FRIA: The Voice and Resource for Quality Long-Term Care

FRIA is a New York based not-for-profit organization dedicated to fostering the dignity and independence of seniors in long term care settings, with a special focus on nursing home residents, and to ensuring that they receive prompt, high quality compassionate care.

They seek to accomplish this by helping friends and relatives become more informed and effective caregivers for the needs of their loved ones.

Currently FRIA conducts quarterly “Advocates of Nursing Home Reform” (ANHR) meetings at which Family Council members and leaders meet to discuss issues and projects in their nursing homes. FRIA will also be assisting ANHR members in publishing a quarterly newsletter, by and for Family Councils, which will begin distribution in 2010.

http://www.fria.org/fria/

Seniors to Seniors

Seniors to Seniors is a pro-health-care reform coalition of senior citizen advocacy organizations committed to educating seniors about current health care reform legislation. The coalition consists of the following organizations:

· AARP
· AFSCME Retirees
· Alliance for Retired Americans
· American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (AAHSA)
· American Federation of Teachers Program on Retirement and Retirees
· Association of Jewish Aging Services
· Center for Medicare Advocacy
· Easter Seals
· Families USA
· National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys
· The National Caucus and Center on Black Aged
· National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare
· NCCNHR – The National Consumer Voice for Quality Long-Term Care
· National Organization for Women
· National Seniors Citizens Law Center
· National Senior Corps Association
· OWL- The Voice of Midlife and Older Women
· Service Employees International Union
· Volunteers of America

http://seniorstoseniors.org/

Senior and Boomer Blogs

Wondering how to start finding blogs and Twitter feeds on senior's issues? Michelle Seitzer lists senior and boomer blogs on the Web today on the Seniors for Living website..

Seniors for Living is a free service that helps you and your family research, evaluate, contact, and compare Senior Housing options.

http://www.seniorsforliving.com/content/article/top-45-senior-boomer-blogs-sites-on-twitter/140/

Growing Smarter, Living Healthier: A Guide to Smart Growth and Active Aging

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency provides a web document which includes the following information on staying healthy while aging:

1. Staying Active, Connected, and Engaged
Where and how we choose to live can affect our health and well-being

2. Development and Housing
Healthy neighborhoods offer diverse housing choices, gathering places, and ways to connect

3. Transportation and Mobility
We can build choice back into our transportation system — and make it easier for people of all ages to get around

4. Staying Healthy
Finding healthy food, keeping active, and getting help when you need it can be easier in an age-friendly community

5. Conclusion: Next Steps
How you can get involved and act

Resources
Links to more details and strategies

Community Self-Assessment

http://www.epa.gov/aging/bhc/guide/index.html

H.E.L.P.

Helping People Meet Aging-Related Legal and Care Challenges .

This site gives information on issues of concern that impact the elderly such as reverse mortgages and how to avoid scams, preventing and addressing elder abuse, records management for surviving spouses and family members, and estate administration.

“H.E.L.P Is Here,” a free online newsletter, is archived on the site from 2002 to the current issue. Access:

www.help4srs.org.

Senior Transportation Today

Published in Spring, 2009 by the National Center for Senior Transportation, this paper was developed to provide an overview of senior transportation issues including increasing public knowledge of transportation issues, coordination, cooperation and integration, volunteer issues, financing and using technology to improve services.

The paper also provides a list of resources and organizations, as well as innovations and ideas to better meet the need of seniors.

http://seniortransportation.easterseals.com/site/DocServer/Senior_Transportation_Today.pdf?docID=116343

How to Read Articles about Health and Healthcare

This is a short article with useful tips on how to evaluate health news stories.


http://www.bazian.com/pdfs/HowToReadANewsStory_vers03_26Nov08.pdf

AgedCarer.com

A new website from Australia which enables family carers to access articles, videos and discussion forums covering a broad range of issues associated with the caring role.

It was developed by aged care nurse, Emma Hamilton after she noticed that most people felt confused and isolated when they tried to navigate the aged care system

http://www.agedcarer.com.au/

Dementia: Ethical Issues

Published by the National Council on Bioethics (UK), this paper reports on a public consultation with stakeholders including people with dementia, caregivers, health professionals, and other members of the public. This meeting followed up on an exploratory workshop held in March 2007, and a follow up working party in December 2007 to examine the ethical issues raised by dementia.

http://www.nuffieldbioethics.org/go/ourwork/dementia/introduction

Health Care Conversations

The New York Times has launched an online meeting place, called Health Care Conversations, for readers who want to join the national discussion about health care.

Three topic areas may be of particular interest:

• nursing home and end-of-life care
• medicare and the elderly
• drug costs
  

I Still Do: Loving and Living with Alzheimer's

Three years into their marriage, Judith Fox's husband, Dr. Edmund Ackell, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease.

Over the course of the next ten years, Fox watched as the man who used to perform surgery, fly planes, and run universities, forgot how to turn on the coffee maker, place a phone call, or remember what his wife had told him two minutes earlier.

