The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Emergency Partners Information Connection (EPIC) has shared resources that may be helpful before, during, and after a hurricane. These can be used by senior living community managers for their own reference, as well as shared with residents, residents' families, and the larger community. EPIC suggests sharing or printing the materials as soon as possible, in fact, to have on hand during an emergency. The Preparedness and Safety Messaging for Hurricanes, Flooding, and Similar Disasters guide offers ready-to-use messages on such topics as mold, food safety, carbon monoxide poisoning, and waterborne diseases. The FEMA Mobile App can also be downloaded to stay aware of immediate threats, receive emergency tips, and learn the location of nearby shelters.

Former Vice President Joe Biden unveiled a campaign plan for older Americans on Monday, addressing such issues as prescription drugs, Medicare, and Social Security, reports The Hill . Under Biden's plan, the federal government would focus on "protecting and strengthening Social Security" to ensure that older adults can enjoy a comfortable retirement. Biden would bolster Social Security through a tax on high-wage workers. His plan includes increasing benefits for those who have been receiving Social Security payments for at least 20 years, mandates that drug manufacturers work together with Medicare, and requires a limit on launch prices for drugs to ensure that they remain affordable for older Americans. The limit would be set by an independent review board after careful study of the cost of similar drugs abroad.

Many of Europe's major companies have navigated their recovery from the financial crisis and strengthened their workforce by employing older adults, according to the Wall Street Journal . Between 2012 and 2018, older workers accounted for 85 percent of employment growth in the eurozone as companies chased their skills and expertise. In factories dominated by older workers, tweaks as simple as adding ergonomic chairs or installing magnifying lenses have significantly increased efficiency. "We found that older workers had the same productivity as younger ones. And, in terms of quality, they were even better," said Jochen Frey, human-resources spokesman for BMW in Munich. The success of older adults within the European labor force has ramifications for the future of European employment. With the continent's population aging, successful older workers will help hold off a demographic decline. At the same time, though, young workers have struggled to find success in the workforce in recent years, and increasing the amount of older workers will widen the age-unemployment gap.

There is a growing consensus among scientists that older adults should eat more protein while ailing, trying to lose weight, or facing a hospitalization, according to the Cape Cod Times . Even older adults enjoying good health need more protein than younger adults to preserve their muscle mass, but they especially need more protein when facing stressful situations because their bodies process protein less efficiently. Older adults who eat more protein are less likely to lose functioning and therefore can enjoy greater independence for a longer amount of time than their counterparts who eschew protein because of a lost appetite, dental issues, or a myriad of other reasons. In 2013, an international cohort of scientists and nutritionists issued a recommendation that healthy older adults eat 1-1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight every day, while older adults with acute or chronic diseases should eat 1.2-1.5 grams daily per kilogram of body weight.

A study in eLife found adults who have a first-degree relative with Alzheimer's perform more poorly on online paired-learning tasks than adults without such a family history, which may be worsened with diabetes or a genetic variation in the apolipoprotein E (APOE) gene, reports ScienceDaily . These findings may help spot people at a higher risk for developing Alzheimer's, and perhaps find new ways to delay or prevent the disease. Participants were asked to learn 12-word pairs, and evaluated on their ability to complete the missing half of the pair when presented with one of the words. Participants also were asked to answer questions about their sex, education, age, language, country, and health, including a question about whether they had a family history of Alzheimer's. Those who did could match about two and one-half fewer word pairs than those without a family history, but diabetes appeared to exacerbate difficulties in persons with a family history. A cohort with a close relative with Alzheimer's submitted a sample of dried blood or saliva tested for a genetic variation in the APOE gene linked to Alzheimer's. "We found that those with the variation performed worse on the memory test than those without the variation," said the Translational Genomics Research Institute's Joshua Talboom.

