GBO NEWS: Tech-Enabled Home Care; SharpBrains; GOP Medicare Plan; & MORE
GENERATIONS BEAT ONLINE NEWS
E-News of the Journalists Network on Generations — Beginning Our 24th Year
January 31, 2017 — Volume 17, Number 1
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: An Actual Facts, No-Trump Zone.
1. THE TECH AGE: *** “Tech-Enabled Home Care 2017” Report by Laurie Orlov; ***SharpBrains Virtual Summit on Brain Science.
2. THE CONFERENCE BEAT: *** Health Journalism 2017, Annual Association of Health Care Journalists Meeting, in Orlando, April 20-13, with “Science of Dementia,” Covering Age-Friendly Cities—and Fellowship Applications.
3. GEN BEATLES NEWS: *** Alive Inside Producer Michael Rossato-Bennett’s Musical New ALS Film Project; *** “This Chair Rocks” Blogger Ashton Applewhite to Speak in Manhattan and S.F. Bay Area on Anti-Ageism in the Time of Trump; ***Producer Marlene “Mo” Morris’ film “A New Color–The Art of Being Edythe Boone” to be Aired Valentine’s Day on Public TV’s America ReFramed series for African American History Month.
4. THE STORYBOARD: *** “Obamacare Repeal Could Threaten Provisions That Help Older Adults,” by Ina Jaffe, NPR News; *** “How Obamacare Improved the Nation’s Health,” by Yanick Rice Lamb, AFRO; *** “A hard, personal look at the twilight we’re all headed for, but often unprepared to handle,” by Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times; *** “Another View: Virtual Reality For Seniors” by Sally Abrahms, AARP’s “Longevity Network”: *** “Aging Hispanic Farmworkers Face Uncertain Future in Washington State,” by Tyler Tjomsland, Spokane Spokesman-Review; *** “Memory Cafés Take Aim at Elder Isolation, Dementia Concerns,” by Sandra Larson, Bay State Banner; *** “More Americans Care for Elderly Relatives, But Who Cares for the Caregivers?” by Encarnacion Pyle, Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch.
5. THREE FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES: We usually try to limit story links to one per new source, but Her Gray Eminence made that difficult in recent days thanks to some excellent pieces: *** “Why Women Quit Working: It’s Not for the Reasons Men Do” by Patricia Cohen; *** “Who Will Care for the Caregivers?” by Dhruv Khullar: *** “A Housing Crisis for Seniors by Allison Arieff.
1. THE TECH AGE
*** “Tech-Enabled Home Care 2017: What Is It? What Could It Be?” is a new report from Laurie M. Orlov, whose Aging in Place Technology Watch is closely followed by biz experts and marketers. According to the 20-page report, “Growing life expectancy and shrinking assets limit options of older adults in late life, leaving those who may need care more likely to receive it at home. With the coming age wave, venture capitalists have been intrigued and funding for tech-enabled home care has exploded, exceeding $200 million by 2016 year end.”
The report states, “The fiefdoms and market fragmentation that characterize home care will have to change. Why? Despite chronic diseases and inadequate assets, the population of seniors requiring care will continue to balloon. The implications for the home care industry? Staff resource scarcity and turnover, regulatory and wage pressure and changing client expectations, provide some early signals.”
She predicts widespread consolidation as hospitals striving to reduce the risk of costly readmissions: “Discharge programs that extend hospital services will result in multiple contracts with larger home care companies. As care moves into the home, hospitals will focus more on education and prevention.”
Among her seven market projections is, “A continuum of care will have a continuum of contracted partnerships.” She says programs “will be formalized with home care companies, who in turn will partner for the service elements they cannot directly provide, such as transportation, meal and supply delivery, through discharged-to-home-care programs.”
Also, says the report, “Viewable information and tools for families will be service differentiators. In its 2016 Caregiver Innovation Frontiers report, AARP presented six categories of technology that would be needed to support family caregivers.” In addition, “Wearables and sensors will become standard in both home and home healthcare.” Orlov writes, “In the future, families will play a greater role in decision-making, and home care organizations will want them more involved.”
