Dear Friends,
As you are aware on 10thApril 2008,we launched Silver Innings www.silverinnings.com ,A dedicated and most comprehensive website for Senior Citizens and their family members.
The website is full of useful content with regards to Elders but useful for all.We don't want you to miss out anything,so we have decided to undertake a awareness series and this msg is first in this regards.
We will explain various menu and sub menu's for your benefit.
So lets start our First series with - Ageing:
Main Menu: Ageing
Sub Menu: Ageing Defined : here we have defined ageing,the common term:
"Trees grow stronger over the years, rivers wider. Likewise, with age, human beings gain immeasurable depth and breadth of experience and wisdom. That is why older persons should be not only respected and revered; they should be utilized as the rich resource to society that they are”: United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan
Sub Menu :International Approach : This section has various aspect with regards to International school of thought and also talks about UN and WHO view and action.
Sub Menu: Indian : This section talks about Indian Govt. policy and Indian view point.Also here we have Interesting article - Should India Promote Scientific Research on Ageing? by our very own Prof. Kalluri Subba Rao.
Sub Menu: Facts and Issues : This section covers various issues related to Ageing like Elder abuse,Myths of ageing etc.
Sub Menu: Successful Ageing : This section talks about New Mantra for ageing ,this is our Vision of ageing.
Also note most of the section have Important links in the bottom and the site is best viewed in 1024x768 & above resolution of your screen.We will update the site every 15 days,from 1st May.
Hope this will Help you to surf each and every section,we request you to read each article,it will add more colours to your Silver Innings.
Next Series: Health & Fitness
Did you join your own website,join here: http://silverinnings.com/primary%20individual%20form.asp
Happy surfing.
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
India Himalayas Trek: Support Dementia Cause
India Himalayas Trek
11 - 21 October 2008
Trek in the foothills of the majestic Himalayas, visit the home of the Dalai Lama at Dharamsala and get the opportunity to visit the famous Taj Mahal!
Take part in this adventure of a lifetime and at the same time raise funds to help people affected by dementia.
Get Details :http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?categoryID=200259&documentID=457
11 - 21 October 2008
Trek in the foothills of the majestic Himalayas, visit the home of the Dalai Lama at Dharamsala and get the opportunity to visit the famous Taj Mahal!
Take part in this adventure of a lifetime and at the same time raise funds to help people affected by dementia.
Get Details :http://www.alzheimers.org.uk/site/scripts/documents_info.php?categoryID=200259&documentID=457
Elder 'No Help' Line : SHAME ON MUMBAI POLICE
Ever since its launch in 2005, the Elder Line (1090), a dedicated helpline for senior citizens run by Mumbai Police, has received positive reviews from most Mumbaikars. However, 84-year-old M Ramesh, a retired businessman from Mahim, begs to differ.
Ramesh, who lives in his seventh floor flat in Suraj Venture building in Mahim, has been trying in vain to register with the helpline for the past two-and-a-half months.According to Ramesh, he has made dozens of calls not only to the helpline but even to the local Mahim police station requesting for a registration form. But his repeated requests have only fallen on deaf ears.
Ramesh, who is unable to walk without support, first made a call to the helpline when he read several newspaper articles praising the helpline.Senior Inspector at Mahim police station, V M Latpate said, “I am not aware of this and cannot comment as I am out of station at present.”
Read in Detail : http://peopleforsocialcause.blogspot.com/2008/04/ever-since-its-launch-in-2005-elder.html
Shame on Mumbai Police - Helpage India should inquire in this matter and if required get themselves out of this mess.The Elderhelpline was stared with big bang and it was much publised event for Mumbai police.
Why not there be 4 digit National Elder Helpline run by NGO in association with police and other agencies.
Write to: cp.mumbai@mahapolice.gov.in and show your concern.
Ramesh, who lives in his seventh floor flat in Suraj Venture building in Mahim, has been trying in vain to register with the helpline for the past two-and-a-half months.According to Ramesh, he has made dozens of calls not only to the helpline but even to the local Mahim police station requesting for a registration form. But his repeated requests have only fallen on deaf ears.
Ramesh, who is unable to walk without support, first made a call to the helpline when he read several newspaper articles praising the helpline.Senior Inspector at Mahim police station, V M Latpate said, “I am not aware of this and cannot comment as I am out of station at present.”
Read in Detail : http://peopleforsocialcause.blogspot.com/2008/04/ever-since-its-launch-in-2005-elder.html
Shame on Mumbai Police - Helpage India should inquire in this matter and if required get themselves out of this mess.The Elderhelpline was stared with big bang and it was much publised event for Mumbai police.
Why not there be 4 digit National Elder Helpline run by NGO in association with police and other agencies.
Write to: cp.mumbai@mahapolice.gov.in and show your concern.
Sustaining relationships can be difficult
I taught social, psychological and medical gerontology for more than 25 years and occasionally even now walk into the classroom as instructor. I often used films in my classes, and I still keep up with the latest videos being offered to university professors and students. One of the most interesting and relatively new ones is called "For Better or Worse." It introduces the viewer to five couples who have shared 50 or more years together and who vary by race, class, cultural upbringing and religion, among other things.
As the film shows, sustaining long-lived relationships is becoming more difficult as we all live longer and sometimes find that we can end up spending several lifetimes with the same person. This works very well for some folks, but others come to look on the long years as better spent with perhaps several mates, rather than just one.
Sustaining long, intimate relationships requires commitment, skill and perseverance at any age. Some people are very good at communicating and have a lot of pleasing personality traits and an optimistic attitude that they can bring to their relationships. This positions them well for creating positive relationships and meeting life’s challenges successfully, but even these traits don’t help with everything life hands us. Gender, race, ethnicity, social class, education and sexual orientation also are important determinants of life’s opportunities and constraints. Purely personal strength sometimes isn’t enough to cope with everything, and long-standing habits are hard to give up or change even when they don’t really apply to, or solve, the problems of growing old together.
On the positive side, intimate relationships can be a source of mutual emotional and social support, shared interests and companionship, as well as the development of good communication skills. These well-developed life skills can be carried forward into the experience of widowhood and perhaps even second or third marriages.
We are discovering that there is a higher risk of divorce or separation during our later years. When we combine this with the ever-growing numbers of those who will lose their mates and become widows or widowers, we have a lot of single folks out there who are restructuring their lives.
Uncoupling in later life has real implications for our psychological well being, as well as our social involvement. Even though a lot of research is coming out that tells us something many of us already knew, namely, life gets better as we age, still, loneliness, life satisfaction and economic issues do raise their heads and can often be the real reasons behind the disruption of long-term marriages. This is especially true when one of the partners must become a caregiver. Our economic welfare and holdings in old age are very important, along with many other things related to old age, like an ever-changing physical structure and loss of friends and family.
The thing that sustains us through life difficulties is often our ability to accept change and adapt quickly to different circumstances. It has always been a source of some amazement to me to see how well human beings adapt to suddenly reduced circumstances. This can take the form of sleeping on the ground during an extended camping trip, to losing a home to flood or friends and kin to famine.
If our older years teach us anything, it’s how to adapt to change, often very quickly. Older folks get amazingly good at it. This can be observed if you work with them on a daily basis, as I have, or watch their behavior very closely.
It is one of the lessons they have to teach us and as we move through our Third Age, we need to keep the ability to change, modify our behavior and adjust to whatever life hands us, if we wish to survive in health and happiness.
By ANN GOWANS
Source: http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Apr/20080428Feat002.asp
As the film shows, sustaining long-lived relationships is becoming more difficult as we all live longer and sometimes find that we can end up spending several lifetimes with the same person. This works very well for some folks, but others come to look on the long years as better spent with perhaps several mates, rather than just one.
Sustaining long, intimate relationships requires commitment, skill and perseverance at any age. Some people are very good at communicating and have a lot of pleasing personality traits and an optimistic attitude that they can bring to their relationships. This positions them well for creating positive relationships and meeting life’s challenges successfully, but even these traits don’t help with everything life hands us. Gender, race, ethnicity, social class, education and sexual orientation also are important determinants of life’s opportunities and constraints. Purely personal strength sometimes isn’t enough to cope with everything, and long-standing habits are hard to give up or change even when they don’t really apply to, or solve, the problems of growing old together.
On the positive side, intimate relationships can be a source of mutual emotional and social support, shared interests and companionship, as well as the development of good communication skills. These well-developed life skills can be carried forward into the experience of widowhood and perhaps even second or third marriages.
We are discovering that there is a higher risk of divorce or separation during our later years. When we combine this with the ever-growing numbers of those who will lose their mates and become widows or widowers, we have a lot of single folks out there who are restructuring their lives.
Uncoupling in later life has real implications for our psychological well being, as well as our social involvement. Even though a lot of research is coming out that tells us something many of us already knew, namely, life gets better as we age, still, loneliness, life satisfaction and economic issues do raise their heads and can often be the real reasons behind the disruption of long-term marriages. This is especially true when one of the partners must become a caregiver. Our economic welfare and holdings in old age are very important, along with many other things related to old age, like an ever-changing physical structure and loss of friends and family.
