Health and Disability

Caregiving is hard. Caregiving and working is really hard. In our free e-book, The Working Family Caregiver, we offer some quick, simple tips to help you manage two demanding roles that can complicate life. We hope the tips help you manage your experiences so you have minimal regrets.

Download The Working Family Caregiver, a free e-book, here.

Resources

1. Join Caregiving.com (it’s free!) to connect with other family caregivers. Sign up here.

2. Schedule a complimentary coaching call with Denise Brown, professsioal life coach and founder, Caregiving.com to learn how coaching can help you manage caregiving and your career. Make your appointment here.

3. Our caregiving books are good for your heart and soul. They’ll help you start your day (Good Morning!), find greater happiness (Take Time), feel understood (Take Comfort and Take Comfort, Too) and lead you through your caregiving years (The Caregiving Years). Through January 15, you can buy two books and get the second at 50% off. Buy here and use coupon code SECONDHALF305.

4. Finally, in case you missed it, download The Working Family Caregiver, a free e-book, here.

Compared to similar people who don't take them, nursing home residents with dementia who take average doses of a class of drugs used to treat depression are three times more likely to have an injurious fall. These are the findings of a new study from The Netherlands published online in the British Journal of Clinical Pharmacology on Wednesday.

CDC is currently previewing a new online interactive system that helps quickly translate state-level, disability-specific, data into information that can be used by state health departments, national disability and health organizations, and policymakers.  With Disability and Health Data System (DHDS), users can customize how they view disability and health data throughout the country, making it easy to understand health disparity information, identify trends, and support the development of fiscally-responsible, evidence-based programs, services and policies.

Empa engineers, together with the firm 'r going', have succeeded in developing an ergonomic seat for electric wheelchairs which encourages the user to move around frequently. True to the motto 'life is movement' the aim is to enhance the freedom of movement of wheelchair users with a range of disabilities.

Nursing home transition services may be complex and sometimes perplexing, but there is both a tried and true science and an art to providing them. Here is an opportunity to learn from some of the most experienced and effective CIL experts in the country. They will give you valuable tips, strategies and insights for developing a relationship with nursing facilities, assisting individuals to identify their needs, using checklists and tools for planning, maximizing the success of moving day, providing advocacy after the move, and much more.

Join Us in Houston to Learn How to:

• Use the ADA and the Olmstead Decision to support nursing facility transition
• Locate and assist individuals in assessing their needs and preferences for community-based living
• Assist individuals in developing and implementing a transition plan
• Conduct effective post-transition activities to support individuals in maintaining their lives in the community

Target Audience:

Managers and front line workers new to transition, more experienced staff who would benefit from interactive problem-solving sessions, and participants in the ABCs of Nursing Home Transition webinars who want a more comprehensive and interactive experience.

He died in January 2007 at age 76. On Shepter's death certificate, Dr. Hoshang Pormir, the nursing home's chief medical officer, explained that the cause was heart failure brought on by clogged arteries.

Shepter's family had no reason to doubt it. The local coroner never looked into the death. Shepter's body was interred in a local cemetery.

But a tip from a nursing-home staffer would later prompt state officials to re-examine the case and reach a very different conclusion.

When investigators reviewed Shepter's medical records, they determined that he had actually died of a combination of ailments often related to poor care, including an infected ulcer, pneumonia, dehydration and sepsis.

Investigators also concluded that Shepter's demise was hastened by the inappropriate administration of powerful antipsychotic drugs, which can have potentially lethal side effects for seniors.

Prosecutors in 2009 charged Pormir and two former colleagues with killing Shepter and two other elderly residents. They've pleaded not guilty. The criminal case is ongoing.

Health-care regulators have already taken action, severely restricting the doctor's medical license. The federal government has fined the home nearly $150,000.

This could be about any of us, eventually.

Just 23 ombudsmen in Michigan represent the interests of the nearly 40,000 nursing home residents in the state -- helping families navigate the bureaucracy of nursing care, mediating conflicts and advocating for residents fighting for better care.

They also are responsible for monitoring adult group homes and other long-term facilities -- which means that each ombudsman is responsible for more than 4,000 (mostly filled) beds.

That's more than twice the caseload that the federal government recommends -- 2,000 residents per ombudsman -- and 67% more than the national average of 2,500.

The nation's largest for-profit nursing homes deliver significantly lower quality of care because they typically have fewer staff nurses than non-profit and government-owned nursing homes.

That's the finding of a new UCSF-led analysis of quality of care at nursing homes around the country. It is the first-ever study focusing solely on staffing and quality at the 10 largest for-profit chains.

The MAKS system consists of motor stimulation(M), including games such as bowling, croquet, and balancing exercises; cognitive stimulation (K), in the form of individual and group puzzles; and practicing 'daily living' activities (A), including preparing snacks, gardening and crafts. The therapy session began with a ten minute introduction, which the researchers termed a 'spiritual element' (S), where the participants discussed topics like 'happiness', or sang a song or hymn.

After 12 months of therapy the MAKS group maintained their level on the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale (ADAS) and, even more importantly maintained their ability to carry out activities of daily living, while the control group all showed a decrease in cognitive and functional ability.

Prof. Graessel explained, "While we observed a better result for patients with mild to moderate dementia, the result of MAKS therapy on ADAS (cognitive function) was at least as good as treatment with cholinesterase inhibitors

Months after the end of a public comment period, dozens of disability advocacy groups are pressuring Medicaid to make a final decision on new rules that would define what qualifies as community-based housing.

In a joint letter sent last week to officials at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, nearly 100 advocacy groups asked the government agency to “move swiftly” on a proposed regulation that would limit the types of qualifying residences under Medicaid home and community-based services waivers.

The proposal, issued in April, called for the exclusion of homes designed exclusively for those with disabilities as well as residences with “regimented meal and sleep times, limitations on visitors, lack of privacy and other attributes that limit individual’s ability to engage freely in the community.”