GBO NEWS: USC Reporting Fellowships; DC Event Press Reg; Medicare Interactive; This Chair Rocks; & More
GENERATIONS BEAT ONLINE NEWS
E-News of the Journalists Network on Generations
February 23, 2016 — Volume 16, Number 3
Editor’s Note: GBO News, e-news of the Journalists Network on Generation publishes alerts for journalists, producers and authors covering generational issues. Send your news of important stories or books (by you and others), fellowships, awards or pertinent kvetches to GBO News Editor Paul Kleyman. You can subscribe to GBONews.org at no charge simply by sending a request to Paul with your name, address, phone number and editorial affiliation or note that you freelance. You’ll receive the table of contents as e-mail, just click through to the full issue at www.gbonews.org.
IN THIS ISSUE: You are our Superdelegate.
1. THE REPORTER’S CALENDAR: *** What’s Next Boomer Business Summit Washington, D.C., March 23; *** Aging in America conference in D.C., March 20-24; USC National Health Journalism Fellowship Deadline, March 18.
2. GEN BEATLES NEWS: *** This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism by Ashton Applewhite, (media review copies available); *** Birthday Shout-Out to author Herbert Gold, 92; *** “Active Aging Stories” Archive on YouTube; *** Orchestrating Change documentary in progress on Me2 Orechestra of mentally-ill classical musicians.
3. RESOURCES: *** Medicare Interactive, Medicare Rights Center’s site places “Medicare answers at your fingertips”; FTC’s Pass It On Website protects seniors from scams.
4. THE STORYBOARD: *** “Dying on the Streets: As the homeless age, a health care system leaves them behind,” by Bob Tedeschi, Stat News; *** New Approaches to Preventing Financial Exploitation: A Focus on the Banks,” by Peter A. Lichtenberg, Public Policy & Aging Report; *** “UCD School of Nursing: Can Familiar Music Improve Dementia Care?” by Rebecca Badeaux, Davis (Calif.) Enterprise; *** “Eat, Pray, Gain–Black Church Meals May Serve Fellowship With Obesity,” by Frederick H. Lowe NorthStarNews Today/New America Media; *** “Transforming Life As We Age,” PBS Next Avenue’s ongoing series of articles and videos on planning for later life; *** “Retirement Benefits Are Rigged to Favor the Rich,” by Sarah Anderson and colleagues, The Nation; *** “Colorado — Medicare for All?” by Sara Davidson, Huffington Post.
1. THE REPORTER’S CALENDAR
*** What’s Next Boomer Business Summit Program, “Seizing the Opportunity in the Longevity Economy” will be at the Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, D.C., Wed., March 23. This conference, held in conjunction with the American Society on Aging’s Aging in America gerontology meeting, offers reporters a major source for trends and developments in the “longevity economy,” including the latest market data and emerging technologies, products and services for our aging nation.
For instance, a session on the state of Innovation and technology will feature Terry Bradwell, AARP’s Chief Enterprise Strategy & Innovation Officer; Lee Rainie, who directs the Pew Research Center’s Director, Internet, Science and Technology; and David C. Rhew, M.D., Chief Medical Officer and Head of Healthcare and Fitness, Samsung Electronics America, plus others. Some other sessions will focus on financial security, new technology for caregiving, and “How the On-Demand Marketplace Serves the Longevity Economy” with a panel of top executives from Lyft, CareLinx and Airbnb and others.
Among the conference’s media speakers will be pollster and author John Zogby of Zogby Analytics, widely writer/blogger Sally Abrahms, and “Aging in Place Technology Watch” editor Laurie Orlov. For complimentary media registrations, contact Jamie Kopmann, jamie@andcopr.com, (310) 743-5300.
*** American Society on Aging’s Aging in America conference, Washington, D.C., March 20-24. The pressroom will be in Park Tower 8216 at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel, open 8-6, on Mon.-Wed. of conference week. Their approval of media badges has been uneven in recent years, and there’s no specific information on press registrations on the meeting’s website. So reporters interested in attending should contact the person listed as their media contact, Jutka Mandoki, 415-974-9630; jmandoki@asaging.org.
