The older I get, the more I love the old buildings still standing in Spokane. I was fortunate to go to high school at Marycliff, in historic old buildings on Spokane's lower South Hill, but I never appreciated the architecture until I saw it with…
In our water aerobics class today, a fellow "pond scummer" as we call ourselves, talked about caring for her aging mother who lives out of town. The aging mother fell in her bathroom recently and the fire department was called. The woman's older children want…
One of my favorite speakers from last week's Age Boom Academy at Columbia University was Laura Carstensen, director of the Stanford Center on Longevity. She offered great hope that as boomers age, we won't necessarily be a big financial, emotional drain, as most of society…
We all have vague plans for our after-life: cremation, burial, don't care - let others figure it out. But when I read this story, I had to wonder about misplaced affection. My grandmother said she had never seen a hearse driving to the cemetery with…
Good news today from several national health organizations who put out a joint press release today on the following: Death rates from all cancers combined for men, women, and children continued to decline in the United States between 2004 and 2008, according to the Annual…
Coffee, alcohol, dark chocolate…you name the substance and there is a study which indicates that substance’s health-enhancing properties or its contribution to your demise. In Dr. Alisa Hideg's column today, Dr. Hideg advises readers how to dig into these various studies and their claims. She…
The Age Boom Academy is over. The nearly weeklong immersion in aging issues, held at Columbia University's Journalism School, has filled a notebook's worth of ideas. Some takeaways: 1) Generations younger than the boomers shouldn't worry too much that we are going to suck dry…
Many times when police encounter an armed person, that person is looking for a way to die – and want the cops to kill them. The phenomenon is so common it even has a name: suicide by cop. It happens in about 10-20 per cent…
In the Age Boom Academy today we also learned that older people (50 and above) suffer less depression, mental illness and substance abuse compared with younger folks. And they engage in less destructive behavior. "That's why there aren't a lot of 55-year-old gang members," said…
Age Boom Academy: Saturday's fascinating lesson. Karl Pillemer, director of the Cornell Institute for Translational Research on Aging, has interviewed hundreds of older people at the end of their lives and he said one of the biggest regrets at the end is a family rift.…
His smile and innocence captured my heart. The story will not fade from my mind. The young man who was killed in cold blood in Florida deserves justice. Will President Obama’s comment – that Trayvon Martin looks like he could be a child of President…
Takeaways from Day Two of Age Boom Academy at Columbia University: 1) 90 percent of AARP members surveyed said they want to die in their own beds. In other words, age in place. No one knows what this might mean for all the older people…
In yesterday's Age Boom Academy, the speakers talked about how we talk about the future and its aging citizens might determine the reactions our society has to the coming "silver tsunami." The narrative of who we are is important. So we need to come up…
Noted theologian, Elaine Pagels has a new book out on the book of Revelation – that last book included in the New Testament. You know that book – with apocalyptic images of death, destruction, violence. And The Beast marked with the number 666. For years…
I am at Columbia University in New York City for almost a week at the Age Boom Academy, a look at aging trends and issues. There are journalists, writers and even a documentary filmmaker. It's been fascinating already and just a few hours into it.…
Today's EndNotes column addresses the issue of infertility and the grief it brings to those who long to become parents. So many people want to have children and seek avenues to get to parenthood. Take a moment to learn what you may do to support…
What’s the deal? We know that women make most of the health care decisions in a family. (I once told my sister, if I die young she is to make certain my husband gets our son to the dentist every six months…it goes on from…
In my Wise Words interview Sunday, Lynnette Vehrs, faculty member at Washington State University’s College of Nursing, said: "Sometimes people, nurses included, don’t realize it’s very good to ask for help. Never feel like you have to do it all yourself." Kimberly Lusk, an editor…
The sad news out of Afghanistan makes one ask all kinds of questions: what is the U.S. military really doing in that country? What is the benchmark for “success” and our departure? What happened to the soldier, a father and husband, that caused him to…
Esta Rosevear, director of the play "Go, Dog. Go!" which opens Saturday in Spokane -- details here -- was assertive in pitching the play as a main story for our Today section. We don't usually do centerpiece stories on children's theater productions, but "Go, Dog.…
Good news today from the National Institutes of Health: Twentieth-century tobacco control programs and policies were responsible for preventing more than 795,000 lung cancer deaths in the United States from 1975 through 2000, according to an analysis funded by the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part…
The Oregonian's editorial page editor, 63-year-old Bob Caldwell, died of a heart attack Saturday after a sex act with a 23-year-old college student in her apartment. The newspaper wrote a story about the sordid circumstances. See story. It took a lot of courage for his…
Hospice of Spokane hosts national teleconferences several times a year. I've been to two of them and they are excellent. Hospice just announced an end-of-life ethics teleconference scheduled for April 25 at the Lincoln Center in Spokane. Hospice explained the conference this way: "Ethical decisions…
Encyclopedia Britannica, published since 1768, announced yesterday that it's going all digital and will cease publication of its 32-volume printed encyclopedia. Inevitable, I know. But fond memories for me and all other childhood bookies: lying on the floor of my childhood home and paging through…
Have you yet heard of King Peggy? She's getting a lot of press lately because she's written a book. Here's a bit about her from an NPR story: There's an unlikely new leader in West Africa. Three years ago, Peggielene Bartels, a naturalized U.S. citizen…
Spokesman-Review features writer Rebecca Nappi, along with writer Catherine Johnston of Olympia, Wash., discuss here issues facing aging boomers, seniors and those experiencing serious illness, dying, death and other forms of loss.
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