Seniors Site

The only thing that could save you from age discrimination and prevent abuse from happening to you is that if you arm yourself with proper knowledge and information about age discrimination. What pains me is when I hear stories from my senior friends telling me about how they lost their jobs or how they were not able to land a job they really wanted just because of their age. The company didn’t even consider the experience and expertise these old people have, they just flat out rejected them.

First off, there is a law that is designed to protect seniors against age discrimination in terms of employment. If you have time, read more about it here: Age Discrimination in Employment Act. This clearly outlines your rights as a senior in a workplace and what other things the law cannot protect you from. To be more specific, the law covers people 40 years old and above. Please take note of the age as there really is age discrimination within the 40s age group even if that number isn’t even too old to begin with.

In this post, I will try to summarize what was written on the ADEA but like I said, it is better to read the link if you have time just so if I missed a point and you found yourself in that certain situation, you would know what to do.

First off, your boss or the company cannot just fire you because of your age, nor refuse to hire you especially if you are qualified for the job. They also cannot limit your activities as an employee or separate you from the younger ones without a valid reason other than your age. Best of all, your wage shouldn’t be reduced just because you’re old. You should be paid accordingly.

When looking for a job, ADEA clearly stated that job ads shouldn’t mention age or age bracket as preference. As for employment agencies, they cannot refuse to refer you for employment or classify your application according to your age.

Now if you are a member of a labor organization, the org cannot just expel you or limit and classify your membership because of age. You shouldn’t be deprived of employment opportunities by your organization in any way in terms of age.

More importantly, if you found yourself filing charges against your employer or helping someone with their age-related cases against your employer, the employer as well as the company cannot harass you or discriminate you in any way.

Trends show that there has been a significant rise on senior divorces for the last 2 years and it is steadily growing overtime. Although this is not a cause for alarm, and indeed it is quite liberating for senior groups, I find myself a little saddened about this news for I know how difficult it is to cope with life after divorce as well as how important it is for a senior to have a partner to spend their golden days with.

10-15 years back, divorce at 60 is next to impossible. You don’t divorce at 60 back then, you just have to ride the waves and if the relationship turns sour, you just pray that your partner just drop dead. Divorce would be the farthest thing from your mind, now it is the next thing to come in mind as soon as you hit the aisle – some may even be thinking of divorce even before getting hitched!

Personally, I think there will be no good thing to ever come out of divorce. It is painful. Sometimes traumatic, not to mention can be really expensive. Personal advice is, if you are not sure of your partner then don’t get married at all. I’ve heard couples opting to live together and trying the relationship for years before finally getting married. This way, they will be able to “test” their compatibility when sharing a home and just call it quits if it won’t work. Unfortunately, this was not the practice during our time. Back then it was “have boyfriend, will marry” hence the number of senior couples hanging on just because our roots say so. This also makes it doubly difficult for seniors to cope with divorce. Below are some things you can do to survive divorce at 60:

* Strength is your bestfriend. In order to feel strong, you need to make your mind, body and soul stronger. Divorce is indeed draining but that doesn’t mean you have to let yourself be drained by what has been happening around you. Strengthen your body by exercising, your mind by meditation and soul by renewing faith.
* Seek closure. One of the most painful parts of a divorce is not knowing when to move on. And sometimes, even if you would want to leave everything behind you and start anew, divorce has this power to pull you back and make you suffer a little longer. At 60, you cannot afford dwelling on problems of the past as every single day is important. Do what you need to do now and move on.
* Reinvent yourself. Nothing screams new life than reinventing yourself. It will also make you feel in control and you have the freedom to do whatever you want.

I know you guys knew I love books. They are my solace, my escape, when things get tough. They are my friends, giving me advices where I need them and of course, they give me unbiased opinion of  things that are happening and those that are yet to come. If there is one thing I won’t be able to live without, it would be books, good books, that is.

