Tag: "physician"

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Working With Healthcare Providers: How to Empower Yourself and Your Loved One

Working With Healthcare Providers: How to Empower Yourself and Your Loved One

Having been a nurse for….well, let’s just say many years (PHEW), I know that it’s important to teach several important things about medication management that help a caregiver to administer a medication to their loved one safely and properly.  Some of these things include: Taking the medication in the right dose Taking the medication at the right [...]

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Silence Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

Silence Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

March 14th  is officially International Ask a Question Day, so with that in mind I wanted to bring up the importance of asking questions of your health care provider.  Remaining silent and not asking questions could literally be hazardous to your health or the health of your loved one. We used to think that it [...]

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Vacation For the Caregiver: JUST DO IT

Vacation For the Caregiver: JUST DO IT

Vacation For The Caregivers “JUST DO IT”  This is an article written by Greg Pledge, who cares for his mother in Ontario, Canada.    I am writing this article with hopes that I will reach as many of caregivers out there that read Shelley’s web site. I sincerely hope that the word “Vacation” and the [...]

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Is a Doctor of Osteopathy (D.O.) Right For Me?

Having worked in the health care industry for almost 30 years, I can tell you that there is a definate hierarchy in the way that medical titles are perceived within the health care community.  For instance, RNs are perceived better than LPNs (or LVNs); 4 year RN grads are perceived better than 2 year RN grads; and [...]

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Finding a Good Doctor For Your Loved One

Finding a good doctor for an elderly loved one can be a challenge. Many rural areas and smaller towns do not have gerontologists available. This means that a family will need to look at the non-specialists available in their area to provide medical care for their loved one. Look for a family practitioner or general [...]

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Will Assisted Living Facilities Become the Next Dinosaur?

 This past couple of years, I’ve noticed many new assisted living facilities being built in the area in which I live.  These are gorgeous properties with beautiful amenities throughout that have been placed there by designers hired to make them look like “home”. It wasn’t until I began looking at them as a means of [...]

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What is an Eldercare Mediator (and Do We Need One) ?

Elder care mediation is a relatively new profession and one that will be increasingly needed as more boomers care for their aging parents and also as they become elders themsleves.  In a study reported by Deborah B. Gentry, it was determined that nearly 40% of adult children acting as caregivers had serious conflicts with one or [...]

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You Must Let Go of The Guilt

You Must Let Go of The Guilt

When I woke up this morning, I was crying.  I had been dreaming about my father (who passed away at the end of September).  I recall that in my dream, he was not alive and was propped in a chair.  I was crying, saying “I’m SO sorry; I didn’t know.” Ironically, I know exactly what I didn’t know [...]

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Monitoring Vitamin K Intake During Coumadin Therapy

Monitoring Vitamin K Intake During Coumadin Therapy

Again, I am bringing you guest blogger, Gary Liska from  QAS ( Quality Assured Services, Inc.) because his expertise is in Coumadin therapy, INR testing and Vitamin K regulation.  When my father was placed on Coumadin, the physician’s instructions were to “decrease his intake of green leafy vegetables and don’t let him fall”.  That was [...]

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Good News for Patients on Coumadin Therapy

Good News for Patients on Coumadin Therapy

 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 [...]