88-year-old retires and lives on cruise ship

An estimated 24 million people are expected to take cruises this year. One report showed more than a quarter of them are age 60 or older, and more than one-fifth are retired. For many of those passengers, the ships are like a second home, but for one woman, ocean liner Crystal Serenity is her only home.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below.



1. How often does Lee Wachtstetter talk to her family?
2. How long has she been living on the Crystal Serenity?
3. What is the last thing Lee’s husband told her?
4. What does she say about her grandchildren?
5. Why does she love it when everybody goes touring and she stays on board?
6. What does ‘5.15’ mean?
7. How much do it cost for Lee to live on the ship?
8. How long did it take a ship to cross the Northwest Passage when it was first done?

An estimated 24 million people are expected to take cruises this year. One report showed more than a quarter of them are age 60 or older, and more than one-fifth are retired. For many of those passengers, ships are like a second home, but for one woman, the ocean liner is her only home. CBS News travel editor Peter Greenberg met her while covering another story on board. Peter, good morning.
Good morning, Nora. Part of the reason cruises are so popular for retirees is because so much is taken care of for them, the cooking, cleaning, entertainment, all the activities. But when the cruise is over, most of them return home to their regular lives. But Lee Wachtstetter showed us how she found a way to travel the world without ever leaving home.
Did you miss me?
I did.
You could say 88-year-old Lee Wachtstetter has earned her sea legs.
How often are you talking to the family at home?
I talk to them every day.
Okay.
I’ll talk to them twice a day if it means I don’t have to be there.
Aboard the Crystal Serenity, she’s known simply as Mama Lee and she’s been living there for the past eight years.
I don’t have to shop, I don’t have to cook, I don’t have to do anything. I do what I want, when I want, if I want.
She and her late husband, Mason, took nearly 100 cruises together before he died in 1997.
The last thing he ever said to me, this was the day before he died, ‘Don’t you quit cruising.’ I started frequent cruising. But I got very, very tired of packing and unpacking. So I said, there’s got to be a better way to do this.
And the answer was, how about I don’t leave it at all!
Mama Lee sold her house in Florida, along with her car and most of her belongings, and never looked back.
Everybody knows her, she knows everybody.
Birger Vorland is captain of the Crystal Serenity.
She’s a little bit of a diva, in a good way. She gets along with her day, and she makes herself busy, and she has her things and her opinions, and she’s a wonderful person.
At your age, there are a lot of people who would say, ‘Well, I’m going to go to a retirement place.’
Oh, no, no, no. [Really?] Not me. Why do that? I’m now a great-grandmother. My grandchildren are having children. But I don’t want to be there every minute for that.  I love babies, but they grow up!
Mama Lee has now done more than 240 cruises around the world, and visited hundreds of different ports. But where the ship is going? Irrelevant. For Mama Lee, these days, the ship is the destination. 
Everything is ‘Been there, done that.’ If I’ve been there and done that, I don’t go off the ship. And I love it when everybody goes touring. I got the whole ship to myself with all the help.
You’ve got this figured out!
Oh, absolutely.
And you don’t really get off the ship anymore?
What for?
Cruise director Rick Spath considers himself part of her extended family at sea.
That’s Lee, she doesn’t care where the ship goes, she loves to dance her way around the world.
I dance every single day at 5:15, 7 days a week.
Do you ever sit back and think about what your life would be like if you weren’t on the ship?
Very boring. I think I live a fairy tale existence. It’s not a real life, I realize that. Not everybody does this. But a lot of people could.
I still think I do the same dance at seven every dance.
Yes, you do, but that’s okay.
Thanks, Charlee.
Now, I know what you’re thinking. How much does it cost Lee Wachtstetter to do the cruise? He estimated about $175,000 a year. And by the way, since she goes on the cruise wherever the ship goes, she’s one of a thousand passengers who spent $22,000…, that’s the other story we’re covering, this ship was actually the largest ship ever to attempt the Northwest Passage. They started sailing from Seward all the way north going 500 miles north of the Arctic Circle back to New York. It’s a thirty-two voyage, and to put this in perspective, when it was first done in 1903, it took them three years.
Is there one place she will get off the ship?
Yes, when the ship goes into dry dock, here’s what happens, it only happens once every like six or seven years, they literally pull up to the harbour, pull up to the dock, there’s another ship there and they walk her 50 feet and she goes on another ship.
Where does she get her doctor’s appointments and stuff like that? I mean, does she… I mean…
So far she’s dancing.
Yeah, that’s great!
On the Crystal Serenity. Peter, thank you.

KEY:
1 every day
2 for eight years
3 don’t you quit cruising
4 they are having children now. She’s a grandmother
5 because she has the ship to herself
6 the time she dances at every day
7 $175,000 a year
8 three years

Longest-serving lollipop lady retires

After 45 years on the road, Britain's longest-serving Lollipop lady, Margaret Cattle, has retired.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and complete the missing words in the transcript.



