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Growing age-focused startups

By Margaret Foster

What if you had a bright idea for a gadget that could help older adults? How would you turn that idea into reality?

Six years ago, Pam Cacchione, a Philadelphia nurse, had such an idea. Her brother, who lives in Maryland, had developed heart failure, which caused his legs to swell. She wanted to help him but was too far away to check on him personally.

“I resorted to looking at his sock rings,” that is, the rings his socks left on his swollen legs. “I blurted out, ‘You need heart-failure monitoring socks!’”

Her colleagues urged her to invent those socks, so Cacchione came up with a few prototypes and this February won $60,000 from the Startup Challenge, a new program at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in Bethesda, Maryland.

“These socks are going to help families manage their loved one’s heart failure at home and notice if they’re getting worse or getting better,” said Cacchione, professor of Geropsychiatric Nursing at the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing.

Although her invention has taken years to develop and still needs further testing, “it’s been really exciting and such a huge learning curve,” Cacchione said of the NIA program.

A government ‘Shark Tank’

The Startup Challenge helps many new businesses with that learning curve. Launched two years ago, innovators from all types of backgrounds — nurses, bankers, researchers — are welcome to apply.

NIA chooses 20 applicants each year to participate in a five-month “accelerator” — an educational program providing 40 training sessions and a three-day in-person “boot camp” conference. After five months,

Dr. Richard Burns and his children, Andrew and Kira, developed a product to help those who have difficulty walking. They are among the winners of this year’s Startup Challenge, a new program at the National Institute on Aging that mentors and helps fund entrepreneurs who want to improve the lives of older adults.

NIA selects six winners to each win a $60,000 cash prize.

The NIA funding has already helped put a fall-detection device in Best Buy stores and has assisted dozens of other entrepreneurs.

“It’s not something that you see every day — a government office like ours to be able to develop a de novo program that immediately is having impact,” said Todd Haim, Ph.D., the director of NIA’s Office of Strategic Extramural Programs, which over-

sees the Startup Challenge and Accelerator.

The program isn’t exactly “Shark Tank,” but it bears some resemblance to the reality TV series. For instance, each innovator’s pitch video, filmed at the beginning and again at the end of the program, is “very similar to what you see on ‘Shark Tank,’” Haim said.

But instead of the kitchen sponges and gourmet popcorn vying for funding on

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It only takes a moment

Most of the time, for me at least, life just rolls along without any truly memorable moments.

Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy much about my life, including my work, my family and my free time. And I’m sure I learn new things every day. (Whether I remember them is another story.)

But this summer, I’ve had some brief educational encounters that I think might well count as life-altering.

childhood to overcome my fears and become a decent swimmer.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

I was approached recently by the founder of Rip Current Sports, swim coach Jose Gallagher, who wanted the Beacon to inform readers about a flotation device he developed. Coach Gallagher claimed it helps nonswimmers learn to swim and good swimmers learn to swim better.

By Stuart P. Rosenthal

He pointed out what good exercise swimming is for people of any age, and that many older adults seem to have a fear of the water that keeps them from trying it.

He couldn’t have known that he was describing me when he said that, but I’ve tried repeatedly and unsuccessfully since

CORRECTION

I never got anywhere with that as a kid, though I had more than one swim teacher try. In college, I just passed my swim course by managing to get once across the pool without drowning.

I’ve since taken private swim lessons (when my kids were young, so they wouldn’t wonder why Daddy didn’t get in the pool with them) and an adult group class (where I started out way ahead of most of the others but wimped out when we moved to the deep end).

So, when the coach offered to give me a lesson to show me how his device worked — and promised it would make me a better swimmer — I dove at the opportunity, so to speak.

Once in the water, even before we got to the device, he made a couple of pointers that were “aha moments” for me.

Now, maybe I had been told these things before and had forgotten. But when he explained that I was bending my feet in the

The caption for our July cover photo misidentified Annette Watford. It was her daughter, Arielle Brown, who appeared in the photo.

wrong way as I kicked, I was amazed at the difference that simple correction made.

My real problem, however, has always been breathing while doing the crawl. After a few strokes, I invariably end up with a mouth and/or nose full of water, choking and gasping for breath.

That’s where his flotation paddles (he calls them “Dual Boards”) came in. Unlike a kickboard you hold in front of you, these are like small kickboards strapped to each of your hands. Holding one hand out in front of you and the other down at your side, for example, you can practice both kicking and breathing without fear of sinking.

He encouraged me to take as long as I needed to breathe, experimenting with different angles to my head as the boards kept me afloat.

After just a few minutes of practice, he had me take the boards off and try the crawl again. To my amazement, I found myself more comfortably breathing to the side — without the typical panic — and having moved much further down the pool with my newly corrected kick.

It was a brief lesson, and I can’t say I have become a fearless or even good swimmer. But I was impressed by how a few minutes with a skilled instructor, coupled with what I might call “floating crutches,” could make such a difference. Now I find I actually look forward to swimming after my gym workouts.

But the most valuable aspect to me is the daily master class, where a few participants perform a piece they have been working on. That day’s instructor spends a half hour or so pointing out to each performer ways to improve the result.

With each student, you see right in front of you how a skilled teacher can focus on a particular problem and adjust the player’s wrist and arm placement, propose a different fingering, or demonstrate a subtle emphasis in accent or tone and immediately transform the performance.

As with the swim coach, in just a few minutes the teacher’s instructions enabled me to play passages that had been giving me trouble both more easily and more musically. You really know a teacher has made a difference when, after you replay a passage incorporating their advice, the audience erupts into applause.

So, if you were to ask me, “How is your summer going?” I would say these last couple of weeks have been transformative.

And it’s all due to a few special individuals who cared enough to share their wisdom and, each in their own way, helped me to see things in a different light, try something new and get “unstuck.”

If (when?) you find yourself stuck in some way, I suggest you look for someone who can help you — whether one-on-one, in a group or online. I now know they are out there, eager to share their expertise.

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I also experienced epiphanies at “piano camp” this summer. Readers may recall my earlier columns about this one-week adult music program at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore. Pianists from all over the country come to learn from, and hear concerts by, great instructors and pianists.

The camaraderie is very special there, and I truly enjoy the jazz lab, the educational lectures and the world-class performances by the faculty.

And perhaps you may even pay it forward, using your newfound (or longtime) knowledge to help someone else. (Someone who wants to be helped, that is!)

Either way, by learning or teaching, I wish you the deep pleasure of connecting and growing.

Letters to the editor

Readers are encouraged to share their opinions on any matter addressed in the Beacon as well as on political and social issues of the day. Mail your Letter to the Editor to The Beacon, P.O. Box 2227, Silver Spring, MD 20915, or email to info@thebeaconnewspapers.com.

Please include your name, address and telephone number for verification.

Dear Editor:

I recently experienced a profound loss. My husband, a respected teacher and loving husband, passed away under circumstances that could have been prevented.

He spent his final days in a memory care facility. He got up out of his wheelchair and took a hard fall; he only lived 12 more days.

We were unaware that the facility we placed him in was “assisted living,” and so [wheelchair] seat belts were not allowed due to Federal and state laws [limiting use of restraints].

Education is needed to inform the public about these laws on restraints so we can make better choices for our loved ones. The many books I have on Alzheimer’s usu-

ally do not mention restraints.

Janice L. Hufford Falls Church, VA

Ed. Note: As you note, both Federal and state laws strictly limit the use of restraints (including seat belts in wheelchairs) to medically necessary situations. Their use typically requires a physician’s orders, written consent from the patient or their legal representative, and continuous reevaluation of the need. The goal of such laws is to prevent the widespread use of physical and chemical restraints for the convenience of staff, which had been a problem prior to such laws.

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Fitness & Health

SUMMER SWELLS

Swollen ankles may be a sign of kidney problems, anemia or even heart failure

COUNT BACKWARDS BY SEVENS

An annual cognitive test may pick up on early health or memory problems

NO SHAME IN SLEEPING APART

To get a good night’s rest, many couples choose to sleep in separate rooms

CALLING DR. GOOGLE

Answers to the top 10 health-related questions people ask Google

Yes, you can reduce some food’s calories

By Matthew Kadey

Calorie counts are everywhere: stamped on packaged foods, plastered on restaurant menu boards, and accompanying recipes in magazines. They’re inescapable. And many of us pay a great deal of attention to these numbers in the name of calorie-controlled eating.

In recent years, however, scientific studies have cast doubt on the way calories in some foods are measured and how we typically count them.

You see, calorie stats are based on a century-old formula called the Atwater system, where the macronutrient components — carbohydrate, fat and protein — of a food have a set number of calories (a unit of energy).

But this fails to tell the whole picture re-

garding the calories our bodies actually extract from foods.

“When it comes to the way we metabolize calories, the type of foods we eat has a big impact on this,” said Megan Hilbert, a registered dietitian nutritionist with Top Nutrition Coaching. Calorie absorption and metabolism are more complex than we may think.

Here are a few ways you can tweak your diet to help eat your way to a calorie deficit, or at least make it harder to go overboard on them.

Go nuts for whole nuts

Nuts are not a low-calorie food, but a few studies have shown we metabolize (absorb) fewer of their calories than once thought.

For instance, an investigation in the journal Nutrients found that we typically glean about 16% fewer calories from cashews than what you would read on nutrition labels.

“Because available energy in whole foods like nuts is behind cell walls, we often don’t absorb every last calorie, and thus, this energy gets expelled in our stool,” Hilbert explained.

Microorganisms in our gut microbiome also get access to some of the calories in almonds and other nuts, which may help explain why studies have failed to show that eating calorie-dense nuts leads to weight gain.

With the extra processing required to break down the nuts’ cell walls, there is a good chance we absorb fewer calories

from eating whole nuts than from nut butter, for example.

Cool down your carbs

When you cook starchy foods like rice and potatoes and then let them cool down in the refrigerator for several hours, a unique type of carb called resistant starch is formed.

“This is a carbohydrate that our digestive system can’t break down into energy and instead becomes food for our gut bacteria,” Hilbert said. “Research shows that resistant starch has fewer calories than regular starch — two instead of four calories per gram.”

So, a cold potato salad or grain salad is

See REDUCE CALORIES , page 9

Gym’s water cooler is fountain of youth

By Stephen Wade

Here’s the message from Dr. Marcas Bamman, a physiologist with decades of research into aging who preaches the benefits of weight-resistance training for those who are getting up there.

We’re talking people 60-plus — women and men. And we’re talking about hitting the gym and weight training.

“Resistance training is in many ways the true fountain of youth,” Bamman said in an interview with the Associated Press. “I like to say the fountain of youth is the water cooler in the gym.”

Of course, there are biological limits. But Bamman said the bulk of age-related decline in strength, flexibility and endurance is behavioral — putting too few demands on the body, not too many.

“When I tell somebody that in four to six months your strength and muscle mass and overall muscle function is going to elevate to the levels of people 30 to 35 years younger, that hits home,” he said.

Perhaps you know you’re too sedentary and the birthdays keep piling up. You suspect resistance training would be beneficial. But perhaps you’re intimidated. Don’t be.

Getting started

Check with medical professionals to make sure there are no health problems that stand in your way.

Then find a gym. Larger gyms offer a social component with things to do on a day off from weight training. And Bamman suggests getting a trainer.

“It’s actually quite safe [to weight train], but it does require proper progression,” Bamman said. “You have to have a good instructor who can teach the movements properly.”

Bamman, a research scientist at the Florida Institute for Human & Machine Cognition, said finding a fully qualified trainer can be tricky.

