For years now The New Old Age blog at The New York Times has been a must-read for people with aging parents as well as for people who blog about aging and caregiving issues. Started in 2008 by Jane Gross and later presided over by Paula Span, The New Old Age always had its finger on the … Continue reading
Filed under senior parents …
When and Why Seniors Use Technology
I recommend checking out this short piece, Help Seniors Stay Connected Through Technology, published in The Tennessean. Written by Ann Bishop, the article suggests ways to help seniors and I might add, aging parents, engage with technology and take more advantage of communication opportunities. Best Quote Technology should be a two-part gift, where in addition … 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
Dale Carter’s Eden Alternative Interview on BlogTalk Radio
The past two posts here on AsOurParentsAge have described the Woodland Park groundbreaking for Green House® homes at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community (VMRC). A good deal of the Green House project philosophical basics grew out of Eden Alternative, and Dale Carter over at Transition Aging Parents has an excellent interview on the Eden Model at her blogtalk radio … 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
Are Kids Safer When Grandparents Drive?
I’ve just read an thought-provoking research article from the journal, Pediatrics, Grandparents Driving Grandchildren: An Evaluation of Child Passenger Safety and Injuries (freely available, PDF full text or abstract. As a part of this study, the researchers from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) and the University of Pennsylvania Medical School collected insurance data on 11,850 children who … Continue reading
Grandma’s 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. Still I refrained. … Continue reading
Senior Patient Hospitalization, #5: The ER Worked Fast
If you like this post, please read my Senior Parent Hospitalization posts: Report #1: This Hospital Gets It, Report #2: Peace and Quiet, Report #3: Four Ways to Reduce Stress for Patient Families, Report #4: Observations from My Dad, Report #5: The Emergency Room Worked Fast, and Report #6: Learning About Cardiac Procedures and Surgeries. It was long past … Continue reading
Grandparents, Parents, Grandchildren: Family Blogging?
How would digital literacy and behavior improve if more families saw blogging as a way to communicate, share, and connect with extended family members, as well as teach children, parents, and grandparents the basics about global communication? Would they be thrilled that their younger family members had a big head start developing digital citizenship skills? … Continue reading
Are Robots an Answer to Caregiving Needs?
Read Does Seamus the Robot Care for Me at the Albany Times Union. The February 27, 2011 article, by Michael Brannigan, explores the use of robots for elder caregiving. Brannigan references Sherry Turkle’s book, Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Ourselves, a recently published book that explores the ever-changing degrees … Continue reading
Dale Carter – Transitioning Your Aging Parents Book Tour
Dale Carter’s book, Transitioning Your Aging Parent, is a must read for anyone with senior parents who need extra support. The book has been well reviewed — a resource that helps right now, and honestly, it still may be a useful resource years from now when we require support from our children. Follow Dale’s blog, … Continue reading
When Social Security Says the Wrong Person is Dead
The Medicare and More column over at the Tuscon Citizen posted a December 13, 2010 story describing how the social security administration mistakenly recorded a man’s death when it was really his wife who died. In the blog post, Social Security to Local Senior: You’re Dead, MedicareBlogger explains how the problem seemed to expand in information-changing concentric … Continue reading
Seniors’ Bank Cards: Stop Switching Them!
Three times in the last 12 months my mother has received a phone call from her bank credit card company telling her she has a wonderful opportunity to receive a new card. Three times she’s been made to feel like she has to do it. So suddenly Mom has a new card, a new number, … Continue reading
Aging Parent Hospitalizations – Family Caregiving Tips
Our family has experienced two types of aging parent hospitalizations, and we handled each in a slightly different way. For surgeries a or medical procedures that required a hospitals stay, we monitored the situation one way, but if our parent was hospitalized overnight for dehydration or observation, we focused on different things. Our aim, in … Continue reading
Inside Aging Parent Care — A Blog Worth Following
If you haven’t already explored, Inside Aging Parent Care (the writers have commented a couple of times on this blog), head on over to read thoughtful, intriguing and skillfully written postings, many of which zero in on how we as caregivers can and should harness our inner strength. Caring for the caregiver — what a … Continue reading
iPad for Dad, #4 – Learning Curves
If you like this post, read some of the other descriptions of our Father/Daughter iPad for Dad adventures — iPad for Dad, #1, iPad for Dad, #2, iPad for Dad, #3, iPad for Dad, #4, iPad for Dad, #5, iPad for Dad, #6, iPad for Dad, #7, iPad for Dad, #8, iPad for Dad, #9, iPad for Dad, #10, iPad for Dad, #11, iPad … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Happy Mother’s Day!
Last January I wrote this post about my amazing mother. Not too many people read it then, so I am recycling it because I had so much fun writing it. It is also pasted in below. What an amazing woman! Besides being one of the Obama super-volunteers in the Shenandoah Valley last year, she is active in … Continue reading
iPad for Dad, #1 – Getting the iPad Ready for Dad
If you like this post, read some of the other descriptions of our Father/Daughter iPad for Dad adventures — iPad for Dad, #1, iPad for Dad, #2, iPad for Dad, #3, iPad for Dad, #4, iPad for Dad, #5, iPad for Dad, #6, iPad for Dad, #7, iPad for Dad, #8, iPad for Dad, #9, iPad for Dad, #10, iPad for Dad, #11, iPad … 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, Atrial Fibrillation, and Dementia
New research, published last week in the April 2010 edition of the journal Heart Rhythm, reports an association between atrial fibrillation and all types of dementia. The article, Atrial Fibrillation Is Independently Associated with Senile, Vascular, and Alzheimer’s Dementia (abstract and full text available), describes the study, which included 37,025 patients already a part of … Continue reading
As Our Parents Age So Do We 