Host Cynthia Hessin brings together groups of experts to discuss everything from financial security and housing alternatives to health and fitness.

In the next 20 years, there will be more than 70 million people in the U.S. over the age of 65. And in Colorado, nearly a third of metro Denver’s residents are boomers – more than the national average of nearly 27 percent. Some non-urban Colorado counties have even higher concentrations of boomers.

The senior demographic is a huge and diverse group, with a range of critical needs and costs. But this group also wields a perhaps unprecedented amount of power, in terms of its sheer size and the members’ motivation to impact both policy and the communities they live in.

Learn more about “Life Wise” … click here.

Dr. Bill Roiter

The holiday ads are gone, replaced for most of us baby boomers by weight loss, gym, and fitness equipment ads. It’s the season of resolutions and healthy intentions… the season of exercise, a better diet, and a willingness to sacrifice. I hope that you can follow through on your plans, just as I hope I can. I expect to succeed, but I already am battling a growing craving for chocolate ice cream.

Here’s a tip on how to dramatically increase your health that does not involve exercise, diet change, or even much sacrifice: work with a good doctor by being a good patient. I recall a Seinfeld episode where Elaine goes to her doctor for an annoyingly itchy rash. While there, she sees in her chart that she is labeled as a ‘difficult’ patient. She soon learns that her chart follows her to every doctor she sees, and they basically dismiss her. While Elaine’s experience may have been exaggerated for comic effect, there is a kernel of truth there. A good doctor works best with a good patient.

Of course, doctors do not use the term ‘bad patient,’ instead considering them ‘non-compliant’ patients. The American Pharmacists Association estimates that over 10% of hospital admissions, almost half of nursing home admissions, and about 125,000 deaths a year are due to noncompliance with prescribed medication regimens. And that is only for problems with medication.

Good doctors can do only as well as their patients allow. You can invest time and energy into finding a good doctor only to learn that you are not a good patient.

So how can you tell if you’re a good patient? A 2006 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine carried an article by Dr. Robert Steinbrook about personal responsibility for health. It included this passage on what makes a good patient:

The concept of personal responsibility in health care is that if we [the patient] follow healthy lifestyles (exercising, maintaining a healthy weight, and not smoking) and are good patients (keeping our appointments, heeding our physicians’ advice, and using a hospital emergency department only for emergencies), we will be rewarded by feeling better and spending less money.

Note that in Dr. Steinbrook’s brief description of the patient’s responsibility for his or her health care, there is no mention of always agreeing with the doctor or passively accepting recommendations. A good patient is engaged with his or her doctor, agreeing with what makes sense and questioning what appears odd or counterproductive. In fact, I consider a bit of doubt to be a healthy thing. Maintaining personal responsibility and following through on treatment plans are part of being a good patient. Just as you want a good doctor with a good “bedside manner,” the doctor wants a patient with good patient manners. In an article titled How to Talk with Your Doctor , the AARP provides information on what people can do to hold up their end of the doctor-patient relationship.

Your relationship with your doctor, including how well you talk with each other, affects your care. A good relationship—where you and your doctor share information and work together to make the best decisions about your health—will result in the best care. You’ll also feel more confident in your doctor and the quality of care you’re getting.

Patient non-compliance is no small issue, and the health care reform debate has publicized the costs associated with patients who do not follow treatment plans. The greatest cost is to you, though: the less you comply with your doctor’s orders, the more your health will suffer. If you think that you may be a somewhat non-compliant patient, then you are responsible for improving your compliance and your health prospects. Here are some ideas:

If you trust your doctor, you should talk with him or her about your inability or unwillingness to comply. Be honest, and start the discussion with:

• “I don’t understand what you want me to do” or “I am not sure that it will help”
• “I can’t afford the meds” or “I don’t like this medication”
• “I forget what you told me to do”
• “I find it hard to change the way I live”
• “I don’t believe what you want me to do will help me”

If you do not trust your doctor, find a better one. My wife’s 90 year-old father needed hand surgery, but his doctor at best was uncaring and at worst incompetent. They dismissed him and found a wonderful doctor who cared for him and healed him.

So for the new year, resolve to exercise, eat well, and be one of your good doctor’s good patients!

Baird Brightman

Here’s a novel concept: lose weight by thinking differently! Baird Brightman, a PhD with an interest in baby boomers, says there’s a way to manage our weight that won’t be hard. It’s all in the head. So, less pain… less gain!

