CULTURE
CHANGE THROUGHOUT THE CONTINUUM
OF LIFE-LONG LIVING & LONG-TERM CARE
"There is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time
has come." ~ Victor Hugo
Photo: Christy Lewis
Special Tributes This Month:
Congratulations to Pioneer Network on your 10th Annual Conference, “Meeting at the Crossroads!” You convened over 1,200 people for a phenomenal experience focusing on improving life for elders. Kudos to Karen Stobbe for making it beyond memorable!
Kathy Greenlee, U.S. Assistant Secretary for Aging, thank you for your national leadership, focus on long-term independence, and your person-centered support of the culture change movement.
Thank you to Karen Schoeneman, winner of the 2010 Picker Award for Excellence® in the Advancement of Patient-Centered Care in the Long-Term Care Setting, for your vision and making it RAIN. You taught us that we can be like WATER, because water knows where it needs to go!
Dorothy Seman, thank you for your inspiration… You are an example to all of us that the decisions that we make every day can literally change someone’s life ~ even a cab driver can be a world changer. And for reminding us that, “The best way to predict the future is to help create it.”
And to Omar Cain, “The Rapping C.N.A.,” for showing us how to BE LOUD and BE PROUD!!!
LISTEN TO OMAR tell his story in his unique way!
Content Category Shortcuts:
1. GEORGIA NEWS
The Office of the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman (Georgia Division of Aging Services) invites you to join us for a day-long symposium called "Changing the Culture of Long Term Care." The symposium is an opportunity to explore the Culture Change movement, which is based on person-centered values and practices, where the voices of elders and those working with them always come first. Together with representatives from local Area Agencies on Aging (AAAs), ombudsman programs, legislators, regulators, and providers in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other long-term care facilities, attendees will explore Culture Change transformation, learn about models used nationwide, share best practices, discuss obstacles, and brainstorm ideas for local and long-term progress.
The program will be offered in
For more information and resources please see the online registration form, We hope you will be able to join us.
Gerontology Institute at Georgia State University Releases New Book, “Frontline Workers in Assisted Living”
Congratulations to our friends and colleagues at the Gerontology
Institute at Georgia State University on the release of a new book, Frontline Workers in Assisted Living now
available from Johns Hopkins University Press. This book uses qualitative methods and
multilevel statistical modeling techniques to examine individual- and community-level
factors that influence the experiences and work conditions of direct care
workers in assisted living. Edited by Mary M. Ball, Molly M. Perkins, Carole
Hollingsworth, and Candace L. Kemp. Dr. Ball serves on the Georgia Ombudsman
Program Advisory Council, and was formerly a staff member of
New
Research Reveals Georgians Unaware of Those Living With Developmental
Disabilities:
Statewide survey portrays persons with
disabilities as invisible people with invisible issues.
(Source: Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities, www.disabled-world.com)
Just
days before the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, a new
statewide survey reveals that Georgians have little exposure to persons with
disabilities and understanding of the daily challenges they face.
According
to the survey commissioned by the Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities
(GCDD), only one-third of
"This survey reveals that persons with developmental disabilities and their issues are still somewhat invisible to everyday society," said Eric Jacobson, executive director, GCDD. "Although, we have made progress as a result of the Americans with Disabilities Act, there is still a lot of education to be done among the general public; and the best way for that to happen is to create a society that better integrates persons with disabilities in our schools, workforce and community. Understanding comes through exposure and awareness. The Georgia Council on Developmental Disabilities is committed to achieving this goal through public policy, advocacy, programs and public information." MORE
Pioneer Network Spearheads Culture Change Community Comments to CMS Regarding Use of Civil Money Penalty Funds (CMPs)
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) sought comments for proposed rules regarding the use of civil money penalty funds for nursing homes. The deadline for comments was Wednesday, August 11th. The Culture Change Community rallied, under the leadership of Pioneer Network, to respond in force. Thanks to grant funding from Rothschild Foundation, Pioneer Network created an electronic toolkit -- including model language with easy “cut and paste” format, to simplify the process of responding and providing comments and consensus. This issue is critical to the culture change movement. To learn more, visit the site:
One Way to Judge a Nursing Home: Talk to the Nurses’ Aides
(Source: By DALE RUSSAKOFF, newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com)
Photo: Chang W. Lee/The New York Times
A certified nursing assistant helping an Alzheimer’s patient at a nursing home in New York.
While looking at nursing homes for my mother, I always asked the tour guides if I could talk to the nurses’ aides. This seemed to me a logical request. After all, these were the women — and they were all women — who would spend the most time with my mother, who would notice small changes that raised big questions, who would make her feel cared for. Or not. “They don’t do that,” I was told almost everywhere I visited.
I soon realized why. In casual conversations in hallways and dining rooms at more than a dozen facilities, I found only one nurses’ aide who had been on the job more than six months. I was witnessing in real life one of the most dismal statistics in long-term care: More than 70 percent of nurses’ aides, or certified nursing assistants, change jobs in a given year.
Then
came the tour guide who didn’t say no. “No one has ever asked that before, but
why not?” the marketing director of a
I decided this was the place for my mother. These women used the word “we” when talking about the nursing home, making clear that they felt a sense of ownership. And it seemed significant that the marketing director asked their permission before allowing me to impose on their break time. Moreover, he trusted them enough to leave me alone with them in the break room…
Culture change initiatives are under way in nursing homes around the country to make aides’ jobs more fulfilling — not so much through better pay, but by offering better training, more responsibility and more respect from superiors. The aides at my mother’s nursing home had all this, plus health and pension benefits… MORE
READ THE COMMENTS FROM READERS HERE
Chicago Nursing Home Joins
Flexibility Revolution
(Source: Barbara Brotman, Chicago Tribune)
The
revolution at the Bethesda Home and
The "culture change" movement seeks to get these facilities to alter their physical layout and their caregiving practices to create homelike environments where residents are seen not as passive recipients of care but as individuals with control over their lives. Nursing homes that embrace the new philosophy are letting residents decide when to bathe, eat and sleep; allowing them to organize their own activities; and redesigning nursing units into small "households."
Advocates say residents in such homes are happier and healthier; the employees have more job satisfaction; and giving care this way even costs less. And baby boomers who need long-term care will expect no less, said Julie Boggess, chief executive officer at the Bethesda Home, on the Northwest Side. "I became an adult in the late '60s; I'm real accustomed to doing things my way, and I'm not very apologetic about it," she said.
She
doesn't even like to speak of "allowing" residents to sleep late.
"It's not for us to give them that freedom," she said. "They
should have it." But until
The idea is not new. The Pioneer Network, a national umbrella group of nursing home providers and consumer advocates, has been promoting it since it was formed in 1997. Yet only 25 percent of the nation's nursing homes say they have "for the most part" embraced culture change, according to a 2007 survey by the Commonwealth Fund, and only 5 percent say they have done so "completely." MORE
'Villages' Let Elderly Grow Old At Home
(Source:
By Haya El Nasser, USA TODAY)
Photo: By Doug Kapustin for USA TODAY
Volunteer Margaret Missiaen tends a garden in the yard of Maurine Phinisee, 90, left, who is back in her Washington, D.C., home with the help of Capitol Hill Village.
The explosive growth of the USA's older population is fueling a grass-roots "village" movement in neighborhoods across the country to help people age in their own homes. More than 50 villages in a neighbor-helping-neighbor system have sprouted in the past decade from California and Colorado to Nebraska and Massachusetts. They are run largely by volunteers and funded by grants and membership fees to provide services from transportation and grocery delivery to home repairs and dog walking.
Most villages have opened in the past couple of years, an indication that the momentum is growing in the face of a demographic tsunami: The number of Americans 65 and older is expected to more than double to 89 million by 2050, according to the Census Bureau. The oldest of 79 million Baby Boomers turn 65 next year, a turning point that will begin to put pressure on social services, retirement homes and assisted-living facilities.
The "village" concept is taking off in small and big cities and suburbs across the country as the percentage of elderly rises while the share of the working-age population that supports them declines. The percentage of people 65 and older is projected to climb from 13% today to 19% by 2050, while the share of adults age 20 to 64 is expected to drop from 60% to 55%, the Census Bureau says.
"We will hit a really pivotal point," says Julie Maggioncalda, a University of Pennsylvania geriatric social work student who is interning at the Capitol Hill Village in Washington, D.C. Nursing homes won't be able to handle all the elderly, she says. "We simply don't have enough space, and if we don't have a village, that burden will fall on families," Maggioncalda says.
CLICK HERE for full article and chart of Existing and Planned Villages
Sowing the Seeds of Culture Change and Person Centered Thinking: Chicken or Egg?
(Source: Posted by: srdaystay | July 22, 2010, The Path to Home)
Scientists recently announced that they now have proof of which came first, the chicken or the egg. Surprisingly, they say it was the chicken. I doubt, however, that this age-old debate will stop just because of this new finding. However, it got me thinking that sometimes, sorting out “culture change” and “person-centered thinking” can be a little like the chicken and egg conversation. Which exists before the other? Which is most important?
Recently an associate expressed confusion over the relationship between “person-centered thinking” and “culture change”, and asked for my guidance in thinking it through. What she wanted to sort out was which of these terms encompasses the other and is of greater importance. MORE
Assisted Living Facility Benefits from Community Culture Change Activity
(Source: The
Gazette, July 2010)
On May 16, Eden Springs Living Center,
an assisted living facility in Durham, North Carolina, received numerous
improvements from members of the Christ The King Moravian Church of Durham.
About 75 church members landscaped, painted, hung art pictures and made small
repairs at the facility. Additionally, residents at the facility spent the
morning at the church with approximately 35 church members. Each resident
received a new sheet set and bath towel set, donated by church members.
Many
community vendors, including Dillard’s BBQ, Sears, Witherspoon Rose Nursery,
Sherwin-Williams,
For pictures of the event, visit
www.tjaaa.org, or contact Carmelita Karhoff, regional long-term care ombudsman
for Durham County at 919-558-2714 or e-mail. CLICK
HERE for entire article
A "Culture Change" Permeates Island Nursing Home As
Plans Emerge: Deer Isle, Maine
(Source: by Faith DeAmbrose, Island Ad-Vantages, July
29, 2010)
Work on developing a long-range plan for the Island Nursing Home is well on its way to creating and implementing sustainable changes in daily operations there. Volunteer planners have been meeting for a year and expect to continue the process for another year. The long range planning process took another step forward June 26, as approximately 40 volunteer participants (comprising 10 working committees) met to discuss their progress and talk about next steps in what is being called a 20/20 visioning process that looks ahead to the year 2020.
Recognized widely as a community asset, INH is home to 70 residents (long- and short-term), is the primary source of revenue for up to 100 employees, and maintains a waiting list at least 10 deep at any given time. Over the last few years improvements at the facility, including a redesigned courtyard, have been made with the aim of implementing what INH Administrator Marc Plourde calls a “culture change.”
This
culture change is being taken another step further as INH makes resident
relations its number one priority. Plourde explained that a number of improvements
identified in the working committees are in the process of being implemented
ahead of final committee reports. He said some of the changes also came about
when the results of two surveys were calculated. One measured the satisfaction
of employees and the other measured the satisfaction of residents’
families. MORE
Residents Organize Employee Morale Committee
(Source: Pascack Valley
Residents at the Jewish Home Assisted Living in River Vale "want to do a little
extra for the employees," said resident Mel Robertz. In order to do this,
residents have organized an Employee Morale Committee, chaired by Robertz. The
committee will raise funds and decide on ways to show their appreciation.
"For instance, if an employee gets sick, we can send flowers. We've also
asked the employees for a wish list. If it's realistic we'd consider it," said
Robertz. In addition, the group sends cards to each employee on their
birthday and they're looking for other ways to show that the residents
value the employees' work, added committee member Jerry Zucker.
The
residents recently held their first fundraising effort — a raffle which was won
by resident Carrie Hain. They are now working on pulling together a gift basket
that they can raffle off.
Photo: Courtesy of Jewish Home Assisted Living
An Employee Morale Committee was recently organized by residents of the Jewish Home Assisted Living (JHAL) in River Vale. Pictured from left: resident Shirley Malick; social worker Nancy Ames; resident Joe Leeds; member of JHAL's dietary staff Judi Biondi; and resident Jerry Zucker pick a raffle ticket. The raffle was a fund-raiser for an employee appreciation program at the Jewish Home Assisted Living.
