Finding an Elder-Care Lawyer
Business Week, July 13 & 20, 2009
(This issue is full of articles about retirement)

Adam Swidler, a product marketing manager at Google (GOOG) in Mountain View, Calif., had the all-important caregiving talk with his father two years ago. He figured the conversation had covered the bases, namely his dad's wishes in the event of a medical crisis. But when his 76-year-old, divorced father became incapacitated from a stroke in March, Swidler found out how wrong that assumption had been. While his father had crafted an advance medical directive, which specifies the course of action in health-care matters, Swidler didn't have the right documentation to take control of his dad's money.

Click here for complete article in Business Week.

Mary Winners in SmartMoney
Our very own, Mary Winners of About Senior Solutions, was interviewed by SmartMoney Magazine on 5 Ways to Cut Elder-Care Costs. Here is a portion of that article:

"The so-called sandwich generation -- those caring for their children and their aging parents -- are being squeezed more than ever these days.

The retirement savings their parents were depending on are being decimated, while health care and other costs associated with
caring for them skyrocket. Add to that steep college tuition bills and the strain on the family budget is, well...overwhelming..."

Click Here to view Mary's comments and the rest of the article.

USC Finds Inspiration in Vasseghi
Doug Edwards sends this clip of our Dementia Tool Box Series featured speaker Sourena Vasseghi. A die-hard USC fan, Vasshegi, despite his severe cerebral palsy manages to inspire his team to "always compete." Click here for the story.

Wine RX Fountain of Youth
CBS' long running series of 60 Minutes draws our attention to the health benefits of red wine. A "fountain of youth pill" may be available as early as 2014.

"Sirtris is now developing what they say is a much more potent synthetic version of resveratrol that will also soon go into human trials, this time on cancer patients."

"Scientists have found a substance in red wine that is slowing down the aging process in mice. Will it someday lengthen the lives of humans, too? Morley Safer reports.

Originally aired on January 26, 2009.

CLICK HERE for article.

The Old Man and His Grandson
A Grimms Fairy Tale about getting old.
Sometimes it helps to look at things from another perspective.

There was once a very old man, whose eyes had become dim, his ears dull of hearing, his knees trembled, and when he sat at table he could hardly hold the spoon, and spilt the broth upon the table-cloth or let it run out of his mouth. His son and his son’s wife were disgusted at this, so the old grandfather at last had to sit in the corner behind the stove, and they gave him his food in an earthenware bowl, and not even enough of it. And he used to look towards the table with his eyes full of tears. Once, too, his trembling hands could not hold the bowl, and it fell to the ground and broke. The young wife scolded him, but he said nothing and only sighed. Then they brought him a wooden bowl for a few half-pence, out of which he had to eat.

They were once sitting thus when the little grandson of four years old began to gather together some bits of wood upon the ground. ’What are you doing there?’ asked the father. ’I am making a little trough,’ answered the child, ’for father and mother to eat out of when I am big.’

The man and his wife looked at each other for a while, and presently began to cry. Then they took the old grandfather to the table, and henceforth always let him eat with them, and likewise said nothing if he did spill a little of anything.