Every day, every morning, every afternoon, in all (1) ..., winter, summer, autumn and spring, Margaret has patrolled this crossing for four and a half (2) ... and now she's decided to call it a day as Britain's longest-serving lollipop lady. She explains how she felt on her first day.
Very (3) ... , never done it before.
45 years on and the kids she helped that day have all grown up. They remember her well.
So when you’re walking around and somebody (4) ...-headed and older-looking shouts, hey lollipop, you think, oh dear.
She is retiring under (5) ...   ... to put her feet up. For kids and for parents, it's a sad day.
She's really nice and she gives you lollies sometimes and (6) ... ... .
Now we've seen her every morning and every night and she always says hello, she’s always got a big (7) ... on the face.  She's lovely but we're gonna miss her right away.
She makes us feel like we're not gonna get hurt.
Her real (8) ... in 45 years, the number of children hurt on this crossing, not a (9) ... one.
I am proud, very, very, and I really will miss them all but I've got to stop sometime.

Key:
1 weathers
2 decades 
3 nervous
4 bald
5 doctor's orders
6 Christmas cards
7 smile 
8 achievement 
9 single

Dealing with a parent with dementia

Reporter Louis Theroux drops in at a traumatic time for new residents and their families at the Beatitudes Senior Living Campus, in Arizona.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and anwer the questions belowl




1. What problem is Janet Cottrell having?
2. How long has she been staying at Beatitudes?
3. Why did the family take the decision to send her to the retirement centre?
4. Does Janet know that she's going to stay at Beatitudes for ever?
5. What do the staff tell residents at Beautitudes all day long?


My journey began here, at Beatitudes, a retirement community with a specialist unit for people with dementia.
I don't know where she is, if she's OK.
A resident on the second floor, called Janet Cottrell, had seen an intruder.
Janet, who was yelling at you?
The woman that was in here. She was climbing in her pyjamas and going... She was in that room.  I don't know where she could have gone so fast.
Well, if you see her again, let her know, or you can push your button.
Dawn Grant is in charge of the unit.
Do you think that was a hallucination?
I do believe so.
Why could it not be a real person?
I don't have any other small females, skinny, running round in their jammies right now.  Another resident. And they can't move that fast, either.  So it's probably a hallucination. Well, it is a hallucination.
Janet was a new arrival at Beatitudes.  Her daughter, Nancy, came to see how she was settling in.
Do you like the chair, Mom?
Pardon?
Do you like the chair?
Do I like the chair? Yes, very much so.
So your mum just moved in yesterday, is that right?
Yes.
And how did that go?
It was pretty emotional. In the morning it was very, very difficult  when we told her she was coming.
How did you get to the point of feeling she needed to be here?
She walked away from the house one day, and she didn't know where she was, and nobody knew where she was,  so that was the end of my being able to take care of her,  because I couldn't keep her safe anymore.
Course, I keep thinking, you know, she likes to go out a lot, but we aren't allowed to go out. We don't have a car.
Once your car was taken away, was that quite a big thing for you?
It was terrible, and it still is. And Nancy says I cannot get my car back.
My mom, I hope, knows that I love her very much, and that the reason that I'm doing these things is to keep her safe, and I hope she remembers that.
See, if you just leave me alone, I do all good things by myself.
Yeah.
At any point did you kind of say to Janet, ‘This is basically where you'll be living now’?
Not yesterday before we left, no.  It wasn’t until… And we really actually haven't said that, I've not said that to her at all.
Do not talk about her as though she's not in the room.
OK.
Include her in, or don't have a conversation in front of her.
Yeah.
She's not saying, ‘When can I go home?’, or anything?
She's not, but she is under the impression she's here temporarily.
She is, but so is Sonja, her roommate.
Right, and half of the people here.
Yeah, they all think they're going.
They do?
It's just such a transition to take them from what they're so used to, to putting them in a new setting.
It's OK to tell...I guess they'd be white lies, is that the right term?
Yes. We do it all the time.
Yeah, we tell white lies all day long here, all day.

Key:
1 She says she's seen an intruder
2 Just one day 
3 They can't look after her. One day she walked away from the house and she didn't know where she was.
4 No, they haven't told her yet. 
5 (White) lies

Talking point: Old people

This week's talking point is old people. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below so that ideas come to mind more easily the day you get together with your friends and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.
 
What problems do old people usually have?
What is your personal experience with old people?
Do you spend any time with older people?
What can young people learn from the old?
Where do old people generally live in your country?
What do retirement homes offer elderly people?
How do the elderly spend their time?
Does society have a responsibility to look after its elderly?

Interaction –How the elderly can contribute to society
You and your partner(s) have just retired and as you feel both physically and mentally fit, you want to get involved in some activity that benefits society, especially those in need.

Discuss how beneficial to society the activities below can be and then try to agree on two to do together. Give reasons for your choice.