The thing that sustains us through life difficulties is often our ability to accept change and adapt quickly to different circumstances. It has always been a source of some amazement to me to see how well human beings adapt to suddenly reduced circumstances. This can take the form of sleeping on the ground during an extended camping trip, to losing a home to flood or friends and kin to famine.
If our older years teach us anything, it’s how to adapt to change, often very quickly. Older folks get amazingly good at it. This can be observed if you work with them on a daily basis, as I have, or watch their behavior very closely.
It is one of the lessons they have to teach us and as we move through our Third Age, we need to keep the ability to change, modify our behavior and adjust to whatever life hands us, if we wish to survive in health and happiness.
By ANN GOWANS
Source: http://www.columbiatribune.com/2008/Apr/20080428Feat002.asp
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Management of Alzheimer dementia
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common cause of dementia in the elderly. Currently, 4.5 million individuals in the United States are estimated to have AD, and that number is projected to increase to at least 14 million by the year 2050. AD is a major cause of disability and mortality, and its impact on health care costs, including direct and indirect medical and social service costs, is estimated to be greater than $100 billion per year.
Medications
No current treatments can either cure or permanently arrest AD; however, AD-specific therapies are available. The current AD therapies can be divided into two types: (1) symptomatic approaches based on enhancement of neurotransmitter systems and (2) neuroprotective strategies using antioxidants. The most successful AD medications to date are the acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, which enhance the brain’s cholinergic system. Acetylcholine is believed to play a major role in the expression of cognitive, functional, and possibly behavioral symptoms in AD. Cholinergic treatment probably does not alter the progression of neurodegeneration, however. The acetylcholinesterase inhibitors reduce the metabolism of acetylcholine, which is deficient in the AD brain, thereby prolonging its action at cholinergic synapses. Three cholinesterase inhibitors are currently marketed for the treatment of mild to moderate AD: donepezil (Aricept®), galantamine (Reminyl®, Raza-dyne®), and rivastigmine (Exelon®) ( Table 5 ). As a class, these agents have demonstrated measurable, albeit modest, effects on cognition, behavior, activities of daily living, and global measures of functioning versus placebo in clinical trials The main adverse effects are gastrointestinal (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia, weight loss), and, not surprisingly, the drugs are better tolerated on a full stomach. Insomnia and vivid dreams have also been reported. In the absence of head-to-head comparisons of the cholinesterase inhibitors, the main differences appear to be their side effect profiles, titration schedules, and dosing regimens. Although studies have found modest benefits, cholinesterase inhibitors should be considered in patients with mild to moderate AD.[1] Further studies are needed to assess possible long-term benefits such as delayed institutionalization, decreased mortality, and economic savings in the cost of patient care.
Read in detail: http://yassermetwally.wordpress.com/2008/04/28/management-of-alzheimer-dementia/
Medications
No current treatments can either cure or permanently arrest AD; however, AD-specific therapies are available. The current AD therapies can be divided into two types: (1) symptomatic approaches based on enhancement of neurotransmitter systems and (2) neuroprotective strategies using antioxidants. The most successful AD medications to date are the acetylcholinesterase inhibitors, which enhance the brain’s cholinergic system. Acetylcholine is believed to play a major role in the expression of cognitive, functional, and possibly behavioral symptoms in AD. Cholinergic treatment probably does not alter the progression of neurodegeneration, however. The acetylcholinesterase inhibitors reduce the metabolism of acetylcholine, which is deficient in the AD brain, thereby prolonging its action at cholinergic synapses. Three cholinesterase inhibitors are currently marketed for the treatment of mild to moderate AD: donepezil (Aricept®), galantamine (Reminyl®, Raza-dyne®), and rivastigmine (Exelon®) ( Table 5 ). As a class, these agents have demonstrated measurable, albeit modest, effects on cognition, behavior, activities of daily living, and global measures of functioning versus placebo in clinical trials The main adverse effects are gastrointestinal (nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia, weight loss), and, not surprisingly, the drugs are better tolerated on a full stomach. Insomnia and vivid dreams have also been reported. In the absence of head-to-head comparisons of the cholinesterase inhibitors, the main differences appear to be their side effect profiles, titration schedules, and dosing regimens. Although studies have found modest benefits, cholinesterase inhibitors should be considered in patients with mild to moderate AD.[1] Further studies are needed to assess possible long-term benefits such as delayed institutionalization, decreased mortality, and economic savings in the cost of patient care.
Read in detail: http://yassermetwally.wordpress.com/2008/04/28/management-of-alzheimer-dementia/
Stop drugging dementia patients, urges report
Ministers should step in to stop inappropriate prescriptions of powerful antipsychotic drugs for Alzheimer's patients, an influential group of MPs in UK said today.
Up to 105,000 people with dementia in Britain are wrongly being treated with the drugs, which are used to control behavioural symptoms such as aggression, they claim. Research has shown that the medications have side effects which can accelerate mental decline, triple the risk of stroke, and double the chances of premature death.
They are intended for psychotic patients suffering from delusions, paranoia and hallucinations. Yet the drugs continue to be used as a first resort to address the challenging behaviour of people suffering from Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia, according to the MPs. A report from the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on dementia demanded Government action on the problem and urged the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), the health watchdog, to carry out a review.
The report, A Last Resort, points out that no audit or regulation of such prescriptions exists. Jeremy Wright, the group's chairman, said: "Antipsychotics can double risk of death and triple the risk of stroke in people with dementia, (can) heavily sedate them, and (can) accelerate cognitive decline.
"The Government must end this needless abuse. Safeguards must be put in place to ensure antipsychotics are always a last resort. We need to include families in decisions, give people with dementia regular reviews, and equip care staff with specialist training."
The inquiry was told that 150,000 people with dementia were prescribed antipsychotic drugs in British care facilities. Psychiatric experts said 70 per cent of these prescriptions were inappropriate.
Neil Hunt, the chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, said more than 70 per cent of dementia patients exhibited challenging behaviour.
"More often than not this is an expression of unmet need, not a symptom of dementia, and there is no excuse for reaching for the medicine cabinet," he said.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/28/ndementia128.xml
Up to 105,000 people with dementia in Britain are wrongly being treated with the drugs, which are used to control behavioural symptoms such as aggression, they claim. Research has shown that the medications have side effects which can accelerate mental decline, triple the risk of stroke, and double the chances of premature death.
They are intended for psychotic patients suffering from delusions, paranoia and hallucinations. Yet the drugs continue to be used as a first resort to address the challenging behaviour of people suffering from Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia, according to the MPs. A report from the all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on dementia demanded Government action on the problem and urged the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice), the health watchdog, to carry out a review.
The report, A Last Resort, points out that no audit or regulation of such prescriptions exists. Jeremy Wright, the group's chairman, said: "Antipsychotics can double risk of death and triple the risk of stroke in people with dementia, (can) heavily sedate them, and (can) accelerate cognitive decline.
"The Government must end this needless abuse. Safeguards must be put in place to ensure antipsychotics are always a last resort. We need to include families in decisions, give people with dementia regular reviews, and equip care staff with specialist training."
The inquiry was told that 150,000 people with dementia were prescribed antipsychotic drugs in British care facilities. Psychiatric experts said 70 per cent of these prescriptions were inappropriate.
Neil Hunt, the chief executive of the Alzheimer's Society, said more than 70 per cent of dementia patients exhibited challenging behaviour.
"More often than not this is an expression of unmet need, not a symptom of dementia, and there is no excuse for reaching for the medicine cabinet," he said.
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2008/04/28/ndementia128.xml
Free Talk: Make the most of your silver years - Aging in Style
HELP (Health Education Library for People) is organizing a free talk on "Make the most of your silver years – Aging in Style " on Monday 5th May by Mr. Sailesh Mishra- Silver Innings at 3.30 pm sharp at HELP, Fort, Mumbai. To Register Call: 022- 65952393/94 , 22061101.
Regarding Silver Innings: Its an no profit no loss initiative of People for Social Cause forum. www.silverinnings.com is a dedicated and most comprehensive website for senior citizens and their family members.
Address of Event:
Dr.Aniruddha Malpani, M.D.,H.E.L.P.Health Education Library for People,National Insurance Building,Ground Floor, 206, Dr.D.N.Road,
Near New Excelisor CinemaMumbai - 400 001.Tel Nos.65952393/ 65952394/22061101
www.healthlibrary.com
Free Ask the Librarian service for all your health queries at http://www.healthlibrary.com/information.html
For complete details of our free health talks check our 'HELP TALK' google calendar at http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=ciugckkj8jvnk97j6dbiioaghg%40group.calendar.google.com
Do Visit : www.silverinnings.com
Regarding Silver Innings: Its an no profit no loss initiative of People for Social Cause forum. www.silverinnings.com is a dedicated and most comprehensive website for senior citizens and their family members.