“We need more rigorous certification of trainers,” he said. “The problem is that you can go online tonight and pay $50 and get some certification as a trainer.”

What you should aim for

Bamman suggests resistance training twice a week. Three times is even better, and he recommends non-weight-training days in between. For instance, work out on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, and let Tuesday and Thursday be days of rest.

He suggests 10 different exercise movements — eight is sufficient. Do 10 repetitions of each movement. Do this three times, described as three sets. Then move on to the next movement.

When you reach the 10th repetition of any given exercise, you should feel you can’t do many more. If you could have done 10 more reps, you want to increase the resistance.

Bamman said machines are better for beginners, but free weights — barbells or dumbbells — may be more effective as you gain confidence.

Before turning to the weights, start with a five- to 10-minute warmup — on the treadmill, stationary bike or elliptical machine — to get the blood flowing. You can add a few minutes on the mat for stretching and abdominal work.

Then come the weights.

“Sometimes you see people who sit on the machine, do a set and then play with their phone for three or four minutes. We like to keep them moving.”

Important for women as well

Women may benefit from resistance training even more than men because it’s a way to fight osteoporosis, the loss of bone density.

“Women are on a disadvantaged trajectory for bone loss, particularly in susceptible areas such as the hips and lower back,” said Bamman.

“But the strength-training benefits for both sexes are really important. There are no sex differences in the ability to respond. In gaining muscle mass and strength in untrained people, men and women track the same.”

The body demands work

In a few words: Use it or lose it.

Bamman cautions against pampering

yourself, and criticized even healthcare professionals “who baby seniors.” Of course, common sense is required.

“Our human body is a demand-based system,” he explained. “If you chronically impart a low demand on the body, we have adaptations to low demand. That’s why we lose muscle mass, that’s why we get weaker. We’re not demanding much.”

“But if you put high demands on the system — like resistance training — now the body has to adapt to these higher demands. The body says: ‘To adapt to these new demands I’ve got to make my bones stronger. I’ve got to make my muscles bigger.’”

Bamman used the example of space flight, or extended bed rest, due to which people rapidly lose strength.

“Bed rest or space flight is essentially expedited aging,” he said. “All of our systems as we age are capable of responding and adapting. They just need the stimulus.” He said he’s seen positive effects for people in their 70s and 80s, and even for some in their 90s.

Bamman is 57 and joked he’s getting “closer in age to the people I study.” He also emphasized there are no shortcuts.

“These programs that roll out for older adults — seated exercises and the like. This is gimmicky, and they don’t impart enough demands on the body,” he said.

Why food may not taste like it used to

By Environmental Nutrition

We know that as we age, eyesight and hearing may decline. But did you know that taste and smell can as well?

We start out with thousands of taste buds, not only on the tongue, but in the throat and on the roof of the mouth. Some taste buds are sensitive to sweet, others to sour, salty, bitter and more.

When taste buds are damaged (like from scalding coffee), they are able to regenerate. In fact, they are typically replaced every couple of weeks.

But sensitivity to flavors and the ability to regenerate is reduced with age, beginning in your 50s or 60s.

Smell = Taste

Maybe even more important than a loss of sensitive taste buds with age is a loss of smell. That’s because taste and smell are intimately connected.

When you bite into a spicy food, you breathe in the flavor and exhale it through your nose, where chemicals interact with receptor cells and transmit information to the brain about the taste.

The loss of sensitivity to smell with age is even greater than the loss of sensitivity in your taste buds.

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Ongoing

But together, the losses are a double whammy and can translate to less sweetness in desserts, less sting from chili peppers, and less sinus-opening effects of horseradish. In fact, that loss of taste you’re sensing could actually be a loss of smell.

In addition, sensitivities to specific tastes can shift with age. It’s not uncommon for a preference for sweet flavors during youth to shift to a preference for saltier flavors with age.

Other causes of taste loss

Medications and zinc deficiencies are two other common causes of changes in taste. As many as 45% of adults 60 years and older have zinc intakes below the average requirement, which can negatively affect the ability to taste.

Red meat, poultry, beans, nuts and cereals are all good sources of zinc.

Chemotherapy, antihistamines, antidepressants, inhalers and blood pressure medications can also interfere with your ability to taste, no matter your age.

Reprinted with permission from Environmental Nutrition.

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Reduce calories

likely to have fewer digestible calories than if you eat these foods immediately after cooking them. Ditto for green-skinned bananas, which have more resistant starch than ripe bananas.

In general, eating more high-fiber foods like legumes and seeds is a good way to bid adieu to more calories. “Higher fiber foods take longer to digest, and thus we don’t get the available energy from these foods as easily,” Hilbert said.

Turn up the protein burn

Different foods go through different metabolic pathways. Some of these pathways are more efficient than others.

“Protein takes the most energy to digest compared to the other macronutrients, and 20 to 30% of the total calories from protein are used to digest it,” said Hilbert, who added: “The reason for this is that proteins are large and complex molecules that take a lot of moving parts to properly break them down.”

Owing to their abundance of protein, the calories we derive from a chicken breast, a slab of beef, or a bowl of Greek yogurt is likely less than advertised on the label.

Extra calorie burn may be one way that higher protein diets help some people drop pounds.

Keep your grains (more) whole

According to Hilbert, intact whole grains like wheat, rye, barley, oats, quinoa and spelt have most of their available calories packaged behind cell walls and fibers, which makes those calories harder for our bodies to digest and absorb.

“If we think about the act of processing foods, such as turning grains into flour, this is partially digesting those foods for us, and because of this [processing], we can absorb more of the calories,” Hilbert said.

So, anything that reduces the size of food particles in items like whole grains likely increases the calories you absorb from that food. Cooking flour (in pasta, bakery products, and so forth) likely increases the calories you absorb even more.

A study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that people who consumed a diet rich in whole grains burned almost 100 more calories per day than those who ate the same diet but with refined grains such as white flour and white rice, due to having a greater resting metabolic rate and the excretion of more calories.

Limit ultra-processed foods

Since it’s easier to soak up more calories from ultra-processed foods, that might be why they contribute to unwanted weight gain.

An investigation in the journal Food & Nutrition Research provided volunteers

with either a sandwich made with multigrain bread and cheddar cheese or one made with more highly processed white bread and cheese slices.

Even though both meals had the same number of total calories on paper, the lessprocessed sandwich meal required nearly twice as much energy to digest, resulting in fewer calories being available to the body for storage.

Again, the added work required for the digestive process and the extra fiber present in the less processed sandwich could drive up the calorie burn and drive down the calorie absorption.

Other research shows that people simply tend to consume more calories when eating ultra-processed foods than calories from minimally processed foods. So, a combo of higher calorie intake and more calorie retention can make ultra-processed food problematic for achieving a healthy body weight.

Reprinted with permission from Environmental Nutrition, a monthly publication of Belvoir Media Group, LLC, 1-800829-5384, EnvironmentalNutrition.com. © 2024 Belvoir Media Group. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Ankle swelling and shortness of breath

By Howard LeWine, M.D.

Q: I tend to get ankle swelling on hot days. But now it seems more constant. What might cause the change?

A: Lower leg and foot swelling is most often the result of an abnormal fluid

buildup. Doctors call it edema. Because fluid flows downhill, it pools in the lowest parts of your body.

Excess fluid retention can be triggered by many things, including summer heat, eating too much salt, or standing for a long period of time.

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The most common cause is leaky valves in your veins. Doctors call this venous insufficiency.

There are one-way valves in your veins that help keep the blood flowing in the right direction. Ordinarily, as you walk around, your leg muscles squeeze the veins, which pumps the blood through these valves up toward the heart. When the muscles relax, the valves prevent blood from draining back down the vessels.

If these valves become leaky, the blood gets propelled upward, but much of it drops down again when the leg muscles relax. The result is an accumulation of blood — and an increase in pressure — within the veins. The higher pressure pushes fluid out of the veins, causing leg swelling.

Because your swelling seems to be worse than ever before, you should make

an appointment with your doctor to be sure it isn’t due to a new medical problem. Your doctor will ask if you have shortness of breath, fatigue or pain in your legs, and whether one leg is more swollen than the other.

Depending on your symptoms and your doctor’s physical exam, he or she might order blood and urine tests to evaluate your kidney and liver health. It’s also possible you might need an echocardiogram to make sure your heart function is normal, or a leg ultrasound to look for blood clots.

Some medications also can cause fluid retention in your legs. This can happen with high doses of ibuprofen (Advil, Motrin), naproxen (Aleve), and other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs.

Leg swelling is also a common side effect of certain calcium-channel blockers, especially nifedipine (Procardia XL) and amlodipine (Norvasc).

Meanwhile to help reduce the swelling:

• Cut down on your salt intake. Sodium can cause your body to retain water, so focus on eating less of it.

• Put your feet up. If you have a few minutes, elevate your feet above your heart when you are seated or lying down.

• Wear support stockings. Wearing support stockings, which provide pressure to the veins in your legs to help move blood back up toward the heart, can help reduce swelling.

• Get moving. Exercises such as walking, moving your ankles, and stretching can also reduce swelling by helping to push blood back toward your heart.

Q: I had a chest cold about six weeks ago. I thought I was over it within five days, but I feel like I am still more short of breath than usual. Is it from the chest cold? What else might be causing it?

A: When considering what might have caused your shortness of breath, I like to consider four general categories: a lung issue, a heart problem, anemia (low red blood cell count), and deconditioning.

I suspect your “chest cold” was a case of viral bronchitis. Since the symptoms resolved within a week, deconditioning secondary to such a short illness is less likely, except if you were already more sedentary due to health issues. So, let’s put this cause aside for now.

Regarding the other three categories, knowing if you have other symptoms besides shortness of breath is also important. For example, shortness of breath, coughing and wheezing usually suggests a lung problem. Even people who have never had asthma can develop asthma-like symptoms after a viral respiratory illness. Those symptoms can last many weeks before resolving. Shortness of breath from a heart problem could be due to a weak or stiff heart, which can diminish the heart’s pumping ability, known as cardiomyopathy. With cardiomyopathy, people also can experi-

What cognitive tests can and can’t show

By Lauran Neergaard

It was the new chant in Washington politics last month: “Get a cognitive test!”

Political opponents, armchair pundits and even nervous supporters demanded that President Joe Biden undergo such testing after his dismal debate performance — even though his physician said he gets, and passes, an annual neurologic exam.

Former President Donald Trump, who’s only a few years younger, makes his own

Short of breath

From page 10

ence ankle swelling from fluid retention and difficulty breathing when lying down.

Also, most people with coronary artery disease — plaque buildup in the walls of arteries that supply blood to the heart — experience chest pain with exertion, but sometimes shortness of breath is the only symptom.

A low red blood cell count, especially anemia due to iron deficiency, would be less likely than the other causes mentioned. Besides shortness of breath, other signs of anemia are pale skin and weakness.

Since you’ve had shortness of breath for six weeks, you definitely want to arrange for medical evaluation to help determine

gaffes. He recently bragged about passing a 2018 cognitive test — while calling the doctor who administered it by the wrong name. With all the concern, what can cognitive testing actually tell about a person’s brain health — and what can’t it answer? And presidents aside, does the average older adult need one?

Examples of cognitive tests

Cognitive tests are brief screening tools

the underlying problem. Then, your doctor will likely have enough information to suggest whether your chest cold was either a cause or contributing factor to your continuing symptoms.

Your doctor will take a detailed history of your symptoms and perform a physical exam focusing on the heart and lungs.

Initial diagnostic tests will likely include wearing a finger probe to measure your blood oxygen level, a blood test to check for anemia, and chest imaging with a chest x-ray or CT scan. Additional investigation might include an echocardiogram, which uses sound waves to assess heart function, and an evaluation of your breathing (called pulmonary function tests).