Food bank: Distribute food and clothes to poor families
Teaching immigrant children: Teach Spanish or literacy
Lollipop man/woman: Bring safety to children on their way to school
Help line: Check on other elderly people with no one to talk to
Prison visitor: Give support and advice to people doing time
Babysit: Look after the children of working parents
Computer literacy: Teach technology to other elderly people
Helping vet: Rescue and look after stray pets

To illustrate the topic you can watch this video by Prudential, where a woman talks about her first day after retirement.



Well I think that happy is a momentary thing. Happiness comes and goes. I think contentment is there all the time even underneath when you’re having a problem. I mean to be content, you have to work with what you’ve got.
I guess there is something in me that I’ve always been strong. I’ve always gotten through some pretty rough stuff without falling to pieces. It’s my nature to survive, it’s my nature to land on my feet.
It’s kind of hard to make decisions by yourself all of a sudden when you’ve been making them with somebody else for 35 years.
I had a wonderful, wonderful happy marriage and I was well loved and so many people don’t have that. So they gave him three to six months but we all knew better. He sort of sit enough and he reached out and touched my face and died in my arms.
The good thing about change is that you grow each time, you expand each time I think. My executive director and I started talking about it  in the spring that I might take early retirement and I just got antsy, I just said, you know I need to go and do this if I’m going to do it, I need to do it.
Good morning, buddy, what’s up there? Ok, Ok, I’m getting up, I’m doing it.
He don’t talk back, he just looks like he understands.
Tom didn’t leave very much but  he left me a little money. I bought Dicken with the last of the money that he left me. Just the companionship is, made a huge difference. I think when you hug somebody you just feel that sense of being loved and being held. I think that’s contentment. I think if you can carry that with you which pretty much do just feel like I’m walking around in one big hug.
Day one. First day of my retirement. First day I never had to answer anybody for anything, except Dicken. Gotta give him his treats or he’d be unhappy.

Japan's retirees: industrial waste or a silver lining?

Working after retirement is not something many plan for, especially in Japan, where most white collar workers - known as salarymen - still devote their lives to one employer for an average of four decades.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions.

1 What is the retirement age in Japan?
2 What does Koreisha mean in Japanese?
3 What are some of the occupations retirees can choose from in Koreisha?
4 What is the reason why Japanese retired workers want to work?
5 What does 'one third' refer to?
6 What is one of the problems retirees have to face when working after retirement?

Tending to a client's rooftop garden in central Tokyo. Three years after retiring from his lifelong employment with Tokyo Gas, 68-year-old Rikizo Takano signed up for part-time work. This is the company which got him the gig. Koreisha means "the elderly" in Japanese. Its mission is to help retirees who are still keen to be part of the country's workforce. Today it has over 750 registered members. The average age is 69, with the oldest at 81 years old. They can choose from various assignments, such as cooking at restaurants or being personal drivers.
At our age, most of us don't want to work full-time, but putting in two to three days a week doesn't affect pensions, and being able to earn an extra 1000 US dollars a month is nice. But more than that, our members say it's great to be able to work again, because myself included, we feel like our energy and talent is wasted.
Japan has one of the fastest ageing populations in the world, and it is a burden on the economy, with a falling birth rate, it means there are fewer people paying social security. Spending on health care and pensions already accounts for a third of the national budget, and it's ballooning fast. But instead of doing away with the old, the Government wants companies and communities to see them as a silver lining.
Here in Kashiwa, these retired businessmen greet the children every morning and make sure they get to school safely. 75-year-old Masatoshi Tsuneno is the leader of the group, and he's been volunteering for ten years.
He says the key to a successful transition after retirement is to shake up the hierarchy entrenched in the working world.
I was an engineer for a company, he told me. But he won't discuss his professional past. He says it's important for people in his group to be able to treat each other equally, even if someone was a chief executive or diplomat.
It’s the end of the academic year and the school children have put together this surprise ceremony to thank the volunteers. The mix of young and old has been a hit for this community, but it's still a rare success story.
Mariko Oi, BBC News, in Kashiwa.

Key:
1 65
2 the elderly
3 cooking at restaurants or being personal drivers
4 they feel their energy and talent is wasted
5 public spending out of the national budget on health care and pensions 
6 the traditional hierarchy of Japanese companies is difficult to get rid of 

Talking point: Ageing and health

This week's talking point is ageing and health. Before getting together with the members of your conversation group, go over the questions below so that ideas come to mind more easily the day you get together with your friends and you can work out vocabulary problems beforehand.

‘Ageing is one of the most profitable fears of our time’. How do you interpret this quote?

Which of these anti-aging treatments would you be willing to try? Money is no object:

• Snail slime cream –potents anti-ageing treatment that helps to reduce acne and skin rashes as well as smoothing wrinkles
• Emu oil –Used for centuries for its healing powers, emu oil leaves you with a glowing complexion
• Bee sting venom –The venom from the sting is tranferred into a gel and then rubbed on the face as part of an intensive facial.

