Health and Disability

from McKnight's:

A burgeoning market for assisted living and senior living facilities in
Mexico is drawing retirement-age baby boomers, according to The Dallas
Morning News.

Many factors contribute to the appeal of a Mexican retirement,
including quality of care, climate and cost, the newspaper reports. A
recent MetLife survey places the average cost of assisted care in the
U.S. at just over $3,000 per month, while many facilities in Mexico can
provide similar care for $1,100 per month, according to the newspaper.
Also, many expect that Mexican culture—one that values taking care of
the elderly at home—will be suited for the long-term care field.

But precisely because of its home-care oriented culture, nursing homes
in the country are sparse. The industry is almost entirely deregulated,
leading some to question the safety of a Mexican retirement.

from Medical news Today:

If you are over seventy years old, your chances of dying in a fire at
home are four times as high as they are for the rest of the population.
It is also a fact that half of all women who die in house fires are 70
or older.

These are among the results of a report from SINTEF
Norwegian Fire Laboratories, which also identifies measures that could
reduce the number of fires, particularly those of electrical origin or
that are due to the inappropriate use of electrical equipment. Taken
together, these are the most frequent causes of fires in Norway.

from Medical News Today:

Climbing stairs, carrying groceries, taking a shower - these are
activities that we take for granted; however, after a cancer diagnosis,
many survivors are unable to function as they used to. Home-based diet
and exercise interventions may improve physical functioning in older,
long-term cancer survivors, according to data presented at the American
Association for Cancer Research's Seventh Annual International
Conference on Frontiers in Cancer Prevention Research.

Wendy Demark-Wahnefried, Ph.D., professor of behavioral
science at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center,
focused this study on survivors older than 65 years old. She said this
age group often suffers long-term side effects of cancer and its
treatment which could threaten the ability to live independently.
"Younger cancer patients are usually able to bounce back, but older
patients may need a structured program to stop functional decline and
retain independence," said Demark-Wahnefried.

Those in the intervention group received tailored mailed print
materials on diet and exercise, a pedometer and exercise bands. For the
first three weeks, participants received weekly phone calls, which
tapered off to every two weeks and then once a month until the end of
the study.

At the end of one year, researchers evaluated physical
function, diet quality and physical activity using standard measures.
Participants in the intervention group demonstrated significant
improvements in their diet and exercise behaviors, and their weight
status. What's more, according to the SF-36 physical function test,
participants in the intervention group had a 2.5 point decline compared
with a 5.3 point decline in the control group. Similar differences were
seen in measures of basic lower extremity and advanced lower extremity
functioning. Overall, the magnitude of effect was similar to preventing
physical function losses comparable to that imposed by ischemic heart
disease.

from health Care for Health Care Workers:

A testimonial by Cheryl D., a home care consumer in Pennsylvania:

At the age of 14, a cardiac arrest left my son Renzo with a severe
anoxic brain injury. For the last seven years, he has been completely
dependent on the help of direct-care workers. I pay at the higher end
of the wage scale ($10.50 - $15 per hour), but I can’t afford health
benefits for his workers.

Over the years, Renzo has seen more than 40 workers come and go. His
short-term memory is challenged. It’s not until he has had somebody for
two to three months that he can remember their name. And it takes
workers at least a month to understand his patterns of speech.

For every aide that comes in, I am the trainer. I have to teach them
how to help him eat through a straw, how to manage his toileting needs,
and how to help him therapeutically regain limited skills. He has never
really learned to use the augmentative communication device because he
has not had a consistent person to work with him long enough.

from Fox News:

Nursing-home
residents have sexual needs too. And now researchers are finding ways
to educate staff on the taboo topic and provide accommodations for the
elderly to shack up under some privacy.

"Most
staff have the same mindset many of us do, which is 'I don't want to
think about my parents having sex, let alone my grandparents,'" Gayle
Doll, who directs Kansas State University's Center on Aging, told
LiveScience.

The researchers suggest educating staff about sexuality and making sex in nursing homes less hush-hush.

In
the long run, they hope federal guidelines will help all nursing homes
deal with sexuality in a positive way, especially as baby boomers age
and bring their 1950s and 1960s attitudes about sex with them to the
facilities.

from Market Watch:

LIFE Foundation Reviews Five Facts You May Not Know
about Long-Term Care Insurance and Encourages Americans to Assess Their
Needs

from Brainline:

This site is supported by the Defense Centers of Excellence.  It is intended to support veterans and other people with brain injuries.  Lots of stuff!

from Homewatch:

In October 2008, MetLife published their 2008 survey results of Nursing
Home and Assisted Living costs across the US. Nursing Home rates
essentially stayed the same from 2007 to 2008 at at an average of
$212/day for a private room or approx. $80,000/ year. Assisted Living
costs rose by 2% and averaged $3,031 per month or $36,500/year for the
"base rate" which doesn't include some "a la carte" services.
For the full MetLife survey,http://www.metlife.com/FileAssets/MMI/MMIStudies2008NHALCosts.pdf

from Patti's Blog:

from McKnight's:

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services last Thursday laid out
new guidelines governing Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plans that
serve Medicare beneficiaries with chronic conditions.  

"Based on the panel's recommendations, we are defining the chronic
conditions that certain Medicare special needs plans must use to
identify the beneficiary populations eligible for enrollment," said CMS
Acting Administrator Kerry Weems.

Special needs plans are a type of Medicare Advantage plan that serve
only beneficiaries living in institutions, eligible for both Medicare
and Medicaid, or living with severe or disabling chronic conditions.
The new guidelines, which are based on recommendations from the Special
Needs Plan Chronic Condition Panel, will take effect in 2010. They
identify 15 chronic conditions that will dictate eligibility for a
Chronic Care Medicare Advantage Special Needs Plan. The 15 chronic
conditions include dementia, chronic heart failure, diabetes mellitus,
and stroke.

To view the panel's full report, go to www.cms.hhs.gov/SpecialNeedsPlans.