Aging Well For Life

Episode 51 marks the one-year anniversary of the essential boomer podcast and in honor of the of this I’m bringing back the guest who started it all for me back in episode one, Paul Zavagno.  

Paul is an educator, a retired school principal, a great humanitarian and a certified facilitator of the work of Byron Katie and he is my life-long friend. So in this episode we do a deep-dive into Paul’s actual coaching practice.

• Can you tell us the story of how you were attracted to this particular practice of life coaching?
• Will you tell us the story of how Byron Katy came to create this method of life coaching?
• It seems that this work, like a lot of great teachings is built upon a very simple basic structure. Do you think that that contributes to its effectiveness?
• Was Byron Katie influenced by Buddhism in creating The Work?
• What does a typical coaching session look like?
• Are there any benefits of this type of coaching for people who are suffering from chronic physical issues?
• Does this type of work would lend itself well for people facing the ends of their lives such as in hospice?
• Do you have any final words of advice that you’d like to share with your fellow boomers?

CLICK HERE to email Paul

Follow Paul on Twitter

CLICK HERE for more information on the work of Byron Katie.

Paul is a board member of the Infinity foundation

Paul is also very active with the organization, Habitat for Humanity.

In episode #50, I’m very pleased to present part II of

In Part II Mel answers the following

CLICK HERE to contact Mel Friedman D.O.

CLICK HERE for information on the American

CLICK HERE for information on the American

CLICK HERE for information on the Osteopathic Cranial

In episode 49, You will hear Part I of this 2 Part series in which I have a fascinating in-depth conversation with Mel Friedman D.O.. In it, Mel, as he likes to be called, gives us an intimate look into his heart, mind and the path he took from being a disillusioned family practice doctor to becoming a true healer. Mel talks in detail about osteopathy, life and death. I have never met a anybody like Mel. 

In Part I of this 2-part series, Mel talks about his life crises as a traditional doctor and the events that led him to osteopathy.

Mel shares with us the different approaches to medicine that osteopathic doctors share compared to traditional doctors and the misconceptions that many people, INCLUDING osteopaths, have in regards to osteopathy. He also shares how his techniques and methods for healing, which were once the mainstay of osteopathy, yet now are only practiced by 1% of all osteopaths. Mel  walks us through a typical session and shares his thought process as he is working with his patients.

This conversation with Mel certainly changed the way I look at health, medicine and healing. I think that you will love this interview. So sit back, relax and open your mind and your heart. You are in for a very special treat. Enjoy.

CLICK HERE to contact Mel Friedman D.O.

CLICK HERE for information on the American Osteopathic Association.

CLICK HERE for information on the American Academy of Osteopathy, which is the branch of Osteopathy that utilizes hands-on therapy. 

CLICK HERE for information on the Osteopathic Cranial Academy, of which Mel was a past president, and the branch of Osteopathy of which he identifies himself the most. 

In episode 48, I have Chris Roddell as my guest on the essential boomer. Chris is the author of Use All the Crayons! The Colorful Guide to Simple Human Happiness, the only self-improvement book graced with a cover endorsement by the legendary golfer & pitchman Arnold Palmer.

Chris is a fellow boomer who will do just about anything for a good story. His latest work is “The Last Baby Boomer: The Story of the Ultimate Ghoul Pool,” a story with a very intriguing premise, especially for us boomers. Or as he puts it, “It’s a coming of old, old age story. Because everyone has to die. But only one of us gets to die last.”

Chris talks about the following:

CLICK HERE to go to Chris’s website - Eight Days to Amish

CLICK HERE to purchase The Last Baby Boomer: The Story of the Ultimate Ghoul Poolk

CLICK HERE to purchase Use All the Crayons! The Colorful Guide to Simple Human Happiness

CLICK HERE to contact Chris Rodell

While on vacation in Hawaii I hear the phone ringing in the condominium that we were renting. Naturally I pick up the phone.

“Hello (In thick Indian accent), I am calling from Microsoft Tech support and I’m calling about your computer.”

I instantly recognize that the call is a scam so I decide to have some fun…

“What about my computer?” 

“I’m calling to inform you that we have detected a very dangerous virus on your computer’s hard-drive.”

“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m sorry but I’m not very computer literate.”

“Yes, I understand. I will explain it to you. This is Microsoft Tech support and we have detected a virus in the boot sector of your computer. If you do not remove this virus immediately it will spread to your entire hard-drive and then corrupt your data and then crash your computer.”

“Oh no. This is terrible. I have all my personal and financial information on that computer. Can you help me?”

“Yes, I can help you right now. Is your computer on?”

