May 2023 | DC Beacon

Honoring a woman of purpose

By Diane York

When Ify Nwabukwu came to the U.S. from Nigeria at age 25, her dream was to become a physician. She studied at several colleges, finally graduating with a degree in nursing from Howard University in Washington, D.C.

But her real career developed as the founder and leader of an organization that has boosted the health of thousands of African women new to this country. In fact, the impact she has had at the nonprofit she created may have far outreached what she might have accomplished as a doctor.

For her work, AARP awarded Nwabukwu a “Purpose Prize” in 2022. The $50,000 annual prize goes to five individuals over 50 who have solved a challenging social problem.

Launched by mother’s journey

While Nwabukwu was working as a nurse, she got married and eventually found herself juggling four young children and a full-time career. Her mother, living in Nigeria, came to the U.S. to help with the children on a temporary basis.

When her mother arrived, she found a lump in her breast. At first, she dismissed it as nothing more than a cyst. But as a nurse, Nwabukwu was concerned. Finding medical help for her mother — a non-resident with no insurance — was a challenge.

The lump turned out to be a cancerous tumor. Luckily, Nwabukwu had a close friend, a trauma surgeon, who performed a mastectomy.

She called on other connections within the medical community for additional care. Because she knew the system, Nwabukwu was able to save her mother and give her another 17 years of life.

However, Nwabukwu realized that her mother could have died had she not had

help in navigating the U.S. medical system. That realization, plus the death from cancer of another African immigrant she knew, inspired Nwabukwu to take action to help other African women with cancer.

Overcoming a taboo

Nwabukwu explains that African immi-

grants not only face a language barrier.

They also have a cultural taboo against discussing their medical troubles with others. This leads them to hide afflictions.

She began to seek out other African immigrant women, encouraging them to be

Find Compassion, Care & Respect at

PHOTO COURTESY OF IFY ANNE NWABUKWU

Registered nurse Ify Nwabukwu founded a nonprofit to help immigrants navigate the U.S. medical system. Since 2004, her group has worked with 30,000 women, providing translators, information, rides and moral support during cancer treatment. She was awarded a 2022 AARP Purpose Prize for her work.

The Carnegie at Washingtonian Center: Supporting Literary Passions in Gaithersburg

Literature opens windows to history, science, politics, technology and more through written works where we learn about inspiring leaders and experts, phenomenal sports figures and brilliant innovators. The beauty of the literary world lies in the glimpses into faraway lands that imaginative authors’ minds provide, as well as intriguing connections made with fascinating characters. The list of cerebral benefits and entertainment value offered by literary pursuits is simply endless.

To that end, the Gaithersburg Book Festival is a celebration of literary excellence and the books and writers at the heart of it all, and The Carnegie at Washingtonian Center is a proud sponsor. The event attracts more than 20,000 attendees each year and is largely supported by volunteers, donations and community sponsors. The Festival (as it is known locally) aligns perfectly with The Carnegie’s culturally inspired programming, fostering an artistically rich environment where people of all ages can connect through their love of literature. This year the event will take place on May 20 from 10 am to 6 pm at Bohrer Park in Gaithersburg and will feature more than 120 top authors from all over the United States. The Festival was introduced to Gaithersburg in 2010 by its current Mayor Jud Ashman when he was still a council member. It quickly became one of the nation’s top literary events and has become a popular addition to the many activities Gaithersburg hosts year-round. The Carnegie will host a booth at The Festival where attendees can get information about the community and all it will offer when it opens its doors next year.

According to Amanda McPherson, an event

representative, The Festival’s mission is to promote conversations around reading, writing and literacy, “The Festival is free to the public, so everyone is welcome. We offer special programming for kids, book signings with top authors, poetry readings, and writing workshops. There is truly something for everyone, and we're excited to offer a rich and diverse literary experience again this year.”

The Carnegie’s partnership with The Festival does not stop with the event itself but continues year-round. In collaboration with Link Generations, The Carnegie and The Festival

have also created the Intergenerational Book Club, a program that brings together older adults and students to read, discuss, and share their generational perspectives on various books. The platform allows participants to express their points of view and build meaningful social connections. The book club will also be featured at The Festival and will host a booth where attendees can learn more about this special program.

These community-based partnerships are just two of many The Carnegie has formed that work to support the creation of a culturally rich environment for its residents that fosters continued growth and positive social engagement. “Our partnership with The Festival is one of the first partnerships we formed, and it has evolved and flourished with the addition of the Intergenerational Book Club,” says Sam Martin, Business Development Director at The Carnegie. “We’re incredibly excited to be part of the broader community and showcase our commitment to lifelong learning and inspired senior living.”

Save the date and plan to experience The Gaithersburg Book Festival on May 20 to explore the wonderous world of literature. Be sure to stop by The Carnegie's booth to learn more about the community, welcoming residents in Spring 2024.

Visit the community’s Discovery Center at 129 Ellington Boulevard at Downtown Crown in Gaithersburg. to view its full-size twobedroom model showcasing the décor and style to be featured in The Carnegie residences. Open daily to the public. Schedule your personal tour in advance: 240-213-7383 or visit lifeatthecarnegie.com

Gaithersburg Mayor, Jud Ashman, joined forces with Lori Marks, Founder of Link Generations to create The Intergenerational Book Club with The Carnegie at Washingtonian Center.

The Carnegie at Washingtonian Center, proud sponsor of the Gaithersburg Book Festival, will feature reading nooks and a curated library where residents can spend time with their grandchildren.

The Gaithersburg Book Festival is a celebration of literary excellence and the books and writers at the heart of it all. Open to the public May 20 from 10 am to 6 pm at Bohrer Park in Gaithersburg.

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From ageism to age pride

[Ed. Note: In honor of May, Older Americans Month, we are pleased to excerpt this essay, which appeared in the Jan./Feb. issue of Generations Today , a publication of the American Society on Aging, www.asaging.org.]

It doesn’t take a lot of headscratching to realize that much of our apprehension around aging is really about how our minds and bodies might change as we move through life.

PHOTO BY ADRIAN BUCKMASTER

don’t want walkers cluttering up the dining room, they’re being ableist. When people who support community living for young people with disabilities think nursing homes are fine for old people with disabilities, they’re being ageist.

AS I SEE IT

That’s not ageism, that’s ableism. It’s not actually about age: plenty of youngers live with disability and plenty of olders do not. Instead, it’s the belief that being non-disabled is “normal” and that leading meaningful, desirable lives means staying youthful and impairment-free.

By Ashton Applewhite

your age? Attempted to conceal the fact that you couldn’t follow a conversation in a noisy room, or needed a railing to steady yourself? Been offended by the polite offer of a seat on the bus?

that are important to learn from and build upon.

We’re being ageist anytime we assign value to someone on the basis of how old we think they are, and ableist when we assign value on the basis of how we assume their minds or bodies function. We’re being ageist and ableist when we attribute capacity — or incapacity — to someone based on their age.

Why is it important to distinguish between ageism and ableism? Because we need to understand what we’re up against.

When people in retirement communities

If an employer is reluctant to hire an older person because they might retire soon, it’s ageism; if they’re reluctant because the person might require special accommodations, it’s ableism.

When an acoustic neuroma destroyed most of the hearing in my left ear, I caught myself thinking, “At least it’s sexy brain tumor deafness instead of sad old-person deafness.” Which makes me both ageist and ableist. It took five years, and more hearing loss, for me to begin identifying as disabled. What was I waiting for?

Everyone is ageist and everyone is ableist. Although much bias is unconscious, prejudice is learned. From childhood on, we’re barraged by messages about how awful it is to grow old and how tragic it is to be disabled.

Unless we stop to challenge them, such messaging becomes part of our identity and warps our sense of self and our place in the world.

Have you ever been reluctant to reveal

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IN FOCUS FOR PEOPLE OVER 50

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All these behaviors are ageist, or ableist, or both. We all do them, no judgment. But we can’t challenge bias unless we’re aware of it. And these behaviors aren’t good for us because they’re rooted in shame about things that shouldn’t be shameful.

We olders can be the most biased of all, because we’ve had a lifetime to absorb these messages, and most of us have never stopped to challenge them.

Ironically, people in aging services are far from exempt. When your expertise lies in caring for olders at the most debilitated end of the spectrum — incredibly skilled, challenging, valuable work — it reinforces a view of aging as decline. Reconciling that deficit view of old age with what we hope lies ahead for ourselves is really hard to do. Again, no judgment.

This stuff runs so deep that we tend to act as though old people don’t become disabled and disabled people don’t grow old, and an ageist and ableist culture gives us cover.

Part of the reluctance is just human: it’s scary to think about the loss of physical or cognitive function. Part of the reluctance is tactical. People in ageland are understandably leery of seeming to equate aging and disability.

Of course, disability and aging are different, just as Illness and disability are not the same; many disabled people will assure you that they are not sick.

Likewise, aging with a disability is very different from aging into disability. It’s important to acknowledge and respect these differences.

But disability and aging overlap in ways

Otherwise, we rule out collective advocacy and reinforce dual stigma: I may need help getting around but at least I’m not in a wheelchair! I may be disabled but at least I’m not old! Like a not-yet-40-year-old friend with a broken foot who chose crutches instead of a cane, because crutches signal “injured,” not “old.”

That’s how prejudice works: it frames the other group as alien and lesser than ourselves. But olders and people with disabilities are not “other.” They are us or future us.

Young people have created joyous, ingenious, creative communities, many of whose members celebrate interdependence and identify proudly as disabled: I am who I am because of my disability, not despite it. Disability pride!

Think what older people could learn from them about asking for help, adapting to impairment, and age pride!

Think what younger people with disabilities could learn from olders about moving through life. Think how we’d all benefit if hearing and mobility aids were stripped of stigma. Let’s get interdependent!

All of us lucky enough to grow old will age into impairment of some kind. As people in ageland are well aware, we age well not by avoiding chronic illness and disability but by adapting to them.

These are powerful, generative processes that unite us all, and inform what it means to be human. Pretending otherwise sets us up to fail and pits us against each other.

Ashton Applewhite is the author of This Chair Rocks: A Manifesto Against Ageism, a co-founder of the Old School Anti-Ageism Clearinghouse (oldschool.info), and at the forefront of the emerging movement to raise awareness of ageism and to dismantle it.

Becoming an age-friendly community means changing attitudes about growing older. Local readers who'd like that to happen should complete and return the “AgeFriendly DC Livability Survey” on the back page of this issue. [Ed. Note: You may even be the lucky winner of $250.] — Ashton Applewhite

Letters to the editor

Readers are encouraged to share their opinions on any matter addressed in the Beacon as well as on political and social issues of the day. Mail your Letter to the Editor to The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915, or email to info@thebeaconnewspapers.com. Please include your name, address and telephone number for verification.

Dear Editor:

Sometimes it’s hard to put “the winter of our discontent” behind us, emerge from hibernation and launch into spring. My advice is to just get up, get out, and get going.

Walking, starting small working out with weights or taking the stairs instead of the elevator is a great start, and it is invigorating.

I did just that! Instead of making excuses as to why I couldn’t go out one day, I headed for the subway. I got off at the Smithsonian stop, and voila! I emerged onto the Mall, took a look around, and was absorbed by its greatness.

Going out does not have to be a costly

endeavor. Spring is upon us. Don’t get complacent.

And remember, there are plenty of opportunities to volunteer. Find the best option that works for you. I have chosen to pack food for those in need with a wonderful local organization. People need people. They need you.

Carmelita McAllister Takoma Park, MD

Dear Editor:

Two articles in your March edition recommend low-salt diets for optimum health.

AARP DC is fighting for issues that are important to our 78,000 members, and all District residents age 50+ and their families. But we can’t do it alone!

The week of April 24th was AARP DC Lobby Week and our volunteers met with Councilmembers to reinforce how important it is that no senior goes hungry, no senior is isolated due to lack of transportation, no senior goes without high-speed internet in their home, and that family caregivers feel the District has their back for the invaluable work they do.

Call your DC Councilmember today and tell them you support restoring funds for key senior nutrition programs, expanding digital technology distribution, protecting crucial memory care programs, and fully funding kinship subsidy programs.

Now is the time to make YOUR voice heard for yourself, for a family member or friend, or for any District senior who needs an advocate.

Won’t you let the District Council know firsthand just how important these programs are to you?

To share your message please visit action.aarp.org/DCAdvocacyWeek

AARP protects the dignity of aging Americans.

WHATCHAMACALLIT

Health

Fitness &

Talking to yourself can help you remember names and where you put things

FOOD & DRUG INTERACTIONS

Processed meats, leafy greens and even caffeine can interfere with some drugs

ERRONEOUS OXYGEN READINGS

Hospital oximeters appear to give false readings in patients with dark skin

CAUSES OF STOMACH PAIN

Stomach pain or bloating? See your doctor to rule out an ulcer and dyspepsia

Prescription drugs promising weight loss

By Jonel Aleccia

WeightWatchers, the 60-year-old diet firm, announced in March it would acquire a telehealth company whose providers prescribe anti-obesity drugs for growing numbers of eager online subscribers.

The $132 million deal with Sequence is just the latest commercial push into the red-hot market for prescription drugs that promise significant weight loss.

For months, the diabetes drug Ozempic has been touted on social media by celebrities even though it’s not approved for weight loss. The demand for it sparked shortages.

WeightWatchers will introduce its roughly 3.5 million subscribers to a new generation of medications that go beyond behavioral changes like gym workouts and diet tracking. Obesity experts say the drugs may revolutionize treatment of the disease that affects 42% of American adults.

Here’s a look at the promise of these new medications and cautions about their use.

What are these new drugs?

The drugs that have generated the most buzz are from a class of medications called GLP-1 agonists. Two of the most popular, Ozempic and Wegovy, are different doses of the same drug, semaglutide.

Ozempic has been used for six years to

treat Type 2 diabetes and is not approved for weight loss. Wegovy was approved in 2021 to treat obesity in adults and late last year to treat kids and teens 12 and older.

Doctors prescribe the medications to people with diabetes alone or to people who are obese or who are overweight with additional health problems. Most of these types of drugs are delivered through weekly injections.

Supply problems and soaring demand last year led to a shortage of the drugs, but Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer, said those have been replenished.

How do the drugs work?

They mimic the action of a gut hormone that kicks in after people eat, boosting the release of insulin, blocking sugar production in the liver, and suppressing appetite.

A newer drug, called tirzepatide, mimics the action of two hormones for an even greater effect. The Eli Lilly and Co. drug, sold under the brand name Mounjaro, is now approved to treat diabetes, but the FDA granted fast-track status to review it to treat obesity. A decision is expected this spring.

With a lower appetite and a greater feeling of fullness, people using these drugs eat less and lose weight.

How effective are the drugs?

In a clinical trial, adults who took Wegovy saw a mean weight loss of nearly 35 pounds, or about 15% of their initial body weight. Adolescents lost about 16% of their body weight.

A clinical trial of Mounjaro, which is still being studied, saw a mean weight loss of 15% to 21% of body weight, depending on the dose, compared with a weight loss of about 3% for people taking a placebo or dummy drug.

Why not just diet and exercise?

In a typical weight-loss program where participants rely only on diet and exercise, about a third of people enrolled will lose 5% or more of their body weight, noted Dr. Louis Aronne, director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Center at Weill Cornell Medicine.

Most people find it difficult to lose weight because of the body’s biological reactions to eating less, he said. There are several hormones that respond to reduced calorie intake to increase hunger and maintain body mass.

“There is a real physical phenomenon,” he said. “There is a resistance mechanism that is a coordinated effort by the body to prevent you from losing weight.”

What are the drugs’ side effects?

The most common side effects are short-lived gastrointestinal issues, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain and constipation.

Other possible side effects include thyroid tumors, cancer, inflammation of the pancreas, kidney and gallbladder, and eye problems. People with a family history of certain thyroid cancers or a rare genetic endocrine disorder should avoid the drugs.

What to watch out for

These new medications could be an effective part of a multifaceted approach to weight loss, said Dr. Amy Rothberg, a University of Michigan endocrinologist who directs a virtual weight management and diabetes program called Rewind.

