aging – WERU 89.9 FM Blue Hill, Maine Local News and Public Affairs Archives

Family Corner 4/26/17

Producer/Host: Sue Mackey Andrews
Engineer: John Greenman

Issue: Thriving in Place: Quality Life for Seniors

Program Topic: Ensuring Quality of Life for our Seniors

Key Discussion Points:
a) Communities throughout Maine are working together to ensure that Seniors are recognized as valuable members of their communities!
b) Thriving in Place or TIP are working to reduce isolation, expand socialization and connect medical, healthcare and community services to Seniors
c) Many communities in Maine are also implementing Age-Friendly Communities status to welcome Seniors to their communities

Guests:
Meg Callaway, Piscataquis Thriving in Place
Anne Schroth, Thriving in Place Downeast

Talk of the Towns 1/13/17

Host: Ron Beard, University of Maine Cooperative Extension
Studio Engineer: Amy Browne

Issue: Community concerns and opportunities

Program Topic: Making Age Friendly Communities in Maine

Key Discussion Points:
As people the world over grow older, there is more attention paid to making their communities “age friendly”… what might be a good working definition of “age friendly community”?
How did the Bangor, Ellsworth and Bar Harbor decide to sign on as partners in the AARP Age Friendly Community Network? …
What are some of the opportunities / problems you would like to address?
Who is involved in your community (characterize the network within your towns)?
What challenges and successes are you finding in your work?
What are your hopes for the future of your communities and Maine as we create communities that are more “age friendly?”

Guests:
Patricia Oh, LMSW, MS Livable, Age-Friendly Communities Consultant AARP Maine
Jo Cooper, Executive Director, Friends in Action, Ellsworth
Doreen Willett, Executive Director, Island Connections, Bar Harbor
Patty Hamilton, APRN, City of Bangor Public Health and Community Service

Special Edition of Healthy Options 10/6/16

Host and Producer: Rhonda Feiman
Co-Producer: Petra Hall
Engineer: Amy Browne

Program Topic: Healthy Aging as the Silver Tsunami Approaches

Key Discussion Points:
a) What is the “Silver Tsunami”, and what does this mean for baby boomers, seniors, & our healthcare system?
b) How do our health care needs change as we age?
c) What lifestyle habits should we cultivate in order to stay well?
d) What do baby boomers and seniors and their families need to know when interacting with the medical system?
e) What is a geriatrician? Why do we need one as we age? Why are there so few of them, in sharp contrast to the increasing population of seniors who need them?
f) What can we do as patients and as family to be sure that the treatable ailments of seniors are not dismissed as “just old age” or misdiagnosed?

Guest: Marcy Cottrell Houle, MS., coauthor of The Gift of Caring: Saving Our Parents from the Perils of Modern Healthcare
www.thegiftofcaring.net

Related websites of interest:
myelderadvocate.com/blog/

Common Health 4/15/15

Host: Jim Fisher
Engineer: John Greenman

Issue: Death and Taxes: Programs to assist elderly and dying in America

Key Discussion Points:
a) What is the current level of aging, disability and mortality in Maine?
b) What cultural barriers do we have to effectively help those who are aging, disabled or dying?
c) What additional problems will be confronting in the future? What are the impacts of technology, culture, economy, smaller households.
d) What programs do we have to assist families going through the aging and dying process?

Guests:
Jodi Wolford-Tucker, Director, Hospice of Hancock
14 McKenzie Avenue
Ellsworth, ME 04605
(888) 266-8035
jwtucker@hospiceofhancock.org

Ann Ossanna, Field Project Supervisor
Blue Hill, ME 04614
(207) 374-5852
aossanna@whcacap.org
www.whcacap.org/friendship-cottage/

WERU News Report 4/15/14

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

As Maine’s population ages, more and more of us will find ourselves needing care and assistance. But imagine what it would be like to have a health services provider come into your home and tell you that your lifestyle is sinful. While everyone is vulnerable to some degree when in a position to need supportive services, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender elders are especially so, and many are struggling with a decision about going “back into the closet”. The documentary film “Gen Silent” tells the stories of six LGBT seniors as they struggle with this issue. The documentary will be shown at the Blue Hill Public Library on Friday, April 25th, at 7pm , as part of the launching of a Maine branch of a group called “SAGE” (Services and Advocacy for Gay Elders). We are joined today by one of the organizers, who was a co-founder of SAGE in New York. He has retired to this area, where he hopes to continue that work.

FMI www.sagemaine.org

WERU News Report 9/11/13

Producer/Host: Amy Browne

Production assistance: John Greenman, Carolyn Coe, Matt Murphy

Segment 1: Maine’s Aging Population – state and federal policies – press conference in Bangor organized by Food&Medicine, featuring several local speakers.
Segment 2: An alternative to the official story about what happened in Syria, raised by Lawrence Reichard at a speak out in Bangor last week.
Segment 3: Toxic “layer cake” at Kidder and Mack Points in Searsport? Interview with Ron Huber, Friends of Penobscot Bay