Time can fly by in the grey zone, here is a quick wrap of what happened during January in the……..

 

Whatever gets you through….

A disturbing report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) highlighted that many older Australians are using illegal drugs. People aged 50 and over had increasing numbers using illicit substances like cannabis and pharmaceutical drugs being used for non-medical purposes. As reported in the Sydney Morning Herald, an “ageing cohort” of drug users had not given up substances in the same numbers as the generations that preceded and followed them.

For those aged in their fifties, the proportion of recent illicit drug users increased from 6.7 per cent to 11.7 per cent. Males in this age cohort were more likely to use illicit drugs, with the proportion of 50-something men reporting recent use increasing from 8.1 per cent to 15 per cent. For those aged 60 and over, the increase was from 4 per cent to 7.9 per cent.

The report said women were most likely to suffer drug-induced deaths in their mid-to-late 40s, with benzodiazepine the most common substance implicated in adult female drug deaths. For men aged 55 years and over, opiate-based painkillers were the most common substance present in toxicology reports.

Bad habits grow

The same report also showed the proportion of older people who drank at dangerous levels – consuming 11 or more standard drinks on a single occasion in the past 12 months – had “significantly increased” in the three years to 2016, from 9.1 per cent to 11.9 per cent for those in their fifties and from 4.7 per cent to 6.1 per cent for those in their sixties.

People in their sixties were the most likely to exceed the National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines by drinking more than four standard drinks a day at least five days a week, with 7 per cent doing so in 2016.

 

This working life

Turning back the clock; Age based dismissal reversed

A 74 year old handyman won his unfair dismissal claim against a motel group. The group alleged that due to the handyman’s age he didn’t have the required physical capability to perform his job despite having worked with the group for over two years. The group was reported as saying the 74 year old should be “enjoying his retirement.”

The Fair Work Commission (FWC) found the reason for the employee’s dismissal, which was made without any medical advice or assessment, “unsound, fanciful and capricious”

The Commissioner found the handyman was found to be “legally entitled to work and clearly capable of performing the work” and ordered that he be reinstated.

Appropriate work or work appropriate

While the government is urging workers in the greyzone to retrain and learn new skills to maintain employability, expert research is arguing that workplaces also need to learn how to adapt work to suit people in the 50+ range and proposing retraining as the only solution is reinforcing stereotypes and discriminatory barriers. Some employers are finding older workers are better suited to certain work particularly.

Dept of Employment shows that jobs for people in mid-40 to mid-50 with strong growth prospects exists across the welfare, construction, medical and education sectors particularly in white collar jobs.

Health and welfare. If we don’t grow up it will kill us

In 2019 it was found that Middle aged men are more likely to die than young people on NSW roads.

The last 12 months 352 people were killed, 115 aged between 30 & 59, a 10% increase from 2018 and emerging trend. Research from the Centre for Road Safety found that men admitted to taking more risks on the road when they were driving alone, particularly speeding and had an overinflated view of their ability.

Bernard Carlon, Executive Director of the Centre for Road Safety, is calling for drivers to make road safety a priority this year. “Our research tells us that men admit to taking more risks when they drive alone – especially speeding,” he said.

To all the middle aged men, as the sergeant would say on Hill Street Blues:

In the winner’s zone

The Golden Globes winners against nominees show exemplifies the journey through the grey zone.

Best Actress winner was Renee Zellweger, 50.

In the best supporting actress category, it was Laura Dern 52, with other zone nominees Kathy Bates 71 and Annette Bening 61.

In the best support actor category, it was full of zone nominees. The award won by Brad Pitt 56 from nominees Tom Hanks 63, Anthony Hopkins 82, Al Pacino 79 and Joe Pesci 76.

Closer to home

Dr James Muecke, 56, was awarded Australian of the Year for the surgeon’s work preventing blindness. In 2000 he co-founded Vision Myanmar at the South Australian Institute of Ophthalmology and later co-founded Sight For All, a social impact organisation aiming to create a world where everyone can see. More recently Dr Muecke’s work has specifically focused on preventing the leading cause of blindness in adults — type 2 diabetes.

Senior Australian of the Year was obstetrics specialist John Newnham. The 67 year old Professor Newnham is one of the world’s leading authorities in the prevention of pre-term birth and his initiatives have been credited for reducing pre-term births in WA by eight per cent.

Escapades From the grey zone to the Antarctica zone.

Australian explorer Geoff Wilson has cracked the record for the longest unsupported journey across the Antarctic, covering 5306 kilometres of icy terrain with nothing more than his own body, a wind kite and a sled full of food. Dr Wilson, 49, skied into the Russia’s Novolazarevskaya Station early on Saturday 4 January, Antarctic time, 58 days after he set out, beating the previous record by 206 kilometres.

“I was thrilled to be alive, overjoyed to be done and waves of relief washed over me as I stood almost stunned in a colourful isolated Russian outpost, the wind screaming through it. almost stunned in a colourful isolated Russian outpost, the wind screaming through it,” Dr Wilson wrote on his blog, The Longest Journey.