February 4, 2010

ROSENDAHL CALLS LOS ANGELES HIV/AIDS ELDER ADVOCACY SUMMIT & NEW MEDIA TRAINING
Forum Open to the Public

Los Angeles – Los Angeles City Councilmember Bill Rosendahl is co-costing an “HIV/AIDS Advocacy Summit and New Media Training Conference” with the City’s AIDS Coordinator’s Office, and a coalition of Los Angeles grassroots advocacy organizations led by activist Richard Kearns.

The conference will be held on the 27^th Floor of City Hall in the Tom Bradley Tower on Friday, February 12 from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The program will offer instruction on:

• building a website from scratch
• practicing posting videos & text
• meeting with city councilmembers and their staff
• empowering adult activists and their allies with new media and networking skills

“This is a great opportunity for people living with HIV and AIDS to learn how to use the Internet to communicate with each other and the world,” said Rosendahl.  “This day-long training session will educate and empower individuals to use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other online sources to network and express themself through the powerful medium of the Internet.”

Kearns, a 58 year-old gay man living with AIDS in Los Angeles for more than 20 years, is a member of the growing group of long-term survivors.  He is a community-based Internet advocate, an AIDS activist, and publisher of two blogs. His has become a familiar face at LA City Council meetings, where he speaks regularly on issues that affect people living with HIV in Los Angeles, such as aging, the assisted healthcare system, and medical cannabis.

“Everyone treats us as liabilities when in fact, we are resources – both to ourselves and to our community,” said Kearns. “However, as a group, I’d also characterize elder people living with HIV and AIDS as ‘internet reluctant,’ and ‘technology resistant.’ The question becomes this: Why should we let ourselves be intimidated by something a nine-year-old can master in a single sitting?”

Anyone interested in attending the free conference should contact Richard Kearns at rk@aids-write.org or call 310-488-1328.

www.councilmanrosendahl.com
City Hall (213) 473-7011 West LA (310) 575-8461 Westchester (310) 568-8772



chers—

this is an excellent 5-minute introduction to advocates using the new media for HIV/AIDS prevention, testing, treatment & survival education.

namaste

—rk

New Year’s Messages from AIDS.gov and colleagues highlighting voices and new media lessons learned.

Connecting and Giving: A Report on How Mid-life and Older Americans Spend Their Time, Make Connections and Build Communities

By: Alicia Williams, John Fries, Jean Koppen and Robert Prisuta; AARP Knowledge Management
January 2010

prnewswire report here

Americans 45+ adding informal service to their work with established organizations; African Americans extremely active and engaged in communities and volunteering

WASHINGTON, Jan. 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Though volunteering through organizations has remained stable in the last several years, a new report from AARP finds that informal service work among baby boomers and others 45+ is on the rise.

According to the report, the number of boomers and older Americans engaged in self-directed volunteering—volunteering on their own, outside of a formal organization—increased from 34 percent in 2003 to 57 percent in 2009. Additionally, seven in 10 boomers reported they are engaged in volunteering either on their own or through an organization, which is a 20 percent increase over the number of people who say they volunteer through an organization alone.

“We have long known that baby boomers stand ready to serve, but this data gives us new information about how they are serving,” said Thomas C. Nelson, AARP Chief Operating Officer. “As AARP works to activate Boomers and older Americans, we continue to track these trends so that collectively, the service community can better meet the needs of everyone interested in giving back.” . . .

. . . Additional study highlights include:

• The frequency of charitable giving among 45+ adults has increased over last year from 55 percent in 2008 to 72 percent in 2009. Volunteers were more likely than non-volunteers to donate to charitable or religious organizations.  Among those with higher incomes, donating was a fairly common practice—reported by more than 8 in 10 survey respondents.
• The nature of civic engagement is changing, becoming more personal and more secular. Boomers and older Americans are less likely to join organizations. Although membership in religious organizations remains a relatively popular activity, involvement in these organizations has declined.
• Volunteers have many motivations for giving their time in service, but their chief motivation is feeling a personal responsibility to help others when they need it. This reason was reported by 68 percent of volunteers overall; and rated as very important by half of all volunteers. Other top motivations cited included giving back to others, making their own lives more satisfying, and helping their own neighborhood or community.
• While the rate of traditional volunteering has held steady, the amount of time volunteers spend in service has declined as volunteering becomes more episodic. In 2003 and 2009, 51 percent of survey respondents reported volunteering in the prior year. While volunteers in the 2003 study reported spending an average of 15 hours a month in volunteer service, in 2009, volunteers report spending an average of six to 10 hours per month in service—a decline of five to nine hours per month over the six-year time period.

