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Savvy Senior: Best Stair Lifts of 2023
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
Because of chronic arthritis, I have a very difficult time going up and down stairs anymore and am interested in purchasing a stair lift for my two-story house. Can you recommend some good companies?
Arthritic Andy
Dear Andy,
Yes, of course! A good home stair lift is a great mobility solution for anyone who is unable, or has a difficult time climbing stairs. To help you choose a quality stair lift that meets your needs and budget, here are a few shopping tips along with some top-rated companies.
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Web Watch: ‘Everyday Health’ Offers Healthy Advice for Everyday Living
Web Watch is a feature at LGBTSr offering online finds of interest.
The more I age, the more I’m interested in discovering ways to improve my physical, mental and spiritual health. Not long ago I happened upon a website that offers suggestions, advice and resources that address all three of those pillars of well-being.
Everyday Health has more information, about more topics, than you could probably ever read. They also offer email sign-ups for daily newsletters on specific topics. I’m signed up for their Daily Dose of Healthy Living, Permission to Breathe, and Mental Wellness. You can see all their newsletter offerings HERE. Between the stresses of daily life, the stresses of aging, and all the other things, real and imagined, that weigh on us, it’s good to have a resource like this.
Everyday Health’s passionate, award-winning editorial team is committed to supporting you in your journey to live a healthy life each and every day. By adhering to the highest standards for accuracy, objectivity, and balance, we create trustworthy content based on up-to-date, evidence-based health and medical information and real world patient and clinician experience to help inform you how to take control of your health. Our content, including articles, graphics, videos, tools, and more, is created by experienced and accredited health journalists with valuable input from our Health Expert Network.
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RetireGuide Offers LGBTQ+ Elder Health Care Guide
RetireGuide has included a valuable Care Guide for LGBTQ+ elders that includes such topics as:
Why Do LGBTQ+ Elders Have Low Rates of Health Insurance?
What Health Care Challenges Do LGBTQ+ Elders Face?
Discrimination
Greater Risk
Medicare Bill Rejection
and more.
You can read the entire Guide HERE.
RetireGuide is a health and wealth website dedicated to providing accurate information and research on a variety of retirement topics. We do this through a stringent editorial process that involves fact-checking, attribution to reputable sources, insight from financial experts and original reporting from a team of experienced journalists.
RetireGuide offers a wide variety of information for seniors about housing, healthcare, insurance, and financial planning. Sharing this is not intended as an endorsement of their products or services. – LGBTSr
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The Twist Podcast #240: Fun Days in Philly, Food Court Faves, and an Interview with Cannabis Activist Alan Robinson
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as rundown Mark’s great two-night trip to Philly, list some favorite food court hotspots, and enjoy Rick’s interview with cannabis activist and advocate Alan Robinson.
Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2023 MadeMark Publishing
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On the Map: Return to Philly, the Morris House Hotel, and Eddie Izzard at the Miller Theater
Click to hear audio version.
By Mark McNeaseIt was a whirlwind two days, as Frank and I headed to Philadelphia for another two-night getaway in a favorite city. After having spent decades in New York prior to our permanent move to rural New Jersey, we now enjoy taking trips to Philly just an hour away. It’s an easy drive, an easy city to be in, and it offers everything you could want in a major metropolis: museums, restaurants, theater, walking (and more walking), lots of history, and our preferred place to stay: the historic Morris House Hotel, located within a short walking distance of everything we enjoy.
This trip was my gift to Frank for our 10th wedding anniversary, and I didn’t want to scrimp. Fine food? You got it! Hotel we love to stay in? You got it! Surprise show at the Kimmel Center? You got it! And while we remember all our trips, this was special. I got a foot massage within an hour of arriving, while Frank racked up his multi-thousand-step daily routine. We had dinner at Buca D’Oro with his niece Jessica, who just started attending Drexel for her graduate law degree. Day two saw us walking with Jess, hitting 25,000-plus steps on my own pedometer and seeing her school up close.
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The Weekly Readlines September 15
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Sure to be repeated daily in what passes for breaking news, Hunter Biden has been indicted on gun charges no one else would be if their name wasn’t Biden. We wait patiently for an NRA statement in his defense.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy fed the last scraps of his soul to the MAGA hounds, ordering an impeachment inquiry into President Biden and his “crime family.” (Surely there has never been a more terrifying Mafia don than Jill Biden!). One good note: White House Counsel under Trump issued a ruling that an impeachment inquiry without a house vote was illegitimate and did not have to be complied with.
The Right’s war on diversity continues to take casualties, as more corporations drop their diversity training. Happy days are here again for white America!
