RetirementHomes.com - Politics and Government

House Sitting - One Woman's Never Ending Story

aadmin — Wed, 30 Oct 2013 13:56:25 +0000

Americans have specialized in alternative lifestyles that can be traced back to Thoreau’s call to step to the beat of a different drum.

California’s Kelly Hayes-Raitt has heeded a distinctive rhythm by financing a political activist’s life as a house sitter in Lake Chapala, London, Paris, Copenhagen and the outskirts of Amsterdam.

Her nomadic existence has offered the opportunity to write and edit about Iraqi and Palestinian refugees at LivingLargeInLimbo.com and by blogging for Violating Sanctions.

Hayes-Raitt is a lifelong political activist and spokesperson for campaigns championing women's rights, environmental cleanup, consumers' rights and other social justice causes.

She has house sat in Chapala, Mexico since 2010, her away home from mid-September to mid-February and from April to June.

Setting Up House Sitting Arrangements

Hayes-Raitt, 52-years-old, has established a trusted relationship with an older retired couple. They cover all the expenses of the house, including a house keeper, a pool maintenance man, and gardeners. She’s responsible for making sure the house runs smoothly during their absence, including caring for their dog.

She rents out her house in Los Angeles – an ongoing source of rental income – incurs no housing expenses in Lake Chapala. With lower expenditures in Mexico, compared to California, she saves on income.

“It’s perfect,” said Hayes-Raitt. “I love the community.” She feels she has roots in Chapala because she’s lived there many seasons. “I enjoy the house and the dog and I’m friends with the neighbours.”

HouseSitMexico.com has been an excellent web departure point for the roaming activist – and TrustedHousesitters.com – where home owners with pets search for house sitters.

Retired people in Mexico often return to the USA or Canada for medical care or extended visits with families and grandchildren – or they’re seasonal retirees – half the year in Mexico – the other back home. A house sitter ensures safety and security, especially pet care.

The Role of the House Sitter

Flexibility and a spirit of adventure are the key house sitter traits. Every home has its quirks so they need to be comfortable with pets and all household routines – and be available on the house owner’s timetable – their departures and return dates. “It requires emotional, financial, and time flexibility.”

Hayes-Raitt's resourcefulness is supplemented by“a hell of a lot of faith.” She'll leave Chapala for Los Angeles in January 2014, then off to Europe for the summer months. But she’ll be unable to firm up her plans until April or May when summer house sitting season opens across the Atlantic.

Her run-down on house sitters types:

Vacationers who want to spend several weeks or months without paying for accommodations
Toe-tippers. People who want to check out retirement in foreign communities
Entrepreneurial house sitters who create income from their rental property and pare down expenses while living in a foreign country
Writers and artists – like Hayes-Raitt – who free up time for their passion
A combination of the above

Whatever the aims for boomers and younger middle-aged house sitters, Hayes-Raitt advises that they know their goals and basic needs.

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How the U.S. government shutdown is affecting vulnerable seniors

aadmin — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 09:00:49 +0000

One week ago, on Monday, September 30, much of the United States government went dark. Due to a budget dispute between congressional Republicans and Democrats, congress did not authorize funds to be released in order to operate parts of the government.

The shutdown has impacted different segments of the U.S. population in various ways, and while many services for seniors – including social security payments, and veterans’ hospitals – will continue uninterrupted, many other seniors, particularly those who are ill, and low-income, may be particularly vulnerable.

According to Harrine Freeman of Bethesda, Maryland-based H.E. Freeman Enterprises, some of the halted services which could have a significant negative impact on older people include:

1. Administration for Community Living (ACL): Part of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, one component of the ACL is providing meals for low-income seniors, as well as fighting elder abuse and overseeing long-term care communities.

2. Centers for Disease Control (CDC): The CDC administers an annual influenza vaccination program, and this has been halted as a result of the government shutdown.

3. Medicare: Deliveries of new and replacement social security cards, as well as renewed Medicare cards, have stopped.

“Due to the government shutdown many elderly have been forced to or voluntarily made adjustments to their lifestyle due to service halted or reduced,” Freeman told RetirementHomes.com in a recent interview. She added that for those living paycheque-to-paycheque, the consequences of the shutdown can be long-lasting, and even permanent.