Address of Event:
Dr.Aniruddha Malpani, M.D.,H.E.L.P.Health Education Library for People,National Insurance Building,Ground Floor, 206, Dr.D.N.Road,
Near New Excelisor CinemaMumbai - 400 001.Tel Nos.65952393/ 65952394/22061101
www.healthlibrary.com
Free Ask the Librarian service for all your health queries at http://www.healthlibrary.com/information.html
For complete details of our free health talks check our 'HELP TALK' google calendar at http://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=ciugckkj8jvnk97j6dbiioaghg%40group.calendar.google.com
Do Visit : www.silverinnings.com
Monday, April 28, 2008
‘Sixty is the new 40’
Author, designer, mother, wife, Shobhaa Dé has a way of challenging stereotypes and reinventing her persona. At 60, having just published her new book, Superstar India: From Incredible to Unstoppable, she says life is still full of possibilities.
And the change that we are seeing, such tumultuous change in the last decade, to be a part of that change, to be able to chronicle that change and to be in a position to comment on it, the good, bad and ugly, for me was a key decision. My own perception now as a global Indian has moved along with the country’s and the speed at which it has evolved has kept pace with the change and evolution of the country. In a way I feel I am the change.
She feels women have a chameleon-like quality that allows them to adapt to any situation. It is perhaps this very quality that makes author, designer, mother, wife (not necessarily in that order), Shobhaa Dé change her roles ever so frequently. Like Madonna, Dé too has that something which makes her challenge stereotypes and reinvent her persona to do something that she wants to. “I refuse to be a kindly granny fading into oblivion. I want women to know that it is possible to live life at 60. Sixty, my dear, is the new 40,” says Dé, tossing her mane. Or, as Meryl Streep famously remarked in “The Devil Wears Prada”, ‘Everybody wants to be us’.
Known for her rather provocative style of writing, Dé who has so far written only fiction, much of it based on the glamour of Bollywood, has switched gear and written a book based on India and its 60 years. It is no coincidence that the book is being published in her 60th year too. “India and my journey has been together. I was born in an independent India and I want our young generation to invest in this country. That is my mission,” remarks Dé. In a freewheeling interview, Dé talks about her book, Incredible to Unstoppable, her own life, politics and, of course, women. Excerpts…
Did you have the younger generation in mind when you started work on the book?
Very much so. Because, with more than 50 per cent of one billion Indians under 30-35, it’s important for them to understand brand India in the true sense of the word, not just as a marketing gimmick. It’s not that I want to sell more books. I’ve been there done that. I want to sell India. I want to be able to convince the younger Indian that it’s worth staying invested. In my generation there was such a “go West young man” kind of feeling and a lot of my contemporaries thought they would get a better deal by moving to the West. Somehow, for whatever reason, it has a lot to do with my father and my upbringing, I never ever lost faith. I stayed a believer all through; instinctively I felt that this is where I belong and this is where I want to be. So, with my books it was the same thinking; I’d never tried to cater to a Western audience because I was very happy with my own domestic readers. This doesn’t mean that you look at things in a very jingoistic or a very inward thinking way, but I feel it’s very important to restore lost pride and we went through many years where we didn’t have that confidence, we were always apologetic about our identity. Now we seem to be getting our groove back, you can see it in the body language of the younger generation. So the whole idea of writing the book was really that.
This book also coincides with your turning 60. How do you see your life as a journey with India?
It’s completely interrelated. I really believe it’s a chronicle of two lives. India’s and mine at many levels. I was born in a free India so I never knew what it was like not to be in a country where you can take democracy for granted — the stories I heard from my parents were important to get a perspective of what it was like at that time… And the change that we are seeing, such tumultuous change in the last decade, to be a part of that change, to be able to chronicle that change and to be in a position to comment on it, the good, bad and ugly, for me was a key decision. And I know that in so many ways the changing India has changed me; raising children in this new India has been a special challenge. My own perception now as a global Indian has moved along with the country’s and the speed at which it has evolved has kept pace with the change and evolution of the country. In a way I feel I am the change.
In your book, you have touched on almost every aspect of Indian-ness. For how long have you been mulling over this? It isn’t something to be written overnight. It’s almost like it’s been ‘cooking’ for a while...
It’s got to be cooking but more than anything else it’s got to be felt. For me, it’s a very passionate book. It’s not that I’ve ever kept notes and it’s not a research-based book in that sense. But it’s written from the heart. All the things that have mattered to me growing up in India, all the things that I have witnessed, that I’ve observed, participated in, it all came like one big gush — like a dam had broken.
Incredible to Unstoppable — Does it make India sound like a huge juggernaut rolling on regardless?
Well, regardless unless there is some kind of an overwhelming set of circumstances, if we were nuked or there is a natural disaster of some kind, over which we have no control, then of course the story changes. Other than that our fundamentals are so good right now that at least for the next 50 years we can sit back and actually see the country attain its old, lost glory. There is no reason why we should not be able to leverage all that we have built up to and being just sixty, it’s really a very, very young country.
You’ve talked about the paradox of how Indian men view women. Do you think that the men here are ever going to outgrow this?
I saw an ad which really struck me. Five years ago no one would have thought of writing copy which says what it says. It’s an ad for HSBC which says, ‘He stays at home while she globe trots’. I thought it was a very significant statement but more in the area of wish fulfilment. It’s not really as rosy a picture as we’d like it to be. Women are working because they really have no bloody choice. Not that suddenly the men have become so accepting; it’s just that they can do with the extra money. A lot of women work when they would rather be homemakers. They are stretched too much. Society itself has not changed sufficiently to accommodate those pressures. So actually you’re doing triple shifts and playing multiple roles without the benefits and spin-offs. The rewards simply are not there or they are not enough. Men are not in a hurry to change the status quo because why should they? This way they get the best of everything. It’s like three for the price of one.
As Indians, we have a obsession to appropriate anybody who has done well in their lives as one of us. Even those who have a remote connection with the country. Why do you think this happens? Is it because we have such a few credible role models?
Not just that, we haven’t outgrown the need to win the approval of the West. Which is why we run after the Oscar, we run after the Booker, we run after anybody from the West. Mind you, an award from Japan won’t be the same thing; an award from an African nation won’t be the same thing. We want approval from Europe and the U.S. And therefore any one of Indian origin doing well there, we’re dying to claim the lot, whether it’s an Indira Nooyi or Sunita Williams who keep saying that they are American. But we will grab them by their collar and insist on the Indian connection no matter how tenuous. But I feel the younger generation will be happy to acknowledge success no matter whom, but they will not be so desperate to genuflect in the presence of anybody.
Politicians — you have mentioned them in the book too, but I notice you haven’t been too kind to the younger generation in politics.
The Gucci boys?
Yes. What is it you feel that is not quite right with them?
I think they are in it for the wrong reasons. They see it as a glamorous career option with very little of actual investment in the country. I also see them, the current lot, as just pampered, privileged…the “baba log”; they haven’t really got there by working towards a specific goal but it’s because of perpetuating the whole dynasty politics and still being stuck in something that I find almost medieval, this thing of passing down your kurssi to the next generation. The younger generation of politicians has not delivered. What have they done for their constituency? Precisely nothing. They have no concept of the ground realities, they have not even made an attempt to understand the ground realities. There is no sincerity of purpose; there is no vision for India. There is nothing except a great surname. Sorry. But I don’t think we should be endorsing such fellows. And perpetuating a system that we should have thrown out a long time ago. Whoever is there, should be there because they have the merit, the qualities that it takes to be leaders. None of these guys do.
You are a multi-tasker. What is the secret mantra that works for you?
I believe that women the world over are natural multi-taskers. You go to our villages, you will see those women performing the most incredible feats of balancing their economy, their homes, the crops marketing, managing kids, in-laws, managing community. They don’t know that they are multi-tasking — that’s a word that the urban Indian woman has grabbed and believes she has invented multi-tasking but it’s not so. I think we are just programmed to do it. I also think women are conscious of time, people and money, so some make a career out of it, others merely plod on. I’ve never stopped to think about it. I’ve just done what I’ve enjoyed doing, with a lot of passion behind it, a lot of hard work, frustration at times too. But I’ve enjoyed every moment of it and wouldn’t have it any other way and also the cage of age, for women in particular. I’m there to break the mould. I’m saying I’m 60, I refuse to turn into a harmless little old granny staying home to mind the babies. I will be what I am and I’m proud of it. I want other women to feel that there is life beyond 60 and they don’t have to conform to society’s expectations which are to make them invisible. It’s a one-point mission of my 60th year — to tell women, don’t let society make you apologetic about your age and 60 really is the new 40.
By SUCHITRA BEHAL
Source: http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2008042750010100.htm&date=2008/04/27/&prd=mag&
And the change that we are seeing, such tumultuous change in the last decade, to be a part of that change, to be able to chronicle that change and to be in a position to comment on it, the good, bad and ugly, for me was a key decision. My own perception now as a global Indian has moved along with the country’s and the speed at which it has evolved has kept pace with the change and evolution of the country. In a way I feel I am the change.
