Register To ParticipateA Good Age, by Sue Scheible
Medicare “doughnut hole” hits seniors hard
Posted on May 22, 2008 by sscheible
Filed Under A Good Age | Leave a Comment
 |
| Welcome to my blog. I am a staff reporter for The Patriot Ledger who writes a weekly column, A Good Age, about life after 50, every Tuesday on the local pages. More about this blog. |
Millions of seniors are reporting high out-of-pocket spending on prescription drugs, even with Medicare Part D drug coverage. It’s due to the so-called doughnut hole, the gap in Medicare coverage that kicks in once seniors have used up a certain amount of their benefit.
That’s the latest report from The Senior Citizens League. Some 41percent of seniors enrolled in a Medicare Part D drug plan in 2007 said they hit the “doughnut hole” coverage gap last year, according to a new survey.
“An estimated twelve million seniors and the disabled who hit the doughnut hole had to pay full cost for their prescription drugs for at least part of 2007,” said Daniel O’Connell, chairman of ther seniors organization. “But like a big sink hole, the Part D doughnut hole keeps growing deeper every year.”
In 2007 the size of the doughnut hole alone was $3,052. After adding the deductible, and co-insurance costs, seniors had to spend a total of $3,850 out-of-pocket on drug costs before catastrophic coverage kicked in.
(Once a beneficiary qualifies for catastrophic coverage they pay about $2.25 -$5.60 on average for each of their prescriptions.) “And this year seniors who hit the doughnut hole will have to spend even more, $3,216, and a total of $4,050 out-of-pocket including the deductible and co-pays, before they climb back out,” O’Connell said.
For the Senior Citizens League web site, Click Here
For the Medicare web site, Click Here.
More Scituate scenes from Neal Gray
Posted on May 22, 2008 by sscheible
Filed Under A Good Age | Leave a Comment
Neal Gray of Scituate sent along two other scenic shots. Do you recognize tham?
Cohasset family completes Best Buddies Challenge
Posted on May 21, 2008 by sscheible
Filed Under A Good Age | Leave a Comment
One of the cyclists I met Saturday covering the Best Buddies Challenge ride from Boston to Hyannisport was Patricia Morse of Cohasset, who sent me these photos. In the top photo, Trish is in the center, with Stephanie and Tom Middleton of Hingham.
In the bottom photo, Trish is second from the left. Her son, Nate, is next to her and her husband, Sam, is on the far right. They rode as a family to raise money for the Best Buddies organization, which supports people with intellectual disabilities. Jesse Keough of Sandwich is on the far left.
Trish, who turned 50 in December, did the complete 100 mile ride for the second time this year. The ride goes from Boston to Hyannisport. I’m impressed. This is what 50 looks like — A Good Age.
Trish sent me an E-mail with the photo.
“Thank you for the great coverage of the Best Buddies ride. Learning about Jared Drennan and Josh Levalley in Friday’s Patriot Ledger has piqued our son Nate’s interest in becoming a Best Buddy,” she wrote. “Our family rode the Best Buddies ride again this year and we were able to meet Jared and Josh on the ride and had a chance to talk with them at the event afterwards. What nice boys! Our son, Nate, is 13 and was the youngest rider to complete the whole 100 miles for the second year in a row. Now he is thinking about next year and possibly riding with a Buddy. Without the story last week, we might not have connected with Jared and Josh, so thanks!”
The first story by Sydney Schwartz ran in the May 9 edition.
I met Jared, 15, and Josh, 19, at the Duxbury Middle School rest stop, about 36 miles into the ride. They rode on a tandem for the Pembroke High School Best Buddies chapter. As Josh said, they were “awesome.”
While we were talking at the Duxbury Middle School rest stop, we heard the news that Sen. Edward Kennedy had been airlifted to Massachusetts General Hospital. It came as an added was a shock to Trish, and others who were at the Best Buddies Challenge, to learn Tuesday that the senator has a malignant brain tumor.
Sen. Kennedy was released from the hsopital this morning to return to his Hyannisport home. Many thoughts and prayers are with the senator and his family, who have supported the Best Buddies organization from the start.
Mass. General Hospital statement on Sen. Kennedy
Posted on May 20, 2008 by sscheible
Filed Under A Good Age | Leave a Comment
Statement from Dr. Lee Schwamm, Vice Chairman, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, and Dr. Larry Ronan, Primary Care Physician, Massachusetts General Hospital
“Over the course of the last several days, we’ve done a series of tests on Senator Kennedy to determine the cause of his seizure. He has had no further seizures, remains in good overall condition, and is up and walking around the hospital. Some of the tests we had performed were inconclusive, particularly in light of the fact that the Senator had severe narrowing of the left carotid artery and underwent surgery just 6 months ago. However, preliminary results from a biopsy of the brain identified the cause of the seizure as a malignant glioma in the left parietal lobe. The usual course of treatment includes combinations of various forms of radiation and chemotherapy. Decisions regarding the best course of treatment for Senator Kennedy will be determined after further testing and analysis. Senator Kennedy will remain at Massachusetts General Hospital for the next couple of days according to routine protocol. He remains in good spirits and full of energy.”
Sen. Kennedy has brain tumor, report says
Posted on May 20, 2008 by sscheible
Filed Under A Good Age | Leave a Comment
Doctors say Sen. Edward Kennedy has a malignant brain tumor - a condition discovered after he had a seizure Saturday at the family compound in Hyannis Port, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Earlier, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, doctors had continued to perform a series of tests on Kennedy to determine the cause of his seizure Saturday morning in Hyannis Port.