Elderspeak: New
Program to Improve Communication with Elders Now Available
(Source: Pioneer Network)
Language, and our choice of language has a very powerful effect on those around us. Elderspeak was developed by Daniel Baer, MD, to heighten awareness regarding the impact of communication tone and content with elders. LEARN MORE
Celebrating
the Sacredness of Life and Death
Webinar August 18th 3:00 PM EST
Learn how a group of people from different disciplines can work
together to improve end-of-life care and how we honor death for all members of
the community. Learn about the four points of a mission statement that
changed one organization's approach:
1) We believe death is sacred; 2) We believe that no one should die
alone; 3) We believe staff, families and Elders need time and space to grieve;
and 4) We honor the memory of every life we have been privileged to touch. Elmhurst Extended Care's Celebration of
Life program was honored by Rhode Island Quality Partners as the
recipient of the Advancing Innovation in Healthcare Award in 2009. Our
distinguished panelists will share how Celebration of Life is not only devoted
to improving end-of-life care, but also to celebrating the lives of
Panelists: Cheryl Fitzgerald, Director of Clinical Services at Elmhurst
Extended Care, is a nurse practitioner certified in geriatrics and an Eden
Alternative Mentor. Sharon Wolff, Director of Social Services, is an Eden
Alternative Mentor and Chair of Elmhurst's Celebration of Life Committee.
Richard Gamache serves as Administrator of Elmhurst Extended Care. He is
also an Eden Alternative Educator and
Young Designers Take on
Renovating a Skilled Nursing Facility
(SNF)
“Rethinking Home” Competition Winning Entries Reviewed
Webinar August 18th 1:00 PM EST
The inaugural AIAS/SAGE Student Design Competition "Rethinking
Home" challenges students in design schools throughout
Conversations with Carmen Monthly Web Talk Show
The shows are produced by Action Pact and hosted by Carmen Bowman. In one jam-packed hour your team will hear from an expert in the culture change movement on a timely subject, be exposed to some up-to-date "Culture Change in the News," and a closing feature called "Words to Consider" - taking a look at undignified language and dignified replacements to consider. There is more info at culturechangenow.com.
For $99.00 per site, as many people can watch as you can get around
a computer monitor or in a room to see a projection of the show. Many teams tell us that having their whole
team hear the same up-to-date, innovative information in an encouraging
conversation format helps them dive into what fits their community.
This month's expert guest and
topic is:
Date: Friday, August 20, 2010
Guest: Theresa Laufmann, Co-Director of
Nursing at Oakview Terrace, Freeman, SD
Topic:
Eliminating Restraints by Engaging the
Whole Person
Join the conversation in taking a step back to think about why we use restraints and
“less restrictive devices,” namely alarms. Are they working? We know this about physical restraints but are also
discovering that even alarms physically
and psychologically harm people while not really eliminating falls. In fact, eliminating all
restraints including alarms has reduced
falls in the homes that have made commitments to no longer use them. Oakview Terrace is one of
these leading homes. This enlightening and
encouraging conversation with Theresa Laufmann, co-DON at Oakview and expert on
eliminating restraints and alarms, will encourage you to think differently,
hear how it can be done and be creative
in
engaging the whole person in order to eliminate the need for any kind of
restraint.
Next month’s guest and topic
will be:
Date: Friday, September 17, 2010
Guest: Judah Ronch, PhD, Psychologist,
Professor and Interim Dean of the Erickson School of Aging
Topic: The New Negative Outcome and Harm
from Not Honoring Choice
As a psychologist working in the field of aging, Dr. Judah Ronch, knows the
psychological outcomes of choice and
lack of it. He will teach us about
“surplus safety,” “the right to folly,” our “future self” and how making
choices supports good cognitive and emotional health. Dr. Ronch will explain the positive outcomes
of being given choice as well as the negative outcomes from not being given
choice -what may very well be the “new negative outcome and harm from not honoring choice” not many people are
talking about yet even CMS has given additional attention to with new (July
2009) guidance for Tag F242 Self-determination and participation.
2010
Planetree Annual Conference and Long-Term Care Leadership Summit
October 5 – 8, 2010 in Denver, Colorado
The four-day event convenes internationally recognized health care leaders and will feature several distinguished keynote speakers, including: Dr. Andrew Weil, renowned integrative medicine physician; Dr. Carolyn M. Clancy, Director of AHRQ; Jeff Taylor, founder of Monster.com and CEO of Eons.com; Amy Silverstein, author of “Sick Girl;” Drum Café, talented Djembe drummers, master facilitators and musicians; and John J. Nance, author of “Why Hospitals Should Fly.”
The special Long-Term Care Leadership Summit will be held on October
5th in the
For more information and to register for both events.
SAVE
THE DATE ~ October 14, 2010 in Atlanta, GA
3rd Annual Culture Change Network of Georgia Summit: Getting To Know All About YOU!
Two tracks featuring national experts:
LaVrene Norton: How to Implement Culture Change
Virginia Bell & Tonya Cox: Best Friends Approach & Activities
(Dementia Focus)
Registration
starts soon!
2010
Consumer Voice Annual Meeting & Conference
October 19 – 22, 2010 in Orlando, Florida
The 2010 Conference will: Enable you to cultivate your network
including interactions with residents, citizen advocacy groups and other
advocates, family council members, ombudsmen, researchers, direct care workers,
and others committed to quality long-term care; Provide tangible tools to
assist in every day advocacy efforts; and Showcase expert presentations and key
information to help you translate issues into action and action into better
care. This year the conference will be
held at the beautiful Caribe
Royale hotel in
SAVE THESE DATES for Upcoming Pioneer Network Conferences
August 2 – 4, 2011 in St.
Charles, Missouri (The request for
proposals is now open.)
August 6 – 8, 2012 in
Jacksonville, Florida
August 12 – 14, 2013 in
Bellevue, Washington (near Seattle)
The Longevity Prescription of Dr. Robert Butler: A Proposal for Book Discussion Club
(Source: Ronni Bennett, www.timegoesby.net)
The fabulous Time Goes By blog by Ronni Bennett is worth a look if you have not checked it out. It’s all about what it’s really like to get older. Ronnie is proposing an on-line book discussion focusing on Dr. Robert Butler’s last book.
The title of the book is The Longevity Prescription – The 8 Proven Keys to a Long, Healthy Life. Generally, I have little truck with self-help books, even one from Dr. Butler. But this is not your ordinary self-help book. In this one, the good doctor's native enthusiam infects every page – along with his intelligence, optimism and the wisdom of a lifetime. He's not preaching at you about what you should do to attain a vibrant old age; he is engaging and encouraging the reader to practice living as he did. You cannot read this book without believing you can overcome or accommodate obstacles that are in your way or, more particularly, you think are in your way to a longer, healthier old age.
Just about every sentence is packed with information I want to pass on to you, particularly his many small, easy steps we can take every day to improve and maintain our health. There is so much, however, that I don't believe a “review” can do the book justice. So here is what I propose: That we go through the book together, one chapter a week – there are nine plus an important introduction - and make this a kind of TGB Book Discussion Club – over ten weeks. That's two-and-a-half months to an improved old age for all of us.
Certainly, I encourage you to buy the book, but if you can't afford it ($26 U.S. and $32.50 Canadian – I don't know if it's published in Great Britain, Europe and elsewhere) or don't want to, I will write about each chapter in enough detail that you will get a reasonably good idea of the main points. Your job then, in the Comments section of the post each week, will be to respond to what you've learned, introduce elements I've left out (if you're reading along), tell us about your experiences with what you do now to maintain your health, what you need to change, what you want to incorporate from the book into your daily lives, encourage all of us in our efforts and to respond to and build on one anothers' comments.
If this interests you, sign up today in the Comments section below. Well, no one needs to sign up. But if there is enough interest, I'll get us started with the introduction chapter next week.
Help People Prepare For Aging
(Source: Anthony Cirillo, www.mcknights.com)
"Old age is like everything else. To make a success of it, you've got to start young." ~ Theodore Roosevelt
I have a keynote that I give to long-term care associations, caregiving groups and most recently even to the EPA. It is entitled The Meaning of Life. Presumptuous of me, huh?! In it I impart life lessons that we can learn from our elders about living a quality life. Happens that all of the stories (and related songs) originate from fantastic elders in nursing and assisted living facilities.
For example, those elder living a quality life have an unbelievable attitude. Take my friend Jean. She was in her late eighties when she faced the prospect of going into a nursing home. She did not view it as a place to die but as an opportunity to try new things, experience life, as she never did before. And she did…
Smart
organizations that educate and take a personal responsibility in educating
people about quality aging create what we marketers call tipping points for
choice. In other words, when people finally need a service in the continuum of
aging they will look to those in the continuum who have reached out and helped
them. MORE
(Source: ChangingAging.org)
Daniela Simmons, Founder and President of DANIEL DOMES offered this comment as a follow-up to her experience with the recent Eden Alternative International Conference. She also gives us a heads up on some of her latest plans. I wish her well.
I have been an advocate of
culture change, ethical and quality care and implementing a family and home
environment instead of the institutional concept of elderly care over the past
6 years, and held a manager’s position in an extremely conservative setting in
the state of Texas. When dealing with business driven corporate management,
implementing a resident-centered concept as a priority is very difficult,
sometimes impossible. This experience clearly brought me to the conclusion that
the change is possible if it starts from the top management down, if it is the
basic mission and vision of the organization from the beginning… MORE
Young People Create Services for Boomers and Seniors
(Source: Linked In)
A growing trend appears to be younger people thinking of products and services to help boomers as they age, according to AgeInPlaceTech.com. Most of these services are web-based, but others focus on more practical aspects of senior living.
The
Star reports that a
program in
AgeInTech.com
suggests that encouraging younger demographics to participate in interaction
with the elderly may be a key to baby boomer brand management. Companies should
attempt to use connections to aging services to sponsor a contest or program,
much like the Shad program in
By
bringing young people in contact with seniors through community service or an
awareness campaign, the news provider claims that ideas will emerge that may
benefit everyone involved. ENTIRE
ARTICLE
Neighbors Win Temporary Restraining Order Against Planned Casa Linda Senior Facility
A planned assisted living
facility for well-heeled senior citizens in Dallas' Casa Linda neighborhood has
faced its share of starts and stops since news of the project broke in early
June. And now it has stopped again. A
group of neighbors obtained a temporary restraining order last week against the
7,000-square-foot Manchester Place project, with a hearing scheduled for Aug.
4, attorney and neighborhood resident Dean Malone said. MORE
The Safety Dance
(Source: By PAULA SPAN, newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com)
Photo: Tomas Sodergren/Getty Images
When a sentence from a journal article you read years back gets lodged in your brain, the writer is probably onto something. Two sentences I can quote almost verbatim, for instance, came from Rosalie A. Kane, a gerontologist at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health and a leading teacher, researcher and thinker about aging and long-term care.
“Embedded in most of our rules and regulations in the idea that L.T.C. should aspire to the best possible quality of life as is consistent with health and safety,” Dr. Kane wrote in The Gerontologist a decade ago. (The italics are hers.) “But ordinary people may prefer the best health and safety outcomes that are consistent with a meaningful quality of life.”
The safety-first idea permeates so many discussions about how best to care for old people who can’t function fully independently. It’s our mantra as we try to persuade our parents to change their habits, to exercise caution, to move from one setting to another. It’s what inspectors look at when they visit and rate nursing homes and post the results at www.medicare.gov. Safety concerns underlie much of what I post on The New Old Age.
Rosalie A. Kane
Is it possible we’re awarding safety too much significance? “I don’t think people live to be safe,” Dr. Kane said in a wide-ranging phone conversation we had recently. “That’s not the way adults function in normal life.” She added, “I don’t think we know as much about keeping people safe as we think, either.”
True, things once promoted as safety measures — one example she used was bed rails, which I posted about a few months ago — often turn out to be hazardous.
