Health and Disability

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The continued decline of the nursing home — once the mainstay care for the frail elderly — and an upsurge in popularity of assisted living will lead to many dramatic changes in long-term care, according to a University of Florida expert and editor of a new book on the subject.
“The American public has expressed a strong distaste for going to a nursing home because it smacks of a hospital-like, institutional way of living and receiving care,” said Stephen Golant, a UF geography professor and expert on elderly housing. “Assisted living has emerged as a highly attractive option for older persons who have experienced some physical or cognitive decline and feel less secure about receiving care in their own home.”
Yet there are few certainties about either the future of assisted living for the elderly or the huge number of baby boomers who stand to be its recipients, Golant said.
“Although baby boomers will constitute a large market, it is unclear what share will have impairments and chronic health problems that make them candidates for assisted living,” he said. “The emergence of an unexpected new medical or rehabilitation breakthrough, such as a cure or the discovery of a disease-controlling drug for Alzheimer’s disease – could result in a substantial decline in the number of elderly Americans who need such care.”

Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

Project StoryKeeper, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving family heritage and announced that new findings by the Alzheimer's Association are increasing the need to document the life stories of patients. Caregivers of Alzheimer's patients can get access to Project StoryKeeper's interviewing technology by visiting http://www.storykeeper.org.

"The Alzheimer's Association just announced that one in eight Baby Boomers can expect to develop the disease," said Dennis Stack, Founder of Project StoryKeeper. "That means that more and more family histories - and the richness they hold - will be slipping away if we don't do something now to preserve them. We think Project StoryKeeper is a great way for families and caregivers of all ages to use the latest technology to keep family legacies going strong."

Targeted towards caregivers, Project StoryKeeper's online training program includes questions, interviewing techniques, and recording tips to be used in drawing out the personal histories of senior citizens at home or within elder care settings such as hospices, assisted living facilities, and home care agencies.

Capturing life stories - through technology.

Captured stories can be posted and archived on a private family web page on http://www.lifelenz.com. LifeLenz is a family-centric social network designed to enable families to easily preserve their legacy, stay in touch and communicate in ways not possible before. The tools LifeLenz provides allow for caregivers and family members to share in each other's lives through text, audio, video and photographs.

Easy-to-use online communication tool.

Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

The Senate Special Committee on Aging played host to two high-profile witnesses this week at a hearing on Alzheimer's that drew an enormous crowd.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, spoke before the committee. O'Connor shared her experience as a caregiver to her husband, John, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1990. She left the court as a result of his illness. The packed house paid close attention to all the witness' testimony, but was especially rapt by Justice O'Connor, according to National Public Radio.

She called for the expansion of clinical and research efforts to improve diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's; emphasizing prevention and early diagnosis; open communication between researchers in real time, as opposed to waiting months for studies to be published; a renewed national commitment to public investment in developing new treatments; and improved support for those with Alzheimer's and their caregivers.

"I don't believe I've ever witnessed as many people at a hearing in the five, six years that I've been in the United States Senate," said Senator Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) of the proceedings.

Norman DeLisle, MDRC
"With Liberty and Access for All!"
GrandCentral: 517-589-4081
MDRC Website: http://www.copower.org/
LTC Blog: http://ltcreform.blogspot.com/
Recovery: http://therecoveringlife.blogspot.com/
Change: http://prosynergypsc.blogspot.com/

Developed in partnership with the Alliance for Aging Research, these four very-short films aim to increase understanding of Alzheimer's disease. The creators of the films call them"pocket" films because of their brevity and portability; they are designed to be viewed anywhere at anytime: a doctor's office, a Congressional hallway, a family living room.

The films are designed to be downloaded to iTunes, or to your desktop.

http://www.aboutalz.org/

A new UK study has found that anti-psychotic drugs, such as (Melleril), chlorpromazine (Largactil), haloperidol (Serenace), trifluoperazine (Stelazine) and risperidone (Risperdal), are bad for patients with Alzheimer's disease - the drugs were found to make their condition worse.

The researchers, from Kings College London and the Universities of Oxford and Newcastle, found that neuroleptics undermined Alzheimer's patients' verbal skills, and offered most patients with mild symptoms of disturbed behavior no long-term benefit. In fact, they found that a deterioration in verbal skills happened within six months of taking the medications. Neuroleptics are drugs used for treating schizophrenia as well as some other serious mental illnesses.

In this study, researchers looked at 165 Alzheimer's patients from four different nursing homes in Oxfordshire, Newcastle, Edinburgh and London. Approximately 60% of UK Alzheimer's patients are given medications to control their often aggressive behavior. There are indications that neuroleptics may also up the death rates of Alzheimer's patients.

You can read about this study in the Public Library of Science Medicine