But she worries that programs like WeightWatchers are primarily interested in boosting enrollment — and profits.

“My hope is that they do their due diligence and have real monitoring of the patients taking the drugs,” Rothberg said.

It’s important to make sure that patients are taking the drugs for the intended purpose, that there’s no reason they shouldn’t take the drugs, and that they’re monitored for side effects, she added.

New connections can counter loneliness

By Harvard Health Blogs

Loneliness is complicated. You can feel lonely when you lack friends and miss companionship or when you’re surrounded by people — even friends and family.

Either way, loneliness can have devastating health effects. It boosts the risk of coronary artery disease, stroke, depression, high blood pressure, declining thinking skills, inability to perform daily living tasks, and even an early death.

The remedy?

Not all loneliness can be solved by seeking out people. The loneliness that occurs despite having plenty of relationships may require talk therapy and a journey that looks inward.

But reducing loneliness caused by a lack of relationships is more of an outward journey to make new friends. Below we offer three ways to ease loneliness and add

happiness by helping you expand your social network.

“That’s a challenge as we get older because people are often established in their social groups and aren’t as available as they might have been in a different phase of life. So, you have to be more entrepreneurial and work harder to make friends than you once did,” said Dr. Jacqueline Olds, a psychiatrist at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital and the co-author of two books on loneliness.

Trying these strategies can help:

1. Seek like-minded souls. Being around people who share your interests gives you a head start on making friends: you already have something in common.

Start by considering your interests. Are you a voracious reader, a history lover, a movie aficionado, a gardener, a foodie, a puppy parent or an athlete?

Are you passionate about a cause, your community or your heritage? Do you col-

lect things? Do you love classic cars? Do you enjoy sprucing up old furniture?

Maybe you want to learn something new, like how to cook Chinese food or speak another language. Search for online groups, in-person clubs, volunteer opportunities or classes that match your interests.

Once you join a group, you’ll need to participate regularly to build bonds. If you can gather in person, it’s even better.

“The part of our brain involved in social connection is stimulated by all five senses. When you’re with someone in the same room, you get a much stronger set of stimuli than you do by watching them on a screen,” Dr. Olds said.

2. Create opportunities. If joining someone else’s group is unappealing, start your own. Host gatherings at your place or elsewhere.

“All it takes is three people. You can say, ‘Let’s read books or talk about a TV show

or have a dinner group on a regular basis,’” Dr. Olds said.

Other ideas for gatherings — either weekly or monthly — include game nights, trivia nights, hikes, birdwatching expeditions, running or cycling, meditation, museum visits, cooking, knitting, sewing, crafting, shopping, day trips to nearby towns, and even a collector showand-tell (comic books, antique dolls, baseball cards).

The people you invite don’t have to be dear friends; they can just be people you’d like to get to know better — perhaps neighbors or work acquaintances.

If they’re interested in a regular gathering, pin down dates and times. Otherwise, the idea might stay stuck in the talking stages.

“Don’t be timid. Say, ‘Let’s get our calen-

Loneliness

From page 6

dars out and get this scheduled,’” Dr. Olds said.

3. Brush up on your social skills. Sometimes we’re rusty in surface social graces that help build deeper connections. “It makes a huge difference when you can be enthusiastic rather than just sitting there and hoping someone will realize how interesting you are,” Dr. Olds said. Here are some tips to practice:

• Smile more. Smiling is welcoming, inviting and hospitable to others.

• Be engaging. Prepare a few topics to talk about or questions to ask — perhaps about the news or the reason you’ve gathered. (If it’s a seminar, for example, ask how long someone has been interested in the subject.)

Or look for a conversation starter. “Maybe the person is wearing a pretty brooch. Ask if there’s a story behind it,” Dr. Olds suggested.

• Be a good listener. “Listen in a way that someone realizes you’re paying atten-

May 21

tion. Hold their gaze, nod your head or say ‘Mm hmm’ as they’re talking so you give feedback. Assume everyone in the world is just yearning for your feedback,” Dr. Olds said.

• Ask follow-up questions. Don’t ignore signals that someone has interesting stories to tell. “If they allude to something, your job is to look fascinated and ask if they can tell you more. They’re dropping crumbs on a path to a deeper exchange,” Dr. Olds noted.

Even chats that don’t lead to friendships can be enriching. A 2022 study found that people who had the most diverse portfolios of social interactions — exchanges with strangers, acquaintances, friends, or family members — were much happier than those with the least diverse social portfolios.

Ultimately, a wide variety of interactions contributes to well-being, whether you’re talking to the cashier at the supermarket, a neighbor, an old friend, or a new one.

And all of these connections combined may go a long way toward helping you feel less lonely.

© 2023 by Harvard University

For free materials on housing communities and health studies, just complete and clip this coupon and mail, or take a picture and email it to the Beacon.

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Maryland

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❏ Cadence Living Olney (See ad on page 13)

❏ Carnegie at Washingtonian Center (See ads on pages 2, 3)

❏ Churchill Senior Living (See ad on page 12)

❏ Covenant Village (See ad on page 16)

❏ Emerson House (See ad on page 16)

❏ Grandview, The (See ad on page 9)

❏ HIP Home Sharing (See ad on page 37)

❏ Homecrest House (See ad on page 17)

❏ Homewood at Frederick (See ad on page 20)

❏ Leggett, The (See ad on page 30)

❏ Park View Bladensburg (See ad on page 22)

❏ Park View Columbia (See ad on page 22)

❏ Park View Emerson (See ad on page 22)

❏ Park View Laurel (See ad on page 22)

❏ Riderwood (See ad on page 9)

❏ Tribute at Black Hill (See ad on page 20)

Virginia

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❏ Culpepper Garden (See ad on page 20)

❏ Falcons Landing (See ad on page 19)

❏ Greenspring (See ad on page 9)

❏ Harmony Senior Services (See ad on page 1)

❏ Lockwood House (See ad on page 16)

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ASIAN FESTIVAL

Q&As on memory and statin side effects

By Howard LeWine, M.D.

Q: What are some ways to help remember names and decrease other memory slip-ups?

A: While recurring or worsening memory issues should always be checked out, everyday lapses can be managed. Here are some tips on how to overcome some common memory situations:

Names. When you meet someone for the first time, make the connection meaningful. Many times, we forget a name because we didn’t notice it being said or don’t make an effort to try to remember it.

Repeat the name and immediately link it to something that may help trigger recall, such as the person’s appearance or job. Or associate the name with someone who has a similar name, like a celebrity, relative or movie character.

You can also connect the name with a

rhyming word, a song or an image. For example, link the name Sandy with the idea of a beach, and imagine Sandy on the beach. Use as much detail as possible — picture her walking along the water’s edge or on a beach that’s familiar to you.

Finally, write down the name and the person’s relation to you (for example, your neighbor’s sister) in your smartphone or in a memory notebook specially dedicated to things you want to remember.

Routine tasks. We often forget routine behaviors like locking a door before bed because we are not fully engaged when we do them.

An excellent way to remind yourself of a completed task is to talk to yourself while doing it. Say it out loud, such as, “I’m locking the front door” or “I’m putting the clothes in the dryer.”

Everyday items. Always put things

you regularly use in the same place. For example, set up dedicated areas near the front door, in the living room by your favorite seat, and in the bedroom, and use these spaces for all your vital objects like phone, keys, glasses and medicine.

For objects you don’t handle regularly, make a point to focus on the location where you place them and, again, tell yourself out loud what you are doing. For instance, say “I’m placing the scissors in the kitchen drawer below the coffeepot.”

To-do lists . Smartphones also are great for scheduling reminders for tasks and appointments, and their alarms can be set up for one-time or recurring events.

You can also email yourself reminders, or leave yourself a note. Another approach is to create a visual reminder: Put an object associated with the task in a prominent place. For instance, if you need to order

concert tickets, leave a picture of the artist near your phone or on your memory table.

Q: I’m told I need to be on a higher dose of atorvastatin (Lipitor) to lower my cholesterol. But I don’t even like taking the 10-milligram dose because I feel more aches and pains. What options do I have?

A: Statin drugs such as atorvastatin are important medications that reduce high LDL (“bad”) cholesterol and significantly lower the risk for heart attack, stroke and premature death. Despite the drugs’ effectiveness, many people discontinue it without telling their doctor.

Statins are often abandoned because of side effects (real or perceived). Body aches are the most common complaint. But clinical studies suggest that, most often, the side effects are not related to the drug.

People frequently have negative expectations even before they take their first statin dose. An example is the claim of cognitive decline as a side effect, which has been disproven several times over.

Work with your doctor to see if one of the following approaches can help you stick with your statin.

Consider a low-dose, alternate-day strategy to ease into statin use. This recalibrates expectations and may give you more of an open mind that you can tolerate the statin.

Switch to a different statin. For example, rosuvastatin (Crestor) may cause fewer muscle aches.

Try a non-statin cholesterol drug. These drugs don’t cause muscle aches the way statins sometimes do. Bempedoic acid (Nexletol) boosts LDL cholesterol clearance by the liver with less effect on muscles. Ezetimibe (Zetia) works in the intestines to inhibit cholesterol absorption.

Think about other causes of muscle aches. Is it really the medication causing discomfort, or did you perhaps begin to exercise more when you started the statin and you have sore muscles as a result?

Consider drug interactions. Some medications can cause adverse reactions when taken with statins, such as certain calciumchannel blockers, including diltiazem (Cardizem), and certain antifungal medications, such as ketoconazole (Nizoral).

Ask your doctor if it is safe to stop the statin for two to three weeks. You can see if the muscle aches stop. Also, some people find they can restart the statin after a short drug holiday.

Try coenzyme Q10. This supplement has mixed results for relieving muscle aches from statins.

Check your vitamin D levels. There’s an association between low vitamin D levels and higher muscle aches when you take a statin.

© 2023 President and fellows of Harvard College. All rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Drug interactions with foods and drinks

By Katherine Zeratsky

Dear Mayo Clinic: I’ve heard I should avoid certain foods like grapefruit and broccoli, as well as alcoholic beverages, when taking certain medications. Why is that? How can I be safe from any potential issues?

A: Certain foods and beverages can interfere with several kinds of prescription and nonprescription medications. Problems arise because natural chemicals or nutrients in foods or drinks can in-

terfere with a medication, either lessening its effectiveness or potentially having a stronger effect.

Foods or beverages also can affect the enzymes that break down, or metabolize, the medication in your body. As a result, the medication may stay in your body for too short or too long a time.

A medication that’s broken down too quickly won’t have time to work. On the other hand, a medication that stays in the body too long may build up to potentially

dangerous levels.

Don’t take these interactions lightly. Some can cause potentially dangerous health problems. Common and serious side effects are high blood pressure, heart irregularities, muscle weakness and bleeding.

It is important that you review your prescriptions, and other over-the-counter medications and supplements, with your healthcare provider or pharmacist to determine any potential interactions or reactions.

Before taking any medication, it is best to ask, “Are there foods or beverages I should avoid when taking this medication or supplement?”

Another important question to ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist is about the amount, as well as when you can eat certain foods or drink certain beverages. Consider asking if you should completely avoid specific foods or beverages, or if smaller amounts are allowed.

“I suffered with Osteoarthritis knee pain for years. I was told only surgery would help. After only two weeks of care in your office I was back on my feet and feeling great again! Thanks!”

Also, timing can matter. Some medications should be taken with food, while others should be taken on an empty stomach.

Ask about the time difference between ingesting food and taking your medications. Some require a 30- to 60-minute buffer, while other medications may be such that it would simply be best to avoid eating certain foods while taking the prescription.

Foods that commonly interact

These are some of the most common foods and drinks that can cause challenges:

• Certain fruits and their juices, such as grapefruit, oranges, pomelos and cranberries

• Some vegetables that are rich in vitamin K, such as collards, spinach and kale, and other foods, such as soybeans, broccoli, and carrot and pomegranate juice

• Tyramine, which is an amino acid (protein building block) found in pickled and fermented foods, such as sauerkraut and kimchi; processed meats, such as sausages; aged cheese, and some sauces, like shrimp or soy sauce

• Licorice or licorice extract in candy or teas

• Milk and milk products

• Alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, such as beer, wine and spirits, and those that contain caffeine, such as coffee, tea or soda.

It is important to be mindful about reading labels and being aware of what ingredients are in certain foods and drinks. Sometimes manufacturers don’t list all the ingredients or use the most common name of an ingredient.

For instance, numerous citrus-flavored soft drinks contain grapefruit juice or grapefruit extract, so if you don’t pay attention, you could have a potential prob-

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Not everyone needs a daily multivitamin

By Julie Corliss

Are you among the one in three Americans who gulps down a multivitamin every morning, probably with a sip of water?

The truth about this popular habit may be hard to swallow.

“Most people would be better off just drinking a full glass of water and skipping the vitamin,” said Pieter Cohen, M.D., an associate professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and an internist at Harvard-affiliated Cambridge Health Alliance.

In addition to saving money, you’ll have the satisfaction of not succumbing to mis-

Drug interactions

From page 10

lem with your medications.

If your diet changes seasonally or when away from home — for instance, if you harvest vegetables from a garden, or eat more of certain fruits while on vacation — be thoughtful to ensure consistency with food intake and medication dosing.

Meds that commonly interact

The list of commonly prescribed medications that can interact with certain foods and beverages includes medications that:

• Fight infection

• Reduce cholesterol

• Treat high blood pressure

• Treat heart problems

• Prevent organ rejection

• Treat anxiety or depression

• Stabilize mood or act as a stimulant

• Control seizures

• Minimize motion sickness

• Treat erectile dysfunction

• Replace hormones

• Reduce cough

• Control pain

leading marketing schemes.

That’s because for the average American adult, a daily multivitamin doesn’t provide any meaningful health benefit, as noted recently by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF).

Their review, which analyzed 84 studies involving nearly 700,000 people, found little or no evidence that taking vitamin and mineral supplements helps prevent cancer and cardiovascular disease that can lead to heart attacks and stroke, nor do they help prevent an early death.

“We have good evidence that, for the vast

Your health is important. As part of your health, eating a nutritious diet and taking your medications as prescribed matters.

You may be surprised and disappointed to see some of your favorite foods and drinks listed as ones to be wary of when taking different medications. But taking the time to speak with your healthcare provider about the risks and benefits is valuable in the long run to avoid any issues.

If you find it difficult to avoid some of these foods, especially if they are healthy favorites, ask your healthcare provider or pharmacist if comparable medications are available that you can take without interacting with your preferred foods and beverages.

Katherine Zeratsky, R.D.N., Endocrinology/Nutrition, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.

Mayo Clinic Q & A is an educational resource and doesn’t replace regular medical care. Email a question to MayoClinicQ&A@mayo.edu. For more information, visit mayoclinic.org.

© 2022 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. All rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

majority of people, taking multivitamins won’t help you,” said Cohen, an expert in dietary supplement research and regulation.

Who might need supplements?

There are some exceptions, however. Highly restrictive diets and gastrointestinal conditions, or certain weight-loss surgeries that cause poor nutrient absorption, are examples of reasons why a multivitamin or individual vitamins might be recommended.

A daily vitamin D supplement may be necessary when a person gets insufficient sun exposure. Your doctor may recommend an iron supplement if you have a low red blood cell count (anemia).

Claims don’t require proof

Vitamins are very inexpensive to make, so the companies that sell them can sink lots of money into advertising, Cohen said.

Primary Care At Home

Cynthia R

Tools and methods to safely trim toenails

Dear Savvy Senior, Can you recommend some good toenail clipping solutions? My toenails have gotten increasingly thick since I’ve gotten older and have become very difficult for me to reach down and cut.

—Almost 80 Dear Almost, Trimming your toenails is a task that can become very challenging as we get older. For many, toenails can become thicker and harder to cut, and our reduced flexibility can make it more difficult to get into the right position to cut them.

By Jim Miller

Fortunately, there are solutions available that can make this job a little easier.

One of the simplest tricks for cutting thick toenails is to simply take a bath or shower, or soak your feet in warm water, prior to cutting them. The water helps soften them for easier cutting.