We boomers will never be “old”, but we are aging! As you might have noticed, as people age they tend to gain pounds along with wisdom, so many of us are concerned about our weight and our health. And we are not alone. Two-thirds of Americans today are overweight! 41% of Americans are currently trying to lose weight and 63% have dieted at some point in their lives, spending an estimated $46 billion dollars a year to do so.

Major reviews of both commercial and clinical weight loss programs indicate that they can fail to deliver the desired results for their clients. Most fail because they are based on the prescription that people should create a negative calorie balance by eating less and exercising more, in other words, starve. This approach fails to appreciate the powerful brain survival mechanisms that have been refined and strengthened through millions of years of evolution to prevent starvation.

By simply advising people to eat less and exercise more for their health, we are pitting one part of the brain (about 200,000 years old, modern, verbal/rational) against another part (about 500 million years old, emotion/survival-based). The evidence is now clear: in a direct contest, the old survival brain wins nearly every time. Starvation, whether caused by poverty or a self-imposed diet, generates intensely painful feelings of distress and cravings to eat. See the connection? More pain … more gain!

Discouraged yet?! Quick, some good news! Behavioral scientists are learning a lot about what we can do to feel good in our lives. I have always believed that if we can find an easier and more pleasant way to accomplish a goal, that’s the route we should take over the harder more miserable route because we are more likely to persist over time and win.

So here are three strategies for replacing the pain and suffering of weight loss with good feelings, so you can stick with your healthy eating plan and achieve/maintain your healthy weight:

1. FEEL GOOD!! We Boomers have always been connoisseurs of good vibes. Rx: Learn to generate lots of pleasurable feelings/experiences as an antidote to the pain of weight loss.
2. CONNECT!! Boomers have always believed in the power of group action. Rx: Learn to generate positive feelings of connection by establishing mutual support/coaching relationships with others as you work toward your healthy weight.
3. HELP OTHERS!! Boomers have always known that one person can make a difference and together we can save the world. Rx: Learn to generate the positive feelings that come from living up to the virtues of compassion and justice by fighting poverty and hunger around the world.

So remember, don’t completely fall for the “No Pain/No Gain” cries of the diet gurus. The science of weight and emotion teaches us that dieting creates more pain, which leads to more gain! Just follow our 60’s mantra “If it feels good, do it!” but with a little science thrown into the equation. Can it hurt?

Read more from Baird Brightman … click here.

What do you get when you cross a mouse with poor hearing and a mouse with even worse hearing? Ironically, a new strain of mice with “golden ears” – mice that have outstanding hearing as they age.

The work by one of the world’s foremost groups in age-related hearing loss, or presbycusis, marks the first time that scientists have created the mouse equivalent of a person with “golden ears” – people who are able to retain great hearing even as they grow older. The research at the University of Rochester Medical Center was published online recently in the journal Neurobiology of Aging.

The new mouse is expected to offer clues about how these lucky folks are able to retain outstanding hearing even through old age. Researchers estimate that approximately 5 percent of people, mainly women, fall into this category. The new mice created in the laboratory of Robert Frisina, Ph.D., embody many of the same traits of human “golden ears” because of an astute cross of two types of mice long popular with researchers.

Robert Frisina, Ph.D.

For years, the most prized mice in Frisina’s lab have been those whose hearing diminishes slowly with age, just like the people he tries to help. But they don’t take to breeding very well; their libido wanes along with their hearing.

To create a thriving colony of mice for his work on hearing loss, Frisina’s group introduced some virility into the mix, mating the poor breeders with mice known both for their solid breeding habits and also their accelerated age-related hearing loss. They may not hear well, but they breed well.

The result was a new breed of mice that both breed well and hear well in old age.

Diminished hearing as we age is the result of several factors. One that is nearly universal is the degenerating brain, a problem that affects just about everyone, including those people known as golden ears. But those lucky few differ from others in a crucial way: Their ears stay healthy throughout their lifetime, unlike most people whose ears gradually lose the ability to detect sounds as well as they once did.

“It’s very hard to find someone who has no complaints whatsoever about speech or hearing over the age of 60,” said Frisina. “But there are a few who seem resistant to the normal aging process, at least in their ears.”

