My Plan After 50 Blog

Good News For Our Children

Posted by Brunie   

I am so glad to see that the "father" of stem cell research has discovered a way to reap the same benefits from skin cells. His new discovery allows researchers to gain the benefits from ordinary skin cells that were previously gained from stem cells. 

Dr. Thomson and other scientists will now be able use these skin cells to study complex human diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's in a petri dish and begin to find causes and treatments. And, what's more, they say it may be possible to use the cells to grow replacement tissues for patients. The benefits our children and grandchildren will gain from this courageous man's work will grow for many years to come.   

 

Deadly Bacteria Update

Posted by Brunie

Recently the My Plan After 50 blog described the deadly MRSA staph bacterium and how it has inundated hospitals and care facilities for years. The popular press picked up on this antibiotic-resistant organism when it became known that a middle school student was infected and died, making this danger relevant to far more people now that its presence is evident in schools and child care facilities.

I personally heard a tragic story of a patient in a local hospital that developed an awful infection with devastating results.  In my last blog I urged everyone's vigilance to eliminate and control the MRSA staph bacterium and now offer more resources to combat it with both treatment and prevention.

Some helpful resources are:

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are studying this bacterium and have several documents available to help with its prevention and treatment.

Type "MRSA" into the search box and sort by date to find informative articles on this issue.

This is a site developed by and for people with loved ones affected by MRSA. It is a good place to start for those seeking networking and support.

We at My Plan After 50 caution our readers to be aware of this dangerous bacterium. There is no reason to panic, but every single one of us can be more mindful of the precautionary steps we can take to stop its spread...especially to those we love.

Brainbows on Show

Posted by Brunie

The most complex known object in the universe is...

...the human brain.

That's right. It is generally acknowledged among the scientific community that this organ that resides within our skulls and affects every part of our lives is (or has been) one of our least understood parts. Some work by scientists at Harvard University, however, is reported in the British press and holds fascinating possibilities for understanding this remarkable world within us. Through the use of computer-enhanced genetic tricks and fancy proteins, images have been created that track the hundreds of thousands of brain cells in 90 distinctive hues so tracks can be seen along the "dendrites and axons" that carry these electrical impulses through our brains. It's a color show ("brainbow") of the brain's functioning and visible to us all. There are huge implications for diagnosis of Alzheimer's, autism, and other neurodegenerative brain diseases. As we understand more about how these tiny parts of the brain work and are able to see disruptions, it is believed that this will open up whole new areas of treatment.

We at My Plan After 50 hope you enjoy this fascinating inner journey, and do all you can to know about and support such important advances.

Deadly Bacteria Prevention

Posted by Brunie

At My Plan After 50, we hope you are able to incorporate these MRSA prevention techniques to make sure you and your loved ones are able to avoid contracting this dangerous bacterium. Here are some TIPS shared by a physician friend:

1. Wash your hands. This is the number one prevention behavior for this and many infections. Use anti-bacterial soap and warm, running water before and after handling food. These bacteria like to hide under fingernails so wash your hands thoroughly.

2. Freshen up with hand sanitizers. Carry alcohol-based swabs, bottles or towelettes with you everywhere and use them frequently and thoroughly.  Put hand sanitizers in your cars, gym bags, lunch boxes and anyplace that can harbor or attract germs. 

3. Keep broken skin (cuts, punctures, hang nails, etc.) clean and covered with a bandage. Even the smallest opening into the skin can be an access place for this bacterium.

4. Don't share towels, razors, combs or any items that come in contact with your skin.

5. If you share sports equipment with anyone, be sure to clean it thoroughly with an antiseptic solution before and after each use.

The health and safety of our readers is important to us and we urge you to incorporate these practices into your daily life.

Cancer Risk Report

Posted by Brunie

Last week's USA Today piece on cancer-fat links ("Put Down the Bacon!") spotlights a report of the American Institute for Cancer Research and the World Cancer Research Fund that holds some important and sobering news about the links between obesity and cancer. Excess body fat appears to be a more serious risk than previously thought.

As one of the nutritionists states: "...body fat is not an inert blob...(but a) metabolically active tissue that produces substances in the body that promote the development of cancer." WHOA! I didn't know that!

