AARP Hawaii: Living Your Best Life 2022

Living Your BEST Life • From Your Money to Your Future, How AARP Hawaiʻi is Fighting for You • Gift Card Requests: Avoid the Newest Scam • Tips from Caregivers for Caregivers

LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE (AF TER 50)

Contents 04 It’s Personal They are fierce fighters, inspired advocates and understanding allies.

For the team members at AARP Hawai‘i, their work is not just a job, it’s a passion—and quite often, it hits very close to home.

08 No

Kūpuna Left Behind

AARP Hawai‘i worked tirelessly with the government and nonprofits to make sure kūpuna who wanted to be vaccinated could be accommodated.

10 Saving

for Your Future

Setting aside money in one of the most expensive places to live can be a daunting task. AARP Hawai‘i is the driving force behind a program that could help you and your children on the path to financial security.

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AARP HAWAI‘I

HONOLULU MAGAZINE PROJECT EDITOR

Maria Kanai

12 Gift Card Alert A trending scam doesn’t involve cash, but it’s still a sneaky way to take your money.

13 A Caregiver’s

Story

Caregiving is taxing. That’s why AARP Hawai‘i advocates for and offers resources for kūpuna and their caregivers.

15 Access for All For AARP Hawai‘i, closing the digital gap for kūpuna is not just about making sure everyone can get online, but ensuring they have the training they need to make the most of the internet.

1-866-295-7282 aarp.org/hi HIAARP@aarp.org Keali‘i Lopez State Director Jackie Boland Community Outreach Director Craig Gima Communications Director Audrey Suga-Nakagawa Advocacy Director

LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE (AF TER 50)

Message From AARP Hawai‘i Maybe you think you’re too young for AARP Hawai‘i.

But what we do we do for all—from keiki to kūpuna.

AARP’s mission is twofold: to be a wise friend and provide you with accurate and reliable information, and to be a fierce defender that advocates for the rights of those 50 years and older so you can live the life you choose as you age.

We held webinars and telephone Town Hall meetings with experts, gave you updated information about vaccinations, and we pushed to prioritize vaccination for Hawai‘i’s most vulnerable residents in all long-term care facilities and community care homes.

When the state unveiled a Crisis Standards of Care plan to ration health care during a disaster, we urged the state to make the plan public and change the plan to remove age discrimination.

We fight for you in Congress to reduce prescription drug prices, to provide a tax credit for family caregivers, family leave and to protect Social Security and Medicare.

At the state Legislature, we’re helping to create a program that will help Hawai‘i’s small businesses and give 216,000 private sector workers an easy way to save for retirement through payroll deduction.

We’re supporting caregivers with learning opportunities, online support groups and lobbying to fund respite and other programs.

We do this to help kūpuna and their families. Much of what we do also benefits younger people because we will all keep getting older. And we can all benefit from having a wise friend and fierce defender on our side.

Keali‘i Lopez AARP Hawai‘i State Director /AARPHawaii

@AARPHawaii

@aarp_hi

LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE (AF TER 50)

AARP Hawai‘i’s Volunteer State President Gary Simon and State Director Keali‘i Lopez

They are fierce fighters, inspired advocates and understanding allies.

For the team members at AARP Hawai‘i, their work is not just a job, it’s a passion—and quite often, it hits very close to home.

4 AARP HAWAI‘I

photo: sean marrs

It’s Personal Y

ou’ll never understand it until it happens to you.

For Gary Simon, who has decades of experience in health care, that is more than just a saying. A year after the volunteer state president of AARP Hawai‘i got married in 1994, his wife was forced to leave her job to care for her mother who suffered from dementia. When they moved

LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE (AF TER 50)

in with her, they had no idea that they would spend the next 26 years as primary caregivers. “My wife compromised her pension, something she would have had if she had stayed in the office,” Simon says. “And now, she’s receiving a pittance.” Simon didn’t retire from his job in healthcare until 2019 so the couple is OK financially. “But not everyone is so lucky,” he says.

