Fifty Plus Advocate

By Alain Valles, CRMP, MBA, CSA, Managing Director, Helping Hands Community Partners, Inc. “If you give it out in slices it comes back in loaves.” As a for-profit owner of a mortgage company, I’ve had the good fortune of arranging thousands of home purchases, refinancings, and reverse mortgages over the past 30 years.  At all times I have served as an...

Being a family caregiver, while a fulfilling role, can consume a great deal of physical, mental and emotional energy. Consequently, respite care is very important because it gives family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s and related dementia disease an opportunity to create a plan of care for themselves; something a caregiver often overlooks.

Boston – Governor Charlie Baker delivered his State of the Commonwealth speech in January, and the next day filed his annual budget with the Legislature. Both actions contained good news for older people in Massachusetts.

Our staff likes to tease. The easiest group to pick on is the activities staff. We accuse them of having a cushy job, saying they get paid to play games all day, to listen to music, have snacks, knit, play puzzles on the computer, or go on trips. We roll our eyes when they complain about a hard day. But the truth is these jobs are hard. They are also important, undervalued, and have a real impact on our residents.

Governor Charlie Baker has announced that Massachusetts has joined the network of AARP Age-Friendly States and the World Health Organization Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities. We thank Governor Baker for his leadership on this issue of importance to Bay State residents of all ages.

For more than 30 years, Loretta LaRoche, 78, has been helping people see life’s difficulties from a different side — one that’s funnier and less stressful.

Grafton/Scituate – Lennie Peterson began striving to blend his passions for music and visual art when he grew up in Grafton and has continued through his relocation to Scituate. He’s now sharing his experience of working multiple decades as a musician, visual artist and arts educator via public speaking engagements.

Paxton – Artists such as Jen Niles of Paxton are often inspired by a muse. The self-taught artist has been drawing all her life, and for many years concentrated on creating pen and ink illustrations including commissioned house portraits. Craving a change in 2001, she began experimenting with acrylics and found the muse to help develop what has become her signature art style.

Two events occurred around the same time, one momentous to me and one apparently of no consequence to anybody. Were they connected? Who knows what forces operate beneath life’s surface?

“You can steal my money but not my food.”  “If you want things to go exactly as planned, don’t come here.” Those words spoken by my Overseas Adventure Travel tour guide in Sicily, who actually loves his homeland, tell a lot about it.