Artist, photographer and entrepeneur, Judith Fox provides a rare glimpse into living with the face of Alzheimer' s in this pictorial and poetic tribute to her husband, Edmund.

While the details of I Still Do are personal and unique, this deeply candid story of illness, aging, partnership, and loving is universal.

Published by powerhouse books, October, 2009.

50 Tips for Aging Gracefully From Ecumen

50 Tips for Aging Gracefully From Ecumen

from Changing Aging

                     
                                                             
50 TIPS FOR AGING GRACEFULLY FROM ECUMEN
1. Do something you enjoy every day. When you immerse yourself in things you enjoy, you can’t wait to do them again. And then you do them again, and again and again, and the enjoyment continues.
2. Work at friendships. Friendships are fuel, providing energy, love and feeding your emotions. You’re never too old for new friendships.
3. Congratulate yourself. Everyone has accomplishments: celebrate them and use them as inspiration for new ones.
4. Embrace change. Life is change. Resisting it wastes precious time and energy. Living for it can create adventures you never thought possible.
5. Learn. Exercise your brain continually.
6. Know yourself. You know best what you like and don’t like, and you have the power to emphasize the good.
7. Make your home your special place by personalizing it and making it comfortable. Everyone needs a refuge that’s uniquely theirs.
8. Realize that opportunities often express themselves in ways we’d never imagine.
9. Get a massage frequently. Touch feels good and it’s so relaxing.
10. Be gentle with yourself. Listen to your own inner voices and senses and do what makes you feel best.
11. Share happiness. Make a point to spread joy whenever possible. It feels good to make someone else feel good, and it’s very inexpensive to do.
12. Eat with friends and family. Prepare food together. Eat the things you like.
13. Eat smartly, but every once in awhile line up a row of warm chocolate chip cookies (or your favorite cookie) and dip them in milk.
14. Get sufficient rest. Living takes work; we all need a break. Take one whenever you need to.
15. Laugh and cry. But laugh a lot more. It feels good by releasing endorphins – the body’s natural feel-good chemicals.
16. Each morning before you get out of bed thank the Lord for 5 things for which you are grateful. It’s a nice way to start the day, and you’ll find yourself thinking about a lot more than 5.
17. Take control of how you react to things. Little things can really bring you down if you let them. But you don’t have to let them.
18. Smile a lot.
19. Pray daily.
20. Spend time with other generations. You can learn something new from someone of any age.
21. Write. Write a letter. Write a blog. Write a poem. Write a journal. Writing helps you think, express who you are, and generate new ideas.
22. Embrace technology. The internet can take you places you’d never otherwise see or experience.
23. Dress in current styles. By adding a trendy piece to a classic outfit, you will look and feel good.
24. Travel. Whether it is a trip to the mall, theater, a sports event or even a different state or country, little and big adventures can produce wonderful results.
25. Exercise. It feels good to get those endorphins jumping.
26. Drink and eat in moderation.
27. Get a yearly medical check up. While it’s no guarantee you’ll live longer, it can help you catch health issues early and fend off other potential health problems.
28. Get a pet. Animals can be great companions.
29. Simplify. Start with cleaning a closet. You’ll quickly see there is a lot of stuff that’s just clutter and serves no use. Next simplify other parts of your life.
30. Surround yourself with people who lift you up rather than bring you down.
31. Don’t try to be everything to everyone. It’s impossible.
32. Always have something to solve. Making progress feels good and often it helps someone else and brings them and you happiness.
33. Embrace the joys of old age. You’re smarter; you’re more experienced and you have more time to do the things you enjoy.
34. If you’re depressed, seek professional help. There are solutions.
35. Practice acceptance. Know that there’s a very good chance that your mobility will lessen as you age. Think about how you will deal with that so that when that time comes, you can still live fully.
36. Create milestones and work toward them. No matter how big or small, the journey is a growing experience.
37. Prepare for your death by having a living will and pre-planning your funeral. Dying is part of living. And having a plan is a gift to yourself and to your loved ones.
38. Realize that although your body deteriorates, your spirit grows stronger if you allow it.
39. Do not let yourself be diminished by anyone. You are you. No one else is, and that’s darn important.
40. When you need supportive services, partner with a senior services provider that empowers you to enjoy life on your terms. Pre-plan so that you have peace of mind that you will have the help you need in an environment you desire.
41. Keep death daily before your eyes; it will help you appreciate every day and get the most out of it.
42. Value your body. If you do, you’ll participate in less risky behavior that could harm your health.
43. Treat others with respect and dignity. You’ll find respect and dignity come back to you.
44. Have someone you can tell anything.
45. Maintain muscle mass, which will protect you from falling.
46. Cut down or eliminate multi-tasking. Research shows people don’t do it very well, and it often just causes undue stress.
47. Walk. Get a pedometer and take 5,000 to 10,000 steps every day. You don’t have to be a marathon runner to walk. If you can’t walk, work with an exercise professional, who can design a wellness strategy with you.
48. Keep your weight at a healthy level.
49. Don’t fear aging.
50. Grow to the very last breath