Over the weekend I was at a meeting where Bruce Vladeck, former Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services administrator (back when the agency was known as The Health Care Financing Administration), said something that really resonated with me. Commenting on the "disconnect" between the potential of geriatrics as a field…
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Pono is the 11-year-old son of a college friend and now well-respected physicist, Dr. Brendan Casey. A few months ago, Brendan asked if Pono could speak to me about a Lego Robotics project. Besides vacuuming my son’s Legos by the bagful, I don’t know much about them. Pono and his…
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When I was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer—one that has no cure—I debated whether to share this information publicly. Discussions about "death panels" were all the rage. It infuriated me to think that uninformed folks in the policy world would aim to limit open discussions with patients about…
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Planning for an uncertain future is never easy but a new, free and easy-to-use online tool is now available to help people think about complex medical decisions they may one day face. With straightforward language and videos, concrete examples and simple step-by-step instructions, the PREPARE website (www.prepareforyourcare.org) helps older adults…
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Ann Kolanowski, PhD, RN, FAAN, the Elouise Ross Eberly Professor of Nursing in the School of Nursing at Pennsylvania State University, received the 2012 Doris Schwartz Gerontological Nursing Research Award at the recent meeting of the Gerontological Society of America’s (GSA) Nursing Interest Group in San Diego. Casey Shillam, PhD…
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Trainees take part in an opening exercise at a CRIT retreat at the University of South Carolina in Columbia to experience what it's like for older Americans with eyesight problems and arthritis. In the world of primetime TV, the role of a hospital’s chief resident only seems to pop…
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Elizabeth's inspiring story of how she overcame years of depression triggered by the murder of her daughter and subsequent death of her husband is featured in our 2011 annual report video series. The release earlier this month of our second national poll, “Silver and Blue: The Unfinished Business of…
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Warm Holiday Wishes from Health AGEnda and the John A. Hartford Foundation.
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Normally one of the advantages of expecting the worst is that all one’s surprises are good ones. But this year, I am both surprised and dismayed at the new figures on physician enrollment in geriatric fellowship training reported in the December 5 education issue of the Journal of the American…
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Last week, a star-studded lineup featuring Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, the Rolling Stones, Alicea Keys, Paul McCartney and other rock royalty took the stage at Madison Square Garden to pay tribute to the heroes of Hurricane Sandy and raise money for ongoing relief efforts. Here at the John A. Hartford…
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