Seniors Newspaper
Keep your mind active and enjoy life!
Published February 14, 2012 | 
Most of us are aware that keeping your brain alert and using those little grey cells on a regular basis promotes good health.
You have probably heard of the University of the Third Age (U3A) but have you hauled yourself out of the armchair to investigate what it can offer you? The philosophy of University of the Third Age, which developed in Toulouse, France in 1973, has since spread around the world. There are 180 U3A clubs in Australia, thirty of which are in Queensland. U3A is a volunteer education movement which caters for over 50′s, promoting the concept of studying simply for the joy of learning. It is not a formal University, and does not offer formal qualifications nor set academic qualifications as a prerequisite for entry.
All U3A groups are autonomous with volunteer tutors running classes in a wide variety of subjects.
On the northern Gold Coast, classes are held in Labrador and Arundel. To find out more information about locations and courses available go to www.u3anorthgc.com/index or call 07 5563 3446. U3A North Gold Coast Inc offers a wide range of courses and activities for its members. There is something of interest for most mature people in the third age of learning.
U3A North Gold Coast Inc endeavours to provide learning, cultural and entertainment events which encourage members to continue to accumulate knowledge and experience in an atmosphere of relaxed enjoyment and stimulation.
While not all courses and activities are provided on a continuous basis, most of the core courses are provided on a regular basis. Fresh ideas are actively sought, and the program is constantly evolving.
U3A plays a vital role in improving the health and happiness of over 50′s. Courses are run by volunteer tutors and include monthly general tea and talk meetings with guest speakers, art classes, computer courses, choir, creative writing, yoga and tai chi, fun with theatre, poets corner, current affairs, music enjoyment, film group and attending lectures at Griffith University.
Queensland Bike Week 2012
Published February 14, 2012 | 
Be a part of Bike Week 2012 from 10th to 18th March – Queensland’s nine-day cycling spectacular, offering a feast of cycling events for all ages and abilities, and featuring the BDO Brisbane Coot-tha Challenge, Great Brisbane Bike Ride & Goldcross Cycles Family Fun Ride.
More serious riders might like to take the challenge of one of the most unique rides in Australia; 85kms featuring both mountain and city terrain, with a timed 2.3km climb up Mt Coot-tha. The BDO Brisbane Coot-tha Challenge, along with the Great Brisbane Bike Ride and Goldcross Cycles Family Fun Ride, mark the finale of Bike Week 2012. Visit coot-tha.bq.org.au for event info and entries, including fundraising for the Endeavour Foundation.
The Festival will present a range of rides and (mostly) free activities catering for the cycle-fanatics and cycling newcomers alike! Go to www.bikeweek.bq.org.au for details of all the available rides. Some events can be entered on the day but are subject to capacity, and will incur a late fee, so all participants are encouraged to register online to guarantee their spot.
Clean Up Australia Day 2012 is only weeks away!
Published February 7, 2012 | 
In 1989 an ‘average Australian bloke’ had a simple idea to make a difference in his own backyard – Sydney Harbour. This simple idea has now become the nation’s largest community-based environmental event, Clean Up Australia Day.
Every year Australia wide, hundreds of thousands of Australians get stuck in and Clean Up their local environment by collecting and removing rubbish.
Do your bit for the environment by participating in a Clean Up event. You can locate your nearest Clean Up site online at cleanupaustraliaday.org.au or if you are unable to help at a registered site, just take a bag with you on your morning walk and help clean up in an informal way.
This year’s event is on Sunday 4 March 2012.
Become an adult literacy tutor
Published February 7, 2012 | Sunshine Coast Council wants to hear from volunteers interested in becoming adult literacy tutors in 2012.
2012 is National Year of Reading and Sunshine Coast Libraries and the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation are supporting the adult literacy tutor training program.
Nearly half of the Australian population can’t read newspapers, follow a recipe, make sense of timetables or understand the instructions on a medicine bottle.
Volunteers can complete an accredited training course and help increase literacy standards on the Coast.
Anyone can become a volunteer literacy tutor and complete the accredited training.
The training provides volunteers with the tools and information required to help community members improve their literacy.
The first training course starts at Kawana on 13 February 2012 and the second training course starts after Easter.
To become a volunteer literacy tutor, collect an information pack from council and complete the application form. There are limited spaces on the course and applicants will be interviewed prior to commencing the training.
For more information email council mail@sunshinecoast.qld.gov.au or call 5499 5414.
Fight Dementia – make 2012 a year to remember
Published February 7, 2012 | Alzheimer’s ‘Fight Dementia’ campaign was launched late last year, when the federal government announced it would cease specific dementia funding from 2013. Since then, the Department of Health and Ageing has collapsed all existing health funding streams into a new funding system – a health and aged care flexible funding pool – which means the organisation will need to compete with others for money.
There are currently 267,000 Australians living with dementia and the number of people with dementia is set to increase by almost 50% over the next 10 years. By 2050 there will be almost one million Australians with dementia.
Alzheimer’s Australia wants the Commonwealth to restore dementia as a National Health Priority, guarantee continual funding, and provide $500 million over five years to address key concerns and fight the disease.
If you would like to support the fight you can sign up as a Dementia Champion, write to your Federal Member of Parliament and Senators for your state and share your story. Go to http://campaign.fightdementia.org.au/ to sign up as a Champion.
Alzheimer’s Australia offers support, information, education and counselling. Contact the National Dementia Helpline on 1800 100 500.