There are also toenail softening creams you can buy, like “Miracle of Aloe Toenail Soft” and “Barielle Toenail Softening Cream,” that temporarily soften thick, hard nails. Just rub it into your toenails at bedtime, and in the morning, they’ll be easier to cut and file.

Most people’s toenails grow about 1/16 inch per month, so it’s appropriate to cut them every six to eight weeks.

When cutting nails, take care not to cut too far down. Overaggressive trimming, and cutting the toenails too short, can lead to ingrown toenails. Podiatrists typically recommend leaving a small bit of nail past the nail bed when trimming.

You may also want to avoid a rounded cut. It’s best to cut the nails fairly straight across, ensuring that the corners of the nail do not cut into the skin folds of the toe.

And use an emery board to smooth the jagged edges and corners that can snag and potentially tear the nail as it grows.

Top toenail clippers

There are a number of medical-grade or specialty toenail clippers recommended by professionals for older adults.

For thick nails, the “New Huing Podiatrist Toenail Clipper” is a top option. This clipper has a sharp, curved blade that easily cuts through any toenail, no matter how hard or thick it has gotten. It also has a nonslip, cushioned grip that allows for comfortable clipping.

For those with limited mobility, check out the “Clipperpro Omega Select Toenail Clipper,” which has a long plastic grip that’s much larger than that of a standard set of nail clippers. Also, its blade head

BEACON

May 19

swivels 180 degrees. Both of those features make this clipper much easier to use for anyone with arthritis or mobility issues, since users will have more control and an added range for reaching.

For people who have a hard time bending over, there are long handled toenail clippers like the “DriFeez Long Handle Toenail Clipper,” which comes in four sizes: 20, 24, 28 and 32 inches long. It also has a heavyduty clipper with a 1/8-inch-wide jaw opening designed to cut thick toenails.

All of these clippers are available online at sites like Amazon.com and Walmart.com at prices ranging from $10 to $40.

Toenail trimming services

If you get to the point that you can’t, or would rather not, cut your own toenails, a podiatrist can provide both foot and toenail care. But be aware that routine foot care is not covered by Medicare unless you have an underlying condition or injury that requires a professional to tend to your feet.

If you are generally in good health, regular pedicures at a nail salon are a good option for getting your toenails cut and are much cheaper than visiting a podiatrist.

Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of The Savvy Senior book.

COMMUNICATING WITH DEMENTIA PATIENTS

Pulse oximeters show racial disparities

By Maddie Burakoff

The clip-on devices that use light to measure oxygen levels in the blood are getting a closer look from U.S. regulators after recent studies suggest they don’t work as well for patients of color.

The devices, called pulse oximeters, usually snap onto a finger and are widely used in hospitals across the globe to help guide treatment. At-home versions became popular during the Covid pandemic.

But several recent studies have raised concerns that the pigmentation in people’s skin can throw off the readings. In 2021, the Food and Drug Administration issued a warning about possible inaccuracies after a study found the devices tended to overestimate Black patients’ oxygen levels.

“The fact that such a commonly used device could have any discrepancy at all was shocking to me,” said Michael Sjoding, a University of Michigan pulmonologist who led the study. “I make a lot of medical decisions based on this device.”

The FDA convened a panel of experts who met last fall to discuss “ongoing concerns” about the devices, recommendations for patients and doctors, and ways to gauge accuracy.

Oxygen levels can also be measured by drawing blood out of an artery in the wrist. This method is still the “gold standard” for

Multivitamin

From page 11

But because the FDA regulates dietary supplements as food and not as prescription or over-the-counter drugs [which need to be proven both safe and effective], the agency only monitors supplements for claims regarding the treatment of disease.

For example, supplement makers cannot say their product “lowers heart disease risk.” But their labels are allowed to include phrases such as “promotes a healthy heart” or “supports immunity,” as well as vague promises about improving fatigue and low motivation.

“Supplement manufacturers are allowed to market their products as if they have benefits when no benefit actually exists. It’s enshrined into the law,” Cohen said.

It’s wise to note the legally required disclaimer on each product: “These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.”

But even the strong language in this disclaimer — “not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent” — doesn’t seem to affect how people perceive the marketing claims.

Although multivitamins aren’t helpful, at least they’re not harmful. But the money people spend on them could be better spent on purchasing healthy foods, Cohen said.

Julie Corliss is executive editor of Harvard Heart Letter.

© 2023 Harvard University. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

accuracy but is a bit trickier and more painful so can’t be done as often, said Leo Celi, a physician and MIT researcher who is studying pulse oximetry.

By comparison, pulse oximeters are quicker, easier and less invasive.

When the device snaps onto a finger, it sends two wavelengths of light into the skin, explained Rutendo Jakachira, a doctoral student at Brown University who is researching pulse oximetry. By measuring how much of that light is absorbed, the pulse oximeter estimates how much oxygen is flowing through the blood.

The problem: Melanin — a natural pigment responsible for skin tone — also absorbs light, Jakachira said. And if devices aren’t built with melanin in mind, the extra absorption can throw off their readings.

Mounting evidence suggests this seems to be affecting the pulse oximeters on the

market.

Sjoding’s study found that compared to white patients, Black patients in the hospital were almost three times as likely to experience “occult hypoxemia” — meaning their oxygen levels calculated from blood draws were dangerously low, but their pulse oximeter readings were still normal.

Follow-up research showed these errors can have real impacts on health. When patients didn’t have their low oxygen levels recognized, it meant delays in Covid treatment, less supplemental oxygen, and a higher risk of organ failure and mortality, according to several recent studies.

All of these outcomes affected patients of color more often, the research found. For many doctors, the idea that the tools they rely on could be adding to racial discrepancies came as a shock.

“These are fundamental vital signs that

we use for patient care,” Sjoding said. “And so, if the device is even a small bit less accurate in a particular group of patients, that’s going to have consequences.”

Small studies in past decades had hinted that skin tone might pose a challenge for the devices, but the concerns apparently “fell by the wayside,” said Johns Hopkins physician Ashraf Fawzy, who led one of the recent pulse oximeter studies. He and other doctors said they had never learned about racial gaps in pulse oximeters during their medical training.

But the pandemic brought more attention to the devices — and to issues of racial inequality in the health system.

“Now we’re more acutely aware of how healthcare disparities impact people of color,” Fawzy said. “We’re really motivated to actually solve these problems and make healthcare more equitable for everyone.” —AP

Nutrition Shorts

Are water flavor enhancers healthy?

Hydration is essential for a healthy body and mind. Drinking enough water is the best way to hydrate. It sounds easy enough, yet plain water isn’t always appealing.

Enter water enhancers — liquids added to water to kick up the flavor, often without sugar or calories. Their good taste can make it enjoyable to drink enough water. But are they healthy?

Water flavorings are safe, as the ingredients are FDA-approved. But they can in-

clude chemical thickening or stabilizing agents, artificial colors and flavors, artificial sweeteners, and natural sweeteners, like stevia, which are not necessarily healthy.

They may also include added vitamins, electrolytes, caffeine and natural ingredients, such as ginseng, guarana and taurine, with claims that they can help boost wellness or alertness and help you meet the daily recommended requirements of certain vitamins, such as the B vitamins.

If flavoring water helps you drink enough fluids, it can be a good choice, as well as a better alternative to other less healthy sugary drinks. When choosing, check the label for any ingredients you might want to avoid.

Lori Zanteson, Environmental Nutrition

Don’t buy what you won’t eat

Fruits and vegetables are great for

many reasons: They can help lower inflammation, raise your fiber intake, and support organs from your brain to your gut. But many of us aren’t getting enough.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that roughly 90% of Americans aren’t reaching the suggested five servings a day.

Part of this disconnect starts in the grocery store. Though we can begin our shopping with the best intentions, some challenges can arise in the produce section.

Fresh produce can be expensive, difficult to prepare, and go bad quickly (which can lead to wasted food and money).

We all want our dollar to go as far as possible at the grocery, especially when facing inflation. The biggest mistake you could be making is choosing fruits and vegetables that you don’t actually like to eat.

It might seem overly simple, but a key part of a healthy and sustainable eating pattern is including foods you enjoy. Plus,

avoiding the fruits and vegetables you bought can lead to food waste, which wastes money and resources too.

Fruits and vegetables come in so many different sizes, shapes, colors and flavors. Instead of trying to suffer through eating something you don’t enjoy, try something different until you find produce you’re excited to buy and use.

For example, try chard, collards or mustard greens if kale isn’t your thing. You can even get similar nutrients from dark green vegetables like broccoli or Brussels sprouts.

Not into apples? Get a boost of fiber from other fruits like peaches, plums, pears or oranges. Variety is the name of the game when it comes to eating healthy.

Some people find chopping and prepping vegetables a meditative task, but I’ll admit it does take extra time. If that’s something that keeps you out of the kitchen, there are so many options to make your meal prep quicker and easier.

For instance, opt for canned or frozen vegetables that cook more quickly. Another option is to buy pre-cut or spiralized vegetables that take care of any prep work you dread.

Long story short, part of a healthy eating pattern is choosing the foods you know you’ll enjoy, and fruits and vegetables are no exception.

Before your next grocery trip, make a list of things you (and others in your household) will look forward to eating during the week. Once in the produce section, choose a preparation style that works for your schedule and comfort level.

And don’t forget about canned and frozen options, too.

—Jessica Ball, M.S., RD, EatingWell.com

© 2023 Dotdash Meredith. All rights reserved. Used with permission. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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May 15+

MENTAL HEALTH WORKSHOP

Join the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine for a free two-day workshop to explore the current state of mental healthcare for older adults and potential strategies to address their needs and challenges. This hybrid event takes place on Mon., May 15, from noon to 5 p.m. and Tue., May 16, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Keck Center, 500 5th St. NW, Washington, DC, as well as online. For more information and to register, visit bit.ly/MentalHealthWorkshopDC.

June 8

TURNING A NEGATIVE INTO A POSITIVE

In this free workshop, participants learn how to reframe their thoughts to emphasize the positive things in their lives. Visit the Rockville Memorial Library, 21 Maryland Ave., Rockville, MD, on Thu., June 8, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. to attend. For more information, call (240) 777-0140.

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Medical use of microdosed psychedelics

By Peter Grinspoon, M.D.

Psychedelic drugs have been capturing the attention of doctors and patients alike for their increasingly proven potential to effect long-lasting improvements in the mental health of people suffering from conditions such as treatment-resistant depression.

Microdosing psychedelic substances such as LSD or psilocybin (also called “magic mushrooms”) involves taking a fraction of a regular dose that is much lower than one would take if one wanted to “trip” or hallucinate on these substances.

Many people share the idea that microdosing psychedelics enhances one’s mood, creativity, concentration, productivity and ability to empathize with others.

Or could the benefits be an “expectancy

(or placebo) effect”? This means that most people who take a daily pill that they fervently expect will help them feel happier and smarter will feel like they are happier and smarter — just from taking the pill, regardless of what’s in it.

What is microdosing?

There isn’t a single, clearly recognized definition of microdosing for any psychedelic drug, which complicates attempts to perform consistent research.

One definition is approximately 1/5 to 1/20 of a recreational dose. For instance, a medium-strength dose of psilocybin is 2 to 3 grams of dried mushrooms, and a microdose is typically around 0.3 grams.

But the potency of mushrooms can vary

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greatly, as they are not regulated outside of clinical trials, so this isn’t an exact science.

Likewise, LSD is an invisible, tasteless, odorless substance that usually comes either in liquid form or embedded into a piece of paper to be slipped under the tongue.

Given the lack of regulation, there is no good way to know what dosage you are taking unless you have an extraordinarily reliable supplier. LSD is an extremely powerful and long-acting drug; you don’t want to take more than intended.

Further, psychedelics such as psilocybin and LSD can produce physiological tolerance, which might suggest that, even if microdosing does help, there could be diminishing returns if one stays at the same dosage.

Is microdosing safe?

We don’t know as much about safety as we might have learned if not for the War on Drugs, which curtailed much of the research into psychedelics starting in the late 1960s.

This research has been renewed over the last five to 10 years, and many medical centers, including Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, are now conducting research on psychedelics.

Psilocybin is generally thought to be safe in low dosages and has been used for centuries by indigenous peoples. However,

taking too large a dose can result in a terrifying — even traumatic — experience.

Psilocybin is a compound produced by almost 200 species of fungi (mushrooms), but the mushrooms must come from a trusted source. It is very easy to poison oneself with the wrong type of mushroom, as many types of mushrooms in nature can look quite similar to each other, but some are poisonous and can harm your liver, causing severe illness or even death.

Would legalization make it safer?

It is anticipated by experts in the field that some psychedelics may become fully legalized — for medical usage, under supervision — within the next few years, specifically psilocybin and MDMA (ecstasy).

Some policymakers and public health experts believe that the safety of these psychedelics would be enhanced if they were decriminalized and if their cultivation and production were monitored and regulated.

At least one state (Oregon), in addition to many cities around the country, has decriminalized psychedelics at the local level. [Ed. Note: Magic mushrooms are legal in Washington, D.C.]

Skeptics are worried that uncontrolled access to these drugs might affect patients

See MICRODOSING, page 17

with mental illness, or even precipitate mental illness such as psychosis in people who are vulnerable.

Indeed, the use of all psychedelic drugs should be undertaken with utmost caution — if they should be used at all — in patients with major mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. For safety reasons, these patients are typically excluded from studies involving psychedelic drugs.

Evidence is mixed

Does microdosing work? In short, the jury is still out. Some studies indicate a very real and significant benefit from microdosing, whereas others are much less convincing and show little to no benefit.

One recent study used a naturalistic, observational design to study 953 psilocybin microdosers compared with 180 non-dosing participants for 30 days.

It found “small to medium-sized improvements in mood and mental health that were generally consistent across gender, age and presence of mental health concerns.”

This study and others like it appear to

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May 24

confirm many anecdotal reports of people who swear by the benefits they have experienced from microdosing.

Other studies on microdosing are far less impressive. In one example, the researchers conducted a randomized controlled study, which represents the strongest type of evidence because it weeds out the placebo effect.

The researchers took 34 patients and randomized half to receive psilocybin and half to receive a placebo.

While there were some intriguing subjective effects (people felt happier and more creative) and even some changes in brain waves recorded on an EEG, researchers concluded that low-dose psilocybin mushrooms did not show objective evidence of improvements in creativity, wellbeing or cognitive function.

Studies such as this support the hypothesis that the effect people receive from psychedelics at these subperceptual doses is mostly an expectancy effect, and that one needs to consume a higher dosage to receive a therapeutic benefit.

To microdose or not to microdose?

Any medical or lifestyle decision is an individual’s choice (assuming that they

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aren’t harming others). But speak with your doctor before taking psychedelics. Check for any medical reasons why you should be cautious or avoid these drugs.

It is critical to pay attention to the legality and the quality of your product — you likely can’t afford to get into legal jeopardy and certainly can’t afford to poison yourself.

Finally, it is important to understand that there isn’t yet definitive proof that mi-

May 16

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crodosing is at all helpful or even safe in the long term.

With these points in mind, it is fair to say that psychedelic drugs are becoming better understood during a resurgence of research and more widely accepted use.

Peter Grinspoon, M.D., is a contributor to Harvard Health Publications.

© 2023 Harvard University. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

June 6

In this free virtual presentation for family caregivers, internationally recognized dementia care expert and educator Rachael Wonderlin discusses timeline confusion and breaks down stigmas and stereotypes about how dementia works. Join the webinar on Tue., June 6, from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. Register at olneymemorycare.com/events or contact Dena Nightingale at (301) 570-0525 or dnightingale@olneymemorycare.com.

What is dyspepsia and how is it treated?

By Robert Kraichely, M.D.

Dear Mayo Clinic: I have dealt with digestive issues for much of my 30s. Ulcers run in my family.

My doctor said that while I could have an ulcer, testing could determine if it is functional dyspepsia. What is the difference, what causes functional dyspepsia, and is it treatable?

A : Functional dyspepsia, also called nonulcer dyspepsia, and peptic ulcers can feel much the same. But unlike a peptic ulcer, which involves open sores in the digestive tract, functional dyspepsia involves recurring indigestion or stomach pain that has no obvious cause.

