by Matilda Charles

COVID hits seniors hard. Many of us have underlying medical conditions that make a diagnosis of COVID very risky in terms of recovery. But the lockdown from the pandemic has another risky side: mental health disorders.

Whether we’re living at home, in a retirement center or a care facility, our isolation has been very stressful.

A survey conducted in June concluded that seniors were less negatively affected than other age groups when it comes to mental health. They say we have better emotional regulation, which means we don’t react as strongly to negative events.

But the study was done when we were only a few months into this new way of living. (Even the study mentions that as a caveat.) Now eight more months have passed. Holidays without family. Missed doctor appointments. We’ve had to take a crash course in online chat to be able to see and talk to friends and family. Our regular meetings and social outings are canceled. The news has been a daily onslaught of the increasing numbers of positive cases and deaths.

A more recent study from Portugal unearthed the truth, however. After reviewing 41 pieces of research from around the world, scientists concluded that “anxiety, depression, poor sleep quality and physical inactivity” have been prevalent among seniors during our lockdowns.

If you’re struggling, ask for help. In some communities, hotlines have opened up to deal with this kind of stress. Look online for “mental health hotline” and your state. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention set up a web page in December. Search online for “CDC Coping with Stress” and look at all the offerings on the page. There is a national helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). Or you can just pick up the phone and dial 211. It’s a referral for community services.

(c) 2021 King Features Synd., Inc.

Previous research has led to findings that support links between a positive mental outlook and physical health benefits such as lower blood pressure, less heart disease, and healthier blood sugar levels. In a recent study of mood changes in older adults, scientists also have discovered that healthy brain function may result in maintaining a positive outlook.

For this study, which was funded in part by NIA and published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry in September 2020, scientists proposed a potential neurobiological connection between an older adult’s mood with changes, over a period of time, in white brain matter and cognitive ability. White matter is where information is transmitted from one brain region to another. As we age, changes can occur in the white matter that may lead to thinking, walking, and balance problems.

The scientists first examined measures of executive function, the ability to perform complex tasks such as planning or decision-making that require attentional focus, and then imaged the white matter of the brain. They found that the integrity of the white matter and stable executive function appear to be important for maintaining healthy mood states in late life.

Research participants included 716 community-dwelling adults who were assessed to have normal cognitive and neurological function. Mood was measured using the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). The neuropsychological assessment included tests of executive function, memory, and processing speed (the time it takes to comprehend information and respond). A subset of 327 participants also underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) within six months of completing the GDS and neuropsychological assessments.

The investigators found that mood improved with increasing age until around the early 70s, at which point the positive effect of age on mood plateaued, and eventually reversed. Stable white matter integrity, along with stable executive function and processing speed, appeared to protect against this reversal of positive mood.

Because the study was observational, these findings cannot be interpreted to show causation. Further research is needed to determine whether the brain-mood relationships are bidirectional. Another caveat is that the participants were mostly white and highly educated. Observed relationships between mood, age, white matter integrity, and cognition need to be evaluated in racially and educationally diverse groups. The researchers also suggest that future studies of the links between brain health, cognition, and mood should be large-scale, longitudinal, and use methods to allow capture of the full range of neurodevelopment. Results of such studies could inform interventions across a variety of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric conditions.

This research was supported in part by NIH grant R01AG032289.

Being physically active is one of the most important things you can do each day to maintain and improve your health and keep doing things you enjoy as you age. Make exercise a priority with the following tips:

Find ways to fit exercise into your day. You are more likely to get moving if exercise is a convenient part of your day.

Do activities you enjoy to make it more fun. Be creative and try something new!

Make it social. Find a virtual “exercise buddy” to help keep you going and provide emotional support.

If there’s a break in your routine, get back on track. Start slowly and gradually build back up to your previous level of activity. Ask your family and friends for support.

Keep track of your progress. Make an exercise plan and don’t forget to reward yourself when you reach your goals.

The Area Agency on Aging provides transportation services for older adults that are in need of transportation to a vaccine appointment or for COVID-19 testing. This includes people that need lift assist as well as gurney transportation. The driver will take the individual, wait for them, help them at the site and take them home. To schedule a ride call 805-477-7300. Please note, you must have a vaccine appointment before you schedule a ride to a vaccine site.

by Patricia Jones PHD Director, Office of Special Populations (OSP).

Are you an early-stage investigator hoping to establish a career in aging research or a junior faculty member who wants to better understand and address health disparities in the field? If you answered “yes” to either of these questions, then you can combine these interests by applying to the 2021 NIA Butler-Williams Scholars Program!

The Butler-Williams (B-W) Scholars Program is a unique opportunity for early-career scientists to build a national network in the field of aging research; learn more about NIA science and its funding opportunities; and sharpen grant writing skills. It is especially helpful for researchers who are planning for a career development award or their first R01, but anyone interested in aging research is encouraged to apply.

The B-W Scholars Program is presented by the NIA Office of Special Populations, which works to strengthen the understanding of health disparities in aging research and mentor a diverse next generation of scientists. Like the 2020 program participants, this year’s B-W Scholars will meet virtually in adherence with COVID-19 safety precautions. The training program continues to be a popular and effective opportunity to grow your professional network in aging research.

