Your Health ; In the News
$240,000 Estimated minimum amount a 65-year-old couple retiring in 2012 will spend for health care throughout retirement.
; Dorothy Burrill serves children in Jamaica with the Peace Corps.
; What an Outrage
Fight for the Right to Sell Caskets
Dorothy Burrill, 73, is doing more than soaking up the sun in Jamaica. The former college-level teacher
from Marion, Mass., is helping to develop an anti-bullying
program for youth as part of the Peace Corps Response
program. ; The program has offered short-term overseas
assignments to former Peace Corps volunteers since 1996. It now accepts people like Burrill who have never worked in the Peace Corps but
have at least 10 years of work experience and required language skills.
Volunteers serve an average six months in assignments ranging from
health specialist to university professional. ; “We’re seeing a lot more
baby boomers and retirees,” says Peace Corps Director Aaron S. Williams.
“Many have raised their kids, had careers—and now they are ready to do
this.” ; For more, go to peacecorps.gov/response. —Todd K. Beamon
A Volunteer
Response to
Adventure
When the monks of St. Joseph Abbey in Cov- ington, La., decided to sell caskets, they
just wanted to make a bit of money. After all, the
monks had long crafted caskets for members of
their own ranks. ; But in 2007, before they made
their first sale, the monks were stunned to learn
that their business would break the law. That’s
because in Louisiana only licensed funeral directors were allowed to sell caskets. ; To comply, the
monks would have to spend one year apprenticing at a funeral home, pass an industry exam and
convert their monastery into a funeral home.
; Determined to get their business off the ground,
the monks instead sued the Louisiana State
Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors, calling the rules unconstitutional. ; “The reason
; Lonetta
Johnson does
her exercises.
Building a Better, Younger Voice
Some people want to not only look younger, but sound young-
er, too. ; An increasing number of
older adults are putting more pep
into their speaking with voice ther-
apy. “Research has shown they can
sound younger than their chronolog-
ical age” through proper techniques,
says Nandhu Radhakrishnan, a Uni-
versity of Missouri specialist in voice
science and therapy. ;Vocal exercis-
es improve loudness and strengthen
the tone and endurance of muscles
that have lost elasticity, says Ellen
Markus, a speech pathologist at the
University of North Carolina Voice
Center. ; For Lonetta Johnson, 85,
of Columbia, Mo., breathing and vo-
cal exercises twice a day along with
relaxation techniques greatly im-
proved her raspy voice. “My voice
no longer feels strained,” says the re-
tired teacher, who sings in a church
choir. ; Aging doesn’t cause most
voice problems, says Michael M.
Johns III, M.D., who directs Emory
Voice Center in Atlanta, so it’s im-
portant to consult an otolaryngolo-
gist to rule out cancer, laryngitis or
other conditions. —Susan Kreimer
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why this law exists is because
it’s like an ATM machine for
the funeral directors,” says Jeff
Rowes, an attorney with the Institute for Justice
who is representing the monks. “It would be
like saying you have to become a podiatrist in
order to sell shoes. It just doesn’t make sense.”
; The monks won their case in 2011 and are currently selling their handmade wooden caskets,
which run between $1,500 and $2,000 each. But
the state funeral board appealed, and a decision
by the U.S. Court of Appeals is expected later
this year. ; Attorneys for the Louisiana State
Board of Embalmers and Funeral Directors did
not respond to a request for comment. However, Rowes says he wouldn’t be surprised if the
matter ultimately ends up at the U.S. Supreme
Court. —Michelle Diament
; A monk inspects one of
the caskets.