She feels women have a chameleon-like quality that allows them to adapt to any situation. It is perhaps this very quality that makes author, designer, mother, wife (not necessarily in that order), Shobhaa Dé change her roles ever so frequently. Like Madonna, Dé too has that something which makes her challenge stereotypes and reinvent her persona to do something that she wants to. “I refuse to be a kindly granny fading into oblivion. I want women to know that it is possible to live life at 60. Sixty, my dear, is the new 40,” says Dé, tossing her mane. Or, as Meryl Streep famously remarked in “The Devil Wears Prada”, ‘Everybody wants to be us’.
Known for her rather provocative style of writing, Dé who has so far written only fiction, much of it based on the glamour of Bollywood, has switched gear and written a book based on India and its 60 years. It is no coincidence that the book is being published in her 60th year too. “India and my journey has been together. I was born in an independent India and I want our young generation to invest in this country. That is my mission,” remarks Dé. In a freewheeling interview, Dé talks about her book, Incredible to Unstoppable, her own life, politics and, of course, women. Excerpts…
Did you have the younger generation in mind when you started work on the book?
Very much so. Because, with more than 50 per cent of one billion Indians under 30-35, it’s important for them to understand brand India in the true sense of the word, not just as a marketing gimmick. It’s not that I want to sell more books. I’ve been there done that. I want to sell India. I want to be able to convince the younger Indian that it’s worth staying invested. In my generation there was such a “go West young man” kind of feeling and a lot of my contemporaries thought they would get a better deal by moving to the West. Somehow, for whatever reason, it has a lot to do with my father and my upbringing, I never ever lost faith. I stayed a believer all through; instinctively I felt that this is where I belong and this is where I want to be. So, with my books it was the same thinking; I’d never tried to cater to a Western audience because I was very happy with my own domestic readers. This doesn’t mean that you look at things in a very jingoistic or a very inward thinking way, but I feel it’s very important to restore lost pride and we went through many years where we didn’t have that confidence, we were always apologetic about our identity. Now we seem to be getting our groove back, you can see it in the body language of the younger generation. So the whole idea of writing the book was really that.
This book also coincides with your turning 60. How do you see your life as a journey with India?
It’s completely interrelated. I really believe it’s a chronicle of two lives. India’s and mine at many levels. I was born in a free India so I never knew what it was like not to be in a country where you can take democracy for granted — the stories I heard from my parents were important to get a perspective of what it was like at that time… And the change that we are seeing, such tumultuous change in the last decade, to be a part of that change, to be able to chronicle that change and to be in a position to comment on it, the good, bad and ugly, for me was a key decision. And I know that in so many ways the changing India has changed me; raising children in this new India has been a special challenge. My own perception now as a global Indian has moved along with the country’s and the speed at which it has evolved has kept pace with the change and evolution of the country. In a way I feel I am the change.
In your book, you have touched on almost every aspect of Indian-ness. For how long have you been mulling over this? It isn’t something to be written overnight. It’s almost like it’s been ‘cooking’ for a while...
It’s got to be cooking but more than anything else it’s got to be felt. For me, it’s a very passionate book. It’s not that I’ve ever kept notes and it’s not a research-based book in that sense. But it’s written from the heart. All the things that have mattered to me growing up in India, all the things that I have witnessed, that I’ve observed, participated in, it all came like one big gush — like a dam had broken.
Incredible to Unstoppable — Does it make India sound like a huge juggernaut rolling on regardless?
Well, regardless unless there is some kind of an overwhelming set of circumstances, if we were nuked or there is a natural disaster of some kind, over which we have no control, then of course the story changes. Other than that our fundamentals are so good right now that at least for the next 50 years we can sit back and actually see the country attain its old, lost glory. There is no reason why we should not be able to leverage all that we have built up to and being just sixty, it’s really a very, very young country.
You’ve talked about the paradox of how Indian men view women. Do you think that the men here are ever going to outgrow this?
I saw an ad which really struck me. Five years ago no one would have thought of writing copy which says what it says. It’s an ad for HSBC which says, ‘He stays at home while she globe trots’. I thought it was a very significant statement but more in the area of wish fulfilment. It’s not really as rosy a picture as we’d like it to be. Women are working because they really have no bloody choice. Not that suddenly the men have become so accepting; it’s just that they can do with the extra money. A lot of women work when they would rather be homemakers. They are stretched too much. Society itself has not changed sufficiently to accommodate those pressures. So actually you’re doing triple shifts and playing multiple roles without the benefits and spin-offs. The rewards simply are not there or they are not enough. Men are not in a hurry to change the status quo because why should they? This way they get the best of everything. It’s like three for the price of one.
As Indians, we have a obsession to appropriate anybody who has done well in their lives as one of us. Even those who have a remote connection with the country. Why do you think this happens? Is it because we have such a few credible role models?
Not just that, we haven’t outgrown the need to win the approval of the West. Which is why we run after the Oscar, we run after the Booker, we run after anybody from the West. Mind you, an award from Japan won’t be the same thing; an award from an African nation won’t be the same thing. We want approval from Europe and the U.S. And therefore any one of Indian origin doing well there, we’re dying to claim the lot, whether it’s an Indira Nooyi or Sunita Williams who keep saying that they are American. But we will grab them by their collar and insist on the Indian connection no matter how tenuous. But I feel the younger generation will be happy to acknowledge success no matter whom, but they will not be so desperate to genuflect in the presence of anybody.
Politicians — you have mentioned them in the book too, but I notice you haven’t been too kind to the younger generation in politics.
The Gucci boys?
Yes. What is it you feel that is not quite right with them?
I think they are in it for the wrong reasons. They see it as a glamorous career option with very little of actual investment in the country. I also see them, the current lot, as just pampered, privileged…the “baba log”; they haven’t really got there by working towards a specific goal but it’s because of perpetuating the whole dynasty politics and still being stuck in something that I find almost medieval, this thing of passing down your kurssi to the next generation. The younger generation of politicians has not delivered. What have they done for their constituency? Precisely nothing. They have no concept of the ground realities, they have not even made an attempt to understand the ground realities. There is no sincerity of purpose; there is no vision for India. There is nothing except a great surname. Sorry. But I don’t think we should be endorsing such fellows. And perpetuating a system that we should have thrown out a long time ago. Whoever is there, should be there because they have the merit, the qualities that it takes to be leaders. None of these guys do.
You are a multi-tasker. What is the secret mantra that works for you?
I believe that women the world over are natural multi-taskers. You go to our villages, you will see those women performing the most incredible feats of balancing their economy, their homes, the crops marketing, managing kids, in-laws, managing community. They don’t know that they are multi-tasking — that’s a word that the urban Indian woman has grabbed and believes she has invented multi-tasking but it’s not so. I think we are just programmed to do it. I also think women are conscious of time, people and money, so some make a career out of it, others merely plod on. I’ve never stopped to think about it. I’ve just done what I’ve enjoyed doing, with a lot of passion behind it, a lot of hard work, frustration at times too. But I’ve enjoyed every moment of it and wouldn’t have it any other way and also the cage of age, for women in particular. I’m there to break the mould. I’m saying I’m 60, I refuse to turn into a harmless little old granny staying home to mind the babies. I will be what I am and I’m proud of it. I want other women to feel that there is life beyond 60 and they don’t have to conform to society’s expectations which are to make them invisible. It’s a one-point mission of my 60th year — to tell women, don’t let society make you apologetic about your age and 60 really is the new 40.
By SUCHITRA BEHAL
Source: http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/thscrip/print.pl?file=2008042750010100.htm&date=2008/04/27/&prd=mag&
Baby boomer time bomb: Too many aging patients, too few geriatricians
Elizabeth Eckstrom, MD, had been a general internist for 10 years when she did a geriatrics fellowship, after research into fall prevention piqued her interest in older adults. Now that she is a geriatrician, she earns less than she did before. But she thinks the change is still worth it.
"For me, it's about the rewards I see in caring for these patients, even though we aren't paid very well," said Dr. Eckstrom, associate professor at the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine.
She is one of a shrinking number of doctors who specialize in treating older patients. Today, there are about 7,100 geriatricians in the U.S. -- a 22% decline from 2000.
There will not be enough geriatricians when the 78 million baby boomers begin to turn 65 in 2011, according to a new Institute of Medicine report. By 2030, there will be an estimated 8,000 geriatricians, but the nation will need 36,000, according to the Assn. of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs.
"The supply side is really scary," said John W. Rowe, MD, the IOM report's committee chair and former CEO of Aetna.
The IOM report, released last month, recommended an increase in geriatric competency throughout the health care work force to offset a shortage in geriatric specialists. It also called for the adoption of interdisciplinary care models and a fundamental change in how health care is reimbursed.
