By May 1, as the whole world donned surgical masks, a relatively new strain of swine flu virus, H1N1, had become the focus of the 24/7 global media machine. The official alert level had been raised by the World Health Organization to a Phase 5 outbreak, just one bracket shy of the peak, which signifies the most deadly sort of global pandemic. Condign warnings of mass death and economic disaster dominated the airwaves and the Internet. That next week, swine flu was, to all intents and purposes, the only story.

Yet on May 6, Mexico City—in which this new black plague had staged its breakout—lifted a weeklong ban on restaurants seating customers. The next day, the national government allowed universities, high schools, churches and museums to re-open; grammar schools opened five days later. Face masks disappeared. And around the world over the following week, this new disease—which has quickly proved little more contagious than ordinary influenza, and quite effectively treatable with antiviral drugs—faded away, but for wildly overpublicized reports of the occasional—and isolated—death.

Through May 18, the World Health Organization reported a grand total of 8,829 confirmed cases in 40 countries, resulting in 74 deaths, six of them in the United States. For perspective, in the United States alone, each and every year the garden-variety seasonal flu infects between 15 and 60 million people, hospitalizing 200,000 and killing 36,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.

What had happened, as reported by The Economist among other rational observers of the story, was that the first known case was a little boy in the Mexican state of Veracruz, who was diagnosed on April 2. The first confirmed death—of a 39-year-old woman in Oaxaca—occurred on April 13. But the Mexican health authorities hadn’t the technology to perform genomic analysis, the process by which new viruses may be quite quickly identified, and they did not send samples abroad until April 22. By the time the strain was isolated—as the not terribly aggressive and eminently treatable bug that it is—the whole world was in full-on panic mode.

In effect, the pandemic was over before it began. This did not forestall any number of global outbreaks of idiocy, among them the slaughter of 400,000 pigs in Egypt (never mind that the disease is mainly transmitted human to human), and a characteristically odd statement from the Vice President of the United States, who averred that he wouldn’t let his family take Amtrak.

Yet every single news story, during the brief shelf life of this incipient pandemic, referred in gruesome detail to the Spanish Flu of 1918–19, which killed 675,000 Americans and some 22 million people worldwide. Never mind that this was long before antibiotics, let alone genomic analysis, and that the recommended precautions included mustard baths, gargling salt water, and Bovril. This pandemic is always ritually cited by the media as they do their best to whip up a firestorm of alarmism over the latest health-related tempest in a teapot.

The great swine flu outbreak of 2009 thus joins a long, ignominious line of equally overhyped nonevents.

A 1976 swine flu outbreak at Fort Dix, NJ set off a similar hysteria, during which America’s top health official estimated it would kill one million Americans. One person died.

In the 1990s, a “mad cow” panic enveloped the earth. In a 1997 book, the normally rational Richard Rhodes warned that the human variant of mad cow (called vCJD) might kill half a million people per year in Britain alone. To date, confirmed cases worldwide, according to the Wall Street Journal’s Bret Stephens, total about 150.

In the post-September 11 panic of 2001, an isolated instance of someone mailing small doses of anthrax to a handful of political and media personalities was spun into a nationwide terrorist germ-warfare threat. Six people died, including a 93-year-old Connecticut woman.

Then there was the SARS panic of 2002-2003 (worldwide deaths to date per the WHO: 774), followed in 2005 by the massive global avian flu panic (257 deaths at last report).

With each and every outbreak, the media have erupted in full hysterical frenzy, fearmongering in inverse proportion to the actual threat.

It is always extremely difficult for investors and their advisors alike to gauge the full effect of the media’s bias for catastrophism during relatively real events like the global financial meltdown of 2008. In exactly this regard, it will be importantly useful to remember the extent to which they blow out of all proportion—when they don’t totally invent—some or another putative health crisis.

The single greatest deterrent to rational investor behavior is the 24-hour cable news cycle, now trumpeting to the skies some “new era” technology (e.g. the Internet in 1999), then decrying the end of economic life on the planet as we have known it (e.g. the global economy falling off a cliff in 2008). Journalism’s constant refrain that recent economic events were comparable to the Great Depression—which they were manifestly not—should remind us of nothing so much as the last half-dozen global pandemics that never were.

It is not so much that the media are unhelpful to investors seeking to maintain their perspective. Rather—in every thought, word and deed—the media seem single-mindedly determined to stamp perspective out.

At such times, an experienced advisor with an adult memory, a sense of the economic/market cycle and the conviction that this time isn’t different may be the investor’s only practical refuge. Consider the possibility that the highest and best function of an investment advisor isn’t economic commentary or market prognostication, but simply in saving his clients from the media…and from themselves.

© 2009 Nick Murray. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission.

by Robert Stall MD, Geriatrician

If you’re fortunate enough to have one or both parents still living, you may have noticed a role reversal taking place in your relationship. Remember the days when Mom shuttled you to the doctor whenever you were sick? Now, it may be you who’s driving her to her medical appointments. Perhaps you’ve become even more involved in managing her healthcare needs – serving as her healthcare proxy, moving her into your home to care for her, or even having to select a nursing home for her to live in.

Whatever the case, it’s natural to feel challenged – and, yes, intimidated – in the role you’ve undertaken. But if you stay positive and proactive, you’ll be in a great position to advocate for your parents’ optimal care. And, really, what better way is there to say “Thank You” for all they’ve done for you over the years?