In the future, how likely do you think it is that medical science will keep people alive for much longer than today?
Would you like to live for 1,000 years? Why (not)?
Why do people follow special diets?
Have you (or has someone you know) ever had to follow a diet? How was it?
What are your opinions of these statements? Talk about your own experiences.
-How old someone feels depends entirely on their health.
-TV ads represent older people in realistic ways.
-It’s easier for people under 40 to get a job than those over 40.
-The longer you live, the more eccentric you become.
-Companies which sell anti-ageing products don’t want people to feel good about themselves.

INTERACTION -Choosing a diet
You and your partner have decided to start a diet. Read about the diets below and choose the most convenient diet for you to go on. If none of the diets is of your liking, suggest another one.

The 5:2 diet
The 5:2 diet is based on a principle known as intermittent fasting (IF) – where you eat normally for five days a week and fast on the other two days. On top of losing weight, fans claim the 5:2 diet can improve lifespan and brain function, and protect against conditions such as dementia and Alzheimer's.


The Dukan diet
The diet has four phases. During phase one you can eat chicken, turkey, eggs, fish and fat-free dairy. This is for an average of five days to achieve quick weight loss. No vegetables are allowed and seriously restricts fat. The next three phases of the plan see the gradual introduction of some fruit, veg and carbs, and eventually all foods. There's no time limit to the final phase, which involves having a protein-only day once a week and taking regular exercise.


The alkaline diet
The alkaline diet, whose celebrity fans reportedly include Gywneth Paltrow, Jennifer Aniston and Victoria Beckham,  recommends cutting back on meat, wheat and other grains, refined sugar, dairy products, caffeine, alcohol and processed foods in favour of "alkaline foods": Plenty of fruit and vegetables. Some followers adopt the "80/20 rule", consisting of a diet based on 80% fruit and veg and 20% grains and protein.

The Cambridge diet
It iis based around buying and eating a range of meal-replacement products. There are six flexible diet plans ranging from 415 calories to 1,500 calories or more a day. The bars, soups, porridges and shakes can be used as your sole source of nutrition or together with low-calorie regular meals. While on the programme, you receive advice and support on healthy eating and exercise from a Cambridge adviser.

Study on loneliness

BBC World News interviews Dr. Carla Perissinotto about her study on the link between loneliness and serious health problems and even death among older adults.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and complete the blanks in the transcript with the missing word.

The interview starts at 0’:25” and goes up to 3’28” .



Now loneliness is bad for your head, health. That's the conclusion of two (1) ... medical studies in the United States which concluded that people living alone have a shorter life (2) ... . Scientists from the University of California studied 1600 elderly people over six years. They found that those who lived on their own were 45% higher risk of death. A separate study with more than (3) ... people suggested that those living alone with heart disease also tend to die sooner. Well, I’m joined now from San Francisco by the lead author of that report, Dr Carla Perissinotto from the University of California in San Francisco.
Why is it that people who live on their own are likely to die earlier, do you think?
You know, it's an interesting question and I think an important part of the study is not necessarily that they're living alone but rather even if when someone is living with someone else, if they are feeling (4) ... lonely,  this is what is placing them at greatest risk. The thought is that there may be something related to their biology, whether it's increased inflammation or whether it's something socially mediated like an inability to (5) ...   ...  oneself as well.
So, in other words, how did you measure loneliness? So you did have people in your study who were married, perhaps, but still declared themselves to be lonely, is that correct?
That's correct. That is, again, one of the most fascinating parts is that we asked people over the age of 60 to describe whether they felt that they (6) ... companionship, felt alone or felt socially isolated and when someone answered ‘yes’ to these questions, we classified them as lonely and it didn't mean that most of the people who reported feeling lonely actually were living with someone else or who were married, so again this relates to an issue of social connectivity (7) ... you could be surrounded by people but feel, still feel (8) ... about being alone.
So do you think it's a psychological component to that, I mean, if you're lonely, if you feel lonely, you're less likely to perhaps look after yourself or pay attention to your health?
That’s exactly right, and I think that's where the next step is needed to focus on, is seeing where the exact mechanism is. There are, there are studies that postulate that there may be a difference in sleep, ability for someone to remember to take their medications, for example, go to the doctor's office. But we don't… our study did not exactly look at that causation. What it did show is that as (9) ... , as geriatricians, as family members, we need to be paying attention to our (10) ... and to older adults around us, and think about what other factors could be influencing their health, their risk of losing independence and, ultimately, their risk of death.
Dr Perissinotto, thank you very much.

Key:
1 major 2 expectancy 3 44,000 4 subjectively 5 care for 6 lacked 7 whereas 8 distressed 9 physicians 10 elderly

Extensive listening: Alive and kicking

Alive and Kicking is a CBS 60 Minutes segment aired early this year. This is the way reporter Lesley Stahl introduced the segment.