“No, I’ll need to start it up. It may take a moment for It is very slow to start up because it is very old.”

“That’s okay, please boot up your computer.”

“You mean turn it on right?”

“Yes sir, I mean for you to turn on your computer.”

“Okay…but it’s located in the other room and as I said, it’s rather slow to start up so it may take a while.”

“That’s okay, go start up your computer right now and let me know when it’s ready.”

“Okay, hold on, I’ll be right back…”

I then put the speaker phone on and sit back to silently wait…After about a minute I hear him say…

“Hello, can you hear me?”

“Hello…?”

“Sir, can you hear me?”

“Sir…hello sir…are you there”

“hello?”

“sir can you hear me? Sir? Hello?”

“Hello? are you there sir? Hello?”

“Hello sir? Can you hear me? Sir?”

“Hello?...please pick up the phone sir…”

so I sense that he is getting very impatient so I finally pick the phone up….

“Yes, I’m still going to start up my computer.”

“Sir, why is it taking so long?”

“Because it’s in another room that isn’t close to the phone.”

“I understand sir. Tell me, How far is that room from the phone?”

“Oh, I’d say probably around 2,500 miles. You see, I’m on vacation and not at my house.”

“……….click…………..dial tone.”

This conversation actually happened earlier this week when we were away on vacation. Coincidently, I also received a call about a month ago at home. So If I’m getting this many calls from these scammers, I can only imagine how many of you are also receiving telephone calls from scammers.

First of all, I don’t want to in any way profile the people of India as scammers. That is simply not true. But it is also true that many of the telephone scams originate in India. It just goes to show you that there are a few bad eggs in every country. 

I know that a lot of you are already hip to these scams and so this may be old news, but judging by how many of these I’ve been receiving there must be a whole lot of people out there still falling for them.

In fact, according to Truecaller, which is a worldwide telephone number look-up service, a little over 1 in 10 American adults lost money in phone scams in 2015. Which is over a 50% increase from 2014, so a lot of people are still falling for them…and these scams have cost 27 million Americans around $7.4 billion dollars.

27 million Americans! That’s a lot of people falling for these telephone scams. Who is falling for these scams? And why? What type of person is most likely to fall prey to a telephone scammer?

In her article, 10 Types of People Who Fall for Scams, Schemes and Cons, for MoneyTalksNews, Marilyn Lewis talks about the factors behind why various people are more likely to fall for scams than others.

In the paper she sites some findings from the AARP report, Caught in the Scammers Net. According to the report, it’s not just one group, like seniors, or women. There are actually many factors involved like the type of scam, such as the Microsoft tech support scam or the currently popular IRS scam.

So the 10 people mentioned in her article are:

1 - White males

White males are more likely to become victims of Investment fraud. This is because many white males are in the market for investments and therefore are more likely to fall for a bogus investment scheme

2 - Older adults

Yes, we boomers and seniors do get targeted more and are therefore victimized a lot. There are many factors that make us both more susceptible and less susceptible. I think that one of the big reasons that we’re so susceptible is that we are simply more likely to answer a ringing phone. There was a time when almost all telephone calls were important and it would be unconscionable to not answer the phone.

Us boomers and seniors weren’t raised with answering machines and caller ID. Try calling up your daughter or grandson and you will most likely end up in their voice mail. It’s almost like they have a phobia about talking on the phone. How many of you now have full length conversations with your kids or grandkids via siri and text messaging? Yea, I thought so.

3 - Younger People

but, just to make you feel better it’s actually younger people, particularly the male millennials that are most likely to be a victim of telephone scams. See, those wisdom of age has its place. Who knew?

4 – People living in Florida

According federal trade commission data, Florida is the number one state for consumer fraud complaints averaging about 1,000 per 100,000 residents. Yea, this makes sense too. We all know that there is a high senior population in Florida so the scammers focus on this state.

5 – the lonely

According to the AARP report 66% of the victims of scams feel lonely and isolated. This is why there is such a high percentage of fraud within dating sites. People are very vulnerable and want to believe that the person at the other end is prince charming and not Ralph the ripoff artist.

6 – The Internet

Marilyn also talks about how many people who are wary and distrustful of telephone calls become complacent and end up getting victimized by scammers on the internet. I mean, you can trust everything on the internet right?

7 -   Extroverted and Agreeable people

People who are open, talkative, optimistic and agreeable are way more likely to become victims than their counterparts who are way, suspicious, pessimistic and introverted.

8 – In debt

Marilyn states that people in debt are more likely to be approached and fall for debt consolidation scams and other types of fraud in the guise o helping them get out of debt. which leads logically to number 9

9 – Desperate people.

