Currently Browsing: In The News
To get the New Year off to a healthy start, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is launching the Healthy New Year Video Challenge, the first in a series of video challenges through which members of the public will get a chance to share personal stories about how they use health information technology (health IT) to have a positive impact on their own health or the health...
Americans’ sense of financial obligation to family members is strong and born out of love and generosity, but does have limits, according to a new study by the MetLife Mature Market Institute.
Multi-Generational Views on Family Financial Obligations: A MetLife Survey of Baby Boomers and Members of Generations X and Y reports that Baby Boomers (b. 1946-1964), Gen Xers (b. 1965-1976) and Gen Yers (b. 1977-1990)...
Yesterday, at the Gerontological Society of America annual conference in Boston, The National Alliance for Caregiving released its most recent study of family caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease, Caregiving Costs: Declining Health in the Alzheimer’s Caregiver as Dementia Increases in the Care Recipient.
According to the study, a family caregiver’s health decreases over time as their caree’s...
NATIONAL FAMILY CAREGIVERS MONTH, 2011
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, A PROCLAMATION
Across our country, millions of family members, neighbors, and friends provide care and support for their loved ones during times of need. With profound compassion and selflessness, these caregivers sustain American men, women, and children at their most vulnerable moments, and through their devoted acts, they...
Costs continue to rise for those requiring long-term care in the U.S. According to the newly released 2011 MetLife Market Survey of Nursing Home, Assisted Living, Adult Day Services, and Home Care Costs, conducted by the MetLife Mature Market Institute, national average rates for a private nursing home room increased 4.4% to $239 daily or $87,235 annually in 2011. Assisted living base rates rose by 5.6% to $3,477...
The New York Times Old Age blog featured an interesting story yesterday (Caregiving’s Hidden Benefits).
Caregiving has some interesting benefits. Consider:
1. Family caregivers have a lower mortality rate than non-caregivers.
2. Family caregivers are physically stronger than non-caregivers.
3. Family caregivers scored better on memory tests than non-caregivers.
4. Caregiving can lengthen your life. (You can...
The advisory council of the National Alzheimer’s Project Act will convene for the first time tomorrow (September 27) at 9:30 a.m. ET at the Administration on Aging headquarters in Washington, D.C.
National Alzheimer’s Project Act, signed into law in January, will create a coordinated national plan to overcome the Alzheimer’s crisis and will ensure the coordination and evaluation of all national efforts...
An interesting article appeared today on the website of the Daily Press newspaper. Here’s the gist of the article (“Pat Robertson Says It’s Okay to Divorce Someone with Alzheimer’s Disease“):
(Pat Robertson) was asked what advice a man should give to a friend who began seeing another woman after his wife started suffering from the incurable neurological disorder. The question was posed...
Bette has diligently contacted the media in her area to share her story and talk about Caregiving.com (isn’t that awesome?). Her efforts have paid off; the fall issue of Susquehanna Life magazine features Bette’s story.
The article is only available in print, but Bette scanned the two-page story for us. You can read page one here and page two here.
Congrats, Bette!! A job well done!
Related...
The Sunlight Foundation today debuts a new mobile app for consumers called “Sunlight Health”. Sunlight Health helps medical patients and their families make informed decisions about healthcare services and prescription drug options. Using data from government and nonprofit institutions, the app covers three categories: healthcare facilities, medical suppliers and prescription drugs.
From their iPhone or Android...
What do you think can be done in order to cure Alzheimer’s? What can be done to help family caregivers of persons with Alzheimer’s?
You can share your thoughts and ideas on August 4 at 8 p.m. ET, when the Alzheimer’s Association will host its first ever Tele-Town Hall. The purpose of the tele-town hall is to gather feedback on which issues the U.S. government should address in the National...
It’s hot in Chicago, which is why I’m trying to keep my cool.
I received an email yesterday with this subject line: “Family Caregivers Get Much-Needed Break from Adult Day Care Services.” Just reading this subject line makes me hot. Because I know what’s coming in the text: Researchers actually spent money to determine that adult day services help family caregivers. Oh, and along the...
The AARP Public Policy Institute released an report which updates the national and state estimates of the economic value of family caregiving using the most current available data. In 2009, about 42.1 million family caregivers in the U.S. provided care at any given point in time, and about 61.6 million provided care at some time during the year. The estimated economic value of their unpaid contributions was...
A new website needs family caregivers of individuals with Alzheimer’s Disease or other dementia to participate a research study funded by the National Institute on Aging (part of the National Institutes of Health).
The site, iCarefamily.com, is being developed by Photozig (at the NASA Research Park) and Stanford University, in collaboration with the Alzheimer’s Association and other organizations.
The goal...
In our 2011 annual family caregiver, we asked you about technology you’d like to use in your caregiving role. 30% of survey respondents said they’d like to use technology to monitor their carees. If you’re in one room of the house, you’d like to be able to monitor your caree’s activities in another room.
TechCrunch.com reported yesterday on new iPhone app from a company called evoz to...
Americans who provide care for their aging parents lose an estimated three trillion dollars in wages, pension and Social Security benefits when they take time off to do so, according to “The MetLife Study of Caregiving Costs to Working Caregivers: Double Jeopardy for Baby Boomers Caring for Their Parents.” Produced by the MetLife Mature Market Institute in conjunction with the National Alliance for...
BrainFacts.org, a new project of Kavli Foundation, Gatsby Charitable Foundation, and the Society for Neuroscience (SfN), will provide extensive research on brain disease/disorders and promote brain health and wellness. The site will launch next spring.
To provide input on the project, the organization will conduct in-person focus groups in Washington, D.C., on June 16, in Chicago on June 21, and in Los Angeles on...
Trish spotted a call for stories from family caregivers from the folks at Chicken Soup for the Soul. Here’s what they want:
Do you have a family member who requires constant care? Well, you are not alone. The stories in this book will be written by people caring for a family member who requires their assistance due to a variety of reasons – old age, Alzheimer’s, chronic illness, long-term or...
In caregiving, some decisions carry an emotional charge unlike any other life decision. The decision about a feeding tube for your caree is one of those decisions.
A feeding tube can be a helpful option during a time when your caree will recover (from a surgery, for instance). For those nearing end of life, the feeding tube causes discomfort without extending survival. Some studies show that a feeding tube can...
Yesterday, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) published the interim final rule for implementing the Family Caregiver Program of the Caregivers and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act 2010. This new rule will provide additional support to eligible post-9/11 Veterans who elect to receive their care in a home setting from a primary family caregiver.
“We at VA know that every day is a challenge for our most...
For the first time in 27 years, clinical diagnostic criteria for Alzheimer’s disease dementia have been revised, and research guidelines for earlier stages of the disease have been characterized to reflect a deeper understanding of the disorder. The National Institute on Aging/Alzheimer’s Association Diagnostic Guidelines for Alzheimer’s Disease outline some new approaches for clinicians and provide...
PHI, an organization which works to strengthen the U.S.’s long-term care direct-care workforce, released an analysis (pdf) of the direct-care workforce. The direct-care workforce are those individuals who help you provide care to your care, in your home, in your caree’s home or in the nursing home. They are the home health aides you hire to provide and the certified nursing assistants the nursing home...
