Cypress Place senior living community is pleased to announce the 11th annual Health and Wealth Expo. The annual event promotes the active and engaging lifestyle of Ventura County seniors. This year’s event features 35 local vendors as well as local author, Fawn Parish as keynote speaker.

The Health and Wealth Expo is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, April 10, at Cypress Place, located at 1200 Cypress Point Lane in Ventura. The event is free and open to the public.

Over the last 11 years, the expo has featured speakers with incredible stories that inspire seniors across the area. This year’s event will be no different, as local author Fawn Parish presents her book, “Living a Life that Outlives You.” Parish is the author of eight books that aim to inspire. She is also a documentary filmmaker and storyteller whose work has been seen in many countries around the world.

Parish will share practical, do-it-right-now ideas on how to find purpose in your life, no matter your age.

In addition to enjoying Parish’s uplifting presentation, attendees can get their blood pressure checked, receive glucose screenings, along with balance and hearing tests. Wealth management and veteran benefit consultants will also be on hand to answer any questions. A free healthy gourmet lunch will also be provided.

Raffle prizes will be given away throughout the event, including one grand prize: a 50’’ HD flat screen TV. Free shuttle parking will also be available at Unitarian Universalist Church of Ventura located at 5654 Ralston Street in Ventura.

Corporate sponsors for the event are Mission Home Health, Meditech Health Services, Livingston Memorial Visiting Nurse Association, Buena Vista Hospice and UCLA Health.

For more information or to RSVP, please call 805-416-8793 or visit the Cypress Place website at www.cypressplaceseniorliving.com/events.

Cypress Place offers residents a variety of amenities, activities and residential living options. In addition to maintenance-free independent living apartments, residents have access to graduating levels of care, including assisted living and memory care. For more information, call 805-293-4708 or visit cypressplaceseniorliving.com.

Exercise is good for almost everyone, but there are so many things that can get in the way of staying active. It’s time for some positive thinking. No more excuses!

Older woman holding an exercise ball in a group exercise class

Here are some tips to help you overcome those barriers and improve your health.

Try exercising first thing in the morning. Combine physical activity with a task that’s already part of your day, such as walking the dog or doing household chores. If you don’t have 30 minutes to be active, look for three 10-minute periods. As you progress, add more 10-minute sessions until you hit your goal!

Make exercise interesting and enjoyable. Do things you enjoy, but pick up the pace and try new activities to keep your interest alive. Being creative about your physical activity plans and regularly trying new forms of exercise prevent boredom. If you can stick with it for at least 6 months, it’s a good sign that you’re on your way to making physical activity a regular habit.

No more excuses: overcome exercise barriers infographic icon. Click through for full text

Read and share this infographic for tips to help you overcome exercises barriers like not having time or being too tired.

Being active doesn’t have to cost a thing! All you need for brisk walking is a pair of comfortable, non-skid shoes. For strength training, you can save money by making your own weights using soup cans or water bottles. Check with your local parks and recreation department or senior center about free or low-cost exercise programs in your area.

Regular, moderate physical activity can help reduce fatigue and even help you manage stress. Exercise can also reduce feelings of depression, while improving your mood and overall emotional well-being. Once you become active, you’re likely to have more energy than before. As you do more, you also may notice that you can do things more easily, faster, and for longer than before.

Be sure to choose exercises from each of the four types: endurance, strength, balance, and flexibility.

by Stacey Burling

There are good reasons that older people fear hip fractures. They can remember the days when a broken hip was often the beginning of the end. Even today, up to 30 percent of seniors who break a hip are dead in a year. Many others never get around quite as well as they did before, which could make the difference between living at home or in assisted living, or even a nursing home.

Yet until recently, doctors often took a fairly leisurely approach to fixing broken hips. Patients would wait in bed for two or three days for surgery while doctors carefully evaluated their other medical problems. Now, spurred by research that found better results with shorter delays, hospitals are creating special programs to get more hip-fracture patients into the operating room within 24 hours or less of entering the hospital. A clinical trial in Canada is testing whether surgery within six hours should be the goal. Run by a cardiologist, this trial, known by the acronym HIP ATTACK, is treating hip-fracture victims with the kind of urgency that is now the norm for heart attack and stroke patients.