Common signs and symptoms of functional dyspepsia include a burning sensa-

tion or discomfort in your upper abdomen or lower chest, bloating, belching, nausea, and an early feeling of fullness when eating. While not life-threatening, the symptoms can significantly affect your quality of life.

To begin the diagnostic process, your healthcare professional likely will perform a physical exam. Blood tests may be performed to help rule out other diseases that can cause symptoms similar to dyspepsia.

One component to help with diagnosis is endoscopy, in which a thin, flexible, lighted instrument called an endoscope is passed down your throat so that your healthcare professional can view your esophagus, stomach and the first part of your small intestine.

Endoscopy also allows your healthcare professional to collect a biopsy of tissue from your stomach or duodenum to look for inflammation or cancerous growths.

Your healthcare professional can determine whether an endoscopy is needed, but endoscopy generally is recommended in adults 60 and older who have symptoms.

A normal result on this test most often indicates functional dyspepsia. Endoscopy also may be performed on adults younger than 60 who have “alarm” features — such as weight loss, anemia, difficulty swallowing or persistent vomiting — along with dyspepsia symptoms. This is determined on an individual basis.

If no abnormal results are found with endoscopy, a noninvasive breath or stool test to check for the Helicobacter pylori, or H. pylori, bacterial infection may follow to guide the course of treatment. This test also is used for adults under 60 with no alarm features. If H. pylori is present, your healthcare professional may recommend an antibiotic to eliminate the infection.

For those who test negative for the bacterium, as well as for those whose symptoms persist after antibiotic treatment and clearance of H. pylori, the first line of treatment is to reduce stomach acid.

This may be performed using two types of medications: proton pump in-

hibitors or H2-receptor blockers. Proton pump inhibitors reduce acid by shutting down the tiny pumps within stomach cells. Examples include esomeprazole (Nexium), lansoprazole (Prevacid) and omeprazole (Prilosec).

H2-receptor blockers, including famotidine (Pepcid) and ranitidine (Zantac), reduce acid production by blocking histamine receptors in stomach cells.

If these options don’t manage your symptoms, other medications are available, including those that affect nerve endings in the stomach.

Cognitive behavioral therapy also may be recommended to cope with the symptoms and reduce the stress that may trigger stomach pain.

Because functional dyspepsia lacks a fully understood cause, and its symptoms overlap with other gastrointestinal conditions, the diagnosis of functional dyspepsia can be challenging. Researchers continue to explore better means of clearly identifying it.

Robert Kraichely, M.D., Gastroenterology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota

© 2023 Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. All rights reserved. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

help safely to your home.

How to choose and use a walking cane

By Jim Miller

When it comes to choosing a cane, most people don’t give it much thought, but they should. Walking canes come in many different styles, shapes and sizes today, so you need to take into account your needs and preferences to ensure you choose one that’s appropriate for you.

Types of canes

The first thing you need to consider is how much support you need. That will help you determine the kind of cane you choose.

The three basic types of canes include:

1. Straight canes: These are basic, single point canes that typically incorporate a rounded “crook” handle or “L-shaped” ergonomic handle. They are usually made of

lightweight aluminum or wood. Most of the aluminum models are adjustable in height and some even fold up.

2. Offset-handle canes: These also are single point straight canes, but they come with a swan neck curve in the upper part of the shaft that puts the user’s weight directly over the cane tip for added stability. These canes are typically aluminum, adjustable-height, and come with a flat, soft grip handle that’s easy on the hands.

Some straight canes and offset-handle canes also come with triple or quad tipped bases that can add gripping support and allow the cane to stand up on its own when you let go, which is very convenient.

Both straight and offset-handle canes are best suited for people with a slight

walking impairment.

3. Quad canes: These work best for people who need maximum weight bearing and support. Quad canes come with four separate tips at the base, they usually have an offset flat handle, and they can stand on their own.

Fitting your cane

Once you decide on the type of cane, you need to make sure it has the capacity to support your weight, and that it fits your height.

To do this, stand up with your arms hanging straight down at your side. The top of the cane should line up with the crease in your wrist, so your arm is slightly bent at the elbow when you grip the cane.

The cane should also have a rubber tip at the bottom to prevent slipping. A worn or torn rubber tip is dangerous, so check the tip frequently to ensure it’s in good condition and replace it when necessary.

The grip is also very important, so choose one that’s ergonomically designed, or one that has a molded rubber or foam grip that’s comfortable to hold on to.

And if you travel much, consider getting

a folding cane that can be packed or stored away easily.

How to use

When using a cane, it should always be held in the hand opposite of the leg that needs support. For example, if your knee pain is on your left side, you should use the cane in your right hand. The cane should then move forward as you step forward with the bad leg.

If you have to go upstairs, you should lead with the good leg. And when you go downstairs, you should put your cane on the step first and then step down with your bad leg.

The Mayo Clinic offers a slideshow at MayoClinic.com/health/canes/HA00064 that will show you how to choose and use a cane. It’s also a smart idea to work with a physical therapist.

Where to buy them

You can buy canes at drugstores, discount retailers, medical supply stores and online, at a cost usually between $10 and $50. You’ll also be happy to know that Medicare covers canes with a written prescription from a physician.

Health Studies

Study seeks dementia patient caregivers

By Margaret Foster

More than six million Americans suffer from Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. And most of them (80%) still live at home, cared for by family members, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

“The caregiver is on their own,” said Laura Gitlin, PhD, dean emerita of Drexel University’s College of Nursing and Health Professions. “Families are always on their own to figure out how to provide care and support the person throughout the disease process.”

To help those families, Gitlin and her colleague, Helen Kales, M.D., a geriatric psychiatrist at UC Davis, developed a new online tool called WeCareAdvisor. Now, with funding from the National Institute on Aging, they’re testing the online platform in a study in which busy caregivers can participate entirely over the phone.

Gitlin and Kales have worked with thousands of families and have devised many successful ways to support people living with dementia. They’ve treated common dementia-related symptoms, including agitation, wandering, repetitive questioning or shadowing their caregiver.

“These behaviors occur throughout the dementia process and can be very disturbing for the person and their caregiver,” Gitlin said.

She and Kales hope WeCareAdvisor can “help families manage these behaviors,” so they’re testing it with the people who need it most — family caregivers.

“We developed it with lots of input from family caregivers as well as providers,” said Gitlin, co-principal investigator of the study.

How the online tool works

Caregivers who enroll in the study can access WeCareAdvisor on a smartphone, computer or tablet. They can use it around the clock to learn about dementia and solve behavioral challenges.

Let’s say it’s the middle of the night, and a husband with dementia grows agitated and tries to leave the house. His wife quickly checks her phone for a solution.

Instead of flipping through a book, people can use WeCareAdvisor to get the information they need on the spot. The tool provides “access to strategies and information about dementia 24/7, whenever a caregiver needs it,” Gitlin said.

WeCareAdvisor uses the DICE approach, which stands for Describe, Investigate, Create and Evaluate, Gitlin explained.

First, the caregiver is asked a series of questions to describe the behavior — say, wandering. Then caregivers are asked yes/no questions to investigate the behavior, such as, “Was there a sudden onset? Has there been a change in medication?”

Within seconds, the tool will create a plan that includes easy-to-use strategies to try. After caregivers try the strategies, the tool asks them to evaluate how well they worked. It can also offer additional strategies if they’re needed.

What can participants expect?

For the study, which is enrolling now, caregivers are randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group immediately learns how to use the tool and starts using WeCareAdvisor. Training takes just 15 to 30 minutes, Gitlin said, because the tool is

fairly simple to use.

The second group receives training and access to the tool three months later.

The research team will interview all caregivers four times: at the beginning of the study, one month later, three months later, and then six months later.

“Everyone has an opportunity to use We-

CareAdvisor and evaluate it,” Gitlin said. Participants will give feedback to researchers, who also will collect information regarding how often caregivers used the tool.

“If it’s effective,” Gitlin said, “we definitely want to make this available to families.” For more information about this study, or to enroll, email WeCare@drexel.edu.

Southern Spain’s best-kept secret recipe

By America’s Test Kitchen

Espinacas con Garbanzos is a hyperregional dish native to Seville with strong Moorish influence. It’s a substantive dish that’s full of flavor.

Briefly simmering canned chickpeas (uniformly tender, well-seasoned and convenient) in a combination of chicken broth and chickpea canning liquid tenderizes

BEACON BITS

May 23

them and infuses them with savory flavor.

A picada (a paste of garlic and bread cooked in plenty of olive oil) thickens and seasons the sauce. Smoked paprika and Moorish spices such as cumin, cinnamon and saffron imbue the picada with heady aromas, while tomatoes and vinegar boost its tang.

Thawed frozen chopped spinach is per-

USING MINDFULNESS APPS

This free lecture from AARP’s Senior Planet introduces mindfulness and its physical and mental benefits, and describes some popular apps that teach breathing and meditation techniques as well as new technology, like wearable breath monitors and smart yoga mats. Come on Fri., June 9, from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. to the Wellness Center for Older Adults, 4027 Olley Ln., Fairfax, VA. To register, visit bit.ly/MindfulApps. For more information, email aarpva@aarp.org.

fect here. Already fine and tender, it disperses beautifully throughout the dish and provides plenty of surface area to hold the juices in place.

Espinacas con Garbanzos (Andalusian Spinach and Chickpeas)

Serves 4 as a main dish

Ingredients:

1 loaf crusty bread

2 (15-ounce) cans chickpeas (1 can drained, 1 can undrained)

1½ cups chicken broth

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided

6 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon ground cumin

¼ teaspoon table salt

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

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1 small pinch saffron

2 small plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise, flesh shredded on large holes of box grater and skins discarded

4 teaspoons sherry vinegar, plus extra for seasoning

10 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

Directions:

Cut a 1.5-ounce piece from loaf of bread (thickness will vary depending on the size of the loaf) and tear into 1-inch pieces. Process in a food processor until finely ground (you should have ¾ cup crumbs).

Combine chickpeas and broth in a large saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Adjust heat to maintain simmer and cook until the level of liquid is just below the top layer of chickpeas, about 10 minutes.

While chickpeas cook, heat ¼ cup oil in a 10-inch nonstick or carbon-steel skillet over medium heat until just shimmering. Add bread crumbs and cook, stirring frequently, until deep golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic, paprika, cumin, salt, cinnamon, cayenne and saffron and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes and vinegar; remove from heat.

Stir bread mixture and spinach into chickpeas. Continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is thick and stew-like, 5 to 10 minutes longer. Off heat, stir in the remaining 2 tablespoons oil. Cover and let stand for 5 minutes.

Season with salt and extra vinegar to taste. Transfer to a serving bowl and serve with remaining bread.

Recipe notes: For a vegan version, substitute vegetable broth or water for the chicken broth. Use a fruity, spicy, highquality olive oil here. Red wine vinegar can be substituted for the sherry vinegar.

For 25 years, confident cooks in the know have relied on America’s Test Kitchen for rigorously tested recipes developed by professional test cooks and vetted by 60,000 at-home recipe testers. See more online at americastestkitchen.com/TCA.

© America’s Test Kitchen. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

BEACON BITS

May 20

PLANT SALE & GARDENER ADVICE

Here’s your chance to ask master gardeners to help choose the perfect plants for your garden, including native plant selection, planting advice and general questions. This free event takes place on Sat., May 20, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Green Spring Gardens, 4603 Green Spring Rd., Alexandria, VA. For more information, contact the Friends of Green Spring Gardens at (703) 642-5173 or info@friendsofgreenspring.org.

Woman of purpose

From page 1

open about discussing illnesses. She spoke to small groups and “influencers” at African organizations and churches.

At these meetings, she emphasized the need for women to speak up about their medical issues, seek care, and not feel ashamed if they have a health problem.

Over time, she established partnerships with doctors, clinics and hospitals — especially Howard University Hospital, “which has been most helpful and generous,” she said.

These efforts coalesced in 2004, when Nwabukwu founded the African Women’s Cancer Awareness Association (AWCAA), based in Greenbelt, Maryland.

“I was able to create this organization by engaging others. I started with the African community, then with the medical community, using all my contacts there,” Nwabukwu said.

Her group now helps an average of 2,500 women a year through breast cancer screenings, patient navigation services, support groups and online counseling. To date, the nonprofit has reached more than

30,000 people in the U.S. and Africa.

From translators to wigs

Nwabukwu, now the group’s CEO, believes the ability to be heard and to understand what medical providers are saying is key to empowering patients to face and treat their breast cancer.

So, first and foremost, the association provides translators and interpreters for its clients, and distributes breast cancer information printed in the 11 most common languages spoken in Africa.

Women who are referred to the program or who simply call for help are interviewed over the phone or in person, so they can share their history and their current situation. AWCAA’s staff, all of whom are African immigrants, make referrals and provide contact information.

If the patients need transportation, that can be scheduled. If participation in a clinical trial is appropriate, that can be arranged. Wigs and other patient supplies are available at the association’s Greenbelt headquarters. Throughout their medical journey, there will be someone at AWCAA for these women to talk to.

Is there one case that Nwabukwu feels

especially proud of? She said, “A 38-year-old young mother came to us. She had never had a breast exam. Her early screening found a cancer, and [because it was caught early] it was treated successfully…This mother lived to raise her three children.”

Helping others makes us human

Nwabukwu said she wants people to understand these families and their culture. An African word, umbuntu, means “we are human only in relation to other humans,” she pointed out.

“As Africans, we believe in coming together to lift another person up. And when that person succeeds, they will lift others up… This is why AWCAA is here,” she said.

All of Nwabukwu’s work prepared her for dealing with her own diagnosis of breast cancer in 2016. Thankfully, her case

was successfully treated.

Nwabukwu’s initiative has inspired others to start their own cancer and health education projects to help those in need. The Michael and Mauritia Patcha Foundation and the Saved by Grace Breast Cancer Foundation are two such organizations. Her advice to others who have a dream, she told AARP: “Know your purpose. Look around you. When you see a need, ask yourself, ‘How can I help?’ What can you as an individual, as a human being, contribute while you’re here?

“Once you know your purpose, don’t be dissuaded by negative thoughts or concerns about how you can get it done. Go out and find ways to make it happen.”

Contact the AWCAA by phone at (301) 565-0420 or email at info@awcaa.org. For more information, visit awcaa.org.

ACTING DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE

By Charon P.W. Hines

Acting Director Hines Testifies before the Committee on Executive Administration and Labor

Dear Seniors,

As we enter the month of May, I am pleased to acknowledge and celebrate Older Americans Month. This annual observance is a time to honor the contributions of older adults to our society, and to raise awareness of the challenges and opportunities that come with aging.

This year’s theme, “Aging Unbound,” highlights the freedom and independence that come with growing older. It is a reminder that aging is not a barrier to living a full and vibrant life, but rather an opportunity to embrace new experiences and pursue new goals.

At our agency, we celebrate Older Americans like you every day, and we remain committed to supporting you in your pursuit to age the way you want and how you choose. We offer a range of programs and services designed to help you live independently, stay active and engaged in your communities, and maintain your health and well-being. From our nutrition programs that provide healthy meals to homebound seniors to our senior wellness centers that offer social and recreational opportunities, we are dedicated to helping seniors live their best lives.

And living your best life includes celebrating it. This Older Americans Month, we are hosting several events that we would love for you to join us in:

• Tuesday, May 2: Tune in to my live radio interview with Stoddard Live! on WYCB 1340 AM to kick off Older Americans Month!

• Friday, May 5: Attend our Asian and Pacific Islander Senior Center’s Aging Unbound Fashion Show at 10 a.m. at the Cambria Hotel, 899 O Street NW.

• Tuesday, May 9 at noon: Join our Ward 3 lead agency, Iona Senior Services, for Bingocize, powered by Home Care Partners, at St. Alban’s, 3001 Wisconsin Avenue NW.

• Wednesday, May 10: Attend our first in-person Senior Ambassador Training since the pandemic began! The training will take place at our headquarters, 500 K Street NE. For more information, please visit https://2023ambassadortraining.splashthat.com.