People in debt are often very desperate and grasping at straws to find a way out of debt. Scammers also often prey on people who are desperate as a result of natural disasters, illness and as mentioned before, loneliness.

10 – Being Human

Yep, if you fall into the category of a human being, which I’m guessing that you do, than you most likely are vulnerable in one way or another. We all have our beliefs, and blind spots.

So now let’s take a quick look at the top 10 telephone scams to watch out for, according to Susan Ladika in her article,

Top 10 phone scams to watch out for  on creditcards.com.

No 1 is the credit card reductions scam.

This is the most prevalent scam out there according to a 2014 report by Pindrop Security. Almost everybody carries some kind of credit card debt. You get a phone call promising to reduce the rates on your credit cards. All you have to do is pay a and upfront fee and provide the caller with your personal information, most likely including your credit card numbers, social security number, financial accounts and who knows what else. In return you end up losing hundreds to thousands of dollars and become a victim of identity theft.

No. 2. Home security systems

In this one you get a call promising you a free security system. They may provide a list of all the break-in and robberies in your area. This may sound too good to be true. Well, so far it may be true, but beware, after signing on the bottom line you will soon get the enormous bill for the monitoring fees. And those bills will be coming each month for years.

No. 3. Spam text messages

In this scam you get a text message on your smart phone informing that you have won a prize and all you have to do is call a number or go to a website. What they don’t say is that that the call is from identity thieves who want to gain your personal information and possible to surreptitiously place malware on your computer to gain access to your information.

No. 4. Fake Free cruises

Like number 3, in this one you also typically get a text message informing you that you are the winner of a free cruise. All you have to do is pay them a small fee and taxes, for which they want you to use your credit card. Aloha.

No. 5. Bogus Government grants

In this one, an official sounding person calls and tells you that you are the happy winner of a huge government grant, just for being a good guy or gal. Doesn’t sound fishy at all to me. All you have to do is provide your credit card or bank information to pay that small processing fee. For the record.

No. 6. Microsoft tech support

Ah..yes, this is the one that I always seem to get as mentioned at the beginning of this podcast. Somebody, with an Indian accent, I’ve had both men and women call me, pretends that they are from Microsoft tech support or something related and then have you go through some gyrations with your computer to convince you that your computer is infected with a virus that will spread and kill your computer and anything else with a 20 mile radius. Don’t fall for it. I LOVE to string them along and waste their time by playing along and pretending that I’m a total computer illiterate. It’s pretty funny sometimes.

No. 7. Auto insurance ID thieves

This again is a variation on the same theme where the caller tells you that you are eligible for a lower rate of car insurance and then tries to get your personal information. Again, it’s another scam at trying to gain you personal information for identity thievery.

No. 8. Payday loans

The caller is able to obtain your number from your application for a payday loan, which on it’s own, isn’t a good idea, but the caller claims to be a debt collector demanding payment and a late fee. If you don’t pay them they may threaten you with arrest or worse.

No. 9. IRS scam

This is a scam that has reached epidemic proportions. The caller claims to be from the IRS and demands immediate payment on taxes and penalties, usually with a prepaid card, wire transfer or credit card. Sounds fishy huh? It is.

No. 10. Bank scams

Another variation on a theme, but this time the caller claims to be from your bank and informs you that your accounts or credit card has been frozen, locked, caput, and you need to provide account verification to have them released to your custody.

So what you can do to protect yourself? Here are some solid tips.

In episode 45 I have a fascinating conversation with Cory Kidd PhD, who shares his story of creating Mabu, the amazing robotic health care companion who is making friends everywhere.

Cory is the founder and CEO of Catalia Health, a healthcare technology company focused on delivering effective behavioral change. Cory is a serial entrepreneur who has been working in healthcare technology for nearly two decades.He received his M.S. and Ph.D at the MIT Media Lab in human-robot interaction and he received his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science at the Georgia institute of technology.

Resources Mentioned by Dr. Kidd:

Autom - Cory's research project at MIT

Catalia Health - Cory Kidd is the founder and CEO of Catalia Health, which is developing Mabu.

CLICK HERE to see the video of how Mabu works

CLICK HERE to contact Cory Kidd, PhD

I really appreciate your interest and support. Subscribing and leaving a review for my podcast is by far the best way to get it seen by more people. CLICK HERE to subscribe and/or to leave a review to THE ESSENTIAL BOOMER podcast on iTunes.