So when AARP Hawai‘i helped introduce the Kūpuna Caregivers program, Simon supported it.

The program helps caregivers financially so they can find adult day care for their kūpuna and continue working. Simon can’t help but think how his wife could have benefited from such assistance back then.

“Caregiving is personal for me from caring for my mother-in-law and also seeing the struggles my wife went through,” Simon says. During his work as executive director at St. Francis Hospice, he also saw firsthand how important it is to care for those who provide care for others. “The caregiver is the pillar,” he says. “So many caregivers are beaten down because they don’t get enough sleep, lose their appetite or do not eat well.”

That is what fuels Simon’s tireless work as an advocate. “Elder care isn’t sexy,” he says. “It doesn’t get the dollars it deserves. It’s truly the dichotomy of an aging society. We have more and more elders in the nation, yet funding is static. It doesn’t increase. Every year, it’s a battle.”

AARP Hawai‘i State Director Keali‘i Lopez stands with Simon at the forefront of these battles. Like Simon, Lopez understands the issues in a very real way: She has been caring for her mother for the past three years. “After seeing the level of care my mother needs, I’m thinking more about my children and grandchildren and what they are going to need to do when it’s my turn to need care,” says Lopez. “This is why my work with AARP Hawai‘i is

personal to me.”

She and her family spend anywhere from $1,500 to $2,000 every month for her mother to receive comfortable care. Studies show that Hawai‘i families provide $3.1 billion in unpaid care each year and as they juggle duties that include preparing meals and assisting with medication, nationally 61% of caregivers continue to work outside the home.

Nationally, AARP supports a bipartisan bill called the Credit for Caring Act introduced in May 2021 that would provide a caregiving tax credit of $5,000 for eligible families.

“The concept is that there is a great deal of savings for the government as we are taking care of our mom and she’s not in a state facility,” Lopez says. “A tax credit like this would be invaluable for family caregivers.”

DRIVING DOWN DRUG PRICES

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he price of caregiving is just one expense that can be difficult for local families. Last year, a friend who is a fellow executive council member confided in Simon that he had bladder cancer. The cost of the medicine to treat it was exorbitant.

“He had to choose to pay for his medicine, rent or food,” Simon says.

“One of my friends had to make such a decision between life or death, basically.”

That’s why he’s also been passion-

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LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE (AF TER 50)

AARP Hawai‘i volunteer Robyn Bush teaches Zumba virtually to get people up and active.

It’s Personal Continued

ately part of AARP Hawai‘i’s fight for fair drug prices. The nonprofit urged Congress to give Medicare the power to negotiate drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry. The organization launched a $4 million ad campaign calling out the trade group Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America to demand fair drug prices and a cap on out-of-pocket costs. In Hawai‘i, AARP continued the battle by reaching out through social media, writing letters to the editor and calling on kūpuna to call their representatives and senators. “We want to make sure citizens of Hawai‘i understand this important issue,” Lopez says.

One of Lopez’s mother’s medications costs $1,100 every month. Thanks to Medicare, she only pays $70, but she knows that taxpayers pay the rest and worries about how the cost of Medicare is a burden to others. “AARP Hawai‘i is helping families care for loved ones without it being so challenging.

Whether it’s a tax credit or reducing the cost of prescription drugs or being able to have someone continue working and know someone is caring for a loved one when they are at work, we are advocating for them,” says Lopez.

discrimination,” Lopez says. “It was a major concern for us and we felt it was something we had to address.”

AARP Hawai‘i immediately wrote a letter to Dr. Libby Char, the state health director, and Gov. David Ige urging the state to remove this discriminatory plan. The group also alerted the media and asked the Department of Health to make the care plan public. AARP Hawai‘i expects the plan to be revised.

“The truth of it is that there is bias every day toward age. We cannot change that overnight, but when such things come to our attention where it impacts many individuals, we are doing our best to defend our kūpuna,” says Lopez.