A show opened in New York recently that didn't get a whole lot of attention, but it features some of the most powerful singing voices you've never heard. You haven't heard them because for most of the performers, this is their first time on the stage. They've been singing their whole lives -- in church, in amateur groups, in the shower -- but like so many who had dreams of making it big, life somehow got in the way.

The show was created by a theater producer and former disc jockey named Vy Higginsen, who has made it her mission to preserve a special part of American culture: African-American music, both gospel and popular music like soul and R&B. She found a pool of untapped talent, men and women in what she calls their "second half of life" just waiting for their chance to shine.

The show is called "Alive: 55+ and Kickin'," and while that certainly fits the men and women who fill this Harlem stage on Saturday afternoons, "Alive" also refers to the music, and that is just how Vy Higginsen wants it.

You can read a full transcript here.

Five-Star Nursing Homes

In 2011, Ken Chandler brought his elderly mother to a nursing home that had Medicare’s seal of approval, a five-star rating. After a series of troubling events there, Mr. Chandler now feels misled.

Self-study activity:
Watch this New York Times video and say whether the statements below are true or false.



1 Ken Chandler feels his mother was being neglected in the nursing home.
2 Essie May Chandler never lived with Ken Chandler and his family.
3 Ken Chandler’s mom had an accident at the age of 90.
4 The Chandlers were unaware of the complaints filed against Rosewood Nursing Home.
5 The problem with the rating of nursing homes is that the homes rate themselves on three factors: health, staff and quality.
6 Essie May Chandler had a fall while eating in her bedroom.
7 Essie May Chandler used to have a shower three or four times per week.
8 Essie May Chandler died in the nursing home after her fall.

I had visited her the day before, she seemed fine. I went back in the next day, she was completely bruised to her chest, the back of her arms, her back. Nobody was watching my mom, nobody was really tending to her. They were just pushing her in a hallway or leaving her in her room to eat alone.
The government’s website shows this is the best of the best facilities, and so does the facilities website shows it’s the best of the best facilities, and they are proudly displaying their five-star rating. It’s the industry that is being protected, not the patient who is in there.
My mother’s name was Essie May Chandler. She lived with me and my wife and her family for six years. She enjoyed kids, she loved her grandkids. It was like five in the morning, my wife heard a thump, and we went in there and she’d fallen to the floor.
Ken Chandler’s 90-year-old mother had broken her femur. After a successful surgery, the family had one day to find a rehab facility for her recovery, close to their Sacramento home. They chose Rosewood.
When you walk in, there’s a big billboard and it has orange stars on it, and it’s um listing why it was five stars.
On Medicare’s nursing home compare website, Rosewood received five stars, the highest rating awarded. The Chandlers had no idea that despite Rosewood’s top ratings, it was the subject of one hundred complaints filed to the state of California since 2009. Advocacy groups say the number’s closer to 160, double the state average.
They’re not putting state violations on the federal websites, so it really doesn’t give an accurate picture because they don’t have all the data.
Carole Herman has been an advocate for the elderly for over thirty years.
I went in and here’s Rosewood Post Accute. So the overall rating is a five star. The health inspections was average.
Of the three factors that determine an overall rating, only the health inspections are conducted independently. The other statistics, staffing and quality measures, are self-reported by the nursing home. This self-reported statistics can boost a three-star rating into a five-star rating overall.
The federal agency that runs Medicare came up with this five-star rating system as a consumer tool, as a great idea.
Lesley Clement is representing the Chandlers in a lawsuit against Rosewood and its operating company, North America Health Care.
The problem is, you know, it’s garbage in, garbage out, so whatever they’re telling the feds, the feds are not… Federal government isn’t going in and double-checking that their numbers are accurate.
Dr Patrick Conway, who helps to oversee the nursing home compare website, says the star rating has successfully motivated facilities to improve their care.
What kind of reassurance can you give to families that they can be comfortable with the accuracy of these ratings?
Yes, I think for a family selecting a nursing home for their loved one, I’d say a few things. I think, one, I think the five-star rating is a starting point, but then I would highly encourage the family or caregiver to visit the home, to visit it multiple times, to really get a sense of the home and its culture.
You don’t have a lot of time to go out and check these facilities, how are you supposed to know. If you get any notice, maybe it’s a day.
I think the government website as it’s currently operated it’s very dangerous because people rely upon it, and right now there are people looking at the website and making a choice.
These are the Rosewood Post-Acute complaints in this file…
Carole Herman’s advocacy group has helped families help complaints about Rosewood to the state.
Elder abuse, insufficient staffing, falls with injury, broken hip, bed alarm is not working, failure to treat, failure to chart, again insufficient staffing, delay in sending the patient to an acute hospital, insufficient hydration which can cause death and I believe in this case the woman died.
It happened on the 14th of February and the nurse practitioner called us and told us everything was fine. She had a fall and I said, out of bed, and she said, no, she was eating dinner in her room and the nurse came back in the room and found her lying on the floor. I go, why is she in her room eating alone again. And she, she couldn’t explain why, I don’t know. Me and Lesley looked to the records and she actually started on levaquin the night she fell. When they left her in her room by herself eating, what were you thinking?
This is the hallway where Essie resided. This is the nurse’s station, that’s the med cart. So in addition to this pattern of falls, they weren’t toileting her and they weren’t bathing her. When you look at the records, she goes ten days or more without a shower, she has repeated urinary tract infections, plus she’s given all this psychotropic drugs on top of it. Every case comes down to under-staffing. Nobody is looking at her as a human being and what her needs are.
North American Health Care, which operates Rosewood and thirty-four additional facilities, disputes the claims in the Chandlers’ lawsuit and denies any false reporting of staffing levels. The company’s CEO declined to appear on camera but in a statement defended the company’s dedication to quality care.
It’s not a natural way to die, so they, they…
They just didn’t do their job, and I’m sorry, I mean, I’m not trying to blame it on the staff but I do think whoever owns these places is their responsibility to make sure there’s enough staff to take care of these elderly people.
Dr Conway hopes to improve Medicare’s oversight of staffing levels.
We are working on a system right now to actually bring in payroll data reliably across 15,000+ nursing homes. We are also making sure we do not have people that are, for example, over-reporting or self-reporting in a way that is inaccurate.
During her six months at Rosewood, Essie Chandler suffered eleven falls, the final fall resulted in two broken legs. She returned home 40 pounds lighter with her legs bound in braces. She died six months later at home with her family.
People always have guilt after care-giving and you always think you could have done more but it’s, it’s torture, Sid will never forgive yourself.