Senator John Fetterman celebrated Biden’s win on marijuana, and Mitt Romney announced he will not run again in 2024, while expressing his belief that most of the Republican party no longer believes in the Constitution.
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Health Beat: Alternatives to Using a CPAP Machine
By Mark McNease
I’ve been using a CPAP machine for over five years now. I got lucky, as far as I’m concerned, by only needing the nostril pillows. It’s not uncomfortable, and I quickly got used to having a hose coming out of my face onto a machine set up by the bed. But I would still prefer not having to use it. It’s especially inconvenient when we travel and I lug this thing around with us wherever we go. There’s the added hassle of either taking sterilized water, which is used in the machine, or buying it when we get to our destination.
My machine recently started making bag-motor noises and I need a new one. However, I was told I have to be tested again, and to get a new prescription from my “sleep doctor.” I have an appointment to see him in October, when my Medicare kicks in. In the meantime, I thought I’d take a look at some possible alternatives to having your life tied to a CPAP. I don’t know if the weight loss suggestion will work for me, since I’m perpetually trying to lose weight. Hopefully we’ll find out soon. In the meantime …
Possible Alternatives to a CPAP Machine
One alternative to using a CPAP machine is an Oral Appliance, also known as a Mandibular Advancement Device (MAD). This type of appliance fits inside the mouth like a mouthguard and helps to keep the airway open during sleep by bringing the lower jaw slightly forward. Oral appliances are typically adjustable, allowing users to find the most comfortable setting.
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Savvy Senior: How Seniors Can Protect Themselves from Cybercrimes
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
I spend a lot of time online and love the convenience of paying bills, shopping, and keeping up with my grandkids on Facebook and Instagram. But a few months ago, my computer was infected with malware, and I just found out some cyber crook opened up a credit card using my identity and went on a shopping spree. Do you have some simple tips to help me stay safe while online?
Paranoid Patty
Dear Patty,
Unfortunately, cybercrimes against seniors continue to be a big problem in the U.S. According to the FBI 2022 Elder Fraud Report, cybercrime cost Americans over age 60 more than $3 billion last year, a whopping 84 percent increase from 2021.
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Savvy Senior: How Seniors Can Save on Prescription Drug Costs
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
I take several medications for multiple health conditions and the prices keep going up, even with my Medicare prescription drug insurance. Can you recommend any tips that can help cut my costs?
Tapped Out Tina
Dear Tina,
The high cost of prescription drugs is an ongoing problem that stings everyone, but it usually affects seniors more because they have a greater need for medications and because Medicare doesn’t cover all their drug costs.
While the Inflation Reduction Act, that was signed into law last year, will help seniors save on their medications by negotiating lower drug prices and caping out-of-pocket spending at $2,000, it will be a few years before the law is fully enacted. In the meantime, here are some different strategies that can help reduce your costs so you can afford what you need.
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The Weekly Readlines September 7
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
Burger King will have to face a lawsuit claiming it’s Whoppers are too small to be whoppers.
Bomb threats against public libraries are on the rise. Home insurers are dropping natural disaster coverage in light of the climate change we’re told isn’t real, and Hunter Biden is being indicted in one of the biggest ‘whatever’ media narratives of the modern era.
Ron DeSantis had his handlers man-handle a 15-year-old in New Hampshire whose question made him uncomfortable. And a Massachusetts teenager died after eating a spicy tortilla chip, attributed to the ‘one chip challenge’ TikTok craze.
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Book Review: Not Forever but For Now, by Chuck Palahniuk
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm SezNot Forever but For Now” by Chuck Palahniuk
c.2023, Simon & Schuster $25.99 256 pagesYou always wanted the family business.
Started by your grandfather, nurtured by your parents, aunts, and uncles, you hoped to be the next generation of caretakers to help it grow, succeed, and readied for its owners in the future. You trained all your life to take the reins of the Family Empire, and in the new book “Not Forever but For Now” by Chuck Palahniuk, you’ll do it, even if it kills you.
They were probably too big to be in a nursery, but he didn’t care.
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On the Map: Provincetown Paradise with a Side Trip to Wellfleet
On the Map is a feature at LGBTSr.com offering travelogues and recommendations. Narration provided by Wondervox.
By Mark McNease
As we come to the end of another annual trip to Provincetown, I’m reminded why we value our visits here. Frank has had a timeshare for 35 years or so, at a place called Eastwood at Provincetown. It’s like a sprawling motel complex on the far east side of town, and has been very lesbian-centric for years. Plenty of gay men, too, but a lot of women come here. This time I noticed several children with their opposite-sex parents, and I found myself hoping it’s not losing its edge. We’ll see.