“The government shutdown will cause even more financial strain on their lives that some may never be able to recover from,” Freeman said.

How do you think vulnerable seniors and older people in the United States can cope with the American government shutdown? Share your thoughts in the comment section below:

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Egypt's seniors play central role in country's recent uprising

aadmin — Mon, 15 Jul 2013 08:36:22 +0000

July has been a dramatic month for the 85 million residents of Egypt.

After days of nationwide protests where millions of Egyptians took to the streets to demand the removal of their president, Mohamed Morsi, who was elected on a thin margin in June 2012, the Egyptian military forcibly removed Morsi as president, and installed a caretaker government until elections can take place at a later date.

In the west, photos and videos of the Egyptian protests filled newspapers, websites and television screens, and most of the images featured young men and women protesting in the streets, demanding the removal of the president.

But what about Egypt’s older citizens, Baby Boomers and seniors? What role – if any – did they play in the recent upheaval that took place in Africa’s third most-populous country?

Kevin Newton, director of Habbibi Consulting, LLC, a firm which offers data and research on the Islamic world for companies and organizations seeking to do business there, told RetirementHomes.com while older people were less prominent in the Egyptian protests than their younger counterparts, they nonetheless wield tremendous influence.

“One would really expect that the liberal, more secular crowd would put its faith in a younger leader, but that is exactly the opposite of what one sees in Egypt,” Newton said. Acting Vice President Mohamed “ElBaradei especially has emerged as an ideological leader for liberals, especially younger liberals, in Egypt, regardless of religion, despite the fact that he is the oldest prominent Egyptian leader,” he said.

Newton added that one of the biggest factors contributing to the shortage of images of Egyptian Boomers and seniors in the protests is a matter of demographics. Only five per cent of the country is aged 65 and older, while a whopping 70 per cent are aged 30 or younger.

Still, many of the political and religious leaders held in high esteem by protesters aren’t in the same age bracket as most protesters: acting president Adly Mansour is 67 years old, Mohamed Baradei is 71 years old, and the two primary leaders of the Muslim majority and Christian minority, who stood alongside Mansour as he announced the fall of Morsi’s government, are both over the age of 60.

According to Newton, the prominence of older people, both in the new government, and the previous regime, is primarily a factor of the reverence in which they are held by the majority of Egyptians.

“Much of this draws back on the Egyptian/Islamic culture that demands significant respect for one's elders, something that while slipping in the West is very much alive in the Islamic world,” Newton said.

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How do aging monarchs lead effectively?

aadmin — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 17:53:41 +0000

This past Sunday, April 21, 2013, was the 87th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. And although Her Majesty is still officially working nearly 30 years longer than the average North American (who retires around age 60), and even, at a year older than recently-retired Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, among the world of royalty, it’s a different story.

Queen Elizabeth II began her reign about two months shy of her 26th birthday, and has now reigned for more than 61 years, just shy of the current King of Thailand, 85 year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has reigned for 63 years.

And while monarchs and members of royal families may have access to premium medical care and attention, aging presents the same challenges to every human being, including increased risks of diseases and illnesses, as well as reduced vision, slowed motor functions, and even cognitive decline.

With the existing pressures that royals already face, how do elderly monarchs deal with the trials of advanced age, and does that have an impact on their leadership and governance?

One major challenge facing aging monarchs is the question as to how – and whether to at all – cede a certain degree of responsibility to other people, and accept less power for themselves. For some monarchs, holding onto power can run the risk of creating a negative, and even potentially dangerous, backlash from the populace.

“The public resents the imperial manners of some monarchs...sometimes open warfare erupts between aging monarchs and younger aspirants...in some cases, their inability to acknowledge their own mortal limits led to insulation from attack and the defense of their withered agendas,” wrote Yale University business professor Jeffrey Sonnenfeld in his book, The Hero's Farewell: What Happens When CEOs Retire.

Although that represents an extreme example facing aging monarchs and leaders, the facts of aging are consistent across the board.
“People's mental capacities in their 80s and 90s aren't what they were in their 40s and 50s,” Dr. Seth Landefeld of the University of Alabama at Birmingham told CBS News in February 2013, after the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. “Their short-term memory is often not as good, their ability to think quickly on their feet, to execute decisions is often not as good,” he said.

