LA Times: Only 5% of Phone Bill Fraud Caught

‘Cramming’ is phone bill fraud.

Elders and others who require daily living assistance are susceptible.

But it can happen to anyone.

Kathy M. Kristof states that all crammers need is your phone number.  Usually the charge ranges between $.99 and $19.99 – and it’s described in generic terms like service fee, call plan or membership to throw you off the track.

Here’s how it works:

One Missouri woman, for example, was charged for 25 months of long-distance services that she’d never ordered. When she finally discovered the charge and protested, the company said she’d authorized the service and provided her “authorization form” to prove it.

The only problem? This form included the wrong name, wrong address, wrong email and wrong birth date for the woman paying the bill. The only thing on the form that belonged to the victim was the phone number.

Read the entire LA Times piece on cramming here – then check your phone bill.

Photo courtesy of fwaggle.

Managing at Home When a Parent Has Dementia

Caring for an elderly parent with dementia is a tough job.

It’s even more difficult when they move in with one of their children.

Plans are made, and don’t work out. Appointments are calendared, then cancelled.  In addition to the memory issues, physical problems can crop up.

In the New York Times, Celia Watson Seupel discusses her experiences with her mother – and her job loss as a result of her mother’s move into Celia’s home.

The bottom line?  Each case is different.  Care providers are necessary – if only on a part-time basis – and even after routines are set up life is like a roller coaster.

Here’s Seupel’s piece about being the adult child care provider for a parent with dementia.

WSJ Interactive: Save Social Security

Social  Security has often been called the only government program that makes people feel OK about paying taxes.

Well, maybe – but the program is still having a tough time of it, and predictions of the time left before SSA runs out of funding seem to be growing closer and closer.

Now AARP appears to be preparing to go public with the news that they’re going to stop fighting the partial privatization and other changes to Social Security.

How would you save Social Security?

Here’s an interactive article on Social Security in the Wall Street Journal – try your hand at making cuts or granting additional benefits and see what happens.

WSJ: Elder Care Takes a Toll

Families and friends of elderly people requiring care know that caregiving isn’t for the faint of heart.

Now we’re hearing the cost isn’t only emotional.

With the number of Boomers caring for their parents since 1994 triple what it had been, adult children are experiencing losses in wages, pension and Social Security benefits.

Care providers 50 and older lose more than $300,000 over a lifetime.

Read here for the entire Wall Street Journal article.

LA Times: Crosswalks + Elderly = Deadly

For the elderly, just crossing the street can be a challenge.

Turns out, it can also be deadly.

Slower movement coupled with oncoming traffic results in accidents with a high degree of pedestrian death. The statistics are bad everywhere – especially in cities like New York and LA.

Wide boulevards are a particular challenge, as engineers calculating the amount of time allowed for crossing frequently don’t allow enough time for elders or the handicapped.

People 65 and older make up 22% of pedestrian deaths, though they account for only 13% of our population.

Add in the fact that people are living longer and many will have their driving privileges taken away, making it likely we’ll see even more elderly people walking in the future.

Read the entire LA Times piece on the elderly and pedestrian accidents.

Photo courtesy of Marcin Wichary.

 

 

LA Times: Pingpong as Alzheimer’s Therapy

Who’d have thought a little white ball would turn out to be Alzheimer’s therapy?

The LA Times reports that pingpong is having a positive effect on the lives of elders who play.

Mikhail Zaretsky, director of the Arthur Gilbert Table Tennis Center said:

“They have to predict where the ball is going, they have to respond to distance, they have to respond to time. They have to be there!”

It appears that pingpong provides additional energy, may improve walking ability, and helps verbal communication.  The jury’s out on therapeutic value, but who cares?  Participants get some exercise and have great fun!

Here’s the entire piece.

Heroic Elders in Japan Want to Clean up Nuclear Crisis

Retired engineers and other professionals over 60, calling themselves The Skilled Veterans Corps, say they should be the ones to clear away the nuclear disaster resulting from a powerful earthquake and tsunami at the Fukushima power station in Japan.

Yasuteru Yamada, 72, is organizing a team of pensioners to work on the clean up.

Continuity of Care: Helping Elders Live Their Best Lives

It was difficult to convince my Mom to have someone give her a hand after my Dad died.  I remember making an appoint with a care provider, only to arrive at my Mother’s home and find Mom had already flatly stated, “I’m just not in need of this kind of help.”

It took more than a year and a serious illness before she felt ready – and her quality of life would have been much improved had she been able to recast the help as maintaining her in a least restrictive environment rather than viewing it as a loss of freedom.

One of the most difficult things to do is finding the path to early, proactive help for an elder.   Add to this the challenge of locating a facility that’s just right and you’ve got a tough situation.

This piece in the New York Times on the shifts in elders’ lives tells the tale:  even after downsizing to assisted living, multiple moves can be necessary.

Continuity of care – medical, social, cultural – must be well-planned, with a safety net in place to make sure success occurs.

Photo courtesy
of Brian J. Matis

What is ‘Undue Influence?’

When an elderly woman has a relative or someone else living with her who keeps others away, controls where she goes, and what she does, that individual may be said to be exerting ‘undue influence.’

What this means in practical terms is that the person may be trying to take advantage, for personal or financial gain.

We’re seeing this type of thing happen more frequently with the bad economy.  It can occur with caregivers who see an opportunity.  Or with an adult child down on their luck who doesn’t think twice about helping himself to Mom’s pocketbook.

If you see this kind of situation, it merits some investigation.  Contact your local police if you believe an elder is at risk.

New York Times: Post-retirement Jobs

What happens when older people work?  Good things, says a report from Boston University’s Sloan Center on Aging and Work.

According to the Department of Labor, we’re in the middle of a workforce shift that will see workers over 55 increase by more than 35%.   That means increased fulfullment for elders who like the idea of a retirement job – or who don’t see themselves as retired but moving on to new work.

Richard Johnson, a senior fellow at the Urban Institute, says that 25% of workers over 50 will change not just jobs – they’ll change occupations.  And Johnson states, “Workers who change jobs at older ages say they are more likely to enjoy the new job than the old job.”  How much more likely?  Workers over 65 report a 90% job enjoyment rating – much higher than that of younger workers.

NYT’s New Old Age blog has the entire piece on older workers in the workforce – and the benefits go way beyond a paycheck.