The good news is that you and your doctor can formulate a treatment plan to help

— 10-minute series of questions to assess different brain functions. Two of the most common are called the Mini-Mental State Exam (MMSE) and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA).

Recalling a list of five unrelated nouns or seeing how many words beginning with F you can say in a minute can assess shortterm memory and language.

Counting backward by 7s tests attention and concentration. Drawing a clock with the

improve your symptoms, even if you don’t discover the specific reason for the shortness of breath.

Howard LeWine, M.D., is an internist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston

correct time is a clue to spatial awareness. How reliable are they? They don’t diagnose health problems. A bad score is just a red flag that indicates a need for further testing to see if there is a health problem and uncover what kind, said Dr. James Galvin, a neurologist at the University of Miami.

See COGNITIVE TESTS , page 12

Benefits to couples sleeping separately

By Leanne Italie

Michael

Solender

and his wife have been together for 42 years. They slept in the same bed for the first 10, taking to separate rooms after that.

Their sleep separation was due to his developing chronic and heavy snoring that eventually led to a diagnosis of sleep apnea and his use of a CPAP machine.

From page 11

A good score usually is good news. But the highly educated especially tend to be good test-takers even if cognitive trouble is starting to brew.

So if someone scores OK yet they, a family member or the doctor sees some dayto-day concern, more testing could still be warranted.

“We simply use it as a benchmark to determine our suspicion level,” Galvin said.

How often should one test?

“A screening test is exactly a snapshot in time. It tells you in that moment how someone does on that test,” Galvin stressed. “It doesn’t tell you how a person is functioning in their everyday life.”

Simply reporting a concern is reason enough for a primary care doctor to per-

After the machine eliminated his snoring, however, they continued to sleep apart in their Charlotte, North Carolina, home because of other issues. He’s typically warm at night, and she’s usually cold.

“For us to maintain separate rooms for sleep just makes for a healthier relationship and a better relationship,” said Solender, 66. “There’s no shame attached to

form a cognitive test. But it’s also supposed to be part of the annual Medicare wellness visit for those 65 and older.

Galvin said that generally it’s a good idea for older adults to get checked yearly to spot changes. It’s much like how doctors don’t assume your blood pressure’s still fine. They measure it.

How does a neurologic exam differ?

Cognitive screenings are “pencil and paper tests” usually handled by primary care doctors, while neurologic exams generally are performed by a specialist, Galvin said. Neurologic screenings involve a very detailed physical exam. Doctors watch the patient’s speech patterns and behavior, test how key nerves are functioning, check reflexes that can signal brain diseases and assess muscle tone and function.

If either kind of test signals real cognitive concerns, the next step may be more

that. There’s no stigma.”

Snoring, temperature variations, cover stealers and tossing and turning often lead to partners sleeping separately. Other issues might also be in play, including illness, different work shifts, and partners who go to bed and get up at different times.

More than one-third of Americans said they occasionally or consistently sleep in an-

intensive neuropsychological testing — an exam that often lasts up to three hours.

After an exhaustive interview of the patient and any accompanying family members, the neuropsychologist goes through tests and tasks designed to check specific brain functions — intelligence, memory, verbal ability, problem-solving and reasoning skills, visual and auditory responses, emotion and mood. They may use puzzles, objects to rearrange, or drawing and writing tests.

Blood tests and brain scans also may be ordered. Special types of PET scans can detect Alzheimer’s hallmark amyloid plaques and tau tangles in the brain. An MRI can detect past strokes, helpful in diagnosing vascular dementia.

Is it just age?

How can you tell if cognitive concerns are a disease or just getting older?

“Age makes us do things a lot slower,”

other room to accommodate a bed partner, according to an American Academy of Sleep Medicine study last year. Men are the ones who usually hit the sofa or guest room. And, perhaps surprisingly, it’s millennials who do it most, rather than older people.

Galvin said. “We move slower. We think slower. But we’re still moving correctly and we’re still thinking correctly — it just takes us longer.”

Examples of slower cognitive “processing” might be difficulty remembering a name, numbers or specific details under pressure — but they come back to you later.

Galvin noted that sometimes reversible health problems mimic cognitive trouble. For example, urinary tract infections are notorious for causing sudden confusion in older people.

Certain medications affect memory, as can thyroid problems, depression, even poorly controlled diabetes.

Anyone who’s worried about their memory should talk to their doctor or seek a specialist “who can reassure you that everything’s OK, or develop a treatment plan that’s specific for you,” Galvin said.

Causes and treatment of night blindness

By Matthew Solan

Animals renowned for their outstanding night vision include owls, cats and even the dung beetle.

But humans? Not so much.

Over time, many people suffer from night blindness, also known as nyctalopia. This condition makes seeing in dim or dark settings difficult because your eyes cannot adjust to changes in brightness or detect light.

Night blindness is especially problematic and dangerous when driving. If you have it, your eyes cannot adjust between darkness and the headlights of oncoming vehicles; other cars may appear out of focus; and your depth perception becomes impaired, which makes it difficult to judge distances.

Night blindness may also affect your sight at home by making it hard for your vision to quickly adjust to a dark room after turning off the lights.

“This can cause people to bump into furniture or trip and suffer an injury,” said Dr. Isabel Deakins, an optometrist with Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts Eye and Ear.

Why do our eyes do this?

The ability to see in low-light conditions involves two structures in the eye: the retina and the iris.

The retina contains two types of lightdetecting cells: cones and rods. Cones handle color vision and fine details, while rods manage vision in dim light.

The iris is the colored part of your eye. It contains muscles that widen or narrow the opening of your pupil to adjust how much light can enter your eyes.

If your irises don’t properly react, the pupils can dilate and let in too much light, which causes light sensitivity and makes it hard to see in bright light.

Or your pupils may remain too small

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and not allow in enough light, making it tough to see in low light.

What causes night blindness?

Night blindness is not a disease but a symptom of other conditions. “It’s like having a bruise on your body. Something else causes it,” Deakins said.

Several conditions can cause night blindness. For instance, medications such as antidepressants, antihistamines and antipsychotics can affect pupil size and thus how much light enters the eye.

Eye conditions that can cause night blindness include:

• glaucoma, a disease that damages the eye’s optic nerves and blood vessels,

• cataracts, cloudy areas in the lens that distort or block the passage of light through the lens, and

• dry eye syndrome.

However, one issue that raises the risk of night blindness that you can’t control is age.

“Our eyes react more slowly to light changes as we age, and vision naturally declines over time,” Deakins said. “The number of rods in our eyes diminish, pupils get smaller, and the muscles of the irises weaken.”

Can you reduce night blindness?

If you notice any signs of night blindness, avoid driving and get checked by an eye care specialist, such as an optometrist or ophthalmologist.

An eye exam can determine if your eyeglass prescription needs to be updated.

“Often, a prescription change is enough to reduce glare when driving at night,” Deakins said. “You may even need separate glasses with a stronger eye prescription that you wear only when driving at night.”

Adding an anti-reflective coating to your lens may help to cut down on the glare of the headlights of an oncoming car.

However, skip the over-the-counter polarized driving glasses sold at many drugstores. “These may help cut down on glare, but they don’t address the causes of night blindness,” Deakins said.

An eye exam will also identify glaucoma or cataracts, which can be treated.

Glaucoma treatments include eyedrops, laser treatment or surgery. Cataracts are corrected with surgery to replace the clouded lens with an artificial one. Your eye doctor can also help identify dry eye and recommend treatment.

Ask your primary care clinician or a pharmacist if any medications you take may cause night blindness. If so, it may be

The J m Em E Journ mbrace ey

Prioritize good sleep

Dr. Seema Khosla, a pulmonologist and spokesperson for the academy, said achieving adequate sleep, which is usually seven to eight hours for adults, is important for healthy relationships.

Studies indicate that people who consistently experience poor sleep are more likely to experience conflict with their partners, said Khosla, who is the medical director of the North Dakota Center for Sleep, in Fargo.

“It’s really a question of people prioritizing their sleep,” Khosla said. “I have had patients who have been married like 60 years and they swear that separate bedrooms is a reason.”

Sleeping separately, she said, “is probably more common than we think.”

Not a barrier to intimacy

Key to making separate sleep spaces work is talking about it beforehand, as

From page 13

possible to adjust the dose or switch to another drug.

Ways

to make night driving safer

You also can take these steps to make

Solender did with his wife.

“It’s not about avoiding intimacy. It’s about recognizing that you can have intimacy, you can have that time together, but then you just sleep apart. That’s a really important part of the conversation. Both partners need to understand and agree,” Khosla said.

She has seen some reluctance among her patients when she suggests sleeping apar t.

“Usually, it’s somebody’s spouse who is snoring or someone who has a spouse’s alar m that wakes them up at four in the morning or something like that.

“We’ll talk about it. And people will push back right away saying, oh, no, no, that’s not gonna work for me,” she said.

Some, Khosla said, “will sit with it for a minute and they’ll think about it, and you can tell that they’re kind of like, ‘I would love to do this but how do I tell my partner?’”

Tracey Daniels and her husband have been sleeping apart for about four years. Initially, there was no big talk. She just headed to the guest room.

“It started because my husband is a hor-

night driving safer:

•Wash the lenses of your glasses regularly. And take them to an optician to buff out minor scratches.

•Keep both sides of your front and rear car windshields clean so that you can see as clearly as possible.

•Dim your dashboard lights, which

rible snorer. But also I’m a very light sleeper. He could drop a paperclip on a carpeted floor and I would wake up,” said Daniels, who lives in Tryon, North Carolina.

Later, she said, she initiated a conversation after she was diagnosed with breast cancer and went through surgery.

“He comes and tucks me in and gives me a kiss,” Daniels said.

They rotate their three dogs at night.

Dr. Phyllis Zee, chief of sleep medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and director of a sleep clinic at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, said sleep separation is common in her practice.

“It would be a great idea to discuss sleep compatibility before you get married. I tend to see it when couples have been married and/or they’ve been together for some time and have been trying to negotiate this for a while,” she said.

Come middle age, Zee said, sleep is less robust.

“In general, you’re more prone to getting

cause glare, and use the night setting on your rearview mirror.

Matthew Solan is executive editor at

things like insomnia or sleep apnea. And so that begins to be bothersome,” she said.

Technology can help

While there’s no shame in sleeping apart, Zee said technology has helped make sharing a bed easier in some ways.

White noise machines, cooling pillows and bedding, mattresses with dual temperature controls and dual control electric blankets can help, Zee said. Some couples have given up sharing blankets, using their own, to make sleep easier.

“There’s a whole market out there to mitigate some of these issues,” she said.

Sleep separation is more accepted now as people have become more aware of the importance of quality sleep to overall health, Zee said.

“On the other hand, there is research to show there are benefits to sleeping together,” she said. “In general, probably the top line is seek professional help before making a decision. Are the issues a sign of a sleep disorder that one can treat?” AP

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Facing age-related macular degeneration

Dear Savvy Senior, Is macular degeneration hereditary? My mother lost much of her vision from it before she died, and now at age 65, I’m concerned I may get it too. What can you tell me?

—Brown-Eyed Betty Dear Betty, Unfortunately, having a parent or sibling with macular degeneration does indeed increase your risk of getting it by three to four times.

What is AMD?

Macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration (or AMD) is the most common cause of severe vision loss in people over age 60, affecting an estimated 20 million Americans.

But the good news is there are things you can do to protect your eyesight, and a number of treatments are available if you do happen to get it. Here’s what you should know.