I have had my fair share of bad books too. In my honest opinion, I am quite disappointed with writers today. They sprout like mushrooms but just a few make good stories. If you are not careful enough and you just buy whatever is the hype, you are bound to be disappointed and not to mention, a few, precious bucks down the drain. I, myself, and speaking for my age bracket, I sometimes find myself going back to classics – those written way before us as I find them refreshing and more insightful. Of course, it is a great plus to be getting them legally for free from most ebook sites. Amazon for one has vast collection of free ebooks you can download and read on your Kindle, computer and even your mobile phone (NOTE: a certain amount of techiness applies). Another favorite of mine is Project Gutenburg which offers ebooks in different formats.

For list, the only authority I seek guidance from is The New York Times as their list is always good. However, they have this “100 best novel of all time” list that I kept going back to when I ran out of good books to read, I renamed it as my 100 best novels I should read at least once in my lifetime and it never failed me:

1. “Ulysses,” James Joyce
2. “The Great Gatsby,” F. Scott Fitzgerald
3. “A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,” James Joyce
4. “Lolita,” Vladimir Nabokov
5. “Brave New World,” Aldous Huxley
6. “The Sound and the Fury,” William Faulkner
7. “Catch-22,” Joseph Heller
8. “Darkness at Noon,” Arthur Koestler
9. “Sons and Lovers,” D. H. Lawrence
10. “The Grapes of Wrath,” John Steinbeck
11. “Under the Volcano,” Malcolm Lowry
12. “The Way of All Flesh,” Samuel Butler
13. “1984,” George Orwell
14. “I, Claudius,” Robert Graves
15. “To the Lighthouse,” Virginia Woolf
16. “An American Tragedy,” Theodore Dreiser
17. “The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter,” Carson McCullers
18. “Slaughterhouse Five,” Kurt Vonnegut
19. “Invisible Man,” Ralph Ellison
20. “Native Son,” Richard Wright
21. “Henderson the Rain King,” Saul Bellow
22. “Appointment in Samarra,” John O’ Hara
23. “U.S.A.” (trilogy), John Dos Passos
24. “Winesburg, Ohio,” Sherwood Anderson
25. “A Passage to India,” E. M. Forster
26. “The Wings of the Dove,” Henry James
27. “The Ambassadors,” Henry James
28. “Tender Is the Night,” F. Scott Fitzgerald
29. “The Studs Lonigan Trilogy,” James T. Farrell
30. “The Good Soldier,” Ford Madox Ford
31. “Animal Farm,” George Orwell
32. “The Golden Bowl,” Henry James
33. “Sister Carrie,” Theodore Dreiser
34. “A Handful of Dust,” Evelyn Waugh
35. “As I Lay Dying,” William Faulkner
36. “All the King’s Men,” Robert Penn Warren
37. “The Bridge of San Luis Rey,” Thornton Wilder
38. “Howards End,” E. M. Forster
39. “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” James Baldwin
40. “The Heart of the Matter,” Graham Greene
41. “Lord of the Flies,” William Golding
42. “Deliverance,” James Dickey
43. “A Dance to the Music of Time” (series), Anthony Powell
44. “Point Counter Point,” Aldous Huxley
45. “The Sun Also Rises,” Ernest Hemingway
46. “The Secret Agent,” Joseph Conrad
47. “Nostromo,” Joseph Conrad
48. “The Rainbow,” D. H. Lawrence
49. “Women in Love,” D. H. Lawrence
50. “Tropic of Cancer,” Henry Miller
51. “The Naked and the Dead,” Norman Mailer
52. “Portnoy’s Complaint,” Philip Roth
53. “Pale Fire,” Vladimir Nabokov
54. “Light in August,” William Faulkner
55. “On the Road,” Jack Kerouac
56. “The Maltese Falcon,” Dashiell Hammett
57. “Parade’s End,” Ford Madox Ford
58. “The Age of Innocence,” Edith Wharton
59. “Zuleika Dobson,” Max Beerbohm
60. “The Moviegoer,” Walker Percy
61. “Death Comes to the Archbishop,” Willa Cather
62. “From Here to Eternity,” James Jones
63. “The Wapshot Chronicles,” John Cheever
64. “The Catcher in the Rye,” J. D. Salinger
65. “A Clockwork Orange,” Anthony Burgess
66. “Of Human Bondage,” W. Somerset Maugham
67. “Heart of Darkness,” Joseph Conrad
68. “Main Street,” Sinclair Lewis
69. “The House of Mirth,” Edith Wharton
70. “The Alexandria Quartet,” Lawrence Durrell
71. “A High Wind in Jamaica,” Richard Hughes
72. “A House for Ms. Biswas,” V. S. Naipaul
73. “The Day of the Locust,” Nathaniel West
74. “A Farewell to Arms,” Ernest Hemingway
75. “Scoop,” Evelyn Waugh
76. “The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie,” Muriel Spark
77. “Finnegans Wake,” James Joyce
78. “Kim,” Rudyard Kipling
79. “A Room With a View,” E. M. Forster
80. “Brideshead Revisited,” Evelyn Waugh
81. “The Adventures of Augie March,” Saul Bellow
82. “Angle of Repose,” Wallace Stegner
83. “A Bend in the River,” V. S. Naipaul
84. “The Death of the Heart,” Elizabeth Bowen
85. “Lord Jim,” Joseph Conrad
86. “Ragtime,” E. L. Doctorow
87. “The Old Wives’ Tale,” Arnold Bennett
88. “The Call of the Wild,” Jack London
89. “Loving,” Henry Green
90. “Midnight’s Children,” Salman Rushdie
91. “Tobacco Road,” Erskine Caldwell
92. “Ironweed,” William Kennedy
93. “The Magus,” John Fowles
94. “Wide Sargasso Sea,” Jean Rhys
95. “Under the Net,” Iris Murdoch
96. “Sophie’s Choice,” William Styron
97. “The Sheltering Sky,” Paul Bowles
98. “The Postman Always Rings Twice,” James M. Cain
99. “The Ginger Man,” J. P. Donleavy
100. “The Magnificent Ambersons,” Booth Tarkington

