V1 Staff
For the first time in a decade, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has launched a modernized and redesigned Medicare Plan Finder at www.medicare.gov/plan-compare ...
Medicare open enrollment period begins Oct. 15
Eau Claire County Aging & Disability Resource Center
Medicare’s Annual Open Enrollment Period is coming soon: It begins Oct. 15 and ends Dec. 7. Be sure to add this to your fall checklist if you have a Medicare Part D plan or a Medicare Advantage Plan ...
nearly one-third of Eau Claire residents has high blood cholesterol
Eau Claire City-County Health Department
Heart disease accounts for 1 in 4 deaths across the country, and high cholesterol is one of the largest risk factors for heart disease. While the body can make all the cholesterol that it needs ...
making every season of life count when you are experiencing memory loss
Russell Martoccio
Autumn in Wisconsin seems to come without warning at a time when the fruitful days of midsummer are beginning to wane but when it still seems as though food, endless plenty, and the warmth ...
local dietician advocates for memory-preservation diet
Briana Novacek
As we age, many factors can affect how our bodies function. These factors may seem out of our control, but there are actually things one can do to boost physical and mental functioning. Pam VanKampen of Chippewa Falls has been a registered dietician for 32 years ...
Chippewa Valley seniors are recognizing the benefits of an active lifestyle – and for many of them, pickleball is key
Tom Giffey, photos by Andrea Paulseth
About five years ago, the City of Eau Claire was poised to remove worn-out, rarely used tennis courts at McDonough Park, a narrow strip of green space tucked away off Centre Street on the city’s near ...
research finds that people who have a positive perception of aging live longer
Leslie Fijalkiewicz
A few weeks ago my friend Chuck was bemoaning the fact that he was having his 60th birthday. He talked about “being old” and “feeling old” as though he had no control over what was happening to him ...
four things seniors need to know about the Medicare annual election period
Josh Sterling
Each year the Medicare Annual Election Period (AEP) occurs between Oct. 15 and Dec. 7. This is a crucial time for Medicare beneficiaries to review their current Part C (medical) and/or Part D (drug) plans. This can be confusing, so here are four things you need to know ...
Eau Claire County trails state in share of women who get this vital cancer screening
Eau Claire City-County Health Department
Mammograms save lives. Yet many women in the Chippewa Valley are not getting into the clinic for this routine breast cancer screening. Today we know much more about this disease than we used ...
Eau Claire ophthalmologist Dr. Tom Dow will open center to treat dementia risk
Barbara Arnold
I moved back to Eau Claire in 2004 to facilitate firsthand the care for my mom who had developed dementia. I asked Dr. Tom Dow of the Chippewa Valley Eye Clinic if my mom and I could have our appointments ...
Senior Americans Day offers a spectrum of activities for 55-plus crowd
Tom Giffey
Next June 4, the UW-Eau Claire campus will be overrun with seniors – and we don’t mean the kind who are a few credits away from graduating from college. We mean the kind of seniors ...
ageism keeps us from embracing the gift of growing older
Jennifer Speckien
A quick Google search of “anti-aging” gives you 13.6 million results. The entire first page of results includes things like anti-aging diets, anti-aging skin creams, etc. – a plethora of consumer goods ...
how to feel good about downsizing and opening the next chapter of your life
Connie Kees
The kids are gone, the big yard needs mowing, the snow needs removing, and you have too much stuff that used to serve a purpose. There is never enough time to just relax ...
to get fit, treat exercise more like play and less like a chore
Mary Pica-Anderson, photos by Andrea Paulseth
People in our world are becoming more and more sedentary. No matter what age we are, we seem to be spending more time in front of televisions and computers. We rarely walk or ride a bike to get around, and ...
finding meaning in what you do is essential at every age and stage
Jennifer Speckien
As we grow up and move through the stages of life, that purpose changes and at times, may get lost.
how to find what’s truly valuable and important in your life - and how to get rid of the rest
Barbara Arnold
Unless we are already minimalists, all of us at one time or another will be faced with cleaning out a home and deciding what to do with all the stuff in it. Whether you are taking early retirement or you are a caregiver for ...
tips on sharing stories and skills gathered over the course of a lifetime
Cassandra Kyser
As we age, it is normal to become reflective. As humans, we have a need to know that our lives made an impact on those who will come after us. We want to know that we will be remembered, and that our legacy will live on.
mark your calendar for UW-Eau Claire’s annual Senior Americans Day, where next year’s focus is on fun
Tom Giffey
Smartphones. Zumba. Social media. None are topics that one might immediately associate with senior citizens – or, to be more specific, with the stereotype of seniors as knitting grandmas and whittling ...
choir for Chippewa Valley seniors dealing with dementia lifts spirits, makes memories
Tom Giffey
The heads of the performers, gray and not-so-gray, bob in anticipation above their music-filled spiral notebooks as they prepare to sing. This selection for the Stand in the Light Choir is an arrangement ...
influenza hits older people harder than most. Here’s how to prepare for the virus
Eau Claire City-County Health Department
Hospital-reported data has shown for many years that people 65 years and older are at greater risk of serious complications ...
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