By Jim Miller

BEACON BITS

Aug. 14+

COMPUTER ESSENTIALS

AMD is a progressive eye disease that damages the macula, the part of the eye that allows us to see objects clearly, causing vision loss in the center of your vision.

It affects the ability to read, drive, watch television and do routine daily tasks, but it does not cause total blindness.

There are two types of AMD: dry and

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wet. Dry AMD, which affects about 85 to 90% of all people that have it, progresses slowly and painlessly over a period of years. Wet AMD is much more aggressive, and can cause severe vision loss in a matter of weeks or months.

Factors that can increase your risk of getting AMD include age (60 and older), smoking, excessive exposure to sunlight (especially if you have light-colored eyes), certain genetic risk factors, a family history of AMD, high blood pressure, obesity and being Caucasian.

What you can do

For anyone over the age of 65, it’s a smart idea to get your eyes examined by an oph-

thalmologist every year. They can spot early signs of AMD before vision loss occurs.

Early signs may include shadowy areas in your central vision or unusually fuzzy or distorted vision.

The Amsler grid is also an excellent tool you can use to check your eyes for AMD at home. Visit Macular.org, and search for “amsler chart.”

While there’s currently no cure for AMD, there are things you can do if you’re high risk. These include eating antioxidant-rich foods such as dark green, leafy vegetables, and cold-water fish for their omega-3 fatty acids; protecting your eyes

SAVVY SENIOR

AMD

From page 15

from the sun by wearing UV protective sunglasses; controlling high blood pressure; exercising regularly; and, if you smoke, quitting.

Dry AMD treatments

If you do happen to get AMD, your doctor may recommend you start taking a daily dose of antioxidant vitamins and minerals known as AREDS or AREDS2.

Studies by the National Eye Institute have shown that while taking these supplements cannot prevent you from getting AMD, they can reduce your risk of progression from intermediate to advanced AMD by about 25 percent.

You can purchase AREDS supplements — made by Bausch and Lomb and sold as PreserVision — over the counter in many drugstores and online for around $30 a bottle.

There are also two new medications (Syfovre and Izervay) that were approved by the FDA last year to treat a late-stage form of

BEACON BITS Ongoing

CHAIR YOGA

AMD called geographic atrophy or GA.

These treatments, which are given either monthly or every other month in the form of an injection into the eye, can slow the progression of GA.

Wet AMD treatments

For wet AMD, there are several anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) medications like Avastin, Lucentis and Eylea that can stop vision loss — and may even restore it.

These medications, which have been around for more than a decade, are also given by injection into the eye and repeated every month or two.

Newer anti-VEGF drugs, like Vabysmo and Eyla HD, are also highly effective but don’t require monthly treatments. Most patients on these medications can go three to four months between injections.

Send your questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of The Savvy Senior.

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Sept. 24+

VIRTUAL EMPLOYMENT EXPOS RETURN

JCA’s Virtual 50+ Employment Expos return this fall to bring together job seekers 50+ with employers looking to hire them. Mark your calendar for Tues., Sept. 24 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for jobs in Montgomery County, Maryland; and Thurs., Oct. 10 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. for North Virginia residents. Free to both employers and job seekers, but all must register. Visit virtualexpos.accessjca.org to register today.

BEACON BITS

Sept. 13+

BEREAVED CAREGIVERS RETREAT

Are you grieving the death of a loved one who died in the past three years for whom you were a primary caregiver? Join CaringMatters for a free Bereaved Caregivers Retreat from Fri., Sept. 13 at 4 p.m. to Sun., Sept. 15 at 2 p.m. at the Claggett Center, 3035 Buckeystown Pike, Adamstown, MD. Must be a resident of Montgomery County, MD. Registration required. For registration and more information, contact Brandon Brewer at brandonb@caringmatters.org or call (301) 869-4673, ext. 107.

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Tasty Peruvian rice and chicken shines

By Annie Petito

Peruvian arroz con pollo originated in the seaside city of Chiclayo as arroz con pato, where it featured native duck and chicha de jora, a fermented corn beer that dates to the Inca Empire.

Over time, Peruvians adapted to the lack of, or expense of, these ingredients by swapping in chicken and malty beer.

The one-pot meal of succulent chicken parts and savory, fluffy rice enhanced by a colorful mix of vegetables, aromatics and spices is a darling of Latin American kitchens at large.

What makes the Peruvian version distinct? Its green color.

The greenish cast comes from a substantial infusion of pureed cilantro that, along

with the dark beer, spices and aderezo (the flavorsome base of sauteed red onion, garlic, and often ají amarillo, a hot yellow pepper paste), imbue the rice with incredible depth.

Peruvian Arroz con Pollo

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

For the chicken and rice:

2 cups (2 ounces) fresh cilantro leaves and stems

1/2 cup water

6 (5- to 7-ounce) bone-in chicken thighs, trimmed

2¼ teaspoons table salt, divided

¾ teaspoon ground pepper

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 red onion, chopped fine

1 to 2 tablespoons ají amarillo paste (optional)

1 tablespoon minced garlic

½ teaspoon ground cumin

1½ cups dark beer

2 cups chicken broth, plus extra as needed

1½ cups long-grain white rice, rinsed

1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and cut into ½-inch-wide strips

2 carrots, peeled and cut into ½-inch pieces (1 cup)

½ cup frozen peas

For the Sarza Criolla (relish):

1 red onion, halved and thinly sliced through root end

1/8 teaspoon table salt, plus salt for salting onion

1¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro

2 tablespoons lime juice

teaspoon pepper

Directions:

For the sarza criolla: Toss onion and 1/2 teaspoon table salt in strainer or colander set over bowl. Let stand for 10 minutes. Rinse onion under cold water and pat dry. Combine onion, cilantro, lime juice, pepper and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a bowl. (Sarza criolla can be made up to 1 hour ahead.)

For the chicken and rice: Process cilantro and water in blender until cilantro is finely chopped and very loose puree forms, about 1 minute, scraping down sides of blender jar as needed; set aside.

Pat chicken dry and sprinkle both sides with 1½ teaspoons salt and pepper. Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add chicken, skin side down, and cook without moving until well browned, 8 to 12 minutes. Using tongs, flip chicken and brown on second side, about 2

minutes. Transfer chicken to a large plate. Add chopped onion, amarillo paste (if using), garlic, cumin and remaining ¾ teaspoon salt to fat left in pot and cook, stirring often, until onion is softened, 5 to 7 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high and add beer, scraping up any browned bits. Cook until mixture is almost dry, 7 to 10 minutes. Stir in cilantro puree and return chicken to pot, skin side up (chicken will be almost entirely above surface of liquid). Adjust heat to maintain simmer, cover and cook until chicken registers at least 195 degrees, 18 to 20 minutes.

Using tongs, transfer chicken to a clean plate and tent with aluminum foil. Transfer cooking liquid and solids to a 4-cup liquid measuring cup (you should have about 1½ cups). Add enough broth to measure 3½ cups. Return broth mixture to pot and stir in rice, bell pepper and carrots. Bring to boil, adjust heat to maintain simmer, cover and cook until rice is tender, 20 to 25 minutes. Off heat, stir in peas (browning at bottom of rice is OK). Arrange chicken on top of rice and pour any accumulated juices into pot. Cover and let stand until peas and chicken are warmed through, 5 to 10 minutes. Serve, passing sarza criolla separately.

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DIRECTORS MESSAGE

By Charon P.W. Hines

Last month, I had the privilege of attending the US Aging Conference in Tampa, FL, for the second time. This experience was profoundly enriching and inspiring. The US Aging Conference is known for its peer-to-peer learning, insights into federal policy and national trends, and tremendous networking opportunities. For me, it continues to be instrumental in building my capacity as the Director of the Department of Aging and Community Living (DACL). From July 8th through 11th, I, along with three members of my senior leadership team and three of our agency’s managers, joined professionals from across the country to advance the cause of aging well in our nation.

This year, it was crucial not only for me to enhance my DACL toolkit but also for those on the forefront of our work to do the same. These are the individuals who support our teams at DACL day in and day out. I witnessed firsthand how the workshops and seminars sharpened their skills and knowledge, enabling them to share this new expertise with Team DACL and better serve District seniors each day.

I also had the opportunity to connect with regional colleagues engaged in similar work. We explored how we can leverage each other’s knowledge to make our communities the best places to age. Many workshops I attended covered topics we at DACL have already shared with our seniors, such as scam and fraud prevention and healthy aging. Hearing these issues discussed nationally reinforced that we are on the right track here in the District. We are committed to ensuring you can continue to live boldly in the communities you know and love and equipping you with every tool needed to enjoy your daily lives.

We made lasting relationships nationwide that can be utilized to bring about positive change in our city. Attending this conference has added fuel to the flame that supports all our seniors each day. My team and I are excited to be back and work towards a better future for all of you.

As we gear up for September, we are excited to celebrate National Centenarian Day, honoring our older residents aged 100 and over. Last year, we hosted nearly 40 of the District’s centenarians and celebrated their life accomplishments. This year will be no different. If you have a loved one who will be 100 years old by August 15, 2024, I invite you to register them for Mayor Bowser’s 38th Annual Centenarian Salute.

To register, call (202) 724-5626 or email dacl.communications@dc.gov. Please send the name, date of birth, contact information, and bio for everyone you are registering. Registration ends August 15, 2024. I look forward to celebrating all of DC’s centenarians next month.

In Service, Charon P.W. Hines

Fourth of ParadeJuly

DACL joined in on the 4th of July fun by participating in the 58th Annual

Commission on Aging

Swearing In

Congratulations to our newly sworn-in Commission on Aging members. The DC Commission on Aging aims to make positive changes among seniors in all eight wards!

Palisades Parade!

USAging Conference

Last month, Director Hines, together with six senior leadership team members and agency managers, represented Washington, DC at the USAging 49th Annual Conference & Tradeshow in Tampa, Florida.

Senior Wellness Center Bowling Tournament

Last month, DC seniors competed in the inaugural Senior Wellness Center Bowling Tournament!

Cities Senior Wellness

home the

winning the tournament. A special shout out to all the Senior Wellness Centers for participating!

Model

Center took

trophy,

Law &

Money

Beware AI-generated audio, video fakes

Courtesy of ZeroFox.com

The person at the other end of that video call certainly looks and sounds legitimate. Maybe it’s your grandchild or someone you’ve bonded with in the past.

Yes, it’s odd that they’re asking you to send them money or provide sensitive personal information, but you trust them.

Just one problem: They’re not real. Their image and voice have been generated through artificial intelligence (AI), and are being controlled behind the scenes by a scammer.

What you’re experiencing is a “deepfake” — a rapidly evolving technology often used for malicious acts.

The U.S. Government Accounting Office (GAO) defines a deepfake as video, photography or audio that “seems real but has been manipulated with AI. The underlying technology can replace faces, manipulate facial expressions, synthesize faces, and synthesize speech.”

More and more criminals are using AI deepfakes to commit identity fraud or pry money and data from businesses and individuals.

Cloned voices and faces

By creating a deepfake persona, fraudsters can trick people into believing they’re interacting with someone they know or want to know. This builds trust, making it easier for the scammer to manipulate the victim.

Cybercriminals can also utilize deepfakes to create compromising material for the purpose of extortion. They can use an AI bot to, for example, take a brief snippet of a person’s real voice and “clone” it to produce an authentic-sounding facsimile. The faked voice can then be made to say just about anything.

The majority of deepfake fraud cases thus far have targeted businesses. Even large global companies have fallen for these scams.

In one recent example, an employee at a multinational design and engineering firm was tricked by a deepfake video call into transferring $25 million of the company’s funds to fraudsters.