. . . The study found particularly high rates of engagement in 45+ African Americans:  they are likely to be very involved in volunteer work; helping to solve neighborhood programs; political activities; and working on state or national issues. More than half of African Americans surveyed reported being very involved in religious or spiritual activities. Additionally, nearly twice as many African Americans report being very involved in educational activities compared to non-Hispanic Whites.

“African Americans have a long history of civic and volunteer engagement in their communities,” Nelson said. “The data is encouraging and tells us that this tradition, which is so important to creating vibrant communities, remains strong.” . . .

The full survey is available at: http://www.aarp.org/research/surveys/life/lifestyle/volunteer/articles/connecting_giving.html

Report results are from an August 2009 telephone survey of several generations of Americans on their volunteering, giving, and civic engagement activities.  The survey interviewed 1,475 Americans age 45 years and older (i.e., members of the Baby Boom, Silent, and Greatest generations) and, for comparative purposes, 500 members of Generation X (ages 29 to 44), 470 African Americans and 447 Hispanics.

ABOUT AARP

AARP is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization that helps people 50+ have independence, choice and control in ways that are beneficial and affordable to them and society as a whole. AARP does not endorse candidates for public office or make contributions to either political campaigns or candidates. We produce AARP The Magazine, the definitive voice for 50+ Americans and the world’s largest-circulation magazine with over 34.5 million readers; AARP Bulletin, the go-to news source for AARP’s nearly 40 million members and Americans 50+; AARP Segunda Juventud, the only bilingual U.S. publication dedicated exclusively to the 50+ Hispanic community; and our website, AARP.org. AARP Foundation is an affiliated charity that provides security, protection, and empowerment to older persons in need with support from thousands of volunteers, donors, and sponsors. We have staffed offices in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Island.

SOURCE AARP

RELATED LINKS
http://www.aarp.org

The Obama failure: senior citizens increasingly relying on food pantries

chers—

the text about this US department of agriculture (USDA) report is excerpted in a 11/28/2009 post on americaBLOG. i have put the report first and the 2 paragraphs of commentary after, reversing the order of the original post.

namaste

—rk

The number of seniors living alone who seek help from food pantries in the U.S. increased 81 percent to 408,000 in 2008, compared to 225,000 in 2006, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Overall, 4.7 million households used American food pantries in 2008, compared to about 3.7 million in 2006.

“Seniors thought they were OK, but they’re not OK,” said Virginia Skinner, director of Development at The Association of Arizona Food Banks in Phoenix, citing the downturn in the area’s housing market.

Catholic Charities USA, which has 170 agencies across the country helping the needy, issued a 2009 third-quarter report that found a 54 percent increase in requests for food and services from seniors nationwide compared to the same period last year.

Why is this Obama’s failure? There’s little doubt that the current economic condition is a direct result of the GOP policies that were implemented with the Clinton economic team, including Larry Summers. Obama obviously had nothing to do with that. Where he is responsible though is hiring Summers and that right wing group to steer the economy. Obama has ignored the liberal economists over and over. Instead, he has bought into the Wall Street view of the world. He talks a big story and yes, we hear his outrage. After a while though, shouldn’t he step up and quit the talking and do something to stop the feeding frenzy? We can’t afford both and there’s little to suggest the Wall Street bailout was appreciated or respected.

Is it ethical and morally acceptable to maintain the posh Wall Street lifestyle when we are seeing so many Americans falling so far behind? The moral compass in this White House doesn’t look significantly different from the Bush years and that is indeed a serious disappointment. Obama is sadly in as much of a bubble as George W. Bush. The apologists always like to blame Geithner (who deserves blame) for everything but he’s not the president, is he? There’s still time to get back on track but it’s disappearing quickly.

Consequences of Increasing Co-Payments for Ambulatory Care

Even small increases in cost-sharing were associated with fewer outpatient visits and more inpatient admissions among elders.

Recently, many health plans have increased co-payments for outpatient visits. Although the rationale presumably is to minimize unnecessary ambulatory care, the strategy could backfire if higher co-payments dissuade patients from obtaining necessary clinical services.

