GBO NEWS: 16 Journalism Fellows Named; Health Reporting IT Conference; Age Discrimination & Jobs; Going Gray in LA; & MORE
GENERATIONS BEAT ONLINE NEWS
E-News of the Journalists Network on Generations
Sept. 12, 2016 — Volume 16, Number 14
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: No Apologies! (But Get Your Pneumonia and Flu Shots.)
1. EYES ON THE PRIZE: *** Journalists in Aging Fellows Program Selects 16 Reporters; ***Center for Health, Media & Policy Awards Fellowship to Melissa Patrick of Kentucky Health News; ***Digital Health Awards entry deadline this Fri., Sept. 16.
2. CALENDAR: *** “Will Health IT Help an Aging Population?” panel set for the Association of Health Care Journalism’s Workshop on Health Information Technology in San Francisco, Oct. 13-14; *** Latinos for a Secure Retirement (LSR) Coalition 5th Annual “Retiring with Dignity” Summit, to be held at and livestreamed from Capitol Hill Wed., Sept, 21; ***6th Annual Legacy Film Festival on Aging, San Francisco, Sept. 16-18, showing15 films from seven countries.
3. THE STORYBOARD: “More Older People Are Finding Work, But What Kind?” by Quoctrung Bui, New York Times (Aug. 18), plus, “You’re How Old? We’ll Be in Touch,” by “This Chair Rocks” blogger, Ashton Applewhite, NYT (Sept. 3); *** “Older and Jobless–the U.S. Recovery’s Forgotten Story,” by Mark Miller, Reuters (Sept. 8); *** “Looking for Work After 60,” by Ruby de Luna, KUOW Public Radio, Seattle (Aug. 17); *** “Writing a ‘Last Letter’ When You’re Healthy” by V.J. Periyakoil, M.D., New York Times (Sept. 7); *** “Studies Indicate Need for Better Eye Care for Older Adults,” by Liz Seegert, Association of Health Care Journalists website.
4. GEN BEATLES NEWS: *** Producer Ruxandra Guidi and photographer Bear Guerra Launch Year-Long “Going Gray in LA” Project on KCRW Public Radio Website; *** Herb Weiss’ publishes Taking Charge: Collected Stories on Aging Boldly” *** “Make the Most of Your Brief Time on Earth,” by Garrison Keillor, Washington Post (Aug. 17).
1. EYES ON THE PRIZE
*** Journalists in Aging Fellows Program Selects 16 Reporters: New America Media (NAM) and the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) have selected 16 reporters, eight each from the mainstream and ethnic/senior press, for its 2016-17 fellowships. For the seventh year, a panel of journalists and gerontologists selected Fellows to attend GSA’s Annual Scientific Meeting in New Orleans, Nov. 16-20.
The Fellows, who will receive a $1,500 stipend for their projects, include:
Francisco Castro, Metro Editor, La Opinión, Los Angeles: Varied series on daily struggles of older Latino, elder abuse and “old love”; Lois M. Collins, staff writer, Deseret News, Salt Lake City, on redefining “community” in old age; Alice Daniel, Fresno Bureau, KQED-FM “California Report,” on mental illness in elderly Hmong and Lao refugees; Merdis “Penny” Dickerson, Florida Courier and Daytona Times, on hunger among older African Americans; Neil Gonzales, Philippine News, Union City, Calif., series on barriers to and opportunities for healthy aging; Leoneda Inge, reporter, WUNC North Carolina Public Radio, Durham, N.C., on “reverse migration” of black retirees to North Carolina; Erica Manfred, technology columnist, SeniorPlanet.com, series on accessibility of hearing-loss technology; Deborah Martinez, reporter/producer, KSFR FM (Northern New Mexico Radio Foundation, Santa Fe, N.M.), series on retirement; Sister Charlene Muhammad, Contributor, Los Angeles Sentinel and L.A., Watts Times Weekender, on the intersection of homelessness, dementia and substance abuse.
Also tapped for fellowships were Beth Pinsker (Gladstone), personal finance writer, Thomson Reuters, Brooklyn, N.Y., on “Generation X’s Retirement Gap”; Katy Read, staff writer, Minneapolis Star Tribune, on isolation and loneliness; Randy Rieland, technology columnist, Smithsonian, Washington, D.C., series on IT and aging. Afi-Odelia E. Scruggs, freelancer, Alldigitocracy.org, South Euclid, Ohio, about media coverage of diverse older Americans and ageism; Michael O. Schroeder, health editor, U.S. News & World Report, Washington, D.C., on financial exploitation; Chandra Thomas Whitfield, contributor, Aurora, Colo., NBCBLK (NBCNews.com section for African Americans) on LGBT seniors of color; and Ke “April” Xu, reporter, Sing Tao Daily (New York) on scams haunting Chinese elders.
