This Week in Elder News: 17 May 2008

In this regular weekend feature you will find links to news items from the preceding week related to elders and aging, along with whatever else catches my fancy that I think you might like to know. Suggestions are welcome with, however, no promises of publication.

A few weeks ago, I noted that the blue-haired cartoon character, Maxine, had started blogging. In response, she posted this nifty version of my Time Goes By banner showing Maxine through the years:

One of the reasons for inviting Dr. Bill Thomas to help educate us about health and aging in his bi-monthly column at TGB is that there are not enough geriatricians to treat old people in the U.S. and the numbers are getting worse. According to the Association of Directors of Geriatric Academic Programs, in 2000, the ratio of geriatricians to people 75 and older was 4.7/10,000. By 2050, it will be 1.6/10,000. Compared to other medical specialties, geriatrics is the lowest paid which might have something to do with the problem. You can read the report here [pdf].

Sometimes, in following political punditry, you have to pry your jaw off the floor even when it’s not Fox News. In a Thursday Op-Ed piece in The New York Times, Gail Collins wrote this in support of Senator Clinton’s continuing fight for the Democratic nomination: “If Clinton wants to continue, there’s $11 million that says she has paid for the right to go the distance.”

That $11 million is, of course, a reference to Senator Clinton’s own money she lent her campaign. Even though we all know personal wealth is the surest road to political power, isn’t this an obscene acknowledgment of it?

And while I’m on this particular rant, it has been said that should Barack Obama win the Democratic nomination, there is precedent for him to hold a fund raiser to help refill Senator Clinton’s personal coffers. This is disgusting – moreso in a time of $4/gallon gasoline, 47 million people without health coverage and skyrocketing food prices. If there are going to be fundraisers, certainly there are more deserving beneficiaries than rich presidential candidates.

Two women, one white, the other black – each born into a dictatorship a world apart in Germany and Haiti. Now 68 and 71, they share the memories of their lives in a remarkable series at thewip.net. I started with Part 8, On Aging, but it is worth backing up to read the entire series.

Tango has a long and intricate history, probably originating in Spain and although it is most associated with Argentina, it springs into popularity in Europe and the U.S. every few years. An important aspect of the dance is an emotional connection between the dancers and the music and between the two dancers themselves. Here is a lovely short film about a couple who have been dancing the tango together for a long, long time: Tango Octogenario, from Video 13. (about 6:00 minutes)