Aging

The broken rib could have been a disaster for Claire Soroko. She had been saying goodbye to friends Christmas Day when she stumbled from an outdoor step and banged into an iron handrail, breaking a bone in her chest. Afterward, she couldn't clean, drive or even dress herself. "I really don't have anyone," says Soroko, a Park La Brea resident in her 70s. "My daughter and son-in-law are very busy. I couldn't ask them to come and stay with me."

One piece of the puzzle is missing from the aging in place trend -- healthcare. The nation's healthcare system is simply not designed to help seniors remain living independently, says Laura Gitlin, director of the Center for Applied Research on Aging and Health at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia. "We know what helps people," she says. "What helps them age in place is not covered by insurers at this point."

The "aging in place" movement is fueled by changes throughout society. Services linked to retirement communities -- official or otherwise -- are not the only options for older Americans who want to remain in their homes. Networks of services: Across the nation, business people are forming networks, called Aging in Place Councils, in various cities to link seniors to services.

Many government and private organizations offer information and assistance for seniors who want to remain in their own homes. Supportive services programs for naturally occurring retirement communities (NORC): * United Jewish Communities offers a description of the role of supportive services programs and a list of 40 specific communities that are part of its nationwide Aging in Place Initiative: www.norcs.

A scarcity of paid caregivers means that, in the future, older people may have to band together to help each other. Older Americans are already pitching in to care for their more frail or even older counterparts as either paid or volunteer workers. That's because finding younger people to work as caregivers is becoming more difficult.

The "Stairway to Heaven" generation may soon have to make room for elevators. Builders are. And eventually, so too will baby boomers who decide to stay put in their homes. Retirees who choose new retirement and resort-style communities will increasingly find elevators (and walk-in showers) in the homes, as builders give buyers the square footage they want but with an eye toward long-term needs, said Dave Kosco of Bassenian Lagoni Architects.

Though THE wisdom that comes with age can help navigate metaphorical bumps in the road of life, actual, physical obstacles can cause stumbles and falls. Increasingly, to combat a natural loss of balance that comes with the passing years, many people are turning to balance training classes. About one-third of Americans age 65 and older fall each year -- roughly 12 million people.

What do Indiana Jones, John Rambo and Solid Snake have in common? They all look like they would qualify for membership in AARP. Indiana Jones, played by the 65-year-old Harrison Ford, nurses his joints as he swings through South American jungles in his latest film, "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull." Earlier this year, Rambo was roused from his weary retirement in Southeast Asia at the ripe age of 61. The tag line: "Heroes never die . . . They just reload."

Countering the prevailing theory that aging is the accumulation of wear and tear in cells, scientists studying worms have found that aging may be hard-wired, a sort of unintentional sabotage by genes gone wild. The study, published Thursday in the journal Cell, found that metabolic processes important during development may shift later in life in ways that harm the worms, causing them to age and die.

The Air Force said it had ordered immediate inspections and repairs to about 130 of its A-10 aircraft to fix possible cracks in the wings. An increasing number of cracks have been found in the thin-skin wings, largely related to fatigue in the aging fleet, the service said. The Air Force has a little more than 400 of the A-10s.