This year’s nonprofit sponsors are the Silver Century Foundation, AARP, the Commonwealth Fund, the Retirement Research Foundation, and the John A. Hartford Foundation.
Besides the fellowship program, other reporters attending this year’s conference can apply for a complimentary press registration and attend daily press luncheons and a media reception. For details, contact GSA’s Todd Kluss, tkluss@geron.org; (202) 587-2839.
***Center for Health, Media & Policy (CHMP) Fellowship to Melissa Patrick of Kentucky Health News: Patrick, the 2016-17 Nursing and Healthcare Workforce Media Fellow, will devote eight-months to producing long- and short-form print and multimedia projects for Kentucky Health News. Stories will be cross-published by HealthCetera, CHMP’s blog, and New America Media, which is partnering with the Center on dissemination. A former nurse, Patrick will mainly focus on rural health issues, such as shortages of nurses in schools and community settings, and the emerging role of advance-practice nurses.
According to CHMP Co-director Diana Mason, PhD, RN, the fellowship is designed to aid an early-career health journalist improve understanding and coverage of healthcare workforce issues. Mason, immediate past president of the American Academy of Nursing, said in a release that nursing-workforce issues receive little media attention beyond superficial coverage of nurse practitioners as physician substitutes.
She and Center co-director, Barbara Glickstein, RN, have produced the radio program, Healthstyles, at New York’s public radio station WBAI, for 30 years. The fellowship is supported by the Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing’s Future. For more information on the fellowship program or CHMP, contact Liz Seegert, liz@healthmediapolicy.com, or Mason, diana@healthmediapolicy.com.
*** The Digital Health Awards entry deadline is this Friday, Sept. 16. Entries can be in categories for consumers of health professionals. The award completion is offered twice yearly.
2. CALENDAR
*** “Will Health IT Help an Aging Population?” is one panel set for the Association of Health Care Journalism’s (AHCJ) Journalism Workshop on Health Information Technology set for San Francisco, Oct. 13-14.
The conference luncheon keynoter will be B. Vindell Washington, M.D, newly named national coordinator for health information technology at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Individual sessions will examine such issues as the tech impact on quality of care, localizing health IT stories, the state of virtual medicine, big data, and the role IT can play in combating health disparities.
The session on IT and aging (scheduled for Friday, Oct. 14, 10:15-11:45 a.m.) will explore the cutting edge of products and tech-assisted services, accessibility, affordability, ethnic and language concerns among many issues. It will bring together Richard Adler, distinguished fellow, Institute for the Future, and principal, People and Technology; V.J. Periyakoil, MD, director, Stanford Palliative Care Education and Training Program, Stanford University School of Medicine, and chair of the Ethnogeriatrics Committee, American Geriatrics Society; and David Lindeman, PhD., director of health, Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society and director of U.C.’s Center for Technology and Aging. GBONews Editor Paul Kleyman, who directs the elders newsbeat at New America Media (NAM), will moderate.
*** The Latinos for a Secure Retirement (LSR) Coalition will hold its 5th Annual “Retiring with Dignity” Summit, at the Rayburn House Office Building, Rooms B-338 and B-339, in Washington, D.C., Wed., Sept, 21, 11:00 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Eastern.
Everything will be livestreamed, but the lunch, which will be provided to those able to attend in person. The program promises to examine current legislative and policy issues for Hispanic elders at the national, state and local levels. Contact Patricia Rojas for press registrations or to learn how to join the conference online.
***6th Annual Legacy Film Festival on Aging, San Francisco, Sept. 16-18, showing 15 short and feature films from seven countries. “Our mission is to present an annual film festival with films that educate, entertain and inspire intergenerational audiences about the issues of aging: the triumphs and challenges.” Check out the schedule of films on art and music for Alzheimer’s patients, homeless elders, elder robots in Japan and the Netherlands and much more.
Remember Me by Steven Goldbloom stars Academy Award winner Rita Moreno in a comedy about her road trip with two competitive 30-something cousins faced with a family crisis.