Frisina’s group studies these patients for clues about maintaining good hearing while aging. Simultaneously, the group conducts studies in rodents, trying to mirror processes observed in people, and then applies its findings in an effort to help their human patients.

In this study, the team set out to create a mouse that mirrored the phenomenon seen in humans with golden ears – an organism with young, good ears but an older, aging brain. The team started with the rodent gold standard of age-related hearing loss, CBA mice, which lose their hearing much like aging people do, with both the ears and the brain degenerating in sync. Then the team added C57 mice, not only for their breeding abilities but because they experience hearing loss in a different way, at an even younger age. By crossing the two, the team was able to create a mouse with an aging brain but with good, young ears – the mouse equivalent of golden ears.

The team studied 55 mice, using the same two sophisticated hearing tests given routinely to babies suspected of having serious hearing difficulties. The tests were administered when the mice were young, middle-aged, and older, in the same way they’re given to babies. A small speaker and microphone was placed in the ear, and scientists recorded the emissions or echoes from the ear, as well as brain activity, in response to sounds made in the ears.

All three groups had great hearing when they were young. By middle age, as expected, the CBA mice were losing their hearing at a rate much like middle-aged people, while the loss was even more marked in the C57 mice. By old age, both the CBA and the C57 mice had significant hearing loss, but their offspring, known as F1 mice, had very little loss.

The mouse also gives researchers a new tool to explore protective factors that allow some organisms to retain outstanding hearing for their whole lives, rather than focusing on the factors that contribute to hearing loss.

“This allows us to really take a detailed look at good hearing in old age,” said Frisina. “Which chemical pathways are most active, for instance? This is about what goes right with age, not what goes wrong. These mice have the hearing of a young adult. Understanding why should help us understand more about how a person’s hearing changes as he or she ages.

“This new mouse also opens up a new, clear window into the aging brain,” added Frisina.

For more information, click here.

In one corner is the AARP.

In the other, and becoming aggressive in its efforts, is the American Seniors Association.

The ASA isn’t new, but disagreements over the future of health care have given it some traction in its pursuit of Baby Boomers and seniors opposed to the health care reforms espoused by President Barack Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress.

Read the whole story.

1. MANAGE STRESS: Although stress is a normal part of the human experience, it is how we manage stress. Stress and anxiety cause chemicals to be released into your body, raise your blood pressure, and cause a reduction of blood flow to your heart. Most people in Stage 1 or 2 of adrenal fatigue typically have elevated blood pressure secondary to increased cortisol and adrenaline. Those with hypertension should always rule out heavy metal toxicity. LDL cholesterol levels may increase from excessive stress too.

Winning Formulas to Relax and Manage Stress (practice some form of stress reduction every day):
• Prioritize – write down your priorities
• Breathe – Full, deep belly breathing. Start with a minimum of two minutes every day and gradually increase to ten minutes daily.
• Yoga, Meditation, Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Prayer
• Massage
• Listen to calm music
• Warm, aromatherapy bath with 2 cups Epsom salts and 1 cup baking soda
• Change how you view situations
• Surround yourself with like-minded people and friends. You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. Be aware and eliminate unhealthy, stressful social behaviors including arguments, drama, drinking, inactivity, unhealthy eating and over-eating.
• University of Utah psychologist found that women in strained marriages are more likely to feel depressed and suffer high blood pressure, obesity and other signs of “metabolic syndrome,” a group of risk factors for heart disease, stroke and diabetes.
• Dissolve unhealthy lose-win relationships and focus on attracting only win-win relationships.

2. ELIMINATE ALL PARTIALLY HYDROGENATED OILS (TRANS FATS): Partially hydrogenated oils are found in thousands of processed foods (breakfast cereals, cookies, chips, fried foods, packaged foods, all CRAP food). Trans fats are proven to cause heart disease. Restaurant food, especially from fast food chains, often serve food loaded with trans fats.

Consequences of a diet high in trans fats include:
• ↑ inflammation
• ↓immune function
• ↓testosterone
• Arthritis
• Cancer

• Decrease IQ – learning disabilities. American IQ has dropped 20 points in the past 20 years.
• Diabetes
• Elevated blood pressure
• Free radical production

• Heart Disease
• Interferes with neurological & visual development of fetus
• Liver damage
• Obesity
• Osteoporosis
• Type II diabetes

3. LOSE BODY FAT: This is achieved with the “4 Powers” – Nutrition, Lifestyle, Exercise and Supplements. Excess body fat stresses your joints and organs, including your heart. Decreasing body fat in a healthy, slow, steady manner will improve your health, lower your cholesterol and reduce blood pressure and your risk of diabetes.