IT’S NOT ABOUT AGE

N

I

n addition to efforts in Congress, AARP Hawai‘i responds quickly when current events uncover troubling policies. The nonprofit discovered age discrimination within Hawai‘i’s Crisis Standards of Care Triage Allocation Framework—an emergency plan to ration health care when demand exceeds hospital capacities in disasters such as hurricanes and tsunamis, or a medical crisis like COVID-19. The plan stated that medical personnel could prioritize people age 64 and younger over those 65 and older if all other medical factors are equal.

“These are difficult decisions to make for medical personnel, but we saw clearly that this was age

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AARP HAWAI‘I

JOINING THE MISSION

one of these fights to inform and inspire people would work without volunteers, the backbone of AARP Hawai‘i. Vicki Franco fell victim to fraud and decided to attend an AARP Hawai‘i workshop about scams. Soon, she wanted to empower other kūpuna. She signed up to volunteer and quickly became a volunteer leader.

One of the projects Franco leads is AARP Hawai‘i’s popular “Movies for Grownups.” Films are paired with an educational segment so viewers can

LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE (AF TER 50)

learn as well as be entertained. “I really saw how people in the community trusted AARP Hawai‘i,” Franco says. “They believed we were a trusted friend and would come to us for information.”

She also leads AARP’s work to engage veterans on O‘ahu and helped organize the 2021 Hawai‘i virtual Veterans Summit to connect veterans to important information and resources. When she had a difficult time finding hand sanitizer, toilet paper and disposable masks during the first months of the pandemic, Franco organized volunteers to put together 248 kits with supplies for homeless veterans. Her team also wrote personal Veterans Day thank you cards to residents at Tripler’s community living center.

“We wanted to let vets know that AARP Hawai‘i believes in them and they weren’t forgotten,” she says.

And, under her leadership AARP donated $6,500 to U.S. Vets to support homeless veterans and staged an online concert featuring Henry Kapono to Continued on page 8

Volunteer Help AARP Hawai‘i fight for, educate and engage kūpuna.

The jobs are big and small, and we need volunteers for them all! AARP Hawaiʻi is looking for volunteers who can plan and hold virtual and in-person events, tell our story through social media and help teach others how to go online. We are also looking for people who can write letters to the editor to advocate for needed programs and policy changes; share their personal stories with reporters and lawmakers; provide expertise on critical issues; and hold signs when we resume in-person events.

Email us at hiaarp@aarp.org to get started.

AARP.ORG/HI

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LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE (AF TER 50)

Continued celebrate those who served.

But it’s not all work. Whether it’s picking movies or giving away shave ice and waffle dogs at member appreciation days, Franco is enjoying herself.

“What’s the use of being retired if you can’t have fun?” she says.

That’s how Bev Parker got involved.

She was struck by how much fun the volunteers were having at “Movies for Grownups” and decided to join once she retired. Prior to COVID-19, she was in charge of a team of community outreach volunteers who organized activities such as visits to botanical gardens or whale watching cruises. “Once the shutdown happened, we had to think about what we could do,” Parker says. She looked into Zoom meetings.

“It was a way to keep in contact with people, which was more important than it ever was because people were feeling scared and isolated.”

Since then, she’s organized virtual sessions on tai chi, yoga, taiko drums, tours and much more. The most popular offering on Zoom is a Zumba Gold class, taught by Robyn Bush. Bush was born with a congenital lung problem.

Doctors told her to exercise regularly to improve her health, and now she loves getting others up and active.

“One of the things I tell my Zumba class is you have to start moving before you lose your legs. Let’s get moving while you still have lots of different parts working!” she says. “I also like to tell them: I know where the fountain of youth is, but you can’t ride up to it in the elevator. You have to take the stairs!”

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AARP HAWAI‘I

No Kūpuna Left Behind Offering COVID-19 vaccinations was one thing. Getting them to those who needed the shots most was another. AARP Hawai‘i worked tirelessly with the government and nonprofits to make sure kūpuna who wanted to be vaccinated could be accommodated.

T

he announcement at the beginning of 2021 sounded promising: Vaccines are available to every senior who wants one.