As this technology grows more sophisticated, it’s also getting easier to use — which means it’s becoming increasingly popular as a method to defraud individuals.

Deepfakes have made their way into the world of romance scams, according to a re-

cent report in Wired. The article described how a crew of scammers used “deepfakes and face-swapping to ensnare victims in romance scams, building trust with victims using fake identities, before tricking them into parting with thousands of dollars.”

How to detect deepfakes

While a number of deepfake detection tools currently exist, many are only available to businesses. Also, most are designed to analyze recordings, and cannot help in real time during audio or video calls.

To recognize deepfakes in real time, you’ll most likely have to rely on your own powers of observation. The MIT Media Lab offers the following tips on how to determine whether a person seen on video is a deepfake.

Zero in on elements of the person’s face, they advised. This includes:

• Cheeks and forehead — “Does the skin appear too smooth or too wrinkly? Is the agedness of the skin similar to the agedness of the hair and eyes?”

• Eyes and eyebrows — “Do shadows appear in places that you would expect?”

• Eyeglasses — “Is there any glare? Is

there too much glare? Does the angle of the glare change when the person moves?”

• Blinking — “Does the person blink enough or too much?”

• Lip movements — “Some deepfakes are based on lip syncing. Do the lip movements look natural?”

In an article for the fact-checking website PolitiFact, Manjeet Rege, director of the Center for Applied Artificial Intelligence at the University of St. Thomas, and Siwei Lyu, a computer science and engineering professor at the University at Buffalo, listed clues that a voice might actually be an audio deepfake. These include “irregular or absent breathing noises, intentional pauses and intonations, along with inconsistent room acoustics.”

Use your common sense

One thing is clear: Deepfake technology is evolving at such speed that it will become progressively more difficult to tell fiction from reality.

Today you might be able to spot a weird glitch in a person’s face on video, or a strange

— Cynthia R

Cameron Carter’s business idea won funds from the National Institute on Aging. Our cover story continues on page 25.

Social Security online update not a scam

By Jim Miller Dear Savvy Senior,

I recently received an email that I needed to update my online Social Security account. Is this legit or is it a scam?

—Suspicious Susan

Dear Susan,

The Social Security Administration did indeed send out a legitimate email recently to notify recipients that they are making changes to the way you access Social Security’s online services, including your personal “my Social Security” account.

The changes will simplify your sign-in experience and align with federal authentication standards, while at the same time provide you safe and secure access to your account and other online services.

If you created an online “my Social Security” account before September 18, 2021,

Deepfakes

From page 22

vocal pattern on a call. But those flaws might not be as noticeable a year or two from now.

Your best defense is to use common sense. If someone contacts you by phone or video — even if it’s a person you think you know and trust — and makes an unusual request or demand involving money

you’ll need to shift to a Login.gov account to be able to continue to access your account.

These online accounts enable both beneficiaries and people who are not yet receiving benefits to access services, including requesting Social Security card replacements, estimating future benefits, checking on the status of benefit applications and managing current benefits.

The online services aim to save time for both current and future beneficiaries, as well as the Social Security Administration, as the agency grapples with long wait times for its national 800 phone number.

The average speed to answer those calls was about 36 minutes in the second quarter, according to the SSA.

How to update your account

If you already have a “my Social Security” account, go to ssa.gov/myaccount and sign

or sensitive information, step back and assess the situation.

Do whatever you can to independently verify that what the person is telling you is true. As AI expert Rege said in the PolitiFact interview, “Healthy skepticism is warranted, given how realistic this emerging technology has become.”

This article was originally published by ZeroFox.com. Reprinted with permission.

LEGAL NOTICE

Lifeline Service in Maryland is provided by Verizon Maryland LLC and Verizon Online LLC

Lifeline is a government assistance program that is offered in conjunction with the Maryland Public Service Commission and the Federal Communications Commission. Verizon offers the following Lifeline-supported services as an Eligible Telecommunications Carrier:

• Voice Basic Tel-Life - $0.66 per month for 30 outgoing local calls and $0.10 per local call over the 30 call limit. Value added services are not allowed (for example, Call Waiting and Caller ID).

• Voice Enhanced Tel-Life - $10.00 per month for unlimited local calls. This plan allows customers to order two value added services (for example, Call Waiting and Caller ID) at current rates.

• Broadband (internet) - $9.25 monthly discount for qualiﬁed customers who subscribe to Fios Internet service.

Only eligible consumers may enroll in the programs.

You may qualify for Lifeline service if you can show proof that you participate in certain government assistance programs or your annual income is 135% or below the Federal Poverty Guideline. If you qualify based on income, you will be required to provide income veriﬁcation. For a list of qualifying government assistance programs and income guidelines, please see your state’s application form from this website: https://www.psc.state.md.us/.

In addition, the Lifeline program is limited to one discount per household consisting of wireline, wireless or broadband (internet). You are required to certify and agree that no other member of the household is receiving Lifeline service from Verizon or another provider. Lifeline service is a non-transferrable beneﬁt.

Consumers who willfully make false statements in order to obtain the beneﬁt can be punished by ﬁne or imprisonment, or may be barred from the program.

You must meet certain eligibility requirements in order to qualify for the Lifeline service. An application for Verizon Lifeline service can be obtained at this website, www.verizon.com/lifeline, or an application can be mailed by calling 1.800.VERIZON (1.800.837.4966).

To ﬁnd out more information, you may also call the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC), which administers Lifeline for the FCC by calling (1.800.234.9473) or by accessing their website at www.LifelineSupport.org.

All rates, terms and conditions included in this notice are subject to change. For current Verizon Lifeline information and rates, visit www. verizon.com/tariffs.

in with your Social Security username. You’ll then be guided through the process of creating a new account with Login.gov.

Once you successfully link your personal “my Social Security” account with your new Login.gov account, you’ll get a confirmation screen and have immediate access to online services. In the future, you’ll sign into your account with Login.gov and not your Social Security username.

If you already have either a Login.gov or ID.me account, you do not have to take any action.

Beware of scams

To be sure you’re taking the appropriate steps to update your account, verify any websites or links leading you to the Social

Security website. The legitimate Social Security Administration website address is www.ssa.gov and the agency link to your “my Social Security” account is ssa.gov/myaccount.

It’s very important to be mindful of potential scam artists who may send you fraudulent websites pretending to direct you to Social Security. These sites will closely mimic the format of the agency’s links to try to lure you into entering your personal information.

If you see a suspicious email or link, it is best not to respond or click on it. Instead, you can report it to the website of the SSA’s Office of the Inspector General, oig.ssa.gov, or call the fraud hotline at 1-800-269-0271.

For 19 years, I’ve hosted the weekly radio show “Getting Older with Eric Stewart”. Tune in every Sunday from 12:30 – 1:00 p.m. on WMAL 105.9 FM for insights into living well while getting older, whether you want to remain in your home, or move to a retirement community.

For your free copy of my “Rightsizing Guide”, download it from the “Resources” section of EricStewartGroup.com or call 1-866-AGING WELL for a printed copy by mail (also free). Call me directly at (301) 252-1697 for your personal consultation on real estate matters.

“Shark Tank,” these inventions must be related to improving the health of older adults.

Recent winner Richard Burns, his adult son, Andrew, and his adult daughter, Kira, worked together to invent a walker with a harness to help support a person’s body weight. Richard was inspired to devise the technology years ago, when he watched his grandmother struggle to walk. “I was trying to dream something up that would take the weight off her knee joints and make it less painful,” Burns said.

With that idea, the Burns family cofounded a company, Gravitrex. They heard about the Startup Challenge, applied, and were selected to participate in July 2023.

“I was trying to dream something up that would take the weight off her knee joints and make it less painful,” Burns said.

With that idea, the father-daughter duo co-founded a company, Gravitrex. They heard about the Startup Challenge, applied, and were selected to participate in July 2023.

For the next five months, they attended virtual training sessions, met with mentors and advisors, and gathered with their fellow entrepreneurs at a three-day conference.

“We really were given a lot of information on how to prepare for and succeed in the world of entrepreneurship,” Kira Burns said.

“We had a lot of homework. We had to put in a lot to get a lot out of the program, and that was key.”

Demystifying federal grants

The Startup Challenge was the brainchild of Joy Toliver, a program coordinator in Haim’s office. Toliver recognized that few Americans know the NIA awards near-

ly $150 million in funding each year to small businesses engaged in research and product development in the field of aging.

“There was really a need for us to go out and make sure that we let folks know that this is available funding,” Toliver said.

A little history: Congress mandated two programs called the Small Business Innovative Research program (in 1982) and the Small Business Technology Transfer program (in 1992), which together are known as “America’s Seed Fund.”

With awards up to $3 million, these are America’s largest sources of early-stage capital for life sciences research, including interventions for Alzheimer’s disease, according to NIA.

These grants are made “to small businesses that are conducting research and development projects that are ultimately going to be products that we want to see commercialized and get into the hands of older adults who need them,” Toliver said.

The Startup Challenge acts as a feeder program to the two larger programs. It’s a way to attract brand-new innovators and teach them how to start a company and apply for federal grants that can be “critical in those early stages of research and development to helping them get their products off the ground,” Toliver explained.

NIA funds 100 companies a year that have products related to Alzheimer’s and dementia, age-related diseases, aging in place, and tools or technologies to reduce health disparities in the aging community.

Mentors and training too

Although only six of the 20 companies participating in the program at any time win the cash prize, Haim said, everyone wins.

“Every winner has agreed that they’ve gotten more value from the five months of

mentorship and the accelerator than they did from the $60,000.”

That was the case for Cameron Carter, CEO of a startup called Rosarium Health, named after his grandmother.

Through the Startup Challenge, Carter was paired up with a mentor who supported him while he developed a platform to connect homeowners with remodelers that can help them age in place.

When Carter attended the three-day conference that is part of the accelerator program, he met an investor that ended up being one of his lead funders. Sure, Carter won the $60,000 cash prize but more importantly, he scored $1.6 million in seed funding for Rosarium Health.

“The core [benefits] are the peer network and a mentor network. The money’s nice to have, but it was all the other intangibles that helped me be successful,” Carter said.

So far, 40 companies have participated in the Startup Challenge. One company was acquired; two others went on to win federal grants; and several others have made partnerships with healthcare systems that will allow them to test their products. Burns and Cacchione plan to apply for the larger federal grants.

Haim’s team watches their successes with pride.

“When we receive their pitches at the end, we’re just blown away by the progression that they have made and how much clearer their ideas are,” Haim said.

“They came in with just an idea, but now they literally have a road map. It’s something we just love to see.”

The next NIA Startup Challenge launches this fall. For more information, visit nia.nih.gov/research/sbir/startup-challenge or email niastartupchallenge@nih.gov.

This hands-on, five-day course will help you:

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WHEN: Multiple sessions offered:

2024 Sessions: #1:*September 16, 18, 20, 23, 25 (Interactive and Online)

#2:*October 28, 30 & November 1, 4, 6 (Interactive and Online)

2025 Sessions: #3:January 13, 15, 17, 22, 23

#4:February 24, 26, 28 & March 3, 5

#5:April 7, 9, 11, 15, 16

#6:June 9, 11, 13, 16, 18

All classes (virtual or in-person) meet from 9AM until 4PM each day. Check whether future sessions will be in-person or virtual. PLUS: Optional employment-related tech classes available.

We have had great success conducting these sessions as an interactive, Zoom, online experience. The format for future sessions may continue to be offered virtually or may be offered in-person. Check, when registering, whether the session will be held virtually or in-person at our JCA facility, 12320 Parklawn Drive, Rockville, MD. *Call or Email to check the status of the program’s in-person/virtual format.

