In the News ;
If you’re struggling to pay for health care, food or utilities, help may
be closer than you realize. Older
Americans miss out on more than
$20 billion worth of benefits every year. ; A nationwide campaign
launched by the National Council on Aging (NCOA) and the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging aims to help older adults
learn about two easily accessed resources that can connect them
to needed support. ; BenefitsCheckUp ( benefitscheckup.org),
NCOA’s free, comprehensive online screening site, features more
than 2,000 public and private programs for low-income Medicare
beneficiaries. ; Eldercare Locator (1-800-677-1116 or eldercare
.gov), a public service of the U.S. Administration on Aging, provides
information about local agencies and organizations that support
seniors, their families and caregivers. Find both resources at aarp
.org/quicklink. —Joan Rattner Heilman
Are You Missing Out on Benefits?
; Now Hear This People, Trends and Ideas
Keep On Truckin’
UPS trucker Ron “Big Dog”
Sowder, 72, doesn’t plan to park
his big rig and call it quits—not
after driving accident-free for
half a century. “I love to fish
and go on cruises, but I’m not
ready to go just yet,” says Sowder
(right), of Springboro, Ohio. He
joined “Big Brown” in 1960 and
is the company’s first employee to reach this milestone.
UPS marked Sowder’s achievement with gifts, among
them a grandfather clock, a framed truck steering wheel
and a day off.
Older adults in Japan are flocking to shopping mall arcades with
change in their pockets and fun on their minds. What’s gotten
them so excited? Push-coin games. Players often spend hours
feeding coins into slots of mechanical games in hopes of shoving
or manipulating other coins over a ledge and winning a jackpot.
“The jury is out on whether video and arcade games can help prevent mental decline as we age,” says Sharon A. Brangman, M.D.,
of the American Geriatrics Society. “Still, the games can be fun,
connect you with others and get you out of the house.”—Mike Tucker