Festival creator and director, Shelia Malkind, says, “For many people, ‘aging’ or ‘old’ connotes frailty, and loss, but having worked in the field of aging for 50 years, I see people in the films who face these challenges with creativity, courage, humor, and grace.”
3. THE STORYBOARD
*** “More Older People Are Finding Work, But What Kind?” by Quoctrung Bui, New York Times (Aug. 18): “Leading with the understatement of the year on this topic, Bui writes, “The rules of the job market aren’t the same for older workers.” He continues, “As men and women 55 and older looking for employment probably suspect, at a certain point the kinds of jobs available to them narrow significantly.”
He cites new research by economist Matthew Rutledge, and colleagues at the Boston College’s Center for Retirement Research showing older workers are increasingly funneled into what they call “old-person” jobs. Bui adds, “Not surprisingly, older workers with the least education have the narrowest set of opportunities, though Mr. Rutledge found this effect was small. The article, presented with an intricate chart including more bubbles than a fish tank, shows where jobs are (often lower-paying) and aren’t for older workers.
Bui goes on to note a study by Richard W. Johnson of the Urban Institute, who used the Census Bureau’s Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP data) (2008 to 2012) to reveal that “workers age 62 and older with a college degree had less than a 50 percent chance of finding work even after two years of actively looking. For the same age group without a college degree, the chances fell to 35 percent. Among the reasons Bui cites for stats showing more older workers in the labor force today: “Fewer have pensions. Many had their finances severely damaged during the recession.”
Talk about burying the lead, at least for gen-beat readers, Bui asks, “But still: fewer choices, lower pay, more rejections. Are these signs of age discrimination?” The story references a study by David Neumark, of the University of California, Irvine, “that sent out 40,000 fake résumés to employers who had posted openings. Some résumés suggested the applicants’ age, while others didn’t.” CV’s suggesting an applicant was 64 to 66 got responses 35 percent less often than those indicating the applicant was 29 to 31.
Said Neumark, “The one thing that people always point out is that acceptability for age stereotyping is extremely high. The number of people who make age-related jokes are way more frequent than people who make race-related jokes. For whatever reason, the social stigma for age discrimination is really weak.”
Neumark concluded, “Governments all over the world are trying to figure how to get old people to stay at work longer. If we have discriminatory barriers, then all these reforms will be less effective.“
*** For a related angle, see “You’re How Old? We’ll Be in Touch,” by “This Chair Rocks” blogger, Ashton Applewhite, NYT (Sept. 3): “Age segregation impoverishes us, because it cuts us off from most of humanity and because the exchange of skills and stories across generations is the natural order of things. In the United States, ageism has subverted it.”
***Also “Older and Jobless–the U.S. Recovery’s Forgotten Story,” by Mark Miller, Reuters (Sept. 8): Miller quotes labor economist Teresa Ghilarducci, director of the New School’s Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis (SCEPA) in New York, who said growing labor demand likely will bring more jobs for older workers as employers become less picky. “But that will not happen until wages rise significantly — something that has yet to occur in the current recovery, according to Ghilarducci.”
She told Miller, “Economists have been surprised by the increasingly weak relationship between wages and low unemployment,” Ghilarducci said. In July, 29 percent of older full-time workers age 55-64 were in what she calls “bad jobs,” earning less than two-thirds of the median wage for workers in that age range. She added that when older displaced workers find new jobs, they typically earn only about 75 percent of their former pay.
Miller goes on, “These income disruptions play havoc with retirement plans. Nearly half of current retirees retire earlier than planned, according to survey research by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. And 60 percent of older workers who experience involuntary job loss end up retiring involuntarily, according to the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.”
*** AND “Looking for Work After 60,” by Ruby de Luna, KUOW Public Radio, Seattle (Aug. 17), text story with 4:47 min. audio link: “Eight years have passed since the Great Recession. It almost seems like a distant event. But older workers haven’t completely recovered despite signs of boom times. Like Rebecca Crimmins. If you look at her résumé, it looks solid . . . . ‘My mom died, I got cancer,’ she says. ‘I was out of work. I was, you know, “Oh wow, this is pretty dramatic!”’”
*** “Writing a ‘Last Letter’ When You’re Healthy” by V.J. Periyakoil, M.D., New York Times (Sept. 7): Periyakoil, who directs the Stanford Palliative Care Education and Training Program, poignantly describes how her 15 years, as a geriatrics and palliative care doctor moved her to develop a free online template in eight languages to encourage people to write a last letter to their loved ones, either when they are ill or still healthy, “before it’s too late.” The guide paces people through seven life-review tasks: “acknowledging important people in our lives; remembering treasured moments; apologizing to those we may have hurt; forgiving those who have hurt us; and saying ‘thank you, ‘I love you” and ‘goodbye.’”