Around the world, the legacy of aging monarchs and leaders varies, but the transition of power has often been peaceful.

In Cuba, 81 year-old leader Fidel Castro resigned as president in 2008, and handed leadership over to his younger brother, then 76 year-old Raul Castro. When King Fahd of Saudi Arabia died in 2008 at the age of 84, his half-brother Abdullah took over.

In the near future, Queen Elizabeth II is set to become the longest-serving British monarch in 2015, when she surpasses the 63 year record on the throne set by her great-great grandmother, Queen Victoria.

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Video: Elderly woman escorted off train for singing

aadmin — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 15:28:05 +0000

One Florida family says it is considering take legal action after their elderly year-old mother was thrown off a train for singing loudly.

As reported by WDBO.com, 82 year-old Emma Anderson was holding worry beads and singing hymns on board a train in Miami-Dade, Florida, when a security guard asked her to stop singing. When she refused, he forced her off the train, where she is reported to have fell and suffered light bruises.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsiWtV88EH8

The confrontation on the train between Anderson and the security guard was captured by a passer-by’s cell phone video camera.

“I was beating my little beads with the bottle and I was singing a song, and he came up to me and said, ‘Ma’am, you’re making too much noise,’” Anderson was quoted as saying.

The elderly woman’s son, 42 year-old Kenny Anderson, said legal action is being considered as a result of the video footage, which he said appears to show his mother being forcibly escorted and is the cause of her injuries. A spokesperson for Miami-Dade Transit told the news source that her loud singing was disruptive and could drown out important loudspeaker announcements.

Roughly one-in-seven residents of Miami-Dade county are aged 65 and over, and there are many assisted living communities in Miami.

What do you think? Should the woman have stopped singing, or was the transit official beyond his rights? Tell us in the comment section below:

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Who is Britain's Most Powerful Woman?

aadmin — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 18:47:29 +0000

A first ever power list compiled by the BBC Radio 4 show Woman’s Hour voted her Royal Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, as Britain's most powerful woman. The runner-up is Home Secretary Theresa May.

The judging panel includes former newspaper editor Eve Pollard, politicians Priti Patel and Oona King, and crime novelist Val McDermid.

Ms Pollard said told Express: “Most women on our list have power because they have reached a place where they have control – of policy, of direction, of influence, of staff."

The panel included women with 'soft power' those with a transformative capacity to change how Britons think about themselves.

The purpose of the list was to show the inadequate number of women at the top of power fields like politics, corporations, the military and journalism.

Woman’s Hour editor Alice Feinstein commented that the radio show wanted to initiate a conversation on women and power. “We will use this list as a springboard to discuss the contribution all women make to society," Feinstein said "and ask why there isn’t greater diversity in the list.”

Many saw the ommision of Princess Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge as an oversight. Panelists deemed her to be influential but not powerful, yet.

Britain's top 10 women with power

1. Her Majesty The Queen
2. Rt Hon Theresa May MP (Home Secretary)
3. Ana Botin (CEO, Santander UK)
4. Baroness Brenda Hale of Richmond (Supreme Court Judge)
5. Elisabeth Murdoch (Chairman, Shine Group)
6. Professor Dame Sally Davies (Chief Medical Officer)
7. Justine Roberts & Carrie Longton (Co-founders, Mumsnet)
8. Lady Justice Hallett (Appeal Court Judge)
9. Angela Ahrendts (CEO, Burberry)
10. Dame Gail Rebuck (CEO, The Random House Group)

It would be an excellent exercise to find out who is the most power woman in the USA.

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Special 102 year-old guest to accompany First Lady to Union address

aadmin — Tue, 12 Feb 2013 15:42:43 +0000

Tonight, February 12, 2013, US president Barack Obama will be presenting his State of the Union address to the United States, outlining his goals and the challenges he sees as pressing issues for his administration.

At the Capitol Rotunda, where Obama will be speaking, guests will include senators and members of congress, staffers and members of the media, as well as members of the first family.

But tonight, according to the Associated Press news wire, one unusual guest will be joining the special event: a 102 year-old Florida woman named Desiline Victor.