It’s quite heartbreaking to see Haiti in the news nowadays, despite the fact that weeks had passed since the destructive earthquake and help from global communities just keep on pouring in. Search and rescue operations are still ongoing, volunteers from all over the world keep on arriving everyday but still those who lost a loved-one are not yet allowed to mourn as they need to keep the spirit alive for those who are lucky enough to survive. If there’s one good thing that the disaster brought the country of Haiti, it is the awareness of how bad we have been treating our environment and sadly, we are the same species to ultimately suffer.
I would say that if this is something that can be remedied in a week, most likely it would be forgotten by now. But, the magnitude of destruction the country of Haiti had experienced would require long-term planning and solution as the country is literally in shreds and yes, any form of help is most welcomed at this point and hopefully when Haiti is finally restored, it will be better than before.
Which got us all thinking, in times like these, we only have ourselves to rely on. We do damage, we suffer the consequences, we try to restore. For those who were miles away from Haiti or even those in its safer neighboring cities when the disaster struck, we cannot help but thank God we’re safe. But it doesn’t have to end there, we should also think of ways to extend our help for our fellow Haitians. It really doesn’t matter what kind of help, just as long as you exerted enough effort to help those in need. Seniors are no exception!
A retirement home in Canada started collecting milk bags which residents there started weaving to create plastic mats for rescue operations in Haiti. It may not be much but the doctors there thank these elderly volunteers for spending time to do such things as these mats prove to be very useful in maintaining a certain amount of cleanliness when they operate on a rescued person.  Raffles sponsored by senior groups and organizations started to circulate to help raise funds for Haiti. Indeed, anybody, no matter what your status in life seems to be can help in your own ways. There are also several websites accepting monetary donations for those who are unable to actively participate in rescue efforts in Haiti. Here are some websites you can try:
http://www.hopeforhaiti.com/
http://www.redcross.org/
http://www.unicef.org/index.php
http://doctorswithoutborders.org/

