Archive for October, 2010

Baby Boomers and Aging Parents – Six Tips to Prepare For Their Care
By Katie B. Marsh

Although there is some debate over the exact age range of the Baby Boom generation, the US Census Bureau identifies most Boomers as those who were born between the years 1956 to 1965. In any case, whether you were born within that time frame or fairly close to it, chances are you are beginning to deal with end-of-life issues regarding your elderly parents. Your many considerations run the gamut from the practical to the spiritual and everything in between. So, where do you begin?

Caregivers. Imagine if we ended our lives as babies, completely dependent on a caregiver tending to all of our needs: loving us, feeding us, changing our diapers. Imagine now that we are not as cute as little babies but still have the same need to be cared for gently with love and respect. Who would you want to take care of you in this situation? Who do your parents want to care for them? This question should be posed directly to your parents. Don’t assume you know the answer. What they may have said 10 to 15 years ago may not still hold true today as they are closer to facing their mortality.

Finances. As we know, in our society it’s considered impolite to ask someone about their finances. Many adult children hesitate to inquire about the exact state of their parents’ finances for fear that their parents will think that the real question is about potential future inheritance money. But it’s extremely important to have an honest discussion about finances at this point in life. First of all, you need to know if your parents have long-term care insurance. This is the only type of insurance that pays for future assistance that may be needed in the performance of activities of daily living. And, as the name implies, it helps cover the cost of long-term care usually for an undetermined length of time. Long-term care insurance combined with your parents’ net worth, any financial assistance from family, and personal preferences will all factor in to determining where and how your parents live out their final years.

…continue reading from ezinearticles.com

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Family And Friends May Cause Most Tension For Caregivers

The biggest cause of stress for people who care for loved ones after a stroke may not be worrying about the affected family member.

Rather, surprising new research from Northwestern Medicine shows that a lack of understanding and help from friends and relatives causes the most stress and the greatest threat to a caregiver’s own health and well-being.

These and other stressors, like simply trying to take care of themselves and their families along with the demands of caregiving can cause caregivers to report signs of anxiety and depression.

…continue reading from medicalnewstoday.com

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Is Your Parent Depressed?
By Trisha Gura, PhD

7 million Americans over age 65 suffer from the disease, and many are not getting the help they need. Here’s how to make sure your mom or dad isn’t one of them.

Amy Caldwell first sensed that her mother was depressed during a phone call last September. "My life is miserable," said the 77-year-old widow, who lives in Tempe, AZ, and suffers from asthma. "I don’t want to live any longer."

Caldwell’s heart sank. Was this a genuine suicide threat? Caldwell, 43, who lives in Boston, decided not to take a chance and flew out to see her mom.

She set up appointments with a family physician and pulmonologist, who put her mother on a new regimen that eased her breathing problems for a couple of months. But then her mother suffered another attack and, during a dispiriting phone conversation with Caldwell’s brother, dropped another bomb: "I should just get a razor, slit my wrists, and get this over with already."

This time, Caldwell’s brother hopped on a plane, while Caldwell contemplated the inescapable truth: In addition to the physical ailments her mother suffered from, she was very likely depressed.

That put her mom in the company of 2 million other Americans over age 65 who suffer from depression, as well as another 5 million who struggle with some but not all symptoms of the crippling disease. Their plight is one of the great hushed-up scandals of American health care:

As many as 90% of people suffering from depression in late life are not getting the care they need. The suicide rate in adults age 75 and older is a shocking 1 1/2 times the average–higher than that of any other group, including teenagers.

Elderly people receiving home care are twice as likely to suffer major depression as those in nursing homes. A whopping 78% of them receive no treatment at all. Patients diagnosed with major depression spend almost twice as much money on their health care as patients who don’t have the disease.

Read more from Prevention.com

To learn how Age Advantage can help your family with Home Care in Riverside County, visit www.ageadvantageriverside.com.

Knowing When To Take the Keys Away 

Help for knowing when it’s time to take the keys away from a loved one with dementia

(ARA) – The decision on when an aging loved one should stop driving is never an easy one, but the issue becomes even more complex – and heart-wrenching – when the loved one also suffers from dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. How do you know when someone is no longer safe to drive? How do you gently explain this to him? How do you take away her car keys without taking her dignity as well?

"While some people with dementia can still drive safely for a time, nearly all people with dementia will eventually have to give up driving," says Dr. Donald J. Iverson, with the Humboldt Neurological Medical Group, Inc. in Eureka, Calif., and Fellow of the American Academy of Neurology (AAN). "It’s important for doctors to discuss this with patients and caregivers soon after the diagnosis since driving cessation may affect the patient’s and caregiver’s quality of life."

AAN recently issued guidelines, presented at its Annual Meeting in Toronto on April 12, to help caregivers and doctors determine when people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia should stop driving.

Caregivers should trust their observations of unsafe driving when deciding if a loved one is no longer safe behind the wheel, the guidelines advise. Caregivers who rated a patient’s driving as "marginal" or "unsafe" were often proven right when the patient was given an on-road driving test, the AAN’s research found. However, patients who thought their driving was safe were not necessarily right in their own assessments.

"While patients with mild dementia, as a group, are higher-risk drivers, more recent studies have shown that as many as 76 percent can still pass an on-road driving test and can safely drive," Iverson says. "We need to provide guidelines for caregivers and doctors caring for these patients to identify those at higher risk of unsafe driving, without unnecessarily restricting those who are safe drivers."

If you’re acting as caregiver for a loved one with dementia symptoms, watch for signs of declining driving ability, the AAN guidelines advise. These may include:

• Accidents or tickets.
• Aggressive or impulsive behavior.
• Decreased miles being driven.
• Always avoiding certain driving situations, such as driving at night or in the rain.

While the observations of caregivers who know the habits and skills of their loved one are instrumental in determining if someone is no longer safe to drive, a number of tests can help identify the risk as well. These include the Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scale, which measures brain functions such as memory, judgment and problem-solving. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) also measures brain functions such as memory, language and spatial ability. While these tests may help to show if a person has dementia and the severity of the disease, alone they’re probably not enough to determine if someone is unsafe to drive. Caregivers and doctors need to make the final assessment.

When patients receive diagnoses of dementia, they and their caregivers should begin talking to their doctor about the eventual need to stop driving. That way, when the time comes, the conversation will be a little bit easier, the AAN suggests.

Patients, caregivers and doctors should also research their state’s laws, since some states require doctors to report medical conditions that may impact an individual’s ability to drive safely.

"It is important that the decision to stop driving be directed by a doctor who is trained and experienced in working with people with dementia and their families," Iverson says. "Doctors should be aware that assessing driving ability is a complex process. More than one source of information is needed to make a judgment. In some situations, a dementia specialist may be needed."

To learn more about the guidelines and the American Academy of Neurology or to find a neurologist near you, visit their Web site at www.aan.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

For information about Home Care in the Corona CA area, visit www.ageadvantageriverside.com.