The following six recommendations will help you understand what may be happening to your parents as they age – and what you can do to help.

1. Stay vigilant to sudden changes.
Typically, sudden changes arise from sudden problems. Your elderly father who becomes confused one week but was alert and oriented the week before, or becomes unsteady walking and starts falling, is likely experiencing an acute problem – an infection, medication side effect, or perhaps, a heart attack or stroke.

If you pay attention to your parent’s baseline health and behavior, you’ll be alert to sudden, and subtle, fluctuations. Being attuned to what’s “normal” for your parent is critical in advocating for his care. By informing his physician of these changes, you help ensure that he receives a proper diagnosis and timely treatment – especially important in acute conditions.

2. Investigate the source of gradual decline.
Several years ago, I met an elderly woman living in a nursing home. Her family, assuming she had dementia, had moved her there after she had gradually stopped speaking.

After performing a brief procedure on her, I asked how she was doing. “I’m OK,” she replied.

A miracle? Not exactly. I’d removed bullet-sized pieces of wax from her ears. She’d stopped speaking because her ears were too plugged to hear.

A host of conditions can cause gradual decline. Before jumping to the conclusion – as many people do – that Alzheimer’s disease is the culprit, recognize that your parent may be experiencing an altogether different problem: a vitamin B12 deficiency, an underactive thyroid, Parkinson’s disease or depression, to name a few.

When discussing your parent’s decline with her physician, make sure the two of you consider all the possibilities. To prepare for the appointment, make notes detailing how her decline has manifested itself – loss of appetite, a failing short-term memory and so forth – and how long you’ve noticed these changes. That way, you won’t leave anything out. To help you, I’ve created a free checklist that either you or your parent can complete at seniorselfassessment.com – make sure you print or email the “Test Result Details” at the bottom of the page to analyze your responses and give you advice based on your answers.

3. Know thy parent’s medicine cabinet.
Familiarize yourself with the medications your parent takes: what each one is for and how often he takes them. Make sure you notify each doctor your parent visits of all the medicine he takes, including over-the-counter products. Ask what side effects you might observe from each medication and whether it’s potentially dangerous if your parent takes them together. You also want to tell the doctor whether your parent drinks alcohol or caffeinated drinks and whether he smokes, as these substances can affect some medications’ efficacy and safety. To recognize which medications might cause the symptoms your parent experiences, check out  drugscanmakeyousick.com .

4. Discourage ageist attitudes.
Simply put, ageism is prejudice against the elderly. It exists in many forms but can be particularly damaging to an older person’s self-esteem when it assumes that all of her woes are age-related. Here are a couple of ways of expressing ageism to an elderly parent:

“What do you expect at your age?”
“You’re not getting any younger.”

If you’re ever tempted to utter something similar, remind yourself that by chalking up everything that ails her to her age, you sell your parent short. If she’s depressed, it may have nothing to do with the fact that she’s 80 and everything to do with a biological predisposition to depression. And remember that right-knee pain in a 90 year-old can’t be just from age if there’s no problem with her left knee. (More about Dr. Stall and a more in-depth article on the attitude of society towards medical care for the elderly can be found at http://www.longtermcarelink.net/eldercare/medical_care_issues.htm )

5. Address not just symptoms—but emotions, too.
There is disease and then there is “dis-ease” – that is, a lack of ease, security or well-being. “Dis-ease” can manifest itself as myriad emotions in an elderly person: fear, grief, boredom, embarrassment and sadness among them. The fact is, these emotions can be every bit as debilitating as disease.

Take the case of a parent who’s incontinent. Too embarrassed to socialize, she cuts herself off from friends. Without companionship, she becomes lonely. Instead of allowing her to become a hermit, discuss with her doctor how to address the incontinence. Together, you can consider different solutions that will ease her embarrassment and reinvigorate her social life.

6. Strive to maximize your parent’s quality of life.
No matter our age, we all want to enjoy life to the fullest and have the capability to do the things we want to. Improving the enjoyment of life and a patient’s functional ability are the cardinal goals of geriatric care. But you don’t need a medical diploma on your wall to help your parent achieve either of those goals.

Being there to solve a problem or provide company are tremendously worthwhile services you can provide – no expertise required. Remember, as your parent gets older, his quality of life becomes more important to him than how much longer he lives. And he doesn’t necessarily need medications or surgery to ensure that he’s living the latter part of his life to the fullest.

If he enjoys books but has difficulty reading regular-sized type, check out sight-saving titles at the library. If he’s grieving the loss of his best buddy, introduce him to new acquaintances at the senior center. If he’s living in a nursing home, bring your kids there to share a meal with him.

Sometimes, it’s the small gestures that have the most profound impact. As the child of an elderly parent, you are uniquely positioned to deliver these life-changing gifts.

Dr. Robert Stall is a geriatrician practicing in Tonawanda, New York and a clinical associate professor at the University of Buffalo’s School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences. He serves as medical director and attending physician at Beechwood Homes in Getzville and Blocher Homes in Williamsville. To learn more about senior care issues, visit his website at stallgeriatrics.com or call 716-213-4345. For information on a new program offering balance assessment and fall prevention tips, call 716-213-0772.