If there’s one group that is adamant in chasing these statistics, it is the MOWAA or the Meal On Wheels Association of America. This group provides food for those in need, even delivers it to your home which proves to be very beneficial for seniors who are no longer capable of moving around, much less cook their own food. MOWAA is very particular when it comes to understanding and finding a solution for senior hunger. They aim to improve seniors’ quality of life at the same time, keeping them healthy despite their current condition. To know more about Meals on Wheels, click here.
Unfortunately, a recent study done by the group stated that they fear the condition is not improving, in fact, it keeps getting worse! They foresee more seniors facing hunger in the coming years and the group is now calling for community involvement to strengthen their mission and be able to reach out more effectively to hungry seniors all throughout America. Taken into account is the non-recovery of the world’s economic status in which it was found out that seniors are taking the direct hit.
Even with funding and sponsors, Meals on Wheels admitted that they can only do so much in keeping these hungry seniors alive as the demand for such nutritional services keep on growing everyday. Clearly a case of overwhelming demand versus limited amount of resources. This is also the reason why the group pushed for resolving the problem instead of just providing temporary solution in hopes of somehow getting to the root cause of the problem and be able to get these seniors provide for their own in the future.
According to their study, aside from poverty, it was found out that hunger is more likely to occur in a house wherein a senior is living alone. If truth be told, they highly suggest for these seniors to seek help in assisted living facilities or even a companion in the house to be able to monitor their regular food intake. Sadly, this is not their call to make.
Hunger can actually affect one’s health. It can trigger underlying diseases or even worsen the existing ones. Seniors who are in constant hunger state are also in a great risk for serious health problems. This is something that MOWAA hopes to avoid. Interestingly, according to their studies, there is more to seniors’ hunger than poverty. Factors to affect seniors’ hunger problem are:
·    Education. It was found out that those who didn’t finish school are most likely to suffer hunger later in life.
·    Living alone. This includes widow, separated and dissolved marriages without any children to look after them.
·    Debts. It may be due to supporting a grandchild or even renting his or her home. Single parents are also a likely candidate.
·    Out of job. When a senior finds himself sacked out of the job, it’s quite hard to get up on feet again.

National Fire Data Center has released their figures and data pointing out that older adults are indeed at risk when there’s fire. The staggering numbers do say it all! See full report here.
It was found out that at age 65, a senior doubles his or her risk of dying in a home fire and triples it when he reaches the age of 75. Sad facts but true, but what’s clear and evident in this study is seniors are never safe even in their own homes. This is especially true for those who have limited range of motion or those who are no longer capable of caring for themselves.
Some of the reasons why fires occur in a senior’s home were pointed out in their report. These are: smoking, ignited furniture or bedding, and cooking. If we are to connect the dots in this report, it’s fairly easy to see that it all boils down to carelessness. Either that, or memory gap, choose your pick. As to the reason why most seniors with homes afire never made it out alive is partly blamed to the “unpreparedness” of the victim.
If “don’t play with fire” works for children, we seniors should also heed the call, that is if we aim to live longer lives and not be burnt to a crisp! Reaching a certain age when we feel we are easily distracted and forget activities soon after we are engaged in the next one should make us realize that fire and flames instantly become a threat not only to our lives but also to our families. Be aware of your movements when starting a fire, never leave it blazing and kill it off as soon as you’re ready to move on to your next chore will help you tremendously in avoiding fires. Here are some tips on how to fight off the fire risk:
·    Always keep your emergency kit near you. When going to bed, put it right beside you where you can easily grab it on your way out. Your emergency kit should include:  your glasses and flashlight, medications, etc..
·    Avoid smoking while in a position that is prone to you falling asleep i.e lying down. It was found out that cigarettes are the common cause of an ignited furniture or bedding, with the senior on top of it!
·    NEVER, NEVER leave a stove or even the oven open. If you need to go out of the kitchen, turn everything off or yell for someone to watch it for you. No ifs, no buts!
·    Install fire detectors especially to areas that are considered as high-risk.
·    Have a water sprinkle attached with the fire detector so it could easily put the fire down while manageable.

