Health and Disability

The concept of a “holiday” is an elusive one for the over 28 million people in the United States who provide care for someone age 75 or older. A 2009 National Alliance for Caregiving/AARP study found that 88 percent of family caregivers never get a break from this full-time job. As readers here know all too well, the non-stop effort can take both a physical and emotional toll over time.

Jill Kagan, who has chaired the National Respite Coalition since 1994, hopes to change all that — not household by household, but at the policy level. She is determined to help caregivers who can’t afford private options find a way to catch their breath.

The Wendlers are among more than 50,000 families to hire a certified senior move manager this year, up from 30,000 just two years ago, according to the National Association of Senior Move Managers. These services don’t come cheap: Most move managers charge $25 to $60 per hour. A top-to-bottom move can require several days of planning, packing and unpacking, running $1,500 to $4,000 or more — not including the cost of the actual movers.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced Wednesday afternoon the creation of a new office to coordinate care for millions of individuals simultaneously enrolled in the Medicare and Medicaid programs.

The new healthcare reform law authorized a new office to oversee so-called "dual eligibles," which include some of the most expensive patient populations to care for. Dual eligibles - basically the low-income elderly - account for roughly 25 to 45 percent of spending in Medicare and Medicaid, respectively, but they make up less than 20 percent of enrollment for either program.

According to the CMS announcement, the new Federal Coordinated Health Care Office (CHCO) will focus on:

• Fostering overall improvements in the quality of healthcare and long-term services for individuals who are dually eligible for both Medicaid and Medicare;

• Simplifying processes for dual eligible individuals to access items and services available to them;

• Increasing dual eligible individuals’ understanding of and satisfaction with coverage under the Medicare and Medicaid programs;

• Eliminating regulatory conflicts between rules under the Medicare and Medicaid programs; and

• Improving coordination between the federal government and the states.

The CHCO will be led by Melanie Bella, who was previously senior vice president for policy and operations at the Center for Health Care Strategies.

I wonder if they will actually help.

Ptolemy Usher Grey, who’s 91 and living in confused isolation in Los Angeles, keeps radio and television news blaring all day long, partly to keep himself from drifting ever farther into the past, partly because he’s afraid that if he turns them off, he won’t remember how to turn them back on.

A novel by an experienced novelist about the slow progress of dementia in his mother.

As part of the research, older people were shown town scenes and pedestrian routes and gave feedback on signposting, ease of navigation and general impressions. Their heart rates were measured to monitor stress levels. Participants were also taken to a town centre to walk through the same routes in person.

Initial findings show:

• Signs are of limited use even in unfamiliar new areas - they were often positioned incorrectly or too high, and without indicating the distance to the destination;
• Designing outdoor spaces that are more easily navigable and walkable are important in making the environment less stressful and anxiety-inducing;
• Buildings and landmarks are particularly important as navigational aids, especially churches.

Sounds like they need a Universal Design viewpoint.

Vietress Bacon had been living in the Washington Nursing Facility near Skyland Terrace in Southeast Washington for only a few months when she realized she wanted out.

The 46-year-old mother of two has bipolar disorder, is partially paralyzed because of a childhood car accident and uses a motorized wheelchair.

Earlier today, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder assured Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.), chairman of the Special Committee on Aging, that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) will deliver draft legislation to Sen. Kohl in January outlining changes to the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) that would authorize certain nurses or other licensed health care professionals who are designated by a nursing home as agents of DEA-licensed practitioners to transmit the practitioner’s order for a controlled substance, specifically Schedule II drugs, to DEA-licensed pharmacies, either orally or by fax.

Wow. That was a long sentence. So, let’s break it down a bit…

A non-profit organization called, StoryCorps Memory Loss Initiative has recorded over 2,000 individual conversations and stories of those living with Alzheimer’s disease since they formed in 2006.  Their 40-minute, audio-recorded interviews are a simple way for caregivers to receive a recording they'll treasure forever.

As a way to get the word out to caregivers, StoryCorps is offering a free four-part Toolkit that gives caregivers everything they need to begin their own recording interviews.  For the free toolkit, go to: storycorps.org/mli

A new federal regulation issued by Medicare in November will create a crisis for approximately 4.5 million home health and hospice service patients. Starting on January 1, homebound elderly and disabled patients as well as hospice patients will now need to have a "face-to-face encounter" with a physician or nurse practitioner if they want to receive care under Medicare.

Great-Now transportation problems can kill you.

Disability rights advocates will file a class-action lawsuit on Monday, alleging that Texas leaders have violated the Americans with Disabiltiies Act by confining some 4,500 Texans with disabilities in nursing homes.

I wonder how many people with disabilities are in Michigan nursing homes?