Other key points from the piece:

- Every 1.7 ounces of processed meat consumed a day increases the risk of cancer by 21%

- Red meat has a high co-occurrence with colorectal cancer.

- Alcohol consumption is linked to increased cancer risk.

My Plan After 50 wants our readers to be aware of such important facts, and we encourage you to read the report's salient points so you can apply its findings and enjoy the upcoming Holidays with wide-open arms.

Firestorm Resilience

Posted by Brunie

Having been involved in disaster relief after Hurricanes Ivan and Katrina, and in community disaster preparation activities since then, I am somewhat sensitive to the scope and depth of pain and challenge people in southern California are experiencing. Through the smoke of their historic tragedy, however, come some inspiring stories of courage and ingenuity that should motivate us all.

Through an effective consortium of individual people, tech companies (e.g., Google), and communications companies (http://twitter.com/kpbsnews), a disaster communications and coordination system was created "on the fly" that made the ordeal of those 1/2 million people much more bearable. Concerned residents and interested Individuals are able to to go to a Website - http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/10/southern-california-fire-maps.html - and find numerous helpful things, like maps of specific neighborhoods and geographic areas, overlayed with fire statuses, evacuation routes, etc. There are disaster shelter designations and maps. There are online chat groups and information resources with links to both virtual (Web-based) and hard resources. There are a number of twitters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter) updating people on a continual basis. KPBS, the NPR affiliate in San Diego, was on 24/7 status until their broadcasting capability was damaged, then another station in that market gave up with their signal so KPBS could reach the hundreds of thousands of people who depend on them for disaster communications. Amazing! Additionally, the "reverse 911 system" is reportedly helping tremendously to notify residents when evacuation is mandatory.

It is an evolving story, but one you might want to continue to watch. The work of Katrina did not go away when the flood waters receded, and the work of rebuilding lives in the hills of Southern California is just beginning for thousands. Thankfully, we are learning from each other; each tragedy provides lessons learned that can be applied next time. We at My Plan After 50 encourage all of our generation to not hold back; to put out there whatever your unique skill is, because those individual contributions are what created these firestorms' stories of resilience.

My Dance Card is Full – Virtually

Posted by Kris:

What began as a slick way to technologically organize parties, weddings and spontaneous public gatherings, is now creating a dilemma for employers.  Social networks are proliferating faster than boomers can turn 50 (every 12 seconds) or even 60 (every 7 seconds).  On the one hand, social networks can be tools for recruiting, knowledge sharing and unending leads for marketing opportunists.  On the other hand, they represent security risks as employees share uncensored information on the unsecured internet. 

It’s a consistent reaction:  We are initially wary of new technology; at least until a competitor figures out a profitable way to leverage it into a business solution.  Then we all adopt and adapt.  In fairness to employers, they have to be able to separate “fad” from substance.  While Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer believes that there could be something solid to social networks, he also says “…there’s a faddishness, a faddish nature about anything that basically appeals to younger people.”  Employers need to distinguish technologies that provide valued services from those that zap workforce productivity. 

My Plan After 50 is not a virtual “water cooler” for boomers.  Rather, it’s a Web-based service for boomers to access holistic coaching for their next life phases and pre-retirement planning.  As an e-learning community, My Plan After 50 offers private discussion forums, webinars, expertise and tools for its individual and employer members.  Because of the depth of its substance, My Plan After 50 will be here long after fads lose their appeal. 

So is there a value to social networks for boomers?  My Plan After 50 would say yes, if used judiciously.  We recommend companies build internal, private networks for boomers to share knowledge with each other and successive generations of employees. These networks can also connect virtual or de-centralized employees who may have little contact with others in the company or their virtual teams.  Networks can break down silos that may inhibit collaboration across generations, teams or business units.  Finally, social networks can unearth unique knowledge, skills and abilities in their current employees, create just-in-time boomer talent pools or remain connected to the storehouse of institutional knowledge of their retired boomers. 

