Tagged with senior _health …

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 →

Google Search Suggestions Support Suicide Prevention

Google Gets It … According to the New York Times, when a person searches with terms that could indicate suicidal thoughts, Google results will automatically include suggestions about suicide prevention, including a hotline telephone number. This policy, thought it cannot respond to every potential end-of-life search term, may make the difference in helping a person … 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 →

Writing a Parent’s Remembrance, Part I

Other Posts Relating to Remembrances: After a Parent’s Death: Writing a Remembrance, Part II,    After an Aging Parent’s Death: Obituaries and Remembrances,  Mother’s Memorial Service When an elderly parent accumulates serious medical diagnoses, becomes weaker, and is sick more often than not, set aside time to review memories and talk about life. Engage in … 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 →

NIH Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease

NIH State-of-the-Science Conference Preventing Alzheimer’s Disease and Cognitive Decline April 26-28, 2010        Bethesda, MD Register Online (there is no registration fee to attend this conference) Agenda (Monday – Wednesday proceedings)   Background Information A conference to evaluate the available scientific information on Alzheimer’s disease and develop a statement that advances understanding of the issue. Health professionals … 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 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 →