If you help to support an aging parent and also like listening to folk music with strong spiritual themes (also called Christian pop), take a few minutes to listen to singer Amy Grant talk about caregiving for her aging father, a retired physician, and how these experiences influence her music. During the program, broadcast via … Continue reading
Filed under aging parents …
Steven Colbert’s Amazing Remembrance of Mom
Stephen Colbert took a few minutes, at the beginning of his June 19, 2013 program, share and remember his mother, Lorna, who died last week in her nineties. Well worth watching. The video is courtesy of Hulu via Upworthy.
Google Calendar: Collaborating With My Mom!
Every adult child has some type of calendar issue when it comes to scheduling certain activities with senior parents. Even when parents keep track of their own affairs, adult children often need to be aware of some of the events. It’s not that I need or want to know what my parents are doing every moment … Continue reading
Innovation During the Coming Epidemic of Memory Impairment
I just finished reading How to Defeat Alzheimer’s, a May 28, 2013 article in the Los Angeles Times. The article, by David Shubert, PhD, of the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, reminds readers of the vast number of boomers who will experience memory impairments (14 million in 2050) at the end of their lives, requiring extensive medical and … Continue reading
Fact Sheets Can Help Families With Caregiving Responsibilities
When a family member requires caregiving support, sometimes you just want a list where you can check off tasks or a summary document that outlines the full range of your responsibilities. The Family Caregiver Alliance – National Center on Caregiving, a San Francisco organization that assists family members who need information on long-term care issues, offers materials … Continue reading
Detached Retina Problems — Still Not Over
This post is not a substitute for consulting your physician. Eye care is critical as we age, and retina health figures in prominently. I am aging some in-depth experience in retina treatments. After a vitrectomy in each eye, I hoped that I was finished with retina problems. I was thrilled with my new vision after … Continue reading
A Geriatrician’s Guide to Aging
One of our University of Chicago alumni publications — a pamphlet aimed toward older boomer alums — featured an interesting article, A Geriatrician’s Guide to Healthy Aging. Penned by William Dale, M.D., Ph.D., the University of Chicago Chief of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, the short piece offers general aging advice in four categories: Staying active … Continue reading
A New Twist With Personal Safety Device Scams and Seniors
Adult children should be sure that their parents understand the clever strategies that telephone scammers use as they encourage elders to part with credit card information. Over the past several days I’ve received two phone calls on my home landline, aiming to convince me that I ordered a personal safety device and that it was … Continue reading
Technology Changes Quickly for Digital Immigrants
I like this post, Technology Moving Too Fast for a Girl Born in 1950, over at the Life in My Sixties blog. The author aptly captures many of the feelings and expectations about the fast-paced, always-changing world of technology. Our feelings magnify when our adult children casually take digital life for granted and our elder parents … Continue reading
Eurhythmics, Aging Elders, and Falls
In light of my most recent post (April 23, 2013) about the effect of music during my parents’ Bible study sessions, I am reposting this blog post describing an article about music, eurhythmics, and elders. How interesting to read about the research Effect of Music-Based Multitask Training on Gait, Balance, and Fall Risk in Elderly People (abstract), … Continue reading
Sharing Bible Study With Residents at VMRC’s Woodland Park
My father, a retired minister, and my mother are leading a short Bible study once a week at Woodland Park, Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community’s (VMRC), newly opened Green House Homes. The weekly activity is engaging and fun for mom and dad, and they enjoy sharing scripture as well as music with the group members. Most of the participants who … Continue reading
Thoughts on Medicare Changes at the Over 65 Blog
The Over 65 Blog is a part of The Hastings Center, an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit bioethics research institute that focuses on ethical issues in the areas of health, medicine, and the environment. The Center concentrates on and produces research about making decisions at the end of life, public health priorities, and the role of emerging technologies when it comes to … Continue reading
Will Adult Children Be Liable for Parents’ Nursing Home Bills?
From a posting on Facebook by A Bittersweet Season author, Jane Gross. A bit scary, I think. Son Liable for Mom’s $93,000 Nursing Home Bill Under ‘Filial Responsibility’ Law Some 29 states currently have laws making adult children responsible for their parents if their parents can’t afford to take care of themselves. These “filial responsibility” laws have rarely been enforced, but six years … Continue reading
Businesses Profiting and Benefitting from Aging
An article in Fiscal Times, How Startups Art Profiting from Aging Boomers, describes how boomers and individuals in other age groups are creating new businesses and products that respond to the needs of people who are aging. Adult children may want to become acquainted with this business trend because products may pop up that are … Continue reading
Aging Parent Hospitalization
I’ve written about senior parent hospitalizations several times on this blog. When a parent is hospitalized, an adult child needs energy, clarity, and attention to detail. Recently Dale Carter, over at Transition Aging Parents, wrote an excellent post about her experience when her mother was hospitalized for surgery, and she includes lots of ideas that … Continue reading
Colonoscopies for Our Elder Parents? Maybe Not
I just finished reading Too Many Colonoscopies for the Elderly, a short article that appeared on the New Old Age blog at the New York Times. The March 12, 2013 post, by New Old Age journalist and editor Paula Span, explains how the United States Preventive Task Force recommends that routine screening colonoscopies not be … Continue reading
What’s It Like to Have Alzheimer’s and Get Worse?
Those of us who have lived with dementia or Alzheimer’s in our families know about the struggle. But rarely does an opportunity come along to read about what’s happening to memory from the perspective of the person who is ill and gradually becoming sicker. Facing a Fading Future: Retired Doctor Chronicles His Struggles With Alzheimer’s … Continue reading
And There Was Sight! A Coda for Retina and Cataract Issues
Check out the story about my retinal condition in the March 2013 issue of Prevention. The magazine does not allow non-subscribers to access the articles, but if you happen to be in the grocery check-out line, you can read about many of the eye problems that people experience as they age including the detached retina … Continue reading
Why is Hospice Still A Tough Call–Even for People Who Know?
When a person is approaching the end of life, we can find no easy answers, no solution that fits every person’s or family’s situation, even when they know a lot about the options available to them. To illustrate this you will want to read For Hospice Pioneer, Still a Tough Call, by Paula Span at … Continue reading
A Snow Story Never Heard Before: iPad for Dad #23
Read other iPad for Dad posts. Whether or not you help a parent get started writing on an iPad, when you encourage writing activities you often get the opportunity to read wonderful stories like the memory below. I had never heard about this event before Dad composed his short essay. Dad writes on his iPad at … Continue reading
As Our Parents Age So Do We 