What Assisted Living Residents Need To Know If They Want To Live Past 60

Every 70 seconds a senior is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. If you intend to live past the age of 60 you need to learn more about Alzheimer’s disease, especially since there is no cure. Today it is the 7th leading cause of death in the United States. Our brains change as we age just as the rest of our organs do. Most of us notice some slowed thinking and occasional problems with remembering certain things. However, serious memory loss, confusion and other major changes in the way our minds work are not a normal part of aging. These may be signs that your brain cells are failing. September 21st was World Alzheimer’s Day, when the Alzheimer’s Association joined with organizations and people around the globe to raise awareness about the disease and its impact on families. Today, 35 million people worldwide are affected by Alzheimer’s as well as related forms of dementia and assisted living facilities have realized that this number is rapidly growing. Assisted living facilities are educating seniors about the deadly disease so they are aware of the signs, symptoms and possible precautionary methods.

World Alzheimer’s Day is an opportunity to raise donations and awareness about Alzheimer’s disease. There is a need for more education, support and research on this disease. As a citizen of society you can participate by joining one of the many World Alzheimer’s Day events within your community. Assisted Living Facilities celebrate this day by organizing fundraisers and events to help raise awareness. Memory Walk 2010 is a perfect example. Participants come together and walk in order to change the course of Alzheimer’s Disease. Memory Walk is the nation’s largest event to raise awareness and funds for Alzheimer care, support and research. Since 1989, Memory Walk has raised more than $300 million for the cause.

What Exactly Is Alzheimer’s Disease?
The human brain is your most unique and powerful organ, yet a healthy brain weighs only about three pounds. It has three main parts:
The Cerebrum fills up most of your skull. It is involved in remembering, problem solving, thinking, and feeling. It also controls movement.
The Cerebellum sits at the back of your head, under the cerebrum. It controls coordination and balance.
The Brain Stem sits beneath your cerebrum in front of your cerebellum. It connects the brain to the spinal cord and controls automatic functions such as breathing, digestion, heart rate and blood pressure.

The real work of your brain goes on in individual cells. An adult brain contains about 100 billion nerve cells, or neurons, with branches that connect at more than 100 trillion points. Scientists call this dense, branching network a “neuron forest.” Signals traveling through the neuron forest form the basis of memories, thoughts and feelings. Neurons are the chief type of cell destroyed by Alzheimer’s disease. Signals that form memories and thoughts move through an individual nerve cell as a tiny electrical charge. Nerve cells connect to one another at synapses. When a charge reaches a synapse, it may trigger release of tiny bursts of chemicals called neurotransmitters. The neurotransmitters travel across the synapse, carrying signals to other cells. Scientists have identified dozens of neurotransmitters.

Alzheimer’s disease disrupts both the way electrical charges travel within cells and the activity of neurotransmitters. 100 billion nerve cells! 100 trillion synapses! Dozens of neurotransmitters! This “strength in numbers” provides your brain’s raw material. Over time, our experiences create patterns in signal type and strength. These patterns of activity explain how, at the cellular level, our brains code our thoughts, memories, skills and sense of who we are. Alzheimer’s disease leads to nerve cell death and tissue loss throughout the brain. Over time, the brain shrinks dramatically, affecting nearly all of its functions.  Alzheimer’s gets worse over time, and is fatal. Visit alz.org to find a Memory Walk event in your area or locate another volunteer opportunity to help end the disease.

800Seniors.com is a leading referral system in the Elderly Healthcare industry. We are located on 5400 Atlantis Court, Moorpark, California 93021. 800Seniors.com provides the perfect match between seniors searching for health care provisions such as Home Care Houston, Home Health, Skilled Nursing, Hospice Care, Medical Supplies, as well as a variety of Assisted Living Facilities and Care Homes nationwide. Take the confusion and hassle out of the search. For more information call 1-800-768-8221, visit http://800seniors.com or fax us your details at (805)517-1623.

About The Author: Gloria Ha’o Schneider is an expert in senior citizen and baby boomer issues. Her topics revolve around Senior Living and Healthcare to provide the latest information to this demographic as well as their families and loved ones.

The Return Of The Little Black Bag In Healthcare

Right around the same time some private physicians are refusing to accept new Medicare patients in fear of lower government reimbursements, another physician based concept is taking hold. The Academy of Home Care Physicians has a mission statement that promotes the art, science and practice of medicine in the home. Established in 1988, the Academy “envisions a healthcare system in which any patient who needs it can receive comprehensive primary care in their home.” Research shows that for every elderly person in a nursing home, there are three more patients equally as sick and fragile who are living at home. In a recently article published in The New England Journal of Medicine on “Why Health Care is Going Home,” Dr. Steven H. Landers stated that, “Our financing system, malpractice laws, and consumer culture all encourage utilization of costly services and have contributed to unsustainable increases in the cost of care. In home care is often less costly, and since it is highly desirable for patients, it offers a potential win–win solution.”

He added that, “The transformation of patients’ homes into central venues for health care may take years or decades, depending on how the national and institutional politics play out. New payment models are needed to cover services that haven’t previously been offered at home and to realign physicians’ incentives. Yet, ultimately, health care organizations that do not adapt to the home care imperative risk becoming irrelevant.” In today’s generation of physicians, few have been educated in medical school or continuing education to provide the kind and level of care that could be made available. Few have been educated to provide home health agencies with professional support as medical directors; fewer still have learned the advanced team techniques that allow them to work with other health professionals, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists and others by providing continuity of care across the care continuum. Concerns over reimbursement also have been a barrier.

The American Academy of Home Care Physicians serves the needs of thousands of physicians and related professionals and agencies interested in improving care of patients in the home. Members and volunteers work to reduce barriers and enhance practice education. Notable successes include fostering increased reimbursement, sponsoring multiple educational and scientific seminars and providing the practice community with a variety of helpful publications. Academy members include home care physicians who make house calls, care for homebound patients, act as home health agency medical directors or refer patients to home care agencies. Specialties include internal medicine, family practice, pediatrics, geriatrics, psychiatry, emergency medicine and more.
Other members are directors of agencies actively planning for future home care organizations, medical directors of managed care plans, nurse practitioners who make house calls, physician assistants, and administrators of medical groups interested in home care. The services provided by home care agencies and physicians are billed under a set of codes designated by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid. Physicians, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists and physician assistants are required to oversee or directly provide progressively more sophisticated and more frequent home visits.

Beyond the licensure and certification processes, no similar evaluation mechanism exists for skills obtained through continuing education and practice experience. The Home Care Credentialing Examination fills this gap and enables home care medical providers to demonstrate their proficiency. Patients also benefit from proficiency testing and the Academy’s recognition of those who receive the credential since the exam assesses the knowledge and skills identified by respected experts as necessary to provide safe and effective medical care in the home. Upon the completion of this educational activity, the participant should be better able to:
Discuss and apply knowledge of clinical problems, effective approaches to end of life/palliative care, functionality, social services and legal/ethical concerns related to home care. Attest to his or her added competency in home care medicine by demonstrating knowledge, skills and proficiency in managing common problems faced in home care. As a public service, The American Academy of Home Care Physician’s website provides a list of its members and medical groups that provide home care.

800Seniors.com is a leading referral system in the Elderly Healthcare industry. We are located on 5400 Atlantis Court, Moorpark, California 93021. 800Seniors.com provides the perfect match between seniors searching for health care provisions such as Home Care Chicago, Home Health, Skilled Nursing, Hospice Care, Medical Supplies, as well as a variety of Assisted Living Facilities and Care Homes nationwide. Take the confusion and hassle out of the search. For more information call 1-800-768-8221, visit http://800seniors.com or fax us your details at (805)517-1623.

About The Author: Gloria Ha’o Schneider is an expert in senior citizen and baby boomer issues. Her topics revolve around Senior Living and Healthcare to provide the latest information to this demographic as well as their families and loved ones.

Study Links Hearing Loss And Dementia

According to a new study from John Hopkins University and the National Institute on Aging, adults with significant hearing loss are at a much greater risk of developing dementia. The study followed 639 dementia-free adults ages 36 to 90. The participants in the study were tested for hearing loss and dementia every two years for nearly two decades. The researchers found that those with hearing loss at the beginning of the study were much more likely to develop dementia by the end, even after taking into account age and other risk factors. The risk of dementia only began to rise once hearing loss began to interfere with the ability to communicate, for example, in a noisy restaurant. The study also found that hearing loss increased the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, but the two were not as strongly linked as hearing loss and other forms of dementia. Frank Lin, M.D., assistant professor of Otology at John Hopkins University and an author of the study says the research is the first major study that connects hearing loss to the development of dementia and could lead to additional research on the subject.

Lin says it may be that whatever causes dementia also causes hearing loss, but there is no clear evidence. He thinks it is more likely that the neurological stress of dealing with hearing loss contributes to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. “If you are out to dinner with friends at a busy restaurant and it’s very, very loud, by the time you get home you’re exhausted, because you spend so much time trying to think about the words people are saying, to decipher everything,” he says. Dementia, the insidious loss of memory, logic and language that interferes with daily living is a condition that affects millions of people worldwide and carries a heavy societal burden. After age 85, nearly half of all seniors will have some level of cognitive impairment or dementia. Without proper care, people with dementia may eat poorly and irregularly and ignore exercise and social activity, all activities that could likely improve their health.  Family caregivers are usually the first to recognize that dementia may be developing and should seek medical evaluation as soon as the symptoms are noticed.Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, afflicting about 5 percent of seniors between sixty-five and seventy-four. However, nearly half of those over the age of eighty-five are affected.  Vascular dementia is considered the second most common form of dementia.

This type of dementia is caused by reduced blood flow to parts of the brain. One type of vascular dementia can occur after a single stroke blocks the flow of blood to a large part of the brain.  In another type of vascular dementia, a series of very small strokes block small arteries. Singularly, these strokes are small enough not to cause major symptoms, but over time, their combined effect becomes noticeable. Symptoms of vascular dementia can be similar to Alzheimer’s disease. They include problems with memory, confusion and difficulty following instructions. In some cases, the impairment associated with vascular dementia can be more rapid and marked. Alzheimer’s advances slowly, gradually causing crippling brain damage with symptoms that can include paranoia.
Although the reason for the link between hearing loss and dementia is unknown, the researchers in the study suggest that a common pathology may underlie both or that the strain of decoding sounds over the years may overwhelm the brains of people with hearing loss, leaving them more vulnerable to dementia. They also speculate that hearing loss could lead to dementia by making individuals more socially isolated, a known risk factor for dementia and other cognitive disorders. Whatever the cause, the scientists report their findings may offer a starting point for interventions even as simple as hearing aids that could delay or prevent dementia by improving patients’ hearing.

800Seniors.com is a leading referral system in the Elderly Healthcare industry. We are located on 5400 Atlantis Court, Moorpark, California 93021. 800Seniors.com provides the perfect match between seniors searching for health care provisions such as Home Care San Antonio, Home Health, Skilled Nursing, Hospice Care, Medical Supplies, as well as a variety of Assisted Living Facilities and Care Homes nationwide. Take the confusion and hassle out of the search. For more information call 1-800-768-8221, visit http://800seniors.com or fax us your details at (805)517-1623.

About The Author: Gloria Ha’o Schneider is an expert in senior citizen and baby boomer issues. Her topics revolve around Senior Living and Healthcare to provide the latest information to this demographic as well as their families and loved ones.

Research Shows Home Health Care Healthy For Medical System

The world’s health care system is already strained by rising costs and a shortage of qualified personnel. A recent study by the RAND Corporation found that moving care into patients’ homes is fast becoming an alternative to the high costs of institutional care. The study also identifies home health care as a major shift in the structure of the health care system, warranting consensus between patients, health care providers, insurance companies and policy makers before it can become an effective solution.
“The aging of the world’s population and fact that more diseases are treatable will create serious financial and manpower challenges for the world’s health care systems,” said Dr. Soeren Mattke, the study’s lead author and a senior natural scientist at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. “Moving more health care into the home setting where patients or family members can manage care could be one important solution to these challenges.”

The findings are from a global study of the needs, expectations and priorities regarding home health care among key stakeholders in six countries – China, France, Germany, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States. Researchers conducted over 100 interviews with government officials, regulators, providers, insurers, manufacturers, distributors and patient organizations, as well as reviewing existing research about home health care. An increase in the world’s elderly population, coupled with better treatment for many diseases, is expected to increase the number of people living with chronic conditions and disability in the decades ahead, putting pressure on the finances and the workforce of health care systems. In the United States, for example, people age 64 and older represent 12 percent of the population, yet account for 34 percent of the nation’s total health care spending. In the United States alone, the aging population is projected to increase to 71.5 million by the year 2030, when one in five Americans will be age 65 and older. Home health care increases the chance for patients to age in place and avoid institutionalization.

While this trend sprouted in the developed world, it is increasingly taking root in developing and transitional nations. For example, Singapore has become the world’s most rapidly aging country and already 80 percent of all deaths in China are caused by chronic disease. Soeren Mattke, senior scientist at Rand said that, “by 2014, China will have more people living with chronic disease than the entire U.S. population.” The demand for non institutional care in these countries has spurred the development of the home health care concept. Home health care is an attractive solution because it empowers patients to self manage their conditions to a larger extent and helps to shift care from high cost institutional and professional settings to patients’ homes and the community. Such a change could both save money and ease pressure on health systems suffering from worker shortages and capacity constraints, researchers say.

The best evidence so far comes from the U.S. Veterans Health Administration, which uses remote monitoring equipment to help veterans manage diabetes, hypertension and chronic heart failure. The 2008 VA study of 17,025 home telehealth patients showed the devices cut the average number of days hospitalized by 25 percent and produced a 19 percent reduction in hospital admissions.
Home health care technology spans a broad spectrum from basic diagnostic tools, such as glucose meters, to advanced telemedicine solutions. Those advances have pushed the frontier of care management further into the home setting. The advances have the potential to not only support current care delivery, but to fundamentally change the model to a more efficient and more patient centered one, according to the report.

800Seniors.com is a leading referral system in the Elderly Healthcare industry. We are located on 5400 Atlantis Court, Moorpark, California 93021. 800Seniors.com provides the perfect match between seniors searching for health care provisions such as Home Care San Diego, Home Health, Skilled Nursing, Hospice Care, Medical Supplies, as well as a variety of Assisted Living Facilities and Care Homes nationwide. Take the confusion and hassle out of the search. For more information call 1-800-768-8221, visit http://800seniors.com or fax us your details at (805)517-1623.

About The Author: Gloria Ha’o Schneider is an expert in senior citizen and baby boomer issues. Her topics revolve around Senior Living and Healthcare to provide the latest information to this demographic as well as their families and loved ones.

National Alzheimer’s Project Act Signed Into Legislation

The fact that the United States Congress voted unanimously on any legislation set before them, sent an extremely powerful signal. The National Alzheimer’s Project Act (NAPA), signed by the President on January 4, 2011 turns a concept of need into a law of the land, a coordinated national plan to overcome the Alzheimer’s crisis. Passage of NAPA will ensure the coordination and evaluation of all national efforts in Alzheimer’s research, clinical care, institutional, home and community based programs and their outcomes. The new National Alzheimer’s Project office will be located within the Department of Health and Human Services and will oversee federal research on Alzheimer’s disease to develop a plan to combat the disease and eventually develop a cure. The office will be funded within the existing budget and does not require an appropriation.This is a major victory for the 5.3 million people who live with Alzheimer’s in this country and their nearly 11 million caregivers who take care of them. NAPA will confront one of the most feared and costly diseases that stands to plaque the baby boomer generation as they move into their senior years.

Given the scale of the Alzheimer epidemic and the growing number of Americans directly affected every single day, NAPA will provide an essential framework within the government that recognizes the Alzheimer crisis is no longer emerging, but is already here.
Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, a general term for memory loss and other intellectual abilities that are serious enough to interfere with daily life, worsens over time, and is fatal. Alzheimer’s disease accounts for 50 to 70 percent of dementia cases. Alzheimer’s disease is not a normal part of aging; although the greatest known risk factor is increasing age, and the majority of people with Alzheimer’s are 65 and older. Alzheimer’s is not just a disease of old age however. Roughly, 10 percent of people with the disease have early onset Alzheimer’s that can appear when someone is in their 40s or 50s. For a nearly a decade, advocates of the disease have been petitioning for federal involvement to address the crisis.  In 2003, longtime advocate for those with disease, the Alzheimer’s Association was at the forefront of the effort to add early onset of the disease to the Compassionate Allowances List making it possible for victims to receive Social Security Disability and Supplemental Security Income. Inclusion on the SSA’s list was not accomplished until 2010. In 2007, then Speaker Newt Gingrich and AA’s Robert Egge made the case for creation of a federal Alzheimer strategy with an article, Developing a National Alzheimer’s Strategy Equal to the Epidemic.

Written by Egge, it garnered national attention when it was published in The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association. Also in 2007, the association launched the Alzheimer’s Study Group at a Capitol Hill Conference. In 2009, they released their final report calling for federal legislation to attack the challenges of the disease, currently the sixth leading cause of death in the nation. Based on the Alzheimer’s Study Group recommendations and following consultations with the Alzheimer’s Association, controversial former Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) and Evan Bayh (D-IN) introduced a measure to create a collaborated system for researching, treating and eliminating Alzheimer’s disease. The measure was introduced to Congress as the first National Alzheimer’s Project Act in July 2009. After various draftings in 2010, the bill progressed through the legislative branch until final congressional approval in December 2010 and the presidential signing in January 2011. The Alzheimer’s Association is the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer care, support, advocacy, and research. Their mission is to eliminate Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of research; to provide and enhance care and support for all affected; and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health. Their vision, now supported by the federal government, is a world without Alzheimer’s.

800Seniors.com is a leading referral system in the Elderly Healthcare industry. We are located on 5400 Atlantis Court, Moorpark, California 93021. 800Seniors.com provides the perfect match between seniors searching for health care provisions such as Home Care Phoenix, Home Health, Skilled Nursing, Hospice Care, Medical Supplies, as well as a variety of Assisted Living Facilities and Care Homes nationwide. Take the confusion and hassle out of the search. For more information call 1-800-768-8221, visit http://800seniors.com or fax us your details at (805)517-1623.

About The Author: Gloria Ha’o Schneider is an expert in senior citizen and baby boomer issues. Her topics revolve around Senior Living and Healthcare to provide the latest information to this demographic as well as their families and loved ones.

Napping In The Afternoon Can Improve Learning & Memory For Seniors

Napoleon Bonaparte napped because he had chronic insomnia and could only sleep about three hours a night.
Thomas Edison napped in lieu of sleeping at night. He believed that sleeping was a waste of time, “a deplorable regression to the primitive state of a caveman,” but he napped frequently and for long periods. Albert Einstein felt that his daily naps “refreshed the mind” and made him more creative. During World War II, Winston Churchill scheduled his cabinet meetings around his daily catnaps. Salvador Dali napped in his armchair, holding a spoon over a metal pan on the floor below. When Dali hit REM sleep and lost muscle control, the spoon would fall from his grip, bang the metal pan and awaken him. Studies show that taking a nap is a great way to increase alertness and reaction times, improve mood, and reduce accidents. For many people, napping is also a highly pleasurable experience.

Although most assisted living communities have activity-packed calendars, many seem to leave a couple of hours open in the afternoons so residents can rest or simply have free time. Recent research is providing evidence that a well-timed afternoon nap may be the best way to combat sleepiness, improve performance, and overcome the late day grogginess commonly known as the “midday dip.” Gregory Belenky, MD, Research Professor and Director of the Sleep and Performance Research Center at Washington State University, says, “A large number of the world’s people divide their sleep into two blocks, with the afternoon sleep called a siesta in most Spanish speaking countries. Mediterranean countries have always kept attuned to the biorhythms that American culture tries to ignore, and they’ve found a way to work around the body’s internal clock. It’s called the riposo in Italy.

Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Greece traditionally observe an early afternoon shutdown that begins at noon to 1:30pm and runs until 2:30 to 4pm.  Museums, most churches, shops, businesses, just about everything except restaurants, lower the shutters and lock the doors so that proprietors can either go home or head to a local trattoria for a long lunch and perhaps a snooze during the day’s hottest hours. There are a variety of studies that prove that nighttime sleep improves learning. The idea is that newly learned knowledge or skills are integrated in the brain during sleep. But do naps serve the same role? A new study by researchers at Harvard University has provided strong evidence that it does. The Harvard researchers found that taking a 45 minute nap helps improve learning and memory and has a benefit similar to that of nighttime sleep.

Combining nighttime sleep with napping has twice the positive effect. It is even possible that divided sleep is more recuperative than sleep taken in a single block. Author, Cathleen Schine, romantically describes her families’ love affair with the art of napping when she writes, “naps float, weightless and temporal, they are nature’s whim.” Although appreciative of the Harvard research, when describing her son’s early inability to sleep, she said, “I was even more grateful for a family legacy that taught me, and allowed me to teach him, that not everything has to be useful, not everything has to lead to something more.” She adds that, “Sometimes, for no reason and with no purpose, you can just curl up on the couch, feel the soft breeze, and drift into a soft, delicious sleep that leads to nowhere in particular, and back again.” When fatigue sets in, a quick nap can do wonders for your mental and physical stamina.

800Seniors.com is a leading referral system in the Elderly Healthcare industry. We are located on 5400 Atlantis Court, Moorpark, California 93021. 800Seniors.com provides the perfect match between seniors searching for health care provisions such as Home Care Chicago, Home Health, Skilled Nursing, Hospice Care, Medical Supplies, as well as a variety of Assisted Living Facilities and Care Homes nationwide. Take the confusion and hassle out of the search. For more information call 1-800-768-8221, visit http://800seniors.com or fax us your details at (805)517-1623.

About The Author: Gloria Ha’o Schneider is an expert in senior citizen and baby boomer issues. Her topics revolve around Senior Living and Healthcare to provide the latest information to this demographic as well as their families and loved ones.

High Cholesterol And Blood Pressure May Affect Memory In Middle Age

Most middle agers and seniors attempt to keep their cholesterol and blood pressure levels under control in an attempt to decrease the risk of heart attack and stroke, but a new study shows more may be at stake. In a long term study of British civil servants, a team of researchers in France assessed data on about 3,500 British men and 1,300 British women with an average age of 55. Over the course of ten years, participants were measured three times for reasoning skills, memory, fluency and vocabulary.

Reasoning Test: Included 65 verbal and math questions that increased in difficulty.
Memory Test: Asked participants to recall a list of 20 words.
Fluency/Vocabulary Test: Asked people to do things such as name as many words that start with the letter “s” as they can in one minute or name as many animals as they can in the same period.

Participants were also given what is called a Framingham risk score, which takes into account a person’s age, gender, cholesterol levels, blood pressure, smoking history and diabetes status to predict the chances of having a heart attack, stroke or other cardiovascular problem sometime within the next 10 years. According to the test results, it was observed that those with poor cardiovascular health were more likely to do poorly on memory and mental ability tests. Study co-author, Sara Kaffasian, a doctoral student at Paris’ French National Institute of Health and Medical Research said, “We found that cardiovascular risk in middle age is related to lower overall cognitive function. We also observed a relationship between poor cardiovascular scores and overall cognitive decline over 10 years.” The study results will to be presented in April at the American Academy of Neurology’s annual meeting in Honolulu. Experts caution that research presented at meetings is not subject to the same rigorous scrutiny given to research published in medical journals. Dr. Ralph Sacco, president of the American Heart Association, said an increasing body of research is showing the importance of cardiovascular health in maintaining brain function over a person’s life span.

“The link between cardiovascular health and brain health is becoming increasingly important and recognized,” said Sacco, a professor of neurology, epidemiology and human genetics at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. High blood pressure, diabetes, smoking, high cholesterol and inactivity can contribute to a narrowing of the large blood vessels throughout the body, but also the small blood vessels of the brain, Sacco explained. Those changes can reduce blood flow, which can “starve the brain of oxygen and lead to changes in thinking, cognition and our mental abilities,” he said. Though the people in the study did not have Alzheimer’s, other research suggests that hypertension, diabetes and poor cardiovascular health are a risk factor for both Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, he added. But the good news, he said, is that middle aged adults can take preventative steps to improve cardiovascular health by eating a proper diet, exercising, controlling diabetes if they have it and, if applicable, taking the correct medications for hypertension, Sacco said. “There is a hopeful note, which is that by controlling your vascular risk factors, you may be able to reduce or forestall cognitive decline,” he said.

800Seniors.com is a leading referral system in the Elderly Healthcare industry. We are located on 5400 Atlantis Court, Moorpark, California 93021. 800Seniors.com provides the perfect match between seniors searching for health care provisions such as Home Care New York, Home Health, Skilled Nursing, Hospice Care, Medical Supplies, as well as a variety of Assisted Living Facilities and Care Homes nationwide. Take the confusion and hassle out of the search. For more information call 1-800-768-8221, visit http://800seniors.com or fax us your details at (805)517-1623.

About The Author: Gloria Ha’o Schneider is an expert in senior citizen and baby boomer issues. Her topics revolve around Senior Living and Healthcare to provide the latest information to this demographic as well as their families and loved ones.

Creativity & Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease leads to nerve cell death and tissue loss throughout the brain. Over time, the brain shrinks dramatically, affecting nearly all of its functions. Alzheimer’s ultimately affects all parts of the brain but each person is affected differently as the disease progresses. In part, this is due to the nature and extent of damage being caused to different areas of the brain. Each section of the brain is known as a lobe; a lobe simply means a part of an organ. Because the portion of the brain that deals with creativity is often one of the last portions of the brain that is affected by Alzheimer’s disease, providing creative outlets for those affected in an important activity. In the earliest stages, before symptoms can be detected with testing, plaques and tangles, which are the hallmarks of the disease, begin to form in brain areas involved in:

Learning and memory
Thinking and planning

In the mild to moderate stages, brain regions develop more plaques and tangles than were present in early stages. As a result, individuals develop problems with memory or thinking serious enough to interfere with work or daily life. They may also get confused and have trouble handling money, expressing themselves and organizing their thoughts. Many people with Alzheimer’s disease are first diagnosed in this stage.

Plaques and tangles also spread to areas involved in:
Speaking and understanding speech
Sense of where your body is in relation to objects

In the advanced stages of Alzheimer’s disease, most of the cortex is seriously damaged. The cerebral cortex is a sheet of neural tissue that is the outermost part of the brain. It plays a key role in memory, attention, perception, thought, language and consciousness. During this stage of the disease, the brain shrinks dramatically due to widespread cell death. Individuals lose their ability to communicate, to recognize family and loved ones and to care for themselves. The right hemisphere of the brain is associated with the creative process. It conveys feeling, imagination, symbols and images in the present and future. It processes philosophical & religious beliefs, special perception, form and abstract thoughts. Alzheimer’s disease has a profound impact on creativity. Alzheimer’s disease attacks the right posterior part of the brain, which enables people to retrieve internal imagery and copy images. Alzheimer’s disease patients may lose the ability to copy images entirely. However, people with Alzheimer’s disease can continue to produce art by using their remaining strengths, such as color or composition instead of shapes or realism.

Dr. Luis Fornazzari, a researcher from the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the University of Toronto and clinical director of the Multilingual/Multicultural Memory Clinic believes the association between creativity and mental illness is an area worth exploring.
As part of his research, Dr. Fornazzari began studying the life of an artist who is suffering from  Alzheimer’s disease. Danae Chambers was commissioned to paint portraits of dignitaries around Canada and abroad. Her artwork has been shown in galleries around the world. Because of her disease, Ms. Chambers had a dramatic deterioration of communication, memory and life skills, but she could still paint beautifully. Traditionally, the approach in treating Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias focused on what is not functioning in the patient, such as memory loss and difficulties with daily life and communication. By focusing on abilities instead of cognitive deficits, Dr. Fornazzari is pioneering a new approach in the treatment of Alzheimer disease and related dementia.  “The distinctiveness of Danae Chambers’ story is that while examining her, we concentrated on the positive aspects of what was still functioning in her brain, such as her creative ability,” says Dr. Fornazzari. Many times patients in the advanced stages of the disease are isolated and have no means of any form of communication. The study suggests that quality of life is improved when patients are given the opportunity to express themselves in any form and it provides scientists an avenue to explore brain function.

The artists’ cognitive abilities were evaluated at four years, two years before and two years after the time she was admitted to a long term care facility in Toronto. Dr. Fornazzari monitored how her creativity emerged during the progressive course of the disease, while her other cognitive functions such as attention, working memory, and language ability increasingly deteriorated.  “Ms. Chambers’ case clearly demonstrates that the brain uses separate neural pathways for creative expression compared to neural networks used for speech, memory and attention,” says Dr. Fornazzari. “This is of profound importance to further understand and explore why Alzheimer’s disease preferentially attacks one neural pathway over the other.”  Dr. Fornazzari strongly advocates that creativity in any of its forms, either visual, musical, literary or performing arts should be actively explored in relation to patients with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, especially when their other cognitive functions do not allow caregivers and specialists to communicate with sufferers of the disease. This effort to focus on the preserved creative functions, instead of deficits of the patient, will improve their quality of life and is a rewarding way for caregivers to communicate with them. The findings of this scientific case study are published in the June issue of European Journal of Neurology.

800Seniors.com is a leading referral system in the Elderly Healthcare industry. We are located on 5400 Atlantis Court, Moorpark, California 93021. 800Seniors.com provides the perfect match between seniors searching for health care provisions such as Home Care Dallas, Home Health, Skilled Nursing, Hospice Care, Medical Supplies, as well as a variety of Assisted Living Facilities and Care Homes nationwide. Take the confusion and hassle out of the search. For more information call 1-800-768-8221, visit http://800seniors.com or fax us your details at (805)517-1623.

About The Author: Gloria Ha’o Schneider is an expert in senior citizen and baby boomer issues. Her topics revolve around Senior Living and Healthcare to provide the latest information to this demographic as well as their families and loved ones.

If Seniors Don’t Know It’s Broken How Can They Fix It

It is reported that 133 million Americans have a chronic condition such as heart disease, arthritis, diabetes or cancer. Every 35 minutes, an older adult dies from a fall.  One in five older adults is caught in the grips of depression, anxiety or substance abuse.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, depression is the most prevalent mental health problem among older adults, yet many of them do not realize they are suffering through a treatable condition. Many elderly people resist seeking treatment because of the stigma that is still frequently attached to getting help with an emotional issue. While going through a particularly long period of depression after losing a spouse, one elderly woman stated that, “if my own family members can’t help me, how could someone else?” Perhaps stubbornness or fear prevented her from seeking relief from a treatable emotional condition. Many elderly people fear they may be considered “crazy” and cling to the myth that “such problems” are matters of shame or imply some perceived character imperfection.

Some progress is being made on the issue through education and awareness. Though federally funded programs for mental health services provided through Medicare and other insurances are available, it continues to be one of the most overlooked areas of senior health. Seniors, who have trouble sleeping, feel tired, have lost their appetite or are unable to concentrate, may be suffering from depression. Unlike some conditions that affect the elderly such as Alzheimer’s disease or other types of dementia, therapy with a psychologist or psychiatrist and antidepressants can lessen, if not eliminate depression. The staff in assisted living facilities is trained to observe and identify symptoms of depression in their residents. They know that depression is not always “just a feeling of being sad” and that it can interfere with the routine of daily living and greatly diminish the quality of life. When a caregiver notices an assisted living resident whose behavior has changed, they may notify the family and suggest that their loved one may benefit from seeing a doctor to treat their symptoms of depression. Other seniors may not seek treatment for depression because they truly do understand how psychotherapy works or how it can help them.

sad Feeling by *Auu on deviantART

Psychotherapy does not translate well into sound bites, but could best be described concisely as gaining insight. A patient in therapy will know when it happens. Unlike intellectual learning, they will realize the benefits when they start feeling clearer, saner, more hopeful, more decisive, more energetic, and the symptoms begin to go away. When a patient feels the things they have been trying not to feel, and becomes aware of things they have tried to avoid, they begin to feel and function better. In a study published in the Journal of Applied Gerontology, University of South Florida psychologist Amber Gum, the study’s leader, told author, Paula Spain, “I’ve had older clients say, ‘I’m not depressed, I’m not sad and crying all the time.’ Depression in older people can take an unusual form however. Though depression with sadness continues to be the most common type, seniors are more likely than younger adults to suffer depression marked by loss of interest. Because this form of depression is a bit unusual, even professionals may not recognize it in older people, Dr. Gum said. “If someone comes in and says, ‘I’m sad,’ you start thinking about depression. If someone says, ‘I just don’t feel like myself,’ it’s less obvious.”

800Seniors.com is a leading referral system in the Elderly Healthcare industry. We are located on 5400 Atlantis Court, Moorpark, California 93021. 800Seniors.com provides the perfect match between seniors searching for health care provisions such as Home Care Dallas, Home Health, Skilled Nursing, Hospice Care, Medical Supplies, as well as a variety of Assisted Living Facilities and Care Homes nationwide. Take the confusion and hassle out of the search. For more information call 1-800-768-8221, visit http://800seniors.com or fax us your details at (805)517-1623.

About The Author: Gloria Ha’o Schneider is an expert in senior citizen and baby boomer issues. Her topics revolve around Senior Living and Healthcare to provide the latest information to this demographic as well as their families and loved ones.

Good Oral Hygiene & Cognitive Function

What does loving to eat Gummy Bears and hating the idea of flossing have in common? Both activities, and lack thereof, can contribute to plaque on your teeth, which is also surprisingly bad for your brain and other vital organs. According to Dr. Michael Roizen, co-author of YOU – The Owner’s Manual: An Insider’s Guide to the Body that Will Make You Healthier and Younger, “The plaque between teeth can cause an immune reaction that attacks arteries, which then can’t deliver vital nutrients to brain cells.” Studies suggest that gum disease, in particular, can affect the brain.  Some studies have found that older people with gum disease are more likely to have memory loss and other cognitive problems. Research reveals that diseased gums pump high levels of harmful bacteria into the bloodstream. The skin of the oral cavity is known as “oral mucosa.” It is very rich with blood vessels and if outside bacteria and the toxins that they produce get into the blood stream, they are off and running throughout your bodies.

According to a team of dentists and psychiatrists in the UK, oral health is clearly connected to cognitive health and therefore another reason to brush up on dental hygiene. There is growing interest in the relationships between aging, nutritional status, and cognitive function. Research in this area has tended to focus on advanced old age, although many of the pathways implicated may exist over a much longer period from early or mid-adult life. Oral health is recognized as being an important factor in nutritional status and general health. Periodontal disease is a common oral condition and a significant source of chronic infection and inflammation. Dietary changes because of poor oral health may lead to compromised nutritional status, both in general and through specific deficiencies.

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Following a study involving 5,138 people aged 20 to 59; the researchers discovered that periodontal disease and gingivitis were linked to poorer cognitive function and not just in later years, but also throughout adult life. The survey included a comprehensive dental examination and a series of tests to determine cognitive function.  The Symbol Digit Substitution Test and Serial Digit Learning Test were administered to test cognitive ability. Both tests were provided in English or Spanish and were preceded by a practice segment.

In the SDST, a set of nine symbols matched to the digits 1 to 9 were presented to the subject. The participants were shown a series of symbols and were required to match a symbol with its corresponding digit as quickly as possible. This task aimed to measure information processing speed, concentration and motor control. Performance in SDST was scored as the average time in seconds needed to correctly match the numbers and symbols on the best two out of four trials. Those participants with recorded data on both oral health status and individual measures of cognitive function were selected for a planned secondary analysis. In a subsample of participants aged 20 to 59 years, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol and smoking status were considered as potential confounding factors; there was little evidence of this from the analysis. The association between cognitive function and oral health status seemed to be present in the results of the research study, indicating the far-reaching consequences of proper oral hygiene throughout life and for the elderly.

800Seniors.com is a leading referral system in the Elderly Healthcare industry. We are located on 5400 Atlantis Court, Moorpark, California 93021. 800Seniors.com provides the perfect match between seniors searching for health care provisions such as Home Care Los Angeles, Home Health, Skilled Nursing, Hospice Care, Medical Supplies, as well as a variety of Assisted Living Facilities and Care Homes nationwide. Take the confusion and hassle out of the search. For more information call 1-800-768-8221, visit http://800seniors.com or fax us your details at (805)517-1623.

About The Author: Gloria Ha’o Schneider is an expert in senior citizen and baby boomer issues. Her topics revolve around Senior Living and Healthcare to provide the latest information to this demographic as well as their families and loved ones.

Challenges Of Caring For Elderly Parents Maybe It’s Time For Home Care

In an “I’m not feeling so lucky today” moment, I Googled the words: How many blogs are there on the challenges of dealing with elderly parents? True to form, a nano second provided my answer: 315,000. That’s all, I wondered? Somehow, I expected the number to be even greater. Never mind though, I had my proof. On the ever so coveted first page, I recognized the call names of the many posts I read on a daily basis. Being a writer of articles on senior citizen and baby boomer issues, I gain valuable knowledge and perspective from many of those 315,000 insightful authors. But to be completely honest, the reader comment section is where I find the stuff of inspiration, the nitty gritty, the meaty staple that reflects the raw feelings and emotions of those out there who are actually providing the daily care of their elderly parents.
It doesn’t seem to matter if blog writers take a practical, helpful, spiritual or humorous approach to the subject, the commentators inevitably agree with or chastise, and they understandably always, always, fill the page with lamentations of their own grueling experiences. The usually go something like this:
“Your mom and dad used to take care of you, now it’s your turn.”
“Watching a parent succumb to the ills of old age is painful. Being responsible for medical and financial decisions can be downright overwhelming.”
“Did Mom take her medicine? Should I get Dad’s heart checked? Should we bring him to live with us or would a nursing home be better? Can he afford the medical care he needs? What if he resists what’s best?”
“I’m feeling drained and need some encouragement.”
“They are driving me crazy. My former life has been turned upside down.”

 

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Another truth is; caring for an elderly parent is all of the above and much, much more. Has anyone heard of Home Care? It’s one of the fastest growing industries in healthcare. Growing, because in the next 20 years, 1 out of every 5 Americans will be over the age of 65. Home Care Tampa may be an excellent option for family caregivers in Florida. It will give family members a much needed break. Home Care Tampa is supportive assistance provided in the patient’s home by workers often referred to as caregivers, primary caregivers or voluntary caregivers who give informal care such as assistance with eating, bathing, dressing and household chores. The term Home Care is used to describe nonmedical or custodial care, which is assistance that is provided by persons who are not nurses, doctors or other licensed medical personnel, whereas the term Home Health, refers to care that is provided by licensed personnel and is prescribed by a physician as being medically necessary. Adult day care centers are also good options for providing relief to caregivers and offer elderly people a change of pace and the opportunity to socialize in a safe environment.
Adult Daycare & Caregiver Support Services can help
prevent or delay inappropriate admission to a nursing home
Increase the dependent older adult’s socialization and recreation
Improve the quality of life for the dependent older adult and the caregiver
Enable the dependent older adult to remain in their home as long as possible

Most licensed adult day care centers offer transportation assistance to and from the facility where visitors receive nutritious hot lunches, snacks, daily exercise, entertainment, safe interactive social, recreational and education programs. Adult day care centers are typically open on weekdays, Monday through Fridays and depend heavily on the services of volunteers who perform a variety of duties to keep the center running smoothly. Volunteers assist with transportation, meal preparation and clean up, exercise and activity projects or doing clerical work such as answering the phone, filing or doing routine errands.  Many volunteers share their time with the participants by bringing their pets or small children to visit.

800Seniors.com is a leading referral system in the Elderly Healthcare industry. We are located on 5400 Atlantis Court, Moorpark, California 93021. 800Seniors.com provides the perfect match between seniors searching for health care provisions such as Home Care Tampa, Home Health, Skilled Nursing, Hospice Care, Medical Supplies, as well as a variety of Assisted Living Facilities and Care Homes nationwide. Take the confusion and hassle out of the search. For more information call 1-800-768-8221, visit http://800seniors.com or fax us your details at (805)517-1623.

About The Author: Gloria Ha’o Schneider is an expert in senior citizen and baby boomer issues. Her topics revolve around Senior Living and Healthcare to provide the latest information to this demographic as well as their families and loved ones.

Thinking About Assisted Living Facilities – Are Your Parents Ready?

Home care refers to any kind of professional care for seniors and the elderly which takes place within their home. This kind of care helps senior citizens who want to continue living in their homes but need some assistance to carry out their daily routines. The alternative to home care would be assisted living facilities. Assisted living facilities are for seniors who need to live in a place specifically designed for their care. As seniors get older they need more medical attention and assistance to help them cope with their health conditions.

They need someone to help them with bathing, getting dressed and other such routine tasks. Medical specialists are available at the facilities to attend to their diseases and conditions in order to make them as comfortable as possible. At some point in our lives, all of us will require assistance in managing the things that we once handled with no effort. Less efficient movement and capability are all a natural part of the aging process. Along with the planning of retirement and financial investments we should all take the time to select ideal assisted living facilities to spend our golden years in comfort.

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Some people get to a point where they require assistance sooner than others, and this dynamic varies from age to age. In cases where an unexpected illness or accident requires home care, the changes are easy to identify. When there’s a gradual decline, the little aches and pains that grow into big aches and pains slowly diminish a person’s ability to manage their daily life. Accepting the fact that you require help to perform the most basic of routines is not an easy thing to come to terms with. For some people taking the assistance or admitting they need assistance is a matter of pride and dignity. This is why this issue is sometimes hard for families to deal with. Some people can transition into this lifestyle gracefully. Seniors suffering from a prolonged illness, poor nutritional balance or complicated health conditions are signs that assisted living is required.

Before other serious health conditions develop, nutrition should be addressed properly. Assisted living facilities will make sure seniors under their care eat proper meals and get the medicine they need. Often seniors living on their own forget to take their medicines or don’t get the nutrition they require making their conditions worse than they already are. There is also the risk of seniors not realizing that their combination of medications could be a dangerous cocktail to their body. Assisted living facilities know what a delicate matter this is to you and your family. They counsel the patient and the families concerned to make the transition as smooth and comfortable as possible.

800Seniors.com is a leading referral system in the Elderly Healthcare industry. We are located on 5400 Atlantis Court, Moorpark, California 93021. 800Seniors.com provides the perfect match between seniors searching for health care provisions such as Home Care, Home Health, Skilled Nursing, Hospice Care, Medical Supplies, as well as a variety of Assisted Living New York and Care Homes nationwide. Take the confusion and hassle out of the search. For more information call 1-800-768-8221, visit http://800seniors.com or fax us your details at (805)517-1623.

About The Author: Gloria Ha’o Schneider is an expert in senior citizen and baby boomer issues. Her topics revolve around Senior Living and Healthcare to provide the latest information to this demographic as well as their families and loved ones.