Looking at the bright side - this is a beautiful country

Between all the bad news lately out of Washington, D.C. sometimes one needs to breath deep and appreciate the natural beauty in this county. Check out this photo series taken by U.S. Bureau of Land Management workers. Awesome photo series and note that you do have to wait for the advertisement before viewing - Click Here. And while you are at it visit the My Public Lands tumblr website - http://mypubliclands.tumblr.com/. Breath and contact your congressman if you don't like what you are reading in the news - Click Here.

Sad to Hear - Contra Costa County Meals on Wheels Facing Cuts - Is the right service being cut?

Interesting article about Meals on Wheels program facing cuts in Contra Costa County, California due to cuts to the government program that supported it. As you read the article one learns that the meal program had support from the local Area Agency on Aging which is now actually known as the Administration for Community Living - Click Here. Where did this new name come from? And bigger question is what is the government spending money on? Any business person knows what it costs to do a name change and build a website. Is the government spending money on building bigger and better organizations and websites to 'serve seniors' in this economy and during the sequester? When one digs deeper it does appear that the Administration on Aging has a NEW organization. It is called Administration for Community Living (ACL). And this group now has its own website - www.acl.gov. Here is one document that reviews their budget - Click Here. It looks like their budget is $2.14 billion as per the link. Link to their budget overview - Click Here.

Something else to think about ... Your Digital Afterlife

Each of our lives' are extremely full but here is something else to think about - what happens to your email and social networking accounts when you are gone? Facebook offers "memorializing services" where a Facebook account can be kept after someone has died. Facebook does not allow advertising on these type of accounts. Google has now developed a new service where the owner of the gmail account and related Google social networking accounts can set up what happens to their accounts before they are gone. They call it "Inactive Account Manager" and it allows the Google account owner the option to make their account inactive at a certain point in time and/or select another person to manage the accounts when they are dead. The Guardian newspaper out of the UK has an article about this new services from Google - Read More.

Seniors Eating Well

I want to point out an article from Chef Thomas Burke, owner of You’re Home. You're Home is an in-home dining services company that prepares fresh and wholesome meals to seniors in their homes. His article is about kidney disease and a renal diet which is a very important topic. However one of his comments in his article is,"... Even if you are not hungry, it is important to eat and keep good nutrition." I have found this to be an accurate observation of some of the seniors in my life that contributes to them gradually descending into poor eating habits. Read Chef Thomas Burke's article - Click Here.

Our The Prepared Senior eNewsletter is archived

Just want to share that the March 2013 Prepared Senior eNewsletter is posted on SeniorsResourceGuide.com - here is a link to the eNewsletter - Click Here. We have an interesting article from Me & My Caregivers on PHRs and EHRs. Don't we just love acronyms! Basically the article talks about Personal Health Records (PHRs) and Electronic Health Records (EHRs). Me & My Caregivers is an online organizer and communications hub that is type of personal health record system. I know in our family we have faced two long-distance elder health situations where an online health organizer could have been very useful in sharing information. Check them out - MeAndMyCaregivers.com.

Getting Rid of Large Items in Denver

I want to point out a great article and great resource for getting rid of large items if you are lucky enough to be in the Denver area - check out Gone for Good. They discuss mattresses, refrigerators and large old tube TV's. Read over their article - Insider Tips for Getting Rid of Large Items and then give them a call if you need to get rid of large items and you are luck enough to live in Denver. By the way they deal with items other than mattresses, refrigerators and old tube TV's. Their motto is reduce, resell, recycle - good words to live your live by!

Transitions ...

I want to share an article from Gary Rasmussen of Assisted Transition of Denver, Colorado. Gary's article is entitled, "What’s best for Mom? - Home vs. Assisted Living." I can relate to his family's journey and their Mom's journey of deciding what is the best living situation. And the truth is that a senior community can often be the best solution not only for Mom but for the family. Read Gary's article - Click Here and visit his website www.AssistedTransition.com/Denver. Also take a look at the Assisted Transition website - it has a lot of great resources.