I recently learned of a wonderful program that was developed by Dr. Sharon K. Inouye and her colleagues at the Yale University School of Medicine to be used in hospitals worldwide. The Hospital Elder Life Program (HELP) is “a program for hospitals, designed to prevent delirium by keeping hospitalized older people oriented to their surroundings, meeting [...]
The following is a guest blog featuring Gary B. Liska from Quality Assured Services, Inc. He will be discussing Coumadin (or warfarin) therapy (which we spoke about in our members’ section recently). Although he is in the private sector, I wanted him to discuss QAS’s offerings because they offer in-home testing for blood levels that would [...]
A friend of mine received the following letter from an 80 year old friend of hers. Because of its message, we thought it was important to share. “Dear Kendra, We are very sad about our granddaughter and her husband. Her name is Jessica. She was our lst grandchild and we spoiled her the most. Since [...]
Tomorrow evening, I will be attending my first meeting of a group that works to increase awareness of dementia diseases and the inequalities that go along with these diseases; therefore I have been doing some research and came across some interesting information. I am copying verbatum a flyer that is distributed by the Alzheimer’s Association [...]
Caring for a loved one who suffers from dementia requires compassion, patience, a sense of humor, and a plan for respite for the caretaker. Each day a caregiver must cope with decreasing levels of ability and new patterns of behavior, which can be very stressful. This is particularly true around the holiday season, when stress [...]
Yesterday’s newletter featured an article titled “A Wee Bit About Incontinence”. When I mentioned that on Twitter, I received an e-mail regarding a press-release about a study that was done among caregivers on the problem of incontinence. The results were so interesting that I wanted to share them with you. Below, I have posted the article [...]
Having worked as a registered nurse in the nursery/NICU (neonatal ICU) for many years, I have become familiar with birthing doulas who are non-medical personnel that undergo special training to help Moms through the labour process. Generally, they are not employed by the hospital but may be found privately or in some birthing centers. Until today though, I had never heard [...]
I need to apologize for my lack of frequent blogging over the past month. Since my father’s passing, I have been struggling about my focus here. I absolutely want to continue to provide caregivers with education and encouragement so that I can empower them to be better caregivers. And I do realize that there are [...]
According to Geoff Bernhardt, an elder law attorney in Portland, Oregon, a recent article in US News & World Report states that “more than 50 million family members provide more than 300 billion a year in uncompensated care to family members.” This care is frequently provided by an adult child who has either moved back [...]
My father wasn’t living with me when I received the call to come pick him up because he had just totalled his car on the freeway by merging into a semi. Luckily no one was hurt …and he TOLD me that the semi had merged into him. It wasn’t until later did I learn the [...]
