When my husband’s mother lived in an excellent assisted living community, we found severe weather to be a challenge. Huge storms, no matter what the season, made it difficult to stay in touch. Gail Sheehy’s November 3, 2012 article about elder and medical caregiving during Hurricane/Superstorm Sandy is posted over at Caring.com. It’s a must-read … Continue reading
Filed under Caregiving …
Senator McGovern in Hospice Care
Hospice offers so many options and opportunities to families. This Associated Press article appeared in today’s Washington Post (10-16-2012). It is worth reading.
Medicare Prescription Drug Plans: Basic Info for 2013
It’s that time of year again — the open season when Medicare beneficiaries keep, change, or make modifications to their prescription drug benefit plans (Part D). A September 25th Associated Press (AP) article, Report: Double-Digit Premium Hikes Seen in 7 of 10 Top Medicare Prescription Drug Plans appeared online in The Washington Post. Adult children with elder parents should treat this … Continue reading
Out-of-Pocket Medical Expenses Loom Large Despite Medicare
Adult children who help aging parents should check out the Washington Post article At End of Life, Medicare Beneficiaries Spend Thousands Out-of-Pocket. Reporter Sarah Kliff explains that a recent study, Out of Pocket Spending in the Last Five Years of Life (abstract), published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, examined the amount of money that aging … Continue reading
Woodland Park (VMRC) Green House Homes Update: August 26, 2012
Construction of the Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community Green House Homes at Woodland Park is moving along. On two of the buildings the outside stonework will be completed soon. The stonework was so lovely that I shot a close-up with my camera.
Learning All We Can About Assisted Living
Check out 10 Things Assisted Living Homes Won’t Tell You, an August 15, 2012 article over at Smart Money. These tips for adult children and their families look like common sense suggestions. Often however, when family members seek an assisted living community for an elder parent, they need to make decisions quickly without much time … Continue reading
Jane Gross – “On Being” Program Rebroadcast
On her Facebook page A Bittersweet Season author, Jane Gross, mentioned that one of her book interviews with On Being radio host, Krista Tippett, will re-air today (Thursday, July 26, 2012). Gross wrote her book after her journey in the elder parent caregiving world, and she shares a broad range of insights, ideas, and thoughts. I listened to this … Continue reading
Woodland Park Green Houses: On the Inside, June 11, 2012
The VMRC Green Houses at Woodland Park are beginning to look like real houses with roofs, windows, and doors. Now much of the construction has moved indoors. This time when I visited, Mr. Marvin Nisely, who supervises the construction at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community, took me on an inside tour of one of the homes. Expand … Continue reading
Woodland Park Green Houses Have Roofs! June 3, 2012
Last weekend I spent the day with my parents at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community. On a beautiful Shenandoah Valley late spring day, we walked around near the construction site and shot these pictures of the Green Houses slowly turning into Green Homes. Two buildings have walls and roofs and the third has its foundation. So … Continue reading
Money, Money, Money
Money is a big, big issue in retirement. While I am several years from my retirement, I think about my plans carefully, wondering almost daily what else I can to ensure my security. Managing finances for some of our aging parents is a challenge. And the older people get the bigger an issue it becomes, … Continue reading
Woodland Park Green House Walls are Rising – April 28, 2012
The walls continue to rise above the foundations at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community.
Green House Homes News from Maryland
A Kaiser Health News article, Maryland’s First Green House Project Nursing Home Aids Low-Income Seniors, described a new community on the site of the old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Associated Catholic Charities will run the Green House Residences at Stadium Place. Am I mistaken or is does the headline contain an oxymoron? Is it possible to … Continue reading
Get Rid of Old Meds
If you have old and unused medications stashed around your house — or if your elder parents have them — make a note of the 2012 Take-Back Initiative. It’s sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and coming right up on April 28th (that’s this Saturday). Participants can safely get rid of pills and bottles that are sitting around … Continue reading
Green House Construction Update at VMRC – April 8, 2012
Easter Sunday at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community Construction Site April 8, 2012 My posts on the Woodland Park Construction and other Green House® Homes information include:
Chronic Conditions of People Living in Residential Care
What are the most common chronic medical conditions of people who live in residential care facilities, including assisted living communities? This graph depicts the 10 most common chronic conditions of residential care residents. The data come from a National Center for Health Statistics survey of United States residential facilities, not including nursing homes. Check out the other … Continue reading
Tribes of Eden — by Dr. Bill Thomas — Book Launch
Click on the image or visit Changing Aging, the site of Dr. Bill Thomas, to learn about his new book, Tribes of Eden, which comes out this week. Dr. Thomas’ post tells about the activities that will celebrate the book’s launch, but it’s especially easy to take part in the festivities on Wednesday, April, 4, … Continue reading
Green House Construction Update at VMRC – April 3, 2012
A few weeks ago I spent a day with my parents, and I checked out the Green House Homes construction at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community. The earliest part of construction, right now after the groundbreaking, is the most challenging time for everyone to watch, because we want to see more than we are seeing. It’s that … Continue reading
Effectiveness – A Frustrating Concept in Medical Care
Over the past several years we’ve heard a lot about the effectiveness of medical treatments. It’s frustrating to put together the puzzle parts on this issue, but especially so when a family member is ill with a serious disease. Sometimes going forward with a treatment feels better than seeming to do nothing. When aging issues … Continue reading
Green Houses in NY State and How They Work
This interesting article, Nursing Homes Trend Toward More Homey, Less Institutional Settings, in the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle describes the quality-of-life changes that residents and families experience when a family member lives in a Green House Project home. Reporter Patti Singer provides a window, allowing readers a glimpse of life in a care community where … Continue reading
Maybe Some Good News About Fighting Alzheimer’s?
Short excerpt from The Fiscal Times, March 14, 2012 A Bold New Attack on the Alzheimer’s Scourge I’ve added a few links to this excerpt. Click on the above link to read the entire article by Michael Hodin, Executive Director of The Global Coalition on Aging. Dr. [Peter] Piot, who served as executive director of the … Continue reading
As Our Parents Age So Do We 