One of the worst things that can ever happen to a senior is when they are forced to give up their privacy just because they are no longer capable of caring for themselves. In fact, it stays as the number one reason why seniors give their loved-ones a hard time when pursued to have themselves moved to assisted living facilities or even have someone to care for them in their own homes such as home care. Aside from the apparent reason of compromising one’s “ego”, what these younger people don’t understand is that losing our privacy contributes immensely to the very stressful situation.

But, whether we like or not, we have to admit that we are no longer safe when left alone. Especially if our aging bodies are already harboring one hundred and one life threatening illnesses that are bound to attack anytime. Most of these illnesses do not manifest ahead of time nor give warning when it’s due. They just happen, worst, they happen when nobody is around to attend to us. With that said, we know that in order to prolong our lives, we must act fast in making our dilemmas meet half way.

Some blog posts ago, we’ve discussed how technology was able to help seniors solve part of their problems. There were pendants and belt-clipped devices that can alert a nearby person that the wearer is in dire trouble with just a push of a button. Although these devices were able to save seniors from greater danger, it failed to steer seniors away from dangerous situations altogether.

Good news is, many manufacturers are now moving in for the kill! The new and improved alert devices that were merely a loud, buzzing speaker can now do so much more! According to sources, it can now answer the phone, remind the senior when it’s time to take meds and even prepare the medicines to be taken when it’s time. Other uses include alerting the wearer when there’s fire or intruder in his home. It also has motion detector that monitors the senior’s movement and studies the wearer’s activity pattern such as sleep and walk. It can also be programmed to work with other devices that the senior or the monitoring facility may have.

Seniors who are able to experience first hand these high tech devices swear by them. It was reported that having one gives them added protection and security which enabled them to stay at home by their own. Health care providers encourage seniors to try these devices if they opt to stay at home without any supervision.

Yes, you read that one right! Due to aftermath of holiday rush and all, the author has stumbled upon this very interesting article about seniors’ shopping behavior and how they landed the title of being the biggest buying group in the US. Obviously even with recession and limited job opportunities, we, seniors, still hold the buying power.

For years, it was reported that the older adults’ group, particularly baby boomers, represents the strongest buying generation and this group has the upperhand when it comes to consumer demand, playing almost 50% of it. Must be the reason why most infomercials and adverts we see are specifically targeted to seniors! Close second being the teens’ group.

Companies have reported that older adults are easier to convince when offered a product since they know exactly what they want, unlike younger folks. Let’s not forget that seniors do hold their own bank accounts so they can pretty much buy whatever they want, whenever they want it. Also, these companies found out that it is easier to attract this group than any other generations out there just by giving them their three major reasons to buy:  price versus quality, excellent service and the product should make them feel good about themselves.

So why seniors? Like mentioned earlier, seniors hold their own money hence it’s easier for them to buy things without someone questioning them. Also, with so many adverts directed to them, it’s quite hard to turn a blind eye and not be convinced that indeed these products are good for you. Aside from that, if we take a closer look to our shopping behavior, take for example our last Christmas shopping spree, most probably we would find our shopping bags filled with the things that were not intended for us. Seniors buy for their friends, children and much, much more for their grandchildren! Combine all these purchases and you get a high-powered consumer!

Moreover, never, even for one second, think that not all seniors are capable of loitering around shopping malls or force their way into year-end sale just because it’s physically impossible for them to do so. Well, according to surveys, most seniors, and even those who are just nearing the golden age, do their shopping using the internet, via online stores, without the hassle of physically transporting your body to somewhere unsafe. Flights are booked online, look for product information online, find suppliers online, we even do our market days online and let them deliver it right on our doorsteps!

