Living Today for a Better Tomorrow

The following article was written by Ingrid Thompson, Director of the McFarland (Wisconsin) Senior Outreach Program where I have been the volunteer data entry operator since August of 2007. I copied it from May's edition of the McFarland Area Senior News newsletter as my opening post since it coincides with my personal mission to participate in providing e-tools that will enable me and other older adults to make informed decisions about our health care.

MAY - OLDER AMERICANS MONTH
This year's theme for Older Americans Month is "Living Today for a Better Tomorrow." As a nation, we must work together to give older adults the tools they need to make healthy decisions. Although the risk of disease increases with advancing age, poor health is not an inevitable consequence of aging. In fact, many illnesses are preventable. Nearly 40% of deaths in the US can be attributed to poor health habits, such as lack of physical exercise, poor eating habits and smoking.
Programs such as the Outreach Department provides or supports, like physical activity (yoga, walking, bocce), presentations on health issues; good nutrition and socialization (meal site and home delivered meals); mental health activities (bridge, mah jonng, cards, bingo, computer classes) reduces participants' early adminission to a facility. Studies have also shown that volunteering has a strong positive effect on older adults. Older volunteers have a greater life satisfaction, lower rates of depression and lower mortality rates, along with improved mental health.
We celebrate older Americans especially in May, and strive to work with you and for you to enhance your lives. Our mission is to keep seniors as independent, healthy and as safe as possible in their own homes. We consider ourselves privileged to be your partners in this venture.

This is the transition point for e-Health for all Americans as each person will have a certified health record by 2014. Many Americans, older as well as younger, express concern about the security and privacy of the future electronic health records. My personal belief is that the future will bring much more security and privacy for health records than that which currently exists.