4. CONSISTENT EXERCISE: This isn’t breaking news. Exercise will help you reduce stress, decrease body fat, increase your metabolism and lower your risk of diabetes. Adequate, consistent exercise will lower your blood pressure AND increase the “good” HDL cholesterol and lower your triglycerides. Take a brisk 30 minute walk every day. There is evidence that resistance training results in a more favorable balance in myocardial oxygen supply and demand than aerobic exercise due to the lower heart rate and higher myocardial perfusion pressure. Moderate intensity strength training can control or prevent hypertension.

5. ELIMINATE HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP: HFCS is the number one source of calories for most Americans and causes obesity. You’ll find high-fructose corn syrup in processed crap food, sodas, syrup that goes into your Latte from Starbucks, etc. HFCS is extremely toxic to your liver, increases inflammation, oxidative stress and creates an aggressive insulin response.

6. SUPPLEMENTS FOR HYPERTENSION: Omega-3 fish oils, magnesium, vitamin D, vitamin C. COQ10, Biotics VasculoSirt, Green Tea Extract, Hawthorne Extract, Digestive enzymes, Probiotics, Folic Acid, Ginger
• Ginger has blood pressure-lowering effects that can protect against the chronic brain injury caused by hypertension.
• Cinnamon – The Journal of the American College of Nutrition found that supplementing with cinnamon lowered blood pressure and insulin levels.
• Supplementation with at least 5000 microg/d folic acid for at least 6 weeks may reduce systolic blood pressure slightly.
• Diuretics cause potassium levels to drop increasing the risk of hypokalemia.
• Beta-blockers reduce heart rate and cardiac output potentially reducing exercise performance.
• With calcium channel blockers systolic and diastolic blood pressures are reduced during exercise which may result in light headedness and peripheral edema post-exercise.
• Additional side effects from hypertension drugs include: dizziness, increased risk of breast cancer, memory loss, nausea, asthma-like symptoms, joint pain and impotence in men.

SUPPLEMENTS FOR ELEVATED CHOLESTEROL: Omega-3 fish oils, tocotrienols, pantethine, vitamin D, Biotics VasculoSirt or GlucoBalance, LipidSirt, CoQ10, Green Tea Extract

According to a recent study, men with higher vitamin D levels had a 59% reduction in heart attacks. So if vitamin D’s only benefit was to reduce coronary heart attack rates by 59%, the net savings (after deducting the cost of the vitamin D) if every American supplemented properly would be around $85 billion each year.

7. FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE increase potassium rich foods such as vegetables, fruits (especially grapes – flavonoids – and blueberries), legumes and fish. Most Americans consume only half the recommended daily intake of potassium and twice the suggested limit for sodium! Potassium can influence BP levels by increasing sodium excretion from the body by stimulating the blood vessels to dilate, opening potassium channels.

FOR ELEVATED CHOLESTEROL increase consumption blueberries of plant sterols, sometimes called phytosterols. Plant sterols are the healthy compounds that occur naturally in a variety of plant foods such as fruits and vegetables, seeds and nuts. These foods are recognized for their proven role in lowering LDL “bad” cholesterol levels.

FOR BOTH, ELEVATED CHOLESTEROL and HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE include beta-glucan for fiber, a natural occurring soluble fiber found in whole-grain, oat based cereals. Beta-glucan has LDL cholesterol lowering benefits and substantial decreases in blood pressure.

8. INCREASE CONSUMPTION OF SMART FATS and ORGANIC PROTEIN:
FATS – avocado, wild fish, raw (unsalted) organic nuts and seeds, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil
PROTEINS – Grass-fed beef and buffalo, cage-free poultry, wild salmon, fish, eggs, quality whey protein isolate or concentrate.

9. DECREASE ALCOHOL and CAFFEINE CONSUMPTION and INCREASE WATER INTAKE: Alcohol and caffeine cause adrenaline rushes that make blood pressure soar. Alcohol, sugar and processed, refined grains also lead to insulin resistance, hypertension and elevated cholesterol. Alcohol can affect your nerves and how your liver processes fat in the blood. Alcohol and caffeine disrupt blood glucose levels. Not only is alcohol hard on the body, just one drink can cause cellular death in several organs such as the brain.

