Older Poor Americans And Their Search For Work

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“Workampers” travel across the country in RVs, often performing seasonal work or even working part-time in huge Amazon warehouses. (Curtis Perry/Flickr)

More than 7 million Americans age 65 years and older were still working last year. That’s up 60 percent from a decade ago.

A story in Harper’s Magazine opens a window into some of these people. They’re called “workampers” (a contraction of working and camping) and they travel across the country in their RVs, often performing seasonal work, selling fireworks, pumpkins, Christmas trees. They even work part-time in huge Amazon warehouses.

Many of these people say they love the work, which they need for the income. But there are obvious downsides. They don’t have health care and they don’t have unions to protect 

http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2014/07/30/older-americans-workamping

An Ambitious Attempt to Keep Older Americans From Falling

By John Tozzi  June 06, 2014

One-third of Americans over age 65 fall each year. It’s the leading cause of injuries, including fatal ones, among seniors and it costs the health care system $30 billion a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. And the problem has gotten worse: The CDC reports that the rate at which older Americans die from falling has increased sharply.

That increase comes despite years of research into why people fall and how to prevent it. This week, the National Institutes of Health announced a new study—”the Manhattan Project of trials in fall-injury prevention,” according to Dr. Shalender Bhasin, one of the study’s lead investigators and director of an NIH-funded center to promote independence for older Americans.

http://goo.gl/sbGXXd

TweetMe Please

1 in 3 elderly Americans use social media

generation. That shows a disparity among older social usage -- considering a third of those in the region say they never use the Internet at all, including nearly 60 percent among seniors in the city.

This is a guest post from Candice Grevious, a Temple University student who currently works with the Center City AARP office and has done work for social media consulting firms Cintas and ChatterBlast in the past.

Who’s getting connected with social media? That’s the question more boomers and senior citizens are asking each other. More and more, we are realizing that our elderly neighbors are starting to catch-up to the social media train, consideringnow more than half of older Americans use the web and email.

In 2010, one in four American citizens older than 65 said they used social media. By February 2012, more than one third did — the fastest growth rate of any generation. That shows a disparity among older social usage — considering a third of those in the region say they never use the Internet at all, including nearly 60 percent among seniors in the city.

http://technical.ly/philly/2013/04/16/1-in-3-elderly-americans-use-social-media/