And true, there may be downsides to the actions we take in the name of safety, even if they do prove protective. Take moving into a nursing home, usually promoted and defended as necessary for an elder’s safety. “There are negative effects of regimented institutional life,” Dr. Kane pointed out, reeling off several: depression, loss of control, increased frailty from inaction. At root, though, this question is a philosophical one: how to balance safety with the things that make life worth living. Dr. Kane has developed a list of factors that contribute to quality of life — security and comfort, meaningful activity, relationships, dignity, autonomy, privacy and others — and she’s not much in favor of policies or decisions that reduce those things, even if they might, say, reduce the risk of a fall. MORE
(Source:
Julie Sammons posts on Facebook: She
says, “Thinking about my grandmother!”)
81-Year-Old Sweethearts Reunite After 62 Years
(Source: Thanks to Al Power)
The Wisdom of Our Elders
(Source: Thank you to
RoseMarie Fagan)
You have to raise your own leaders. Leadership has to have responsibility for the future. Replanting trees is not replanting community. Responsibility, human rights and human life. The power is in the people’s hands.
Ivy Bean, Known As Oldest Twitter User, Dies At 104
(Source: By Zoe Chace,
www.npr.org)
Photo: Bob Collier/Press Association via AP
Ivy Bean, shown here in 2009, had about 57,000 followers on Twitter. She died
Wednesday in northern England at 104.
The
woman known as "the world's oldest tweeter" died Wednesday at 104,
the manager of her care home in
Ivy
Bean, who was better known by her handle, "IvyBean104," had become an
online celebrity for her embrace of microblogging at such an advanced age. Bean
had accumulated about 57,000 Twitter followers and maxed out at 5,000 friends
on Facebook. Her tweets ranged from the mundane — "time for a tea and
biscuit I think" — to the gossipy — "some have had a drink of lager
while sat in the garden." Sarah Brown, the wife of former Prime Minister
Gordan Brown, was one of her followers. They met this year at
Pat
Wright, the manager of the care home in Bradford, northern
Still Dancing
(Source: Stingl, Milwaukee,
Wisconsin Journal Sentinel, www.jsonline.com)
Video Credit: Mike De Sisti
Longtime dance partners and good friends Betty Hornby (left) and Frank Pachucki share a dance at Luther Manor Health Care Center. The two friends continue to dance together even though Frank has suffered health problems and is in assisted living. Hornby visits Pachucki each day to dance. They were a longtime fixture at area festivals where there was music to dance to. WATCH THEM DANCE
Moving
Residents to Other Rooms: by Kathleen Mears, Resident
(Source: By Kathleen Mears, Resident, ltlmagazine.com)
Four residents from my unit were moved
to the other unit a few days ago. It seems strange not to see those folks
sitting in the lounge before and after breakfast. A couple of them did not say
very much. I suppose cognitively a couple of them might not have been able to
understand everything that was going on. Two of them had to be fed in the
dining room. One had been tube fed until recently when he was transitioned to a
puréed diet. We got used to these quiet residents and their presence is missed.
Now they are on the other unit and we will rarely see them. Some will still
come to our dining room for meals. But other than that we will have little
contact with them.
It always makes me feel sad when
residents have to move to another room. I wonder if what remains of their
memory will never comprehend the move and they will not remember where their
new room is. Then they will be frustrated being constantly redirected to it. I
wonder if they feel confused and bothersome in the building that is their home.
I know that consideration and family
approval are necessary for these moves. But sometimes I wonder why they have to
be done. I do not think it will ever be possible to get the exact living
arrangement that is good for all. This facility is a microcosm of society. As
such, none of us will ever have exactly what we want. I think those who are
cognitively able can probably adjust easier than those who are not. But I do
not think moving residents is productive unless it is felt it will definitely
make their lives better.
There have always been changes here.
New ideas will come to the fore and management will feel that they need to be
tried. I remember many changes that have occurred over my 14-plus years here. I
certainly hope that changes will be documented so that those with less than
beneficial results will not be tried again in the future. MORE
Old Age in America, by the Numbers
(Source: By DALE RUSSAKOFF, http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com)
Photo: Emily Berl for The New York Times
Residents of East Harlem attend a neighborhood
meeting conducted by city officials and the New York Academy of Medicine on
July 15, 2010.
The population of older Americans is growing faster than ever and living longer than ever, but not as long as in much of Europe and elsewhere in the developed world, according to “Older Americans 2010: Key Indicators of Well-Being,” a report compiled by 15 federal agencies. The full report, with tables detailing senior demographics, economics, health status, health risks and health care, is available at agingstats.gov. It contains a number of surprises, and raises a number of questions, for those interested in how Americans are aging.
Americans
who live to age 65 can now expect to survive on average 18.5 more years, four
years more than in 1960, according to the report. Of those who survive to age
85, women have an average 6.8 years to live, and men, 5.7 years. But life
expectancy is even longer in most of Europe,
In
2008, an estimated 39 million people in the
The
85-and-over
Nine Senior Couples Say 'I do' Once More at Southlake Living Facility
(Source:
Two by two, nine couples walked down a flower petal-strewn aisle on Saturday and exchanged vows. For a day, the Isle at Watermere, an assisted-living facility in Southlake, transformed into a wedding hall. Complete with a groom's cake and bouquets, the couples renewed their wedding vows and celebrated marriages that have weathered more than 50 years of challenges and joys. About 150 family members, friends and fellow Isle residents attended.
"I'm
with them day in and day out, and I see how strong their relationships
are," said Amy Pearce, community life director, who was wedding planner
for the event. "I know I'll be crying today." The Rev. Randy
Phillips, who used to work as a bus driver and is a volunteer at the Isle,
officiated. "They got married when love was not just a feeling, but a
commitment," he said. "It's a great day in their lives to
celebrate." READ MORE
Omar Cain, Certified Nursing Assistant: A Cut Above the Rest
(Source: By Laura Lee Carter,
Facebook)
When
Omar Cain of Philadelphia, decided he was tired of being an auto mechanic ten
years ago, he asked his Aunt Patricia what he should try next. So she invited
him to attend her CNA training school, just to check it out. Little did he know
this unlikely choice would someday lead him to national fame as the CNA rapper,
combining both of his passions, caring for others and rap music. Every morning,
six-foot-four Omar, known as BIG BOR6-4 online, goes to work, taking care of
ten or eleven residents at the
Omar also appreciates the way the residents are so sensitive when he's having a hard time. "Their knowledge is priceless. These are people who have already lived a lifetime, and they can help you out if you will just listen to them." When asked how long it took him to decide this unlikely form of employment was right for him, Omar responds, "In the third week of work I realized I was building some great relationships. That's when I got to know Annie May Johnson and her husband Pop."
Annie May weighed over 400pounds, so Omar was asked to assist in carrying her into the nursing home on her first day there. Omar became so close to Annie May, he invited her and Pop to his wedding a few years later. Then one day, Pop called him over to his side and said, "I want you to promise me something. I want you to promise me you will stay with Annie May until she comes to join me." Omar said of course, and Pop passed away at that exact moment.
Annie May lived one more year. Omar has so many stories to share like this. These are the examples he gives to explain his passion for his job as a CNA. His only complaint is the lack of a living wage for the important work he does. His own wish is that every single nursing home administrator first be required to work as a CAN for at least one year. He feels they would learn upclose and personal the demands of this important job. They would then understand why CNAs should be paid handsomely for the myriad services they provide to their charges.
When asked about his own special message to those considering work as a CNA, Omar said, "You need to be in touch with your feelings and have lots of compassion and patience to do this work. You also need to love life!" Omar's amazing "Rapping CNA" video on YOUTUBE and his "Be Proud" campaign have provided a much larger audience for him and his views on life as a nursing home assistant. He is now busy producing his first rap CD, and has been invited to speak in front of nursing organizations allover the country. But he does not let all of his notoriety go to his head. He says, "Just seeing other people happy, that's what makes me happy! God put me here to tell the residents everyday – it's going to be alright. We all take care of each other, one day at a time. MORE
(Source: By Deane Beebe, PHI)
Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-CA)
A new bill that seeks to address critical direct-care workforce issues — including extending federal wage and overtime protections to home care workers — was introduced to the U.S. House of Representatives on July 28.
If enacted, the Direct Care Workforce Empowerment Act (H.R. 5902), sponsored by Rep. Linda Sánchez (D-CA), would:
· extend wage and overtime protections provided through the Fair Labor Standards Act to home care workers;
· establish data collection and reporting requirements to monitor important workforce indicators such as size, compensation levels, turnover rates and vacancies; and
· provide grants to states to expand and support efforts aimed at recruiting, training and retaining an adequate supply of direct care workers.
“One
of
Evelyn Coke Memorialized in Newsday Op-Ed
(Source:
By Deane
Beebe, PHI)
An op-ed co-written
by PHI President Steven Dawson and published in the July 22 Newsday
pays tribute to the "American heroine" Evelyn Coke. Coke, a
home care worker who died last July, fought the Fair Labor Standards Act's
"companionship exemption." The exemption prevents home care workers
from enjoying the basic employment protections afforded to most working
Americans.
Read more about Evelyn,
and help honor her memory by joining PHI's Facebook campaign to end the
companionship exemption.
The Factors Driving Staff Burnout in Long Term Care
(Source: By
Researchers
in
The study was conducted at four nursing homes and assisted living centers with a sample of 363 staff members. After controlling for demographic differences, the researchers discovered that role conflict, workload, and stress were the strongest predictors of burnout among staff.
Role conflict is a term that researchers use to indicate a situation when the expectations that come with a job do not match up with the reality of the job. This reality could include conflicting demands between different roles and/or situations where job descriptions do not match the actual job being performed. Role conflicts can result in high workloads and role ambiguity. Workload was also a major predictor of burnout in this study.
Nursing home and assisted living organizations should work to reduce role conflict in their organization, which have an impact on the workload and stress factors that lead to job burnout and turnover. Ensuring roles are clearly defined and functional within the work environment are just a starting point. Focus on empowering employees to make decisions within these clearly defined roles as much as possible.
Source: Rai, G. 2010. Burnout among long-term care staff. Administration in Social Work 34: 225-240. MORE
(Source: Caregiving at the
Crossroads, caregivingcrossroads.blogspot.com)
Imagine working hard every day, caring for people who depend on you to help them with the most basic physical and emotional tasks. Your daily work involves helping your clients slowly, patiently move from their bed to a chair. You bend and lift, do laundry and vacuum floors every day. Some of your clients refuse to let you help them, or yell at you when you come to work.
When you go home at the end of the day, your back is sore and your feet are just a little bit swollen. You want nothing more than to put your feet up and rest a bit. But you can't. You have to go to a second job, or care for your neighbor's kids, or figure out how to pay the utilities before your power is turned off. You've got to put food on the table and try to figure out how to serve your family satisfying, nutritious meals spending any money
Welcome to the life of the caregiver today. In the majority of this country, according to a recent study by PHI, this typical Personal Care Aide earns near poverty level wages - which means less than $10.42 per hour. This caregiver, who works one of the hardest physical jobs and experiences one of the highest risks for on-the-job injury of any worker, not only lives paycheck to paycheck, she also is likely receiving some form of public assistance just to get by.
Survey: 40 Percent of U.S. Professionals Want to Quit
(Source: By Suzanna Stagemeyer, Atlanta Business Chronicle)
As autumn approaches, companies could see employees leaving for greener pastures.
Forty
percent of
“As workers pack up their swimsuits this summer, they are more likely to dwell on the pros and cons of the job that is waiting for them at home,” Sande Golgart, Regus regional vice president, said in a release. “With reports indicating that as many as 25 percent of company top performers in the U.S. plan to quit their jobs within a year, businesses that are not evaluating the necessary benefits for their staff may face losing some of their best talent.”…
The Regus survey — conducted by MarketingUK, which interviewed more than 15,000 business respondents in February and March — also asked about perks that would prompt workers to stay with their current employers. Apart from pay raises, 41 percent said private medical insurance and 34 percent cited a 2.5 percent pension increase.
