Mature Focus News

Groundbreaking news

Friendship Village Chesterfield has broken ground on the construction of 30 new independent living apartments and a heated, underground parking garage. The $15 million expansion will offer a variety of apartment styles, sizes and floor plans.

Friendship Village Chesterfield is a non-for-profit senior living community that since 1974 has been located at 15201 Olive Blvd.

 

Seeking ‘Ageless Remarkable

St. Louisans’

Nominations currently are being accepted for seniors to be recognized at the 2013 Ageless Remarkable St. Louisans Gala.

Each year, the St. Andrew’s Resources for Seniors System honors St. Louis-area adults age 75-plus for their incredible contributions on the job and in areas such as philanthropy and volunteer service. Over the past 11 years, more than 260 adults have been named Ageless Remarkable St. Louisans and recognized for contributions they have made to society well past the traditional age of retirement.

Nominations will be accepted through March 4 and can be made via the St. Andrew’s website, standrews1.com/nomination. A printable nomination form also is available on the site and may be completed and mailed to: 6633 Delmar Blvd., St. Louis, MO  63130.

Seniors from throughout the St. Louis area are eligible for recognition at the 2013 gala, which will be held on Nov. 10.

St. Andrew’s initiated the Ageless Remarkable St. Louisans concept in 2003. The program received the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging 2004 Innovation of the Year Award, and in 2007, it received the Missouri Association of Homes for the Aging Distinguished Service Award.

The annual Ageless Remarkable St. Louisans Gala has raised more than $1 million to assist low-income and at-risk seniors in the St. Louis area.

 

Calling senior contestants

Directors of Ms. Senior Missouri America are looking for contestants for this year’s pageant, which will be held on Sunday, July 14 at the Florissant Civic Center Theatre.

To participate in the pageant, ladies must be 60 or older and have a talent that can be presented in 2.5 minutes on stage. Other areas of the competition include a personal interview with judges prior to the pageant, modeling an evening gown and reciting a 35-second philosophy of life.

Auditions will be held in late February. For more information, call Christine DeHart, co-state director, at 220-7123.

 

Adult Day Center scholarships

The Jewish Federation of St. Louis has awarded to the Adult Day Center at the J a grant that will provide Center scholarships for Jewish individuals who meet eligibility criteria.

Located at the JCC in Creve Coeur, the Adult Day Center offers a full-day program of activities aimed at maintaining cognitive and physical abilities and providing opportunities for socialization. The Center serves adults who may be socially isolated but who can continue to live in the community, need assistance with activities of daily living or need special care but are able to participate in activities in a group setting.

The program is open to people of all faiths, and escorted transportation is available in many areas. To learn more, call (314) 442-3261, or visit jccstl.com.

 

Baby boomers stay put

The nation’s remodeling industry is expected to come out of its recent slump, thanks in part to baby boomers who want to remain in their homes.

According to “The U.S. Housing Stock: Ready for Renewal,” a report released last month by the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, remodeling is making a rebound, partly because older homeowners are retrofitting their homes to meet their evolving needs.

“As baby boomers move into retirement, they are increasing demand for aging-in-place retrofits,” Remodeling Futures Program Director Kermit Baker said. “A decade ago, homeowners over 55 accounted for less than one-third of all home improvement spending. By 2011, this share had already grown to over 45 percent.”

 

Empty nests on hold

The “empty nest” typically experienced by past generations of middle-aged Americans is becoming a thing of the past, according to recent research published in the Journal of Aging Studies. With economic struggles keeping more young adults in their parents’ homes and health care advances resulting in many older people living longer, middle-aged adults are finding themselves with nests that are full, responsibilities that include caring for elderly parents and adult “children,” and emotions that range from joy to exhaustion.

Researchers at Oregon State University (OSU) used focus groups to explore the experiences and feelings of adults aged 45-68 who were simultaneously helping support 18-30-year-old adult children and aging parents.

“We mostly found very positive feelings about adults helping their children in the emerging adulthood stage of life, from around ages 18-30,” said Karen Hooker, director of the OSU Center for Healthy Aging Research. “Feelings about helping parents weren’t so much negative as just filled with more angst and uncertainty. As a society, we still don’t socialize people to expect to be taking on a parent-caring role, even though most of us will at some point in our lives. The average middle-aged couple has more parents than children.”

The demands of not-yet-independent adult children and increasingly dependent aging parents caused many of the study participants to re-evaluate their own lives. Some said they intend to look into long-term care insurance to avoid burdening their children.

Researchers said the challenges middle-aged adults are experiencing may cause more of them to plan for the future and have more conversations with family members about their own late-life care.

 

401(k) at your fingertips

A new application for smartphones and tablets gives users quick access to their 401(k) account information. The Insperity Retirement app was launched in January by Insperity, Inc., a human resources and business solutions provider with offices in St. Louis.

Those with 401(k) plans can use the app to review their 401(k) balances, recent contributions and current rates of return. Users can check also on contribution rates and investment allocations, verify loan balances and stay informed through plan news and alerts.

At press time, the app is available for iOS devices, with plans for Android device compatibility soon to follow.

 

Blocking dementia

People who take beta blockers to control blood pressure might have a reduced risk of dementia, according to results of a study that will be presented next month at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting.

A study compared autopsy results of 774 men who took part in the Honolulu-Asia Aging Study. Among the participants, 610 had high blood pressure or had taken medicine for high blood pressure.

The autopsies showed that the men who had taken beta blockers as their only blood pressure medication had fewer brain abnormalities than those who either were not treated for their hypertension or were treated with other blood pressure medicines.

Abnormalities included two types of brain lesions: those indicating Alzheimer’s disease, and those attributed to tiny, multiple strokes. The men who took beta blockers alone or in conjunction with another blood pressure medicine had significantly less shrinkage in their brains.