The Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times recently published an instructive article explaining in detail what adult children can do to help our parents stay out of nursing homes. Written by Karen Ravn, the article suggests focusing on nine specific issues that make an enormous difference in the safety and security of a senior parent’s home environment — … Continue reading
Filed under aging parents …
Dementia Reality Tour
An article in the San Jose Mercury News describes a multi-sensory experience that simulates the perceptions and struggles of a person suffering from dementia. In Santa Clara ‘Dementia Reality Tour’ Shows What It’s Like to Live with the Affliction, Mercury News reporter Helen Shen describes how the simulation asks caregivers to complete routine activities of daily living (ADLs) … Continue reading
Middle Age, Senior Years, Elder Years, REPEAT or RERUN
My husband and I are empty nesters. Over these past few years, as blog readers know, we helped to support his parents, now deceased. These days we regularly touch base with my parents by phone and in person as often as possible, and though they are currently independent and active, at times they welcome our … Continue reading
Epidemiologists, Disease Detecting, and Media Literacy
From time to time a small outbreak of an uncommon disease occurs — often in an unexpected location. Sometimes it’s publicized and we hear about it, but at other times the outbreak is small enough that most people only hear after the fact. Either way, many of our elderly parents, and many of us, find … Continue reading
iPad for Dad, #21: An Easy-to-Use Speaker
My dad loves to listen to music, mostly classical, but other musical genres as well. Mostly he fires up his stereo, a boom-box, or the local classical music radio station. Now, he has a third option — listening with his iPad. For Christmas we gave Dad the iHome rechargeable portable speaker for iPad. The iPad itself … Continue reading
More Cuts to Aging And Caregiving Services
In Slow Starvation of Senior Services columnist Howard Gleckman writes that Congress, shortly before going on Christmas recess, cut funding for a number of services for seniors and elderly Americans. He describes how some program budgets for seniors and the elderly were cut outright, but that other programs are starved into reducing services when funds are not raised year … Continue reading
Jane Gross on NPR’s Tell Me More
If you missed the Michel Martin’s Tell Me More on Monday, January 23, 2012, head over to the program’s website to hear Jane Gross talk about her book, A Bittersweet Season: Caring For Our Aging Parents and Ourselves. Her conversation covered a broad range of aging parent-adult child topics including Medicare, financial problems, end-of life issues, … Continue reading
Amazing Alzheimer’s Videos Via a Small Hyperlink
When you read a good quality digital article or blog and think you know just about everything that it contains, check the hyperlinks — they may bring you some surprises. In fact, a small discrete hyperlink may open the door to resources that you don’t want to miss. In my case I discovered a set … Continue reading
My Mom Gets an iPhone, #1
Like lots of other people this fall, I bought a new iPhone, the 4s model. My old 3G iPhone, which works just fine, went to my mother. My mom likes to look things up, something that smartphones do easily. She has envied family members with iPhones and Androids, starting a year or two ago right … Continue reading
Another Post on Dementia and The Iron Lady
Karin Kasdin writes on dementia and the Margaret Thatcher movie, The Iron Lady, reflecting and reinforcing some of my thoughts in Dementia, Margaret Thatcher, and What It’s Really Like (January 15, 2012). Moreover, she writes more about privacy issues, includes an insightful quote from Meryl Streep, and deftly identifies the fear that many adult children experience — and I include myself here — when … Continue reading
Take Action on SOPA – If you Write or Read Blogs
Take time today to call (that’s right telephone) Congressional Offices and tell them that this iteration of SOPA will encourage all sorts of censorship — and it’s wrong!
Dementia, Thatcher’s Privacy, and What It’s Really Like
Last night about 20 minutes into watching The Iron Lady interact with her dead husband, I leaned over to my husband and exclaimed, “Now I really understand what it was like was for your mother — she saw those things.” This movie is about dementia, not history. Lady Thatcher’s conversations with her husband Denis, were … Continue reading
Epidemiology: What Is It and Why Should Adult Children Know About It?
It happens over and over again as I listen to the radio or read the news. I hear about an aging parent issue or a disease that is increasing in magnitude. Or sometime it’s a health issue that is affecting certain groups of people or a new bit of research that describes problems with an … Continue reading
Becoming an Adult Child Isn’t Easy
Take a few minutes to check out and consider reading Growing Up is Hard to Do: Forced into Adulthood by an Aging Parent, by Sarah Khan. Her dad was hospitalized at 62, though he was still employed and went back to work after his hospitalization. The article is online at The Atlantic website. No matter when … Continue reading
Pictures from 2012 VMRC Green House Groundbreaking
January 5, 2012 Click on each thumbnail to see a larger image. To learn more please read these posts about Woodland Park Green House Homes, a new community at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community. Woodland Park Green Houses Have Roofs, June 3, 2012 Woodland Park Green House Walls are Rising – April 28, 2012 Green House Homes … Continue reading
Green House Homes Groundbreaking at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community
Late yesterday afternoon, January 5, 2012, I attended a groundbreaking event at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC). Several hundred residents, family members, VMRC staff, board members, and friends celebrated the beginning of construction on three new Green House® Homes — the first residences in a new community to be called Woodland Park. While most of the event … Continue reading
Forging Adult Children-Aging Parent Connections BEFORE the Challenging Years
It’s that time of year again. Many blogs and caregiving articles are encouraging adult children to “be alert for signs” of extreme aging. With titles such as “Ten Things to Observe When You Visit Your Aging Parents Over the Holidays” or “How to Spy and Check Out Whether A Parent Needs Support,” the posts explain … Continue reading
Family Members’ Attention-Visits Make a Huge Difference
I’ve just finished reading Involved Family Is a Key to Receiving Good Care in Nursing Homes, a December 13, 2011 article in the Detroit Free Press. The report describes how a nursing home resident benefits enormously when family members drop in to visit on a regular basis and get to know the staff that is caring … Continue reading
New Health Care Directive Registry in Virginia
In case you missed this news on December 7, 2011, you may want to learn more about the new Virginia health care directive registry. It’s a free service. This article, Virginia Announces Free Online Health Care Registry, appeared on Richmond’s NBC News 12 site and explains more. The Virginia Department of Health, working in a … Continue reading
Great Radio Show, Dr. Berwick! Emerging Rock Star?
National Public Radio’s On Point program with host Tom Ashbrook comes out of WBUR in Boston. The December 6, 2011 program featured Dr. Donald Berwick sharing his thoughts, ideas, and vast knowledge about improving health care — and Dr. Berwick was only a few days past taking leave as head of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). On the talk show … Continue reading
As Our Parents Age So Do We 