A Place to Call Home “Home is a name, a word, it is a strong one; stronger than any magician ever spoke, or spirit ever answered to, in the strongest conjuration.” — Charles Dickens, The Benjamin Rose Institute was one of the first charitable organizations in the United States established for the benefit of older adults. Its story begins with... Read more
Looking Forward Looking Back Predicting the future is hard. Predicting the recent past can be even harder. What seemed significant or important in the moment, upon reflection, may not have been. Something trivial or random turns out to be consequential or life altering. Picking out milestones is easier if you have traveled a great distance. Looking back over one year in an organization that has been around for over a century is a bit like describing a trip based on backing out of the driveway. Read more
Open Enrollment or Open Season? The signs of fall: Football. Turning leaves. Pumpkin spice. And advertisements for Medicare plans. Medicare’s Open Enrollment Period, the time when Medicare beneficiaries can compare coverage options and choose health and drug plans, began on October 15, 2023, and ends on December 7, 2023. If you watch television, or pass a billboard, you have seen them—ads promoting various... Read more
Pocketknives Do you carry a pocketknife? Growing up, having a pocketknife was a rite of passage. At some point, an adult in your life would decide you should have one. Every man I knew carried one. They varied in size, shape and color. There were handles made of wood, bone, metal or plastic. There were knives... Read more
Eudaimonia On a recent morning on my way to work, I listened to an interview on NPR about a recent study on student performance, which expanded on the existing assumption that happy students are generally better students. This study showed correlation between those students with good grades and those with a sense of purpose in their... Read more
Larchmere Porchfest The Larchmere Porchfest returned this summer. On a recent Saturday, area residents and businesses hosted live music from their front porches and storefronts. Beginning at 1:00 p.m., when Austin Walkin’ Cane kicked off the afternoon at Fairhill Partners with a set of delta blues, more than thirty bands and solo performers entertained the crowds with a variety... Read more
Cemeteries “There won’t be any grass on that one.” I don’t remember the exact year she said it, but I remember where I was when I heard it. Shortly after my uncle died, I had gone along on a trip with my aunt and my parents to a rural cemetery in eastern Kentucky. The graveyard sits... Read more
Hello In There . . .Old trees just grow stronger . . .Old rivers grow wilder every day, Old people just grow lonesome. . .. So goes the chorus of Hello In There, written by the late John Prine. Prine was a master storyteller. His songs contain characters and observations of the human condition, part ballad and part novel.... Read more
Margaret Wagner One of the things I love about Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging is the amazing history of the organization and the impact it has made in the field of aging. The Institute has served Cleveland area residents since 1908, fulfilling Benjamin Rose’s vision that people should be able to maintain their comfort and dignity as... Read more
Take Action on Dementia Care Approximately 6.5 million American live with Alzheimer’s or other dementias. According to Alzheimer’s Facts and Figures, experts estimate that 1 in 9 people ages 65 or older live with dementia. The Alzheimer’s Association projects that these figures will double by 2050, as the population of older adults continues to increase. The incidence of dementia increases with... Read more