Montgomery County Becomes More Age-Friendly

Civic and Social Involvement

Montgomery CountyVolunteer Center’s 50+ Volunteer Network connects volunteers with meaningful service opportunities.

Montgomery Connects and Senior Planet Montgomery provide access to technology, training, and ongoing support.

Communication and Outreach

In 2015, Montgomery County vowed to meet the evolving needs of residents throughout their lifetimes by providing new programs and improving existing services through its Age-Friendly Initiative.

Ten workgroups were formed among County staff and community partners. They often consult with the County’s Commission on Aging, whose primary function is to advise leaders about the needs and interests of the County’s older adults.

See examples on this page of the progress that has been made through the efforts of the Age-Friendly workgroups to date.

Monthly Age-Friendly pages in the Beacon Newspaper describe Age-Friendly activities and resources. (This is one of those pages.)

The Senior Site on Montgomery County’s website (montgomerycountymd.gov/senior) links to a wide range of resources.

Elder Abuse Prevention

The Elder and Vulnerable Adult Abuse Task Force coordinates efforts to prevent and investigate maltreatment. Members include the Police, the State’s Attorney’s office, Adult Protective Services, the Long-Term Care Ombudsman program, Emergency Medical Services, and the Office of the County Attorney.

World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD) educates on issues related to staying safe and elder abuse prevention, promoting available resources.

Employment

The Career Gateway offers training and mentoring for professionals over 50 seeking employment.

Virtual 50+ Employment Expos educate job seekers, and enable them to interact with employers with current job openings.

Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS)

Senior Nutrition Program provides both group and home-delivered meals.

The Respite program provides shortterm breaks for unpaid primary caregivers.

Health and Wellness

Social programs for people with memory loss provide socialization and enriching activities such as singing, cooking and painting.

Access HEARS provides hearing devices and support to eligible residents.

Housing

The Affordable Housing Workgroup is working to create a program offering moderately-priced options that include supportive services.

Home Sharing enables two unrelated people to safely share a home, expenses, chores and companionship, while home modification grants provide funding to get homes ready to rent.

Planning Open Spaces, Parks and Community Buildings

Thrive 2050, the County’s new Master Plan, acknowledges the need to provide more housing choice, enhance intergenerational interaction, and promote aging in place.

The Pedestrian Master Plan proposes changes in street design to increase safety and comfort for older adults and people with disabilities.

Public Safety

Free home-safety checks and smoke detector installation are offered by Fire and Rescue Services.

The Police Department’s Autism/ Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Alzheimer’s and Dementia Outreach unit responds to cases involving missing residents and provides follow-up.

Transportation & Mobility

Ride On and most Metrobus service are now accessible and free to residents 65+.

Call-n-Ride provides discounted taxi service to income-eligible residents 63+.

Connect-A-Ride provides personalized information about transportation services to older adults and residents with disabilities.

For more details about the mission and work of the 10 workgroups, visit the Age-Friendly website: montgomerycountymd.gov/ senior/afag/

For information about the Commission on Aging, go to: montgomerycountymd.gov/coa

Don’t hold alternative assets in your IRA

In a recent column for InvestmentNews, IRA expert Ed Slott highlighted the potential problems of holding alternative assets in IRA accounts. [Ed. Note: The term “alternative assets” generally refers to illiquid assets, such as real estate, artwork, collectibles and non-publicly traded investments.]

Slott explained that, in a recent case involving the estate of the late actor James Caan, several mistakes were made, resulting in approximately $1 million paid in taxes and penalties.

fer some of his holdings to a new financial institution. However, because of the valuation problem, that account was not actually transferred to the new financial firm.

failed. The tax court ruled that Caan’s attempted rollover did not work because it violated the “same property” rule that requires that the property distributed from the IRA must be the same property that is rolled over.

THE SAVINGS GAME

By Elliot Raphaelson

The primary issue stemmed from the nature of assets within the IRA account. Caan had multiple IRA accounts, one of which contained hedge funds.

Custodians must report the year-end valuation for all IRA accounts. However, valuing illiquid alternative assets within these accounts poses challenges. This is particularly problematic when a required minimum distribution (RMD) necessitates a year-end value.

In Caan’s case, the custodian was unable to report to the IRS the year-end value of the IRA account holding hedge fund assets.

In addition, the financial adviser Caan was using left the firm that was holding Caan’s IRAs, and convinced Caan to trans-

Because the original custodian had not been able to obtain a year-end valuation, the custodian made an “in-kind” distribution of the funds in the IRA to Caan, and subsequently issued a 2015 1099-R listing its yearend 2013 value. Caan did not report the distribution as taxable income, as required.

In December 2016, long after the 60-day rollover deadline had passed, Caan asked the hedge fund to liquidate his holding and roll over the proceeds to the new custodian recommended by his adviser.

The IRS notified Caan that he had an income tax deficiency for 2015 of approximately $780,000 because the hedge fund distribution was taxable, and also assessed approximately a $156,000 penalty for substantially underestimating his 2015 taxes.

Caan asked the IRS in a private letter ruling to waive the penalty associated with the rollover, but the IRS did not waive the penalty, and an appeal to the tax court also failed.

After Caan died in 2022, his estate also tried to obtain a favorable tax appeal but

Caan received a distribution from a hedge fund and rolled over cash. The judge also found that the rollover was not completed within the 60-day required time frame.

Bottom line: It is ill-advised to hold illiquid alternative assets, such as real estate, in your IRA due to the challenges in ob-

taining a year-end valuation.

Moreover, when transferring assets from one IRA to another, you must adhere to the same-property r ule and 60-day timeline.

Noncompliance with these rules can result in taxation and penalties from the IRS, and tax courts are unlikely to be sympathetic to any appeals. For investments in illiquid alternatives, it is generally safer to invest through non-IRA accounts.

Leisure & Travel Leisure &

and

Canadian rainforest’s bucket-list sights

By Don Mankin

As our boat glided across Canada’s Kitlope Lake, the surface gleamed like glass, reflecting the steep, thickly forested slopes that lined the shore. Wrapped in silence, we gazed at the jagged, icy peaks looming in the background.

We were on the fourth day of a weeklong adventure deep into the fjords of the northern coast of British Columbia, one of the most beautiful places on earth.

The Great Bear Rainforest is wild and remote — no roads, only deep fjords and channels lined with lush forests, glacierencrusted mountains and granite cliffs.

At almost 16 million acres, it’s the largest intact temperate coastal rainforest in the world. Thanks to decades of advocacy by environmentalists and First Nations tribes, most of it is now a nature preserve.

In the sections of the rainforest that we explored, there are no cities, towns or villages, just bears, eagles, whales and the remnants of indigenous villages and camps dating back thousands of years. These historic cultural sites added a human dimension to this wild place.

We were transported into this fairytale landscape on a historic vessel, the MV Swell, a 1912 tugboat converted into a touring boat. With six private cabins and a crew of six, the Swell is compact and intimate, furnished in polished wood and brass fittings, with a combination salon/lounge/dining room, two outdoor decks and a hot tub.

To reach the ship, my wife and I flew to

Vancouver, then the city of Terrace in north coastal B.C., near the border with Southeast Alaska. A shuttle whisked us to the Swell in Kitimat to begin our Great Bear Rainforest adventure.

Grizzly bears, eagles and orca

The next day, the first full day on the boat, started the trip with a bang. We headed out in two Zodiacs (inflatable motorboats) to look for wildlife.

Our first sighting was a great blue heron near the shore. Then an eagle in a tree.

The main event was a lingering, upclose view of a young grizzly bear munching on sedge on the shore. The bear was unfazed by our company, pausing every now and then to check us out only a few yards offshore. At one point he even posed in full view on a log.

Then our guides received a crackly call on their shortwave radios from the skipper on the Swell about several orcas near the boat.

We sped over to see a family of three swim gracefully and majestically along the shore. The sun lit up their gleaming backs, dorsal fins and clouds of misty droplets emitted by their deep exhalations. We followed them for several minutes as they dived, surfaced and swam.

We saw less wildlife over the next couple of days, but the scenery grew even more dramatic as we entered the Gardner Canal, a long natural fjord and B.C.’s longest.

We were surrounded by steep, massive granite monoliths, thick with trees clinging to cracks in the stone like desperate rock climbers. One waterfall after another marked our way along the canal.

Another day, we landed on shore to search for evidence of bears — scratches, tufts of fur — on tree trunks in the forest. Fresh bear poop reminded us that we were not alone.

We had the place pretty much to ourselves. No internet, no cell phone service, no CNN. I didn’t miss it.

Lake expedition

On our fourth day, we embarked on a great adventure — a full-day excursion in the Zodiacs up the river to Kitlope Lake, the ancestral home of the Haisla First Nation people.

After three hours winding up the river amid puffs of cottonwood seeds drifting in the air and on the water, we spotted two skittish bears on the shore.

Soon after, we worked our way over a shallow stretch of river, dinging the propeller of our outboard motor on the rocky bottom. This was the last barrier before entering the lake — a barrier that had thwarted our guides in previous attempts.

We made it. For several minutes we sat

in silence, transfixed. No one else was there. No boats, no kayaks, no huts, no planes flying overhead.

Marlo, our chief guide, believes it’s the most remote place on earth. We lingered on the beach for a while. Except for a pool of thousands of tadpoles, we had this paradise to ourselves.

On the way back to the tugboat, we visited M’iskusu, the former village site of the Haisla nation, to see a replica totem pole — a copy of the pole taken from the Haisla people in 1929 and spirited off to a museum in Sweden.

The yearslong effort to return the pole to its rightful place among the Haisla people is an example of the First Nations’ struggle to preserve and recapture their culture and identity.

That night I slept better than I had in weeks.

Hot springs, porpoises, whales

The next day, after spotting a bear on shore, we took some time off to soak in a natural hot spring with a view of the bay. Since I was already in my bathing suit, I decided to top off the day with a soak in the hot tub on the upper deck of

the Swell

An 88-foot converted tugboat, the MV Swell, glides past the remote glaciers of British Columbia’s Great Bear Rainforest. The Ireland-sized wilderness area has few roads, so boats or planes are the best way to see its abundant wildlife and oldgrowth forests.

PHOTO BY PHILIP STONE/MAPLE LEAF ADVENTURES

Some hotels

cruise lines are finally starting to care about solo travelers. See article on facing page.

Porpoises greet eco-tourists riding in a Zodiac. With its large population of bears, wolves, whales, orcas and other wildlife, the Great Bear Rainforest is known as the Galapágos of the North.

PHOTO BY KEVIN J. SMITH/MAPLE LEAF ADVENTURES

Solo travel still difficult, but improving

By Ed Perkins

Travel is geared mainly to serve customers as couples. But for a variety of reasons, many travelers are not in a coupled relationship.

In my case, I’m a widower; others include the nevermarried, divorced or separated; and some couples have diverse interests, so they don’t travel together.

of business.

Over the years, the travel business has given short shrift to these travelers, but suppliers have recently taken a closer look at what they see as a big potential source

By Ed Perkins

Rainforest

From page 28

with an even better view.

On our last full day, several porpoises escorted us on the way to the Whale Research Station on Fin Island. They darted in, out and under our bow as we plowed through the water.

Soon after, we spotted two humpback whales frolicking in the water — leaping and diving just 100 yards away. The show went on for several minutes.

Just when I figured the trip was over, we

For years, some tour operators and cruise lines have been positioning themselves as “singles travel” specialists, but mostly their approach has been to match up singles into couples.

