Aging Parents: ElderGadget Reviews for Older Consumers
Thanks to the Oregon Choice Blog Round-up for the tip about Eldergadget.com, a site with product reviews on a wide range of “elder-friendly” products. I’ve looked at the sections on digital cameras, luggage, vacuums, and coffee makers, and they are filled with helpful information.
I was especially excited to see Eldergadget’s review of the iPad as a possible digital tool for aging parents. I am thinking about purchasing the lower priced iPad as a birthday present for my father, soon to be 87. If I follow through with my idea, I’ll document our experiences here on the blog.
If ElderGadget.com continues to review products and considers adding some in the elderly aging parent category, it will help to fill in huge enormous knowledge gap that exists when aging children are suddenly on the prowl for products (telephones, TV remotes, radios) that can help parents maintain as much control with as many activities of daily living as possible.
Aging Parents, Boomer Children: Advertising Medicines
Resolved: I will ignore prescription medication ads on television and in print. I will try not to ask my physician about a specific medication unless I think I have a problem with my current one and/or have attempted to get some reliable information (ads do not count as reliable information) that will help me have an educated conversation with my doctor.
During spring vacation I worked out each morning, a luxury that I do not have when school is in session. While I always listen to my own music or podcasts, I can expect interruptions from 12 televisions, on various channels, broadcasting morning news and manipulative medication advertisements. I’ve learned that most physicians do not mind when people ask questions about medications, but they do mind that these advertisements manipulate their patients. (See policy statement of the American Academy of Family Physicians.)
Not infrequently an older friend or parent talks to me about a medical problem, often bringing up a medication advertisement in the conversation. More often than not, the person thinks out loud, wondering whether to ask a doctor to switch to a new medication. I am not a health professional, but I know a lot about media literacy, so I make it my business to ask if the current medication is causing problems. Usually the answer is “no.” What makes my friends and family decide to ask about a new medication when there is no problem with the one they are taking? Abigail Zuger, M.D. addresses this issue in her March 3, 2008 New York Times Health Section article, Drug Pitchman: Actor, Doctor, or Pfizer’s Option.
Medication advertisements use finely-tuned emotional strategies (idealized families, loving couples, long heartstrings, joyous settings) and actors, grabbing a viewer’s attention and associating the medication with well-being and comfort. Read more »
Becoming A Grown-up Child
One day in April 2007 my husband and I were the adult kids in our families — we are the only adult children
— and the next day we became what we laughingly call “real grown-ups,” helping first one, then two, and increasingly all three of our parents. It’s time to give back, and we do so willingly and happily. However the process is not easy, and it is not free from anxiety and tension. Check out the As Our Parents Age About page to learn more about the mission of this blog.
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Copyright and Attribution Info
As Our Parents Age by Marti Weston is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Based on work at AsOurParentsAge.wordpress.com and AsOurParentsAge.net
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available by emailing As Our Parents Age. To learn more about this blog go to the AsYourParentsAge About page.
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