Reporters can look at Orlov’s website at www.ageinplacetech.com and contact her at laurie.orlov@gmail.com; 772-345-3725.
*** The Recent SharpBrains Virtual Summit on reinventing “brain health in the digital age” has included links to all recordings and sidedecks of sessions with the program’s “40 world-class experts and innovators.” Based in San Francisco, SharpBrains is an independent market research firm tracking applied brain science.
Its website also features a new article, which SmartBrains honcho, Alvaro Fernandez says provides a “great summary of take-aways” from the summit. The piece is, “Survey of Key Scientific, Technological and Investment Trends Revolutionizing Brain Health in our Digital Age,” by engineer Apoorv Mathur. He explains, “Last year I got very interested in the functioning of the human brain and the science behind mindfulness and learning.” In December the summit found him “indulging in the latest trends in applied neuroscience and digital innovation. The Summit . . . brought together leading researchers, entrepreneurs, financiers and policymakers passionate with the mission of moving neuroscience and cognitive research from science labs towards applications in health, wellness and education.” The conference sessions, he writes, followed “brain health and mental health priorities along the lifespan.”
2. THE CONFERENCE BEAT
*** Health Journalism 2017 is set for Orlando, April 20-13. The Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ) annual event will delve into such topics as “First Amendment: Securing your work and rights as a reporter,” “Caring for transgender patients,” “Telehealth: Will it transform the way care is delivered?” and, of course, “Health care reform under a new administration.”
Among the sessions especially relevant to aging will be the “Science of Dementia,” with Nilufer Taner, M.D., Ph.D., a neurogeneticist at the Florida Mayo Clinic, moderated by Gideon Gil of Stat. “Telehealth: Will it transform the way care is delivered?” will include three experts and be moderated by AHCJ co-founder Mark Taylor.
“How age-friendly is your city?” will include Ruth Finkelstein, Sc.D., of Columbia University’s Robert N. Butler Columbia Aging Center, who manages their annual Age Boom Academy journalism fellowship program along with the Grad School of Journalism; Rosemary Laird, M.D., who directs the Florida Hospital’s Centre for Senior Health; and Barbara Peters-Smith, long-time generations-beat editor at the Sarasota Herald Tribune. Moderating will be Liz Seegert, AHCJ’s topic leader on aging.
Other promising panels will be “Hospital quality: The quest for reliable measures,” “Immunotherapy in cancer and beyond,” and “Beyond medicine: Social, spiritual and artistic elements in health care.”
AHCJ TRAVEL FELLOWSHIPS: AHCJ also offers travel fellowships in 9 categories, such as for journalists in the ethnic media, rural health journalists and reporters on non-health beats.
3. GEN BEATLES NEWS
*** Alive Inside Producer Michael Rossato-Bennett is developing another musical documentary, this one with a painfully personal focus around ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease). Alive Inside, which won the 2014 Sundance Film Festival’s Audience Award showed the powerful impact of using iPods to play the favorite music of patients with Alzheimer’s and other conditions. The feature-length film tells the story of social worker Dan Cohen’s discovery that even very demented nursing home patients who seemed nearly catatonic could come to life again on hearing familiar music—something Rossato-Bennett showed in dramatic segments you can view online at his website. More than that, he worked with Cohen’s Music & Memory organization and created the Alive Inside Foundation, a nonprofit to advance the use of education, intergenerational practices, music and film to, among other goals, “reduce elder loneliness, boredom and overuse of anti-psychotic drugs, with a special focus on the 4 million elders living with dementia at home.”
While working on Alive Inside, though, Rossato-Bennett learned that his neighbor and close friend, Brian, had been stricken by ALS. Although Brian worked for a Wall Street financial firm, his genuine love was music. As he deteriorated, he worked day and night in secret doing something he’d never done before—he wrote 300 songs. When Rossato-Bennett and Brian’s devoted circle of friends—including a number of music professionals, a Grammy-winning producer among them–found out, they making an album of Brian’s hidden songs.