Older Australians are spending less
Published January 25, 2012 | A survey out this week has shown that nearly half (47 per cent) of people aged over 55 are spending less in major retailers and shopping centres than they did a year ago.
The survey, by Essential Media Communications, found that only 24 per cent of older people said they were satisfied with prices while 45 per cent were unhappy with the level of customer service.
The largest money-drain was gas and electricity, with 70 per cent saying they spent more than 12 months ago. Food and groceries were also expensive, with 60 per cent spending more than they did last year.
People aged 18-34 were more likely to save this year than any other age bracket with 41 per cent saving more. In contrast, 40 per cent of over 55s are saving less and 19 per cent said they intended saving more.
Courtesy: National Seniors ‘Connect’. National Seniors Australia is a non-profit organisation that gives voice to issues that affect older Australians. Go to www.nationalseniors.com.au.
Seven facts about climate change and hunger
Published January 25, 2012 | When it comes to protecting the world’s poorest inhabitants from the erratic weather and natural disasters that many scientists expect in coming years, hunger is a key part of the discussion. Here are seven facts that explain why.
1. By 2050, climate change is expected to increase the risk of hunger by 10-20 percent compared to a no-climate change scenario.
2. By 2050 we can expect 24 million more malnourished children as a result of climate change. Almost half of this increase, 10 million children, will be in sub-Saharan Africa.
3. Between 1980 and 2006 the number of climate-related disasters has quadrupled.
4. The number of people affected by climate-related disasters is expected to reach 375 million per year by 2015.
5. In 2010, climate-related extreme events and disasters affected some 300 million people, most often in countries which have little capacity to cope.
6. With climate change, two thirds of the arable land in Africa could be lost by 2025, according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.
7. By 2030, climate change could push food prices up by 50-90 percent more than they would otherwise be expected to rise, according to a recent report by Oxfam.
If you would like to make a difference and have some fun at the same time, play the online free rice game at freerice.com. Every time you answer a question correctly 10 grains of rice will be donated to hungry people through the World Food Program.
Finding lost superannuation
Published January 25, 2012 | The Australian Taxation Office SuperSeeker tool at www.ato.gov.au/individuals/ can help you find any lost or unclaimed superannuation. SuperSeeker can also help you to lodge a request to have any funds that you do find transferred into another super account.
To conduct a search you will need to provide full names, date of birth and your Tax File Number (TFN).
Using SuperSeeker on the phone is also quick and easy. Phone the self-help line on 13 28 65, Fast Key Code 1 then 2.
You are not obliged to transfer your lost super, but you should consider contacting the fund that reported you as a lost member to update your contact information and remove your details from the lost super register.
Where unclaimed super or other super amounts are found, you can follow the links to the claim forms provided by SuperSeeker to make a claim. Alternatively, you may phone 13 10 20 for more information about these accounts.
The lost members register (LMR) holds lost member records from all regulated super funds in Australia, other than self-managed super funds. Super funds are required to provide updated information by 30 April and 31 October each year.
Mental health of older Australians is being ignored
Published January 25, 2012 | The mental health of older Australians is being ignored despite key mental health issues such as men over 85 having the highest age-specific suicide rate and the elderly having a prescription rate for anxiety, insomnia and sedative drugs at 500% of the general population, according to a statement released by The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists’ Faculty of Psychiatry of Old Age.
The statement, ‘Priority must be given to investment that improves the mental health of older Australians’, is calling for the government to include older people in all mental health planning to improve their quality of care, remove discrimination and obtain better understanding of the mental health needs of older Australians. “It is vital these issues be considered in the Commonwealth Government’s Ten Year Roadmap for Mental Health Reform and response to the Productivity Commission Report into Aged Care,” said Dr Roderick McKay, Chair of The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists’ Faculty of Psychiatry of Old Age.
“Untreated mental illness robs older Australians of their quality of life, physical health and independence at significant cost to individuals, family and community. While there are effective mental health treatments for older people, limited resources deny them equitable access,” said Dr McKay.
“In the next 20 years, the number of Australians over 65 will double, yet the mental health care of older people has been largely ignored in the mental health reform agenda,” said Dr McKay.
“To improve the quality of mental health care for older people we require national benchmarks in mental health services for older people, and national principles for providing coordinated care across different services for older Australians with mental illness. Basic mental health training for people working with older Australian is also essential,” said Dr McKay.
“To remove discrimination against older people with mental disorders we require community and residential aged care services that are inclusive of the needs of people with mental illness, we need removal of all barriers to older Australians in residential aged care accessing the same mental health services as the rest of the community and removal of all exclusions from access to mental health services on the basis of having dementia,” said Dr McKay.
“To obtain a better understanding of the mental health needs of older Australians we must undertake a survey of the mental health and wellbeing of older Australians which will identify all older people, fund research on effective mental health interventions in older people and fund mental health promotion activities,” said Dr McKay.
ACFT scams survey 2012
Published January 25, 2012 | The Australasian Consumer Fraud Taskforce (ACFT) would like to know about any scams that you have received and how you have responded to them. Gathering this information will help to improve the prevention, detection, investigation and prosecution of scam offenders.
Take a minute to fill in the 2012 ACFT scams survey at www.survey.aic.gov.au/survey/AustralasianConsumerFraudTaskforceOnlineSurvey2012.
You can also visit the Australian Institute of Criminology website www.aic.gov.au.
The survey will run until 31 March 2012 and should only take a few minutes to complete. Your participation is entirely voluntary but please only complete the survey once.