Key:
1T 2F 3T 4T 5F 6T 7F 8F

Germany's 'adopt a grandparent' scheme

In Germany, a scheme that roughly translates as 'adopt a grandparent' has been running with great success. It pairs older people with children who may not have or see grandparents of their own.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and answer the questions below about it.

The activity is suitable for intermediate 1 and intermediate 2 students.



1 What are the main advantages of the scheme for Paul?
2 What does 'three' refer to?
3 What does Therese do every Monday right after school?
4 What is the main reason why older people get involved in this scheme?
5 What are the benefits of the scheme for older people?
6 What are the two problems of the scheme that are mentioned?
7 Why did Therese's mother decide to join the scheme?

Ten-year old Therese goes for a cycle ride with her grandparents. Well, sort of. Paul and Charlotte are actually her adopted grandparents, part of a scheme to link young families with older couples who want grandchildren.
If you look at other older people, they’re just sitting in front of the television whereas I have this lively relationship. It gives me something to do (1), and when Therese is drawing a picture, and she draws three hearts and Paul, my name, is in one of them, that really touches me.
80-year-old Paul and his wife have been helping raise Therese since she was three (2). As well as cycling as gymnastics they taught her to swim and take her on holiday, acting like any loving grandparents.
Every Monday Charlotte meets me after school and we go swimming (3). Then we go home and have some food. After, I can either go home or stay the night with Charlotte and Paul.
The older people that get involved in the scheme are often driven by a desire to have children involved in their lives (4).
With an ever growing number of fit and healthy retired people, this scheme allows German pensioners to remain active to contribute, to feel valued even, as well as of course providing essential support to the young families they help (5).
There have however been problems. Relationships are broken down and two pedophiles have got past the checking procedures (6) over the scheme’s 25-year history. But the project remains popular, with positive feedback.
A lot of the grandparents say they feel much better, they’ve got something to do, it helps them with their health, it also helps them to better understand young people.
Back at the cycle park, Therese’s mother has joined Paul and Charlotte. Their help in raising her daughter, she says, has been invaluable.
I wanted to have a couple, and an older couple for, for Therese because that is normal I think to have parents and to have… grandparents and my, my parents are far away from Berlin (7).
A true bond has been developed between these one-time strangers, providing both young and old much needed friendship and support.
Michael Buchanan, BBC News, Berlin

Supermodel at 85

Former Vogue model Daphne Selfe has been modelling for longer that she can remember, although at 85 she is busier than ever.

Self-study activity:
Watch the video and say whether the statements below are true or false.

The activity is suitable for intermediate students.



1 Younger models help Daphne.
2 Daphne is shorter than the conventional model.
3 Daphne has always been a fashion model.
4 Today's women are under a lot of pressure to look beautiful.
5 Today's fashion is helping young people to make them feel good with themselves.
6 Daphne likes grey a lot.
7 Daphne's mum was 95 when she died.

