The list of witnesses testifying before the Senate Special Committee on Aging this afternoon includes the predictable academic docs and health-world leaders, along with a striking anomaly: Martha Stewart You ask: What, is she going to teach the Senators a cute way to fold napkins when they have their parents over for dinner or something? No, smarty, it turns out that Martha Stewart knows more about this stuff than you think. Drawn to the issue by the experiences of her aging mother, who died last year at 93, Stewart grew interested in the field and wound up giving $5 million to Mount Sinai, which created the Martha Stewart Center for Living. The suggestions in her prepared testimony seem pretty sensible, highlighting three lessons: pay attention to coordination of medical care, support those caring for the elderly, and plan early at the family level to be ready to care for aging relatives. Institute of Medicine report |