Normally, GBONews wouldn’t feature a Kickstarter-type project on a production that’s very much in progress. And we’ll be offering later information as the documentary, “Brian’s Songs,” and the album move forward. For now, though, those interested in learning more about the project can look at the videos Rossato-Bennett has posted.
*** “Building an Anti-Ageism Movement: The Time Is Now,” by Ashton Applewhite, Forbes/Next Avenue (Jan. 18): Applewhite, who’s emerged in recent years as a leading critic of ageist practices and memes through her This Chair Rocks blog and book, asks in this essay:
“Racism, sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance — pick your prejudice! — are sanctioned, even celebrated. How do we respond to attacks on those most vulnerable? How does the mission to build a movement against ageism fit into this historical moment? Why insist on adding another ‘ism’ to the list when so many higher-profile forms of discrimination, racism in particular, rightfully demand bandwidth? Should ageism move to the back of the line, at least until Medicare is in the crosshairs?”
She continues, “Age-integrating the struggles ahead means coming to grips with our own internalized ageism, the voices that whisper ‘too old’ or ‘too young,’ that make us complicit in our own marginalization. At times, there may be good reasons to sit tight, but age alone is not one of them. Only when each of us rejects this culture’s ageist script can we play the roles for which we were born — and we were all born for this time.”
Also, Applewhite, who was named one of 50 Influencers of the Year in aging by the PBS “Next Avenue” website, will be speaking on what she calls “the double whammy of ageism and sexism” in Manhattan on Feb. 2, 6-7:30 p.m., at the SeniorPlanet Exploration Center. It’s free but you have to RSVP.
In the Bay Area mid-month, she’ll do a talk at San Francisco’s Institute on Aging Monday, Feb. 13, 7 p.m. General admission is $15, but it’s free for students & people 65 and up. Interested reporters should contact Caitlin Morgan at cmorgan@ioaging.org for a press pass.
On Valentine’s morning, at 10 a.m., Applewhite will head down to Palo Alto for a “book talk” at the Institute for the Future. Attendance is also free, but with an RSVP. Rounding out her Bay Area tour, Applewhite is slated for a “talk+conversation” on Wed., Feb. 15, 6 p.m., in Oakland, at the Starline Social Club. Her intriguing announcement says, “Pick up a drink at the bar and bring it next door to the private room. Come early for dinner or stay after! Dave Chappelle appeared here recently, just sayin’.”
*** Producer Marlene “Mo” Morris’ “A New Color–The Art of Being Edythe Boone” will get its national public TV airing on Valentine’s Day via WorldChannel.org’s “America ReFramed” program of independent documentaries. The feature film, which GBONews reviewed last fall when it was screened at the Legacy Film Festival, tells the story of muralist, activist and educator Edythe (Edy) Boone, who turns 80 this year. She is a self-taught artist from East Harlem, who moved to the San Francisco Bay Area.
Morris filmed for over five years and, we wrote in October, depicted how Boone’s “energizing spirit and richly varied life path takes on fuller meaning for our times both through the film’s telling of events and the deep reflections of Edy’s interactions with her students, her subjects and her canvasses.” The production shows Boone, one of the original muralist on San Francisco’s Women’s Building, as a teacher working with both seniors and youth.
“A New Color,” which is being shown as part of World Channel’s African American History Month lineup, also takes a surprising turn with the stunning revelation that Boone was the aunt of Eric Gardner, who died in police hands while gasping repeatedly, “I can’t breath.” Even as Boone is shown working with young students in Oakland on honoring the memories of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and others, Garner’s tragedy unfolds in real time through cell phone calls with his mother, Boone’s sister. Ultimately, her mission is to empower individuals and transform communities through art and activism.
To view access the private link for journalists, go to: https://vimeopro.com/user5686209/america-reframed and enter the password, PW: worldscreen2016. Journalists and reviewers may contact Neyda Martinez at 917-656-7846 or via e-mail at neyda@amdoc.org.
