The number of Americans over the age of 65 is projected to more than double in the next forty years, increasing from 40.2 million in 2010 to 88.5 million in 2050. As many of us. know from personal experience, we start to have problems remembering names or where our car keys are or whether we took our morning pills.

Today’s podcast is being recorded on June 15, World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. we at specifically for seniors and our guest from the national center on elder abuse, encourage you to share this episode of the podcast with friends and relatives who know an older adult who may be in jeopardy.

 Lori Mars, JD, LLM, is the Deputy Director of the National Center on Elder Abuse. She is an assistant professor of clinical family medicine in the Department of Family Medicine at the Keck School of Medicine of USC. After practicing law for more than 20 years, LORI’S concentration lies at the intersection of law, aging, and elder abuse. She has a master’s degree in law in alternative dispute resolution and serves as a volunteer long-term care ombudsman. She is passionate about elder justice and advocating for the rights of all older adults to live with dignity and respect.

Lori and I talk about the role of the National Center on Elder Abuse, elder mistreatment, socio-cultural perceptions of mistreatment, types of elder mistreatment, its impact, the physical, emotional and financial signs of elder mistreatment, the risk factors of abuse and intervention and prevention.

We apologize for the technical problems with Lori Mars recording.

Adam Centamore has presented more than 2000 classes and events and written more than 70 articles in magazines like Saveur, Culture Cheese, WGBH and other print and online magazines. He is a professional certified food and wine educator. Adam is a member of the International Association of Culinary Professionals where his first book - Tasting Wine and Cheese: An Insider's Guide to Mastering the Principles of Pairing - was a finalist for Cookbook of the Year.

Adam takes your host, an admitted wine and cheese novice, on a journey through the basics of choosing a wine and pairing that wine with food and cheese. He teaches me about great wines at various price points, choosing a wine as a host gift, the temperature at which wine should be served and the very basics of pairing wines with cheese. We talk about various apps that help with wine selection.

Adam also discusses the value of his book - Tasting Wine and Cheese: An Insider's Guide to Mastering the Principles of Pairing.

James Geary is the deputy curator of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard, editor of Nieman Reports, and former editor of the European edition of Time magazine. He is the author of Wit's End: What Wit Is, How It Works, and Why We Need It, I Is an Other: The Secret Life of Metaphor and How It Shapes the Way We See the World, Geary's Guide to the World's Great Aphorists, the New York Times bestseller The World in a Phrase: A Brief History of the Aphorism, and The Body Electric: An Anatomy of The New Bionic Senses.

James explains metaphors, aphorisms and puns more concisely and humorousy than ever before and explains why they are essential to good writing. And, if you paid attention to the introduction, ...spoiler alert...no, he never uses gnomology in a sentence during the podcast.

Book links:

Wits End

https://bookshop.org/p/books/wit-s-end-what-wit-is-how-it-works-and-why-we-need-it-james-geary/8775565?ean=9780393357592

I is an Other

https://bookshop.org/p/books/i-is-an-other-the-secret-life-of-metaphor-and-how-it-shapes-the-way-we-see-the-world-james-geary/8994938?ean=9780061710292

Geary's Guide to the Worlds Great Aphorists

https://www.amazon.com/Gearys-Guide-Worlds-Great-Aphorists/dp/1596912529/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1487903585&sr=8-3&keywords=james+geary

The World in a Phrase

https://www.amazon.com/World-Phrase-Brief-History-Aphorism/dp/1582344302/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1487903585&sr=8-2

Alastair Henry retired at 57, shed his possessions and went to live with a First Nations band in the Northwest Territories. Alastair and I talk about his life-changing 2 years in a fly-in community in northern Canada, his life in Lutsel K'e, the cultural differences and challenging environment. Alastair explains how his experience there led to learning a larger purpose in life. Alastair will return for a second podcast with more adventures and how he endured a double lung transplant.

This episode's guest on Specifically for Seniors is Dr. Alvaro Pascual-Leone, Medical DIrector of Hebrew Senior Life's Wolk Center for Memory Health and co-author of "A Guide to Cogntive Fitness." This podcast introduces a series of six additional podcasts throughout the year that discuss ways to maintain our cognitive health.

Correction: In our introduction on the podcast we mistakenly minimized the number of published articles and patents attributed to Dr. Pascual-Leone. He has authored over 900 scientific papers and several books. He holds 20 issued patents for various methods for noninvasive brain stimulation and modulation. Thomson Reuters has recognized him as one of the “World's Most Influential Scientific Minds”. Research.com has recognized him as a “Best Scientist” and “Neuroscience Leader” ranking #10 world-wide and #6 in the US.

LINKS:

A Guide to Cognitive Fitness
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/a-guide-to-cognitive-fitness

Wolk Center for Memory Health

https://www.hebrewseniorlife.org/services/health-care/wolk-center-memory-health

Sorell Schwartz, PhD is Professor Emeritus of Pharmacology at Georgetown University Medical Center, Senior Pharmacology Advisor at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and has had advisory appointments at the National Library of Medicine, the FDA, the EPA, the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the FTC, the U.S. House of Representatives, OSHA, the Department of Defense, the FBI and WHO.

Dr. Schwartz explains the confusion between the FDA and CDC and their roles, the importance in taking our medications as directed, the interaction among our mutiple medications, the difference between side effects and adverse effects, the efforts toward deprescribing, the proper way to stop a medication and the current thinking about Mifepristone and Misoprostol.

This is a podcast you cannot miss. Your life could literally depend on it.

Dan and I chat about ChatGPT, AI uses and abuses, the future of AI, what it can and cannot do, benefits for seniors. Dan wrote three books using Chat GPT and tells how and why. Dan introduces an app for grandparents that uses AI to create bedtime stories. It's available for iPhone on the App store - the app is called Tall Tales - Bedtime Stories.

Jane Caro - author, novelist, social commentator, award winning columnist, broadcaster, documentary maker, TEDX speaker, feminist and self-proclaimed troublemaker speaks out on the issues of ageism, feminism and sexism, topics close to heart. And then she and I talk about America's issues with abortion legislation and guns and how we appear to the rest of the world.

Dr. Giannobile and I discuss the importance of dentistry as an integral part of overall health and the integration with physicians as part of the healthcare team. We talk about the Harvard School of Dental Medicine and the training that students receive that differs from other dental schools. Dr. Giannobile and I then address specific needs of senior adults and the problems dentists can encounter when dealing with older adults. We also chat about what the future holds for dentistry.