AARP Colorado

I can think of many times during the period when I was taking care of my parents and needed to speak out much more than is my nature. Whether it was informing the housing director that Dad needed more care after an emergency room visit or clearing up issues about my mom with the beauty salon or reminding a certified nurse assistant to check on a new prescription for my dad, I knew I had to be the one to intercede. Certainly my parents wouldn’t! I had to stand my ground with my parents too. Once I took my father shopping for a birthday present for his great-grandson. Dad, age 95 and ¾ had just begun walking with the assistance of a cane and his gait was very slow. We arrived at a Target superstore and I pulled out a cart so that Dad could ride rather than walk. “I am not going to get in this cart,” he said defiantly. “Oh yes you are,” I said equally defiantly. He had already resisted manning a cart at the grocery store during an earlier incident. Several verbal exchanges between us occurred. Finally he gave in when I offered my last plea. “It’s just like a golf cart.” At that point he knew he had lost and reluctantly he got into the cart and, after a few simple instructions from me, he was off and running. I had to quicken my pace to keep up and direct him to the toy section several aisles down. He had a big smile on his face and displayed a sense of power in his demeanor as he gripped the steering wheel, and pushed the pedal. I think the whole experience reminded him of driving the car he had only given up operating a few months prior. We arrived at our destination where he happily and deliberately chose a shiny red Hot Wheels car, proceeded to the card aisle and selected the only great-grandson birthday card on the stand. With great satisfaction we checked out. Dad got out of the cart and resumed walking with his cane and we headed home. I was proud of myself for standing my ground. I think Dad was happy too.

Blog by Jane Barton

Congratulations Marcia, completing the Colfax 1/2 Marathon in 3:28!

Join AARP Colorado for the Indigenous Film & Arts Festival on June 10, 2015 from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Denver Musuem of Nature & Science, 2001 Colorado Blvd. in Denver. The film is open to the public, but a $5 donation is suggested.

Get ready for the 38 th annual Rocky Mountain Senior Games, in which adults 50 and older compete in a number of sports and thrill spectators with their physical ability.

AARP wants you to know that May 19, 2015 is National Hepatitis Testing Day. Free Hepatitis C testing will be available across Colorado.

AARP would like you to know of the following event.

AARP Colorado is pleased to share with you these free Microsoft classes offered for AARP members.

Washington, DC – Today AARP Colorado volunteers and staff dropped off petitions containing more than 26,000 signatures at the U.S. Department of Labor in support of a conflict of interest standard, following the release of a proposed rule earlier this month. The petition delivery kicks off several days of action in Washington that includes visits to U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner and Colorado members of the U.S. House of Reps. Ken Buck and Ed Perlmutter on issues that include eliminating conflicts of interest in retirement advice, the Older Americans Act, the Safe Streets Act, the bipartisan Assisting Caregivers Today (ACT) Caucus, and Social Security Trust Fund solvency, as well as thanking those who helped to pass a “doc fix” law that allows Medicare beneficiaries to keep seeing their physicians.

You’ve w orked hard to save for retirement and you deserve a financial advisor who works just as hard to protect what you’ve earned. Right now, loopholes in the law allow bad-actors in the financial industry to provide retirement savings “advice” based on what’s best for their pocketbook, not yours. The result? They can recommend investments with higher fees, riskier features, and lower returns because they earn more money, even if those investments are not the best choice for you. Bad advice is wrong, and it is costing Americans up to $17 billion per year.