Take your bodyweight and multiply by .7 – this will give you the number of ounces you should be drinking daily. Add a pinch of Celtic sea salt and lemon to your water. I like adding ginger root to my water as well. Ginger helps with digestion and reduces inflammation.

10. ELIMINATE SUGAR, REFINED CARBOHYDRATES and ALL ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS: Phenylalanine, especially found in Nutra-Sweet and OTC antihistamines, can aggravate high blood pressure.

Sugar is more addictive than cocaine! Sugar has a profound influence on your brain function and your psychological function. When you consume excess amounts of sugar, your body releases excess amounts of insulin, which in turn causes a drop in your blood sugar, also known as hypoglycemia. Sugar and refined carbohydrates wreak havoc on blood glucose levels.

In addition, sugar is pro-flammatory and damages skin collagen and promotes ageing and wrinkles, increases your appetite, depletes your body of B vitamins, causes joint degeneration, ADHD and other behavior disorders, stimulates cholesterol synthesis and weight gain. This is just a small list of sugars’ toxic side effects.

Hypertension and elevated cholesterol (as well as diabetes) can be managed WITHOUT pharmaceutical drugs. HOW? Healthy lifestyle habits, stress management, supplements, diet and nutrition, a proper exercise program and fat loss.

Copyright © 2009 Paula Owens

Paula, age 51, is the author of THE POWER OF 4 – Your Ultimate Guide Guaranteed to Change Your Body and Transform Your Life. She is a highly sought-after expert and respected professional for holistic nutrition, exercise and lifestyle transformation. Paula holds a Masters degree in Holistic Nutrition, a Bachelors degree in Kinesiology and numerous professional health and fitness certifications.
Website: www.PaulaOwens.com
Blog: http://thepowerof4-paula.blogspot.com

Girlfriends, let’s get real. No one can stay young forever. No surprise there, right? Well then, why do we spend so darn much time and effort trying to “stay young”?

We all would like to look like we did when we were 25 (or maybe not). I for one, would not. At 25 I had those nasty crooked teeth that I no longer have and I’m in better shape now. I would like to have the thicker brown hair I had at 25 but that’s long gone. But so what. Thank God for wigs.

Most important, I’m a lot smarter now than I was at 25. For example, I don’t allow awareness of my chronological age to dictate how I think or live my life. I’m living as if I will live forever. I have no plans to move into a “Golden Ghetto” and vegetate with depressing old ladies who wear purple hats. Frankly, I think retirement communities should have a “black box” warning at their front gate: “Caution: This is a place where old people come to play and decay. Enter at your own risk.”

So much for being smart. Let’s get back to this “staying young” thing.

As impossible as it is to “stay young,” it is not impossible to keep basic youthful attributes. To me, that means staying healthy, strong, and flexible both mentally and physically. And, you have to be productive. (Sorry about that, but post retirement productivity is not a punishment, it’s a gift that you give yourself to stay — are you ready for the magic word? — ageless. More than that, it’s becoming a financial necessity.)

Look, you are going to get wrinkles. So what. If they bother you all that much, get them lasered away. Whatever it is about your face that bothers you, you can get it fixed. But know this: You can be wrinkled and ageless.

If you start an exercise regimen early enough in life you can stay a shapely size 10 forever. But if you are at a point where you no longer have a waist, so what? What’s more important is your health, and what you are doing with your life that is of benefit not just to you, but to others. You are going to get aches and pains, and maybe worse. But I am firmly of the opinion that if you take care of yourself early on, you can handle the slings and arrows of age more effectively.

I often quote Dr. John W. Rowe, author of Successful Aging. He maintains that how well we age is 70 percent the result of lifestyle choices. The rest — the other 30 percent — we can blame on our genes. Here’s the reality: The older you get, the more aggressively that 30 percent tries to rule and ruin your life. Having said that, I also firmly believe that if you take good care of yourself while you “still got it goin’ on,” the negative side of your genetic makeup can be mitigated. It doesn’t always work, but I believe it takes the “edge” off whatever happens. For example, many people believe arthritis, or the tendency toward it as you get old, is inherited, and once you get it you are stuck with it. Maybe so. But plenty of people have learned how to manage and even eliminate arthritic symptoms — inherited or not — with exercise and diet.

