As we enter the fall season we are so happy to bring you the wonderful story of a true gentleman and caring Director of the Hawai‘I County Office on Aging, Alan Parker. Alan “talksstory” about the people who mentored him and the plantation values that allowed him to be successful. We are grateful to Alan Parker and his whole office for their support and the many dedicated volunteers who assist all our seniors on Hawai‘I Island. A special mahalo to Jolean Yamada, Nic Los Banos and Pauline Fukunaga who were efficient point persons for our magazine staff.
Several other stories focus on Hawai‘i Island seniors giving back to their community: the very popular “Seniors Living in Paradise” TV show hosts, George Yoshida and Derek Kurisu (pg. 24), The Kona Rotary (pg. 28), and Senior Outreach volunteers in Paho (pg. 20). We also report on our visit to Hilo’s prestigious Lyman Museum (pg. 27). Generations Magazine just grew to 58 pages, with resource guides, and more spot-on educational topics by our contributing writers.
With this issue, I am also honored to introduce you to our new Associate Editor Katherine Kama’ema’e Smith from Maui. She brings so much energy, heartfelt feelings for our culture, stories of the islands and love for life and for our seniors. Katherine is a baby boomer on Medicare, who managed her mom’s last years and knows both the challenges and joys of caregiving.
Thank you for stopping by the Senior Fair to chat and fill out our questionnaire, which helps us pick topics for upcoming issues. I hope you enjoyed meeting our advertisers and learning more about their services. Big congratulations to Amy Itagaki of Aiea, who won our sweepstakes prize — an all-expense-paid Vacations Hawaii Las Vegas package for two at the California Hotel. It’s good to be lucky!
Many of you are veterans who put their lives in harms way to protect our freedoms. We thank you for serving our country — and the families of veterans who suffered loss. We ask all our readers to reach out to veterans and families of active military this Veterans Day.
And October also starts the time to review our Medicare plans. Many people just received notice that they must choose a new plan for 2015. We invited Martha Khlopin to give us details and timeframes for changing Medicare plans (pg. 34), as well our regular Medicare column from Hawaii SHIP (pg. 32), as a service to you.
Live well,
Percy Ihara, Editor/Publisher
