ArcaMax

DALLAS — Can a bird-watching video game help train dementia patients' memory? A recent training program suggests it could.

Bird Watch, a neuroscience-based cognitive training game developed by a University of Texas at Dallas neuroscientist, was recently launched across three Texas senior living communities through a partnership between the ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Grab bars are commonly recommended to help older adults avoid potentially life-altering falls, but basic Medicare does not cover them — a policy a new lobbying campaign hopes to change.

Grab bars — rails attached to walls, particularly in bathrooms — help provide balance and prevent falls, preventing serious injuries,...Read more

You could call my brief but blissfully unhurried interlude at The Cove in Islamorada, Florida, a midweek work break or a microcation reset. But I call it pure sensory salt-air delight—the kind that arrives quietly, like sunset stealing across the sky, and then stays with you long after you’ve returned home.

Three days of sun, sand, surf —...Read more

Hello Toni:

I am a critical care nurse. On a daily basis, I advise family members who are seeking medical assistance for their elderly parents or spouse during end-of-life issues, especially helping them to understand hospice.

Can you explain hospice in simple terms for your Toni Says Medicare column readers? I am sure this would help those ...Read more

It had been a rough few months. Cynthia Tompkins was hospitalized in May for osteomyelitis — a bone infection — then spent six weeks in a rehabilitation facility. “It was a struggle,” she said. “I didn’t bounce back too well.”

Tompkins returned to her home in San Diego, but she was still taking antibiotics, along with a host of ...Read more

It had been a rough few months. Cynthia Tompkins was hospitalized in May for osteomyelitis — a bone infection — then spent six weeks in a rehabilitation facility. “It was a struggle,” she said. “I didn’t bounce back too well.”

Tompkins returned to her home in San Diego, but she was still taking antibiotics, along with a host of ...Read more

Dear Toni:

Last week the Toni Says Medicare column was about changes to stand-alone Medicare Part D plans beginning Jan. 1. This caught my attention because I applied for a Medicare Part D plan in July and was denied. Medicare advised me to apply for a Part D plan during Medicare’s Open Enrollment. Help … I do not know what ...Read more

Toni:

Recently, the Trump administration announced an end to the Inflation Reduction Act’s Medicare program effective January 1, 2027. I have searched online at www.medicare.gov to find out what 2027 Medicare Part D plan will be the right option for me but can only find 2026 Medicare Part D...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Lynn Nguyen had just begun working at the Chinatown Branch Library in 2019, when she learned that Ai Hoa and G&G markets were shuttering. As the last two full-service grocery stores in Chinatown, these closures left a gap in food access in the neighborhood, where one in four residents are above the age of 65 and 30% of households...Read more

LOS ANGELES — Lynn Nguyen had just begun working at the Chinatown Branch Library in 2019, when she learned that Ai Hoa and G&G markets were shuttering. As the last two full-service grocery stores in Chinatown, these closures left a gap in food access in the neighborhood, where one in four residents are above the age of 65 and 30% of households...Read more

LONDON — Researchers have pinpointed the potential cause of a type of stroke suffered by hundreds of thousands of people around the world every year, which could explain why widely used treatments do not work.

The discovery could also help pave the way for new treatments for lacunar strokes, which are caused by damage to the tiny blood ...Read more

LONDON — New research suggests that doing 90 minutes to two hours of weight training per week can slash the risk of an early death.

The new study, published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, involved 147,374 people who were asked every two years for a 30-year follow up period about how much time they spent doing aerobic exercise and ...Read more

Toni:

During last year’s Medicare Open Enrollment time, my husband, John, and I qualified for a Medicare Supplement Plan G over the phone from a telemarketing call. The supplement has never paid a dime! We still must use the same doctor and get referrals from the Medicare Advantage HMO that we were enrolled in. We can’t get the Medicare ...Read more

Toni,

I received a call in the beginning of June from Medicare asking for my personal information to verify the activation of my new plastic Medicare card with a chip. I’m concerned because I have not received the card yet.

Who do I call to see if Medicare was trying to contact me for a new plastic Medicare card? Sometimes it is hard to know...Read more

PHILADELPHIA — As a resident training at Wills Eye Hospital, George Spaeth was perplexed by a seven-year-old patient’s symptoms.

Her legs angled inward, her hair was straw-colored with an odd consistency, and she had intellectual disabilities.

She had come in for faulty vision caused by her lenses — the part of the eye that enables ...Read more