Low reimbursement was cited as the biggest barrier to building the geriatrician supply. In 2005, average geriatrician income was $163,000, compared with $175,000 for a general internist.
In addition to raising reimbursement for senior citizens' care, the IOM study recommended establishing a National Geriatric Service Corps to create financial incentives for geriatric specialists.
The impending surge of seniors and their health care needs has focused attention on Medicare's solvency, but Dr. Rowe said the health care work force needs addressing, too.
"Even if there is enough money, there isn't going to be anybody there to provide the care," said Dr. Rowe, a professor of health policy at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York.
Pushing for more training
The AMA is one of several medical organizations supporting greater training in geriatrics.
"With approximately 7,000 geriatricians currently in the United States, all physicians caring for aging patients need to become proficient in geriatric care to help meet the increasing health care needs of seniors," AMA Board of Trustees member Cecil B. Wilson, MD, said in a statement.
Read in Deatil: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/05/05/prl10505.htm
"For me, it's about the rewards I see in caring for these patients, even though we aren't paid very well," said Dr. Eckstrom, associate professor at the Oregon Health & Science University School of Medicine.
She is one of a shrinking number of doctors who specialize in treating older patients. Today, there are about 7,100 geriatricians in the U.S. -- a 22% decline from 2000.
There will not be enough geriatricians when the 78 million baby boomers begin to turn 65 in 2011, according to a new Institute of Medicine report. By 2030, there will be an estimated 8,000 geriatricians, but the nation will need 36,000, according to the Assn. of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs.
"The supply side is really scary," said John W. Rowe, MD, the IOM report's committee chair and former CEO of Aetna.
The IOM report, released last month, recommended an increase in geriatric competency throughout the health care work force to offset a shortage in geriatric specialists. It also called for the adoption of interdisciplinary care models and a fundamental change in how health care is reimbursed.
Low reimbursement was cited as the biggest barrier to building the geriatrician supply. In 2005, average geriatrician income was $163,000, compared with $175,000 for a general internist.
In addition to raising reimbursement for senior citizens' care, the IOM study recommended establishing a National Geriatric Service Corps to create financial incentives for geriatric specialists.
The impending surge of seniors and their health care needs has focused attention on Medicare's solvency, but Dr. Rowe said the health care work force needs addressing, too.
"Even if there is enough money, there isn't going to be anybody there to provide the care," said Dr. Rowe, a professor of health policy at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health in New York.
Pushing for more training
The AMA is one of several medical organizations supporting greater training in geriatrics.
"With approximately 7,000 geriatricians currently in the United States, all physicians caring for aging patients need to become proficient in geriatric care to help meet the increasing health care needs of seniors," AMA Board of Trustees member Cecil B. Wilson, MD, said in a statement.
Read in Deatil: http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/05/05/prl10505.htm
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Legal action against family members for evicting senior citizens
All the senior citizens belonging to wealthy families who have been evicted from their houses by their sons/daughters or family members and are living in Old Age Homes would be identified. Such old people would also be given Old Age Pension and their offspring or family members would be penalised after filing cases against them for evicting the old people. This decision was taken at a meeting of the state level committee constituted for amending the proposed Old Age Policy. The meeting held at the Mantralaya was presided over by Woman and Child Development Minister of Madhya Pradesh Sushri Kusum Mehdele.On the instructions of Sushri Mehdele, it was decided to constitute a sub-committee comprising all the members of the state level committee. The sub-committee would prepare the final draft after amending Senior Citizens Act and state's proposed Old Age Policy. The committee would prepare the final draft within two months in the light of suggestions made by the members and discussions with them. Sushri Mehdele also gave instructions for convening first meeting of the sub-committee on May 12.
Source: http://www.theindiapost.com/?p=1100
Source: http://www.theindiapost.com/?p=1100
The risk calculator
Dr. Seshadri helps predict life-time risk of Alzheimer’s
If you’re a man, your chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease at some point in your life are one in ten. If you’re a woman, the statistics are even grimmer: one in five.
While most people would find these numbers hard to accept, they are a fact of life for Dr. Sudha Seshadri, a neurologist and associate professor at the Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Boston University School of Medicine. In fact, Dr. Seshadri helped compute those lifetime risk predictions. Late last month, the research that she conducted with another neurologist, Dr. Philip Wolf, was used in a report for the Alzheimer’s Association called Alzheimer’s Disease: Facts and Figures.
To Seshadri, 46, the findings are more than numbers. She has an intimate knowledge of neurological disorders. Her mother was diagnosed with a disease similar to Multiple Sclerosis when Seshadri was just 4 years old.
“She had it fairly severely,” she recalled. “It affected her thinking and behavior. So I was a little more sensitive, perhaps, than the average medical student to the problems that cognitive issues can bring up.”
When Seshadri was 18, the disease took her mother’s life. At the time, there were few treatments available for the illness.
“You gave steroids and those had horrible side effects,” she said. "When my mother became ill, there were no CAT scans. You had to do a very primitive test where you had to inject air into the space around the brain and basically look at the shadow around the brain to see if there were any tumors."
She now feels that her family experience with the nervous system disorder was a reason she decided to pursue neurology, long before she enrolled in Madras Medical College in the mid-1980s.
After completing her residency at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, she moved to the United States in 1992 with her husband, Dr. Vasan Ramachandra, a cardiologist, for a neurology fellowship at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center.
“It was apparent that she was very talented, extremely industrious and hardworking,” said Dr. Wolf, who first met Seshadri in the early 1990s.
When she began her education in neurology, Seshadri said, she perceived there was a general attitude among doctors and medical students that the specialty could do little for patients.
“If you were a neurologist, you spent a lot of time making wonderful diagnoses, but you didn't have a lot of treatment options to offer," she said.
This view began to change by the early 1990s with advances in medications for diseases such as Parkinson’s and other neurological disorders, and the discovery of genes that are suspected to help predict the likelihood of getting Alzheimer’s.
And with her recent research with Dr. Wolf, the ability to assess the risk of Alzheimer’s for populations is also advancing. Their study — which calculates lifetime risk of stroke and dementia, including Alzheimer’s — looks at subjects of the Framingham Heart Study, a 50-year study of 2,794 residents of Framingham, Mass. Among their findings is that the lifetime risk for stroke for middle-aged men is one in six; for women it’s one in five. The risk of dementia is the same. Seshadri and Wolf, a principal investigator in the Framingham Heart Study, also looked into individual risk factors, like high blood pressure, and how they contribute to the risk of dementia or stroke.
Still, neurology has its limitations. And diseases of the brain and nervous system can be emotionally upsetting for patients and their families, especially since several conditions still have few known medical treatments. This is one of neurology’s many challenges, she said, but it doesn’t outweigh the rewards of the specialty.
“To me, [being a neurologist] is very satisfying, because you don't just deal with an organ, for instance. You deal with the entire person; you deal with the entire family.”
By ADAM SMITH
Source: http://www.indianewengland.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=9461F646FE3D42888E6E874EF93FD979
Did u visit : www.silverinnings.com
If you’re a man, your chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease at some point in your life are one in ten. If you’re a woman, the statistics are even grimmer: one in five.
While most people would find these numbers hard to accept, they are a fact of life for Dr. Sudha Seshadri, a neurologist and associate professor at the Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Boston University School of Medicine. In fact, Dr. Seshadri helped compute those lifetime risk predictions. Late last month, the research that she conducted with another neurologist, Dr. Philip Wolf, was used in a report for the Alzheimer’s Association called Alzheimer’s Disease: Facts and Figures.
To Seshadri, 46, the findings are more than numbers. She has an intimate knowledge of neurological disorders. Her mother was diagnosed with a disease similar to Multiple Sclerosis when Seshadri was just 4 years old.
“She had it fairly severely,” she recalled. “It affected her thinking and behavior. So I was a little more sensitive, perhaps, than the average medical student to the problems that cognitive issues can bring up.”
When Seshadri was 18, the disease took her mother’s life. At the time, there were few treatments available for the illness.
“You gave steroids and those had horrible side effects,” she said. "When my mother became ill, there were no CAT scans. You had to do a very primitive test where you had to inject air into the space around the brain and basically look at the shadow around the brain to see if there were any tumors."
She now feels that her family experience with the nervous system disorder was a reason she decided to pursue neurology, long before she enrolled in Madras Medical College in the mid-1980s.
After completing her residency at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, she moved to the United States in 1992 with her husband, Dr. Vasan Ramachandra, a cardiologist, for a neurology fellowship at the University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center.
“It was apparent that she was very talented, extremely industrious and hardworking,” said Dr. Wolf, who first met Seshadri in the early 1990s.
When she began her education in neurology, Seshadri said, she perceived there was a general attitude among doctors and medical students that the specialty could do little for patients.
“If you were a neurologist, you spent a lot of time making wonderful diagnoses, but you didn't have a lot of treatment options to offer," she said.