Also, reporters can contact age-beat veteran reporter Bob Rosenblatt, who has volunteered to help manage the pressroom at ASA. He e-mailed GBONews, “I will plan to have a gathering one evening, following our tradition of giving people a chance to mingle and network.” If you’re heading that way, check with him for more information and whether you’d like to meet and eat: bobrosenblatt7@gmail.com.
***Journalists Who “Think Big” are urged to apply for the USC Annenberg’s Center for Health Journalism’s 2016 National Health Journalism Fellowship. The deadline is March 18. The national fellowship has two components offering $2,000-$10,000 reporting grants each for a total of 20 working reporters in both the ethnic and mainstream media.
The release states, The all-expenses-paid fellowship includes 4½ days in mid-July of “workshops, seminars and a field trip that will enrich your understanding of the challenges facing vulnerable children and their families, including how community conditions help determine their prospects for health and well-being.”
The focus is on children, and intergenerational stories are welcome. For instance, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch just published a USC Annenberg Fellowship package, “The Crisis Within: How Toxic Stress and Trauma Endanger Our Children,” features a grandparent raising grandchildren. Another project in progress Georgia also involved grandparents raising their grandchildren.
The competition is open to both newsroom staffers and freelancers. For more information, visit CenterforHealthJournalism.org or e-mail Martha Shirk at Cahealth@usc.edu. USC suggests, “To improve your prospects for success, we strongly recommend that you discuss your project idea with us in advance (and no later than March 16).
2. GEN BEATLES NEWS
*** This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism is the new book by blogger and speaker Ashton Applewhite, who wrote GBONews, “I’ve been published by four of the big five publishers, but this time around I’ve decided to bring it to market myself. More work for sure, but more control, more opportunities to connect with readers, and more fun.” The official pub date is March 15, and journalists can request review copies at http://thischairrocks.com/?%20q=reviewcopies.
Applewhite stacked up blurbs from such luminaries as Anne Lamott, author of the classic on writing, Bird By Bird, among many titles, who enthused, “Wow. This book totally rocks. It arrived on a day when I was in deep confusion and sadness about my age—62.” Others are from artist Laurie Anderson (“This Chair Rocks is radical, exuberant, and full of all sorts of facts that erase many of the myths and beliefs about late life”), Nation columnist Katha Pollitt (“Vibrant, energetic, fact-filled and funny”), and others.
*** A Birthday Shout-Out to Herbert Gold. The author and journalist, who turns 92 on March 9, published his 34th book (his 20th novel), When a Psychopath Falls in Love, one year ago, and is currently working on a new memoir. His last book of essays was, Not Dead Yet: A Feisty Bohemian Explores the Art of Growing Old (Arcade Publishing, 2011).
Gold does much of his research walking and bus-riding San Francisco’s hills in the evening hours, then returning to his “Beatnik Hovel” atop Russian Hill to pound out stories on his black Royal manual, which he’s proud to say he bought used many a decade ago. It’s not so ancient, though, that it taps out Herb’s wry wisdom in cuneiform. He tried a computer once, but says he couldn’t get the right spring in his writing rhythm. His editors a grateful, though, that he sends articles and chapters on to a digital keyboardist, so they don’t have to revert to scissors-and-mucilage editing. (Ah, newsrooms vets, do you remember the smell of rubber cement in the morning?)
*** “Active Aging Stories” by writer and broadcaster Bernard Starr, PhD, are now queued up on their own YouTube channel. The dozen video documentaries, from a quarter- to a half-hour, “are about extraordinary older adults who dramatically illustrate that creativity, passion and productive living have no age limit,” says the site.
Of particular interest for reporters is the video with Roy Rowan, 86, “journalist, war correspondent, and author who published his ninth book in his 90’s.” Another piece includes a profile of Roy Eaton, a concert pianist who returned to classical music in his 50s.
Theater goers might especially enjoy, “Edith O’Hara: Her Life Is the Theater,” which Starr produced several years ago. She is now 99. He e-mailed GBONews, “Edith remarkably is still with us. I walked up those two flights of stairs with her, as she apparently she still does.” You can also read a piece about the 13th St. Repertory Theater, which she founded in 1972, at the Chelsea Now news site.
Starr noted. “She was a delight to work with –lively, enthusiastic– and exuding her passion for theater and working with young people.”
