The American Medical News, a publication of the American Medical Association (AMA), just published an interesting opinion piece, Coping with Baby Boomers and Staggering Statistics, by Ardis Dee Hoven, M.D., a AMA board member. After the statistics, she has many ideas and recommendations for physicians, medical training, especially in relation to geriatrics information.
Posted by Marti Weston …
Medication Disposal
In April 2010 As Our Parents Age posted information about how to dispose of medications that are expired or no longer used. I researched the topic because there were many medications in our kitchen cabinet, left after my husband’s mother died, and we needed to know how to get rid of them in a way that … Continue reading
Building a Green House Home-The Inside: Part IV
If you are an adult child who’s spent even a little time searching for the right living arrangement for an elderly parent who needs a lot of extra care, it doesn’t take long to understand the terrain. You see lots of hallways, sometimes laid out in a hub, or in a square, or sometimes just … Continue reading
Seattle Times Series — “Seniors for Sale”
For the past several days I’ve been excitedly writing posts about the Green House Homes initiative and specifically about how the continuing care retirement community where my parents live is planning to build these homes. The whole point of Green Houses is to make late life elder care safe, respectful, thoughtful, and homelike. The movement … Continue reading
Nuts and Bolts of Green House Planning: Part III
“Whatever form they take, there should always be as little distinction as possible between a Green House and the other housing nearby.” What Are Old People For? How Elders Will Save the World by William H. Thomas, M.D. (page 233) The Green House vision projected by Dr. Thomas has become a small, growing movement with … Continue reading
Replacing a Nursing Community with Green Houses: Part II
Ideas about changing the nursing care at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC) began when carpets were replaced in one of the memory neighborhoods. For several days residents with memory disabilities spent their waking hours visiting a more home-like assisted living area. The caregivers immediately spotted a change — people from the memory neighborhood were more … Continue reading
Observing a Senior Fall in the Supermarket
Alas we watched it happen this afternoon. Moving at breakneck speed through a large supermarket we reached the end of a row and saw an elderly woman fall as she pushed her cart. Earlier we had watched her moving slowly through the store, but we had not noticed any balance problems. Still, we know what a … Continue reading
Long-lived Seniors Give Advice to Med Students
A delightful article appearing in the September 7, 2010 Cleveland Plain Dealer describes a panel discussion presented to second year medical students at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Panel members, all in their 90’s, told the medical students what physicians need to do to be more helpful to elderly patients. The article, Elders … Continue reading
Green Houses for Older Elders: Part I
The Boston Globe published a terrific article, A ‘Green House’ in Chelsea Provides Skilled or Elder Care on a Family-like Site, about Green Housing for the elderly, describing newly a constructed community in the Chelsea section of Boston. According to the August 30, 2010 article by Kay Lazar, the new housing provides “alternatives to traditional institutional care … Continue reading
Scams and Seniors
My amazing 83-year-old mother has not found a technology that she does not want to learn. Computers, scanners, Facebook, mobile phones, printers, e-mail, you name it. Most recently she learned to text — though her texting circle only includes three people — me, and my daughter (her granddaughter), and my cousin, Sandy. So it was … Continue reading
Health Care Costs Essays: Contribute Your Two Cents!
Over at the National Public Radio Shots blog is a short post about an essay contest, encouraging doctors, nurses, and patients (two different categories) to write a true story about the impact of high medical costs. The blog post, written by NPR health policy correspondent, Julie Rovner, describes the contest, the cool essay judges, and the … Continue reading
Alzheimer’s Drug Research – A Ray of Hope
Read Finding Suggests New Target for Alzheimer’s Drugs, by New York Times science reporter Gina Kolata, to learn about a new direction in Alzheimer’s disease research. In her article Kolata writes about Nobel Prize winner (2000) Paul Greengard, an 84-year-old scientist, who is studying a specific protein, gamma secretase activating protein, that can possibly be targeted by … Continue reading
iPad for Dad, # 14: A Report from Dad
When my daughter and son-in-law provided this iPad, it was with the knowledge and recognition that I never honed my computer skills to my satisfaction. Nevertheless, I made significant strides using a laptop and writing paragraphs of opinion over the years. The laptop, while useful, could be complex. The iPad is not. I have been … Continue reading
Seniors Embrace Social Networking According to Pew
If this post interests you, be sure and read Yes, Grandma is on Facebook, a post from a few days ago. The Pew Research Center’s Internet and American Life Project published a new study about seniors and social networking. According to Mary Madden, the report’s author, “Young adults continue to be the heaviest users of … Continue reading
Aging Mothers-Adult Daughters: Dreams of Chocolate
Just about everyone dreams of eating chocolate. Well, not everyone. My husband is someone who really doesn’t care for it that much. But recent research brings some interesting news for the rest of us — a little indulgence may be OK. According to an August 16, 2010 study, Chocolate Intake and Incidence of Heart Failure: … Continue reading
Yes, Grandma is on Facebook
Join Facebook? For three years I avoided the site. I knew that some of my friends from work, church, and other activities were joining, but I just did not feel like it was a fit. My daughter, then in graduate school, used the social networking site, and she occasionally suggested I get started with Facebook. … Continue reading
Palliative Care on the Diane Rehm Show (NPR)
Listen to an amazing episode of The Diane Rehm Show (NPR) that explores the recent study on palliative care in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). Diane’s guests include Dr. Jennifer Temel of the Harvard Medical School, a lead author of the study, and Dr. Diane Meier, who leads the Center to Advance Palliative Care at … Continue reading
Cardiac Procedures and Surgeries – Good Descriptions
Last summer my father’s internist referred him to a cardiologist who found an abdominal aneurysm. Dad underwent several cardiac procedures. Understanding an enormous amount of information in a short time was difficult for everyone in our family, and especially for my parents. While the physicians’ explanations were clear and helpful to our family, many questions … Continue reading
Times Are a’Changing: The Beloit College Mindset List
Each year I pass along this Beloit College Mindset list to just about everyone I know. Compiled by Professor Tom McBride and colleague Ron Nief at Beloit College, the list is a set of observations about the entering freshman class — designed to help the Beloit faculty understand a bit more about the thinking and the experiences … Continue reading
Aging Parents, the Greatest Generation, Religious Freedom and Mosques
Periodically a national issue becomes so significant that our elders can address it best — and I mean the elder-elders — the people, now in their 80s and 90s — who fought to stop Hitler and the Holocaust. Elder-elders know what can happen when you demonize a religion, the way some people are demonizing Islam … Continue reading
As Our Parents Age So Do We 