• Thursday, May 18: Join our Ward 1, 2, and 4 lead agency, TERRIFIC, Inc. for their Older Americans Month Health Fair from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Lamond Recreation Center, at 20 Tuckerman Street, NE.

• Thursday, May 25: Join our Ward 7 and 8 lead agency, East River Family Strengthening Collaborative, for an Older Americans Month cel-

On April 3, Acting Director Charon Hines represented DACL at our annual Budget Oversight Hearing. To read her full testimony, please visit https://dacl.dc.gov/release/fy-2022-2023-budget-oversight-hearing.

ebration, A Taste Around the World, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Eritrean Cultural and Civic Center, 2154 24th Place NE.

• Friday, May 26: Join our Ward 5 and 6 lead agency, Seabury Resources for Aging for an Older Americans Month celebration from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the North Michigan Park Recreation Center, 1333 Emerson Street NE.

• Wednesday, May 31: Join us as we partner with the Department of Parks and Recreation to host Senior Fest, Believe the Hype. This annual event will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Gateway Pavilion, 2700 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE.

This month and beyond, I encourage you to age unbound and live boldly. Please connect with us by calling 202-724-5626 or visiting one of our senior wellness centers or community dining sites to engage with us and other older adults in your community. Whatever you choose, we are here to support and empower you. Thank you for all that you do for our city, and enjoy Older Americans Month!

Become a DACL Ambassador

It’s finally here and DACL is so excited to be offering our in-person Ambassador Training, taking place on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. To register, please visit https://2023ambassadortraining.splashthat.com. For more information, please contact Sharon Wise at (202)394-3431 or Sharon.Wise@dc.gov with any questions.

2023 Older Americans Month Calendar

API Senior Center Fashion Show

Friday, May 5 | 10:00 AM

Cambria Hotel

899 O Street NW – Ward 2

Iona’s Bingocize

Tuesday, May 9 | 12:00 PM

St. Alban’s 3001 Wisconsin Avenue NW – Ward 3

DACL Senior Ambassador Training

Wednesday, May 10 | 11:00 AM

DACL Headquarters 500 K Street NE – Ward 6

TERRIFIC INC. OAM Health Fair

Thursday, May 18 | 10:30 AM

Lamond Recreation Center 20 Tuckerman Street, NE – Ward 4

Bernice Fonteneau OAM Celebration

Friday, May 19 | 10:00 AM

Bernice Fonteneau

Senior Wellness Center

3531 Georgia Avenue NW – Ward 1

East River Family Strengthenining

Collaborative A Taste Around the World

Thursday, May 25 | 10:00 AM

Eritrean Cultural and Civic Center

2154 24th Place, NE – Ward 7

Seabury Resources for Aging

OAM Celebration

Friday, May 26 | 10:00 AM

North Michigan Park Recreation Center

1333 Emerson Street, NE – Ward 5

DPR Senior Fest, Believe the Hype

Wednesday, May 31 | 10:00 AM

Gateway Pavillion – Ward 8

2700 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue SE

To register for these events, please visit dacl.dc.gov or call us at 202-727-8955

Money Law & Social Security, Medicare facing changes

By Amanda Seitz and Hannah Fingerhut

Most U.S. adults are opposed to proposals that would cut into Medicare or Social Security benefits, and a majority support raising taxes on the nation’s highest earners to keep Medicare running as is.

The new findings, revealed in a March poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, come as both safety net programs are poised to run out of enough cash to pay out full benefits within the next decade.

About 65 million Americans access government-sponsored health insurance through Medicare and rely on monthly payments from Social Security.

Few Americans would be OK with some ways politicians have suggested to shore up the programs: 79% say they oppose reducing the size of Social Security benefits, and 67% are against raising monthly premiums for Medicare

Instead, a majority (58%) support the idea of increasing taxes on households making over $400,000 yearly to pay for Medicare, a plan proposed by President Joe Biden last month. [Ed. Note: A Bloomberg analysis reported on by the Washington Post says this alone would not solve Medicare’s shortfall.]

Taxing the rich is popular

Ninety-year-old Marilyn Robinson disagrees with nearly everything the president says, but she thinks his plan to increase taxes on wealthy Americans to pay for the healthcare program’s future makes sense.

She doesn’t know anyone in her rural farming town of White Creek, New York, who makes that much money. Robinson herself, who has been on Medicare for the past 25 years, receives just $1,386 in Social Security and pension checks every month.

“I can survive on that much money,” she said. “But if you’re talking about $400,000, you’re just in another category. There’s nobody around here making money like that.”

That’s about the only change to the entitlement programs that most Americans say they would support.

One way or another, changes are in store for the programs. The annual Social Security and Medicare trustees report released on April 6 warned that Medicare will only have enough cash to cover 89% of payments for inpatient hospital visits and nursing home stays by 2031. Just two years later, Social Security will only be able to pay 77% of benefits to retirees.

Little faith in programs’ future

The poll found that many Americans have doubts about the stability of both programs: Only about 2 in 10 are very or ex-

Your Social Security can be temporarily reduced by earned income. See story on page 29.

tremely confident that the benefits from either program will be available to them when they need them, while about half have little or no confidence.

Republican and Democratic leaders have publicly promised not to cut benefits for Social Security or Medicare. Some Republications, however, have floated the idea of raising the eligibility age for Social Security and Medicare to keep the programs flush.

But a majority of Americans overwhelmingly reject that, too. Three-quarters of Americans say they oppose raising the eligibility age for Social Security benefits from 67 to 70, and 7 in 10 oppose raising the eligibility age for Medicare benefits from 65 to 67.

U.S. lawmakers who support raising the eligibility age to keep those programs

See SAVING MEDICARE, page 29

Comprehensive retirement planning guide

In December 2021, I wrote a favorable review of Wade Pfau’s Retirement Planning Guidebook, published by Retirement Resources.

Pfau has recently produced a second edition of his book, which addresses all the major regulations passed since then. Many experts agree this book is the most comprehensive and best-written personal finance book ever written. I agree.

If you are approaching retirement and need guidance regarding any of the most important aspects of retirement, you should obtain this book. It is required reading not only for prospective retirees but for all financial planners as well.

Medicare, health insurance, long-term care options, housing decisions, tax planning and estate planning.

In every one of these subjects, Pfau goes into considerable detail, with reliable sources, to help you make critical decisions with a full understanding of all options, knowing the pros and cons of each.

Reverse mortgages

THE SAVINGS GAME

By Elliot Raphaelson

The guide discusses four general retirement income styles. You can determine your style, before obtaining the book, by filling out a questionnaire. You’ll get input to develop a strategy that will allow you to meet your retirement objectives.

You can visit risaprofile.com/guidebook to take the questionnaire and make your profile without cost or any future obligation.

The book covers investments, withdrawal options, annuities, Social Security,

One of my favorite parts of the book is the section on housing decisions. Pfau has developed expertise regarding reverse mortgages and has covered the advantages in this book at a depth that no other author has, to my knowledge.

Not everyone in retirement wants to remain in their home long-term. But for those who do, this section is a must-read. (Pfau has also written a separate comprehensive book, Reverse Mortgages: How to Use Reverse Mortgages to Secure Your Retirement, which I have reviewed favorably.)

Pfau explains clearly the differences between a home equity line of credit, or HELOC, and a home equity conversion

mortgage, or HECM.

With a HELOC, a homeowner borrows the money using the home as collateral, generally with low start-up fees, and is required to repay the loan in a relatively short time frame. Retirees may not be eligible for a HELOC loan if they don’t have a regular income.

With a HECM, which is used for most reverse mortgages, the homeowner would have higher up-front fees and has the option to repay the loan voluntarily, but is under no obligation to make any repayment as long as he/she is eligible for the loan.

HECMs added new safeguards in 2015 to make sure that they are not used solely as a last resort by those who have otherwise depleted their resources.

However, the qualifications for HECMS are less stringent than those for a HELOC. A HECM is generally available as long as set-asides are included to cover taxes, insurance and maintenance.

Pfau points out that the major advantage of the HECM is that a line of credit cannot be canceled, frozen or reduced. No such protection is available for HELOCS. This was a significant problem for HELOCs during the financial crisis in 2008.

Pfau also emphasizes that the principal

limit and line of credit for HECMS will grow throughout retirement, independent of home value, unlike the fixed amount available with HELOCs.

Furthermore, the HECM has flexible payback options and is noncancellable. For homeowners who want to establish a liquid contingency fund, the HECM has advantages that HELOCs don’t have.

At the end of the book, Pfau discusses the non-financial aspects of retirement success. For example, the relationship between work and retirement is discussed, and the importance of strengthening relationships and social connection. Also covered is the importance of a healthy and active lifestyle.

Each chapter recommends valuable sources for further reading if you want to investigate any subject in more detail.

Bottom line: The guide is very comprehensive. There is no major category associated with retirement that is not covered in depth. You will find the guide an essential tool to a prosperous retirement.

The second edition of Retirement Planning Guidebook was released March 15, 2023 and is available on Amazon and other online booksellers.

© 2022 Elliot Raphaelson. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Treasury bills good for earning interest

By Erin Bendig

Savings rates have continued to go up this year, so if you’ve been looking for a place to store your savings and earn interest in the short term, you’ve probably considered a high-yield savings account or CD. And while these are both good options, there’s another short-term investment alternative you should also consider: Treasury bills.

Treasury bills (T-bills) have maturity dates of less than a year, While longer-term Treasuries typically pay higher yields, shortterm Treasury yields are currently higher.

As this paper goes to press, the 3-month Treasury bill rate is 4.97%, while the 30year Treasury rate is 3.78%. So, if you’re looking for a risk-free way to earn interest on your cash over a short period, investing in a T-bill could be a good choice.

Treasury bills are good investments for individuals looking to make a large purchase in a short timeline, as the money will only be tied-up for at most a year.

Although T-bills don’t typically earn as much as other securities, or in some cases CDs, they still offer higher returns than traditional savings accounts.

Plus, they’re one of the safest places you can save your money, making them a great fit for conservative investors who want to avoid risk-taking but still want to earn interest.

How to buy a Treasury bill

You can buy a Treasury bill directly

from the government through TreasuryDirect.gov or through a broker. The minimum purchase is $100.

To start an account with TreasuryDirect, you’ll need to provide a U.S. address, Social Security number and a bank account. Afterward, since T-bills are sold on auction, those looking to invest will need to place a bid. Once it’s accepted, it will arrive in your TreasuryDirect account.

If using a brokerage account, T-bills can also be bought through ETFs and mutual funds.

If you’re looking to buy a T-bill for your IRA, you’ll need to go through a broker, as you cannot do so on TreasuryDirect.

How a Treasury bill works

A T-bill is a short-term debt obligation backed by the U.S. Treasury Department. It’s one of the safest places you can save your cash, as it’s backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government.

T-bills are auctioned off at a discount and then redeemed at maturity for the full amount. “Interest” on T-bills is the difference between how much you pay for it and how much value you get when the bill matures. The most common maturity dates for T-Bills are four, eight, 13, 26 and 52 weeks.

In addition to Treasury bills, there are other Treasury securities one can invest in as well.

Treasury bonds, or T-bonds, pay a fixed

interest rate every six months and have the longest maturity periods, either 20 or 30 years.

Treasury notes also pay a fixed rate of

interest every six months but have shorter maturity periods than T-bonds, ranging from two to 10 years.

© 2023 The Kiplinger Washington Editors

How working affects Social Security benefits

By Jim Miller

Dear Savvy Senior,

I started drawing my Social Security retirement benefits back in 2021, when I was forced to retire early. Now I’m interested in going back to work part-time. Will this affect my benefits, and if so, how much?

—Back to Work Dear Back,

You can collect Social Security retire-

ment benefits and work at the same time, but depending on how old you are and how much you earn, some or all of your benefits could be temporarily withheld. Here’s how it works:

SSA earning rules

Social Security says that if you’re under your full retirement age and are collecting benefits, you can earn up to $21,240 in 2023 without jeopardizing any of your Social Se-

curity benefits if you don’t reach your full retirement age this year. But if you earn more than the $21,240 limit, you’ll lose $1 in benefits for every $2 over that amount.

Full retirement age is 66 for those born between 1943 and 1954, but it rises in twomonth increments every birth year to age 67 for those born in 1960 and later. You can find your full retirement age at bit.ly/SSagecalculator.

In the year you reach your full retirement age, a less stringent rule applies. If that happens in 2023, you can earn up to $56,520 from January to the month of your birthday with no penalty. But if you earn more than $56,520 during that time, you’ll lose $1 in benefits for every $3 over that limit.

Once your birthday passes, you can earn any amount by working without your benefits being reduced at all.

Wages, bonuses, commissions, and vacation pay all count toward the income limits. But pensions, annuities, investment earnings, interest, capital gains and government or military retirement benefits do not.

To figure out how much your specific earnings will affect your benefits, see the Social Security Retirement Earnings Test Calculator at SSA.gov/OACT/COLA/RTeffect.html.

It’s also important to know that if you do lose some or all of your Social Security benefits because of the earning limits, they aren’t lost forever. When you reach full retirement age, your benefits will be recalculated to a higher amount to make up for what was withheld.

For more information on how working can affect your Social Security benefits see

SSA.gov/benefits/retirement/planner/wh ileworking.html.

Be mindful of taxes, too

In addition to the Social Security rules, you need to factor in Uncle Sam. Because working increases your income, it might make your Social Security benefits taxable.

Here’s how it works. If the sum of your adjusted gross income, nontaxable interest, and half of your Social Security benefits is between $25,000 and $34,000 for individuals ($32,000 and $44,000 for couples), you have to pay tax on up to 50% of your benefits. Above $34,000 ($44,000 for couples), you could pay on up to 85%, which is the highest portion of Social Security that is taxable.

About a third of all people who get Social Security have to pay income taxes on their benefits.

For information, call the IRS at 1-800-8293676 and ask them to mail you a free copy of publication 915 “Social Security and Equivalent Railroad Retirement Benefits” or view it online at IRS.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p915.pdf.

In addition to the federal government, 12 states (Colorado, Connecticut, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont and West Virginia) tax Social Security benefits to some extent, too. If you live in one of these states, check with your state tax agency for details.

Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of The Savvy Senior book.

Saving Medicare

afloat may have been given a preview of the difficult road ahead in France, where President Macron’s proposal to increase the country’s pension retirement age from 62 to 64 was met with violence and demonstrations by 1 million people.

Just 10 years out from his planned retirement, 55-year-old Mark Ferley of Chesapeake, Virginia, is worried about the future of the programs — and that he won’t get back the money he paid in. He supports raising the eligibility ages for Social Security and Medicare to 70.

Ferley, who said he leans conservative, also believes that taxes should be raised on households earning $400,000 or more to keep the social programs solvent.

While most support increasing taxes on households earning more than $400,000 a

May

year to pay for Medicare, the poll shows a political divide on doing so: 75% of Democrats support the tax, but Republicans are closely divided, with 42% in favor, 37% opposed and 20% supporting neither.

While the American public may be in agreement on solutions for the programs, Ferley worries that elected officials won’t come up with a plan to fix the program.

“Until our leadership determines that the term compromise is no longer a dirty word, I don’t have a whole lot of optimism,” he said.

Short-term solutions won’t work

His concerns are valid, said Paul Ginsburg, a professor of health policy at the University of Southern California. Most legislators are not taking dire warnings about the future of Social Security and Medicare seriously.

Instead, the federal government is coming up with short-term solutions to keep

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the programs extended for a few more years. “People are just going to go back to business as usual and not worry about it,”

Ginsburg said after the latest trustees’ report warned of Social Security and Medicare shortfalls on the horizon.

“It’s particularly problematic for Social Security. In Social Security, you have a situation where if you make changes now, they can be quite modest. If you wait until 2035,

BEACON BITS

May

they’re going to be draconian.”

The poll of 1,081 adults was conducted March 16-20 using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all respondents is plus or minus 4.0 percentage points.

