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Can love survive the onslaught of chronic illness? Writer Sarah Cart shares how she became one of 39 million Americans taking care of an ailing loved one in ON MY WAY BACK TO YOU, One Couple’s Journey through Catastrophic Illness to Healing and Hope (Forefront Books; April 2, 2024). “My husband, Ben, just past his mid-fifties, was irrepressibly healthy and energetic until, suddenly, he wasn’t.” In suspenseful and heart-rending detail, Cart recounts how, beginning with an incurable autoimmune disease, her husband developed one life-threatening condition after another. As each month passed, she felt her best friend, this brilliant businessman, successful entrepreneur, and energetically engaged and organized father to their four sons, slipping away, until eventually they received devastating news: Ben needed a heart transplant. But that was only the tip of the iceberg. Two weeks after the COVID-19 lockdown, they realized Ben’s body was shutting down and his only hope was to get on the list and get that transplant now—in the midst of a pandemic.
 
And that wasn’t even half of what was to come.
 Thrust into the role of nurse and caregiver, Cart required a deep well of faith, grit, and grace as she confronted doubts, fears, endless setbacks, aggravations, and red tape while struggling to help Ben regain whatever he could of all that had been lost. 
Cart reminds us that “there is certainly no promise that the health we enjoy this evening will be with us in the morning” and provides guidance for others in her shoes. Sooner or later, everyonewill either become a caregiver or need one. To help when time comes, she shares the questions to ask, the notes to take, the signs to never overlook, and the self-care necessary for the caregiver. 
 ON MY WAY BACK TO YOU is more than a chronicle of Ben’s illness. It’s about love, resiliency, and the power of community: “When Ben was in the hospital, I felt all the people who’d ever loved him shining their light from the far reaches of the universe each time I begged them to do so.” It’s a roadmap through some of life’s greatest challenges and the journey of two people who used the power of love, determination, and endless patience to find their way back to each other. 

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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recognizes Older Americans Month to empower older adults (ages 65 and older) to age without injury while still enjoying the hobbies and activities they love.  Still Going Strong is a national campaign from CDC raising awareness about common yet preventable injuries as we age. The campaign provides simple steps older adults and caregivers can do to improve social connectedness and prevent common injuries. 

This year’s theme, Powered by Connection, organized by the Administration for Community Living, emphasizes the profound impact that meaningful relationships and social connections have on our health and well-being.  According to CDC, maintaining strong social connections with family and friends plays a vital role in supporting independence and overall aging. Research shows that social connectedness can lead to longer life, better health, and improved well-being.

The Still Going Strong campaign equips older adults with tools to reduce social isolation and loneliness.  It also helps them to avoid the leading causes of unintentional injuries among older adults such as falls, motor vehicle crashes, and traumatic brain injuries (TBIs). Older adults experiencing social isolation and loneliness have an increased risk of heart disease, stroke, dementia, and suicidal ideation.  There are steps older adults and their caregivers can take to improve social connectedness that helps to maintain their quality of life and stay independent longer. During interviews, a wellness expert and/or a CDC official would discus

 Dr. Gwen Bergen serves as the team lead for the Safety Promotion Team in the Applied Sciences Branch of the Division of Injury Prevention at CDC’s Injury Center. The Safety Promotion Team’s primary focuses are the prevention of drownings and older adult falls. Prior to becoming team lead, she was a behavioral scientist on the team working on older adult fall prevention for seven years. Her emphasis was on implementing and evaluating clinical fall prevention strategies and understanding older adult injury prevention attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors and designing evidence-based tools to encourage them to adopt behaviors to reduce their injury risk.

Her previous CDC experience includes five years on the Transportation Safety Team with a focus on alcohol-impaired driving, older adult mobility, and data linkage, and two years as a fellow at the National Center for Health Statistics working on injury data. She received her Master of Public Health degree from the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health and her doctoral degree, both in social and behavioral science with an emphasis in injury prevention, from Johns Hopkins University, Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Dr. Bergen joins Mark Alyn on this edition of Late ight Health.

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What does it take to become an ace golfer or chess whiz? Is the ability to speak multiple languages, rock at playing the violin, or write a bestseller reserved for the rare and gifted?

In Mastery: How Learning Transforms Our Brains, Minds, and Bodies, noted psychologist and author Arturo E. Hernandez, Ph.D., reveals how the skills we marvel at and yearn to possess are not born or built purely through discipline. Instead, as he makes clear, new skills bloom from combining, recombining and layering small parts that represent an amazing new whole.   