Here
is a list of reasons
• Lack of communication and involvement by top management, 40 percent
• Lack of promotion despite good work results, 37 percent
• Overwork, 34 percent
• Lack of company “vision,” 31 percent
• Lack of belief in colleagues’ competence, 28 percent
• Lack of administrative support, 26 percent
• Rude colleagues, 21 percent
• Boss takes credit for their work, 20 percent
MORE
Senior Living Provider Scales Mountain to Honor Caregivers
(Source: ltlmagazine.com)
NASHVILLE, TENN.―Two associates of Brookdale Senior Living, an operator of senior living communities, will be joining The Leeza Gibbons Memory Foundation in climbing Mount Washington, New Hampshire, to help champion both Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease... With them, they will carry a flag featuring photos of 75 Brookdale caregivers. The climb is part of the Army of Change project. MORE
Study: Nursing Home Residents View Facilities Differently Than Five-Star System
(Source: McKnights, July 19
2010)
The Five-Star Quality Rating System devised by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services bears little relation to the actual views of residents, family members and staff at the facilities it ranks, according to a new study. Holleran, a senior-living research firm, found a large disconnect between the way the five-star system ranks facilities and the way residents and families view those facilities. Under the five-star system, a one-star facility is meant to be of inferior quality to a five-star facility. Holleran researchers found, however, that residents and families at one-star facilities were actually more likely to say they would choose their facility again compared with other facilities.
The five-star system relies on submitted data for its ratings, which researchers say contributes to its flaws. Simply tweaking the system to include satisfaction surveys could go a long way toward improving the system, according to Holleran, which released its study July 12. MORE
How to Implement a True “Voice of the Customer” Strategy
(Source: www.linkedin.com)
Voice of the customer….. Engagement ….. Loyalty. What do these buzzwords mean? How do we use them to drive value?
These often-used terms have connotative and denotative meanings that can be quite different depending on who uses them and how they are used. Loyalty 360 – The Loyalty Marketer’s Association continues to see uncertainly about loyalty, engagement, and voice of the customer. Questions posed by our members and partners about these buzzwords keep coming fast and furiously.
The confusion indicates that in this challenging economic environment, the focus on loyalty and engagement is becoming ever more important. Customers, clients, employers, brands and channel partners believe that voice of the customer, Web 3.0, the Groundswell, etc. can give them a well-needed competitive edge. Yet, they don’t know how to execute these initiatives effectively. They’re looking for best practice examples of groups creating engagement, excitement, and commitment to help the answer the overriding question: HOW?
The answer is two-fold… MORE
Facing Reality: Caregiving Has Changed Your Life
(Source: By Carol Bradley
Bursack, www.agingcare.com)
One question that is often asked on the Agingcare.com forum is, “How do I deal with the reality of leaving behind the life I had in order to become the primary caregiver to my parents?” The words used vary by the questioner, but the question is essentially the same. How do we cope with this major change in our lives?
It may sound selfish to some, but to caregivers who dove into caregiving with full hearts and no planning, then ended up sustaining this life-altering mode for months and often years, it’s a perfectly rational question. People put their lives, as they are living them, on hold in order to care for others. That’s good. But when “hold” becomes the new norm, there’s a mental adjustment to go through. And sometimes that includes dealing with resentment.
MORE (Be sure to check out parts 2 and 3)
Start
Planning to Help Your Elderly Parents
SENIORS | Examine best options for caregiving, housing, medical costs
(Source: BY CELESTE BUSK cbusk@suntimes.com)
The
increasing number of Baby Boomers caring for their elderly parents need to take
steps to avoid it becoming a depressing, full-time endeavor, an expert warns.
"Taking care of your parents happens before many of us even realize it.
First, we're shopping for them. Then we're taking them to doctors'
appointments," said personal finance expert Eric Tyson, based in
Photo: Dom Najolia/Sun-Times
"Taking care of my mother was very much a strain, but now that
I got help, my life is much more manageable," said Judy Westerberg, with
her 92-year-old mother Mary Westerberg, who now resides in a North Side nursing
home.
"Taking care of my mother was very much a strain, but now that I got help, my life is much more manageable and my friends have started to like me again," she said. READ MORE
Tailored Activity
Program (TAP) Minimizes Disruptive Behaviors In Dementia Patients Living at
Home and Caregiver Burden
The study furthers previous findings that
purposeful activity is a safe, healthy alternative to pharmacological
approaches in minimizing disruptive behavioral occurrences associated with
dementia, such as agitation and aggressiveness.....
(Source: By Bob DeMarco, Alzheimer's Reading Room)
This is interesting research that I intend to look into in more
detail. The findings seem to indicate that this approach could be an alternative
to placing Alzheimer's patients into nursing homes or other types of
Alzheimer's care facilities. I am particularly interested in any approach that
is an alternative to "drugging up" Alzheimer's patients that evidence
aggressive, mean, or unruly behavior.
One of the questions being raised is whether or not Alzheimer's caregivers
would be willing to pay for this service. If it turns out that it would cost
less then "institutionalization" the answer could be yes. Perhaps the
Federal government could run additional studies to determine if this kind of
education is a cost effective solution for Medicare and Medicaid. Both Medicare
and Medicaid will be forced, sooner or later, to start discovering effective
solution that keep Alzheimer's patients home. They will need to start following
the model that is available in states like
The
Cost of the War on Alzheimer's Terrorism -- $24 a Day
By the time you finish reading this
article you will be wondering -- why aren't we doing this, why isn't my state
offering this program?....
(Source: By
Bob DeMarco, Alzheimer's Reading Room)
Why not declare a war on Alzheimer's terrorism? Seems like a good idea to me. The best part is it wouldn't be hard to measure the tangible benefits. What would be more desirable: a war in Irar, a war in Afganistan, or a war on Alzheimer's disease? How would we fight the war on Alzheimer's terrorism?
By
paying each Alzheimer's caregiver that keeps the Alzheimer's patient at home
and cares for them at home -- one dollar an hour. That's twenty four bucks a
day. Think of it as paid army of Alzheimer's caregivers. MORE
Older
African-Americans and Latinos with Cognitive Impairment Live Longer than
Whites; Less Likely to be in Nursing Homes: Great
need for culturally-appropriate Alzheimer care resources & home-based
services -
(Source: Alzheimer’s
Association)
Honolulu, Hawaii; July 12, 2010 – Racially and ethnically diverse older adults are one of the fastest growing population segments in the United States and new research presented today at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference on Alzheimer's Disease 2010 (AAICAD 2010) in Honolulu reveals that older African-Americans and Latinos with significant cognitive impairment have a lower likelihood of nursing home placement and longer survival than White older adults in the study.
"These results have significant implications for caregiver burden and community resources," said Maria Carrillo, Ph.D., Alzheimer's Association's Senior Director of Medical and Scientific Relations. "If, as the study suggests, more African-American and Latino families are taking care of their loved ones with significant cognitive impairment in their homes for longer periods of time, there is a greater than anticipated need for culturally-appropriate dementia care resources and home and community- based services for these populations."
"These findings are particularly compelling since we found that African-Americans are about two times more likely and Latinos about one and one-half times more likely to develop Alzheimer's and dementia," Carrillo said. This was reported in March in the Alzheimer's Association's 2010 Alzheimer's Disease Facts and Figures report, a comprehensive compilation of national statistics and information on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias.
Another study reported today at AAICAD 2010 suggests that the bereavement process and mourning experience for Alzheimer caregivers after the death of their loved one varies greatly among different racial and ethnic groups. A third research report suggested that cultural and spiritual beliefs of African-Americans, American Indians and Whites greatly influence how long it takes for a family to seek a medical diagnosis of Alzheimer's.
"Alzheimer's leads so many families through unfamiliar territory. The need for education, information, supportive services is paramount," Carrillo said. "The more we learn about the similarities and differences that exist in how various groups perceive and experience Alzheimer's, the more effective we can be in developing culturally-appropriate information, services, and tools that are respectful of these perceptions and closely held values, and that contain authentic relevance that empowers families." MORE
New Lewy Body Dementia Association Report: Summary of Caregiver Survey
A new Lewy Body Dementia Association (LBDA) report summarizes the results of the association’s survey of 962 caregivers. The report highlights the wide range of challenges families dealing with Lewy body dementia face, and caregivers’ experiences of the medical system as inadequate to meet their needs. The LBDA hopes the report will serve as a “blueprint for action” for providing more information and education for families and physicians, as well as increased physical, social and emotional support for caregivers. MORE
A Lonely Person Needs Companionship the Way a Thirsty Person Needs Water
(Source: News from the Eden
Alternative, Tip of the Week)
"A lonely person needs companionship the way a thirsty person
needs water. Companionship is one of the essential ingredients of well-being,
yet we pay it little mind. It is too often confused with friendship or even passive
participation in group activities. In fact, companionship is the product of
knowing and being with others. We are not the companions of people seated near
us on a flight to
The Eden Alternative shows people how to integrate knowing and being into the daily rhythms of life in long-term care settings. The Eden Alternative Philosophy helps people develop meaningful relationships with each other by teaching them how to learn and understand each other's stories. The art of giving care depends on companionship to give the care depth and substance. Without companionship, long-term care can offer only the cruel comfort of strangers feeding, bathing, dressing and entertaining strangers." From What Are Old People For? by Dr. William Thomas
Food for thought: What skills are needed to create meaningful relationships? How are our daily care practices promoting or diminishing opportunities to create companionship? What are the differences between visiting and live-in animal companions when it comes to creating companionship for the Elders? Who do we rely on to be the Elder's companions? What other opportunities have we yet to explore to help Elders find the companionship they need?
St.
John's Home Will Host Wedding
Wedding Bells at St. John’s | Allen Power's Blog
(Source:
allenpower.wordpress.com)
Love
is in bloom at St. John's Home in
"We share everything here," he says, "the good times, the bad times, the burials, the funerals and now a wedding." MORE
Man Stays in Touch With Roots With Model
Tractors
(Source: By Sara Nemec,
Leader-Telegram)
Photo: Shane Opatz
Model tractor collector Ralph Rundquist, 84, displayed all 84 of his model farm
tractors Monday afternoon at Care Partners Assisted Living in Eau Claire.
Rundquist began collecting the tractors in the 1970s. To view more photos go to
leadertelegramphotos.com.
Before
moving to
Feeding Dementia Patients with Dignity
(Source: By RONI CARYN RABIN,
www.nytimes.com)
First Alzheimer’s disease stole Rosemary DeFelice’s speech, mobility and independence. Then, at 75, she lost the ability to eat. She would chew away at her food, coughing and sputtering and spitting up but swallowing very little, said her daughter, Cyndy Viveiros. And like many relatives caring for patients with advanced dementia, Ms. Viveiros had to decide whether or not to have a gastric feeding tube inserted. This quandary — which usually arises near the end, when Alzheimer’s begins to destroy the part of the brain that controls eating — is often presented as a stark choice between providing nourishment and withholding it.
But
social workers advising Ms. Viveiros suggested another option: continuing to
have her mother carefully fed by hand, giving her only as much as she wanted
and stopping if she started choking or became
agitated. “I had this realization — wow — that no matter what we did, Mom was
never going to get better,” Ms. Viveiros said. “We were just prolonging the
inevitable, and potentially causing more suffering. “Mom was already dying.
Alzheimer’s is a terminal disease. There’s no stopping it,” she said. Mrs.
DeFelice, of
Doctors
are calling this new option in palliative care “comfort feeding only.” In a
recent paper in The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, the authors
argue that feeding tubes do not necessarily prolong life in patients with
advanced dementia, and that surveys indicate that a vast majority of nursing
home residents say they would rather die than live with a feeding tube. But
medical orders like “no artificial hydration and nutrition” — used to
indicate that the patient should not be given a feeding tube — are often interpreted
as “do not feed.” And few people can tolerate the idea that a loved one may be
starving to death. Comfort feeding offers another alternative. MORE
What Color is Your
Plate?
Forty percent of Alzheimer's patients
don't eat enough...this solution could be helpful to you.....
(Source:
By Max Wallack, Alzheimer's Reading Room)
Most of the time, caregivers
for Alzheimer’s patients at home are surprised by how often Alzheimer’s
patients are hungry. These patients often forget when they last ate and assume
it’s been a very long time -- they just can't remember. Many times, they are
ready to eat another meal in just minutes after their last meal. I hadn’t
realized, until I read an article in today’s BU magazine online, that a very
big problem with Alzheimer’s patients in Alzheimer’s facilities is that they do
not eat ENOUGH food. Today’s article is very interesting in finding some
reasons for the insufficient food intake.