*** Orchestrating Change is a documentary in progress about the remarkable Me2 Orechestra based in Burlington, Vt., with a second orchestra in Boston. A project for the past two years of Emmy Award-winning filmmakers Margie Friedman and Barbara Multer-Wellin, the production tells the inspiring story of the only classical musical organization for musicians with mental illness and people who support them. Half of Me2/ (me too!) Orchestra’s musicians have been diagnosed with such conditions as bipolar disorder, anxiety, addiction, obsessive-compulsive disorder, schizophrenia and depression.
GBONews readers will see from the seven-minute excerpt posted on Vimeo (use the password: orchestra) that most of the musicians are younger or in midlife. You’ll also hear that they play at highly accomplished level.
Me2 Orchestra founder and conductor, Ronald Braunstein, who turns 60 this summer, “had a meteoric career,” until it evaporated with his diagnosis with bipolar disorder, according the filmmakers’ release. He had led major orchestras, such as the Berlin Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony, but the professional music world shunned him for his mental illness. He was nearly destitute when he founded the orchestra in 2011, “to create a safe haven for musicians with mental illnesses who continue to face the same stigma and discrimination Braunstein experienced.”
His goal is to create Me2/Orchestras in other major U.S. cities. Friedman and Multer-Wellin, who are fundraising through the nonprofit orchestra, have pledged, “Five percent of all funds we raise for the film will go directly to the ongoing support and growth of the organization.” Those interested in the project, can contact at Friedman at wgwmargie@aol.com; phone: (310) 418-0846.
3. A FEW GOOD SOURCES
*** Medicare Interactive is a newly updated resource for consumers and professionals, from the Medicare Rights Center. Promising “Medicare answers at your fingertips,” the site offers a range of information on the program from the most basic introduction to Medicare Interactive Pro (MI Pro), “a web-based curriculum designed to empower any professional to help their clients, patients, employees, retirees, and others navigate Medicare questions.” Reporters with questions can connect Communications VP, Deane Beebe, dbeebe@medicarerights.org; 212-204-6248.
*** Got Scams? Check Out the FTC’s Pass It On project to protect seniors from fraud. Even aging editors like GBO’s can find they’re not as wise to the wily as they thought when getting an unnerving robo-call stating, “This is the IRS.” The threat of a lawsuit for money you owe can animate one’s finger to call the number talk to a phony agent. Fortunately, in my case, I quickly realized something was amiss, but too many older Americans need to be informed that the IRS never calls, but always sends written notices. Unfortunately, the IRS’s website is not very helpful. But the Federal Trade Commission’s “Pass It On” website includes useful public information on such cons as identity theft, imposter schemes, charity fraud–and maybe that “free cruise to the Bahamas” I “won” the other day. You can also signup to receive e-mailed “Scam Alerts.” Reporters with questions can contact Jennifer Leach, assistant director of FTC’s Division of Consumer and Business Education, jleach@ftc.gov; (202) 326-3203.
4. THE STORYBOARD
*** “Dying on the Streets: As the Homeless Age, a Health Care System Leaves Them Behind,” by Bob Tedeschi, Stat News (Feb. 17): The piece compellingly opens with the story of Dwane Allen Foreman, 68, and homeless in East Oakland, Calif. He has “HIV, hepatitis C, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and, more recently, lung cancer, and he worries he will die on the street. If he does, he will be one of hundreds in the United States who do so every year, dying in the kind of squalor and emotional and physical suffering that is more commonly the hallmark of war zones and developing nations.”
Tedeschi continues, “Such cases are becoming more common, researchers said, as the homeless population ages. In the early 1990s, 11 percent of homeless adults were over 50. Now more than half are 50 or older. The homeless often look much older than their years. Their living conditions, addictions, and psychiatric disorders speed them to poor health, frequently with multiple life-threatening illnesses at once.”
Besides sources in California, the story cites experts and model programs in Portland, Ore., Chattanooga, Tenn., Washington, D.C., and Boston, Mass.
*** “New Approaches to Preventing Financial Exploitation: A Focus on the Banks,” appears in the latest issue of Public Policy & Aging Report (2016, Vol. 26, No. 1, 15–17), from the Gerontological Society of America. Author Peter A. Lichtenberg, PhD, is a leading scholar at the Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Mich. (E-mail: p.lichtenberg@wayne.edu.)