In Mastery, Dr. Hernandez explores and expands upon these 6 Secrets to Building Your Brain Power:  
How to apply the right kind of practice—deliberate yet flexible—and focus on engagement rather than the rigid, single-minded quest for perfection.Why learning early matters—yes, it’s easier for youngsters to pick up new skills—but how older people have the advantage of broader connections and diverse experiences.The impact of our innate human ability, present at birth, is to recognize and pay attention to faces in reading and writing, which is the road to new skills later in life.The role of genetics in aptitude and talent—and why a gene rarely does any of its work alone. The surprising effects of pressure (both external and self-imposed) and emotions (including anger) on performance in areas of expertise from tennis to piano.How to master the five principles of mastery: will (what do you want to do or learn?), ability (what are you good at?), opportunity, flexibility and clarity (what matters to you?).  “The process of learning something new or becoming better at something we already know applies to everyone,” Dr. Hernandez observes. “Whether we are a professional in a sport, a polyglot who speaks at least eleven languages, or just learning something new and becoming good at it, the same rules apply. No matter our ultimate level of expertise, we humans are adept at taking a bunch of little pieces and creating a much bigger whole. Our gift as humans—our defining feature—is the emergent process that leads to mastery.”

Throughout the book, Dr. Hernandez shares fascinating stories of experts, such as Dan McLaughlin, who laid out a plan to become a golf pro to Jane Goodall, the renowned primatologist who struggled with a secret malady: difficulty remembering people’s faces. Mastery reveals the path to startling potential for anyone seeking to learn a new skill or teach someone else to do the same, improve their proficiency at what they already enjoy doing, or better understand how our brains evolve and excel.
 Dr. Hernandez visits with Mark Alyn on Late Night Health.

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It’s no secret that retailers know every trick in the book to make their customers buy their goods.  How exactly does the luxury goods industry work and is “retail therapy” healthy for us? In his second novel, AMY UNBOUND, longtime fashion industry insider Martin Sneider offers, according to former Bloomingdale’s Vice-Chairman Frank Doroff, “…a peek inside a fashion empire, and a family in turmoil…..” 
Opening in 2009, Amy Unbound continues the saga of the Feldman family—focusing on Josh’s wife. Martin Sneider captures the toll of the drive for success in a marriage while drawing readers into another volatile, adrenaline-fueled world: politics. Amy throws herself into her work and begins to question her marriage. While Amy flirts with a dangerous romantic relationship, her husband, Josh, comes to terms with the cost of his obsession with leading a fashion retail empire. Martin Sneider visits with Mark Alyn on this edidtion of Late Night Health.

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JScreen is a national non-profit public health initiative dedicated to preventing genetic diseases. Headquartered in Atlanta at Emory University School of Medicine, the JScreen initiative provides convenient at-home access to cutting-edge genetic testing technology, patient education and genetic counseling services.

JScreen believes the combination of education, access to premier gene screening technologies and personalized, confidential support are the keys to preventing these devastating diseases. The goal is to get as many people tested for both genetic diseases and for genetic cancers. For genetic diseases it allows future parents to gain insights into their genetic reproductive risks, empowering them to plan ahead for the health of their future children.

It is also provides an opportunity to explore their own hereditary cancer risks and proactive measures they can adopt to safeguard their own well-being. The goal is to educate people about how simple and easy genetic testing and affordable.  All you have to do is order a saliva test, return to Jscreen and your results are presented to you by telemedicine from a genetic counselor. JScreen stands as a beacon of hope, providing accessible and informative genetic testing and counseling via at-home saliva kits.

JScreen’s ReproGEN test, tailored for individuals aged 18-45, screens for over 200 genetic diseases, including Tay-Sachs and cystic fibrosis. Empowering prospective parents with informed family planning information is the core of this comprehensive approach.   JScreen’s CancerGEN offers at-home testing for more than 60 cancer susceptibility genes associated with hereditary risks for breast, ovarian, prostate, colorectal, skin and many other cancers.  One of JScreen’s goals is to make testing affordable. ReproGEN currently costs $149 and CancerGEN is $199. JScreen also offers need-based financial assistance. www.jscreen.org

Karen Grinzaid, Exeutive Director, visits with Mark on this edition. 

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When Late Night Health’s Mark Alyn chats with Robert Feldman, CEO, president and co-founder of WOWS Insurance Services, they are apt to reengineer fire insurance and help homeowners sleep at night.   WOWS Insurance Services specializes in fire zones and areas where insurance is difficult to place and has launched an innovative new product that provides homeowners insurance, including fire coverage, for high end properties in the Western United States.
 
The timing couldn’t be better.   This new option has launched at the same time as many insurance carriers are exiting the state of California and others.   Homeowners who have not yet received communication from their current homeowners insurance company are often afraid to open their mail when that letter arrives.  

With WOWS insurance, insureds get protection and ease skyrocketing homeowners insurance costs, saving up to six figures. And when it’s time to sell, coverage is transferable, adding a premium touch to their listing, enhancing their property, and standing out to potential buyers.   WOWS provides brokers with an advantage in fire insurance coverage, standing out from competitors. Learn more about WOWS Insurance Services at https://wowsinsurance.com/.

Robert Feldman is an insurance professional with 25 years of experience. His specialty is insurance in fire zones and hard to place risks. Due to his expertise, Robert has been sought after as a speaker at the California Association of Realtors, educating realtors about how to secure insurance for homes that are deemed uninsurable. Feldman also serves on numerous task forces, working with the senior leadership for many insurance carriers to solve the state’s current insurance crisis.

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