Apparently, vision plays a role in Alzhemer's patients reluctance to eat. This phenomena is explained by Boston University bio-psychologist Alice Cronin-Golomb and her research partners in an article subtitled – (READ THIS ARTICLE FROM BOSTON UNIVERSITY!) If you couldn’t see your mashed potatoes, you probably wouldn’t eat them.
According to Dr. Cronin-Golomb, “Nursing home staff often complain that Alzheimer’s patients do not finish the food on their plates even when staff encourages them to do so. Forty percent of individuals with severe Alzheimer’s lose an unhealthy amount of weight. Previous explanations for this phenomenon included depression, inability to concentrate on more than one food at a time, and inability to eat unassisted."
According to the BU Today article, Cronin-Golomb and her colleagues took a different approach. "They believed this behavior might be explained by the visual-cognitive deficiencies caused by Alzheimer’s. Patients with the disease cannot process visual data—like contrast and depth perception—as well as most other seniors. So Cronin-Golomb’s team, led by then-BU postdoctoral fellow and current Senior Lecturer in Psychology Tracy Dunne (GRS’92, ’99), tested advanced Alzheimer’s patients’ level of food intake with standard white plates and with bright-red ones.
What they found was astonishing -- patients eating from red plates consumed 25 percent more food than those eating from white plates." As a result of these findings, some nursing homes have switched to using only red plates, and one company has marketed special red plates for this purpose. Sometimes, a very simple solution can make a big difference!
Max Wallack is a student at Boston
University Academy. His great grandmother, Gertrude, suffered from Alzheimer's
disease. Max is the founder of PUZZLES TO REMEMBER. PTR is a project that
provides puzzles to nursing homes and veterans institutions that care for
Alzheimer's and dementia patients. MORE
Dementia-friendly
Culture Change?
Does a Green House, or Eden-like culture provide what people with dementia
need?
What elements of culture change are especially important?
(Source: Linked In)
Hello, my name is Richard Taylor and I have
been living with the diagnosis of dementia, probably of the alzheimer's type
for about seven years now. The NIH just concluded in thier last consesus
conference there is no evidence to support the hyped up claims of these brain
programs for folks living with the symptoms of dementia. I think there is
benefit in paying attention to us, in offering us novel stimulus. It gives us a
reason to use our attention abilities, focus deeper and longer, but so would a
whole bunch of other less expensive human and humanizing transactions. Increase
your staff by one person instead of paying for a computer program. The idea
that manipulating enviornment to improve the quality of life for folks with
alzheimers disease, avoids the real need right now - humanizing
personal interactions. Knowing the person, their needs and wants,
their potential for creating their own quality of life for themselves. Since
dementia seems to be a generalized condition of the brain, and most research
points to some value for specific targeted areas of the brain for stimulative
computer based exsercises if I ran a nursing home/alzheimer's factility I would
curn back to my staff and work with them rather than introducing a machine to
in effect replace their failed efforts to stimulate the folks with whom they
work.
Richard
Improv: Memory Loss Therapy
(Source: Chicago News Cooperative,
Thanks to Alzheimer’s Daily News)
A
collaboration between the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern
University and the Looking Glass Theater Company have created the Memory
Ensemble - a unique program to improve the quality of life for people dealing
with the early stages of memory loss through improvisation. Recently members of
the Memory Ensemble gathered in a conference room at
At first glance, they could have been any group of energetic older Americans trying their hand at amateur theater. But this is not a social event, it's a form of therapy. Each member of the group has pronounced issues: physical and verbal tics, abrupt lapses in conversation, dementia and Alzheimer's.
The Memory Ensemble uses theatrical improvisation, to treat all words as useful and welcomes the expression of feelings that emerge on the twisting path of memory loss - terror, frustration, even joy. Among the exercises is imagining a character grappling with issues the group had identified earlier - family, health and connectedness - and answering questions from the group in that character's voice. Go to full story: nytimes.com
(Source: Frances Shani Parker, Hospice and Nursing Homes
Blog)
I have a friend whose mother has Alzheimer's disease. He and his father are her primary caregivers at home. He says that people generally feel sorry for them. When his mother’s name comes up in conversations, the tone changes to one of sadness. They also assume that his mother must be an unhappy person because of her mentally impaired condition. The other day, I smiled at his response when I asked him how she was doing. He said, “Mama is doing just fine. Pops and I focus on keeping her healthy and active. Most of the time, she is as happy as she can be.”
A research study in the “International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry” supports that assessment. Consisting of interviews with 1,620 community-dwelling older adults, the study examined the following: 1) Overall life satisfaction with material circumstances and with social circumstances of older adults with no cognitive impairment, with cognitive impairment without dementia, and with dementia; 2) The effect of cognition on life satisfaction across a broad spectrum of cognition; 3) The effect of factors such as depressive symptoms, functional impairment, education, and social support.
While participants with dementia and participants with cognitive impairment without dementia did have lower life satisfaction than those with normal cognition, the effects were relatively small. The study concluded that, although cognition is associated with life satisfaction, older adults are generally satisfied with life. Older adults with dementia have varied days like everyone else. Happy memories and enriching activities can slow dance into their realities and fill them with joy. This video titled “I Remember Better When I Paint: Treating Alzheimer’s Through Creative Arts” shows how creative arts activities can enhance the quality of their lives. A longer DVD version can be purchased at amazon.com, frenchcx.com, artistsforalzheimers.com, and hilgos.com.
Trailer to a documentary
narrated by Olivia de Havilland about the many benefits of arts for people with
Alzheimer's. DVD available from amazon.com, frenchcx.com, artistsfor
alzheimers.org and hilgos.org titled I REMEMBER BETTER WHEN I PAINT: TREATING
ALZHEIMER'S THROUGH CREATIVE ARTS, produced by French Connection Films and the
Hilgos Foundation.
Caregiver Burden in Lewy Body Dementias
(Source: Lewy Body Dementia Association)
Nearly 80% of people with LBD received a diagnosis for a different cognitive, movement or psychiatric disorder before ultimately learning they had Lewy body dementia. Learn more about the challenges reported by LBD families in LBDA's new report, Caregiver Burden in Lewy Body Dementias.
Disabling diseases like LBD affect not only the individual diagnosed with the illness, but also caregivers, families, and friends. Caregiver Burden in Lewy Body Dementias provides a quantitative overview of LBD’s impact on caregivers as assessed by a survey. This report includes:
· Background information on LBD,
· A description of the survey,
· Selected survey findings,
· Discussion of survey results, and
· Key points for action.
Caregiver Burden in Lewy Body Dementias seeks to accomplish several goals. First, it allows the families and friends of people with LBD to compare their experiences in caring for loved ones with LBD. Second, it provides other interested lay readers, policymakers, and researchers with an overview of LBD and the effect it has on families. Finally, it serves as a blueprint for action to overcome some of the challenges encountered by LBD caregivers.
Click here to download the report.
Click here to read the research abstracts.
(Source: Thank you to Richard Taylor)
"Inside My Being" is a short film about a mother and daughter who deal with Alzheimer's. This emotionally powerful film shows the inside point-of-view of the Alzheimer's patient. (Be sure to watch the video clip -
Imagine a Place…
(Source: Anne Basting, forgetmemory.org)
Imagine a building that housed adult day services that offered a broad menu of the latest approaches in creative engagement techniques. Music, dance, visual art. Intensive sensory stimulation. The rooms also have an observation room attached, so researchers can watch and code – and approach engagement with the same rigor as pill research.
Imagine that that building also has in it an auditorium, classroom, and conference room with all technological amenities to support international gatherings of experts. Imagine it also has rooms for families to have respite overnight. And several private rooms for longer term stays. Imagine a high-design lobby with stunning modern furniture and long/tall (seemingly endless) windows overlooking a medieval university town.
This place exists. Perched on a hill outside Salamanca Spain, this is where the panel of international experts in “non-pharmacological” care approaches for people with dementia gathered in late May of 2010. And where perhaps 5 more such gatherings will take place over the course of the year.
From the perspective of “person-centered care” (or person directed or or or ), it’s not perfect. Some staff wore white lab coats and its not clear how much choice the participants/residents had in their programming. But the intention of the place, and the grandness of the commitment to that intention is astounding. It is a place with resources and leadership and staffing dedicated to finding the best way to CARE for people with dementia, and through best care practices, changing the course of the disease.
I felt honored to be among the first gathering in Salamanca, and will eagerly follow the news of the next rounds of expert gatherings… MORE
(NOTE: Richard Taylor, PhD was one of the participants)
truly a beautiful thing
(Source: Dr. Bill Thomas, ChangingAging.org)
This blog gets some mighty powerful comments….
My 92-year-old mother with advanced dementia still lives at home and attends an Eden-accredited day centre. Six weeks ago I received a call from the acting manager to say they were finding my mother’s behaviour very challenging and wanted to bring in their ‘Dementia Behaviour Management Advisory’ team to assess and advise. Would I agree? ‘Yes,’ I said, ‘on the proviso we wait until the manager returns from her extended leave’. In the meantime I consulted my mama’s GP, who advised that the antipsychotic drug, Zyprexa, is generally prescribed for dementia-related anxiety. It’s also a drug prescribed for schizophrenia. I was concerned. My mother takes minimal drugs and I certainly wasn’t prepared to ‘drug’ her for the convenience of day centre carers.
I am very wary of using anti-psychotic drugs in cases of dementia. They blunt mood, thought and behavior and often obscure the real source of distress. I think Dr. Al Power agrees with me about this.
It seems to me, Dr Bill Thomas, that our elders with dementia [whether in nursing homes or still living independently] are so universally ‘controlled’ with antipsychotics and antidepressives that nursing staff and day centre carers no longer know, understand and witness true and unadulterated expressions of dementia.
What are often described as “problem behaviors” are actually unmet needs. It is our duty to understand the individual and meet those needs. READ MORE
Three Cheers --
Elderly Alzheimer's Patient Won't be Evicted from Nursing Home
An 89-year-old Alzheimer's patient has
avoided eviction from a Vancouver nursing home after the facility agreed to a treatment
plan that doesn't involve sedatives.....
(Source: By Bob DeMarco, Alzheimer's Reading Room)
Three cheers for Heather Elliott. Heather wouldn't allow St. Jude's Nursing Home to administer sedatives to her 89 year old mother, who suffered from Alzheimer's disease.
The mother, Helen, was evidently agitated and not sleeping at night. There were also accusations that Helen was entering other patients rooms at night. When Heather refused and challenged the treatment, the nursing home informed her that her mother would be evicted.
Here is the good news, St. Jude's has changed its position after a facilitator came in to review the case
Heather said, "My mother is not going to be evicted; she's not going to be committed to a geriatric psychiatric facility."
This issue is sure to be revisited and litigated over and over as the population ages and more older people suffering from dementia are threatened with eviction when they evidence bad behavior. READ MORE
Alzheimer's World
-- Nonverbal Communication and the Dimension of Time
You choose. Stress, frustration, anger,
-- or -- feeling all warm and fuzzy inside when you accomplish your
mission.....
(Source: By Bob DeMarco, Alzheimer's Reading Room)
A few days ago I was watching a short video made by a television station about an Alzheimer's caregiver and her mother. They shot the video in the home of the family. Basically, the video showed the older daughter caring for her mother who had Alzheimer's disease. The video was very well done. I found myself feeling an entire range of emotions as I watched. I was very happy to see that the daughter was very caring. I was also saddened as I watched and saw the feelings of sadness and frustration on the face of the daughter from time to time. Alzheimer's does that. It brings out feelings and emotions sometimes in waves. There was one scene where the daughter wanted the mother to get up out of her chair and go to bed. The mother shook her head no, and when prompted to get up said NO. NO World. The daughter then reached down and tried to grab her mother by the arm and pull her up. This was not in any mean, or rough way. The mother recoiled and pulled her arm away. MORE
“Dad said, ‘Your mom’s going to have to move in with you!’”
(Source: By Steve Slon, beclosegroups.com)
Sande Donahue’s dad cared for Sande’s mother for eight years following her diagnosis with Alzheimer’s Disease. Then, well into his 80’s, he threw in the towel. “He called me and said, ‘I can’t handle it anymore. You’re going to have to take over,’” Sande remembers. Sande willingly agreed. She’d always been close to her mom and she wanted to help. She simply accepted the idea that her dad wasn’t equipped to handle her. (“Men are not the most nurturing beings,” she told me. This was said in a tone completely devoid of criticism, but, as I’ve mentioned before, the burden of caregiving more often than not falls on the women in a family.)