© 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

GEORGETOWN RARE BOOK FAIR

The Georgetown Rare Book Fair brings antiquarian booksellers from across the country to Washington D.C.’s historic City Tavern Club on Sat., May 20, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., and on Sun., May 21, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. This free event takes place at 3206 M St. NW. Register at bit.ly/RareBooksDC.

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Leisure & Travel Leisure &

Make time for wild adventures in Alaska

By Glenda C. Booth

As our travel group hiked on a lupinelined trail in Alaska, the guide called out, “Here bear, here bear,” every minute or so, advising us to make some noise and not surprise Ursus arctos, the Alaska grizzly.

Soon we spotted a dark brown mound shrouded in the bushes about six car lengths away — a bear’s head. Out came the guide’s bear spray. We didn’t need it; our 500-pluspound visitor ambled off into the wilderness.

Viewing wildlife is a top attraction in the 49th state, 365 million acres far up in the continent’s Northwest and 55 miles across the Bering Strait from Russia. Wildlife abounds: bears, moose, whales, wolves, bald eagles, red-throated loons, salmon and Dall sheep, for example. In fact, Alaska has twice as many caribous as people.

The state’s fjords, glaciers, ice fields, islands, rivers, lakes and forests remain mostly untouched. Civilization has encroached on about 160,000 acres — or just one percent — of the state.

Every year 2.2 million tourists visit Alaska for its 15 national parks, 16 national wildlife refuges, two national forests and even more public lands. But it never feels crowded.

Most people visit Alaska between May and September, when the weather is variable but temperate. The Alaska Journal of

Commerce reported last June, “Temperatures soared and reached the high 70s.” Summer sunlight can last 19 to 22 hours, which is great for growing giant cabbages but challenging for some sleepers.

The most critical thing to remember when planning a trip to Alaska is this: It’s a very big state, larger than Texas, California and Montana combined. Distances can be long. Many areas are roadless. Getting around may require a cruise ship, boat, ferry, van, bus, train or seaplane.

“It may not always be easy to get here,” said Harrison Brown, a guide with Alaska Wildland Adventures, “but Alaska always delivers.”

Start in Anchorage

Anchorage, the largest city, sits between 5,000-foot peaks and the fish-rich Cook Inlet. Many of its sites are accessible on foot or by trolley tours from the downtown visitors center, which is located in a log cabin.

Stop by the Public Lands Museum for an overview of the state’s plant and animal life, glaciology, peat bogs and permafrost.

A film titled “The Day the Earth Shook” recounts the 9.2-magnitude earthquake that caved in one side of Fourth Avenue in 1964. “It sounded like a freight train coming through,” said a survivor. Today’s

Earthquake Park commemorates an entire neighborhood that slid into the ocean.

The Anchorage Museum is a must for understanding Alaska’s past and present. Its Smithsonian Arctic Studies Center examines Alaska Native cultures, and how people have adapted to and survived their environment. On Alaska’s cold, a sign reads, “It’s inhospitable white nothingness, but it engenders human commonality and fosters perseverance.”

Not to mention resourcefulness: Seal intestines made parkas waterproof, fish nets could float with inflatable animal bladders, and whale bones were used to make snow goggles and sled runners.

The Anchorage Museum’s other exhibits examine Russian settlement in the state, and the Klondike Gold Rush from 1896 to 1899, which offered the mythic promise of great wealth. Similarly, drilling for oil has brought both prosperity and dismay to the region.

Alaska has almost as many airplanes as cars, celebrated at the four-hangar Alaska Aviation Museum. It’s next to Lake Hood, the world’s most extensive seaplane base, with 87,000 landings and takeoffs a year.

Some airplanes have pontoons for water

landings; others, fat tires for the tundra. “Aviation is the lynchpin of the state,” intones a video, because planes facilitated settlement and industry.

Even in the city of Anchorage, wildlife’s at home, like bald eagles foraging for salmon on Ship Creek. Locals estimate that there are 1,500 moose nibbling in the city’s backyards.

Kenai Peninsula’s glaciers

Alaska offers almost countless adventures in the great outdoors, depending on time, budget and logistics.

The Kenai Peninsula is a favorite destination, with the fishing town of Seward, 120 miles south of Anchorage, a convenient jumping-off point.

The peninsula juts out into the Gulf of Alaska, where glaciers calve, whales breach and Arctic terns dive for food. The Gulf attracts kittiwakes, seals, sea lions, sea otters, porpoises and numerous fish species.

The 44,000-acre Kenai Fjords National Park has rugged wilderness and 38 named glaciers, some 1,000 feet thick, and many with mountain peaks piercing the ice. Glacier

A grizzly bear is at home at the foot of 20,210-foot Denali, formerly known as Mt. McKinley, in Alaska’s Denali National Park.

PHOTO © DAVID HOFFMANN PHOTOGRAPHY | DREAMSTIME.COM

The public is invited to observe most Native tribe powwows in the area. See story on page 32. See ALASKA, page 33

A tourist takes in the scenery on a cruise through the College Fjord, which has dozens of pristine glaciers named after schools like Harvard, Vassar and Yale.

PHOTO © TONYMPIX | DREAMSTIME.COM

VIKTORIA LELIS | DREAMSTIME.COM

Powwows sustain indigenous cultures

By Glenda C. Booth

Six men nestled close together in a circle, drumming in a steady, rhythmic beat as others sang along in Native American languages. Drumming like this is central to every powwow, or Native American gathering, providing a mesmerizing live soundtrack.

“The drum is our heartbeat,” said Powhatan Red Cloud-Owen, a member of Virginia’s Chickahominy Tribe, who attended a powwow last October in Caroline County, Virginia. “It draws you in. It creates a sense of social and spiritual harmony.”

A powwow is a one-day or multi-day gathering where Indigenous people, usually from more than one tribe or nation, sing, dance and celebrate their history. The public is welcome at powwows, which take place throughout the year.

Native tribes, nations or organizations hold powwows all over the Americas — even on cruise ships. The world’s largest powwow, the Gathering of Nations, took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in April.

Several powwows in Virginia and Maryland are scheduled for this summer and fall, as described below.

Coming together

At the Rappahannock Powwow last fall, Dennis Zotigh, a cultural specialist with the

Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian, explained that these gatherings are a way to connect or make peace.

“A powwow is a celebration of being Indian, where tribes that never met or were historically enemies get together and dance to a common drumbeat,” Zotigh said.

Of course, they’re also a type of reunion.

“A powwow is a spiritual thing and chance to get tribal members back together, a reason to come home,” Upper Mattaponi Chief Kenneth Adams said at one of his tribe’s gatherings last fall. Dorothy Gray of Indian Head, Maryland, from the Rappahannock Tribe, said she enjoys “meeting our extended family at powwows.”

The events are also a show of gratitude. The Rappahannock Tribe’s fall powwow, for instance, is a time “to give thanks for the annual harvest which fed our tribe during the winter so they could survive,” said the tribe’s chief, Anne Richardson.

Virginia legislator Paul Krizek attended that October event and many similar celebrations. “Native cultures are not stagnant, but a vibrant and a changing way of life. That strength of culture and history comes alive in the powwow. That’s why powwows are so wonderful,” Krizek said.

These gatherings demonstrate that Native culture survives and thrives. Michael Nephew, Eastern Band of the Cherokee

Tribe from Falls Church, Virginia, dances regularly at powwows to show that “Native American culture is not just in the past,” he said.

‘I live in two cultures’

Archaeological evidence indicates that Native Americans have been living for 22,000 years in what is now Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Today, about 5,000 Native Americans from a dozen tribal nations live in the Washington area, according to Zotigh.

Indigenous people prefer to be identified by their tribal affiliation rather than simply as Native American, Zotigh said. After all, there are 600 tribes in the U.S. “We are diverse. There is no ‘one size fits all,’” Zotigh said.

LIVE YOUR ADVENTURE

Springfield resident Greg Winston, Pamunkey Indian Tribe, said he attends powwows to “connect with people, to be in my culture. I live in two cultures.”

Winston passes down that culture to his children, who go to powwows with him. Winston played Native American drumming music when his son, Bryce, now 11, was in utero. Drums helped the boy fall asleep as a baby, he said.

The desire to pass down traditions is what drives many Native Americans to participate in these events. Marylander Maurice Proctor, Piscataway Conoy, said he has danced at powwows for 32 years to “keep the traditions going with another generation and to educate others.”

See POWWOWS, page 34

Native American dancers performed at the 67th Annual Chickahominy Fall Festival and Pow-Wow, held every September outside Richmond, Virginia. Several powwows are scheduled nearby for this summer, and the public is welcome.

PHOTO © VIKTORIA LELIS | DREAMSTIME.COM

Alaska

From page 31

ice is nine times denser than snow, rangers explain.

Inside the park, the Harding Icefield Trail rises 3,000 feet, providing a view of ice and snow as far as the eye can see. Kayaking on crystal clear waters recalls the 18th-century Alutiiq way of life and even earlier times.

One place to unplug and commune with nature’s majesty is the Kenai Fjords Glacier Lodge, which is only accessible by boat. The lodge and its 16 rustic cabins are tucked away in woodsy settings on a tidal lagoon

Letters to editor

From page 4

Actually, to avoid ill health effects from salt, you want to have a low-carb diet. High-carb diets cause the body to release insulin to keep blood sugar normal, and insulin causes salt retention.

The average American consumes 400-700 grams of carbs per day. This causes massive amounts of insulin to be released [which] causes salt retention and hypertension.

If a person ate no carbs, little insulin would be needed, and excess salt would simply be excreted.

In fact, if a person with a low-carb diet also went low salt as recommended in your March issue, the body would release in-

BEACON BITS

Ongoing

where seals and loons stir the silky waters.

Lodge visitors can take guided paddling trips and walking excursions in the spongy forests. A favorite happy hour top-off is a glacierita, a margarita with glacial ice.

Denali National Park & Preserve

The six-million-acre Denali National Park is the crème de la crème of an Alaska trip for many.

At 20,320 feet, Denali is the tallest mountain in North America. While a favorite attraction for many Alaska-goers, remember that Denali’s peak is visible only around one-third of the time due to cloud cover.

On a park tour by bus, all-terrain vehicle

sulin to conserve salt, leading to weight gain and high blood pressure, the very things doctors hope to avoid when recommending low-salt diets.

Also, when you go low salt, food cravings result which exacerbate health problems. Bottom line: salt gets blamed for what sugar does. Avoid sugar and carbs; enjoy salt!

Joseph Davidson DDS Silver Spring, MD

Dear Editor: Responding to your From the Publisher column (“Who’s your real friend?” April 2023): Social Security can be improved and secured by switching contributions to an inheritable annuity backed by U.S. Treasury Bonds.

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(ATV) or “flightseeing” plane, visitors learn about various habitats, including taiga and tundra, while looking out for moose, bears and wolves.

Alaska is a big, bucket-list state, well worth an adventure into the wild.

If you go

Roundtrip flights from D.C. to Anchorage in June start at $859 on American Airlines.

Alexandrian Dixie Sommers, who will make her seventh trip to Alaska this summer, advises spending as much time there as possible: “It’s a big place, and takes time to get there.” She also suggests:

That would protect contributed funds from political wrangle. And there would be less concern about numbers of workers contributing to it.

Having an heir means contributions would not be lost if contributors die before reaching collecting age. And accumulated funds could be credited to the Social Secu-

BEACON BITS

May 17

Don’t hurry. Things operate on “Alaska time” because of distances, dependence on air travel and ferries, and constantly changing weather. (Dress in layers for the weather.)

Go on guided outings. Look around for tour groups. You’ll see a lot more and have fewer logistics to manage.

Take a sleep mask. It is daylight most of the time from spring through fall.

Be aware. Bears can be almost anywhere. Moose are very large and dangerous.

Pay attention to the Alaska Native cultures. Buy their beautiful artwork.

Take binoculars. Be prepared for spectacular scenery.

rity account of an heir who has one without immediate payout, further extending Social Security’s life.

This and other alternatives can be found in my recently published book, Progressive Values — Libertarian Solutions.

Gerald Schneider Kensington, MD

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What happens at a powwow

Powwows are usually held outdoors in a circular area called an “arena” — a zone considered sacred and used only by dancers. The gatherings have standard elements and protocols, with an arena manager or emcee who announces each performance.

Powwows open with the Grand Entry, a flag processional including the American flag, tribal flags, and eagle staffs of the Native tribes or nations present. Everyone stands for the procession.

Singing and drumming performances are the heart of the event. Performers sing old and new songs in traditional Native American languages to honor traditions, ancestors, elders, veterans, children and

our creator, explained Cloud-Owen.

Dancers wear regalia, clothing and accessories that they often have spent months or years making from buckskin or cloth. The pieces are enhanced with beading, fringes, bones, shells and animal skins. Feathers or leather are sometimes passed down from ancestors.

It is considered inappropriate for visitors to touch or handle any part of a dancer’s regalia. The regalia is not a costume, Zotigh explained to a youngster at the Rappahannock Tribe’s powwow.

“A costume portrays someone you not really are. We are real. Our dance clothes evolved over time. They are a modern expression of powwow traditional clothing,” Zotigh said.

Dance styles vary by region. In the popular chicken dance, men step, crouch and

The GOING HOME Difference

rise, imitating the mating dance of prairie chickens. For the men’s fancy dance, dancers wear brilliantly colored feather bustles. For the jingle dance, women wear satiny dresses decorated with tin jingles.

Some powwows feature dance competitions in which dancers compete for monetary prizes. At many events, different generations dance together. Some powwows have a “friendship dance” at the end, when audience members can join in.

Food is also a big part of powwows, with traditional foods like fry bread — flatbread fried in oil, shortening or lard — for sale.

Vendors also sell arts and crafts, including jewelry, knives, blankets, clothes, arrowheads and feather art.

Sage bundles known as “smudge sets” — dried leaves burned to cleanse a room or calm one down — are also popular. At an Upper Mattaponi powwow, a sign promoting smudge sets read, “If it burns, it carries our prayers to the heavens.”

Nearby powwows coming up

Several annual powwows, now back on track post-Covid, are within a day’s drive of Washington, D.C. For example, the Upper Mattaponi Indian Tribe Powwow will be held on Memorial Day weekend in King William, Virginia.

In early June, Monacan Indian Nation’s 30th annual powwow will take place in Monroe, Virginia, three hours south of Washington, D.C.

The Baltimore American Indian Center hosts its annual powwow in November in Timonium, Maryland, while in September the Nanticoke Indian Tribe’s annual powwow takes place in Delaware.

Some events are even closer to this area. On July 15 and 16, the 30th annual Howard County Whispering Winds Pow-Wow/ American Indian Show and Festival will take place at the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship, Maryland. Last July, Running Strong for American Indian Youth and the Udall Foundation Internship Program held what sponsors called an “urban powwow” in Alexandria, Virginia.

At that event, the Zotigh Singers sang and drummed for the entry procession and dancing. When he’s not working at the Smithsonian, Dennis Zotigh sings with that popular group, performing at many major powwows.

At the Rappahannock Powwow, held last October just before Indigenous People’s Day, Zotigh asked rhetorically, “Why do we need an Indigenous Peoples’ Day?”

He answered himself, “It sends a powerful message. We are still here, and we are still proud.”

For more information on powwows, including a visitor’s guide and calendar, see powwows.com. Or visit the American Indian Society of Washington, D.C. at aisdc.org; the Baltimore American Indian Center at baltimoreamericanindiancenter.org; and the National Museum of the American Indian at americanindian.si.edu.

f Ask the expert during thi fr r in advance to Brooke e Grove Tooni Davis at tdavvis@bgf..or Maasks required.

To search appropriate hotels, use filters

When you search for a hotel online, most of you these days have a few dealbreaker requirements. For me, it’s an elevator — I’m an old geezer and don’t do stairs very well. But it can range from a kitchen to being petfriendly.

You can save time and hassle if you can limit your search to hotels that meet your needs, without cluttering up your response list with places that wouldn’t do no matter what the price or other features.

To cater to that need, almost all hotel search engines include filters that allow you to exclude those unwanted responses. I checked eight top hotel search systems — Booking.com, Expedia.com, Hotels.com, Hotwire.com, Kayak.com, Priceline.com, Tripadvisor.com, and Trivago.com — and although they all use filters, each uses a somewhat different set of filters.