Hospitals in the Philadelphia region haven’t gone that far yet, but several have created special programs to expedite care for older patients with fragile bones, whose frailty makes prolonged bed rest especially dangerous. Among them are Penn Presbyterian Medical Center, Temple University Hospital, Einstein Medical Center, and Bryn Mawr Hospital. The multidisciplinary programs also work with patients before they leave the hospital to discuss how to strengthen bones or prevent more falls.

Almost everyone who breaks a hip will get some kind of surgical repair, surgeons said. The question is when.

by Bob Blancato  Executive Director of the National Association of Nutrition and Aging Services Programs

Medicare faces numerous threats in 2019. It’s time for lawmakers and healthcare advocates to attack these challenges head-on.

One threat stems from the Trump administration, which has suggested weakening the so-called protected classes provision in Medicare “Part D.”

Medicare’s Part D drug benefit has enabled seniors to purchase subsidized prescription coverage from private insurers. Part D regulations require every plan to cover all medications in six protected classes of therapies, including anticonvulsants, antidepressants, antineoplastics, antipsychotics, antiretrovirals, and immunosuppressants. This protection ensures that older adults who battle cancer, HIV/AIDS, depression, and other serious diseases have a full range of treatment options.

The administration’s proposal would allow Medicare Part D plans to stop covering some of the most popular and needed medications in these classes. Key medical and patient advocacy groups have indicated that the proposal should be withdrawn.

Another threat lurking for beneficiaries relates to the importation of prescription drugs. Some politicians argue certain drugs can be obtained cheaper if imported from other countries, assuming that price is the only factor that should motivate consumers.

However, consumers should also be concerned with the safety of imported drugs. Is the drug developed in a safe manner? Is it counterfeit? In other words, could it be a threat to the health of a person who uses the imported drug?

It is essential that the most stringent safety requirements be developed before there is any discussion of importation. All drugs that might be imported must pass this rigorous safety test.

In the highly-charged atmosphere around drug prices, importation will be a front and center issue. Different bills permitting everything from unlimited importation to very limited importation will be presented in this session of Congress. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Amy Klobuchar already introduced one importation bill, the “Safe and Affordable Drugs from Canada Act of 2019.” However, the rallying cry from advocates must be safety first.

Another concern relates to Medicare Part D’s Low-Income Subsidy (LIS) program, which enables enrollees to obtain heavily discounted prescriptions. Some influential government advisors have proposed raising these enrollees’ co-pays for certain necessary prescriptions. The program is a lifeline for low-income, older adults needing prescription drugs. All efforts to squeeze this vulnerable group of older Americans must be resisted.

Further, we need to do a better job of raising awareness about the LIS program to those older Americans from minority communities who are underutilizing this important benefit.

Medicare has been an unqualified success. Politicians, from the president to representatives in Congress, have pledged to protect Medicare. Advocates should pressure them to fulfill that pledge.

The Parkinson’s Foundation will host its annual Moving Day, Ventura, A Walk for Parkinson’s to unite the community in the fight against Parkinson’s. Funds raised through Moving Day will support cutting-edge research and community programs to improve the lives of people with Parkinson’s disease and their families. On April 13, 9am -12pm at the Ventura County Fairgrounds.

More than just a walk, Moving Day Ventura is a celebration of movement featuring a kids’ area, a Resource Pavilion and a special Movement Pavilion with yoga, dance, Tai Chi, Pilates and other activities—all proven to help manage Parkinson’s symptoms. Moving Day events across the country have raised nearly $22 million dollars to improve care and advance research toward a cure.

The Parkinson’s Foundation makes life better for people with Parkinson’s disease by improving care and advancing research toward a cure. In everything we do, we build on the energy, experience and passion of our global Parkinson’s community. For more information, visit www.parkinson.org or call (800)473-4636).

To register or donate visit www.MovingDayVenturaCounty.org.