This view began to change by the early 1990s with advances in medications for diseases such as Parkinson’s and other neurological disorders, and the discovery of genes that are suspected to help predict the likelihood of getting Alzheimer’s.
And with her recent research with Dr. Wolf, the ability to assess the risk of Alzheimer’s for populations is also advancing. Their study — which calculates lifetime risk of stroke and dementia, including Alzheimer’s — looks at subjects of the Framingham Heart Study, a 50-year study of 2,794 residents of Framingham, Mass. Among their findings is that the lifetime risk for stroke for middle-aged men is one in six; for women it’s one in five. The risk of dementia is the same. Seshadri and Wolf, a principal investigator in the Framingham Heart Study, also looked into individual risk factors, like high blood pressure, and how they contribute to the risk of dementia or stroke.
Still, neurology has its limitations. And diseases of the brain and nervous system can be emotionally upsetting for patients and their families, especially since several conditions still have few known medical treatments. This is one of neurology’s many challenges, she said, but it doesn’t outweigh the rewards of the specialty.
“To me, [being a neurologist] is very satisfying, because you don't just deal with an organ, for instance. You deal with the entire person; you deal with the entire family.”
By ADAM SMITH
Source: http://www.indianewengland.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=9461F646FE3D42888E6E874EF93FD979
Did u visit : www.silverinnings.com
Student opens job site for senior citizens
Reached 60 and still feeling young at heart? Well, a few corporates and business houses have teamed up to help a Vadodara-based student of Maharaja Sayajirao University to set up a website to provide senior citizens an opportunity to start their career afresh.
Some of the firms willing to absorb elderly citizens have already listed themselves on the website, launched by Shivani Mehta, a student of department of extension and communication, faculty of family and community sciences, at the university. This website has been created with the help of L&T and TVS. “L&T provided all the technical assistance, while TVS helped us in getting the website registered,” said Shivani about the website www.jobsforelderly.org, which already has 90 elderly citizens uploaded their resume.
“A large number of job-seekers have an engineering background. Most of these business entities offering jobs are looking to tap the experience and the wisdom that the senior citizens have gained over the years,” she remarked.
According to Shivani, several retired people preferred to work for socio-economic reasons. “Some were financially weak and were in search of a stable income while others felt they should not become a liability by sitting idle. Most of them preferred to get back to work because they wanted to be mentally and physically fit,” she said.
“The elderly can register themselves for free on this website,” Shivani added.
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Student_opens_job_site_for_senior_citizens/articleshow/2973140.cms
Some of the firms willing to absorb elderly citizens have already listed themselves on the website, launched by Shivani Mehta, a student of department of extension and communication, faculty of family and community sciences, at the university. This website has been created with the help of L&T and TVS. “L&T provided all the technical assistance, while TVS helped us in getting the website registered,” said Shivani about the website www.jobsforelderly.org, which already has 90 elderly citizens uploaded their resume.
“A large number of job-seekers have an engineering background. Most of these business entities offering jobs are looking to tap the experience and the wisdom that the senior citizens have gained over the years,” she remarked.
According to Shivani, several retired people preferred to work for socio-economic reasons. “Some were financially weak and were in search of a stable income while others felt they should not become a liability by sitting idle. Most of them preferred to get back to work because they wanted to be mentally and physically fit,” she said.
“The elderly can register themselves for free on this website,” Shivani added.
Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Student_opens_job_site_for_senior_citizens/articleshow/2973140.cms
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
5-star old-age home coming up in Gujarat
Leading industrialists of Gujarat have joined hands to construct a state-of-the-art old-age home near Ahmedabad. Pankaj Patel, chairman, Zydus Healthcare, Sudhir Mehta of the Torrent group and Gautam Adani, chairman, Adani group, among others, have got together for the project, which will come up on the outskirts of the city.
Patel has already donated 38,000 square yards of land near Sanskardham in Ghuma, about two kilometers from Ahmedabad. “It will be a world-class project,” said Girish Dani, a Ficci member, who is closely involved with the venture.
“The 200-room old-age home will have four-bed as well as two-bed rooms. It will have all the facilities including a medical centre, a multi-functional hall, activity room and a temple,” said Apurva Amin, the architect designing the project.
According to Dani, there’s an urgent requirement for such a project in Gujarat since more and more people are emigrating leaving the older members of the family back home. “Often, the older generation finds it difficult to adjust to the lifestyle in a foreign country,” he said, adding that at other times, visas and relevant permissions are hard to come by.
The affluent NRIs who have left their parents back home will be the target customers for the old-age home. The rich NRIs can afford the five-star luxuries for their parents who are happy to live in India but could do with better infrastructure, said Dani.
The old-age home venture is yet to be named though spiritual leader Moraribapu, who’s discourses attract no less than 500,000-700,000 people at a time, will lay the foundation stone of the project within a fortnight. While Dani did not divulge the exact project cost, he said a large number of donors have approached them for donations.
Source: http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=lmnu4&subLeft=2&autono=320803&tab=r
Patel has already donated 38,000 square yards of land near Sanskardham in Ghuma, about two kilometers from Ahmedabad. “It will be a world-class project,” said Girish Dani, a Ficci member, who is closely involved with the venture.
“The 200-room old-age home will have four-bed as well as two-bed rooms. It will have all the facilities including a medical centre, a multi-functional hall, activity room and a temple,” said Apurva Amin, the architect designing the project.
According to Dani, there’s an urgent requirement for such a project in Gujarat since more and more people are emigrating leaving the older members of the family back home. “Often, the older generation finds it difficult to adjust to the lifestyle in a foreign country,” he said, adding that at other times, visas and relevant permissions are hard to come by.
The affluent NRIs who have left their parents back home will be the target customers for the old-age home. The rich NRIs can afford the five-star luxuries for their parents who are happy to live in India but could do with better infrastructure, said Dani.
The old-age home venture is yet to be named though spiritual leader Moraribapu, who’s discourses attract no less than 500,000-700,000 people at a time, will lay the foundation stone of the project within a fortnight. While Dani did not divulge the exact project cost, he said a large number of donors have approached them for donations.
Source: http://www.business-standard.com/common/news_article.php?leftnm=lmnu4&subLeft=2&autono=320803&tab=r
The iPad: A highly technological granny flat for your digital old age
These days it is the grandchildren who are in thrall to technology, with their webcams, emails, iPods and social network sites.
But in 40 years time it will be the elderly who will have their finger on the button from a "virtual granny flat".
At least that's the vision of a research group which claims that by 2048, pensioners will be able to live independently in their homes, using video conferencing to watch and chat with family and friends.
Care homes will be replaced by "boutique hotels" only for the seriously ill, it says.
The report also predicts that the infirm will be fitted with microchips so they can be remotely monitored to ensure they do not wander or fall.
The study on the future of caring for the elderly outlines an extraordinary vision of "ageing in place" when the retired will no longer have to sell their homes to pay for care.
It was commissioned by the Life Trust Foundation, a group set up to look at the financial impact of living longer.
"It is a triumph of the public health system that we are all living longer, but it is only a triumph if people have real quality of life in old age," said Mike Lake, director general of Help the Aged and director of the Life Trust Foundation.
"We need to use this technology to make people's lives richer."
The report envisions a future in which the elderly will have their homes kitted out with wall-length video link-up screens allowing them to watch their relatives, read a bedtime story and even babysit from their "virtual granny flats".
Safety sensors under the floor and on household appliances such as fridges will be able to monitor their movements and notify medical staff or relatives if a person falls. Other sensors will trigger a voice prompt if a pan has been left unattended or the bath running.
Experts predict that the technology for "virtual granny flats" will be available as early as 2028.
Mr Lake said: "The technological advances available now are not being utilised by the elderly population at all. People don't want to go into care homes any more.
"They want company, but people want to remain independent as long as they can. Soon the technology will allow them to do this.
"I do not know if care homes will become completely redundant, but they will go the way of boutique hotels which are tailored to you as an individual. Chip technology sounds horrific, but it could be a very sensible way of keeping tabs on people who wander."
Futurologist Ian Pearson, who contributed to the report, said: "The development of ever-larger flatscreen TVs and the growth of video conferencing means that grandparents could essentially have a window into their children's and grandchildren's homes.
"Even if they are not very mobile they will be able to do grandparent things like babysit or read bedtime stories through a video link-up."
The Government has announced plans to spend £80million on research into how local authorities can use sensors to help the elderly.
Experts claim home monitoring systems, already in use in the U.S., would be far cheaper than the current care home system which costs £540 a week for a typical stay.
World Elder Abuse Awareness 2008: Online Global Forum
Throughout the world, abuse and neglect of older persons has been largely under-recognized or under-treated as an unspoken problem. Today, it is increasingly being seen as an important problem but may also be likely to grow as many countries experience rapidly aging populations. Similar to other types of violence, abuse of the elderly includes physical, financial, sexual and psychological abuse, as well as neglect.