Good news for working seniors, effective last Friday, July 24, 2009, the third installment of minimum wage increase came through. Although the increase is not a life-changing one, this proves to be very helpful for most seniors struggling with daily expenses, and not to mention their medical needs and bills. This is the third and final federal wage increase which preceded the first two ones in 2007 and 2008. However, if as an employee you are qualified for both state and federal wages, the higher of two shall apply.

The wage increase states that there should be a 70-centavos raise to the $6.55 making it at about $7.25 per hour. This means that there will be a $28 more every week for employed seniors if you are working under the federal minimum wage. On the other hand, seniors who are working under the disability program, please be reminded that you are entitled to receive special minimum wage for workers with disability. Furthermore, seniors who are working through the Senior Citizen Employment Program are also eligible for the increase. State wage is expected to follow lead after the federal wage increase has taken effect.

Working seniors are now looking forward to their next paycheck knowing that there will be a big difference as compared to their last one. Most of them are thankful for the increase since it will help them tremendously with their daily living expenses—something that keeps these seniors working even if it’s way beyond their retirement years. It seems that everyone in the workforce had been looking forward for this raise for some time now considering the fact that the economic crisis has been affecting us still.

Prior to this very good news, there had been debates on whether to push through with the wage increase or postpone it for next year. Economic analysts argued against it since they fear that it will only aggravate the situation further. What they fear the most is that small businesses might see the need to cut back on hiring employees or shorten their working hours to ease the stress of wage increase to their businesses. Also, big companies who are hiring employees on a regular basis would be compelled to seek people who are better experienced for the job at hand, eliminating the possibility for entry level jobs which help those first time workers with no experience under their belts. Nonetheless, this situation doesn’t pose any risk for seniors but is proving to be an advantage since most seniors are well-experienced and don’t need further training.

Apparently, bedbugs are infesting senior housing facilities all throughout America, the most recent reported case being the one in Boston where residents were asked to prepare their things for pests’ extermination come Friday. As to where the residents will stay during the 5-hour mandatory evacuation of the said building during the extermination period is still undisclosed. This is to address the parasite problem discovered sometime last week

Bedbugs in senior facilities have been a major problem for sometime now, no matter how hard housing authorities fight to keep and maintain their facilities habitable for occupants. Parasitic problems such as this one are considered as stressful for senior residents; as much as possible house keepers make sure their facilities are clean and free of any biting bugs to bother their residents. Unfortunately, these things seem to find their way in albeit uninvited.

Some residents are quite unhappy about these bedbugs and seek help from their landlords; After all, this is the housing management’s responsibility but it seems that there are landlords who choose to do little or nothing at all about the problem at hand. Because of this, seniors are stuck trying their best to live with bedbugs until the management finds time to address the problem.

Bedbugs multiply fast; that is why if given 2 years, they could cover the whole area effectively. Actually, bedbugs are widespread and their mode of transmission is fairly easy. They can easily be transported from one hotel room straight to your home or from your home to the senior housing facility via your luggage. Bedbug bites cause allergic reaction for some aside from the very visible bite mark it leaves behind. Because of the ever increasing number of reported cases over the last few years, a bill was introduced last May 2009 that aims to protect Americans from bedbugs. The bill, aptly named as “Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite Act of 2009”, intends to have lodging facilities inspected for bedbugs although senior housing facilities are not mentioned within the bill as it is targeted towards hotels and motel rooms so far.

The best way to prevent bedbugs from invading your home is knowing how to look for them. Almost always, they come from hotel rooms during vacations which means, you must be aware of the telltale signs such as fecal spots, blood spots and musty smell when renting out. Bedbugs are nocturnal creatures so you won’t see them during the day and they usually surface only when they know you’re already asleep. The best place to look for bedbugs is the bed since this is the place where they live; however, for heavily infested areas, they can also be found in walls and cabinets.