Victor, a resident of Miami, was born in Haiti in 1910, moved to the United States in 1989, and became a naturalized American citizen in 2005.

She voted in her first election three years later, and was invited from Florida to accompany First Lady Michelle Obama in the audience as a symbol of tenacity and determination.

“She just wants everyone to know she wants everyone to vote,” Victor’s nephew, Mathieu-Pierre Louis, told the Associated Press, translating from her native Creole language.

During the most recent presidential election last fall, Victor waited for more than three hours before casting her vote. There are an estimated 4,000 centenarians in the Sunshine State, with many of them living in Florida assisted living communities.

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Elderly Couple Stumbles into All-Night Rave

aadmin — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 16:12:25 +0000

All-night raves are great for fun-loving millennials but hazardous for the elderly who tend to go to bed before 9:00 pm. Dick and Lil Dickens - 80 and 79 - are a good example, an older couple who stumbled into a Cambridgeshire, England warehouse, 70 miles north of London.

According to the nation's daily tabloid, The Sun, the older couple noticed dozens of cars parked outside a warehouse and headed inside looking for bargains. Instead of discounts, the Dickens faced 1,000 party goers happily engaged in an all-night rave.

In their confusion, the couple agreed to pose for pictures with the partiers before leaving for their car. Dick told The Sun, "We’re in our 80's so we don’t want to get mixed up in anything like that." He continued, “Some girl just popped up with a camera and took our picture. She said ’right, you’ll be on Facebook now!”

The couple were stunned when they discovered in media reports that the party ended in £50,000 of damage to the warehouse - nearly $80,000 USD.

The Cambridgeshire Constabulary has launched a major campaign to prosecute those who organised the bash and have made one arrest. In response to community anger, North East Cambridgeshire Member of Parliament Steve Barclay raised objections during a meeting with English Home Secretary Theresa May.

“It’s essential that those responsible are brought to justice," May was quoted, from her Parliamentary office in London.

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Japanese government minister tells elderly to "hurry up and die"

aadmin — Wed, 23 Jan 2013 19:56:07 +0000

‘Respect your elders’ is a common adage, and one which many cultures around the world adhere to; honoring older people for their knowledge, wisdom and experience.

But in Japan, a country known for its honor of the elderly, a senior government minister is being criticized for recently telling seniors to “hurry up and die.”

As reported in the Globe and Mail newspaper, Taro Aso, Japan’s newly-appointed minister of finance, expressed his opinion at a recent meeting on the topic of social security, where he said he was frustrated that - according to his perception - many Japanese seniors are content to retire off government funds.

“I would wake up feeling increasingly bad knowing that[my retirement] was all being paid for by the government,” the 72 year-old wealthy official was quoted by the newspaper as saying at the meeting.

In Japan, Aso’s comments are likely to offend millions of people in the country’s assisted living communities.

Japan has one of the world’s lowest fertility rates, with only an average of 1.39 children per woman, and the shortage of children has created a demographic imbalance with a disproportionately large number of seniors in the country.

And although the country’s population has experienced a slight decline since 2010, the proportion of seniors has jumped to nearly one-fourth of the overall population.

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What was 2012's Top-Ranked Senior Consumer Story?

aadmin — Fri, 04 Jan 2013 15:27:03 +0000

A large Canadian newspaper pronounced its top-ranked consumer advocacy story for 2012. The Fixer in The Toronto Star, related that its column's finest moment of of the year was helping 90-year-old Kay Fukumoto find a safe way to a grocery story on her motorized scooter.

A sidewalk with a raised edge obstructed her scooter, and Fukomoto couldn't shop at a store that stocks her favorite pudding. After her scooter nearly toppled while crossing, Fukumoto was afraid to go back.

The Star's fearless consumer advocate took up the case with Toronto's transportation services and the sidewalk was rebuilt within a month of the story.

Fukomoto immediately had her scooter on the road and sped off to the grocery store. "You should have seen me go sailing along," she told The Star. "Grocery shopping is a delight and not a nightmare.”

The grocery store is no longer a forbidden pleasure for Kay Fukumoto.

Many residents of Assisted Living and Continuing Care residences depend on motorized scooters that are kept in fine repair.

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