Jamie Bulen

We often joke about memory loss but what happens when it becomes more than a senior moment? What is the impact of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia – on the person, the caregiver, society, and the economy? And what can we do about it?

Across political parties, more than seven in ten registered voters age 40 and older say Congress should improve resources for family caregivers who help their parents, spouses, children with disabilities and other loved ones to live independently. This and other findings from a new poll underscore the need for the bipartisan, bicameral Assisting Caregivers Today (ACT) Caucus launched today by U.S. Senators Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Michael Bennet (D-CO) and U.S. Representatives Diane Black (R-TN) and Michelle Lujan Grisham (D-NM), co-chairs of the ACT Caucus. The Caucus will help bring greater attention to family caregiving and helping people live independently, educate Congress on these issues, and engage legislators on a bipartisan basis to help lead to solutions.

We have come over a way that with tears has been watered,

We often joke about memory loss but what happens when it becomes more than a senior moment? What is the impact of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia – on the person, the caregiver, society, and the economy? And what can we do about it?

The Palace Theatre – in celebration of its 100 th anniversary – is offering AARP members and their guests a $10 discount to West Side Story. The discounted performances will be held February 20 through March 7 at The Palace Theatre, 72 Hanover Street, in downtown Manchester.

The Millyard Museum is offering a $3 discount on admission and a special lecture for AARP members all day Saturday, March 14. Admission includes access to all the exhibits as well as a special talk by Manchester Historic Association Vice President Jeff Myrdek on Manchester Public School Buildings, 1785 to 2014. Museum hours are 10:00 to 4:00 with the lecture from 10:30 to noon.

The following information is being reprinted -- with permission -- from New Hampshire Union Leader’s Senior News column (August 11, 2014).

If you’re like most women, you’re a master planner. You plan your career, your wedding, your children’s education and social activities, your family vacations and holidays. Orchestrating so many life events for others can leave you with little time for yourself. However, planning for your own tomorrow is vitally important. If you don’t plan for yourself, someone else will plan for you.

The Way to Well Health Tour – which travels the country delivering free health tests, education and consultations to adults 18 and over – is coming to Manchester and Nashua! The preventive and early detection health services offered through the tour provide a baseline status of visitors' overall health.

The United Hospital Fund and AARP Public Policy Institute issued a report with compelling new evidence that family caregivers who provide complex chronic care to people who also have cognitive and behavioral health conditions face particularly demanding challenges, including high levels of self-reported depression. As a result, a majority of them (61 percent) reported feeling stress “sometimes to always,” between their caregiving responsibilities and trying to meet other work or family obligations.