Peryiakoil writes that she found herself inspired to develop the Stanford Letter Project some years ago when she videotaped one of her palliative care patients at the Palo Alto VA Medical Center. A “Marine combat veteran who had lived on a staple diet of Semper Fi and studied silence all his life,” the man was able to tell Periyakoli and then her camcorder of his regrets and his love for his wife of 50 years and their son. He was able to speak candidly in ways he could never express to them in person. The video would bring them to tears.
*** “Studies Indicate Need for Better Eye Care for Older Adults,” by Liz Seegert, Association of Health Care Journalists website (Sept. 9): In a recent nationwide poll, researchers from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, found that the nearly half of respondents (47.4 percent) across all ethnic and racial groups described loss of eyesight as the worst ailment that could happen to them. While most (87.5 percent) believe good vision is vital to overall health, many were unaware of important eye diseases and their behavioral or familial risk factors.”
4. GEN BEATLES NEWS
*** Producer Ruxandra Guidi and photographer hubby Bear Guerra just saw their in-progress, yearlong project about aging in Los Angeles achieve web-hood. “Going Gray in LA: Stories of Aging Along Broadway” has been launched online by public radio station KCRW (Santa Monica). The first two radio stories have aired on KCRW, and the site includes initial photo essays and other content. More will be broadcast and posted through next spring, including radio, the web, photos, plus public forum and installations.
The couple has been a media team for a dozen years. Ruxandra e-mailed GBONews, “You ask how we got to this topic: We used to live at the top of North Broadway, around Lincoln Heights, and would see so many elders out and about on our way to work each day. They seemed to be invisible among all the other people rushing out to work. Our parents, too, are facing some tough challenges that come with age. The time felt ripe to tell some personal stories in a slow and thoughtful way.”
She added in a separate note, “I think I could help tell stories about seniors and their place in society for ever, so I hope to keep finding opportunities to do so.” Their work can be found at fonografiacollective.com and bearguerra.com. “Going Gray in LA” is sponsored by the Eisner Foundation, as in former Disney CEM (Chief Executive Mouse), Michael Eisner. Those interested can reach her at ru@fonografiacollective.com; 323.790.9335.
*** Herb Weiss’ Book, Taking Charge: Collected Stories on Aging Boldly, is finally off the press after he had to switch publishing outfits along the way. Weiss has structured this collection of his newspaper columns for the Pawtucket (R.I.) Times and the Woonsocket Call over 13 chapters to provide consumers with a wide range of subject areas: news you can use, often compelling personal stories and many moments of sagacity stemming from his almost four decades as a journalist and public administrator with a focus on gerontology.
Weiss also provides a nice plug for the age beat in general and GBONews in particular. Selected columns in the 295-page quality paperback cover such chapter topics as caregiving, consumer issues (especially scams), retirement finance, health and long-term care, and grandparenting. Reporters can contact Weiss for interviews or to request a review copy at hweissri@aol.com. Also, his weekly columns run on his WordPress blog.
*** “Make the Most of Your Brief Time on Earth,” by Garrison Keillor, Washington Post (Aug. 17): “Life is good if you have your health and not all bad even if you don’t, which is sometimes forgotten in an election year, what with the high-pitched oratory on behalf of the embittered rich and people with ingrown toenails and what not.”
And later, “Style is not what keeps us going. We survive by virtue of people extending themselves, welcoming the young, showing sympathy for the suffering, taking pleasure in each other’s good fortune. We are here for a brief time. We would like our stay to mean something. Do the right thing. Travel light. Be sweet.” Ah, Garrison, Make American Sweet, Again.
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The Journalists Network on Generations (JNG), founded in 1993, publishes Generations Beat Online with in-kind support from New America Media (NAM). JNG provides information and networking opportunities for journalists covering generational issues, but not those representing services, products or lobbying agendas. NAM is an online, nonprofit news service reaching 3,000 ethnic media outlets in the United States. GBO News readers are invited to visit the NAM website, and click on the Ethnic Elders section logo on the right side. Opinions expressed in GBO do not represent those of NAM. Copyright 2016, JNG. For more information contact GBO Editor Paul Kleyman.
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