The immersive and intensive B-W Scholars Program blends seminars, presentations, small group discussions, and networking. Participants will connect with NIA leadership, scientific review and program staff, and NIA-supported extramural researchers. The 2021 B-W Scholars curriculum includes:

The B-W Scholars Program will be held virtually on August 24-26, 2021. Interested early career investigators must apply by the March 31 deadline. This training is offered at no cost to successful applicants. Applicants must be U.S. citizens or permanent residents. Researchers from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups, individuals with disabilities, women, and/or individuals with an interest in minority health, health disparities, and advancing health equity research related to aging are especially encouraged to apply.

Apply at https://www.nia.nih.gov/.

The Spirit of Entrepreneurship (SOE) Awards, presented by Women’s Economic Ventures (WEV), is thrilled to announce that Lupe Anguiano will be honored as the 2021 recipient of the prestigious Rock Star: Lifetime Achievement Award. Anguiano is an entrepreneur and activist known for her work on women’s rights, the rights of the poor, and the protection of the environment who has founded two impactful nonprofits. She will be recognized at the Spirit of Entrepreneurship Awards event, which will be held virtually on May 21. Information at www.soefoundation.org

In 1978, Anguiano founded an organization called National Women’s Employment & Education (NWEE) that offered a model program removing many of the barriers faced by women on welfare. By the early 1990’s NWEE had placed 3,000 women in jobs. Forty years later, still going strong at 75-years-old, she founded and directed Stewards of the Earth, a non-profit organization committed to protecting the west coast environment from agricultural pollutants, fracking and the downsides of development.

Anguiano, the daughter of Oxnard fieldworkers who will celebrate her 92nd birthday in March, has led a remarkable life that has included organizing grape boycotts for Cesar Chavez, developing a program for gang members in East LA, and founding a powerful women’s political group with Gloria Steinem. As an education specialist in the Johnson administration, Lupe worked on the nation’s first bilingual education bill and went on to hold various positions in the Nixon, Carter, and Reagan administrations. She worked closely with President Reagan and received a President’s Volunteer Award from him in 1983 for her work with NWEE.

Anguiano is the 11th recipient of WEV’s Spirit of Entrepreneurship Rock Star Award, which is presented annually to an individual who has made an indelible impact on our community and who serves as a role model for women. Previous recipients include Lynne Tahmisian, Sara Miller McCune, Lady Leslie Ridley-Tree, Betty Hatch, and Carol Duncan.

WEV’s Spirit of Entrepreneurship Awards also celebrate outstanding businesswomen from Santa Barbara and Ventura Counties in ten industry categories. Nominations are now open and community members are encouraged to nominate a woman entrepreneur (including themselves) to be recognized at the May 21 event. Nominations are due by February 21, https://soe.awardsplatform.com/.

Since 1991, WEV has provided business training and consulting to more than 19,000 people throughout Santa Barbara and Ventura counties. WEV has made over $6.4 million in business loans and helped more than 5,000 local businesses start or expand, generating an estimated $770 million in annual sales and creating nearly 12,000 local jobs. WEV is a U.S. Small Business Administration’s Women’s Business Center and Microlender, as well as a certified Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI).

The National Council on Aging (NCOA), a trusted national leader working to ensure that every person can age well, urges the New Administration and Congress to move quickly to protect older Americans from a resurgent COVID-19 pandemic by building upon the relief bill passed in December, 2020.

“Older Americans—especially women and people of color—have been the hardest hit during this pandemic, and they desperately need health and financial support,” said NCOA President and CEO Ramsey Alwin. “COVID-19 has laid bare our nation’s long-standing inequities based on age, race, gender, and income. It has created an even greater urgency to enact solutions now that enable every American to age with health, security, and dignity.”

NCOA is encouraged by the emerging details of the new Administration’s COVID-19 response plan, as well as the bipartisan action late last year that included funding for COVID-19 vaccine distribution to high-risk and underserved populations, greater food benefits, and extended rental assistance. But much more relief is needed. NCOA is urging action on four fronts.

NCOA supports President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine goal to administer 100 million doses in the first 100 days of his Administration. The proposed $415 billion is essential to speed vaccination, testing, contact tracing, and purchasing of supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) so desperately needed across the country. The nation needs a coordinated national vaccination plan that is fully funded and implemented with flexibility for municipalities to address local needs. The plan must ensure equitable access to those disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus, using culturally competent messaging for older adults in communities of color and hard-to-reach areas in partnership with community-based organizations that serve older adults.

NCOA supports wider access for older adults to job training and placement programs to enable them to reenter the workforce quickly as the economy reopens. NCOA seeks expanded funding for programs like the Senior Community Service Employment Program and continued unemployment insurance for workers of all ages. Unemployment rates for workers aged 55+ have remained higher than those of mid-career workers throughout the entire pandemic, according to The New School Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis.

NCOA calls for policymakers to protect and strengthen programs that enable older adults to remain independent. This includes increased federal funding to states for Medicaid and home care services and enhancements to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Even before the pandemic, over 25 million Americans aged 60+ were economically insecure, living at or below 250% of the federal poverty level.