There was also a network news report Monday that the senator suffered two seizures, not just one. The report was attributed to his father-in-law.
Before the latest medical information was reported, I asked a neurologist, Dr. Paul Blachman, at South Shore Hospital in Weymouth, what the most likely tests are that Sen. Kennedy was having.
Blachman explained that a seizure in an older person is usually a type of a localized epilepsy, caused by an electrical short circuit in the brain. That short circuit can be due to scar tissue on the brain from an old injury, a former stroke, a new stroke caused by a temporary blood clot that then broke up, a brain tumor, infection or a chemical imbalance.
“There are many possible causes and that is why you have to do a number of tests, including CT scan, an MRI of the brain, and an electro-encephalogram, or EEG, to record the electrical activity of the brain,” he said.
The first step is a neurological evaluation to look for clues as to which area of the brain was involved.
“If you see seizure discharges during the EEG, that can help you greatly because it can tell you where the problem started,” Blachman explained. “That can be of great value in knowing how to proceed.”
If a patient’s EEG shows seizure discharges, that does not mean the patient is having a seizure at that moment, he said. However, it is a valuable record of what has taken place.
The cardiovascular system may be involved. An irregular heart beat, or a blockage in a carotid (neck) artery could cause a blood clot to form and travel to the brain, resulting in temporary numbness or difficulty speaking. Then the symptoms would ease as the clot broke up on its own.
If the heart appears to be involved, medical tests would include an echocardiogram (using sound waves to create a moving picture of the heart) and wearing a cardiac monitor to record the heartbeat regularity.
The most common causes of seizures in an older person are old scar tissue on the brain from a past injury. Doctors don’t know why old scar tissue will suddenly cause problems in the brain’s electrical activity years later, according to Blachman.
The second most common cause is a new event such as blood clot.
The results may be released in a day or two.
Quincy Medical caregivers
Posted on May 19, 2008 by sscheible
Filed Under A Good Age | 3 Comments
There are a lot of positive, caring exchanges in hospitals that we might not notice in the rush of events or our concerns about medical matters.
The staff are often so busy that they can seem businesslike as they go about their jobs. Keep an eye out for the personal touches as well. Nurses may not routinely give back rubs anymore, but nurses and the nursing assistants show their caring in other ways. Even in dispensing discharge “instructions” when patients are sent home.
It can sometimes seem that medical and insurance payment guidelines send patients home too soon. But if it is done carefully, patiently and with some warmth, it is easier to accept. (On the other hand, some patients can’t wait to go home.)
In the photo above, nurse Diane Grillone at Quincy Medical Center gives patient Doris Allen her post-surgical instructions before Allen goes home after treatment. The photo was taken in the post anesthesia care unit on April 29 by by Jeff Thiebauth Photography for the hospital.
A senior’s optical illusion in Scituate
Posted on May 18, 2008 by sscheible
Filed Under A Good Age | Leave a Comment
Neal Gray of Scituate sent me this photo. Do you see what Neal sees?
“Down next to the railroad tracks, behind the post office in No. Scituate today, I suddenly perceived this gigantic swan.
Then on second glance, it was . . .
A rock and a vent. Bah!”
Sunday brings rally for peace and non-violent summer
Posted on May 17, 2008 by sscheible
Filed Under A Good Age | Leave a Comment
On Thursday I was at Randolph High School and saw these peace posters, made by the students, on the bulletin board inside the reception office. Sunday afternoon there is a peace rally in Randolph, with Sidewalk Sam doing his art and other attractions starting at 1 p.m. One of the senior citizens I saw at the Simon C. Fireman Community later praised the high school students for their community service work at the residence and said she has great hope for today’s younger generations. The posters on the bulletin board speak to her point.
Senior Senior Prom in Randolph a big hit
Posted on May 16, 2008 by sscheible
Filed Under A Good Age | Leave a Comment
Yesterday I stopped by Randolph High School to interview and video Hao Trieu, 17, a junior who is chairperson of the school’s student council community service committee. Trieu is a remarkable young woman. She was the driving force behind the Senior Senior Prom held recent;y at the Simon C. Fireside Community, a residence in Randolph for elders run by Hebrew Senior Life of Boston.
The prom brought together seniors who live at the Fireman residence with seniors, juniors, sophomores and freshmen from Randolph High. By all accounts, it was a huge success.
In the top photo, you can see Hao Trieu dancing with Faivish Shavlov, a resident who was crowned King of the Prom.
We talked and Hao described how rewarding the intergenerational program was for her, how proud she was of herself, her peers, and the elders she met.
Then I drove a mile up Route 28 to the Fireman Community and interviewed and videoed 95-year-old Nettie Sooper and 85-year-old Dorothy Rosenberg, who both had a ball at the prom. “It was a beautiful thing,” Rosenberg said. In the bottom photo, you can see Nettie dancing with Ken Chin, who teaches Tai Chi at Fireman. Would you believe she is 95?!
You can see the videos and read more in The Good Age column on Tuesday May 27.
Mayor at Mothers Day Brunch
Posted on May 15, 2008 by sscheible
Filed Under A Good Age, nursing homes | Leave a Comment
Quincy Mayor Tom Koch was a popular presence Sunday at the Mothers Day brunch at Marina Bay Skilled Nursing Center in Quincy. Koch promises to bring some exciting new developments for seniors in the city.
Thanks to Lucia Treggiari, activities director at Marina Bay, for the photo.
keep looking »
