone from About.com Reader’s Choice Awards.  The Jitterbug J phone is simple to use with bigger buttons and a more powerful speakerphone, both features that make using a mobile phone easier for elderly people. Additional features include easy menu navigation, access to options with simple “YES” and “NO” questions, and the assurance of a live operator by dailing “0″ anytime, day or night.

When working with elderly clients, especially those with a need for fiduciary services such as power of attorney and conservatorship, Jitterbug phones make communication safe and easy for both the you and your clients.

Visit their site for plans and more details.

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ECOFUNERALS

21 July 2011, 2:40 pm

Ecofuneral Video
Environmentally conscious people in the United States are opting for what are known as “ecofunerals”.  The conventional US funeral is expensive and environmentally unfriendly so “green” funerals, which are cheaper than a traditional burial, are appealing to the budget conscious.

A “green” burial is one where the decedent is buried without toxic embalming, an outer burial container, concrete liner or metal vault, in a 100 per cent biodegradable container.

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91-year-old Santa Rosa resident wins Senior Games!

6 July 2011, 2:39 pm

Posted by Howard Senzell | Sunday, July 3rd, 2011

Roger Anawalt, the 91-year-old who picked up a gold medal in last month’s Wine Country Senior Games,  is among 900 runners competing  in the Kenwood Footrace on Independence Day.

The Santa Race resident will contest  the 3k run through the hills of Kenwood.  There will also be a 10k  with both races beginning at 7:30 a.m. The races, along with the World Pillow Fighting Championship, have been a  July 4th tradition in Kenwood for 40 years.

Anawalt competed in the 5k (3.1 miles) run at the Wine Country Senior Games on June 5. He completed the Asti Vineyard course in Cloverdale in 1:09.08.

Anawalt trains or competes seven days per week.  “I live in the Wikiup area and I jog 1.3 miles every day,” Anawalt said. “I have a comfortable pace, you’d probably call it a jog. I start out that way and keep going at the same speed.”

Anawalt, who will turn 92 in September, got into running at age 50.

Read the full article from The Press Democrat here.

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10 Baby Boomer Heroines

20 May 2011, 1:53 pm

Check out this list of 10 baby boomer heroines who have impacted their communities and the world.

Dilma Rousseff, President of Brazil

Claim to fame: She is the first female president of her country.

Tough times: She was once member of a guerrilla group. In 1970, she was captured, arrested and jailed for two years.

Her hobby: Shes obsessed with Greek mythology. She was inspired to learn embroidery by Penelope from Homers The Odyssey.

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Reknown Sonoma County Chef Josef Keller to overhaul Meals on Wheels

9 May 2011, 2:26 pm

By HEATHER IRWIN, The Press Democrat May 9, 2011

Walking around his new kitchen, arms folded over a navy sweater vest, chef Josef Keller sniffs at the air. “Smell that,” he says pointing around the expansive space with his nose. “It smells like a restaurant kitchen.”

More recognizable in a chef’s jacket than his street clothes, the 57-year-old Keller is a Santa Rosa culinary fixture, running longtime white tablecloth restaurants La Provence and Josef’s in Santa Rosa. Though he retired from the commercial restaurant business in 2009, there’s no doubt the 30-year restaurant veteran knows what a kitchen should smell like.

“Institutional” is exactly what it shouldn’t smell like, said Keller, who was asked in January to overhaul the kitchen and menus of one of the largest meal-providers in the county, The Council on Aging’s Meals on Wheels program. The massive institutional food preparation and delivery system provides nearly 1,000 meals a day to senior citizens throughout the county.

Keller’s challenge: Making the practical, nutritional food of Meals on Wheels more palatable. With a focus on fresh, local foods and an evolving demographic of Baby Boomer seniors joining the donation-based food delivery program, the organization wanted its meals to be more than just sustenance.

Continue reading ‘Reknown Sonoma County Chef Josef Keller to overhaul Meals on Wheels’ »

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CARING FOR AGING PARENTS: A short guide

5 May 2011, 3:41 pm

In telling the warmhearted story of caring for her own aged and ailing mother, New York Times journalist Jane Gross offers indispensable advice on virtually every aspect of elder care. Here are just a few of the vitally important lessons in caring for your aging parent—and yourself:

• Slow down: The collision of fear and ignorance leads to bad decisions and most don’t have to be made as quickly as it may seem.

• As painful as the role reversal between parent and child may be for you, assume it is worse for your mother or father, so take care not to demean or humiliate them.

• Denial, more often on your part than theirs, is the biggest obstacle to thoughtful planning. Talk to them, no matter how uncomfortable it makes you, about the future—medically, financially, residentially and in terms of end-of-life choices.

• Do not assume that a parent who reaches the age of 85 is going to die quickly or easily. He or she will likely need years of help with simple tasks like bathing, dressing, eating and toileting, which is not covered by Medicare. Only the very wealthy or the indigent get through this without spending enormous sums of money.

Continue reading ‘CARING FOR AGING PARENTS: A short guide’ »

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5 Little-Known Facts About Social Security

14 April 2011, 5:00 pm

FACT 1: Just about anybody who has worked for 10 or more years is eligible for Social Security retirement benefits.  “You need 40 quarters of employment, earning a minimum income of $1,000 per quarter,” says Brett Horowitz, principal and wealth manager at Evensky & Katz in Coral Gables, Fla. This income requirement can also be met with seasonal work. The only people not qualified are federal government employees hired before 1984 and railroad workers who get their benefits from the Railroad Retirement Board.

FACT 2: The size of your monthly check is arrived at by your primary insurance amount, or PIA. This is the benefit you would get at full retirement age and determines the size of your monthly retirement check. According to the SSA website, the PIA is based on the Average Indexed Monthly Earnings as applied to an inflation-adjusted formula. The PIA is then adjusted for whether you take retirement before or after your normal retirement age — 66 for those now reaching retirement age, but gradually adjusted to age 67 for those born after 1954. In keeping with the original intent behind Social Security — a way to lift seniors out of poverty — lower-wage earners get a higher proportion of their earnings than higher wage earners. The maximum monthly benefit that can be received in 2010 is $2,346.

FACT 3: If one partner in a marriage earns significantly less than the other, the lower-earning spouse can collect spousal benefits rather than payouts based on his or her own earnings history. A divorced spouse who was married for more than 10 years and has not remarried can draw against the ex-spouse’s work history. Widows and widowers can receive the higher of their own or their spouse’s monthly payment, but not both.

FACT 4: According to many studies, the Social Security trust fund will be able to cover its retirement and disability obligations for the next 30 years or so, after which there will be a shortfall of about 22 percent. The Senate Special Committee on Aging figures funds will fall short in 2037.

FACT 5: In theory, payroll deductions are held in trust by the government. But it’s not as if your money sits there in the Social Security trust fund waiting for you to retire. After current beneficiaries are paid, surplus dollars are used to buy bonds from the U.S. Treasury. So the trust has the bonds, but the money is now in the Treasury, where Congress can use it for any purpose. “The Social Security trust fund is … a piggybank holding paper IOUs from Congress,” Stumpf says. This is the first year that Social Security has had to cash in one of those bonds in order to meet its payroll

Accredited to Bankrate.com, Read more at Bankrate.com

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