Category Archives: Health

Four Simple Words to Help You Live Well

By Tara Parker-Pope in the New York Times “During nearly 20 years writing about health, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with hundreds of top medical experts about how to live well. What I’ve learned from all of them can be … Continue reading

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Hospitals Stopped Readmitting So Many Medicare Patients. Did That Cost Lives?

Ed note: These days you have to be pretty darn sick in order to be admitted to a hospital. Then they are anxious to make your stay as short as possible because they are now paid based on your diagnosis. … Continue reading

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Senate Democrats introduce bill to deny tax loophole for Big Pharma ads

Ed note: Thanks to Dick D for sending this along. I’ve been puzzled when watching TV that so many commercials are for very expensive drugs for conditions that aren’t all that common. The hype benefits then discuss side effects (even … Continue reading

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UC San Diego opens new senior-focused emergency unit

Ed Note: Focusing on urgent or emergent senior care is finally starting to happen. Only three level one senior emergency rooms exist in the USA, the only one on the west coast featured here. Wouldn’t it be nice if we … Continue reading

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Nature vs Nurture – our beliefs may be more important than our genes in this study

Ed note: The age old argument about nature vs. nurture will likely continue on for ages. In the field of epigenetics it’s been discovered that we can actually turn our genes off/on with some life experiences. At times our beliefs … Continue reading

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Treating Alzheimer’s by treating aging

Ed note: The Alzheimer’s drugs have been very disappointing. So are strawberries and curry part of the solution? Creative scientists at the Salk Institute are looking at the possibility that “anti-aging” treatments may be part of the answer. The article … Continue reading

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Am I old?

From the NYT: “A few years ago at a college reunion, I listened transfixed as the silver-haired philanthropist David Rubenstein urged us “to accelerate” as we entered the last chapters of our lives. Pick up the pace? So many of … Continue reading

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Washington voters may get final say on safe injection sites

From Crosscut: “Not often do I praise the Seattle City Council, but here goes: When time came to take a stand on supervised heroin injection sites, the members stepped up and voiced their approval. So did the candidates for mayor, including eventual winner Jenny Durkan. True, … Continue reading

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Opioid Crisis: The lawsuits that could bankrupt manufacturers and distributors

Ed note: It looks like the opioid manufacturers and distributors are going to be taken to court by a “county lawyer” who successfully took on big tobacco and enron. This segment on 60 minutes is worth watching. Click here to … Continue reading

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Act F.A.S.T. to Identify a Stroke in Progress

Thanks to Dick D for sending along this important health info from American Stroke Association. If you are talking with someone and that person suddenly begins to behave unusually, you may hesitate to say something. After all, you don’t want to … Continue reading

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What Doctors Know About CPR

We are all signed up for CPR unless we indicate otherwise. I think we all wish for a peaceful end, much like that of President George H. W. Bush – with caring family and friends at our bedside. The alternative … Continue reading

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Even a Little Weight Training May Cut the Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke

From the NYT: “Despite the muscle-building, flab-trimming and, according to recent research, mood-boosting benefits of lifting weights, such resistance exercise has generally been thought not to contribute much to heart health, as endurance workouts like jogging and cycling do. But … Continue reading

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How climate change could affect us all – new US government report (buried by release on Black Friday)

(CNN)The average global temperature is much higher and rising more rapidly than “anything modern civilization has experienced,” according to David Easterling, one of the authors of a new US government report that delivers a dire warning about our future. Thousands more could die, … Continue reading

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AgeWise King County Newsletter

Chair’s Corner: Your Time, Talent, and Kindness Go a Long Way In December, it is very tempting to write a cheery article about celebrating the holidays with families, food, friends, and fun. I don’t want to sound all doom-and-gloom, but … Continue reading

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A New Treatment for Blindness Comes From Gene Therapy

Thanks to Ann M for sending this “eye opening” article By Jocelyn Kaiser Smithsonian Magazine | Subscribe December 2018 Three months after Misty Lovelace was born, she was already going blind. In first grade she could still read small print, but within … Continue reading

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Will We Ever Cure Alzheimer’s?

Ed note: Prevention and treatment of dementia remains a discouraging effort for patients, families and researchers. It would seem that Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia, begins many years before symptoms show up, so early detection with prevention is … Continue reading

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Perspectives on Memory – Conference at the Frye

Perspectives on Memory CREATIVE AGING CONFERENCE Friday, February 1, 2019 8:15am – 6:00 pm 8:15 am: Check-in & continental breakfast 9 am – 5 pm: Conference sessions 5–6 pm: Closing reception Location Frye Auditorium Perspectives on Memory is a one-day conference designed for … Continue reading

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Why do people go blind? – Dr. Russell Van Gelder from the UW

Thanks to Ann M for inviting Dr. Van Gelder to speak at Skyline

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Medicare enrollment

Thanks, from Barb W.  We get it, you’ve got plenty of things on your “to-do” list already. But if you haven’t already added these 5 items to your list, you’ll want to do so now. Why? So you can get … Continue reading

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Earl E. Bakken, Pacemaker Inventor and Medtronic Founder, Dies at 94

Thanks to Dick D From the NYT: “Earl E. Bakken, who, working in a Minneapolis garage, invented the first wearable, battery-powered pacemaker and went on to help create the world’s largest medical device company, died on Sunday at his home … Continue reading

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Medicare Advantage and Original Medicare

  In a recent presentation at Skyline, there was some confusion generated in comparing the advantages of having Original Medicare (with a supplemental medigap plan and drug plan) vs. having a Medicare Advantage plan. Unfortunately a private insurance company’s “educational … Continue reading

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New single dose drug for the flu

From the NYT: “The first new flu drug in 20 years won approval Wednesday from the Food and Drug Administration. The new antiviral, generically known as baloxavir marboxil but sold under the brand name Xofluza, is a single dose treatment. … Continue reading

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Safeguarding Health and Preventing Nuclear Catastrophe

Ed Note: The Washington State Physicians for Social Responsibility *WPSR) is sponsoring the presentation. The concerns have become even more relevant as nuclear rhetoric heats up: “The US national security adviser, John Bolton, has confirmed that the US will withdrawal from the … Continue reading

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The Medicare insurance annual choices

Ed note: We are in our annual confusing months of thinking about our health insurance coverage. Below is a very useful essay posted on the Morningstar site. It does some comparisons between traditional Medicare and Medicare Advantage . From discussions … Continue reading

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Advice From Health Care’s Power Users

Ed note: The article below has some pretty good suggestions but I’ll add a few of my own and would like you to know that some help will be coming in finding local resources. When I established with a new … Continue reading

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