All eight include some basic filters:

– Price range

– Access to promotional prices

– Location/neighborhood within a larger city and map view search options

– Type of property: hotel, motel, B&B, vacation rental, etc.

– Some measure of attractiveness, such as star ratings or user reviews

– Acceptance of pets

– Accessible room availability

But I found some differences in treatment of what I figured might be among the more important deal-breaker features for most travelers:

– Pricing. I’m amazed that Kayak is still the only top engine that allows you to search for what you really pay, including

taxes and fees, from the get-go. All of the others ultimately show you the phony “resort” and similar add-on fees and taxes before you book, but only Kayak lets you choose to see the real price in big numbers from the start of your search.

This isn’t important if you’re searching for roadside motels or outside North America, where such fees are rare. But it can make a big difference if you’re looking in a popular North American vacation destination.

– Cancellation policy. Most big systems allow you to limit your search to bookings that don’t require nonrefundable prepayment, but I couldn’t find that filter on Hotwire.

– Electric Vehicle Charging Station. This was a big surprise: Despite the increasing popularity of EVs, I didn’t find filters for availability of EV charging stations on Hotwire, Priceline or Trivago. I’m guessing those systems will get with it soon.

– Kitchen facilities . Not a filter on Priceline, Tripadvisor or Trivago.

– Washer-Dryer. Not a filter on Kayak, Priceline, Tripadvisor or Trivago.

– Elevator. Not a filter on Priceline, Tripadvisor or Trivago.

– Free Wi-Fi. Not a filter on Priceline or Trivago — possibly because everybody expects free Wi-Fi everywhere these days — but those two don’t specify “free.”

– Free Parking. Most provide a parking filter, but Booking, Expedia and Hotels do not specify “free.”

– Free Airport Shuttle. Most provide an airport shuttle filter, but Booking,

Hotwire and Priceline do not specify “free.”

Specifying a filter for a feature as available but not saying “free” doesn’t mean it isn’t free; just that free isn’t promised.

All eight systems provide additional filters and detailed subcategories of the most important filters. Trivago employs fewer filters than the others, and Booking is possibly the most granular.

A few provide filters that leave you in the dark: Expedia and Hotels let you filter for “LGBTQ friendly,” for example, without indicating exactly what that entails. Of more importance for most travelers is the detail they can add into such categories as “accessible” and “property type.”

Hotwire and Priceline remain the only

two online agencies that offer an “opaque” pricing option: In exchange for a big cost reduction, the agency selects the hotel and doesn’t name it until after you’ve made a nonrefundable payment. Given the high fees, opaque buying isn’t as useful to bargain seekers as it once was.

You no doubt have your own set of necessities and deal-breakers. I suggest that you take a look at all of the systems to see which best accommodate your individual needs and preferences. If possible, however, use all that work — prices and promotional deals do vary among them.

Email Ed Perkins at eperkins@mind.net or check out his website at rail-guru.com.

© 2023 Ed Perkins. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

TRAVEL TIPS

By Ed Perkins

Stay Connected Through Volunteering

Volunteering is a great way to stay connected with your community. When you volunteer, not only do you get to make an impact, but you benefit from increased social connection and gaining a sense of purpose.

The Montgomery County Volunteer Center is ready to help you get involved. Whether you’re ready to volunteer in-person or you’d prefer to get involved virtually, there is something for you!

Examples of current virtual opportunities include:

Teaching English Classes Online

Writing Grants

Helping with Communications or Marketing

Making Blankets at Home

Tutoring Math Online

Or, if you’re ready to get out of the house and volunteer in-person, perhaps look into:

Making Food Deliveries

In Your Car

Supporting Races or Festivals

Mentoring or Tutoring in Person

Providing Administrative Support

Volunteering at a Front Desk

Explore Ways to Get Involved

Ready to volunteer? Not sure where to start? A great place to begin is by searching our website at www.montgomeryserves. org. You can explore hundreds of

online and in-person volunteer opportunities by interest areas, zip code, date, location and more. Check back frequently, because new opportunities are posted every day!

The Volunteer Center also offers a curated matching service, the 50+ Volunteer Network, designed to make it easier than ever to volunteer. It engages volunteers who want to give back to the community by using their lifetime of professional and personal experiences. After a personal consultation, you’ll be matched with vetted nonprofit and government agencies needing assistance in specific areas.

Learn more about this free service at http://bit.ly/50Volunteer, email 50plus@montgomery countymd.gov, or scan the QR code below with a smart device to register.

www.montgomeryserves.org

240-777-2600

For other county resources on aging, call (240) 7773000 or visit https:// montgomerycountymd.gov/ senior

www.montgomerycountymd.gov/senior

Arts & Style

Alexandria’s corner jewelry shop endures

By Glenda C. Booth

It may not have the pizazz and glitter of Tiffany’s, but David Martin’s 800-squarefoot Virginia shop and studio, Gold Works, glows nonetheless. For 33 years, Martin has designed, made, restored and sold jewelry in the modest brick building on the corner of Old Town Alexandria’s King and West Streets.

“This store is my wife and my baby,” Martin said.

Gold Works sparkles with gold, silver and platinum rings, earrings, cufflinks, necklaces, bracelets, pendants and gems from all over the world, from black opals from Australia and Mexico to tourmalines from Brazil.

Martin also displays his own one-of-akind sculpture in his shop. Behind the counter, his workspace is crammed with workbenches, an anvil, an electro-melt furnace, and multiple tools of his trade, including hammers for pounding gold.

He has displayed his work in shows all over the world with organizations like the Jewelers of America, Washington Metalsmiths and the Washington Guild of Goldsmiths. His sculpture and jewelry have been shown in Old Town, at the Corcoran

Museum of Art in Washington, D.C., and at the University of Maryland.

A pre-med start

Martin grew up in Wilmington, Delaware, and after high school, began the pre-medicine track in college.

During the Vietnam War, he was stationed at Andrews Air Force Base, working with a pathologist. But receiving body bags and trying to “put them back together” steered him off the medical path, Martin said.

Then-Senator Joe Biden found him a job in the early 1980s delivering special mail for government agencies. But Martin’s study of human anatomy as a pre-med student inspired him to design and sculpt human figures.

So, he attended several art schools, where he learned casting and design. He eventually landed a job with Frank Smith, a master goldsmith in Washington, D.C.,

See JEWELER, page 39

Three books reveal untold tales of WWII. For reviews, see page 40.

David Martin established his Alexandria jewelry shop, Gold Works, in 1990, and it’s still going strong. “Everything I do, I put my heart into,” he said.

PHOTO BY JOE BLEACH FOR LIVING LEGENDS OF ALEXANDRIA

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From page 37

who taught him how to do repairs.

In the late 1980s, Martin repaired jewelry from his home, working with another local jeweler. One day, he noticed that the local Sun Dry Cleaners’ building was vacant. It had a decrepit rug and an inch of sand on the floor, but Martin began transforming it into a bright space he opened in 1990.

Meanwhile, the Metro’s King Street-Old Town station was under development. When it opened, businesses on that part of King Street started booming. Today, Gold Works has a steady stream of customers ogling, perusing, chatting, shopping and admiring.

Civic-minded artisan

Over the years, Martin’s store has caught the eye of local politicians. “David Martin’s Gold Works is the epitome of an Alexandria small business that is truly invested in this community,” City Councilman John Chapman said.

“David has been instrumental in advocating for support and resources for the small business community on King Street, ensur-

ing that he and other businesses have the best chance to survive these interesting economic times,” Chapman added.

Kirk McPike, an Alexandria City Council member, recently bought a set of custom cufflinks from Martin. “They came out even nicer than I had hoped,” he said in an email. “Alexandria is fortunate to have artisans like David who have chosen to market their skills in our city.”

Martin utilizes more than his jewelry skills. He designed decorative banners for Old Town streets, and convinced the city to put up festive lights every December. Both projects took some tenacious prodding, but he persisted.

For these efforts, Martin was named an Alexandria Living Legend in 2013 by a nonprofit that honors people who contribute to the city’s quality of life.

Former Mayor Bill Euille calls Martin “a committed entrepreneur in our community and a civic activist. He is a caring individual and a strong advocate for small businesses.”

Custom designs use technology

At one point in his career, Martin dabbled with big business. He took 100 of his

pieces to Macy’s, and the department store liked them so much that they wanted 1,000. But Martin, an artist at heart, opted out of that task, which seemed like mindless factory production to him.

Today, Martin uses computer software (CAD-CAM) to design one-of-a-kind pieces for his customers. With computer-generated renderings, he can consult and get the customer’s approval early instead of going through a casting process that makes changes difficult.

“The computer uses me for doing a design,” Martin said with a chuckle, explaining, “I don’t have to make molds anymore.”

Among Martin’s several product lines are his popular dime-sized “orbit earrings,” made of silver or gold with a pearl in the center.

Martin also designed “moonscape rings,”

reticulated silver bands of different textures and thicknesses, with and without gemstones. Each ring is unique.

He made a six-inch medallion for Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson to wear in the annual St. Patrick’s Day parade.

He’s even designed a charm bracelet for his hometown. For his “Charming Alexandria” bracelet, Martin creates charms representing Alexandria icons — including the George Washington Masonic National Memorial, Christ Church, the Town Crier, the Alexandria Scottie Dog, Gadsby’s Tavern and the city tour guides’ Ghost Lantern.

“Everything I do,” Martin said, “I put my heart into it.”

For more information, call (703) 6830333, visit Goldworksusa.com, or drop into the store at 1400 King St., Alexandria, Virginia.

DATES:

6 Performances: Fridays and Saturdays, June 9, 10, 16 and 17 at 8 p.m.; Sundays, June 11 and 18 at 2 p.m.

TICKETS:

$28 Adults; $26 Seniors (65+); $24 Students

Please tell our advertisers, “I saw you in the Beacon!”

Books reveal untold World War II stories

Even today, remarkable tales about the Second World War are emerging. These books shed light on lesserknown aspects of the war and of heroes from the Greatest Generation.

Immortal Valor: The Black Medal of Honor Recipients of World War II, by Robert Child, 288 pages, Osprey hardcover, 2022; paperback, June 2023

The Medal of Honor is the highest military decoration bestowed by the Armed Forces. Seven African Americans who received the Distinguished Service Cross during World War II were subsequently awarded the Medal of Honor in 1997 and 2000. Racial discrimination had precluded them from the higher accolade earlier.

stories of these seven heroes, four of whom died as a result of their heroic deeds.

Their courage to face the horrors of war and perform selflessly was extraordinary. Even more notable was the dignity of Black soldiers in the face of racism by many of their own comrades and superior officers.

the landing zone. Their aim: stealth entry into enemy territory.

Glider pilots landed in predetermined fields devoid of obstructions. Sometimes they and their tow planes were the only Allied forces aloft.

At other times, they were part of an air armada that included bombers, paratroopers and land forces. That required exquisite timing and communication, often with our British allies.

Septuagenarian Steve McGaugh tells a thrilling story. This is his 11th book.

World War II Aeronautical Research at Langley, by Mark A. Chambers, 155 pages, The History Press paperback, 2022

By Dinah Rokach

Robert Child is an author, screenwriter, producer and director. The 60-year-old has amassed more than 25 writing and directing awards during his career.

Brotherhood of the Flying Coffin: The Glider Pilots of World War II, by Scott McGaugh, 288 pages, Osprey Publishing hardcover, 2023

First Lieutenant Vernon Baker received his Medal of Honor from President Bill Clinton in a White House ceremony. The other six awards were bestowed posthumously.

Immortal Valor tells the inspiring life

Military gliders were deployed during the Second World War to transport heavy equipment, gasoline, supplies, troops, medics and reconnaissance troops on missions behind enemy lines. These motorless aircraft were towed by transport planes and released 600 to 3,000 feet above

Once on the ground, pilots were expected to defend themselves, find friendly forces, and hitch a ride back to base. That was the theory.

However, combat conditions, friendly fire, poor visibility, changing weather, the fragile nature of gliders, problems disconnecting from the transport plane and difficulties communicating with those planes’ pilots wreaked havoc and death.

Of the 6,000 men who were trained as glider pilots during the war, nearly 400 lost their lives — about an equal number in training accidents as on combat missions. Hence the term flying coffin.

Brotherhood of the Flying Coffin tells the story of the men who volunteered and braved death in a machine that took them on a one-way mission over enemy lines. Sixteen pages of illustrations accompany the text.

The National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics, the predecessor agency to NASA, conducted vital research in aeronautics at the Langley Memorial Aeronautical Laboratory in Hampton, Virginia. The lab, established in 1917, is still in operation as the NASA Langley Research Center.

Military historian Mark A. Chambers has written a comprehensive review of the work undertaken there during World War II to make military aircraft faster, safer to fly and more effective in combat. At its peak, in 1945, the facility employed more than 6,000 personnel.

Prototypes, both model and full-scale, were tested in wind tunnels at the Newport News Shipyards, in tow tanks along the Back River, and in the skies above by test pilots taking off from Langley Field.

Readers will be enchanted by the 150 archival black-and-white photographs, mostly of World War II-era aircraft.

Mark Chambers lives in Newport News, Virginia, and is the author of 22 books. He is the son of a retired division chief at NASA Langley Research Center.

Finding nostalgia in your nearby grocery

These days, grocery shopping can and will take you far beyond groceries.

Need nylons? Birthday cards? Blue jeans? A lunchbox festooned with cartoon characters? Your friendly local store has them all.

Not to mention sushi, exotic white wine and Advil (could there be a connection?).

But the other day, as I trundled through the cleansers aisle, I spied an item that made my rotten old heart sing: 20 Mule Team Borax!

the day, ice cream would have been inconceivable without this topping.

Grandma’s Molasses. Still has Grandma’s picture on the label. Still promises to cure whatever ails you.

Morton Salt . Still comes in the blue cylinder. Still has that metal spout that you couldn’t open if your life depended on it.

HOW I SEE IT

By Bob Levey

I hadn’t thought about that product, or used it, or seen it, in more than 50 years. But I could instantly recall the TV commercial (voiced by none other than Ronald Reagan) and the super-grainy feel of Borax on my hands.

If smiling in a grocery store is illegal, well, lock me up. The display of 20 Mule Team made my day.

It also sent me on a mission all around the store, in search of other heritage grocery products. The good news: In the space of five minutes, I found at least 20 more blasts from the past that made my rotten old heart sing yet again.

In no particular order:

Hershey’s chocolate syrup. Back in

Jell-O. Remember the raspberry version that stained your lips in kindergarten? The green version that made the second-grade girls go “Yuck!”? They’re still for sale.

Anything by Betty Crocker. She never actually existed, but she was a symbol of all things baked and sugary. Also, all things easy to make.

French’s mustard. It long ago gave way, in the coolness derby, to mustards that are darker and more exotic. But French’s still sits on the shelf, in all its bright yellow glory.

Velveeta. This was Mama’s go-to for an after-school snack. It’s also the centerpiece of one of my favorite jokes. Question: How do you know a city is a hick town? Answer: When Velveeta is in the gourmet food section.

A-1 sauce . An entire half-aisle of today’s grocery is full of barbecue sauces. But A-1 endures, brown and pungent as always.

Hellman’s mayonnaise. Today, it sits beside various lite mayos and flavored mayos. But Hellman’s still bills itself as the indispensable topping for a sandwich. Who’s to disagree?

Chef Boyardee. The clear choice for all who hated to cook, or who simply wanted to get very full, very fast. The “chef” has not morphed into healthiness. No diet versions, or watch-your-carbs versions. Still chock full of noodles and red sauce. Still right there in cans of several sizes.

Rice Krispies. A breakfast staple for 100 years. But even better as the centerpiece of those treats that made summer fun — Krispies baked together with marshmallows. The recipe is still right there on the box.

Skippy peanut butter. When they introduced chunky alongside the traditional creamy, it was as if a folk singer had suddenly taken up an electric guitar. Heresy! But both varieties have stood the test of time. Their many multi-textured competitors take up more shelf space, but the Skips endure.

