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Why was I so nervous? The world would not come to an end – even my tiny corner would not be endangered – if I could not learn how to play the ukulele.

By Steven A. Nielsen Cold winter air means air low in humidity content. If you are experiencing symptoms like irritated, scratchy, burning eyes, excess watering...

By Mike Festa, State Director, AARP Massachusetts What’s your image of a caregiver? If you envisioned a middle-aged woman, one who is caring for an...

By Michael E. Festa It’s wintertime in New England. For some that means skiing, hot chocolate, sledding and cozy evenings spent sitting by a fire....

I’m no visionary, but in one way I’ve been way ahead of my time. In the vanguard. One of the first. An innovator. That is in the realm of reusable shopping bags. Thirty or thirty-five years ago, the Vermont Country Store, one of my favorite catalog companies, sold canvas shopping bags. I was tired of accumulating all those paper grocery bags and I bought two VCS bags.

For the past decade, I have reviewed the text of the annual State of the Commonwealth (SOTC) speeches by three governors. I look carefully for use of the word “elderly” or “seniors” to see if there are any significant policy statements about our growing elderly population. Between 2010 and 2020, the Massachusetts population 60+ is projected to grow from 1.27 million to 1.63 million, a 31-percent increase of 359,845 elders. One-quarter of all of the households in Massachusetts includes at least one person aged 65 and over. The population of people aged 65 and over in Massachusetts, as a percentage of total state population, will jump 50 percent between 2010 and 2030, from 14 percent of the population, to 21 percent of the population.

We’re becoming a nation of bum knees, worn-out hips and sore shoulders, and it’s not just the Medicare set. Baby boomer bones and joints also are taking a pounding, spawning a boom in operations to fix them.

By Dr. Robert Mario Which hearing aid will work best for me? A hearing aid should be selected that best suits your needs and lifestyle. It...

By Al Norman These two guys walk into a restaurant and order a sirloin steak — well done.  One of the men is a social...

Picture a widowed elderly woman in her mid-80s. She needs help daily with bathing, dressing and toileting. But she has one more problem. She has been told that there are no workers available to come into her home to fill all the hours of care she needs. This scenario is happening more and more across the commonwealth. The recruitment and retention of home care aides, home health aides, and care managers poses a real threat to the independence of many of our older neighbors. The image of a low-wage/high-turnover job makes it hard to find and keep home care workers. We must do better if we are to keep up with our fastest growing demographic - those over age of 60. We must give these workers "enough pay to stay."