On June 16, 2008, we will observe the 3rd Annual World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD). In recognition of this important event, AARP International is hosting a two-week online forum of experts from around the world. The aim of this online dialogue is to promote a better understanding of abuse and neglect of older persons by facilitating a global discussion among key national experts to raise awareness of the cultural, social, economic and demographic processes affecting elder abuse and neglect. Be sure to visit www.aarpinternational.org/weaad08 from June 1 through June 16, 2008 to read insights shared by experts and raise your own questions on policy issues related to elder abuse. Naomi Karp, Strategic Policy Advisor at AARP's Public Policy Institute will facilitate this discussion.
For more information about the 3rd Annual World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, visit the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) website at: www.inpea.net.
Source: http://www.aarpinternational.org/conference/conference_show.htm?doc_id=671481
On June 16, 2008, we will observe the 3rd Annual World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD). In recognition of this important event, AARP International is hosting a two-week online forum of experts from around the world. The aim of this online dialogue is to promote a better understanding of abuse and neglect of older persons by facilitating a global discussion among key national experts to raise awareness of the cultural, social, economic and demographic processes affecting elder abuse and neglect. Be sure to visit www.aarpinternational.org/weaad08 from June 1 through June 16, 2008 to read insights shared by experts and raise your own questions on policy issues related to elder abuse. Naomi Karp, Strategic Policy Advisor at AARP's Public Policy Institute will facilitate this discussion.
For more information about the 3rd Annual World Elder Abuse Awareness Day, visit the International Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (INPEA) website at: www.inpea.net.
Source: http://www.aarpinternational.org/conference/conference_show.htm?doc_id=671481
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Yoga: The elderly just love it!
Yoga boosts their self-esteem they say. While some call it ‘addiction’, others say it has become a habit akin to having one’s daily meals, which they cannot afford to skip.
The young are coming to yoga centres with the aim to lose flab. But the elderly are not far behind, they want their youth back as well. They feel fit and their ailments, many of which arise from lifestyle problems and neglect at home, are getting resolved.
Yoga is the way to a happy, healthy and a long life for the elderly, say experts. “Several studies have shown that yoga has prevented several lifestyle diseases, which come with ageing — namely cardiac, respiratory and bone diseases,” says Dr Subhash Manchanda, former head, cardiology, at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and vice chairman, World Academy of Spiritual Sciences.
Confidence booster
Most senior citizens bury themselves in their homes and gradually start losing confidence post retirement. Without a permanent circle of friends — the loss of the office circle is a big loss — they begin to suffer from low self-esteem. Some start feeling purposeless once their children move out of the home for higher studies or jobs. Yoga gives such elders a new lease of life, a renewed sense of worth and a fresh spurt of confidence.
Fifty-nine year-old Amita Kumar, for example, found it difficult to carry on alone. Amita was distraught and directionless when she lost her husband 18 months ago. Thanks to her regular yoga sessions at Bharat Thakur’s artistic yoga classes, she is not just more confident but also more healthy today. Yoga has enhanced her quality of life. She says, she’s ‘addicted’ to it.
Dressed in a white shirt dotted with blue flowers and body-hugging gray slacks, Amita says: “Yoga gets my day started. I not only feel younger but there is an added enthusiasm in everything I do.” The daily dose of yoga gives her the required energy for voluntary social work. Amita works for the uplift of slum girls.
“Yoga works on the principle of psycho-neuro-immunology. There is a large number of hormones which are released when we are happy,” says Dr SC Mahapatra, additional professor, department of physiology at AIIMS. “Psychological benefits cannot be ruled out although this can’t be measured by science.”
All-round health
Is yoga only about de-stressing or does it have health benefits? A few studies offer hope. In 2008, a study conducted over a two-month period on 65 year-olds in the US reveals that Iyengar Yoga showed significant improvement in their balance and stability. The 24 elderly women not only looked fitter, but were more confident when walking and were less likely to fall.
Another US study conducted in 1990 of patients who had coronary heart disease, indicated that a regimen of aerobic exercise and stress reduction, including yoga, combined with a low-fat vegetarian diet, stabilised, and in some cases, reversed arterial blockage.
Yoga indeed comes with a lot of health benefits. Anuj Kumar, yoga trainer at Bharat Thakur’s artistic yoga institute says: “Yoga is perhaps the only form of activity that massages all the internal glands and organs of the body in a thorough manner, including those — such as the prostate — that hardly get externally stimulated during our entire lifetime.”
The stimulation and massage of the organs keeps away disease and provide a forewarning at the first possible instance of a likely onset of a disorder, he adds.
Yoga is a sure-shot cure for asthma. For instance, 54-year old Roshni Menon, who could not imagine living without her inhaler, now gets along fine without it. “I have been doing yoga for the last four and half years and I have never had to use my inhaler,” she says happily.
Fifty-two year-old Darshan Kumar agrees with Menon. For him, yoga is a way of life. “I can’t imagine life without it. Earlier I was unable to read or pick up things located at a distance of one metre. I got my eyesight back after I did suryanamaskar for about two years,” he adds.
Look younger
Of Anuj Kumar’s 400 students, about 25 per cent are above 50. “It is very difficult to determine their age, as all of them look young and gorgeous,” he says.
“Yoga has changed me completely. It has pushed back my age by at least 15 years. I have not just shed weight but have also lost 4.5 inches on my waist,” says Roshni.
The story of VV Menon is similar. The tall, broad-built, white-haired gentleman does not reveal his age at first. “You can put my age as 60. Do I look any older?” he asks with a smile. Menon who is in his seventies, has been a yoga enthusiast for a very long time.
“Most people in Delhi have to battle with a lot of health problems as soon as they hit 50, but I have never really had to face any,” he adds. “I can do as many as 20-30 suryanamaskars at a go. My blood pressure, sugar levels and cholesterol levels are normal,” he adds.
“It is scientifically proven that yoga can delay the biomarkers — graying of hair, wrinkles etc. Yoga helps people slow down ageing. The elderly look young even at 60,” says Dr Manchanda. Yoga works in other subtle ways, say experts.
“Even people with rigid bodies start experiencing a remarkable flexibility in even those parts which they have not consciously worked upon,” says Anuj Kumar. This means that yoga helps loosen up the body and even acts upon areas that have not gone through the drill. When all the limbs are exercised, they work in harmony to create a situation where flexibility is a guarantee, he adds.
Source: http://lifestyle.in.msn.com/health/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1351349
Did u visit www.silverinnings.com
The young are coming to yoga centres with the aim to lose flab. But the elderly are not far behind, they want their youth back as well. They feel fit and their ailments, many of which arise from lifestyle problems and neglect at home, are getting resolved.
Yoga is the way to a happy, healthy and a long life for the elderly, say experts. “Several studies have shown that yoga has prevented several lifestyle diseases, which come with ageing — namely cardiac, respiratory and bone diseases,” says Dr Subhash Manchanda, former head, cardiology, at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) and vice chairman, World Academy of Spiritual Sciences.
Confidence booster
Most senior citizens bury themselves in their homes and gradually start losing confidence post retirement. Without a permanent circle of friends — the loss of the office circle is a big loss — they begin to suffer from low self-esteem. Some start feeling purposeless once their children move out of the home for higher studies or jobs. Yoga gives such elders a new lease of life, a renewed sense of worth and a fresh spurt of confidence.
Fifty-nine year-old Amita Kumar, for example, found it difficult to carry on alone. Amita was distraught and directionless when she lost her husband 18 months ago. Thanks to her regular yoga sessions at Bharat Thakur’s artistic yoga classes, she is not just more confident but also more healthy today. Yoga has enhanced her quality of life. She says, she’s ‘addicted’ to it.
Dressed in a white shirt dotted with blue flowers and body-hugging gray slacks, Amita says: “Yoga gets my day started. I not only feel younger but there is an added enthusiasm in everything I do.” The daily dose of yoga gives her the required energy for voluntary social work. Amita works for the uplift of slum girls.
“Yoga works on the principle of psycho-neuro-immunology. There is a large number of hormones which are released when we are happy,” says Dr SC Mahapatra, additional professor, department of physiology at AIIMS. “Psychological benefits cannot be ruled out although this can’t be measured by science.”
All-round health
Is yoga only about de-stressing or does it have health benefits? A few studies offer hope. In 2008, a study conducted over a two-month period on 65 year-olds in the US reveals that Iyengar Yoga showed significant improvement in their balance and stability. The 24 elderly women not only looked fitter, but were more confident when walking and were less likely to fall.
Another US study conducted in 1990 of patients who had coronary heart disease, indicated that a regimen of aerobic exercise and stress reduction, including yoga, combined with a low-fat vegetarian diet, stabilised, and in some cases, reversed arterial blockage.
Yoga indeed comes with a lot of health benefits. Anuj Kumar, yoga trainer at Bharat Thakur’s artistic yoga institute says: “Yoga is perhaps the only form of activity that massages all the internal glands and organs of the body in a thorough manner, including those — such as the prostate — that hardly get externally stimulated during our entire lifetime.”