In episode 45 I have a conversation with registered dietitian, Anne Kolker, who has worked with Kaiser Permanente since 2008. Anne is one very busy lady. She facilitates healthy weight and behavioral change classes, works one on one with teens, children and families with nutritional counseling, presents nutrition seminars to a variety of companies, teaches online classes using Webex and coordinates employee wellness events.

Anne also writes nutrition articles for Nourish Interactive, a web based company that supports parents by providing them with useful information to help them improve their families’ health and educating children about the importance of nutrition and exercise. On top of all that she’s the mother of 3 children.

So obviously, Anne knows a thing or two about diets, weight loss and nutrition.

In episode 44, I have a conversation with Dating Coach, Tedx speaker AND the host of last first date radio, Sandy Weiner. You may remember her from episode 24 when she shared with us boomers the low-down on how to find love after 50… or maybe you’ll remember that steamy episode 35 where she told us how to have great sex after 50 and beyond.

In this episode, Sandy shares with us the do’s and don’ts on how to make your valentine’s day special…or at the very least tolerable.

In this episode Sandy answers the following questions:

• Valentine’s day, it seems like we either love it or hate it. Why is it that so many of us have such a hard time with this holiday?

• What are the common mistakes that many of us (mostly guys) make for Valentine’s Day?

• The way we handle Valentine’s Day evolves as our relationships change. Couples just starting out face more unknowns and pressure than those of us who have been together for longer periods. What advice do you have for those just starting out as a dating couple?

• I know it’s very important to keep the fire and romance in our relationships and it’s very easy to become complacent and predictable with our romantic overtures, especially on Valentine’s Day. What advice do you have on how to keep the day special for long term couples?

• Some of us are all alone and have to deal with friends, and the media flooding us with hallmark holiday of love and roses. This can be very depressing. What’s the best way to deal with Valentine’s Day if you’re all alone?

• Do you have any final advice for us boomers on how to make the most of Valentine’s Day and better yet, how to keep that romance going for the other 364 days of the year?

• What is the latest happenings on the Last First Date?

In episode 43, Hope Arnold talks about her unique patient assistance services and how you can significantly increase your odds of having a successful surgery and recovery. Hope is a personal assistant who specializes in helping people who are having surgery. She provides "on the ground support" before and after their procedures. 

So Heads up boomers, this is valuable information for all of us

- Tell us the story of how you became a personal assistant for people having surgery?

- Tell us about the patient services that you provide and why they are so important?

- How are you different from a patient advocate?

- Do you find that hospitals and their staffs are supportive of your services?

- Do you provide any type of service for people in emergency room situations?

- How do you charge for your services?

- Are your services covered by any kind of insurance like Medicare?

- Do you have any personal stories that you can share about working with your patients that demonstrate the importance of having a personal assistant for surgery?

- What do you see as the future of patient assistance?

- Do you have any parting advice for us boomers and our families facing surgery?

Jim Jensen has an illuminating conversation with Amanda Reiman PhD, MSW, of The Drug Policy Alliance, where she shares the truth about medical marijuana.

Amanda is Manager of Marijuana Law and Policy at the Drug Policy Alliance, which is the nation's leading organization promoting drug policies that are grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights.

Amanda works to develop the Drug Policy Alliance’s marijuana reform work as it relates to litigation, legislative and initiative drafting, campaign strategy, policy advocacy, media relations, fundraising, and public education in the local, state, federal, and international jurisdictions in which the Drug Policy Alliance is active.

Amanda joined the Drug Policy Alliance in 2012 after working as director of research and patient services for the Berkeley Patients Group, a renowned medical marijuana dispensary. She has conducted many studies on medical marijuana dispensaries, patients and the use of marijuana as a treatment for addiction and regularly presents her research at the conferences of the American Public Health Association, American Psychiatric Association, International Cannabinoid Research Society and the Harm Reduction Coalition. When it comes to medicinal marijuana, she knows what she’s talking about.

• Her work with the Drug Policy Alliance

• How she become interested in medicinal marijuana

• The recent changes in federal policy and how it affects the medical marijuana industry

• Marijuana as a schedule 1 drug

• The social and economic effects of legalizing recreational marijuana in 4 states

• The medicinal components of marijuana

• The urban myth of the two most well-known strains of marijuana – Sativa and Indica

• How marijuana affects the body and the mind

• The dangers of marijuana

• The present state of marijuana research for medicinal purposes

• Her experiences with how the use of medicinal marijuana has helped her and others with chronic conditions

• The different ways that marijuana can be consumed

• The biggest misconceptions that people have about marijuana

• Advice for somebody who may benefit from medicinal marijuana but is having a hard time resolving deep-seated biases

• Where people can go for more information on medicinal marijuana and its potential benefits