Here’s the bottom line. Staying young is impossible. Let’s get over it. That doesn’t mean we should stop trying to look as good as we can. Every woman wants to look great and she should (most men, too). However, chasing youth sometimes gets in the way of common sense, which should tell us when it’s time to stop doing stupid stuff that will never get us to where we once were or would like to be.

Listening to our common sense means we stop buying expensive cosmetics that can’t possibly do what they promise and instead, buy supplements and quality food. It means that instead of buying more clothes and worthless junk we buy a treadmill. I often watch a home shopping show while walking on my treadmill. It’s disturbing that so many obviously old women call in to buy rings, bracelets, and other useless trinkets. I wonder if they spend the same amount of money to stay healthy or improve their health.

Being ageless should be the Holy Grail of the aging process. It’s the one thing we can control because it’s a choice — an act of the will and not a whim of the Universe. If you can muster enough determination and toughness to outsmart the machinations of Mother Time by deciding to live an ageless lifestyle, the payoff is unbelievable. When you choose to be ageless, when you choose to ignore your chronological age, you finally get to experience an exhilarating liberation that no amount of trying to stay young can produce.

Barbara Morris live in Southern California.
Web sites: PutOldOnHold.com and NoMoreLittleOldLadies.com.

The culprit is the human papillomavirus (HPV), acquired during sex, said the King’s College London study.

Up to three out of four people will be infected, it estimates. The British Journal of Cancer report says changes in sexual habits may be the cause.

Read the full story from BBC News.

We like to be upbeat … but we also like to be realistic. And realism says, we’re going to start losing the ones we love, if not this year, or even this decade, then the next. How will that affect our jobs, and our performance in the workplace? Jane Galbraith is the author of “Baby Boomers Face Grief — Survival and Recovery.” She has some tips we pass on to you.

The fact that grief remains a hidden issue only compounds the problem and prevents possible solutions. Solutions could help employees, foster increased employee loyalty, and reduce the potential loss of productivity for employers. Sounds like a win-win situation to me!!

As with the rest of our culture, we expect people to “get on with life,” get “closure,” “buck up,” and many more clichés we regularly hear. The lack of understanding in our culture, which includes the workplace, makes this a serious issue to employers.

The Grief Recovery Institute in 2003 estimated the lost productivity in the USA due to the death of a loved one, which will become more common among boomers in the next decade, would be $37.5 billion dollars. The other losses such as divorce, family crisis, pet loss, and financial loss to name a few totaled a yearly $75 billion dollars. Employers – wake up!!!

Companies do not have to spend a lot of money to increase awareness and understanding of grief in their workplaces. Just taking the first steps would start the process of improving a corporate culture for those returning to the workplace after a death of a loved one.

Otherwise, it can cost businesses money, from absenteeism, mistakes being made, lack of concentration, employees leaving employment, workplace injuries, missed deadlines, and irritability. These are not surprising because the effects of grief are felt physically, emotionally, spiritually, and cognitively.

What is obvious about the different ways productivity is affected is that it affects everyone–– no one is immune to these reactions. The effects of grief can equally affect a CEO making decisions concerning major amounts of money to a single construction worker on a site. Both situations can have a negative effect on the bottom line of a business.

Organizations need to address this issue. It should start with Human Resources Managers. But many in this position also find addressing grief a difficult thing to do. The need for information on grief is required for all levels of staff from the front line to the CEO. There is a need for a formal process to disseminate information to other staff when an employee experiences a death in the family. This would ensure all staff receives the same information at the same time.

There are many types of activities that will provide comfort to those grieving. Allowing some staff to attend the funeral is one gesture that will mean a lot to the bereaved. If there is an Employee Assistance Program available to staff, the use of this should be encouraged. Supervisors need to have regular contact with staff for many weeks and months after the death. The inclusion of staff with whom the bereaved staff member works is essential to allow a productive and positive re-entry into the workplace after a death.

People who are grieving need to talk, and hopefully some extra “chatting” will be overlooked when they come back to the workplace. It is positive when people return to work for many reasons. There is a much more positive effect when people return to a workplace that understands this difficult time.

