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
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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
Elderly Patients: Nurse Practitioner? Physician’s Assistant?
Last night, April 13, 2010, the Associated Press article, Doctor Shortage? 28 States May Expand Nurses’ Role, by Carla K Johnson, appeared online, discussing the changing roles of nurse practitioners in the delivery of today’s health care. The article reminds me that my parents and others their age can be confused about the roles and … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Bodies Slower but Same World View
Aging parents, we should all understand, have frustratingly aging bodies, yet many are seeing and perceiving the world just as they always have. In fact, I’ve heard them say how curious it is to look in the mirror and see themselves staring back. Some wonder, “Who is that old person looking back at me?” About 25 … Continue reading
Aging Parents Are Safer — Dr. Atul Gawande Fan Club
If I were a more avid, public, and maybe younger Facebook user, I might start a fan club for Dr. Atul Gawande and invite lots of adult children who are aging parent caregivers to join. Ever since he started writing, Dr. Gawande has demystified medicine, hospitals, surgery, public health, and public policy. In my household … 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: 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: 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
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
Aging Parents: Medicare Doughnut (Donut) Hole Changes
Check out the March 24, 2010, NY Times for Tara Parker-Pope’s post, How Different Types of People Will Be Affected by the Health Care Overhaul, which also incorporates an amazing interactive graphic enabling people to see what changes will occur to groups of people who fit into various categories — fully insured and employed couple, disabled individual, couples or … Continue reading
Aging Children – Check Out this Blog: Help! Aging Parents
Recently I’ve been reading the blog Help! Aging Parents, so I decided to add it to my blog lists as well as subscribe via RSS to the most recent three posts. I like Susan’s blog mission, sharing thoughts, ideas, and encouraging our own lifelong learning as we support our aging parents. Yesterday’s post, Aging Parents, … Continue reading
Boomers, Aging Parents, Dementia: New Blood Pressure Research
A new NIH research trial, enrolling 7,500 people for at least four years, will try to learn whether lowering blood pressure can help prevent dementia. Some observational epidemiologic data suggest a link between the two. This is a significant question not only for baby boomers who are helping to care for aging parents, but also … Continue reading
Medicare Donut (Doughnut) Hole-Health Insurance Coverage/Young Adult Kids
See links to other posts related to Medicare at the end of this posting. Many of us caring for the health of aging parents are simultaneously worrying about our children—young adults trying to enter the job market who have no health insurance coverage. Even before the recession we worried because so many of our young … Continue reading
Aging Parents: Explaining Congestive Heart Failure
Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a common diagnosis for seniors, and many of us will have more than one aging parents with this condition. The diagnosis, indicating a progressive disease, often requires multi-year medial care and can require invasive cardiac procedures, many medications, lifestyle and diet changes, and medical supplies such as compression stockings which … Continue reading
Dementia, Assistive Technology, and the Telephone Search
As Mother’s dementia progressed, her ability to do basic tasks, the activities of daily living, decreased. Using the telephone, a critical communication activity, was increasingly difficult. Thus we were always on the lookout for a phone that required her to do less but enabled her to communicate and hear more. Over time she progressed from the regular … Continue reading
As Our Parents Age So Do We 