True solo travel is different. True solo travelers do not want to share accommodations with strangers or even with friends. They want sole occupancy of whatever arrangement they make.

The “double occupancy” trap If you’ve traveled at all, you’ve seen that

climbed in the Zodiacs for one last cruise into Gilttoyees Inlet for maybe the most stunning scenery of all.

The terrain was essentially the same — snowcapped peaks, lush forest, sparkling water — but the colors seemed even more vivid than usual. Maybe it was the realization that our trip was coming to an end, and I wanted to burn the scene into my memory.

A healing journey

We almost didn’t make it to Canada. For three weeks before the trip, I had been

a lot of pricing is based on “per person, double occupancy,” or PPDO.

Most modern hotel rooms are designed to accommodate at least two people with two single, double or queen beds. These hotels charge the same rate for either one or two occupants.

Similarly, the vast majority of cruise cabins are set up to accommodate up to four people — two comfortably in separate small beds, combinable into a double, and two more uncomfortably in pull-down bunk beds.

Railroads charge each traveler the same for basic rail fare, but for compartments on overnight trains such as Amtrak’s long-distance trains, the price is the same for one

coughing and wheezing from asthma brought on by a bad cold.

But by the end of the trip, I felt better than I had in weeks. The combination of wilderness, fresh air and wildlife had flushed out my lingering illness.

I know that over time, the body often heals itself. The right medicines also help.

But I can’t help thinking that, to some extent, my body and mind were healed by the waters, trees and massifs — as well as the living things, animal and human, past and present — of the Great Bear Rainforest.

as for two.

Even with the prevalence of PPDO pricing, solo travelers have a few reasonable options:

Hotels: Although most new or recent hotels are designed for couples, small, older hotels in Europe often have single rooms designed for just one occupant, as do Japanese business hotels. Daily rates are usually substantially less than, but more than half, the double-room rates.

On my recent trips, I’ve found comfortable single rooms at small family-owned hotels in Belgium, Switzerland and Germany, as well as in Japan. But most of the time, I

If you go

Great Bear Rainforest trips are run by Maple Leaf Adventures (mapleleafadventures.com), the host for this trip. They offer a number of different itineraries in the Great Bear Rainforest.

The 11-day trips aboard the Swell start at around $15,000 per person. The shortest trips (5 days) start at around $4,600/pp.

Round-trip airfare to Vancouver on WestJet, United or Air Canada is less than $500. Round-trip airfare between Vancouver and Terrace, B.C. is about $225 on WestJet or Air Canada.

TRAVEL TIPS

Solo travel

From page 29

But if you really want accommodations by yourself, you pay a fee known as a “single supplement,” usually to occupy an ac-

BEACON BITS

VOLUNTEER TO BE A MENTOR

Pass on your knowledge to a new generation. The nonprofit organization Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year and is looking for mentors. You do not have to be retired to mentor clients. Meetings can take place remotely. To volunteer, visit score.org/volunteer/become-mentor or call 1-800-634-0245.

CAT FOSTERING

Have extra space and time on your hands? Foster with the Lost Dog and Cat Rescue Foundation to house a feline companion temporarily and help a cat wait for its forever home. For applications and more information, visit bit.ly/CatFostering.

MAKE A TUBI ACCOUNT

Tubi is a popular free online streaming service offering thousands of movies and TV shows. During this free workshop, you’ll learn how to sign up for a Tubi account and how to search for and save movies and TV shows. Join Thurs., Aug. 22 from 3 to 4 p.m. at Olney Library, 3500 Olney Laytonsville Rd., Olney, MD. For more information, visit bit.ly/StreamTUBI or call (240) 773-9545.

commodation designed for a couple. The supplement usually ranges from 50 percent more to double the PPDO rate.

However, what may be close to everybody’s favorite tour operator, Road Scholar (roadscholar.org, formerly Elderhostel but open to travelers of any age), posts a pulldown options menu on its website that includes “solo travelers only” filter. The choices are limited, but they’re genuinely for solo travelers. Google “solo travel” to find other outfits worth a look.

Cruises: For a long time, cruise lines ignored the solo traveler, relying instead on stiff single supplements for double cabins.

But some of the newer liners feature cabins designed for one person. The good folks at Cruise Critic have compiled and posted a list of cruise lines and cruise ships with true single cabins (cruisecritic.com/articles/whichships-have-solo-cabins).

Norwegian leads the pack in number of

Letters to the editor

From page 4

there are also cases where people are injured or lose their lives due to the absence of restraints in certain circumstances.

Particularly in assisted living situations, it can be difficult to strike the perfect balance between the freedom residents want and deserve and the restraints that might protect them from harm. Thank you for calling attention to this important issue.

Dear Editor:

In his July column, “When a planner retires from all planning,” Bob Levey wrote that he asked a friend who had retired after over 40 years of working whether she owed it “to the world, to her former clients, and to herself to keep doing what she had always done.”

I don’t agree with Levey’s thoughts about his friend’s retirement. I believe that anyone who has worked at the same ca-

rooms and cabins per ship, but the other lines are catching up.

Carnival, the biggest player among cruise lines, seems to be lagging the trend, but it does have a few on Cunard. Unfortunately, other than Cunard, no high-end lines yet make the “solo traveler” list.

Trains: I don’t know any way to hack the PPDO compartment prices on Amtrak, and Amtrak seldom puts them on sale. Sorry.

Keep a lookout for deals. Occasionally, tour operators and cruise lines have catered to solo travelers, mainly through “no single supplement” promotions, often for departures they believe are not likely to sell out — which means the best deals are last-minute deals. You can still find those.

reer for over 40 years has more than paid her dues.

It happens that she is 65, a typical retirement age, but it wouldn’t matter to me if she were younger. Even though she enjoyed her work and admits that she misses the positive aspects of her career, she has the right to choose a different kind of life in her golden years.

After spending most days working in an office, how delightful it must be to be outside walking in her neighborhood or mowing the lawn. The freedom to sleep later in the mornings and the knowledge that you have no agenda could certainly be liberating.

She can always consider other options in the future if she so desires. She certainly has no duty, though, to work for the public again. She has every right to enjoy her freedom and relaxation.

Hilary Donovan Arlington, VA

Arts & Style

Local writer takes stab at crime fiction

By Margaret Foster

Writer Andrew Madigan, 55, has had his share of odd jobs. The father of three from Springfield, Virginia, has been a janitor, construction worker, substitute teacher, baseball groundskeeper, temp and beer taster. He even did a summer stint in 1995 as a stand-in for Bill Murray, pulling long hours in place of the actor during camera blocking and lighting setups.

Madigan, who went on to be a professor and published author, tackled all his side gigs with a strong work ethic.

“I looked at being a professor the same way as I did as a janitor,” he said in an interview with the Beacon. “Work hard, do my job, go home.”

But Madigan’s longest career has been in the field of writing, his day job. For several decades he has been writing poetry, short stories and articles for publications from Salon to The Guardian to the Washington Post.

Third novel just out

This month, Madigan’s third novel was published by Next Chapter, a publisher based in Japan and Finland. A Nice Safe

Place tells the story of a missing girl in the fictional town of Belvue, Missouri.

“It’s an amalgam of places — from the St. Louis area, from a small town in Ohio where I lived, and from the D.C. area,” Madigan explained.

Some scenes are set in bars similar to a few in the D.C. area, including the former Cowboy Café in Arlington and Harry’s Bar in downtown D.C.

Although Madigan is a father of three daughters, he claimed he didn’t have trouble writing about an abducted child in A Nice Safe Place

“I come from a long line of surgeons and military officers and nurses and people who aren’t too squeamish,” he said.

Madigan, who has lived in Japan, the U.K., the Middle East and South Korea, said his love of books came from his childhood in Springfield.

“I come from a big family, and we had a lot of books around. Even at age 10 I would read Mark Twain, Dickens, George Eliot. I would just read whatever I could get my hands on,” he said.

Madigan went on to receive his bachelor’s degree in English from William &

Mary, then got a Ph.D. in American literature from St. Louis University, all the while picking up life experience in blue-collar jobs.

“While I was in school, I was delivering pizza and I worked as a janitor,” he said. “I didn’t take it all that seriously.”

grew into a novella and finally a novel,” he said. Khawla’s Wall: A Dubai Novel was published 10 years ago by Second Wind.

Early inspiration from travel

He met his wife, Maura, in St. Louis, and “for adventure,” he said, the couple moved to Dubai, where he got the idea for his first novel, Khwala’s Wall

“Someone told me a story, and I just started writing it up. First as a short story, then it

His second book, a crime novel called Dark Side of the Street, was published in 2020 by Gumshoe Books, an imprint of Next Chapter, and was translated into Spanish.

Although crime writing is a relatively new genre for Madigan, he’s always admired the noir novels of Raymond Chandler.

“My first novel was a literary novel, but now I’ve switched to only writing crime

Andrew Madigan’s colorful job history — with positions based in Ohio, Japan and Dubai — comes in handy in his new endeavor as a crime fiction writer. His newest book, A Nice Safe Place, was published in August and includes locales that may be familiar to readers in the DMV.

Amy Tan’s new birdwatching book is a bestseller. See story on facing page.

Novelist Amy Tan shares bird obsession

By Anita Snow

Birdwatching has become a cherished pastime for many since the start of the pandemic, when people stuck at home for months looked out their windows for entertainment and immersed themselves into the natural world, many of them for the first time.

Best-selling novelist Amy Tan of The Joy Luck Club fame is among about 45 million Americans the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service has estimated are birders, with many investing seriously in their passion by purchasing birdseed and birdwatching accessories.

Now, with entries from her nature journal and astonishing illustrations thanks to lessons in bird illustration, Tan has pub-

Crime fiction

From page 32

fiction. If I had to say there was one writer these books bear some resemblance to, it would be Elmore Leonard,” he said.

Indeed, some scenes in A Nice Safe Place are as darkly funny as a Leonard tome, and Madigan includes wry one-liners in many of his published pieces.

A Nice Safe Place is the first book in the “Cutler Trilogy,” three books about suspi-

lished The Backyard Bird Chronicles about an obsession of hers that dates back to before the pandemic.

Tan’s book is the latest to grab onto the popularity of birdwatching.

It joins Better Living Through Birding: Notes from a Black Man in the Natural World , last year’s memoir by Christian Cooper, who famously clashed with a white woman walking her dog in New York’s Central Park. The confrontation came on May 25, 2020, the same day George Floyd was killed after a knee on his neck by a white Minneapolis police officer.

Another book sure to delight amateur naturalists was published in May: The Birds that Audubon Missed: Discovery and

cious characters in Belvue. Madigan has finished writing the second book in the series, and it’s scheduled to be published next year.

In the meantime, he’s working on an unrelated novel set in the 1960s and is juggling other writing projects — all the while conjuring up new stories.

“I get up every day and I write for a few hours, then revise for an hour or so,” he said. “It’s very much an ingrained habit, so sometimes the ideas just come to you. I’m

Desire in the American Wilderness by Kenn Kaufman.

Kaufman, an avid birder since he was a boy, has authored or co-authored more than a dozen books, including his own Kaufman Field Guides.

In his latest, he tells of the vicious competition among naturalists and John James Audubon, who is known for his efforts in the 1800s to describe and illustrate all the birds he could find.

But amid the rivalries, fraud and plagiarism, The Birds in America — Audubon’s seminal collection of 435 life-size prints — missed many winged creatures that were not discovered for years, including some common songbirds, hawks and sandpipers.

not really sure where they come from.”

Maura Madigan, who is an elementary school librarian, also writes fiction in her spare time.

