Health risk and Exploring TV’ s Tax deductions: sugary drinks Dallas ranch Your parents? page 10 page 14 page 20 Find Index of Caregiving Services on page 5 Published Monthly / FREE / March 2013 / Vol. 39 / No. 3 / 28 pp. CENTRAL MA EDITION WORC ESTER, MASS. ESTER, WORC RENT RESIDENT OR RESIDENT RENT CUR PERMIT NO. 597 NO. PERMIT U.S. POST AGE PAID AGE POST U.S. ter, MA 01605 MA ter, Worces • Street Lincoln 131 • Advocate Plus Fifty PRE-SORT STANDARD PRE-SORT WWW'OLDEN,IVING#ENTERSCOMs Equal opportunity provider of healthcare services. GLS-07030-11-IH “A Lifetime of Friendships!” 55 years & older ALL UTILITIES INCLUDED! 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If your doctors belong to one of these groups … you belong with us. Check with your doctor. Then check us out! Call 888-858-0040 (TTY: 888-899-8977)** or go to: thpmp.org/hmo *You must continue to pay your Medicare Part B premiums. ** Tufts Health Plan Medicare Preferred representatives are available Monday – Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. (and 7 days a week, 8:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m. from October 1 – February 14). After hours and on holidays, please leave a message and we’ll get back to you the next business day. Tufts Health Plan Medicare Preferred is a Medicare Advantage organization with a Medicare contract. Other physicians and providers are available in our network. H2256_2013_30 CMS Accepted 9/17/2012 Fifty Plus Advocate March 1, 2013 www.fiftyplusadvocate.com 3 Enhancing Lives Through Innovative Healthcare That’s our mission at Golden LivingCenters. We strive to help you return to your active life after surgery or illness. Combining 24-hour nursing with our exclusive Golden Rehab therapy, clinical expertise and professionally-trained staff, we provide a well-rounded recovery plan to meet your VSHFL¿FQHHGV2XUJRDOLVWR help you regain mobility and independence so you can enjoy an enhanced quality of life. Golden LivingCenter – Fitchburg Golden LivingCenter – Hermitage -RKQ)LWFK+Z\)LWFKEXUJ0$ 0LOO6WUHHW:RUFHVWHU0$ www.GoldenLivingCenters.com/Fitchburg www.GoldenLivingCenters.com/Hermitage This facility welcomes all persons in need of its services and does not discriminate on the basis of age, disability, race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, gender, sexual orientation or source of payment. GLS-06870-11-LO 4 Fifty Plus Advocate March 1, 2013 www.fiftyplusadvocate.com Fifty Plus Advocate ■ Central Massachusetts Edition ■ March 1, 2013 ■ Vol. 39 / No. 3 ■ 28 pp. ■ Published monthly FEATURED STORIES h Soc. Sec. head lambasts lawmakers 9 t Nursing home evacuation troubles 17 n Savings seen on diabetes supplies 18 o Medicare’s expensive mistakes 21 Medicaid choice: An offer to refuse? 21 M Free tax help 22 Tongue Free tax Get ready for health ins. markets 23 lashing 9 help 22 s DYI: New life for old plates 27 i DEPARTMENTS h Caregiving Tips 19 T Feeling Healthy 10 Home Improvement 26 e Just My Opinion 6 d Legal Briefs 22 i Money Matters 20 Generous Old into Resource for Caregivers 16 s offer? 21 new 27 Travel 14 n Viewpoint 8 ABOUT THE COVER I Inside This Month Vision Quest 12 Judy Cockerton, 2012 Purpose Prize winner, page 6. (copyright © civic ventures.) ■ I NDEX OF SERVICES IN THIS ISSUE ■ 3-D MAMMOGRAPHY CREMATION SERVICES NURSING HOMES Mass General Imaging ..................... p. 11 Shaw-Majercik Funeral Home ......... p. 22 Golden LivingCenters, Fitchburg ... p. 4 ADULT DAY CARE EYE CARE SERVICES Golden LivingCenters, Worcester ... p. 4 p. 15 Adult Day Care at Dodge Park ......... p. 14 Keamy Eye & Laser Center ............. p. 11 Knollwood Nursing ....................... ADVOCACY Lutheran Rehab. & Skilled Care .... p. 13 FUNERAL SERVICES AARP ............................................... p. 7 Quaboag Rehab. & Skilled Care .... p. 16 Miles Funeral Home ........................ p. 21 AFFORDABLE SENIOR HOUSING REST HOMES HEALTH CARE INFORMATION Lincoln Village ................................. p. 2 Brookhaven Assisted Care .............. p. 11 SHINE Program ............................... p. 21 p. 17 ASSISTED/INDEPENDENT LIVING Charlton Manor ............................... HOME CARE Dodge Park ..................................... p. 12 Briarwood ....................................... p. 15 Bayada Home Health Care .............. p. 16 SUBSIDIZED HOUSING ATTORNEYS, ELDER LAW BrightStar Lifecare .......................... p. 13 Bet Shalom Apartments .................. p. 10 Durbin & Veglia Attorneys at Law .. p. 21 HOME MEDICAL EQUIPMENT Coes Pond Village ........................... p. 19 Estate Preservation Law Offices ...... p. 23 Colony Retirement Homes .............. p. 13 CEMETERIES Apple Home Care and Rehab. ........ p. 10 Emanuel Village ............................. p. 19 HOSPICE St. John’s Cemetery & Mausoleum ... p. 20 Green Hill Towers .......................... p. 25 Jewish Healthcare Hospice ............. p. 17 Worcester County Memorial ..... p. 26, 27 Hawthorne Hills ............................... p. 9 HOSPITALS CLEANING SERVICES Illyrian Gardens .............................. p. 17 Clean Team ...................................... p. 24 Saint Vincent Hospital ................... p. 28 Village at Ascension Heights .......... p. 25 CO-WORKING OFFICE SPACE MEDICARE PREFERRED VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES Running Start, Inc. .......................... p. 22 TUFTS Health Plan .......................... p. 3 Rachel’s Table .................................. p. 24 If you use any services listed above, please mention you saw their ad in the Fifty Plus Advocate. Bay State woman wins prize for enriching lives of foster kids By Brian Goslow enting) with a five-month-old on one hip and leverage people, dollars and and a 17-month-old on another hip,” she ideas to better serve children and udy Cockerton was happily running said. “I just opened that door (to foster youth places in the public foster her two “No Kidding!” toy stores in care) with two beautiful babies in my arms care system. JBrookline and Mattapoisett in 1998 that I cared deeply for and saw the reality It is the last initiative that led when her husband showed her an unset- of the public foster care system. And what to Cockerton being awarded a tling newspaper report. I saw missing, more than anything, were Purpose Prize. Cockerton’s honor “It was the story of a five-month-old ordinary citizens like myself.” was sponsored by AARP to honor baby boy from Worcester who had been Her own children were 12 and 18 at the Intergenerational Innovation. kidnapped from his crib in his foster home time. “This is the second year AARP in the middle of the day,” she said. “His “They were delighted to be a part of it has sponsored a special Purpose foster mother had left him alone in the and delighted to welcome children into our Prize to recognize people who house and gone down to pick up her (own) home and delighted to go on to become bring generations together to ben- children at a junior high school in the adoptive siblings,” Cockerton said. efit society,” said Barb Quaintance, neighborhood. When she came back, he Bringing two foster children into her managing director of AARP was gone.” family’s life was only the beginning of Experience Corps. “Judy is an The missing boy, Marlon Devine Santos, Cockerton’s contribution. She sold her two excellent example of public service Cockerton was never found and his case remains unre- stores and became a full-time advocate for because of her steadfast commit- help us see that making the world a better solved, according to the Worcester Police foster children. ment and her ability to tackle a social issue place is a responsibility that belongs to all Department website. head on with passion, purpose of us.” When Cockerton fin- and determination. Judy has used Cockerton didn’t wait long to put her ished reading the article, a lifetime’s worth of experience to $100,000 prize to good use. disturbed at what might make a difference in the lives of “I have already invested it in the work have happened to the boy, others — young and old.” that I’m currently doing,” said Cockerton, she called her children and AARP CEO Barry Rand par- who said going from the world of busi- husband in for a family ticipated on the Purpose Prize for ness to the world of non-profits was an meeting. “We just talked Intergenerational Innovation judg- eye-opening experience. Instead of selling about the fact that we are ing panel that selected Cockerton. a product, she was selling an idea; she esti- all responsible for children “We were extremely moved by mates she spends 90 percent of her time when they’re removed Judy’s steadfast commitment to fundraising. from their