At 85 model Daphne Selfe is landing major contracts. In fact, she’s busier now than she was in her 20’s.
Going modelling now it’s wonderful because I meet lots of other young people and I can get tips of them on how they sort of get around and I travel a lot and see lots of different places and things. How else could you do that? This girl here was so gorgeous but see how outdoorsy she is compared to me.
Yeah, because you are not exactly model tall, really?
Five seven and a half when I was young, now I reckon I’ve lost two inches at least… as you’ll do. Wait for it, yeah.
Oh, thanks, but getting old is a bit depressing though, isn’t it? I mean, you know, you look back on your youth and what you had…
Yes.
…and if you’re restoring houses or something, you always try to make it look better…
Yes.
…but with your body you can kind of slowly see it get older. 
Oh, yes, I don’t do nude anymore. I used to be an artist model but I don’t think anyone wanting me to do that anymore. That was around, you know, no underwear…
Ah… looking good.
…but that was the first thing that got me in… I started in Vogue. No, never done it since, so start at the top, you know.
Absolutely. It looks like you’ve got buns of steel there, it is amazing at seventy. Pretty good time.
That was seventy, yes. I mean…
But there’s so much pressure, isn’t it, to look good… all of the time and…
Yes, there is.
Do you feel sorry for the younger generations?
Well, that’s the thing, yes. I don’t think fashion is helping them at the moment, I don’t really appreciate what people are doing themselves at the moment. The fashion is not pretty or doing people any favours.
Not particularly flattering.
No.
Yeah.
I think they did give me that dress, after I got that.
That’s a gorgeous dress, isn’t it?
It’s not my colour, it’s a bit grey, but, however, they did.
You look great in anything.
And now I’m disgusting.
Yeah, you’re disgusting, it’s just so not fair! Can you see that there’ll be an end?
Oh, yes. I mean, I must come to an end soon, shortly. As for shortly, my mother lived to ninety-five, so I’ve got hopes of keeping on a bit longer, whether I should be able to work or not, you just don’t know. Make every day count because you never know, you never know.

Key:
1T 2T 3F 4T 5F 6F 7T 

Extensive listening: The retirement gamble

Retirement is a time of uncertainty for a lot of people. It's not just that our health becomes more and more fragile as our life reaches its final stage, but also that our sources of income get more and more meagre. For that reason, it is important to make plans way before that stage of our lives begins.

Early this year PBS programme Frontline aired the documentary The retirement gamble, where they drew viewers' attention on how Americans could ensure a safe retirement, while raising some troubling questions on the way American financial institutions protect the savings of thousands of clients who have trusted them.

Reporter Martin Smith wrote the article The Retirement Gamble Facing of all us, where he wrote a short summary of the programme.

The documentary is a bit lengthy, upwards of 50 minutes, so you may decide to watch it bit by bit. You can read the transcript here, although CC subtitles are available on the lower side of the PBS video player.

Watch The Retirement Gamble on PBS. See more from FRONTLINE.

How low interest rates affect borrowers and savers

Whenever authorities announce that interest rates will be lowered or not raised, there is widespread contentment. But not everybody welcomes the news.

Self-study activity:
Watch this BBC news item and answer the questions below about it.

The activity is suitable for intermediate students.



1 What's the employment situation in Ely?
2 Why didn't pensioners welcome the news about low interest rates?
3  What's the family situation of Amanda Freeman?
4  What benefits will she get from low interest rates?
5  How have many businesses reacted to the news of low interest rates?
6  How does Kate Marshall feel about the news?

To check your answers you can read the transcript below. Remember that if you don't understand the meaning of any word, you can easily look it up by double-clicking on it.

The cathedral city of Ely has grown rapidly in recent years. The employment rate here is higher than the national average even though it’s an easy commute to Cambridge and London, and tourism helps the local economy too. But this small community has felt the downturn, including these pensioners who meet in the morning to knit and natter. Those who rely on their savings to boost their income weren’t impressed by the promise to hold interest rates down.
I can understand that it will be stability for the country and the economy, but it doesn’t help me at all. I just feel that we’ve been prudent for a long time before our retirement and I can just now see our savings just being eroded away. It’s costing us more and more each month to live.
Many in this quiet and contained city have talked about having to tighten their belts in recent times, but the words of the Governor of the Bank of England have boosted the confidence of some.
Home-owner Amanda Freeman has been decorating, but wasn’t sure if she could afford to do everything she wanted. She is a single mother with two children and a mortgage and she brightened up for today’s announcement.
It’s good news obviously for me and now that my mortgage is hopefully going to stay as it is for a little while means I can budget easier and, well, hopefully do a few more home improvements.
Businesswoman Kate Marshall, who runs these dance studios, is more lukewarm. While many businesses well over welcomed what Mark Carney had to say, she thinks maintaining the status quo won’t provide much of a boost.
I don’t think it will make much of a difference to me financially other than, that I’m hoping it will hold down the interest rates on my loan and my overdraft which are quite high as it is.
The peace and beauty of this market city are underpinned by relative prosperity, but for many people who feel a little bit more secure after today, there’s another who feels worse off.

Extensive listening: Growing old

Don't grow old is a Horizon documentary the BBC aired in 2010.

In the programme, we are told about remarkable discoveries that suggest that ageing is something flexible and can be manipulated.

