AARP Vermont

Black Friday has kicked off the official holiday shopping season, so here’s a rundown of the most common scams aimed at shoppers — and how you can avoid them:

During the busy holiday season, family caregivers – over 268,000 right here in New Hampshire – already feel overwhelmed with daily responsibilities, leaving them vulnerable when the stress of the holidays arrive. Turning to unhealthy behaviors – drinking more eggnog, eating more sweets, getting fewer hours of shut-eye, and forgoing exercise – is not the answer.

Most drivers know drowsy driving is risky, yet too many still do it. Of course we cannot always get enough sleep as easily as we can avoid alcohol and drugs, but we must try, because drowsiness can be every bit as dangerous. It causes 100,000+ crashes nationally every year, killing over 1,500 of us and injuring at least 40,000 more. And those are conservative estimates, because drowsiness is so difficult to quantify and track. According to AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety research, 28% of motorists reported struggling to keep their eyes open while driving in the previous month, more than a third have fallen asleep behind the wheel at least once, and more than one in ten has done so in the past year.

Doug Masson of Cambridge, VT was named Volunteer of the Year for the AARP Vermont Driver Safety Program. Doug has been insrtumental in delivering the program on many levels, according to Dave Peters, Driver Safety state coordinator. Doug serves as an instructor, district coordinator, trainer and Car Fit technician. In 2014 alone he taught 9 classes and recruited and trained 4 new instructors. He has been active in launching and conducting CarFit programs around Vermont and helped train 3 new technicians for the program.

Across Vermont unsung heroes care for parents, spouses, aunts, uncles, friends, and other loved ones – helping them stay at home, with dignity, as they age. This silent army helps with bathing and dressing, transportation, meal preparation, and even complicated medical tasks like wound care and medication management. They are family caregivers.

Get the Facts:

Today, AARP released a new survey that says more than half of working Americans over age 50 (55%) don’t think they’ll have enough money for health care as they reach the age they expect to retire. While Medicare only covers about half of health costs, four in ten (38%) say they haven’t saved anything at all for such expenses even though multiple studies show that these costs often reach more than $200,000 for a retired couple. AARP also found that among 50+ workers, most (57%) say they plan to work past the age of 65.

The U.S. DEA is working with local police agencies to hold a medication take-back on Saturday, September 27, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This is a great chance for you to get rid of old medications that are either expired or that you no longer need.

Please join us:

AARP VT and the City of Burlington want to hear your ideas and dreams