Veterans Ranch holds open house

Central Oregon Veterans Ranch will celebrate Memorial Day with an open house at its new 19-acre ranch between Bend and Redmond.

The event will take place from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Monday at 65920 61st St., Bend. RSVPs are requested and can be made by calling the ranch’s office at 541-706-9062 or emailing info@centraloregonveteransranch.org.

Researcher warns of ‘elder orphans’

Nearly one-fourth of Americans who are 65 or older either are or are at risk of becoming “elder orphans,” a vulnerable group of older people who might benefit from extra awareness and advocacy efforts because they have no built-in support network of their own.

During a presentation at the American Geriatrics Society’s 2015 Annual Scientific Meeting, Maria Carney, chief of geriatric and palliative medicine at New York’s North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System, told the story of a 76-year-old patient who had to be placed in a nursing home because his health was failing, he could not make decisions and his closest living family members were on the other side of the country.

Carney said about 22 percent of the country’s senior population is at risk of ending up in a similar situation because they are currently aging alone and unsupported with no known family members or surrogates who can act on their behalf in times of an emergency. She based these findings on U.S. Census data showing one-third of Americans who are 45 to 63 are single and nearly 19 percent of women 40 to 44 have no children.

Alzheimer’s courses offered

Oregon Care Partners will teach people how to provide safe, effective and comfortable care for someone who has middle stage Alzheimer’s disease during a pair of individual courses that will take place Thursday and June 4.

Both courses will run from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at CHL Conference Room A in St. Charles Bend’s complex at 2500 NE Neff Road.

Visit www.oregoncarepartners.com or call 1-800-272-3900 to register for either one of these courses.

Retirement plans in the works

Almost two-thirds of Oregon small-business owners do not offer their employees a retirement savings plan, according to a recent survey conducted by AARP Oregon that looked at companies that have fewer than 100 employees.

The state legislature is currently considering a pair of bills — Senate Bill 615 and House Bill 2960 — that would create a special task force responsible for crafting such a plan. Both bills are still making their way through the committee process.

— Bulletin staff reports