NCOA seeks more federal funding for local organizations, such as senior centers and area agencies on aging, that are on the frontlines of the pandemic, ensuring older adults do not go hungry and have the supports they need. This includes health promotion and disease prevention services that can reduce the risk of hospitalization and nursing home placement. While demand for these services has increased, Older Americans Act programs received only modest funding increases this fiscal year, and much more is needed.

The National Council on Aging (NCOA) is a trusted national leader working to ensure that every person can age well. Since 1950, their mission has not changed: Improve the lives of millions of older adults, especially those who are struggling. Learn more at ncoa.org and @NCOAging.

People with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias may start having trouble managing their finances several years before their diagnosis, according to new research supported by NIA. Published online in JAMA Internal Medicine, the study is the first large-scale analysis of people’s ability to manage their money before and after a dementia diagnosis.

Common symptoms of dementia, including memory and cognitive limitations, can lead people with dementia to have trouble handling money and paying bills, so repeated financial mistakes can be an early sign of the disease. The new study, led by scientists at Johns Hopkins University, linked Medicare claims data to credit card payments and credit reports to examine dementia-related money problems. The researchers analyzed information from 1999 to 2018 on more than 81,000 Medicare beneficiaries, about a third of whom were diagnosed with dementia within this period. All study participants were at least 65 years old and lived alone. The researchers studied the number of missed credit card payments and credit scores for seven years before and four years after a dementia diagnosis and compared this information against data from people without dementia.

The study found that people who had dementia had more missed credit card payments as early as six years before their diagnosis and were more likely to have lower-than-average credit scores two-and-a-half years before their diagnosis. After diagnosis, people with dementia had even more missed payments and lower credit scores than people without dementia, and this trend continued for at least three-and-a-half years after diagnosis. Results also showed that among people with dementia, those who had lower levels of education had increases in missed payments seven years before diagnosis, while people who had higher education levels had increases in missed payments only two-and-a-half years before diagnosis. This difference confirms previous findings suggesting that people with higher education levels can have less severe dementia symptoms.

The researchers point out some limitations of the study: By using only Medicare claims data, the study might have missed some cases of dementia, and additional information from utility bills, rent payments, or medical collections might have helped to provide a clearer picture of money problems. Also, the findings might not apply to married couples or older adults in assisted living facilities, because those people might have help handling their finances.

The study’s results help show that the period during which an older adult might be at risk of financial mismanagement and scams may be longer than currently understood and point to the need for early diagnostic tools and policies to help protect older adults. The researchers also noted that improved support services and financial guidance could help people with dementia and their caregivers get the resources they need to maintain their financial security and independence.

This research was supported in part by NIA grant R21AG053698.

These activities relate to NIA’s AD+ADRD Research Implementation Milestone 9.M, “Develop diagnostics/biomarkers in asymptomatic individuals,” and 9.N, “Determining the value of screening for clinically relevant cognitive impairment in the absence of a cognitive complaint.”

Reference: Nicholas LH, et al. The financial presentation of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2020. Epub Nov 30. doi: 10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.6432.

Not every World War II hero carried a gun. In the case of Ventura World War II veteran Jack. D. Schulz, his battlefront was IBM’s newfangled “tabulation machine” that was then considered cutting-edge warfare technology.

The veteran who helped win the war with his prowess on the keyboard celebrated his 99^th birthday on Saturday, January 16 , with a drive-by parade that included the Ventura City Police and Fire Departments.

The drive-by celebration was held at the Turning Point Foundation’s Veterans Transitional Housing Program at 43 East Vince Street in Ventura.

Schulz was born in Michigan in 1922, when Prohibition was sweeping across the nation and President Warren G. Harding gave his first radio address. Schulz lived through the Great Depression and was drafted into the U.S. Army in 1944, at the age of 22.

When Army officials learned Schulz could type an accurate 40 words per minute on an Underwood manual typewriter, they put him to work on a machine IBM had invented that was a lot like today’s laptop computer when compared to the unwieldy wall-to-wall computers of 1944.

Schulz was stationed in California where he learned to input data with this new technology, which was designed to support the troops overseas. At the end of the war, Schulz was honorably discharged as a Tech-5 specialist and was awarded an Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal.

Schulz remained in sunny Southern California and convinced his mother and grandmother to relocate with him from Michigan and its frigid winters to the seaside city of Port Hueneme. He enrolled in the University of Southern California (USC) on the GI Bill and earned a bachelor’s degree in Marketing. Work was hard to come by after the war, but Schulz landed a position doing deliveries while also caring for his grandmother and later, his mother.

Still, Schulz found time to be a community volunteer for 14 years. He married, but his wife passed away in 2017. They had no children, and Schulz said a lawyer who handled his estate took all of his assets, leaving him with nothing but a van, forcing him to start all over.

Schulz lived homeless in his van for two years until 2019, when he was referred to Ventura County Veteran’s Services and then to the Turning Point Foundation. Schulz’s full story has been archived in Washington, D.C. through the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW).