SENIORS  Maybe you don’t think your voice is ready for Broadway. Music Therapist Barbara Dunn has heard that excuse before from people in the singing groups she leads.
“About three-quarters [of the class] will joke about their singing — ‘You don’t want to hear me!’” she says. “But by the end of the class, nine times out of 10, everybody is singing.” Read More>>

SENIORS  Shirley Jakubowski has never been the shy type, especially when it comes to song and dance. After all, she sang solos in a Cincinnati women’s chorus for 27 years.   
“I like music, and I like to think I can dance, even if I can’t,” she says, laughing.
But her confidence began to vanish in early 2008. “When I was first diagnosed with Parkinson’s, I didn’t want to tell anyone. If it hadn’t been for my husband pushing me, I would have just curled up in a corner and stayed there.” Read More>>

SENIORS  Death can come unannounced, without a word of warning or foreshadowing. But other times, death comes more slowly. Those last months, last days, last moments, can be filled with dread, anger and fear, or peace and closure. Read More>>

SENIORS  Pop quiz: What’s your name? What’s today’s date? Other than shark, what are four creatures beginning with S? Why is a carrot like a potato? How long can you remember the phrase, “Good Citizens Always Wear Stout Shoes?”

To the average adult, it’s not a tough quiz. At least, it shouldn’t be. But for an adult suffering from Alzheimer’s, it’s a very tough quiz indeed. They may score only one out of 35 points. Read More>>

SENIORS  We all know exercise is good for the body, and many of us are well-aware that exercise can make you feel better emotionally as well. But in his recent book, Spark: The Revolutionary Science of Exercise and the Brain (now available in paperback), John Ratey, MD, and Eric Hagerman take you inside your brain to learn just why exercise is so good for your mind. If the thought of making your heart more efficient and your physique a little sleeker isn’t enough to motivate you to exercise, maybe the incentive of keeping your mind razor-sharp will provide that extra nudge. Read More>>

SENIORS  Don Bridwell’s phone rang. It was his elderly mother calling, again. Again in a crisis. Why does your voice sound so muffled? Bridwell asked.

“I’m hiding in the closet,” his mother said. She was afraid, she explained, of the people hiding in the television. Afraid they would come out of the television and chase her around the room. Read More>>

SENIORS  “My role is to keep the highways healthy — I like to think,” Amy Doneen says. But she’s not wearing an orange vest and toting a trash bag — no, Doneen is talking about the practice she’s built here in Spokane that centers around keeping arteries clean and clear. Healthy. Free of any obstruction that could turn into a heart attack or a stroke. Read More>>

SENIORS  Kids fall all the time, mostly without any serious consequences. After all, those little tushes are pretty well cushioned. As people age, however, a fall can become a serious medical event. Read More>>

SENIORS  Gerry Boston isn’t good with faces. It’s not that she can’t remember them — her 85-year-old mind’s still razor sharp. It’s that she can’t see them. Her peripheral vision is fine, but the center is a muddled blur.

Her ability to recognize — and to read and to drive — has been impaired. She can’t even see her own face in the mirror. Read More>>

SENIORS  Ideally, once you leave the hospital — lollipop in hand, Daffy Duck band-aid on your arm — you’re “all better now.”

Not quite.

The road away from the hospital towers is bumpy, winding, and full of potholes. If there’s miscommunication, if discharge occurs at the wrong time or without the proper support services and education in place, major problems can arise. Read More>>