Dear Savvy Senior,
Do you know of any financial assistance programs or other resources that can help seniors with home improvement projects? I would like to help my 86-year-old father make a few modifications to his house so he can live there as long as possible, but money is very tight. Inquiring Daughter

Dear Inquiring,
There are actually a number of programs available that can help seniors with home repairs and improvement projects for aging-in-place, but what’s available to your dad will depend on his financial situation and where he lives. Here are some different options to explore.
Medicaid waivers: If your dad is low-income and eligible for Medicaid, most states have Medicaid Home and Community Based Services waivers that provide financial assistance to help seniors avoid nursing homes and remain living at home. Many of the waivers pay for home modifications to increase a person’s ability to live independently. Each state has different waivers with different eligibility requirements and benefits. Contact your Medicaid office (see medicaid.gov) for more information.
State and local programs: Some states and local governments have financial assistance programs, often called “nursing home diversion programs” or “deferred payment loans” that are not funded by Medicaid. These programs, which may include grants or loans or a combination, helps pay for modifications that enable low to moderate income elderly and disabled to remain living at home. Modifications covered typically include accessibility improvements like wheelchair ramps, handrails and grab bars. And some may be used for home improvements like roofing, heating and cooling, insulation, weather-stripping and storm windows.
To find out if there’s a program in your dad’s area, contact the city or county housing authority, the local Area Aging Agency (call 800-677-1116 for contact information) or the state housing finance agency – see ncsha.org/housing-help.
Federal programs: The Department of Housing and Urban Development offers HUD Home Improvement Loans, which are HUD insured loans made by private lenders for home improvement and building projects. Contact a HUD approved counseling agency in your area (call 800-569-4287) to learn more.
And the U.S. Department of Agriculture has a Rural Development program that provides grants and loans to low-income, elderly or disabled, rural homeowners for home repairs and improvements. Your local USDA service center (see offices.sc.egov.usda.gov) can give you more for information.
Veteran benefits: If your dad is a veteran with a disability, the VA provides grants like the SAH, SHA and HISA grants that will pay for home modifications. See benefits.va.gov/benefits/factsheets/homeloans/sahfactsheet.pdf for details and eligibility requirements.
Another possibility that’s available to veterans enrolled in the Medical Benefits Package is Veterans-Directed Home and Community Based Services. This program provides veterans who need help with daily living activities with financial assistance to help them remain living in their homes, and provides them with a certain amount of discretion to use those funds. To learn more see va.gov/geriatrics, or call 800-827-1000.
Non-profit organizations: Depending on where your dad lives, he may also be able to get home repair and modification services through the national, non-profit organization Rebuilding Together (rebuildingtogether.org, 800-473-4229). They provide services to low-income seniors, veterans and military families, families with children, people living with disabilities and victims of disaster.
You should also check with the Area Aging Agency to see if any other local organizations that offer volunteer home modification help to low-income seniors.
Reverse mortgages: Available to seniors 62 and older who own their own home, or owe only a small balance, and are currently living there, a reverse mortgage (see reversemortgage.org) will let your dad convert part of the equity in his home into cash – which can be used for home improvements – that doesn’t have to be paid back as long as he lives there. But, reverse mortgages are expensive loans, so this should be a last resort.

Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” book.

5 places to see before they disappear
VirtualTourist.com

There are some places on Earth that will be around for future generations to see, others won’t last another 50 years. With this in mind, members of travel website VirtualTourist.com have put together a list of 5 Places to See Before They Disappear.
Dead Sea, Jordan
The Dead Sea is “dead” because its extreme salinity means nothing lives in it. But it will very soon be even more “dead” because it is evaporating at a rate of around a meter (three feet) a year. Why such a steady and frightening decrease? It is very simple. Not enough water is entering the sea from the River Jordan. The river is used by Israel and, to a lesser extent, Jordan to provide water for irrigation purposes and so the flow is much reduced. If things do not change, this entirely unique area will be destroyed. Even if it does mean that the remains of Sodom and Gomorrah (which, according to local legend, lie under the Dead Sea waters) become visible, it is not enough. If nothing is done, there will be no Dead Sea at all by 2050.
Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy
Civita di Bagnoregio is a 2,500-year-old Etruscan town that was founded along an ancient Italian trading route. A violent earthquake in 1695 cut the town off from the neighboring town of Bagnoregio. Since that time, the town has continued to have its limestone cliffs fall into the canyon below and, to make matters worse, this jewel walled city atop a hill is only accessible via a long pedestrian bridge, which is, unfortunately, crumbling. At the present rate of decay, it is uncertain how long the beautiful town will last.
The Omo Valley, Ethiopia
Not only is the Omo Valley the area where some of the earliest human ancestral remains were found (“Lucy”), it is also home to a number of nomadic tribes that are under extreme pressure from the modern world. The Mursi tribe and their lip plates are disappearing as the younger generations no longer do “lip cutting”. The Karo, Hamar and Daasanach tribes are equally fascinating and equally at risk as they are kicked off their traditional lands by government actions in support of large-scale agribusiness. These people could be gone in a few years. Already, they no longer have access to traditional materials like animal skins that they used for clothing just a decade or two ago.
Tribal Areas of Aruanchal Pradesh, India
One does not typically think of India as a tribal country, but the extreme northeastern part of the country has more tribes than any other place in the world. The most well-known might be the Apitani Tribe of the Hiro Valley. Here the older women, in their 50s and 60s, still have the facial tattoos and nose plugs that were part of their culture. This custom is no longer practiced, so when these women pass, this cultural relic will be gone.
Wildlife on Borneo, Malaysia
Palm oil plantation proliferation threatens two significant species in Borneo, the orangutan and Borneo pigmy elephant, which are seeing their habitat eroded. While protective laws exist, enforcement is weak and their environment keeps shrinking. Mammals of this size require large areas to find sufficient food and forest area for survival. It is estimated that only 1,500 exist today.
(c) 2015 Virtualtourist.com, Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC

It’s hard to be a journalist these days. I’m sure if you asked the parent of a college student studying journalism, they would probably tell him or her that it is next to impossible to sustain yourself at it. And that would not be far from the truth. As the dissemination of the written word is changing, the field for journalism is too. In the near future, printed books, movies in theaters and newspapers and magazines, as we know them today, may cease to exist, but, unfortunately, the evolution of the printed word doesn’t seem to be the only colossal battle facing reporters of this generation, or the next.
Today even if you asked the roommate or friend of the kid dreaming of journalism school, their peers might also tell the writer who dreams of telling news from around the world, to consider something else. Why? Because journalists have become the story themselves and it’s not a good one. The storytellers on the front lines have become targets of violence, hunted down, killed, in an effort to stop the news. This is particularly strange as news today so often comes in single sentences, often in a press release created by a publicist, not a newsperson, via text, Twitter, daily blasts and onscreen pop-ups, pretty much as it happens.
This makes much of today’s “news” little more than a voyeuristic opinion told from inside an office or, in many cases, inside someone’s bedroom, churned out by people without any reasoned viewpoint or expertise, people who spew often ill-informed, baseless comments on other peoples carefully planted statements, giving real reporters and the profession they’ve trained for, a bad name.
What will become of news if it is reduced to little more than catty sound bites from stay-at-home bloggers? I imagine it would be a little like listening to sportscasters deconstruct the big game a day after it’s been played — without ever seeing the game itself.
That’s not to say that some commentary doesn’t still have gravitas. Presidential speechwriters give the president a tone and a flare while reporting on the state of the union. There’s Vice News, which places writers right in the center of the action, allowing them to comment in long form in personal documentaries, and then there are political cartoonists, who satirize the day’s events, tilting at windmills and popping the inflated egos of the world’s powerful, ruffling the feathers of the unhinged and the fanatical.
Safety and security are never on the list of reasons why a journalist begins his or her life’s work, but having safety and security taken away — by either evolution or force — might just marginalize the field so much that we will be left with nothing but the Monday-morning quarterbacks.
Personally, I consider writing an art form. But I have children of my own now who are, thankfully, nowhere near old enough to begin picking college majors. When it’s time, will it be wise to push them toward the reporter’s path, mighty as it may be?
Time and evolution will tell.

Per the Journal of the American Medical Association, hearing loss is one of the most common chronic health conditions and has important implications for a person’s quality of life. However, hearing loss is substantially undetected and untreated.
At INTEGRIS Health we believe everyone age 55 and older should have their hearing checked every year as part of their overall wellness.
In recognition of National Speech and Hearing Month, the INTEGRIS Cochlear Implant Clinic will offer complimentary hearing screenings for individuals who have not yet been diagnosed with a hearing loss. If you currently wear a hearing aid or have been diagnosed with a hearing loss, a screening will not be sufficient.
The doctors of audiology at the INTEGRIS Cochlear Implant Clinic can help determine if you have a hearing loss and what treatment options they can offer you. The screenings are available by appointment only.
For more information or to schedule an appointment for a complimentary hearing screening, please call the INTEGRIS Cochlear Implant Clinic 405-947-6030.

INTEGRIS Health Edmond is named one of America’s Best Hospitals for Emergency Care by the Women’s Choice Award. This coveted credential places INTEGRIS Health Edmond in the top one percent for emergency care.
“The Women’s Choice Award seal delivers a powerful message to the women of Edmond and surrounding areas,” says hospital president Avilla Williams. “It offers them reassurance and peace of mind that INTEGRIS Health Edmond is clinically excellent and prepared to care for and treat their families when they need it most.”
Emergency services account for more than 125 million hospital visits annually, and all clinicians must have expertise in caring for patients across their life span, often when their health care needs are urgent and unplanned. Unlike other hospital departments that interact with the same patient and families for an extended period, emergency staffs typically have one patient encounter, often when anxiety and fear is at its peak.
Hospitals earning the Emergency Care Award consistently rank in the top 25 percent of the 3,800 hospitals reporting on their emergency department’s performance to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The eight measures CMS publicly reports relate primarily to the amount of time taken in the ER such as time for diagnosis, medication, and admission to the hospital, and are weighted according to the priorities of women surveyed.
“We have found that recommendations are an important consideration used by women in selecting a hospital for themselves and their family. By helping women know which hospitals in their area provide the best critical care, we are able to help them make better decisions, especially when it comes to emergency situations,” said Delia Passi, chief executive officer and founder of the Women’s Choice Award.
Year after year, the Women’s Choice Award is the only credential that identifies the nation’s best health care institutions by measuring against the needs and preferences of women, when it comes to treatment and a quality hospital experience. This credential signifies INTEGRIS’ commitment and passion towards an extraordinary health care experience for women and all patients.