New studies suggest that the likelihood of an older adult developing Alzheimer's or dementia may decrease with a healthy lifestyle, according to NBC News . Researchers from Rush University in Chicago analyzed data from almost 3,000 adults and assessed their lifestyles based on five healthy behaviors: not smoking, regularly exercising, eating a brain-friendly diet, limiting alcohol consumption, and engaging in late-life cognitive activities. The researchers found that the risk of Alzheimer's was 37 percent lower in adults who practiced two or three of the healthy behaviors, and 60 percent lower in adults who practiced four or five. A study out of the United Kingdom found that a healthy lifestyle can significantly reduce the risk of Alzheimer's even in people with high genetic risk scores. And a study conducted by the University of California at San Francisco found that smokers were twice as likely to develop Alzheimer's as non-smokers or former smokers. "This reinforces the notion that some of these lifestyle factors may actually affect the trajectory of cognitive aging and the development of dementia," said Dr. Ronald Petersen, who is the director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and who was not affiliated with any of the studies.

A Swedish study in the Journal of Internal Medicine suggests older adults with prediabetes do not typically develop full-blown diabetes, reports Channel News Asia . Investigators followed 2,575 men and women 60 and older without diabetes for up to 12 years. At the beginning, 918 people had higher-than-normal blood sugar levels that were still below the threshold for diabetes. Just 119 subjects developed diabetes, and another 204 exhibited blood sugar levels that declined enough to no longer be considered prediabetic. "In fact, the chance to stay prediabetic or even revert back to normal blood sugar is actually pretty high 64 percent, without taking medication," noted Ying Shang of the Aging Research Center at the Karolinska Institute. "Lifestyle changes such as weight management or blood pressure control may help stop prediabetes from progressing." Subjects with prediabetes were more likely to revert to healthy blood sugar levels if they lost weight, were free of heart disease, and had low blood pressure. Obese adults with prediabetes were more likely to develop full-blown diabetes.

Democratic 2020 hopeful Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) has unveiled a new drug cost plan intending to lower medicine prices for older adults, reports Reuters . Her announcement Friday came just one day after the White House abandoned its own drug cost proposal. Klobuchar's plan includes funding for research into a cure for Alzheimer's and resources to improve the stability of Social Security. It gives the government room to negotiate Medicare Part D costs and also allows people to order medication from Canada, a move her supporters claim will lower drug costs. Klobuchar's proposal announcement comes as the early days of the presidential election have been dominated by a discussion of healthcare.

Over the past three years, the percentage of a retail health clinic's patients being older adults has nearly doubled, rising from 8 percent to 15 percent. That number is only expected to increase in future years, so retail health clinics have begun adjusting their procedures to be easier and friendlier for seniors, reports Next Avenue . Mary Dolansky, an associate professor of nursing at Case Western Reserve University, is leading a pilot project to improve the experience for older men and women at CVS MinuteClinic locations nationwide. Dolansky and her colleagues are teaching MinuteClinic staff to use the 4M strategy to enhance care. The 4M strategy calls on healthcare professionals to consider patient mobility, medication reduction, mentation (or mental and cognitive health), and what matters to the patient when crafting a treatment plan. Initial results from MinuteClinic locations in Maine, Florida, and Ohio have been positive. Other retail health clinics have expanded their treatment options to diagnosing and managing chronic conditions like diabetes. And still more clinics are seeking to become primary care providers for older adults, even as some health experts caution that health clinics may lack proper follow-up and communication. "The most important part is to connect these folks back to their primary care providers so we can avoid unnecessary hospital admissions," asserted Dr. Marc Watkins, chief medical officer of Kroger Health's Little Clinics.

Amgen and Novartis have announced the cessation of a study into a potential Alzheimer's prevention therapy after participants' cognitive function worsened, reports MarketWatch . "The sponsors concluded that the potential benefit for participants in the studies did not outweigh the risk," the companies stated. The phase 2/3 study, performed in conjunction with Banner Alzheimer's Institute, was assessing the amyloid-focused BACE1 inhibitor umibecestat. Biogen's own testing of an amyloid-focused drug earlier this year ended in failure, suggesting to some experts that amyloid may not lead to a successful drug treatment. "We still believe amyloid plays an important but complex role in Alzheimer's disease," noted Amgen executive David Rees.