The piece beings, “An 84-year-old man with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease can no longer manage his money or even shop at the local grocery store, but when taken to a bank, he signs a notarized reverse mortgage and loses $240,000 to his handyman who has secretly befriended the man over a 6-month period. What is needed for the financial services industry to help prevent financial exploitation of this type while simultaneously not infringing upon the rights of its customers?”
Lichtenberg goes on, “Although anyone can be the victim of financial exploitation, declining cognition and early dementia are two of the greatest risk factors.” He describes the issues and proposes three solutions.
*** “UCD School of Nursing: Can Familiar Music Improve Dementia Care?” by Rebecca Badeaux, Davis (Calif.) Enterprise (Jan. 24): Those who saw the inspiring 2015 documentary feature, Alive Inside, showing how iPods with familiar music can revitalize many people with Alzheimer’s or other mental disorders, may know that music therapy projects seem to be widening. This article notes, “Approximately 70 percent of residents with dementia living in nursing homes are reported to have significant behavioral and psychiatric symptoms.”
In order to curtail the customary and frequently misused use of antipsychotic drugs for dementia patients, researchers from the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing at the University of California, Davis, is collaborating with the California Association of Health Facilities (CAHF), a long-term care trade group, on a three-year project aimed at improving dementia care through music and memory. It will use iPods to re-introduce nursing home residents to their favorite, personalized music to improve their day-to-day life and determine if familiar tunes can reduce the need for medication and improve their quality of life.” The researchers are associate professor Debra Bakerjian and assistant professor Elena O. Siegel.
But here’s really what caught the GBONews eye: “The $1.4 million grant program is funded from civil monetary penalties — fines collected in California for nursing home violations. CAHF will distribute Music & Memory to 4,500 residents across 300 nursing homes to document its effects on reducing the antipsychotic medication for people with dementia.” (If the question is, “Who knew?” the answer is former American Geriatrics Society head Jennie Chin Hansen, who gets a thank you for posting this on social media.)
*** “Eat, Pray, Gain–Black Church Meals May Serve Fellowship With Obesity,” by Frederick H. Lowe NorthStarNews Today/New America Media (Feb 9): Black churches provide fellowship and heaps of comfort food served to relieve stress–while contributing to a high obesity rate in the black community.
*** PBS Next Avenue’s “Transforming Life As We Age” is their ongoing series of articles and videos on many facets of planning for later life. The stories focus, says their website, “on everything from how you will afford help when you need it, to new kinds of communities that support older people, to ideas that promote creating a network of care.” The website includes about two dozen stories so far, such as, “Who’ll Pay for Americans to Live to 100?” by Unretirement author Chris Farrell; “He Broke the Law to Build a Better Nursing Home,” a profile of long-term care innovator Bill Thomas, MD, by Josh Walker; and “More Hospitals Must Now Keep Caregivers in the Loop,” by Anna Gorman. (She originated the article for Kaiser Health News through the Journalists in Aging Fellows program of New America Media and the Gerontological Society of America, supported by The Commonwealth Fund.) Another piece is “Why Can’t Norman Lear Get His Retirement Home Comedy on TV?” by Richard Harris, about the latest battle with the TV industry by the 93-year-old creator of “All in the Family” and “The Jeffersons.”
*** “Retirement Benefits Are Rigged to Favor the Rich,” by Sarah Anderson, Marc Bayard, John Cavanagh, Chuck Collins, Josh Hoxie and Sam Pizzigati, The Nation (March 7 issue): With the subhead, “Wealthy CEOs are sheltering too much of their pay. A cap could fund long-term care for all seniors.”
*** “Colorado — Medicare for All?” by Sara Davidson, both on Huffington Post and with an updated version her blog. She documents the latest “revolution” by a state trying to move knowing Congress won’t. Davidson writes, “A revolution is sprouting in Colorado that could make it the first state to create a single-payer health care system that covers every resident. They’re calling it Medicare for All. ColoradoCareYes, a citizens’ group, wrote an amendment and collected enough signatures to get ColoradoCare on the ballot in November. If passed, it would cover everyone, with no deductibles and no co-pays for primary care.”
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