The stimulation and massage of the organs keeps away disease and provide a forewarning at the first possible instance of a likely onset of a disorder, he adds.
Yoga is a sure-shot cure for asthma. For instance, 54-year old Roshni Menon, who could not imagine living without her inhaler, now gets along fine without it. “I have been doing yoga for the last four and half years and I have never had to use my inhaler,” she says happily.
Fifty-two year-old Darshan Kumar agrees with Menon. For him, yoga is a way of life. “I can’t imagine life without it. Earlier I was unable to read or pick up things located at a distance of one metre. I got my eyesight back after I did suryanamaskar for about two years,” he adds.
Look younger
Of Anuj Kumar’s 400 students, about 25 per cent are above 50. “It is very difficult to determine their age, as all of them look young and gorgeous,” he says.
“Yoga has changed me completely. It has pushed back my age by at least 15 years. I have not just shed weight but have also lost 4.5 inches on my waist,” says Roshni.
The story of VV Menon is similar. The tall, broad-built, white-haired gentleman does not reveal his age at first. “You can put my age as 60. Do I look any older?” he asks with a smile. Menon who is in his seventies, has been a yoga enthusiast for a very long time.
“Most people in Delhi have to battle with a lot of health problems as soon as they hit 50, but I have never really had to face any,” he adds. “I can do as many as 20-30 suryanamaskars at a go. My blood pressure, sugar levels and cholesterol levels are normal,” he adds.
“It is scientifically proven that yoga can delay the biomarkers — graying of hair, wrinkles etc. Yoga helps people slow down ageing. The elderly look young even at 60,” says Dr Manchanda. Yoga works in other subtle ways, say experts.
“Even people with rigid bodies start experiencing a remarkable flexibility in even those parts which they have not consciously worked upon,” says Anuj Kumar. This means that yoga helps loosen up the body and even acts upon areas that have not gone through the drill. When all the limbs are exercised, they work in harmony to create a situation where flexibility is a guarantee, he adds.
Source: http://lifestyle.in.msn.com/health/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1351349
Did u visit www.silverinnings.com
Get a yogic facelift to your Ageing skin
Leave your tongue hanging out and roll your eyes upwards, blow kisses, tilt your head back and try to kiss the ceiling... hold each pose for a minute. This might sound like a one-way ticket to the loony bin, but it actually sets you on the road to firm jaws and plump lips.
This is facial yoga. Sceptics may sneer, but the trend is here to stay, for those who want to get rid of worry lines and wrinkles. It's a natural facelift, says Asha Bachanni, a Mumbai-based expert, who trained in the art in the UK. She says, "We all know that looks are important. Gyms can tone up your body, but what about the face? A face is made up of 57 muscles, which are as responsive to exercise as other muscles. I believe the face is our biography, and we need to make it a bestseller."
In the four years since she began her practice, she has had clients from age groups 16 to 72 coming to her. The younger ones mostly to get rid of heavy cheeks or double chins, those in their 30s and early 40s for toning and the above-45 group to address the problem of sagging skin, deep nasolabial folds and wrinkles. It works well for sculpting and toning the face as well as for delaying and reversing the effects of ageing.
Facial exercises stimulate blood circulation for an even skin tone, rejuvenate elasticity and natural collagen. They help diminish fine lines as well as brighten and tighten the skin.
Bachanni has advised several celeb clients, including television actors Mouli Ganguli, Swetta Keswani and Tasneem Sheikh. Says Sheikh, who consulted Bachanni after an accident, "My jaw was stiff and the exercises did help to a great extent. However, I'm not practising it at the moment."
Yoga guru Swami Lalji, practising yoga for the last three decades, swears by it for anti-ageing benefits and a glowing complexion.
Laughter plays an important role in facial yoga and can smooth wrinkles as it increases blood circulation and removes polluted carbon dioxide from the lungs. Yoga expert Suneel Singh believes facial yoga can restore the glow on your face and remove spots, wrinkles, acne and pimples.
So, give it a shot... and why not? It's a lot cheaper than Botox as well!
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Life/Get_a_yogic_facelift/articleshow/2965229.cms
This is facial yoga. Sceptics may sneer, but the trend is here to stay, for those who want to get rid of worry lines and wrinkles. It's a natural facelift, says Asha Bachanni, a Mumbai-based expert, who trained in the art in the UK. She says, "We all know that looks are important. Gyms can tone up your body, but what about the face? A face is made up of 57 muscles, which are as responsive to exercise as other muscles. I believe the face is our biography, and we need to make it a bestseller."
In the four years since she began her practice, she has had clients from age groups 16 to 72 coming to her. The younger ones mostly to get rid of heavy cheeks or double chins, those in their 30s and early 40s for toning and the above-45 group to address the problem of sagging skin, deep nasolabial folds and wrinkles. It works well for sculpting and toning the face as well as for delaying and reversing the effects of ageing.
Facial exercises stimulate blood circulation for an even skin tone, rejuvenate elasticity and natural collagen. They help diminish fine lines as well as brighten and tighten the skin.
Bachanni has advised several celeb clients, including television actors Mouli Ganguli, Swetta Keswani and Tasneem Sheikh. Says Sheikh, who consulted Bachanni after an accident, "My jaw was stiff and the exercises did help to a great extent. However, I'm not practising it at the moment."
Yoga guru Swami Lalji, practising yoga for the last three decades, swears by it for anti-ageing benefits and a glowing complexion.
Laughter plays an important role in facial yoga and can smooth wrinkles as it increases blood circulation and removes polluted carbon dioxide from the lungs. Yoga expert Suneel Singh believes facial yoga can restore the glow on your face and remove spots, wrinkles, acne and pimples.
So, give it a shot... and why not? It's a lot cheaper than Botox as well!
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Life/Get_a_yogic_facelift/articleshow/2965229.cms
World's oldest person turns 115
American Edna Parker, the Guinness World Record holder as the world's oldest person celebrated her 115th birthday on Sunday.
Born in April 20, 1893, She was recognized as the world's oldest person by the Guinness World Records last August after the death of the Japanese Yone Minagawa at the age of 114, four months her senior.
Surrounded by family, friends and well-wishers, Parker patiently sat in her wheelchair, her legs covered in a blanket, as she received gifts from Franklin College President Jay Moseley and other officials at the town.
Edna Parker is a 1911 graduate of Franklin College. She gave up her teaching career for the life of a farmer's wife.
Two years ago, researchers took a blood sample from Parker for the group's DNA database of about 100 other people who reached the 110-year milestone.
Scientists who study longevity hope that Parker can help unlock the secrets to long life.
According to the Gerontology Research Group, a California-based organization that verifies reports of extreme ages, there are only 75 people alive - 64 women and 11 men - that are 110 or older.
INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL OLD AGE PENSION SCHEME in India
Under Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme (IGNOAPS), Rs.200 per month per beneficiary is provided by way of Central Assistance to a person who is 65 years or older and belonging to a household below the poverty line according to the criteria prescribed by the Government of India. Further, Government is also implementing An Integrated Programme for Older Persons, under which grants-in-aid are provided to the Non-Governmental Organizations for running of old age homes, Daycare Centres and Mobile Medicare Units.
This information was given by the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Smt. Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today on 21st April 2008.
Source: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=37607
This information was given by the Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment, Smt. Subbulakshmi Jagadeesan in a written reply to a question in the Rajya Sabha today on 21st April 2008.
Source: http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=37607
Monday, April 21, 2008
Welcome
Dear Friends,
Its our pleasure to welcome you all to this New Blog dedicated for Elders.
We will try to update you about happenings in Elder domain.
This is our new initiative after http://www.silverinnings.com/ and http://peopleforsocialcause.blogspot.com/ ,we thought that there is need for seprate blog for Elders.
Thanks and Happy Blogging.
Warm Regards,
Sailesh Mishra
Founder - Silver Innings,A dedicated Website for Elders and their Family MembersFounder – ARDSI, Greater Mumbai Support GroupAdvisor - Society for Serving SeniorsManaging Committee Member - ARDSI, Mumbai Chapter
Website : http://www.silverinnings.com/
Blog: http://peopleforsocialcause.blogspot.com/ ; http://silverinnings.blogspot.com/
Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.
Its our pleasure to welcome you all to this New Blog dedicated for Elders.
We will try to update you about happenings in Elder domain.
This is our new initiative after http://www.silverinnings.com/ and http://peopleforsocialcause.blogspot.com/ ,we thought that there is need for seprate blog for Elders.
Thanks and Happy Blogging.
Warm Regards,
Sailesh Mishra
Founder - Silver Innings,A dedicated Website for Elders and their Family MembersFounder – ARDSI, Greater Mumbai Support GroupAdvisor - Society for Serving SeniorsManaging Committee Member - ARDSI, Mumbai Chapter
Website : http://www.silverinnings.com/
Blog: http://peopleforsocialcause.blogspot.com/ ; http://silverinnings.blogspot.com/
Forget yourself for others, and others will never forget you.
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