4. THE STORYBOARD
*** “Obamacare Repeal Could Threaten Provisions That Help Older Adults,” by Ina Jaffe, NPR News (Jan. 28): Noting that Medicaid pays the majority of nursing home residents, Jaffe explains that GOP proposals favored by House Speaker Paul Ryan and others to block-grant the program would “turn Medicaid from a guaranteed benefit into a block grant to states. States would get a fixed amount of money from the federal government, and could make their own decisions on how to spend it.”
Jaffe continues, though, “Critics fear this could do away with many protections that federal law currently provides for vulnerable older people. They also worry about what might happen in an economic downturn, when the demand for Medicaid goes up, but the amount of federal money allocated for it stays the same. For example, would states have to choose between cutting services for poor children versus cutting programs for the frail elderly.”
*** “How Obamacare Improved the Nation’s Health,” by Yanick Rice Lamb, AFRO and New America Media [http://tinyurl.com/hfa4b7n] (Jan. 20): Lamb, who chairs Howard University’s Department of Journalism, quotes two leading African American authors on the many of the heath care program’s benefits.
*** “A hard, personal look at the twilight we’re all headed for, but often unprepared to handle,” by Steve Lopez, Los Angeles Times (Jan. 7): The paper’s star columnist write, “On a walk in the park, she fell face first and broke her nose.In the middle of the night, she tried to get to the bathroom but fell and crashed through closet doors. Would my mother be better off in a nursing home, with round-the-clock professional help? Or would she do better staying in her own house, even if she doesn’t always recognize it, with hired help looking after her? Which would be more expensive? Why don’t Medicare and her supplemental insurance cover more than they do?”
He goes on, “Dr. Bruce Chernof of the nonprofit Senior Care Action Network Foundation (SCAN) said the country needs to urgently reconsider the state of elder care. ‘Our healthcare system was purposely built for a different time and place,’ Chernof said.”
As for Medicaid, Chernof added, “nobody expected it to be the primary payer for long-term care as it now is.” What’s more, Lopez quotes the good doctor, “Hospitals are dangerous places for older people. They’re fine if you have to be there, but … very good evidence shows that when you go into the hospital for a few days, you come out at a lower functional level.” Chernof recommends a transformation of care, and a more cost-effective redistribution of public funds.
*** “The End Of Life Radio Project” by JoAnn Mar, KALW Public Radio, San Francisco, is a four-part series wrapping up this week. Mar developed the series as one of the Association of Health care Journalists 2016 Reporting Fellows on Health Care Performance sponsored by the Commonwealth Fund. It has run throughout January on KALW’s daily “Crosscurrents” audio magazine. The segments, each about 8-9 minutes, have been on: Advance Care Planning; Palliative Care; Advance Directives (with a visit to la Crosse, Wisc., where thanks to Gunderson Medical Center, over 90 percent of local residents have plans); and “Physician-Assisted Dying Comes to California—a new option for the terminally ill.” The reports are archived for on-demand listening on the KALW website and on Mar’s site.
*** “Another View: Virtual Reality For Seniors” by Sally Abrahms, AARP’s “Longevity Network”: “Beth Tetreault’s mother has always wanted to visit Sweden. Now, with limited eyesight and mobility, traveling is out of the question for the 92 year-old nursing home resident. And yet, one day last month, she did, indeed, take a trip to Stockholm via virtual reality. (Abrams conveniently links to a CNET site showing, “Virtual Reality 101.”)
*** “Aging Hispanic Farmworkers Face Uncertain Future in Washington State,” by Tyler Tjomsland, Spokane Spokesman-Review and New America Media–Part 1 followed by “Billions in Crop Value, But Few Apples for Older Latino Farmworkers,” Part 2.
