My mother and a lot of her friends, including many seniors, are on Facebook. Recently I checked her account and discovered that she did not have the privacy settings adjusted appropriately. Too much information was available to too many people whom she did not know. So we went through the settings at Account-Privacy Settings (top … Continue reading
Filed under Caregiving …
Dementia: The Problem of Wandering
The May 4, 2010 New York Times features a health article, More With Dementia Wander from Home, focusing on the problems families experience when a family member with dementia wanders and gets lost. The piece explains how a rising number of confused dementia patients are walking away from home, requiring the development of new policing and … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Dehydration Dangers
Warm weather brings increasing concern about dehydration, and it is especially worrisome for older seniors. I am thinking more about this today after reading an update at the Life With Father blog that describes how difficult it can be to get an elderly parent to drink enough liquids. Dehydration is a huge concern for elderly … Continue reading
Late-Stage Dementia, Hospitals, and Feeding Tubes
A professor at the Brown University Medical School was the lead author on a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), Hospital Characteristics Associated With Feeding Tube Placement in Nursing Home Residents With Advanced Dementia (abstract). Joan M. Teno, MD, used Medicare data from 2000 to 2007 to evaluate how … Continue reading
Caring for Aging Parents…Balancing Life… Podcasts
Take a few minutes to read the post Striking a Balance: Eldercare and the Workplace over at Changing Aging, the blog of geriatrician Dr. Bill Thomas (his bio at As Time Goes By). The post discusses how to balance parent caregiving with the rest of life. He was joined in a presentation by Dr. Judah Ronch (both men … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Disposing of Unused Medications
If even one of your parents takes medications for a chronic condition, you know that it is not unusual for a switch or a dose adjustment. Changing medical conditions, drug interactions, and side effects in older adults require physicians to make changes, and each of our parents has experienced the need for a medication adjustment … Continue reading
Dementia Patients and Inner City Teens: Friendship
People experiencing dementia, even those with loving family members nearby, are often bored, frightened, and agitated. Rarely do they get enough socialization. An April 14, 2010, Chicago Tribune article by Ted Gregory, Elderly Dementia Patients and “At-risk” Students Create Friendships, describes a successful activity in Chicago that builds relationships between teens and elderly people living with … Continue reading
Aging Parents, Dementia, and Driving Safety: New from Neurologists
This past week the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) held its annual meeting in Toronto. At this meeting neurologists revised and updated guidelines about driving and dementia. Adult children and physicians can use the information to help determine if and when an aging parent with dementia should stop driving. Here is a list of news … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
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 … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Lengthy and Possibly Arduous Caregiving
Take a few minutes to read Long Goodbye of the Elderly Can Create Crisis for Family Caregivers in the April 6, 2010 Washington Post Health section. Abigail Trafford describes what we experienced during three years of aging parent caregiving. She writes, “The long goodbye is a predictable chapter in our lives. Giving care — and receiving … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Falls — In Time Prevention? Part III
Do we wait too long to educate people about the danger of falls and how to go about preventing them? I ask myself this question over and over as I consider past aging parent falls and anticipate what might happen in the future. I’ve perused a wide range of fall prevention resources, ticked off countless … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Research on End-of-Life Decisions
Researchers at the University of Michigan have published Advance Directives and Outcomes of Surrogate Decision Making Before Death (abstract link) in the April 1, 2010, issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. The study included 3,746 participants and focused on their end-of-life decisions between 2000 and 2006. Another article about the end-of-life research is at … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Death from Falls, Part II, Observations
Observation about Seniors and Falling (for resources on falling see Senior Adults and Falling and Keeping Our Parents and Ourselves Accident Free) Three out of four of our parents fell while they were living active lives, albeit with certain chronic medical conditions. All four attended classes or workshops on balance assessment and fall prevention. Our … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Death from Falls, Part I
With aging parents on my mind a lot these days, I am extra clued into sickness, decline, and factors that contribute to the end of an elderly person’s life. Frequently I ask two questions. Why do falls have such a strong association with the death of people over age 65, and why isn’t prevention more … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Post About Medication Management
Medication Support Information Check out Dale Carter’s post, Important, Little-known Resource for an Aging Parent, at her Transition Aging Parents blog. She writes about Medication Therapy Management (MTM), a service my husband and I wish we had known about for his mother, who died in January. It looks like an amazing service, one that I plan to learn … Continue reading
Caregiving – Coordinating the Stakeholders
As a parent ages, the range of people who offer support expands dramatically. The older the person the larger the group can be, with multiple doctors, caregivers, assisted living staff, family members, friends, and therapists. A broad range of supporters is a plus, but a designated coordinator, someone in possession of the big picture, is … Continue reading
Geriatrician Crisis in the U.S.
Found this interesting article about the need for geriatrician. Here’s the intro. “Think about it… If the number of students doubled and the number of teachers didn’t, that would be a problem, right? Well, a parallel to this scenario is actually taking place in the health care world: our elderly population will double by 2030 … Continue reading
Quality of Care Leader May Head Medicare
According to the New York Times, President Obama will be appointing an experienced and collaborative physician as the new administrator of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The article by Robert Pear, Obama Chooses Health Policy Scholar as the Director for Medicare and Medicaid, reported that Donald M. Berwick, M.D. is to be … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Touch Screen Technology Innovations
Aging parent supporters and caregivers know how gratifying it is to sit with an elderly parent looking through old photograph albums. While we all love to do this, uncomfortable moments can arise when parents with dementia experience anxiety when they cannot remember an event. Now comes interesting dementia research reported in the March 25, 2010 … Continue reading
As Our Parents Age So Do We 