The RedwoodAge.com News

A Sick Healthcare System

Tom murphy — Sat, 31 May 2008 19:50:24 GMT

When it comes to healthcare, American women know what they want. They're just not getting it.

Given the choice, American women want a healthcare system that is timely, personal, convenient, and coordinated. Instead, a Harris Interactive poll finds they experience a disjointed system that results in confusion, duplication and contradictory recommendations by their doctors.

It's a big problem. Americans visit their family physicians 215 million times a year, accounting for about a quarter of all doctor visits.

Sixty percent of those surveyed said it was a "challenge" to obtain healthcare for themselves and/or family members; and when they do, more than a quarter said the burden of informing one medical provider what another had recommended or diagnosed fell on their shoulders. READ MORE on RedwoodAge.com

The Whole Life

Tom murphy — Fri, 30 May 2008 21:59:36 GMT

By Tom Murphy
RedwoodAge.com

Like anyone else, I get tired of hearing about "National Fill-in-the-Blank Week." There are weeks for everything these days, and whatever message they're trying to sell almost always gets lost. But I've decided to learn CPR and it's purely because of "National CPR/AED Awareness Week." Even though that's the worst title for a week I've ever heard, the facts behind it really hit home. Turns out 166,200 people die of sudden cardiac arrest in the US each year. Unless you happen to be in a hospital already, the survival rate is 6 percent. If you have an attack - and anyone can, even young, healthy folks - your chances of survival drop by up 10 percent a minute without CPR, yet only one-third of the victims get CPR. The rest die while people stand around saying "What should we do?" Well, we know what we should do. We should learn CPR. Or, more specifically, I should learn CPR. And so should you.

The Whole Life

Tom murphy — Thu, 29 May 2008 04:22:36 GMT

By Tom Murphy,
RedwoodAge.com

Boomers should be the last ones to complain about how younger people don't listen. It was the boomers who didn't listen about Vietnam, marijuana, premarital sex, segregation, health food and so many other things. "Never trust anyone over 30," they said. Well, now workers under 30 - even those under 43 - don't listen to the boomers, and there's some concern that might hurt businesses as the more experienced workers retire. I tend to think life will go on, perhaps in a new and better way, as younger workers find their own ways of doing things. Companies that obsess about passing on old procedures won't change, and change is good.

PS: A week ago, we speculated that oil prices will fall as speculators start to get cold feet. Since then, they've fallen about 5 percent. Look for much steeper drops in the months ahead. We can't say what oil's really worth right now, but it clearly isn't $138 a barrel.

Finally, News For Grown-ups

Tom murphy — Tue, 27 May 2008 21:24:48 GMT

Where We're Coming From...

The generation that came of age in the '60s and '70s changed the way we think about music, race, women, war, food, fashion, poverty, marriage, the environment and politics. Now it's going to change the way we look at aging, and RedwoodAge.com wants to help. Please visit our site!

Named for the majestic trees that grow to hundreds of years of age in Northern California, RedwoodAge publishes news, information and blogs. We're building community forums and networking tools to share and test ideas. And we urge people to take action--personally and socially--to enhance the quality of life for everyone, young or old.

Our site follows four principles that inspired our motto:

"Think. Share. Act. Live."

Critical Thinking: The best ideas emerge by challenging established thinking.

Sharing Information: Share insights, opinions, joys and frustrations so that others will benefit from your experiences.

Social Activism: Help to shape a future in which everyone ages with companionship, respect and health.

The Whole Life: A balance of intellectual strength, physical fitness and spiritual meaning is essential to living a satisfying life.

Freaky stuff? Not really. Our team consists of veteran journalists, skilled artists, pragmatic businesspeople, experienced professionals and others who just want to make the world a little better. RedwoodAge sells ads to support our work. Our employees have a stake in our company and take pride in being a part of the RedwoodAge community.

Please let us know what you think of our still-developing site. Tell us if you'd like to work with us, or if you would like to advertise. And please help others benefit from RedwoodAge by commenting on our stories and participating in our forums (they're coming soon). As we grow, we'd like to hear from you. Afterall, we're all in this thing together.

Tom Murphy
Editor-in-Chief and Chairman

The Whole Life

Tom murphy — Tue, 27 May 2008 21:24:48 GMT

At RedwoodAge.com, we encourage our readers to live a "whole life" by balancing the physical, intellectual and spiritual parts of our lives. It's a philosophy that we carry into all our work as journalists covering national events and matters of interest to readers over 40.