Her
dad arrived a few weeks later at Sande’s home in the
Alzheimer's Charities Fight Over Money: Alzheimer's Foundation of America has sued the Alzheimer's Association, alleging that it deposits checks from donors who intended to give the money to the foundation
Chicago Law)
In a tough economy, charities are fighting for every dollar. Sometimes the competition is less than charitable.
Two nonprofit organizations dedicated to Alzheimer's disease are fighting in court over money. The Alzheimer's Foundation of America has accused the Chicago-based Alzheimer's Association of depositing money from donors who intended to give the money to the foundation. MORE
10. DISABILITY COMMUNITY
New
Research Reveals Georgians Unaware of Those Living With Developmental
Disabilities:
Statewide survey portrays persons with disabilities as invisible people with
invisible issues.
(Source: Georgia Council on
Developmental Disabilities)
Click on link to GEORGIA NEWS
HERE for full story.
(Source: THE
GREEN HOUSE® Project)
A partnership with Microsoft,
IN2L and Selfhelp uses technology to create a Virtual Senior Center to help
residents connect with loves ones in the community, nation and around the
world.
CONGRATULATIONS JACK
Watch the video here: Microsoft Partners with IN2L to Provide a Virtual Senior Center
Being There, Without Leaving Home
NOTE: This is more about the project just mentioned above
(Source: By PAULA SPAN, newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com)
Jason DeCrow Deidre Weliky, center, leads a discussion at the Selfhelp
Benjamin Rosenthal Senior Center in Flushing.
Some participants, visible on the computer screen, join in from their homes.
At
the
Milton
Greidinger has something to say. “A lot of baloney,” he huffs. “They don’t have
to slap
With backing from Microsoft and the city’s Department for the Aging, Selfhelp has created a “virtual senior center” for about a dozen low-income elderly people, with six more scheduled to join the party at the end of the summer.
Even with big touch-screen monitors and an easy-to-use interface (called It’s Never Too Late), it took twice-a-week training for a couple of months before the new users could manage the equipment. Most had never used a computer. One who’d never learned to type found the QWERTY keyboard confusing, so Microsoft substituted one with keys in alphabetical order. The group has taken advantage of adaptations like magnifiers and screen readers that read text aloud.
Bringing older people online proved to be, in other words, a labor-intensive undertaking. But Selfhelp’s vice president for senior communities, Leo Asen, is convinced that the benefits justify it. “How do you keep homebound seniors engaged with life?” Mr. Asen said. “Their social networks are shrinking. They tend to be more isolated, perhaps depressed or anxious.” But with cameras installed at the Rosenthal center, some stationary and some rolled around on carts, he added, “seniors at home can sign in and participate in a class, converse with the other students — it’s as if they were there.” READ MORE
Silverado Senior Living's Live Chat Innovation Connects Alzheimer's Caregivers with Services
(Source:
http://www.prnewswire.com)
One of today's hottest communications tools is proving invaluable for families seeking care for people with Alzheimer's and other memory-impairing diseases. The 24/7 internet chat line on Silverado Senior Living's website, enables the public to obtain information and assistance with the organization's services at any time of day or night.
"Caring for a memory-impaired loved one is really a round-the-clock duty for families," said Silverado Senior Living Founder, President & CEO Loren B. Shook. Silverado provides assisted living memory care at its 20 communities and offers home care, care management, and hospice care through its Silverado At Home and Silverado Hospice service lines. "It's important to provide families with information and answers when they need it, even if it's the middle of night, and in the way that is most convenient and comfortable for them."
With
activity on its website and participation in its Facebook page and blogs
continuing to increase rapidly, Silverado
launched live chat, both online and via the dedicated toll-free phone number
866-522-8125, in February. The live chat is accessible through a click-through
banner at the top of each page on www.Silveradosenior.com.
Inquiries to Silverado through live chat
now outpace those coming by phone to its call center by more than two-to-one.
Silverado is believed to be the only senior living organization offering
live chat online. MORE
Technologies Help Adult Children Monitor Aging Parents
(Source: By HILARY STOUT,
www.nytimes.com)
IN the wee hours of July 14, Elizabeth Roach, a 70-year-old widow, got out of bed and went to the living room of her Virginia ranch home. She sat in her favorite chair for 15 minutes, then returned to bed. She rose again shortly after 6, went to the kitchen, plugged in the coffee pot, showered and took her weight and blood pressure. Throughout the morning, she moved back and forth between the kitchen and the living room. She opened her medicine cabinet at 12:21 and closed it at 12:22. Immediately afterward, she opened the refrigerator door for almost three minutes. At 1:36, she opened the kitchen door and went outside.
All
this information — including her exact weight (126 pounds) and blood pressure
reading (139/98) — was transmitted via the Internet to her 44-year-old son,
Michael Murdock, who reviewed it from his home office in suburban
In
the general scheme of life, parents are the ones who keep tabs on the children.
But now, a raft of new technology is making it possible for adult children to
monitor to a stunningly precise degree the daily movements and habits of their
aging parents. READ MORE
(Source: Changing Aging blog)
Dig this news from Singapore
via futurereadysingapore.com and how their government is
talking about aging. The Singapore Government is tripling funding support
for aging in place technology inititiatives to $10 million over the next two
years. The funding support is for innovative and affordable solutions,
which enable seniors to live and remain in the community, across the health and
social care continuum.
This is a key step in
Singapore’s approach to develop innovative healthcare technologies, products
and services for what they call "the silver community." It presents a
platform for companies to test and develop their health and wellness innovations
at proof-of-concept stage in public hospitals, community hospitals, elder care
facilities and public households.
“Seniors
generally desire to live independently at home and we hope to live a life that
is integrated with our family, friends and community. Our recent Sample
Household Survey indicated that more than half of our seniors preferred to live
with or close to their children, and seniors have become more active and
engaged in the community, compared to a decade ago. As the world ages, the
global demand for solutions to enable seniors with care needs to live at home,
integrate care across the hospital-to-home settings and manage their own health
will grow very rapidly.” says Mr Lim Boon Heng, Minister in the Prime
Minister’s Office. READ MORE
When Does "New" Technology Become Mainstream?
(Source:
Laurie Orlov, Aging in Place Tech)
Buzz in the press is good for all. Articles about using technology to monitor aging parents -- like the most recent two in the Thursday NY Times by Hilary Stout and Eric Taub can be great for the aging tech industry. They generate buzz and interest in the media; they are syndicated and carried throughout the Internet; re-mailed (many times to me); they boost awareness of prospective buyers; and create curiosity and even leads, both of consumer prospects as well as vendors and dealer channels. Given buzz like this, one might think that technologies to help monitor your aging parents will now be well-understood and vendors will have to spend less of their time educating and explaining, and more time just taking orders. We thought that when we read the February, 2009 Times article by John Leland. Meanwhile, Living Independently Group, now part of GE, launched QuietCare in 2003 -- when remote monitoring then really was fairly 'new'. And then again, in September, 2009, in Business Week, when Arlene Weintraub wrote about the business of aging in place. Oh, were it true.
The caveats and conundrums qualify each rendering of buzz. The Hilary Stout article cited several of the almost clichéd concerns expressed by various University research experts: worries about privacy ('big brother is watching you'), false alerting (70-year-old mom was painting the sun room, not having a heart attack), parental resistance to the tech (being bothered by it, or being bothered by their children who want them to use it.) Meanwhile, the Leland article raised cautions about price and lack of reimbursement, whether the technology monitoring would let adult children off the hook for visiting their parents. And in September 2009, Business Week quoted IDC's Scott Lundstrom, vice-president for research at IDC Health Insights: "Right now this is a niche market made up of affluent people who want to monitor their parents. The technology is going nowhere without a reimbursement model that supports it." Yeah, yeah, yeah, but why?
So let's swat our way through
the thicket of buzz and caveats. What will make the
market for technologies for aging in place, or the inverse, technology to help
with caregiving of aging parents, or the market's largely overlapping segment,
telehealth, become mainstream enough to be a given, expected to be available,
and NOT newsworthy as a 'new' category?
READ MORE
Tech for Aging Needs Innovation From Young People
(Source:
Laurie Orlov, Aging in Place Tech)
Young people and seniors -- a non-obvious formula. A few years ago Scientific American published a study asserting that socialization between young and elderly improves the health and well-being of seniors (yeah, so the study was about fruit flies -- never mind that). This week a few other news items caught my eye:
1)
A new business to
surf the web on behalf of tech-phobic seniors. Netcrossers was started by Morey Wright, a
26-year-old in
2)
A nationwide high
school enrichment program in
3)
UCLA undergrads
raise awareness of issues of aging. Members of UGADA (Universal Gerontology &
Alzheimer's Disease Awareness) held a forum this spring as part of the 'largest
undergraduate symposium on Alzheimer's Disease and Aging in the
Newest Data Shows More Seniors Online
(Source:
www.alfa.org)
The latest survey data from the U.S. Census Bureau shows that 42 percent of individuals 65 years and older actively access the Internet; 53 percent live in a setting with Internet access. The 42 percent stat represents a 50 percent jump in Internet use among this age group since 2000, when only 21 percent of 65+ individuals were actively online.
Older adults are most likely to tap the Web to read e-mail, use a search engine to find information, and access news items. They are less likely to watch online videos or send instant messages, says the U.S. Census Bureau, which gleaned findings from its latest Current Population Survey for October 2009.
“With the increased use of Internet-enabled mobile devices, it remains to be seen how often older adults will start to access the Internet through hand-held mobile devices, and how mobile Internet access will affect how older adults use the Internet,” says a related release from the Administration on Aging (AOA), part of the U.S. Department for Health & Human Services.
Read the AOA report, “Internet Usage and Online Activities of Older Adults.”
Well-Designed Living in Alzheimer's Care Facilities
(Source: A Place for Mom)
The
old Cadillac convertible parked comfortably in a small enclosure of Trezevant
Terrace’s garden in
Askew,
whose firm designed Trezevant Terrace, an assisted living facility
with a resident Alzheimer’s
care home, acquired the Cadillac and installed the
screen door on the advice of John Zeisel, president and co-founder of
Hearthstone Alzheimer Care, Ltd., in
“We
had the Alzheimer’s residents on the ground floor,” recalls Askew, who hired
Zeisel because of his renown as an expert in designing Alzheimer’s care
facilities, “but John said very quickly that it was no good—too accessible, too
much going on.” So Askew and his team moved the 30-resident Alzheimer’s special
care unit (SCU) to the third floor, and “We started thinking about the roof of
the adjacent building as the garden.” Gardens, according to Zeisel, are crucial
in helping Alzheimer’s residents feel less trapped and more attuned to the
natural rhythms of day and night. An easily accessible garden comprising a
simple circular path is a star feature in Hearthstone’s seven Alzheimer’s
care facilities in
Environment as Medicine –
Creating Home READ MORE
(Source: Dr. El - Eleanor Feldman Barbera,
PhD, , My Better Nursing Home)
Complaint #1: No One Coming When the Call Bell is Pressed
I've worked on units where the moment the call bell goes off, the
charge nurse immediately and calmly asks an aide to check on the room. The bell
goes off, someone arrives. Simple customer service. This leads to a unit full
of residents who feel confident their needs will be addressed in a timely
fashion, and are therefore far less anxious. Staff training is a good way to
change the nursing home culture on this issue, but each worker can take it upon
themselves to make it their own personal policy even if the nursing home as a
whole isn't making it a priority. READ MORE
Following Racial Caregiving Preferences of White Resident Violates Civil Rights Act, Court Rules
(Source: www.mcknights.com)
An
Plaintiff
Brenda Chaney sued former employer
Initially,
a trial court had sided with
CEAL WEBINARS
The Center for Excellence in Assisted Living (CEAL) is bringing you four, one-hour webinars on practices of excellence in assisted living from across the country, including topic experts and the award winners from the Promoting Excellence in Assisted Living Awards Program.
