AARP Bulletin - April 2012

In the News ;

$6,560 Average cost of a basic funeral for an adult in 2009.

; What an Outrage Barred From a Fine-Dining Restaurant

; Cancer survivor Linda Sales (left) and daughter Charity Santini

After eight months of chemo and radiation treatments for breast cancer, Linda Sales, 58, of Lehigh Acres, Fla., faced a mountain of medical bills. So her daughter, Charity Santini, turned to the Internet for help. ; Santini, 31, is among the growing number of people who rely on “crowd funding”— online fundraising for endeavors of many types, from business start-ups to charity. Santini set a $10,000 goal on IndieGoGo.com, one of several websites such as GiveForward, GoFundMe and You-Caring. So far, more than $2,600 has been contributed to Santini’s campaign, which ends in May. ; People with health expenses have used crowd-funding sites for everything from dental work to heart surgery. Since 2008, IndieGoGo has helped raise millions of dollars distributed around the world each month, says cofounder Slava Rubin. ; Creating a campaign is free, but many sites withhold a percentage of the funds raised as a processing fee. Contributions (made via credit card or PayPal) can come from anyone. ; Santini has been touched by donations from strangers. “It’s very unselfish,” she says. —Todd Beamon

Fundraising for
Health Care
Keeping an Eye on Mother Nature
Amateur naturalists are help- ing scientists answer questions
about shifts in seasons by observ-
ing things
like the
date robins
start build-
ing a nest.

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Frank Bilisoly, 90, and his wife, Indiana, 85, loved dining in the white-tablecloth River Terrace restaurant of the upscale Harbor’s Edge retirement community, where they live in Norfolk, Va. When Bilisoly’s health required him to switch to skilled nursing care at Harbor’s Edge, their restaurant meals together stopped. ; That’s because Harbor’s Edge declared River Terrace and Harbor Room, its other fine-dining restaurant, off-limits to its 16 nursing care and assisted living residents. (The community also banned those residents from events where food is served, such as picnics.) ; After the ban, Bilisoly and his wife of 65 years began ordering takeout from River Terrace. But it wasn’t the same. “It was frustrating,” says Bilisoly, a retired physician who put down a $500,000- plus deposit and pays $5,500 monthly at Harbor’s Edge. ; The community began limiting access to dining rooms after nonfatal choking incidents involving three of its nursing care and assisted living residents in early 2011, says Harbor’s Edge developer and executive director C.A. “Neil” Volder III. ; In doing so, Harbor’s Edge cited a Virginia law requiring medi-cal training for staffers in dining areas dedicated for use by nursing care and assisted living residents. Staffers at its fine-dining restaurants don’t have such training. ; When the community’s officials and residents questioned the state law, the Virginia Department of Health clarified that fine-dining rooms and community events are not regulated. The ban was then lifted in February. ; “I knew the policy would eventually fail because it’s inherently wrong,” Bilisoly says. —Blair S. Walker