*** “Memory Cafés Take Aim at Elder Isolation, Dementia Concerns,” by Sandra Larson Bay State Banner/New America Media (Jan 18). Link: http://tinyurl.com/zxvxs64. As mental decline fogs seniors’ minds, Memory Cafés in Massachusetts are jogging memories through culture, from Fiddler on the Roof to Caribbean meals.
*** “More Americans Care for Elderly Relatives, But Who Cares for the Caregivers?” by Encarnacion Pyle, Columbus Dispatch/New America Media, (Jan 16) A new national report details families’ eldercare burdens, experts are calling on the new Trump administration to create a caregiving strategy.
5. THREE FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES
We usually try to limit story links to one per news source, but Her Gray Eminence made that difficult in recent days thanks to some excellent op-eds and news analysis. Each of these three points to additional sources:
* “Why Women Quit Working: It’s Not for the Reasons Men Do” by Patricia Cohen (Jan. 24): “The go-to explanations for why so many men — even in their prime working years — have dropped out of the labor force do not apply to Krystin Stevenson. At 31 with two children, she doesn’t turn her nose up at jobs that are considered women’s work. She hasn’t been swallowed by the wildfire of opioid addiction, dogged by a brush with the law or sidelined with a disability after years of heaving loads in manufacturing or construction. Rather, she gave up her $40,000-a-year job as a customer service representative . . . when her fragile support network collapsed.
“Her mother, a part-time home health care aide, took care of the children, picking up the older one from elementary school in the afternoon. But after she had a stroke, she was the one who needed to be taken care of, and Ms. Stevenson stepped in to manage her aging mother as well as her young children.”
Cohen quotes Nicholas Eberstadt, an economist at the conservative American Enterprise Institute on what he calls the “care chasm.” Although in most European nations women’s labor force participation has increased significantly since 2000 instead of faltering, women in the United States remain the primary caregivers — for children, aging parents and ailing relatives.
The story adds, “To some analysts, the single-minded focus on sidelined men without a closer look at women has placed too much attention on the failings of potential workers instead of the quality of the jobs.” Later, Heidi Hartmann, president of the progressive Institute for Women’s Policy Research, tells Cohen, “I’ve always thought that women were reacting to the lack of paid family leave and child care.” They found it too much trouble to work, she said, “so they were dropping out.”
*** “Who Will Care for the Caregivers?” by Dhruv Khullar: Some 40 million Americans give daily help to a parent, grandparent, relative or neighbor, assisting with basic things like dressing, bathing, cooking, medications or transportation.
He cites the recent report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine suggesting that “society’s reliance on this ‘work force’ — largely taken for granted — is unsustainable. While the demand for caregivers is growing because of longer life expectancies and more complex medical care, the supply is shrinking, a result of declining marriage rates, smaller family sizes and greater geographic separation. In 2015, there were seven potential family caregivers according to AARP for every person over 80. By 2030, this ratio is expected to be four-to-one, and by 2050, there will be fewer than three potential caregivers for every older American.”
*** “A Housing Crisis for Seniors” by Allison Arieff is another example of what you can miss as an NYT online reader. Arieff’s excellent overview of this vital issue appeared in the Jan. 29 “Sunday Review” section, but the section’s website buries it well down the articles list. If the piece didn’t come up in your feeds on aging, she offers an excellent overview of one of the most crucial issues in aging.
Arieff writes: “Thoughtfully designed housing for older adults is not being created on a scale commensurate with the growing need. It’s not a market many architects or developers have embraced. Conversely, a disproportionate amount of attention has been focused on the presumed desires of millennials. We hear all the time that it’s that group that craves walkability, good transit and everything-at-their-doorstep amenities — and that only cities can provide it.”
She continues that although NORCs — naturally occurring retirement communities — “are found most often in dense and vibrant cities like New York, and demonstrate how well cities can work for older people. But less than a quarter of older adults live in high-density areas, so demand is likely to increase for new housing options within existing suburbs and rural communities.” Arieff goes on to provide a useful summary of the many available tools for incremental transformation, from Villages to universal design in architecture.
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