September
29, 2010, 2:00 – 3:00 EST
“Workforce Practices: How to Achieve Successful Outcomes”
October
27, 2:00 – 3:00 EST
“Person-Centered Care: It’s More Than an Art”
November
16, 2:00 – 3:00 EST
“Dementia Care: What Works”
December
7, 2:00 – 3:00 EST
“Medication Administration: Getting It Right”
FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER CLICK HERE
(Source: Posted by HUD,
July
28, 2010)
WASHINGTON, DC - July 28, 2010 - (RealEstateRama) -- Elderly Americans in Arizona, Maryland, New York and Ohio will soon find themselves living in upgraded apartments equipped to meet their physical needs because of $19.5 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD today announced the grants to help convert existing multifamily projects into assisted living facility for the elderly. A detailed summary of each grant is attached to this release.
Adult Day Health Care Council of
NY Highlights ADHC on Award-Winning Video
“Changing how you live, not where you
live.”
(Source: National Adult Day
Services Association)
The Adult Day Health Care Council of New York produced an award-winning nine minute DVD on adult day health care (ADHC) program services in New York State. This amazing video demonstrates the person-centered care for individuals served by ADHC programs. Most of these individuals in the video would be in nursing homes, if it wasn't for Adult Day Health Care. The 160 plus ADHC programs in NY provide all the services that are available in a nursing home setting. The difference is that the person can return home at the end of the day.
The award-winning nine minute DVD provides an overview of adult day
health care (ADHC) program services in New York State through interviews with
clients and caregivers. ADHC programs provide comprehensive health care
services to the disabled, chronically ill and frail elderly in a day center
setting. ADHC programs allow enrolled individuals to receive the health care
services they need while living at home. In addition, ADHC is a program that
supports the person as a unique individual, not as a person with disabilities.
The DVD offers information on services, the trained staff that provide them,
the cost-effectiveness of ADHC, the role Medicaid plays in the delivery of ADHC
services, and how to find a program among the 160 plus programs operating in
States Cut Aid to the Homebound
(Source: By PAULA SPAN, http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com)
Leah Nash for The New York Times
Ken Poe of Portland, Ore., receives 20 hours of home care monthly through a
state program that will soon be eliminated.
A couple of decades back, people who think about how we care for older Americans — and who noticed how many more of them there were, and how much longer they were living — sounded the alarm about the way the United States was spending Medicaid dollars. The issue: the great majority of those dollars were being spent to maintain elders in nursing homes, the places they don’t want to be. Only a sliver of this federal and state money was helping to support low-income seniors at home, where they do want to be.
Over the ensuing years, most states shifted their policies to underwrite more of what Medicaid calls “home and community-based services,” trying to keep people out of institutions as long as practicable. In 2008 Medicaid spent 27 percent of its long-term care dollars on home and community services, an all-time high. It’s been a humane change that older and disabled people and their advocates applaud, but of course it also springs from financial motives. Almost no form of long-term care costs taxpayers more than nursing homes. This year the average annual cost for a semi-private room — and most people hate sharing rooms — topped $67,000.
Though
this “rebalancing” of financial priorities has quite a way to go, it’s been
making slow progress — until now. READ MORE
(Source: PHI, Posted on28
July 2010)
In
a recent New York Times blog post, Nancy
Folbre, an economics professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst,
argues for creating more jobs by providing increased federal support for home
care services. These are services, she suggests, that
One of the papers, a policy brief by economists at the Levi Economics Institute of Bard College, argues that a federal investment of $50 billion into home and child care services would especially benefit low-income familieshurt by the recession.
The other paper is by the New America Foundation, a Washington D.C.-based think tank. They propose the introduction of a nationwide voucher system to help elderly consumers secure home care. By using their vouchers, elders would create more demand for home care services, and would enjoy the benefits of consumer direction. MORE
Administration Awards $19.5 Million to Produce More Assisted Living Senior Housing in 4 States
(Source: LoanSafe.org)
Elderly
Americans in
The funding is provided through HUD’s Assisted Living Conversion Program which provides grants for the physical conversion of eligible multifamily assisted housing projects or portions of projects to assisted living facilities.
“These grants will provide an affordable option to nursing homes, helping seniors to live independently,” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. “The funding we announce today will allow the elderly an opportunity to age in place in familiar surroundings as they become older and require supportive services.” READ MORE
(Source: Family Caregiver
Alliance Caregiving PolicyDigest Volume X, Number 13)
A recent article in Cityscape (Volume 12, Number 2), a journal produced by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, describes a pilot program at four affordable housing properties for older adults in Washington, DC. With input from service coordinators, residents, and family caregivers, a two-part workshop was designed to increase caregiver capacity while strengthening the coordination between caregivers and service staff. Caregivers who participated in the workshops reported feeling more confident in their roles as well as more knowledgeable of resources. To read "Aging in Place Partnerships: A Training Program for Family Caregivers of Residents Living in Affordable Senior Housing" by Alisha Sanders and colleagues, visit:Cityscape
A Ceremony to Acknowledge the Death of a
Resident
The Final Salute: One long-term care
facility's strategy to say farewell with dignity and respect
(Source: William R Losefsky,
mybetternursinghome.blogspot.com)
William Losefsky, Director of Safety, Security
& Emergency Management for the New Hampshire State Veterans Home
contributed today's post.
Imagine sitting down to
breakfast and then noticing that one of your fellow residents is not sitting in
his customary spot at the breakfast table. That is when fellow residents would
first find out that one of their comrades had passed away. Earlier in the
evening the resident had expired and was shuttled out the freight loading dock
into a waiting hearse. This was how the death process was dealt with before we
instituted the “Final Salute” protocol.
The New Hampshire Veterans
Home felt that the resident was welcomed through the front door as a new
admission and he should go out that same front door on his final departure. We
then worked on coming up with a process that is now known as the “Final
Salute."
We put together a process in
which we place an American flag over the gurney of a deceased resident. We then
escort the body and lead the deceased resident to our common area by the dining
room. The residents are called to attention by the resident council president.
We created a short final prayer that is read: (Resident's Name) is now leaving
the veterans home on his/her heavenly departure. May (Resident's Name) now rest
in peace. We thank you for your honorable service to your country in it’s time
of need.
We then salute the deceased
resident and the resident counsel president chants “two” and a uniformed
security officer escorts the body down the elevator to the main entrance of the
facility. The American flag is then removed from the deceased resident prior to
being loaded into the funeral director’s vehicle and the flag is then
ceremoniously folded and prepared for further service. We announce over the
public address system that the resident has passed and we ask for a moment of
silence as we ring a brass bell 3 times in somber remembrance of the resident.
Many of our residents pass
away at a hospital. We designed a plan for that as well. READ MORE
Physician,
Alzheimer's-Stricken Wife Commit Suicide
He says in note it was their 'free choice'
(Source: By Crocker
Stephenson of the Journal Sentinel)
Rick Wood
End-of-life literature and a note (center) were left when Katherine “Kitty” and
Daniel Gute took their own lives. Kitty was losing her battle with Alzheimer’s.
A few days before he committed suicide with his wife of 53 years, Daniel Gute, a retired physician, wrote a note explaining their mutual decision to die.
The two-page handwritten letter is dated July 16, and it is signed by both Gute and his wife, Katherine, whom he calls "Kitty." Kitty Gute had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease more than a year before. The note describes Kitty Gute's failing health, daily indignities and chronic pain. It touches on their determination not to allow the vibrant life they had shared come to an end in a nursing home, where they feared their deaths would be no better than dragged out and wrested from their control.
"I
am hoping that sometime this weekend I will have the guts to act to deliver us
both from a more dismal situation," he writes. "I have been thinking
about this for a long time. It will not be easy. However, as time goes by it
will not get any better." One of their three daughters, Mary Witte, found
Daniel and Kitty Gute's bodies Sunday. READ MORE
Richard
Taylor, PhD Responds to this article:
Hello, yes it is sad to realize some opt
out of life for whatever reasons. Yes it is imaginable to me that this could be
me, but I don't want it to be, nor do I want it to be. Thinking about thinking
about thinking about ending my life is something I have done on more than one
occasion, but that is as deep into it as I have gone.
We don't know much about these folks so it is difficult to appreciate/understand how and why they reached a point where their options for a life lived with purpose, with joy and love, with giving and receiving became so limited to them they decided they had no other choice to end their lives.
The challenge for professsionals, friends,
family, all of us is how can we engage each other in ways that even in the
deepest of dementia moments there is a life fully living. Characterizing
dementia as "the long good bye", invites life ending
considerations.What I take from learning of their actions is a renewed sense of
the importance for me to live all of my life, every day. When I start hoping
tomorrow will be better, when I start looking over my shoulder at what I seem
to have lost of myself I lose the opportunity, the time, the energy to live all
of today.
Richard
My Bodily Remains
(Source: Ronni Bennett,
www.timegoesby.net/weblog)
We're old, most of us who hang around this blog and with age, death becomes a topic of consideration. Try as we might to ignore it, such necessities as wills, medical directives, the question of burial versus cremation, financial arrangements, even the choice of music at our funerals and a host of other decisions make it hard to avoid thoughts of our demise.
But none of these things nor death itself are what bother me in thinking about the end of my days. They feel more like paying the monthly bills or taking out the garbage – just stuff that needs to be done. No, what bothers me most about dying is my naked body - who will see it, who will touch it and what they will do with it.
I'm
not concerned that my body isn't as cute as when I was young. Nowadays, it's
pudgy, wrinkled, discolored here and there, scarred in a couple of places and
an amazing number of parts are droopy. No one's interested in this body for a
Playboy centerfold but, then, they never were. The aged condition of it is not
the issue.
However, what if I'm caught dead on a day when I haven't shaved my underarms for a couple of weeks? Or I'm in a favorite shabby shirt I never wear out of the house? Or what if I drop dead before I've had a chance to shower and I'm dirty? How embarrassing. and that's just the beginning of what bother me about being newly dead.
READ MORE & BE SURE TO CHECK OUT COMMENTS FROM READERS
Please allow me to die, says 70-yr-old woman
BANGALORE: In the first of its kind in recent memory, a woman had sought the high court's permission to die (voluntary euthanasia) claiming that she is not willing to live a life of heavy pain and misery. Justice Ajit Gunjal who heard the petition filed by H B Karibasamma, a 70-year-old retired teacher residing in an old age home in Davanagere, has directed the authorities to file a medical report about her by August 17. The judge also ordered issuance of notice to the Union ministry of parliamentary affairs, ministry of law and justice and the state government.
"The petitioner decided to end life as it presented nothing but the constant drudgery of constant pain and mental agony. Being a retired educator and a law-abiding citizen, she did not want to commit suicide but get the government's permission for ending life through euthanasia or physician-assisted death. The petitioner did not want her death to be labelled a cowardly act of suicide but a respectful death of a person who valiantly fought life," Karibasamma's counsel told the court.
The petitioner who has suffered slip disc (intervertebral disc prolapse) and is bed-ridden for the past 10-11 years has written many letters and representations right from the local authorities to the President and the Prime Minister seeking permission for euthanasia since 2003. READ MORE
Good Grief
Source: By ALLEN FRANCES,
www.nytimes.com)
A startling suggestion is buried in the fine print describing proposed changes for the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders — perhaps better known as the D.S.M. 5, the book that will set the new boundary between mental disorder and normality. If this suggestion is adopted, many people who experience completely normal grief could be mislabeled as having a psychiatric problem.
Suppose your spouse or child died two weeks ago and now you feel sad, take less interest and pleasure in things, have little appetite or energy, can’t sleep well and don’t feel like going to work. In the proposal for the D.S.M. 5, your condition would be diagnosed as a major depressive disorder.
This
would be a wholesale medicalization of normal emotion, and it would result in
the overdiagnosis and overtreatment of people who would do just fine if left
alone to grieve with family and friends, as people always have. It is also a
safe bet that the drug companies would quickly and greedily pounce on the
opportunity to mount a marketing blitz targeted to the bereaved and a campaign
to “teach” physicians how to treat mourning with a magic pill.
He’s
Not a Patient, But Plays One for Class
Students studying geriatrics in Maine
live for weeks in N.E. nursing homes
(Source: By June Q. Wu,
Boston Globe Correspondent | July 19, 2010)
(Photos By Pat Greenhouse/Globe Staff)
Medical student Matt Sharbaugh is spending two weeks as a patient at the Old
Soldiers’ Home in Chelsea. Professor Marilyn Gugliucci, portrayed his adult
daughter.
