The Holiday season can be a particularly difficult time for seniors. If you see or know of a senior in need of help, please reach out and, if necessary, contact the authorities. Here are some sites offering valuable information regarding seniors.
Green House Effect: Homes for the #Elderly to Thrive (NYT article)
The Guide to Overcoming Holiday Depression for the Elderly and their Caretakers
American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry
22 Senior Health Risk Calculators for Healthy Aging
I’d venture that I probably don’t share many things in common with Muhammed Ali (link provided for those of you from Mars), but one thing we do share is a hometown—Louisville, Kentucky.
Among things we don’t share: He has an award-winning museum and multicultural center there; I don’t.
Every year his Center there hosts the ceremony for the Muhammed Ali Humanitarian Awards. The Center’s website describes them far better than I can: “The Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards celebrate the greatness of people from around the world who are making differences in their communities and beyond. In addition to awards given to seasoned humanitarians, six young people are honored with an award for each of Muhammad’s Six Core Principles: Confidence, Conviction, Dedication, Giving, Respect, and Spirituality.”
Recipients of the 2014 awards include six winners under the age of 30, and Jim Brown, Mick Ebeling of Eyewriter, Susan Sarandon, and others.
I have been given the great honor to present one of the awards at this year’s ceremony, on September 27. Louisville’s newspaper, The Courier-Journal, ran the following piece on the awards. (I’ve pasted and preserved it below because the paper’s content expires after a while..).
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The annual Muhammad Ali Humanitarian Awards are given to inspire people to continue to do great things in their community and globally.
This year’s recipients were announced Thursday and include Cleveland Browns running back and Hall of Famer Jim Brown, who will receive a Lifetime Achievement award for his dedication to civil rights. The Global Citizenship award will go to actress Susan Sarandon, whose many charitable works have included ambassador for UNICEF, the Amazon Conservation Team.
The Humanitarian of the Year Award will be given to Mick Ebeling, creator of Eyewriter, a low-cost device that enables individuals with paralysis to communicate with the movement of their eyes. Hip-hop artist Common will get the Humanitarian Award for Education for his work with disadvantaged youth in urban communities.
Other honors include a Kentucky Humanitarian Award, which will be given to Robert and Deborah Blair, founders of the West End School. There are also six young winners under the age of 30: Jessica Matthews of New York, Mario Andres Hurtado Cordazo of Colombia, Kennedy Odede of Kenya, Talia Leman of Iowa, Sejal Hathi of California and Mastura Rashid of Malaysia.
All recipients have been chosen because of their significant dedication to improving their communities and the world.
The awards will be presented Sept. 27, 7 to 11 p.m., at the Louisville Marriott Downtown, 280 W. Jefferson St.
Individual tickets are $1,000 and include the awards event plus a premium ticket to a special concert, featuring Bruno Mars and opening act The Temptations Review and Southern Sirens on Sept. 20 at the Kentucky International Convention Center. Check the Ali Center’s website for more information and tickets: alicenter.org/awards.
Matt Lauer, host of NBC’s “Today,” will serve as host for the awards ceremony. Other presenters include Lonnie Ali, Brad Montague and Robby Novak, Holly Robinson-Peete, Father George Kilcourse, William Mapother, Pearse Lyons, Donald Lassere, U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth and Pamela Brown.
Muhammad Ali and his wife, Lonnie, plan to attend.
I’m on the board of the Artists and Athletes Alliance, which helps artists and athletes interact with and understand the politicalprocess. Recently, they offered to shoot PSA’s for causes we support. I shot mine for the National Center on Elder Abuse, and the PSA is now online.
Sadly, it’s not a subject that gets much media attention this time of year, but no one should allow elder abuse to drop off their radar during the Holidays. In fact, in some areas the abuse even increases during the Holiday season. So please keep an eye out for any signs of elder abuse in any form: physical, financial, emotional or sexual. If you have reason to believe that abuse has or will occur, please contact law enforcement.
The NY Times had an article last week by Patrick Egan, whose elderly father was the victim of theft at his assisted care living facility.
Here are some helpful links regarding the elderly:
Guide to Senior Living: State-by-State Options
Prevent Medicare Fraud: How To Avoid Abuse and Medical Billing Fraud
Hopeline: Donate Used Cellphones to Benefit Domestic Violence Orgs
A few years ago, Highland Cleaners in Louisville, Kentucky, opened their 12th location. 
It’s in an environmentalist’s dream structure, with a wide variety of features designed to be best buddies with our great green planet. It’s named, aptly, the Highland Green, and it boasts a terrific website about the building.
Michael Jones, Highlands’s President and a longtime (and long suffering) friend of mine, asked me to narrate a video he commissioned about the building and its environmental features. Business First of Louisville just ran a piece about my narrating the video.
Attached is a list of highlights about the building. The #1 LEED rating for a U.S. dry cleaning facility.
Signing off now, as I must go cuddle up to some earthworms.