Domino sugar . Can’t you still see Grandma pouring a bagful into a canister

in her always-immaculate kitchen? I can. And I can remember sneaking a pinch of it when she wasn’t looking.

And finally, the granddaddy of them all…Coca-Cola. You do have to hunt a bit, in and among today’s diet versions, Cherry Cokes and what-have-you. But Good Old Classic Coke is still there.

What does my reconnaissance prove? That there’s a market for sentimentality? That despite the modern stampede toward Anything New, people still prefer — and return to — the products they know?

I consulted the obvious source: the manager of my local grocery. “It wouldn’t be on our shelves if it didn’t sell,” he proclaimed.

Yet the guy typing this is not the carefree soul he used to be. If he chose a can of Chef Boyardee today, he might expire on the spot from an overload of calories. If he poured Hershey’s syrup on ice cream, his arteries would scream.

So, as delighted as I was to find all these heritage products, I didn’t belly up to the bar and buy any of them. At least not yet. But I am about to compile the list for our next grocery run. Don’t be surprised if you see “20 Mule Team” right up top.

Bob Levey is a national award-winning columnist.

BEACON BITS

May 21

FREE CHORAL CONCERT

Join the Rockville Chorus on Sunday, May 21 at 7:30 p.m. for their “United in Music” concert at the F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre at the Rockville Civic Center Park, located at 603 Edmonston Dr. in Rockville, MD. Selections range from Broadway musicals to blues to gospel. No tickets required; free parking; donations accepted. For more information, call the theater box office at (240) 314-8690.

3D DESIGN CLINIC

May 16+

Do you want to learn how to create a 3D design and get it printed at the library? Visit the Pohick Regional Library’s maker space (the POD) on the first and third Tuesdays of the month, from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., for free drop-in 3D help. Registration isn’t necessary. The library is located at 6450 Sydenstricker Rd., Burke, VA. For more information, call (703) 644-7333.

June 10

JAZZ IN THE PARKS

Bring your neighbors and friends for the city’s favorite laid-back summer evening on Sat., June 10, from 5 to 8 p.m. Bring your picnic, blanket and refreshments and enjoy Corcoran Holt with Farafina Kan on the Great Lawn of Historic Walter Reed, 1010 Butternut St. NW, Washington, DC. For more information, visit theparksdc.com/events/jazz-in-the-parks-2.

ONE BIG HAPPY

By Rick Detorie

Scrabble answers on p. 46.

Find

Crossword Puzzle

She Cares

By Stephen Sherr

Across

1. Atom Ant or Jiminy Cricket

7. It knows how to get to Sesame St.

10. “I’m sorry, I was talking on ___”

14. Boil over with rage

15. “I do not like that mouse”

16. On a naval mission

17. She cares for the last of 20, 38, and 54 Across

18. Rear ends

20. Gravity, or one of three others

22. Hullabaloos

24. Dir. from Key West to Key Largo

25. Nation with 8 of Earth’s 10 tallest mountains

26. “Hey; I could use some more hay”

27. A final abbreviation

28. The Adventures of ___ Rabbit

30. Some lower than sopranos

32. Delays a placekicker

34. Maker of “Perfect Portions” Healthy Kitten Cuts

38. Misstatement

41. Last word of the year’s last song

42. One who could bat as a DH prior to 2022

43. Encouraged foolish behavior

44. It comes before Descartes

46. Shift scheduler at TGI Fridays

48. 66 went from Chicago to LA

49. Upon face value terms, as a bond

52. ___ de sac

53. George Santos or Costanza

54. Very relaxed

58. “I would rather trust a woman’s ___ than a man’s reason” (Stanley Baldwin)

59. Standing ovation shouts 62. ___ bad example

63. Kindergartener 64. Fall flowers 65. Occupant of a Winter Palace 66. Pig parlor 67. Setbacks

Down

1. End of magnet- or mystic-

2. Keanu, in The Matrix

3. Enter

4. Community spirit

5. Sonny’s Babe in the early 70’s

6. 20th century Toyota subcompact

7. Black tea

8. Meatball meat, maybe

9. Largest organ of the body

10. Having relevance

11. Get to the bottom of the bottle

12. ___ Haute, Indiana

13. Prop for Bob Ross

19. In possession of all of one’s marbles

21. Provide justification for

22. Accumulate

23. She was first played by Carol Channing!

27. It brought Marilyn Monroe to Korea to entertain GIs in 1954

28. Stein

29. They are all up to U

31. Diva

33. Friend of Fidel

35. Oppresses

36. Epsilon ___ (engineering honor society)

37. Passover service

39. Geisha’s prop

40. “___ the fields we go...”

45. Able was I ___ saw Elba

47. Worldwide

49. Those allowed to pass through the velvet rope

50. Voice mail prompts

51. ___ job listing (advertise on LinkedIn)

52. Spiteful

53. Tests most SCOTUS members have once taken

55. Kitchen pests

56. Sean Connery, but not Roger Moore

57. Guesstimate words

60. Valuable rock formation

61. Leaky tire sound

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EMPLOYMENT & REAL ESTATE ADS:

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CD OR DVD COLLECTIONS WANTED. House calls possible. Call Nelson at 240 472 4615. Thank you.

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BUYING VINYL RECORDS from 1950 to 1990 JAZZ, ROCK, BLUES, R&B, DISCO, SOUL, REGGAE, & GOSPEL, ANY VINYL FORMAT 33 1/3 RPM Albums, small 45 RPM’s & some 78 RPM, Also CD’s, Prefer LARGER COLLECTIONS AT LEAST 100 items, PLEASE CALL JOHN 301-596-6201

BUYING JEWELRY, COINS also gold silver, art, old toys, guns, military items, old baseball cards, memorabilia, older golf, football items, records, books, older Christmas, Halloween decorations, guitars, violins, antique Asian items, tom 240-476-3441

WANTED: OLDER VIOLINS, GUITARS, BANJOS, MANDOLINS, UKULELES. Musician/collector will pay cash for older string instruments. Jack (301) 279-2158, leave message & phone number (please speak slowly).

CASH FOR RECORDS, CDS AND DVDS. Best price guaranteed. Free appraisals. All types of music {33, 45, 78 & CDs.} Also buying turntables and stereo equipment. Will make house calls with CURBSIDE PICKUPS. Call or text Steve at 301-646-5403.

CASH FOR JEWELRY: Buying jewelry, diamonds, gold, platinum, silver, watches, coins, flatware, etc. Ask for Tom. Call anytime, 301654-8678 (Reg. 883).

COLLECTOR BUYING MILITARY ITEMS: helmets, antique weapons, knives, swords, web gear, uniforms, WW2 jeep parts, etc. from all wars and countries. also slots/pinball/jukeboxes and all coin op machines. Covid safe. call Fred 301-9100783

WANTED OLD MOTORCYCLES: 1970’s & Older. Any condition good or bad. Buying AS IS paying CASH & PICKING UP. Kawasaki Norton Honda Triumph BMW Yamaha Harley BSA Suzuki Ducati Etc. Call for cash offer 1(800)2209683, website: www.wantedoldmotorcycles.com

WILL BUY MILITARY, WWII, WWI, Civil War memorabilia items. Uniforms, weapons, helmets, photos, war souvenirs, medals, photos or any other items associated with U.S., German, Japanese or other military history. Call Dave (240-464-0958) or email (david.obal63@gmail.com).

CASH FOR JEWELRY; Gold, silver, costume. Watches, coins, turquoise, dental gold, etc. TheAtticLLC.com. Gary Roman; 301-520-0755. 18SH-004233

CASH FOR ESTATES; I buy a wide range of items. Art, antiques, jewelry, cultural items, furniture, rugs, collections/accumulations. TheAtticLLC.com. Gary Roman; 301-520-0755

TOP PRICES PAID FOR FINE ANTIQUES, ARTWORK and unusual and rare things including decorated crocks and stoneware, antique clocks and music boxes, classic cars, coin operated devices, toys and dolls, furniture, lamps, art glass and pottery. I am 69 years old, well educated [ law degree ] financially capable and have over 40 years in the business. Why pay outlandish auction house, estate agent or consignment store commissions when you can get a fair upfront price for your valuables with no hassle? If you have something rare, unusual and valuable and are prepared to sell it I would like to speak with you. Please call Jake Lenihan 301 279 8834. Thank you.

LOOKING TO PURCHASE QUALITY

BRIC-A-BRAC and smalls. I collect Royal Copenhagen, Herend, Shelley, English bone china cups and saucers and antique Christmas and Halloween decorations. Have recently changed my look a little and developed an interest in Midcentury pottery and glass and Chinese antiques. Need to clean out a house in a hurry? I may be able to help. Please call Susan (301) 785-1129.

ANSWERS TO

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Age-Friendly DC better place to liv

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Meet the co-chairs of Agee-Friendly y DC, y eT W Waayn Tuurnage and James Appleby..Their ov k w o w joinnt t role is t woor wiith District Govveernment t agencies and community y leaders to implelen niza l t a W mennt Woorld Healtth Orga attion chal nge ew to communities across th woorld to become part of t “ “A A worldin which you wouldwant to o r w gr grro o older. . A ” And James Apppleby adds: “Get o r f t d r reeady y with h equityinmind foormore e of f us

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App ointe d by Mayor Mur iel B ows er, Age sf y T Fr iend l Ta ask Force memb er fo o c us on implement ing a five-ye ar st rateg ic pl an released by the Mayor in 2018 (bit.ly/ AFD CStrategicPlan2018). Each member is e T not only part of th Taask Force as a whole, ff sf but i fo ocused on one o foourteen areas through an equity lens.

Thousands of residents contributed to the if plan by ident fyying concerns they had about d T growing older. Residents an Taask Force members agreed that making the District an easier place to live, work and play requires i tth t d ib didt ili

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Age-Friendlly y D Taask Force co-cha Waayynne rf a T Tuurnage is also the Deputy Mayyo foor Health & Human Services and Director of the Departmennt t of Health Care Finance. In those roles, he has under his purview services and f fuunding that provide assistance and resources f foor DC’s most vulnerable residents. He saayys of his role in DC government, “The District is a great place to work because we care oen lef about making it possib foor all t njjoy the basics, as well as the beauty and entertain’ ment of living in the Nations Capital.”

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The opinions o residentts, not just datta, arre e needed to examine the impact of the a Age-Friendly DC 2018-2023 Strattegic Plan.

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DC Coordinat

urnage (lef W Waayne T ftt), Deputy ppleby Finance, and James A byy, , y y Mayoor for Health & Human Services and Director of the Depa , CEO of the Gerontological Society of America, co-chair the DC

Livability

y Survey

Complete and return this su

urvey for a chance to win $250

0 cash!

Do you live or work in Washington and are you DistrictisQuestionsinthissurveywerederive

Distric t is. Questions in this sur vey were derived fr with 14 other cities across the globe. I f you ha Age Friendly DC staff member.

u 60 years or older? If so, we invite you to share yo ed from a World Health Organization age-friendly ve any questions as you go through this survey, ca

ur opinion on how age-friendly the indicator project that DC took part in along all 202-727-7973 and ask to speak to an

Please fill out the sur vey below or online. Return the en Age -Friendly DC, Office of the Deputy Mayor f W Suite 223, Waashington, DC 20004. Or you can c ymonk https://w w w.sur ve keey.com/r/Livabilit

Return the entire page to any branch of the DC p or for Health and Human Services, 1350 Pennsy an complete the survey online at tySurvey or use this QR code to complete on a s

public library or mail to: eNWylvaniaAAv v W, , smartphone

1. What DC Ward do you live in?

1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 O ther

2. How long have you lived in DC?

0-2 years 3-4 years 5-10 years

11-20 years 21 or more years

3. What is your age? _______ years

4. What is your gender?

Male Female

Non-binar y O ther

efPr feernotto say

5. What race do you identify with?

(Check all that apply)

American Indian and Alask a Native Asian Black or African American Native Hawaiian and White

O ther Pacific Islander O ther

6. Are you of Hispanic or Latino origin or heritage?

Y Yees No

7. Do you have any major limitations?

(Check all that apply)

Deafness or hard of hearing

Blind or difficulty seeing

Difficulty concentrating, remembering, or mak ing decisions

Difficulty walk ing or climbing stairs

Difficulty dressing or bathing

Difficulty doing errands alone

8. Howwouldyourateyouroverallquality

8. How would you rate your overall quality ofliffee?

V Veer y poor Poor Average

Good Excellent

9. Do you utilize the rec centers in your neighborhood?

Y Yees No

10. How accessible are rec centers in your neighborhood?

Not very accessible

Somewhat inaccessible

Neither accessible or inaccessible

Somewhat accessible

V Veer y accessible

11. Do you utilize parks in your neighborhood?

Y Yees No

12. How accessible are parks in your community?

Not very accessible

Somewhat inaccessible

Neither accessible or inaccessible

Somewhat accessible

V Veer y accessible

13. What type(s) of transportation do you use to go to work or run errands?

(Select all that apply)

Walk Bike Bus Metro rail Car Other: _____________

14Howeasyisittowalktoplacesinyour2

14. How easy is it to walk to places in your , including f neighborhood foor those who use wheelchairs?

Ver y difficult Somewhat difficult

Neither difficult or easy

Somewhat easy V Veer y easy

15. How easy is it to access public transpor tation from your neighborhood?

Ver y difficult Somewhat difficult

Neither difficult or easy

Somewhat easy V Veer y easy

16. What type of housing do you live in?

Detached house Rowhouse

Apar tment Condo

Assisted Living O ther: _____________

17. Do you rent or own the place where you live?

Y Yees No O ther: _____________

18. Could someone enter your residence in a wheelchair without assistance?

Y Yees No

19. Is housing in your neighborhood affffoordable?

Y Yees No

20. Have you engaged in a volunteer oppor tunity in the past month?

Y Yees No

21. Have you par ticipated in any social or cultural ac tivities in the past week?

Y Yees No

22. Do y feeelrespected in your community?

es ouf

Y Yees No ouf

23. Do y feeel socially included in your community?

Y Yees No

24. Do you have a neighbor(s) that you can rely on?

Y Yees No

25. What is your employment status?

Employed full-time

Employed part-time

Self-employed Unemployed

Retired Student Other

26. Are you involved in decision-making about important political, economic and social issues in your community?

Y Yees No

27. Do you live in a household with internet access?

Y Yees No

28. How do you use the internet? (Check all that applies)

Emailing Informational searches

Online shopping Facebook or other social media Sharing photos Do not use Other:__________

29. How do you typically fin impor tant health and sa (Check all that apply)

29Howdoyoutypicallyfindoutabout

nd out about y inf afet foormation?

Word of mouth Prin

Social Media R adio

T V O ther:_________

30. How easy is it for you to of information about yo and ser vice needs?

t Web

o find local sources our health concerns

V Veer y difficult Somew

Neither difficult or easy

Somewhat easy Ver

31. How easy is it for you to ac tivity options in your

V Veer y difficult Somew

Neither difficult or easy

Somewhat easy Ver

32. How easy is it for you to f foood options in your are

V Veer y difficult Somew

Neither difficult or easy

Somewhat easy Ver

what difficult y r y easy o access physical area? what difficult y r y easy o access healthy ea? what difficult y r y easy

33. Do you feel you know w emergenc y?

Y Yees No

what to do in an

34. Over the past y r, , have income to meet your ba public or private assista loan, family financial su

Y Yees No

ear

e you had enough sic needs without ance (e.g. private ppor t)?

es ear

35. Over the past y r, , were did you regularly attend or training sessions, eith non-formal?

Y Yees No

36. How safe is your neighb y unsaf V Veer fe e Somew

Neither safe nor unsafe y saf V Veer fe e

37. Do you have any person assistance needs?

Y Yees No

e you enrolled in or d any education her formal or borhood from crime? whatunsaffe e e Somewhat safe nal care or

38. Is there anything else yo about aging in the Distr OPTIONA

ou want us to know ric t?

AL

Please enter your email or h can send you the prize if yo

Y drawing for $250. Yoour nam associated with your survey

Email:

Name:

Address: City/State/Zip:

home address so we u win the random me will not be y answers: