RespiteMatch.com Health Blog

http://www.aoa.gov/prof/aoaprog/caregiver/careprof/nfcsp_projects/PromisingPractices.pdf

Activities of Daily Living (ADLs): Basic personal care tasks to be performed daily such as dressing, bathing, eating or toileting.

Care Recipient or Consumer: The person receiving care who typically has a condition such as Parkinson’s disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, traumatic brain injury, AIDS, muscular dystrophy, paralysis, multiple sclerosis, frailty attributed to old age, or other chronic illness. Read the rest of this entry »

Many people know that Medicare serves both older adults and people with disabilities. Few are aware that, for Medicare coverage to begin, Americans with disabilities must wait 24 months from their first Social Security disability income payment, which is five months after Social Security deems them disabled. Read the rest of this entry »

The Centers for Independent Living in Biloxi, Mississippi and New Orleans have been gravely affected by the hurricane. In fact the Biloxi, MS center was totally destroyed. Many of you are asking how you can help. Here is what we have learned from colleagues in those states.
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Dr. Margaret Giannini, Director of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office on Disability needs our help to locate hurricane survivors who were placed in nursing homes and other restrictive facilities. We know people were transferred from shelters to nursing homes and institutions across the US during the past four weeks, but there are no records of whom or where these people are. Read the rest of this entry »

THE DAILY MOTIVATOR
Thursday, October 13, 2005

Living without frustration
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It may seem that outside events and conditions are what cause frustration. But those outside circumstances are merely excuses, and do not actually create the frustration.
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Caregiver Voices - Vignettes of NFCSP “Success Stories”

Selected examples from family experiences illustrate how the National Family Caregiver Support Program is making a difference in the American caregiving experience. The National Family Caregiver Support Program…

Helps families connect to services
Ms. T who lives in Arizona connected with the Area Agency caregiver program through the AoA-sponsored Eldercare Locator program. She was concerned about her mother’s continuing decline in mobility. She Read the rest of this entry »

Families, not social service agencies, nursing homes, or government programs, are the
mainstay underpinning long-term care (LTC) for older persons in the United States.
More than 22.4 million persons are informal caregivers–providing unpaid help
to older persons who live in the community and have at least one
limitation on their activities of daily living. Read the rest of this entry »

THE DAILY MOTIVATOR
Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Set a good example
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Show life how you want it to go. Start the day by taking intentional, determined steps in a positive direction and your world will follow along. Read the rest of this entry »

– Robert Preidt

TUESDAY, Oct. 11 (HealthDay News) — The eyes may be more than the windows to the soul; they may also help doctors predict stroke risk, according to a new Australian study.

The seven-year study of nearly 3,700 people aged 49 and older found that people with changes in the small blood vessels in their eyes were 70 percent more likely to suffer a stroke than people without the damage, which includes tiny bulges (microaneurysms) in the blood vessels or tiny blood spots caused by blood leaking from microaneurysms. Read the rest of this entry »

By Peggy Peck , MedPage Today Staff Writer
Reviewed by Robert Jasmer, MD; Assistant Professor of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco

Source News Article: New York Times

MedPage Today Action Points

Advise patients that all patients can get some benefit from the new drug coverage plan, but for many patients the benefit may be less than expected. Read the rest of this entry »

11/10/2005- Eating fish at least once a week may slow down the development of dementia, suggests new research out of the US.

The trial on elderly men and women living in Chicago found that those who reported eating fish at least once a week had a slower decline in mental function than peers who did not eat fish as often – about 10 per cent less per year.
For those eating two or more fish meals a week the rate of cognitive decline was 13 per cent slower than non-fish eaters, revealed the study published online yesterday, ahead of the December print issue of the Archives of Neurology (vol 62, 1-5). Read the rest of this entry »

A Personal Definition
Independent Living is a philosophy and a movement of people with disabilities who work for self-determination, equal opportunities and self-respect. Independent Living does not mean that we want to do everything by ourselves and do not need anybody or that we want to live in isolation. Independent Living means that we demand the same choices and control in our every-day lives that our non-disabled brothers and sisters, neighbors and friends take for granted. We want to grow up in our families, go to the Read the rest of this entry »

Caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia can be very difficult. Alzheimer’s disease is a progressive, degenerative disease of the brain. It is the most common form of dementia. Profound changes in personality and mental functioning are not unusual. Often, our relationships are changed significantly by this.
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Today, one in four American families cares for an older relative, friend, or neighbor. An estimated 25 to 40 percent of women care for both their older relatives and their children. Half of all caregivers also work outside the home. It is no wonder then that caregivers often need help. Depending on your work, living, and family arrangements, there are a number of things you can do to make caregiving easier. Read the rest of this entry »