Matthew Sharbaugh checked himself into a nursing home recently, complaining of chronic pulmonary obstructive disease, congestive heart failure, and right-side weakness from a recent stroke. He is 24. Sharbaugh had signed away his youth for the next 12 days to play the part of an 85-year-old man in ailing health at the Old Soldiers’ Home in Chelsea.
A
second-year student at the University of New England College of Osteopathic
Medicine in
Sharbaugh,
who keeps a daily journal chronicling his observations, said last week: “I
never really noticed how hard it is to live like this. I just always thought of
old people as grumpy people who are easily upset.’’ By his fourth day,
Sharbaugh, of
Going to the bathroom became an art. With a twinge of shame, Sharbaugh learned to coordinate his bathroom trips with nurse shifts to avoid asking the same care provider for help more than once. From his wheelchair, Sharbaugh also picks up on details that can enhance or detract from the quality of care for elderly patients. He notes the importance of communicating at eye-level with the patient, of explaining medical procedures to the elderly and not simply to their adult children.
“It’s
extremely difficult to hear the medical jargon and not know what it refers
to,’’ Sharbaugh wrote in his journal. “When I have my practice, I will have to
be sure to explain the patient’s care in terms that he or she will
understand.’’ READ FULL ARTICLE
UMBC's
Erickson School Teaches Students to Look at Aging in New
Way: School is pumping out grads determined to reshape how we serve seniors
(Source: By Childs Walker,
The Baltimore Sun)
Elsa Lundgren beams as she stands in the archway between her bedroom and living room. She used to live in a single, hospital-like room on the
assisted-living floor at Broadmead retirement community in
"My eyesight was getting poorer and poorer," says the 96-year-old, who has lived at Broadmead for 18 years. "It was the light that persuaded me to go forward with the move."
The update is exactly the sort of reform that the professors at
UMBC's Erickson School of Aging are hoping to inspire. A year after budget and
staff cuts had some concerned about the school's future, Erickson is educating
31 graduate students, its largest group ever, and alumni are beginning to use
what they've learned to reshape the world of aging. READ MORE
Screams
From Greek Stage Aim for Doctors’ Hearts
Drama animates issues in Harvard ethics course
(Source: By Patrick G. Lee,
Boston Globe Correspondent | July 7, 2010)
(Kayana Szymczak for The Boston Globe)
Renzo Ampuero, Jay O. Sanders, and Kelley Green enacted lines last month for a
medical ethics course at Harvard Medical School.
Sounds of agony pour from the man at the front of the room, his face red and convulsed with pain. “Death!’’ he shouts, imploring someone, anyone, to end his life, his shrieks filling the amphitheater. “Death! Why after all these years have you not appeared?’’
The wailing man is an actor. His part is that of a Greek hero-warrior begging to be euthanized as a burning poison eats away at his flesh. His lines were written more than 2,000 years ago by Sophocles, the Greek playwright. And his audience this evening consists mainly of doctors, more accustomed to saving lives than to ending them.
As
medical technologies extend the lives of the sickest, medical schools across
the country have struggled to find a way to help doctors better navigate new
moral quandaries around death and dying. The recent performance of scenes from
Greek plays at
Called End of Life, the program uses ancient Greek tragedies to spark discussion among medical students and professionals about the ethics of treating patients facing painful, prolonged deaths. Several professors, doctors, and students who have taken part in End of Life agree that the 90 minutes of raw, honest theater and emotional discussion add a dimension of reality to medical ethics education that textbooks cannot.
“An
awful lot of what goes on in taking care of patients involves feelings, like
trust and hope and compassion,’’ said Christine Mitchell, a nurse and director
of the office of ethics at Children’s Hospital Boston. Mitchell attended both
of the performances Harvard has hosted this year. “We usually focus on the head
part and not the heart part. It’s not easy to combine the two.’’ READ MORE
21. MEDICAL COMMUNITY
(Source:
Family Caregiver Alliance
A July 13th story on NPR
examined a Medicare pilot program created under the new health care law that
will send doctors and nurse practitioners to visit patients with chronic
conditions in their own homes. The three-year demonstration project, called
Independence
A California man whose claims of elder abuse and discrimination have
galvanized gay rights advocates across the country agreed to settle his lawsuit
against Sonoma County Thursday.
In April 2008 Clay Greene, 77, was separated from Harold Scull, 88, his partner of more than 20 years, after county officials deemed that injuries Scull suffered were the result of domestic violence. The county district attorney later discredited that claim, but county employees kept the two men in separate facilities. Scull died three months later. The county then auctioned off all of the couple’s belongings to pay for Scull’s hospital fees.
Greene
sued the county for an undisclosed amount with the assistance of the
Photo courtesy of Clay Greene.
Harold Scull and Clay Greene in an undated photo.
As
part of the settlement reached Thursday,
The county also said that, as a result of the circumstances surrounding the case, it had altered some of its policies for property disposition and case management in such cases. Specifically,it will now appraise all of a conservatee’s assets before selling or auctioning them off. Scull and Greene’s assets were auctioned off without being appraised.
“These kind of civil violations need to be carefully watched,” Greene’s lawyer, Anne Dennis, said Friday. “Hopefully, the changes made will have positive effects on all seniors in the county, not just gay or lesbian seniors.”
Angels in America
(Source: By FRANK RICH, www.nytimes.com)
TO appreciate how much and how unexpectedly our country can change, look no further than the life and times of Judith Dunnington Peabody, who died on July 25 at 80 in her apartment on Fifth Avenue in New York.
The
proper names in her
biographical sketch suggest a stereotype from a
bygone New Yorker cartoon: Miss Hewitt’s Classes, the
Those patients were then mostly gay men, and, as Guy Trebay recently wrote in The Times, they were “treated not with compassion but as bearers of plague.” There was no drug regimen to combat AIDS, and there were many panicky rumors about how its death sentence could be spread through casual contact. People of all types and political persuasions shunned dying gay men even as they treated healthy gay men and lesbians as, at best, second-class citizens. The Times did not put the mysterious disease on Page 1 until after the casualty rate exceeded 500 and didn’t start covering it in earnest until Rock Hudson died of AIDS three years after that. In 1985, the term “gay” itself was an untouchable for writers in this newspaper.
Thanks
to
23. VOLUNTEERING
(Source:
http://leadingbyexample.wordpress.com)
Suppose you are presenting a project idea to your boss or client and can promise a return on investment of 800 percent. What do you think he or she will say – aside from perhaps, “What’s the catch?”
If your project involves using older adults as volunteers, you’re in luck. A new report shows evidence of a return on investment just that high when skilled, leadership-level volunteers are brought in to assist nonprofits and advance community goals.
Findings in The Boomer Solution: Skilled Talent to Meet Nonprofit Needs come from a three-year collaborative study of more than 60 nonprofits nationwide. The study was conducted by the National Council on Aging (NCOA) and funded by The Atlantic Philanthropies.
As part of the study, older adult volunteers were placed in leadership roles and positions within nonprofit organizations that matched their area of expertise. The nonprofits developed and tested various models of integrating these volunteers with nonprofit staff. On average, nonprofits that effectively used volunteers experienced a return of $8,000 for every $1,000 spent.
24. INTERNATIONAL
"Fewer and Fewer Workers to Support Aging Population"
(Source: www.prb.org)
The Population Reference Bureau's 2010 World Population Data Sheet and its summary report offer detailed information on 19 population, health, and environment indicators for more than 200 countries. "There are two major trends in world population today," says Bill Butz, PRB's president. "On the one hand, chronically low birth rates in developed countries are beginning to challenge the health and financial security of their elderly. On the other, the developing countries are adding over 80 million to the population every year and the poorest of those countries are adding 20 million, exacerbating poverty and threatening the environment."
Global population rose to 6.9 billion in
2010, with nearly all of that growth in the world's developing countries. In
contrast, the world's developed countries, totaling 1.2 billion people, saw
their populations continue to age as the numbers of those of working age
dwindle. For example,
The 2010 World Population Data Sheet shows
the contrasts between developing and developed countries. Comparing
Japan, Checking on Its Oldest, Finds Many Gone
(Source: By
MARTIN FACKLER,
www.nytimes.com)
Alarmed, local governments began sending teams to check on other elderly residents. What they found so far has been anything but encouraging.
A woman thought to be
To date, the authorities have been unable to find more than 281 Japanese who had been listed in records as 100 years old or older. Facing a growing public outcry, the country’s health minister, Akira Nagatsuma, said officials would meet with every person listed as 110 or older to verify that they are alive; Tokyo officials made the same promise for the 3,000 or so residents listed as 100 and up.
The national hand-wringing over the
revelations has reached such proportions that the rising toll of people missing
has merited daily, and mournful, media coverage. “Is this the reality of a
longevity nation?” lamented an editorial last week in The Mainichi newspaper,
one of
Among those who officials have confirmed is
alive: a 113-year-old woman in the southern
China's Elderly Population Expected to Grow to 167 Million by 2030
(Source: Family Caregiver
Alliance Caregiving PolicyDigest Volume X, Number 13)
A recent article in the
Sacramento Bee featured a nursing home manager in Shanghai who discussed the
impact that falling birthrates and the rapidly increasing elderly population in
China has had on bringing his nursing home to full capacity. China 's elderly population is expected to grow
to 167 million by 2030, nearly half the U.S.
August
16 is Senior Citizens' Protest Day Across India
(Source: Payal Gwalani, The
Times of India)
MUMBAI: NGOs across India have exhorted the elderly to observe August 16 as Senior Citizens' National Protest Day. Rallies, walkathons, signature campaigns will be organized in many parts of Maharashtra.
In Mumbai, 20 social organisations along with academicians, senior
citizens and students will hold a meeting at Azad Maidan on Monday
to hand over the memorandum with their demands to CM Ashok Chavan. Similar
activities are planned in 28 states across the nation. Dr S Kinjawadekar,
president of the All India
Senior Citizens Confederation said, "Most senior
citizens have no social or health security. We want the government to address
our issues"
25.
ANIMALS, INTERGENERATIONAL, PLANTS & ETC…
10
Benefits the Elderly Receive From Owning Pets
(Source: By Ryan Wentworth, http://EzineArticles.com)
Pets provide their owners with love, friendship, and affection. Recent research has shown, though, that pets do much more. Owning a pet can significantly improve your physical and mental health.
1. Companionship: Loneliness is a major issue for elderly people, especially for people who are socially isolated. Owning a dog, cat, or other animal can reduce loneliness among people who might otherwise feel alone.
2. Exercise: Pets need to be walked or played with often, and this can increase the amount of daily exercise elderly pet owners receive. Studies have shown that older people with pets had much higher levels of physical activity than non-pet owners.
3. Social Interaction: Animals are natural people magnets, and having a dog or cat can increase social opportunities for older people. People love to talk about their pets, which often leads to new friendships.
26. PERSONAL TRANSFORMATION
We Can ALL be LEADERS… We Have NO Excuses… Be Thankful, Dream Big and Never Give Up!!!
(Thank you to Adam Suomala)
Don’t Ever Let Somebody Tell You You Can’t Do Something…
(Source: Seth Godin’s Blog)
Every brand, every organization and every individual is either running away from something or running toward something (or working hard to stand still).
Are
you chasing or being chased? Are you leading or following? Are you fleeing or
climbing? MORE
Resilience and the Incredible Power of Slow Change
(Source: Seth Godin’s Blog)
Cultural
shifts create long terms evolutionary changes. Cultural shifts, changes in
habits, technologies that slowly obsolete a product or a system are the ones
that change our lives. Watch for shifts in systems and processes and
expectations. That's what makes change, not big events. MORE
(Source: Seth Godin’s Blog)
This is the one that was made before you even showed up. This is the one that sets the agenda, determines the goal and establishes the frame.
The decision before the decision is the box.
When you think outside the box, what you're actually doing is questioning the decision before the decision.
That decision is far more important and much more difficult to change than the decision you actually believe you're about to make.
Everyone Needs A Friend: Relationships are the key to life!
(Source: youtube, thank you
Jytte Lokvig)
