When your insurance lacks vision care it's not unusual to skip regular eye exams but, if you're over 40,--please think twice. Glaucoma, a leading cause of blindness, is diagnosed in and prevented through routine eye exams. Outside of an exam, early warning symptoms are generally unnoticeable. Estimates suggest that 2.7 million Americans have glaucoma but only half realize it! Do you know if you have glaucoma?
Liz Mulligan[/caption] Liz Mulligan first witnessed elder fraud while working with a client of With A Little Help. Since tracking down over $200,000 stolen by the client's bookkeeper she's gone on to establish a full time fraud fighting business: Fraud Resolution for seniors, LLC. "I was so gratified to help someone straighten out finances," she said reflecting on that first experience. Liz sat down with us to talk about the most frequent fraud problem she sees and to share thoughts on how to protect the elders in your life from financial harm. Charitable holidays bring out our urge to help. Sensational fraud cases make headline news but the dishonest nickel and dime charities that appeal to our giving spirit are the most frequent fraud problem facing elders. Many elders or casual donors don't track these small contributions nor do they research the charities they benefit and that's what small time fraudulent operators count on! "One year a client donated $9,000 in $10 and $15 dollar donations," Mulligan recalled. 
Wherever America devotes resources miraculous breakthroughs are possible. We're celebrating great strides made in fighting Breast, Prostate, and Colon cancers, for instance, with tests for early intervention and increasingly effective drugs. Those advances are the result of research and continuous funding. This month hopes ride high that pancreatic cancer awareness will translate into more research for drugs or diagnostics to improve survivability from this ruthless killer well on it's way to becoming the second leading cause of cancer deaths by 2020.
In early December friends and coworkers of Kate Lounsbury gathered on the Bainbridge Island Ferry to remember and celebrate her life. The Bainbridge ferry paused briefly as friends released Kate’s ashes. Kate battled large B Cell Lymphoma for several months before exercising her right to Death With Dignity under Washington’s 2008 law. With assistance from Compassion and Choices, she died peacefully at home among friends on October 26, 2013.
Kate, second from left, with friends from the dance world[/caption] Last October before our coworker Kate Lounsbury died of lymphoma she asked this blogger to write about her choice to use Washington’s Death With Dignity law to acquire legal aid in dying. Kate hoped it would promote wider public understanding. Before writing, I spoke with coworkers and friends and asked for their perspectives on Death With Dignity. Many had voted for Initiative 1000 which established the law with a 58.6% margin in 2008. All said they’d vote the same way again today. That was clear. But some expressed conflict about the actual act it legalized---aid in dying. Would I make that choice? they wondered aloud. How would I feel when someone I loved made that choice?! I think many people experience similarly unsettled emotions. Some are conflicted or opposed ideologically or because of religious faith. Complicating our feelings is the fact that death is rarely discussed in our culture and is hard to imagine. In that, Kate’s view differed from us all. She didn’t have comfortable distance from imminent death. She knew her life would end-- painfully-- and, understanding that, she was unwavering in her determination to choose the manner in which she left this world and her beloved friends behind.
Dan and Ann Streissguth[/caption] “My wife is full of life; full of happiness and joy,” Dan Streissguth confided to me when Ann rose to prepare coffee and snacks for our meeting. On her return they shared their inspiring story of partnership, devotion to community, and the development of Streissguth garden. It began with Dan’s first sight of Ann in the garden next door. “She was a young assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine,” Dan reminisced. He was already a well-established local architect and admired professor of Architecture at the University of Washington. Ann was new to the neighborhood but Dan had been living alone in his 4 story house for eight years. Through the foliage of their opulent backyard gardens, plants were admired, conversations began, and now, 46 years later, Dan relays his still delighted surprise with the exclamation, “I married my next door neighbor!”
Gerry Cherney[/caption]
Linda at her first art exhibit[/caption] Linda’s interest in working with elders grew from experiences in family caregiving first with her courageous, lonely, loving grandmother and later her parents. During the five years that she’s shared her skills through With A Little Help she says she most enjoys “being a support to families.” Her own experience caring for parents helps her interact with client families. “I am able to offer a calm, neutral, and supportive influence,” she explained. “It is very heart opening to see families connect and support each other in times of need. I believe our families are the main way we can work through our karma/life lessons and if we don’t heal our relationships with them, we have really missed a great opportunity. I encourage everyone to do this difficult work of healing relationships with their own families. How else can we have peace on earth?”