To examine this issue, researchers analyzed data from 36 Medicare managed care plans with nearly one million enrollees. In 18 plans, mean co-payments for outpatient visits increased during the study period (2001–2006), from a mean of US$7 to $14 for primary care visits and from $13 to $22 for specialist visits. In 18 “control” plans, co-payments stayed the same during the study interval.

During the year after outpatient co-payments increased, 20 fewer outpatient visits occurred per 100 enrollees (compared with plans that did not change co-payments). However, annual inpatient admissions increased by 2 per 100 enrollees and inpatient days increased by 13 per 100 enrollees after co-payments increased. Annual outpatient expenditures fell by an estimated $7150 per 100 enrollees, but this savings was negated by inpatient expenditures, which increased by an estimated $24,000 per 100 enrollees annually.

Comment: The authors note that lack of randomized assignment of patients to health plans is a limitation of their analysis. But the findings are worrisome: Even relatively small increases in outpatient co-payments might deter some patients from seeking timely medical attention. In the long run, the result could be poorer health and higher costs — precisely the opposite of what health care reform should accomplish.

— Allan S. Brett, MD

Published in Journal Watch General Medicine January 28, 2010

Citation(s):

Trivedi AN et al. Increased ambulatory care copayments and hospitalizations among the elderly. N Engl J Med 2010 Jan 28; 362:320.

• Original article (Subscription may be required)
• Medline abstract (Free)

chers—

this is a link to the pdf for part iii on an excellent series called “the graying of an epidemic: clinical considerations of HIV and Aging,” available as a cme from hivandhepatitis.com. the other two parts are below.

namaste

—rk

chers—

this is a link to the pdf for part ii on an excellent series called “the graying of an epidemic: clinical considerations of HIV and Aging,” available as a cme from hivandhepatitis.com. the other two parts are above & belowe.

namaste

—rk

http://www.hivandhepatitis.com/cme/2010/healthmatters/cardio/images/Cardiovascular.pdf

chers—

this is a link to the pdf for part i on an excellent sereis called “the graying of an epidemic: clinical considerations of HIV and Aging,” available as a cme from hivandhepatitis.com. the other two parts follow above.

namaste—rk

http://www.hivandhepatitis.com/cme/2010/healthmatters/aging/images/Graying.pdf

Led by Facebook, Twitter, Global Time Spent on Social Media Sites up 82% Year over Year

According to The Nielsen Company, global* consumers spent more than five and half hours on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter in December 2009, an 82% increase from the same time last year when users were spending just over three hours on social networking sites. In addition, the overall traffic to social networking sites has grown over the last three years.

chers—

below is the [*]footnote from all the way at the end. also, compare this with the nielson article on the growth of the senior segment of the internet market.

“*Global data takes into account the following countries: U.S., U.K., Australia, Brazil, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain and Italy”

read on & namaste

—rk

Globally, social networks and blogs are the most popular online category when ranked by average time spent in December, followed by online games and instant messaging. With 206.9 million unique visitors, Facebook was the No. 1 global social networking destination in December 2009 and 67% of global social media users visited the site during the month. Time on site for Facebook has also been on the rise, with global users spending nearly six hours per month on the site.

U.S. Growth in Average time Person on Facebook and Twitter Outpaces Growth of Overall Category
People in the U.S. continue to spend more time on social networking and blog sites as well, with total minutes increasing 210% year-over-year and the average time per person increasing 143% year-over-year in December 2009. Year-over-year growth in average time spent by U.S. users, for both Facebook and Twitter.com, outpaced the overall growth for the category, increasing 200% and 368%, respectively. Among, the top five U.S. social networking sites, Twitter.com continued its reign as the fastest-growing in December 2009 in terms of unique visitors, increasing 579% year-over-year, from 2.7 million unique visitors in December 2008 to 18.1 million in December 2009. However, month-over-month, unique visitors decreased 5%

Australia Leads in Average Time Spent per Person on Social Media Sites in December
When narrowed by individual country, with 142.1 million unique visitors the United States had the largest number of social media and blog users in December, followed by Japan, which had 46.6 million unique visitors during the month. Australia led in average time per person spent, with the average Australian spending nearly 7 hours on social media sites in December. The United States and the United Kingdom came in a close second and third, with 6 hours and 9 minutes and 6 hours and 8 minutes, respectively.

*Global data takes into account the following countries: U.S., U.K., Australia, Brazil, Japan, Switzerland, Germany, France, Spain and Italy