But soon it was clear to AARP Hawai‘i that certain communities were being neglected. While nursing homes were prioritized, smaller adult day care providers and community care homes were being overlooked. So were people in low-income housing and non-English speakers.

Vaccine appointments were primarily online and many seniors either did not have access to the internet or did not know how to navigate it. So, Honolulu’s Elderly Affairs Division created the Kūpuna Vac-

photo: getty images

It’s Personal

LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE (AF TER 50)

“ It was a

multipronged effort where everyone worked together, from nonprofits to the state, to get our seniors vaccinated.

”

Craig Gima, communications director of AARP Hawai‘i.

cination Outreach Group. And AARP Hawai‘i was involved from the start, working with more than 50 other organizations in health care, elder care, translation and language-access services, and communications.

“AARP Hawai‘i has been an invaluable partner serving as co-lead of the Kūpuna Vaccination Outreach Group,” says Derrick Ariyoshi, EAD county executive with the City and County of Honolulu’s Department of Community Services. “AARP’s advocacy, voice and collaboration were instrumental to our collective success.”

The group of nonprofits had already proved it could make big changes. The Honolulu EAD spearheaded the Kūpuna Food Security Coalition to feed hungry seniors in 2020, early in the pandemic. It used the same model for vaccination efforts by identifying areas of need through its diverse network of nonprofits and kūpuna-centric organizations. Lanakila Meals on Wheels had already been delivering food to isolated seniors at home. Now, its volunteers helped the group locate and provide seniors with the necessary support to get vaccinated.

In just about a month, the city, state Executive Office on Aging, and the Hawai‘i Public Health Institute were coordinating on-site vaccinations at senior housing properties, adult day care centers and residential care homes. More than 1,000

kūpuna received the potentially lifesaving shots. “AARP Hawai‘i went to bat for us,” says Waynette Gaylord, president of the Alliance of Residential Care Administrators, which works on behalf of care homes.

Another initiative was the Kūpuna Call Center, which was a partnership with Aloha United Way and the St. Francis Healthcare System. The hotline helped register kūpuna for vaccination appointments over the phone, provided reminder calls, ensured people had transportation to appointments and followed up with wellness calls. At its peak, the hotline received more than 200 calls a day.

And, for those seniors who do not speak fluent English, AARP Hawai‘i reached out through newscasts, social media and television advertisements and flyers to ensure those in Korean, Japanese, Spanish, Thai and Filipino communities had the information they needed.

In record time, more than 90% of Hawai‘i’s kūpuna were vaccinated.

Now, the group is working on distributing COVID-19 booster shots.

“Our philosophy was we didn’t want to leave anyone behind,” says Craig Gima, communications director of AARP Hawai‘i. “It was a multipronged effort where everyone worked together, from nonprofits to the state, to get our seniors vaccinated.”

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LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE (AF TER 50)

Saving for Your Future

illustration: getty images

Setting aside money in one of the most expensive places to live in the country can be a daunting task. AARP Hawai‘i is the driving force behind a program that could help you and your children on the path to financial security.

R

ETIREMENT. For too many seniors in Hawai‘i, it feels like an unattainable dream. Even if you are fortunate enough to work for a larger company or government with 401(k)s or pensions, achieving financial security can be challenging.

And without those options, substantial personal savings must still supplement Social Security income.

Economic upheaval during the pandemic, with job cutbacks and layoffs, has made it even more apparent how vital it is for Hawai‘i residents to have savings to fall back on. “Savings are especially critical for people when they retire and live on a fixed income,” says Audrey Suga-Nakagawa, advocacy director of AARP Hawai‘i. “While Social Security is an important piece of a retiree’s financial resources, Social Security alone is not enough to live on.”

Studies show that unless people are saving through their workplace, it’s not likely that they will save on their own for retirement. In fact, only 1 in 20 people will take the steps to open individual retirement accounts.

For many small businesses in Hawai‘i, offering a payroll savings plan is costly, and many simply can’t afford it. Half of local private sector workers age 18 to 64 work for businesses that don’t offer retirement programs.

There is another option. States including Oregon, California and Illinois have taken action with a retirement savings program that can be offered to workers at no cost to their employers. As of Sept. 30, more than 400,000 people have been able to save $333 million toward their futures.

LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE (AF TER 50)

Hawai‘i Saves Retirement Task Force

H

awai‘i also is getting closer to helping small businesses and their employees with an easy way to save. In 2021, the state Legislature passed a resolution (SR 76 SD1) that established a retirement savings task force to study the feasibility of a state-facilitated retirement savings program.

“Giving employees a simple way to save for retirement will mean fewer Americans will need to rely on public assistance later in life, which will save taxpayer dollars,” SugaNakagawa says. “In fact, states taking action today could save taxpayers as much as $4.8 billion in the next 10 years. This is why the legislature-appointed retirement savings task force that is completing their study and making recommendations, would be very significant and important for Hawai‘i’s future.”

Lisa Massena, former executive director of the OregonSaves program, believes Hawai‘i workers, like Oregon workers, will save if offered a payroll deduction retirement program. “What we’ve found is that 70% stay in the program when this is an option,” Massena says. “People have this assumption that if you make a little less than most or if you have an hourly job, you don’t care about savings, and you’re not given the same opportunity or option to save. It’s a stereotype. But we’ve learned that if you flip the script and give people the opportunity to save, they often want to.”

A recent survey found four out of five of Hawai‘i’s small businesses favor a state-facilitated retirement Continued on page 12

Every Voice Matters There are several ways you can help create a Hawai‘i Saves program for your financial security and that of future generations as well.

Submit written testimony in favor of a Hawai‘i retirement savings program for private sector workers.

Contact your lawmaker to express your support.

Spread the word!

Tell family and friends and ask them to lend their voices, too. Email Audrey Suga-Nakagawa, AARP Hawai‘i Advocacy Director, at asuganakagawa@ aarp.org to find out more.

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LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE (AF TER 50)

Continued program. If it were an option, they would participate.

Eric Wong, co-owner of Loco Moco Drive Inn, says he sees such a program as a great benefit for his dozens of employees.

“We know that Hawai‘i is made up of many small businesses.

With the way things are and the cost of living here, a savings plan that’s easy for both employers and employees to use is a good thing,” Wong says.

“The big guys like financial planners and brokerage companies, no one is going to reach out to us and help us offer a 401(k) plan to our employees.

They’re going to work with the bigger companies,” he says.

“Us smaller companies are the people AARP is trying to help. A state-facilitated retirement plan would be good to have and offer something for people and businesses who need it. Something like this can move mountains, it can help people.”

It’s also worth noting that as the cost of living in Hawai‘i continues to rise, having access to a retirement savings program in the workplace would help workers of all ages take control of their futures. “It’s never too late to begin saving for retirement. It will help the next generation—our kids and grandkids— save for retirement, by making it easy and automatic to start investing in their futures,” Suga-Nakagawa says.

Gift Cards are for Presents, Not Payments A trending scam doesn’t involve cash at all. But it’s still a sneaky way to take your money.

The scammer on the phone says your grandchild is in jail and you must buy a gift card to make bail.

DON’T DO IT. When a stranger asks for a gift card as payment, it’s a sure sign it’s an imposter and not law enforcement, the IRS, the electric company or some other official.

Gift cards are for Christmas, birthdays and other presents, not for payments.

Here are five tips to avoid being a victim of a gift card scam.

Don’t Give Gift Card Information Over the Phone.

Don’t share the numbers on the back of the gift cards by reading them off or sending a picture to a stranger. Only scammers ask you to pay fees, back taxes or bills for services with gift cards or what they sometimes call “electronic vouchers.”

Beware of Texts or Emails Offering a Free Gift Card.

Don’t respond to emails or texts, supposedly from familiar stores or organizations (including, on occasion, AARP), saying you’ve won a gift card. Scammers want your personal information, and sometimes they get it just by asking. They can then use that

information to steal your identity or put you on a list to get more scam emails and texts.

Look Out for the Gift Card Secret Shopper Scam.

Scammers send you a check in the mail and ask you to be a secret shopper. You deposit the check and are asked to go to a store and send money by wire or buy gift cards.

Once you give them the information on the gift cards you bought, they take the money, the check bounces and you lose.

Don’t Buy the Top Gift Cards Off the Rack.

Scammers will steal gift cards and the pin number, cover the pin up again and put it back on the

rack. The information is entered into computer programs that constantly check if gift cards are activated and will steal the money before you or the gift recipient can redeem them. Look for signs of tampering and buy gift cards behind the counter or online for extra protection.

Sign Up for the AARP Fraud Watch Network.

Call the AARP Fraud Watch Network toll-free fraud help line at (877) 908-3360 if you or a loved one suspect you’ve been a victim, and visit aarp.org/fraud to get the latest fraud tips, sign up for free biweekly “Watchdog Alerts” and see our scam-tracking map that’s updated with reported scams in your neighborhood.

illustration and photo: getty images

Saving For Your Future

A Caregiver’s Story

Caregiving is taxing. That’s why AARP Hawai‘i advocates for tax credit programs, holds workshops and offers resources for kūpuna and their caregivers.

W

hen Puni Kekauoha thought about retiring, she imagined traveling the world, working on hobbies and enjoying life with friends. But when her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2009, she put those plans aside. Kekauoha has been caregiving ever since, first for her mother, who died in 2018, and now for her father, who has been diagnosed with vascular dementia.

“For us local people who have been fortunate to be raised well by our parents and grandparents, that choice to give up those things is a no-brainer,” Kekauoha says. “A loved one needs my help and you

realize how much they sacrificed for you, and it overshadows everything else.”

Kekauoha’s situation is not uncommon in Hawai‘i. A 2021 AARP Hawai‘i survey found 32%, or nearly a third, of residents 45 and older are providing unpaid care to an adult relative or friend. In the United States, about 48 million adult family caregivers spend about 26% of their income on average caring for loved ones; that’s about $7,242 annually.

COVID-19 magnified those sacrifices, with 42% of caregivers spending more time and money on their loved ones.

Caregiving is never easy, but for people taking care of others with conditions like Kekauoha’s parents, it can be especially emotionally taxing. By the end of her life, Kekauoha’s mother had reverted back to her childhood and no longer recognized her grandchildren or Kekauoha herself. Her father is not always cooperative and is heavier and stronger than her mother was.

Even with an extended family to coordinate caregiving and a strong supportive network through her church, Kekauoha struggled. In 2016, she had a stroke while standing at the foot of her mom’s bed. She had another a year later. “The amount of stress I put on myself took me out,” Kekauoha says. “You don’t have time to care for yourself. I wasn’t sleeping well or eating well.”

One source of support for caregivers AARP.ORG/HI

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LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE (AF TER 50)

Continued like Kekauoha is AARP Hawai‘i, which has been a champion for caregivers through a variety of initiatives. The group actively advocates for funding caregiver support programs and aging and disability resource centers. It also offers workshops on caregiving, and presentations and conferences to educate and connect people with other groups in the community.

“My mom and I were both members of AARP Hawai‘i and they are a good source of information and resources,” says Kekauoha, who is associate director of the nonprofit Kula No Na Po‘e Hawai‘i. “They’ve kept us up to date on legislation and policy matters that affect our community and kūpuna. Together with AARP Hawai‘i, we’ve built stronger networks, group partnership and creative funding opportunities.

We’ve been very blessed to have lots of partners locally.”

The strokes were a wake-up call for Kekauoha.

Today, she’s found a healthy balance. She makes sure to share what’s going on weekly with her church support system, meets with her pastor once a month, takes daily walks and whenever help is offered, she takes it. She and her doctor are also monitoring her heart closely after the strokes. “It’s important to build a village,” Kekauoha says. “Even if it’s just someone offering to sit with Mom so you can take the hour and go outside under the tree to just breathe. Take the help.”

And she treasures the memories she built with her family. She remembers fondly the annual camping trips to Nānākuli Beach, which her mother loved.

“Look for shiny moments like having a good laugh with kūpuna,” Kekauoha says. “Cherish the happy moments.”

AARP Hawaiʻi offers support and care for caregivers. Find resources at aarp.org/caregiving and the discussion group on Facebook, facebook.com/groups/aarpfamilycaregivers.

Advice from 2 Family Caregivers 1. Talk about caregiving early Ideally, the discussion about caregiving should begin before your loved one starts ailing. Research and plan who will be the primary caregiver and the support they may need.

2. Be part of a caregiving team It takes a village. Caregiving should not solely fall on you. Be sure to create a team for yourself that may include friends, family, physicians, therapists and a support group.

Family caregivers should be present with their loved ones during doctor’s visits to provide a full picture of what is going on with the patient at home.

Patients often tell their doctor that everything is fine instead of sharing real health or cognitive issues. Caregivers and their physicians need to address challenges together. Reach out to AARP for more resources and lean on your caregiving team for help.

3. Self-care is caregiving too Make sure you give yourself a break.

Accept help whenever it is offered.

Let others take some of the weight off your shoulders or make caregiving a little easier. “It’s easy to start counting down the hours, especially if you’re the primary caregiver. You have to carve out your quiet time,” says Pat Bemis, who cares for her husband, who has Parkinson’s disease.

Kekauoha’s self-care includes walking, meeting with her pastor or drawing strength from a weekly Bible group.

4. Be flexible Caregiving will not be the same every day. You’re caring for a loved one who has their own wants and needs and accomodating both can be challenging. Figure out ways and methods to adjust and respect their wishes while also finding ways to get things done.

photo: getty images

A Caregiver’s Story

Access for All Closing the digital gap for kūpuna is imperative. For AARP Hawai‘i, it’s not just about making sure everyone can get online, but ensuring they have the training they need to make the most of the internet.

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uring the pandemic, we learned just how essential the internet is for kūpuna to make appointments for vaccines, to communicate with friends and family, to make telehealth visits. That’s why AARP Hawai‘i joined the Hawai‘i Broadband Hui, a grassroots group of more than 70 nonprofits, businesses, individuals and agencies working to bridge the technological gap.

Hawai‘i was one of seven states to receive AARP national grants to expand broadband advocacy efforts for seniors. With the money, the AARP Hawai‘i team began creating a digital inclusion road map.

The priority is identifying what’s already available to local kūpuna: community college classes, state libraries, volunteer tech support classes and other program training classes. The next step is to identify areas where more needs to be done. The result will be a comprehensive plan to spend federal and state

monies and introduce legislation and public policies to effectively get more kūpuna online.

Broadband access is just the beginning. Training to learn how to use it is just as essential. AARP Hawai‘i will launch a pilot tech support project at four libraries. People can make appointments, meet with volunteers and receive one-on-one help with any tech questions. Learn more about the project and other digital literacy offerings at librarieshawaii.org. Depending on the response, AARP Hawai‘i and the Hawai‘i State Public Library System will consider creating regular tech help hours at more libraries.

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We’re in Your Corner

People today can spend nearly half their lives over the age of 50. That’s a lot of living. So, it helps to have a wise friend and fierce defender like AARP in your corner and in your community so your money, health and happiness live as long as you do.

AARP Hawai‘i fights for you and offers engaging and educational events to help you achieve your goals and stay connected.

Find us at aarp.org/hi.

/aarphawaii @aarphawaii

Living Your Best Life Um si dolupitisqui beatiorum quo temquatio et et vellupitat omni aut dolorro quiaepratum.

INSIDE LIVING YOUR BEST LIFE

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FINANCES Page 4

CAREGIVING Page 4

FIGHTING FRAUD Page 4

Living Your BEST Life Fierce defender, wise friend: How AARP Hawai‘i is working to protect your money, family and future, and how you can join the fight.