 

Deadly Bacteria

Posted by Brunie

One of the concerns frequently voiced by the nurses in a group I meet with regularly is the incidence of MRSA (a kind of staph bacterium) in hospitals and nursing homes. A report came out Wednesday in The Journal of the American Medical Association that is so startling, it should get everyone's attention. According to this report, the number of deaths associated with MRSA in 2005 exceeded those attributed to HIV/AIDS, Parkinson's Disease, emphysema, or homicide. Almost 95,000 people got the infection and approximately 20% of them died from it.

An even scarier reality is that greater than 85% of these deadly bacteria are spread by health care practitioners themselves and the equipment they use. That's in spite of the mandated precautions and sterilizing procedures in place and monitored by licensing and certification agencies. This is a persistent, virulent bacterium, and resistive to normal eradication techniques and practices.

The most vulnerable population segments mentioned in the study are elderly, African-Americans, and men. Also, the highest prevalence is geographically concentrated in Connecticut; Atlanta; San Francisco; Portland, Oregon; Monroe County, NY; Davidson County, TN; and Ramsey County, MN.

For our My Plan After 50 readers, please be aware of this danger lurking in the nursing homes and hospitals you may use for your family. Exercise extreme vigilance in anti-bacterial cleaning of all people,  equipment, and articles used in and taken from these settings. Each of us must do our part to eradicate this deadly menace.

Accelerating the warming

Posted by Brunie

I read varying perspectives and opinions about global warming, its causes, consequences, computer models, and potential effects. I've steered away from writing on this topic before now because (1) I am no expert on this, (2) it is a topic of some controversy and oft-questioned science, and (3) it only relates to Boomers as it does to every other living orgnism on earth - not us in particular. However, after reading an article by Dr. Thomas Homer-Dixon, Chair of Peace and Conflict Studies at the Trudeau Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies at University College, University of Toronto I thought it was important for our readers/bloggers to be aware of this.

Long story short - the changes that computer models have predicted are happening much faster than thought or imaged. The International Institute for Strategic Studies in London has a global security think tank that publicly published a recent piece based on global research which states: (1) Crop yields and water avaiability are changing quicker than had previously been thought; and (2)  Effects on developing countries (as already playing out in Kenya and Sudan) are challenging the fragile stability between "haves and have nots."

The U.S National Aeronautics and Space Administration commissioned a study that has revealed that the Arctic's thick, year-round ice cover declined 2.6 million square kilometers beyond the average summer minimum. That's about the size of the whole Ontario Province, and has "changed the whole game, putting us 30 years ahead of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's worst case scenario," according to Betsy Taylor with 1 Sky.

I share these realities because it seems abundantly clear that we as a united species are going to have to mount campaigns farther-reaching than the anti-nuclear movement of the '60's (that was organized largely by women aware of radioactive milk they were feeding their babies) and the civil rights movement (that changed the whole notion of segregation).

Boomers may need a cause to focus their deep and abundant energy on. This may be it.

Social Networking Boomers

Posted by Brunie

It seems Boomer computer and Web usage is driving significant new investment in technology aimed at grabbing them into social networks. A recent article in the New York Times outlined a host of new names in the social networking field, with several aimed specifically at this demographic. There are also some interesting points about Boomer Web usage patterns:

One of the most telling characteristics found by Paul Kedrosky, author of Infectious Greed, is that "Boomers hang around." It appears, where the younger generations tend to move quickly through a variety of Web-based platforms and pages, Boomers tend to stay with something longer.

The number of Boomers on the net appears to be approximately the same as the 18 - 34 year olds (which I personally found surprising).

Another revealing finding in the article is that Boomers are getting more comfortable dealing with their issues online. "I've discussed my divorce, my medical issues, and when do I dare to date again" said a 52 year old retired optician who says she is comfortable interacting in this personal way with her peers, where she "would never discuss that stuff with a 20-year-old." Another person said he shares family photos with relatives, and has discussions on substantive subjects like health issues and illnesses affecting older people.

Regardless of how savvy and comfortable you may be with social networking through the Web, you might want to hone those computer skills because the wave of investment and the ease of communication is only going to get better. Those kids and grandkids are going to want to see those photos, and you'll love the chance to get those precious thank yous in return.