The documentary shows us the scientists who are attempting to demonstrate why we age and what we can do to prevent it.  Does the 95-year-old woman who smokes two packets of cigarettes a day hold the clue? Do blueberries really delay signs of ageing or is it more a question of attitude? Does the real key to controlling how we age lie with a five-year-old boy with an extraordinary ageing disease or with a self-experimenting Harvard professor?

Could one of these breakthroughs really see our lives extend past 120 years?



You can read the transcript for the first ten minute of the programme here.

Whitstableman sells seaside lifestyle

Steve Graham, from Whitstable in Kent, is selling his ice-cream shop to start a new life.

Self-study activity:
Watch this BBC video clip by clicking on the link here or on the picture and answer the questions below.

The activity is suitable for intermediate students.

1 How long has Steve run the shop?
2 Why is this the best job in the world?
3 What two tragic moments does Steve talk about?
4 What exactly is Steve putting up for sale?
5 What does Steve say about the people in Whitstable?
6 What are Steve's plans after selling the shop?

You can check the answers by reading the transcript below.

I’ve lived in Whitstable for 12 years but been a fan of Whitstable since the 70’s when I first came here. I built Sundae Sundae 5  years ago, lying on the beach one day I had the idea for a, you know, … seaside shop, traditional ice-cream, old-fashioned toys and sweets, so I found the shop, opened it and from day one I’d scoop to the elbow, it’s been busy from day one.
It’s the best job I’ve ever had, no one’s ever unhappy. It’s not like going to the dentist where everyone is scared. Everyone wants to be happy. They walk in the shop, and you run through the flavours, everyone’s happy. They want a flake or they want a lolly or they want some sweets. No one walks into this shop and says , ‘I’d better have an ice-cream’, everyone is really happy.
I was married for sort of thirty-odd years. My wife tragically died, and I became ill at the same time, I nearly died myself from cancer, survived it and took a year to mourn my loss and get back to health. I feel it’s time for me to move on and sort of, you know, keep my memories, and sort of all the great things that happened in the past, but move on and so something new just for me now.
My lifestyle, which I’m offering for sale, is my little three-bedroom cottage which is two minutes from the sea, down to the shopping harvestry and just along the beach, we’ve got the beach shop. But I thought why split up something so nice that’s taken me years to put together which someone else can enjoy it, and I’ve done the ground work for them.
People who say I’m a..., if they’re cynical about it, they are probably stuck in a dull job somewhere, they’re not going to walk on the beach and kick peddles and lick a nice ice-cream particularly  enough when you have to pay for it when you own the shop.
The funny thing is… the living image that would really help is a small community and yeah very bad for eighteen months of my life, losing my wife, becoming ill, but the people round here all’ve been good friends, and sort of rally round, you know, they are like family round here. I’d never move away now, once they all get into your heart. It’s as close as you get. If I find something better, I’ll let you know.
So next to me will be a bit of time off, bit of walking, bit of thinking, and then lying on the beach somewhere or walking in the mountains and coming up with another idea. I’m a collector in life but I don’t keep anything. I’m not a holder. So if I’ve touched it and it’s got a little bit of my DNA, I’m happy to pass it on.

Day one after retirement

Day One Stories is a site created by Prudential financial services to give us the opportunity to look at the photos, read the quotes and watch the films of some of the thousands of Americans on their first day of retirement. Many look back on their lives and think about the future, where financial worries take top priority.

The video on the blog shows Linda on her first day after retirement. Watch the sheer beauty of the film and try to understand as much as possible. You can find the transcript below and many more video and audio testimonials on 



Well I think that happy is a momentary thing. Happiness comes and goes. I think contentment is there all the time even underneath when you’re having a problem. I mean to be content, you have to work with what you’ve got.

I guess there is something in me that I’ve always been strong. I’ve always gotten through some pretty rough stuff without falling to pieces. It’s my nature to survive, it’s my nature to land on my feet.

It’s kind of hard to make decisions by yourself all of a sudden when you’ve been making them with somebody else for 35 years.

I had a wonderful, wonderful happy marriage and I was well loved and so many people don’t have that. So they gave him three to six months but we all knew better. He sort of sit enough and he reached out and touched my face and died in my arms.

The good thing about change is that you grow each time, you expand each time I think. My executive director and I started talking about it  in the spring that I might take early retirement and I just got antsy, I just said, you know I need to go and do this if I’m going to do it, I need to do it.

Good morning, buddy, what’s up there? Ok, Ok, I’m getting up, I’m doing it.

He don’t talk back, he just looks like he understands.

Tom didn’t leave very much but  he left me a little money. I bought Dicken with the last of the money that he left me. Just the companionship is, made a huge difference. I think when you hug somebody you just feel that sense of being loved and being held. I think that’s contentment. I think if you can carry that with you which pretty much do just feel like I’m walking around in one big hug.

Day one. First day of my retirement. First day I never had to answer anybody for anything, except Dicken. Gotta give him his treats or he’d be unhappy.