Early in their marriage, she encouraged her husband to look for jobs abroad. Their daughters, ages 24, 22 and 14, were all born overseas (in Okinawa, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, respectively).

Twelve years ago, the family moved back to Springfield, where Madigan’s family has lived since the 1850s. Madigan said

California birdwatching

Tan could only identify three bird species when she first embraced birdwatching as a pastime.

The number of species she could identify steadily grew to 63 as she lured more birds to the area behind her home with a view of San Francisco Bay, dangling seed and nectar feeders from a stand and planting her rooftop garden with succulents sporting white, yellow and pink blossoms.

“I’ve been spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing,” she notes at one point. “How can I not? Just outside my office, four fledgling scrub jays are learning survival skills.” See BIRDWATCHING , page 34

it was his children who wanted to settle down in America.

“Eventually they wanted to move back to the States and go to a normal school, by which they meant something more like the one in High School Musical,” Madigan said in an email.

“It was a good idea to come back, though disappointing for them that [movie star] Zac Ephron was not in any of their classes.”

A Nice Safe Place is available on Amazon.com.

If only I had spent more time at the office!

An old friend gets a new, bigger, better job. Handshakes and backslaps all around. But then, a minor thunderbolt. As he leaves his current job, Old Friend reveals that he has left behind 1,000 hours of unused vacation.

Ancient Columnist Bob starts doing long division in his head. (The good news: He still can.) “That’s 25 weeks off that you never took,” Bob bleats. Old Friend nods. He says nothing. That’s because he has no defense.

Old Friend was one of those super-dedicated workers who thought that any time away from his desk was (choose at least one):

A sign of weakness.

A sign of frivolity.

A sign that he cared more about sipping mai tais in the Caribbean than he cared about doing his job well.

Ancient Columnist Bob did not want to spoil the moment. He didn’t tell Old Friend what he really thought about all those non-vacations.

But ACB is about to let loose.

when you return, not a worse one while you are gone.

And vacations are a significant part of your pay package.

Old Friend had spent about 25 years at his previous job. He basically gave back one week of pay each of those years by not taking the time off that he could have taken.

Would Old Friend have voluntarily torn up one weekly paycheck in each of those years? Not in the world I inhabit.

Vacations are not a measure of how seriously you take (or took) your job. They are an opportunity to recharge, to change your surroundings, to explore, to learn.

Vacations make you a better worker

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Even worse, Old Friend did not work in an industry where he could collect his unused vacation in cash at the end of his service. His vacation time had always been use-it-or-lose-it. Each year, the clock reset.

Old Friend did take a few days off, he acknowledged, “but only here and there.”

And he did amass a retirement lump. He can roll that over into his new employer’s retirement plan. So, he doesn’t move to his new life without any cushion or comfort.

But has he learned anything by forsaking all those hours and all those dollars?

“I guess so,” he told me. “But the truth is, I’d do it again. The job was the point.” Old Friend can’t be blamed for his deep sense of responsibility. The woods are full of people, of all ages, who do as little at work as they can.

They watch the clock like hawks. They take two-hour lunches. They call in sick

Birdwatching

From page 33 See BOB LEVEY , page 37

“We’ve been shut down by Covid-19, required to stay home,” she wrote on March 19, 2020. “Almost everything seems like a potential transmitter of disease and death — the groceries, a door knob, another person. But not the birds. The birds are a balm.”

Like a loving mother, Tan watches in delight as fledglings learn how to get food from her patio cage feeders. She worries whether they’ll be affected by smoke from fires in California’s north.

Tan eventually becomes controlled by birds, feeding them 700 to 800 squirmy beetle larvae a day, at a cost of some $250 a month.

She also leaves alpaca yarn outside so an Oak Titmouse can line her nest with the soft fuzz.

As time passes, Tan becomes intentionally curious in nature, fascinated as a pair of Great Horned Owls take up residence in her backyard, depleting the rat population as they regurgitate pellets comprised of bits of indigestible bone and fur.

She learns to stay motionless for long periods, even in the cold, to silently observe. “One must suffer for beauty, happily, for birds,” she writes. —AP

HOW I SEE IT

By Bob Levey

Tur Turaandot

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Scrabble answers on p. 39.

Dreck

Crossword Puzzle

Across

1. Maintains the flavor

6. Where the Parent Trap twins met

10. Ball girl

13. “___ now, when?”

14. Knightwear

16. Napoleon’s was big

17. He shared a 1903 Nobel prize with his wife

19. Sketchbook

20. Indignation

21. “___ buy myself flowers” (Myley Cyrus lyric)

22. Arriving after the second bell, at some schools

24. Powerful wind storm

26. Part of a backgammon set

27. From ___ Z

28. Protective joist with a slanted notch in one end

31. Commonality of both CELEBS and DWEEBS

33. Poke fun at

35. Letters between Benjamin Siegelbaum and Bugsy Siegel

36. Attend a community Zumba class (or get started on nine answers in this puzzle)

40. 40 winks

41. Came to light

42. “Roger that”

43. “Ty Cobb is a [jerk], but he ___ hit” (Babe Ruth)

45. The NFL’s blind-side protectors

47. Screams at showings of The Great Mouse Detective

48. Satellite broadcaster

52. Peyton Manning, to Arch Manning

54. Falafel holder

55. ___-down (rural party)

56. Word before chi or after mai

57. New plan of actions

61. Letters on the side of an ambulance

62. Very patient one

63. Johnny Depp’s character in 2013’s The Lone Ranger

64. Next after elemeno

By Stephen Sherr

65. Three-pointer

66. Involuntary twitch

Down

1. Panel discussed at a doctor’s office

2. In flames

3. Billy Idol’s trademark facial expression

4. AL East foe of BAL and BOS

5. Uncompromising

6. Seeds that become chocolate

7. ___ for the money

8. Vaccine that prevents three infections

9. Polynesian paste

10. Express disapproval

11. “Zounds!”

12. Medical examiner’s subject

15. Pensioner, usually

18. Amazon smart speaker

23. Untouched serve

25. Direction most senators travel to their offices

26. The D in CD or DJ

28. Plain as the nose on your ___

29. Four-stringers

30. Driveway surface

31. Biblical twin

32. Use the exact right words

33. 1982 film source for a 2023 Disney roller coaster

34. Some M.I.T. grads

36. Prefixes that reverse words’ meanings

37. Those that circumvent network security

38. Paleozoic and Mesozoic, for example

39. Wall Street’s “Big Board”

44. Slippery as an ___

45. Reduced-calorie

46. Religious pamphlets

48. Off-color

49. Home to most of the world’s pigs

50. Sweetie pie

51. Likely cause of Cleopatra’s death

52. El Paso school

53. Information on a driver’s license

54. Coniferous tree

58. Participate in Nathan’s Fourth of July contest

59. NNW or SSE

60. Where to put your 53 Down on a test

Bob Levey

From page 34

when they’re not sick. They spend company time checking and re-checking their retirement portfolios.

We should all admire Old Friend for rising to many occasions. He worked overtime when the job demanded it. He never made personal phone calls on company time.

He was late to work only once in 25 years — and that was because a tractor-trailer overturned on the Beltway right in front of him.

But leaving vacation on the shelf cheats not only Old Friend, but also his former employer.

Any boss wants his employees to be at the top of their game. By not taking vacation, Old Friend was running on his rims all those years.

Inevitably, he was more tired than he might have been. Inevitably, he was less productive than he might have been. Who wins in that scenario? No one.

I’m very aware of the old saw about vacations — that you often return from one needing another.

Been there myself. That first Monday morning back in the salt mines can seem daunting, especially if you’ve just spent a week at the beach with pouting, sleepless children.

And I’m very aware that vacations did not become a widely accepted part of the American workscape until about 100 years ago. Before then, only the wealthy could afford to take time off.

Old Friend has no regrets. He also has no plans to be a leopard who changes his spots.

I couldn’t resist asking him if he plans to take his earned vacation at his new job.

“Maybe,” he replied. “But only if I get around to it.”

Some leopards are mighty stubborn.

Bob Levey is a national award-winning columnist.

ONE BIG HAPPY By

Rick Detorie

Peace of Mind is Priceless

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Aug. 14+

ARLINGTON COUNTY FAIR

The Arlington County Fair takes place from Wed., Aug. 14 to Sun., Aug. 18. Enjoy competitive exhibits, rides, games, entertainment, vendors and more. Admission is free. The fair is at the Thomas Jefferson Community Center, 3501 Second St., South Arlington, VA. For hours and more information, visit arlingtoncountyfair.us.

AFRICAN

Aug. 25

PROBLEM WITH YOUR PC/MAC OR NETWORK? Computer Systems Engineer will come to you with help. Call David G. at: 3013282112 / 3016424526.

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SAFE STEP. North America’s #1 Walk-In Tub. Comprehensive lifetime warranty. Top-of-theline installation and service. Now featuring our FREE shower package and $1600 Off for a limited time! Call today! Financing available. Call Safe Step 1-866-478-2363.

AMERICAN RESIDENTIAL HEATING & COOLING. As temps outside start to climb, the season for savings is now. $49 cooling or heating system tune up. Save up to $2000 on a new heating and cooling system (restrictions apply.) FREE estimates. Many payment options available. Licensed and insured professionals. Call today 1-877-691-0273.

GET DISH SATELLITE TV + INTERNET!

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WILL BUY MILITARY, WWII, WWI, Civil War memorabilia items. Uniforms, weapons, helmets, photos, war souvenirs, medals, photos or any other items associated with U.S., German, Japanese or other military history. Call Dave (240-464-0958) or email (david.obal63@gmail.com).

& CARIBBEAN

FESTIVAL

Spend a Sunday at an African and Caribbean music and arts festival. The free festival features live performances including a drum corps, steel orchestra and jazz ensemble. Vendors will offer food, crafts and more. The festival takes place on Sun., Aug. 25 from noon to 9 p.m. at Veterans Plaza, 1 Veterans Pl. Silver Spring, MD. For more information, visit bit.ly/AfricanCaribFest.

Answer: The beagle who

Employment/ Volunteer Opportunities

The Career Gateway Classes/Training

The Housing Authority of the City of College Park .

JCA’s Heyman Interages Center

NVRides

Events

Beacon 50+Expos

Better Hearing Event

. .25

.13

.18

.25

Brooke Grove Seminars & Classes

Chevy Chase House Brunch . .

Parkinson’s Support Group

Home Improvement

USA Marble & Granite . .11

Housing

Ashby Ponds/Erickson . .1, 8

Brooke Grove Retirement Village

Charles E. Smith Life Communities

Chesterbrook

Chevy Chase House .

.10

Ring House Free Events . .15

Funeral Services

Cremation Society of Maryland

Going Home Cremation

MacNabb Funeral Home

.37

.34

.37

Home Healthcare

Best Senior Care . . . . . . .14

HOW TO PLACE A CLASSIFIED AD

All classified ads must be submitted and paid for online, via our website, www.thebeaconnewspapers.com/classifieds

Deadlines and Payments: To appear in the next issue, your ad text and payment must be entered by the 5th of the preceding month (for Baltimore and Howard County editions); by the 20th (for Washington edition).

Cost will be based on the number of characters and spaces in your ad:

• $25 for 1-250 • $35 for 251-500. • $50 for 501-750 (maximum length). The website will calculate this amount for you.

Note: Maryland contractors must provide a valid MHIC number.

• Each real estate listing qualifies as one ad. • All ads are subject to publisher’s discretion. Payment will be refunded if unacceptable for any reason.

To place your classified ad, visit www.thebeaconnewspapers.com/classifieds

Woodleigh Chase/ Erickson