A mistake both supervisors and staff make is to think that these accommodations may have to continue for quite some time at some level. The death of a significant person in your life affects you for a long time. An employee not performing well six months after the death could still be feeling the effects. Supervisors often do not connect these dots and assume there has been a change in work performance. A sad employee can often be interpreted as a bad employee.

For many reasons, companies need to make changes to their corporate culture that will help their employees and minimize the loss of productivity they most definitely will feel.

© 2008 Jane Galbraith. Jane Galbraith, BScN, R.N., is the author of “Baby Boomers Face Grief – Survival andRecovery”. Her book is available through the author directly at jane.galbraith@sympatico.ca or Amazon, or Trafford Publishing. More information about the book can be found at www.trafford.com/05-2319 . Jane conducts information presentations and workshops to organizations on grief and it’s affects on the workplace.

Hair Fall-Out: Day One

I’m taking my wig for a test drive today. My hair is starting to come out. It’s much shorter, since I cut it a couple of weeks ago to the nape of my neck; so it’s not as bad when I see a sink full of hair. But, it’s no frickin’ picnic.

I’ve long been a shedder. Lots and lots of hair: hair to spare. How long until bald patches happen? When do I go for the military buzz cut? When my part resembles parting of the Red Sea?

I put the La Charme wig cap on my head. I pulled the nylon (as in pantyhose) cap down over my face, and looked like I was ready to rob a bank. I really didn’t want to draw that much attention to myself on my first outing, so I pushed it back, which reminded me of the actresses of days gone by—Gloria Swanson, Garbo, those true glamour girls of Hurrell’s Hollywood portraits. I was ready.

I went to Trader Joes…looking kinda crazy. I caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror. Not a bad wig, kind of a Jane Fonda Klute shag, but it looks like a wig and I kept wondering if I didn’t look like the Caribbean lady I often see at the bus stop, her matted Godiva locks askew as she gestures and yells at her invisible friends.

Day Two

I’m trying to thinking of the pros. The cons are obvious, no?

“Think of the joy of several months free of the chore of waxing or shaving your legs, underarm or bikini line.” — cancerbackup.org

Joy?? That word has not yet come to mind.

OK, the pros: One sure way to get complements is to tell your friends you’re going to be bald. Who knew I had such great bone structure?

Saving time and money: If I had a nickel for each hour I’ve spent on hair maintenance and products—cutting, drying, styling, straightening, coloring, highlighting, de-frizzing—I would be a rich woman. Not to mention all the time lost during those hours trapped in salons aka “hair prison”.
Hiatus from shaving and plucking: Please let me keep my eyebrows—or as my European mother calls them “eyebrowns”—and my eyelashes.

Last night I slept wearing a hair net to keep the hair from pulling off on my pillow. I looked like the cafeteria lady. “Would you like some mashed potatoes with your meatloaf, Hon?”

Day Three: Pre-Buzz

Enough hair debris! Today I’m going to do it. Go for the buzz cut. My kind friend David said it would “be an honor” and he and my dear pal Rebecca (The Mermaid Queen) have offered to do it in their home. Rebecca is sure to keep me laughing and distracted as David does the buzzzzing. I decided not to go all ritual-like and just DO IT! Did I mention that I put vodka in my health juice drink?

Day Four: Buzzed

David did a great job. As their 24-year-old black cat Max sat on my lap, Rebecca reminded me to channel my inner goddess. I’ve been channeling my inner princess for months now, easy, right? Yet, I still have one more stage to go: bald as an 8-ball. Right now my head is Sinead O’Conner-esque (circa 1992, when she torn up the photo of the pope on SNL) and it’s not that bad!

Just before the deed, I called Mara, who’s been through it all before me. She told me it was freeing. I do feel liberated, and really, it’s not that bad. A bit cold though. I think the anticipation was much worse than the reality.

I drove home listening to The Best of Aretha, looking at a beautiful view of the San Francisco Bay, the mountains dark against a most magnificent sunset, knowing this too shall pass and it’s going to be fine. My hair should be growing back in March, and spring is my favorite season.

The weather report predicts rain for tomorrow. There will be NO FRIZZ in my forecast. No bad hair days for a while. See there is an upside to wigging out. And so, I’m planning on buying a blue one, just for fun.

Cathy first wrote about her bout with breast cancer and her favorite charity, Breast Cancer Action, in “My Big Pink Protest” October 2008. Her posts appear on FiftyIsTheNew.com.