Caring Sheets

The Dementia Care Series, Caring Sheets: Thoughts & Suggestions for Caring, are edited and produced by Eastern Michigan University Alzheimer's Education and Research Program for the Michigan Department of Community Health.

Caring sheets include tips for caregivers for communicating with health care providers, moving persons with dementia, the healthy brain and dementia, and more.

http://www.lcc.edu/mhap/caring.aspx

Heat-Related Illness

As we age, our ability to adequately respond to summer heat can become a serious problem. The National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, has some advice for helping older people avoid heat-related illnesses, known collectively as hyperthermia, during the summer months.


Hyperthermia can include heat stroke, heat fatigue, heat syncope (sudden dizziness after exercising in the heat), heat cramps and heat exhaustion. The risk for hyperthermia is a combination of the outside temperature along with the general health and lifestyle of the individual. Health-related factors that may increase risk include:

For a free copy of the NIA's Age Page on hyperthermia in English or in Spanish, contact the NIA Information Center at 1-800-222-2225 or go to www.niapublications.org/agepages/hyperther.asp
 or www.niapublications.org/agepages/hyperther-sp.asp for the Spanish-language version

Computer Savvy Seniors

Computer Savvy Seniors is a blog for seniors on topics of interest to seniors from a company which offers computer courses for seniors.. The Blog features a new topic or activity for every day of the week. For example, on Monday , the blog shares stories of senior volunteers...on Tuesdays, the blog provides examples of the creative pursuits of their students, Wednesdays is a discussion of independent living for seniors, and on throughout the week.

http://computersavvyseniors.blogspot.com/

Revolutionizing Long Term Care

From Care2, an article about Bill Thomas, and his revolutionary approach to nursing homes. A geriatrician who became indignant about the state of nursing home care when he was the medical director for one in New York, Thomas is now one of the nation’s most outspoken critics of institutional eldercare and a tireless advocate for homelike alternatives that restore meaning and dignity to older people’s lives.

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/revolutionizing-long-term-care.html

For more on the Eden Alternative:
http://www.edenalt.org/

Signs and Symptoms of Dehydration

From the Aging Parents and Eldercare Website, this webpage provides advice for recognizing, preventing, and treating elders who are dehydrated.

The website also contains a variety of resources, including books, DVDs, and other resources for helping elderly parents.

http://www.aging-parents-and-elder-care.com/Pages/Signs_of_Dehydration.html

health AGEnda

health AGEnda, from the John A. Hartford Foundation, is dedicated to introducing aging and geriatrics into the broader conversation around health, health care and health policy.

Founded in 1929, the John A. Hartford Foundation is a committed champion of health care training, research and service system innovations that will ensure the well-being and vitality of older adults. Its overall goal is to increase the nation’s capacity to provide effective, affordable care to its rapidly increasing older population. Today, the Foundation is America’s leading philanthropy with a sustained interest in aging and health.

To read the blog, go to: http://www.jhartfound.org/blog

Navigating Health Care Transitions: Tools for Information Sharing

At some point in our lives, most of us will face an illness where we have to deal with many different health care professionals—often spread out in different locations and settings across the health care system. Our primary physician may refer us to a specialist, or we may have an emergency that sends us to the ER and later requires that we be admitted to the hospital or see our primary physician for follow-up. We may even have to move from the hospital to a rehabilitation or long-term care facility.

A successful transition involves communicating and sharing all of the patient’s important health information including the diagnosis, symptoms, other health conditions, test results, treatment plans, medications, allergies, and even patient preferences. Unfortunately, much of this information is often confusing, missing, and even contradictory.

A number of the tools and resources that are available to help make this responsibility a little bit easier are highlighted in this article for the Alliance for Aging Research.

http://www.agingresearch.org/content/article/detail/2395/

American Administration on Aging Looking for Feedback on Web-based Meds Program for seniors

The U.S. Administration on Aging and the Health Resources Services Administration have developed a web-based education program to prevent older adults from being poisoned due to accidental misuse and interactions with their medicines. The program, Taking Your Medicines Safely, is designed to be administered by senior center personnel to interested seniors in their Center.

The one hour web-based program covers:

1. Potential problems of taking prescription medicines with over-the-counter products
2. Ways to keep track of medicines
3. Questions seniors should ask about their medicines

You can help!
The program needs to be reviewed and finalized before it can be made available nationally. If you work with older adults, you know what works best with your population. AoA/HRSA want your input. Please visit the website and supply your feedback on the program between July 17 and July 31.

The website is http://66.92.20.174/MedicineSafely/. The password for the website is safely01.

Growing Old in America: Expectations vs. Reality

Another survey on aging:

The Pew Research Center recent poll on aging surveyed young and middle-aged adults expectations about old age as well as the actual experience of older Americans. They found that getting old isn’t nearly as bad as people think it will be. Nor is it quite as good. On aspects of everyday life ranging from mental acuity to physical dexterity to sexual activity to financial security, a new Pew Research Center Social & Demographic Trends survey on aging among a nationally representative sample of 2,969 adults finds a sizable gap between the expectations that young and middle-aged adults have about old age and the actual experiences reported by older Americans themselves.

+ Full Report

Evercare 100 Survey

On June 23, 2009, Evercare by UnitedHealthcare releasedt its fourth annual Evercare 100@100 SurveyTM.

The survey challenges conventional stereotypes on aging by revealing, among other findings, that some  centenarians (3 percent) use Twitter to stay connected with friends and family, and 28 percent eat organic foods to stay healthy.

Additionally, 30 percent currently volunteer their time as a way of staying engaged.

The survey findings support the belief held by many medical professionals that a person’s longevity is based primarily on lifestyle choices rather than genetics.

To read more about the survey, visit:
www.AboutEvercare.com.