Today is your day Boomer! Boomers....within 10 years, one of four British Columbians will be officially "seniors", 65 or older. And of course, we are part of this! But do we need more attention from government, more helping programs, more services....more money? Yes, we do. So the good news is we have a "seniors advocate" in our province, one who lobbies, pushes and promotes what we need. Dan Levitt says we need "to develop and implement a cross-ministry strategy and action plan to strengthen supports and services for seniors." He adds: "The recent flurry of announcements of new and replacement long-term care spaces and the updated poverty plan are encouraging, but seniors also need assurance that government is working to improve availability of seniors subsidized housing, access to health care, affordable transportation and home care, and better income supports.” How bad is it? Levitt says "the average wait time for a long-term care bed went up 54% to 209 days last year compared to 2019; the number of seniors on the waitlist increased 136% to 5,175 over the same period. As well, there was a 59% increase in the waitlist for seniors subsidized housing between 2019-2023, and of those, 17% of applicants have been waiting more than five years." Whew! Boomers, are you worried? I am....helppppp government!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Today is your day Boomer! And today is another day for wining......and I don't mean complaining. I mean drinking some pressed grapes and enjoying the health benefits. That's right, drinking alcohol is good for you. First, let's state the obvious....only in moderate amounts: two glasses per day for men and one for women. Research shows the following positive health effects: (1) reduces risk of Alzheimer's and Parkinson disease (2) is an anti-flammatory(white wine is better for this) (3) decreases risk of high blood pressure and high cholesterol(red wine is a better choice) (4) good for mental health, may increase age longevity, may promote healthy gut bacteria. All of this sounds good and much of it boils down to the antioxidants which are higher in red wine. It seems reds--like Merlot, Cab Sav, and Shiraz--have been studied more.....which means more research is needed on whites. Boomers, maybe we could volunteer for a new study! Cheers!
Read more
Image
Today is your day Boomer! Some advice from a Boomer who is now two months removed from hip replacement surgery. Treat your recovery like a job. Every morning, I take a 30 minute hot tub to warm up my joints and muscles. You could use a shower, bathtub or warming pad. Then I do my physio exercises for 30-40 minutes.....and, I play uptempo, motivating music to keep me going. Then I drink water, then I do 30 minutes on our stationary bike with a favourite tv show or movie in front of me. Then I take about a two hour break to relax, read, eat and do other things....then, I walk for 40 minutes, sometimes with our dogs. I used to take walking sticks or a cane, now I take nothing but a good mindful attitude of enjoying the day and walking with good rhythm and technique. Then, I am done. For awhile, I would rest or nap...but now, that is not needed! My physiotherapist says I am about three weeks ahead of schedule and I can get back into the gym for whole-body, gradual workouts. That begins ...
Read more
Image
Today is your day Boomer! Here is an x-ray of my new hip! It's been 3 weeks today since my operation and, thankfully, all systems are a BIG go! Here is my good news update: **week number one was tough, but all is good since **I am driving again and taking hot tubs **my five-inch incision is healing nicely and the staples are gone **I am off the major painkillers and am just taking Tylenol **all my bodily systems are working **I am going back to work this week **I am walking outside 25-30 minutes per day **I have started physiotherapy and my specialist says I am ahead of schedule **I have no acute, stabbing pain, just a little pain around the edges **I am doing normal things like attending high school basketball games and going for coffee with my golf buddies **I am very dilligent in doing my physio exercises twice per day and then using ice **I have abondoned my four-wheel walker, my crutches and almost my cane **I am walking most of the time now without any assistance **I can ...
Read more