My Elder Advocate

Men As Caregivers

By Jack Halpern

Bill Sanders, 57, has been taking care of his 90-year-old mother for the past 14 years, both at her home in Brooklyn, New York and the nursing home where she now resides. "When I took care of my mother at home," he explains, "I found that neighbors looked down on me. They thought I was a bum living off my mom. They didn't believe I was really taking care of her." Sanders thinks that a woman would not have faced this kind of ridicule.

Elderly Evictions and the New Language of Health Care - The New Old Age Blog - NYTimes.com

Elderly Evictions and the New Language of Health Care - The New Old Age Blog - NYTimes.com.

Adult Children, Aging Parents and the Law - The New Old Age Blog - NYTimes.com

Adult Children, Aging Parents and the Law - The New Old Age Blog - NYTimes.com.

How To Complain About A Nursing Home

Check out my answer at "Ask The Expert" on the Caregivers Home Companion Website. http://www.caregivershome.com/community/askexpert_full.cfm?UID=91

No One Is Minding The Shop

Elder care monitors dwindle in Oklahoma

Even at full capacity most regulatory agencies overseeing Long Term Care Facilities, are doing a horrible job. Imagine what is going on without enough staff. SHAME ON OUR GOVERNMENT!

Remember Me

The Geriatrician Shortage: Who will care for our seniors?

A sweeping change is occurring at the basic structure of our society. We once were proud of the fact that we had a culture of caring for the aged. But the scenario is slowly moving towards growing neglect and isolation of elders on the one hand and lack of capacity and will of the government to reach out to them on the other.

Last week, Beth Israel Hospital in New Jersey, all but decimated it's geriatric department. Employees were unceremoniously terminated without any notice going out to the hundreds of elderly patients, advising them to make other arrangements. Not that these elderly really have other choices. Beth Israel serves a huge population of indigent elderly.

Theresa Redling, Beth Israel's Chief of Geriatrics, said she received her notice Wednesday. Ms. Redling, who also served as Hospice Medical Director at Beth Israel, was awarded the 2008 Humanism in Healthcare Award. This honor is bestowed, by The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey, on individuals in the trenches of patient care who have consistently demonstrated the principles of caring and compassion in their work in hospitals and in nursing education programs in the Essex, Union and Morris region served by The Foundation.

"I think this will be devastating to the senior community that Beth Israel serves," Redling said.

Nintendo Wii Being Used in Nursing Homes For Rehab

Video games are not just a hobby anymore. These days, the Wii gaming system is being used for rehabilitation and patients are being healed through "Wiihab."

Gay, Lesbian Elders' Health Threatened By Discrimination

Discrimination in many social and institutional environments poses an important threat to the health and well-being of gay and lesbian seniors and their families. This problem exists despite changes in attitude in recent years towards gays and lesbians, according to a recent study.

Hidden Camera Reveals Abuse at NY Nursing Home

OUR ELDERS ARE IN DANGER

Hospitals today face ever increasing pressure to quickly discharge their elderly patients to "rehab", which is a code word for a nursing home, and in many cases that facility will be a sub-standard one. Many people have heard me speak about this. Those fortunate clients who have used my services (references available upon request) have experienced very personally what I speak about. Many more will testify to my proven results.

Eden Park Nursing Home Denies Rights To Residents

The New York State Department Of Health is endangering the lives of 120 nursing home residents (as they are most of the residents in nursing homes across the state) at Eden Park Nursing Home in Glen Falls, NY. The death and destruction of our elderly is a direct result of the corruption, callousness, and gross ineptitude that reigns at the DOH. For another example read this article by June Maxam in the North Country Gazette.

Evicting The Elderly

Moving a parent or sibling into a nursing home is emotionally and financially difficult. Keeping them there may be getting even harder. The Wall Street Journal reports that increasing numbers of frail and sick residents are being forced out of nursing homes across the country. In some cases, they're asked to leave because they are difficult or expensive to care for. It violates federal law for a nursing home to evict residents for those reasons.

Report Finds Hazardous Conditions at Senior Centers

New York Times

An audit by the city comptroller’s office found dangerous conditions at a sample of 20 of New York City’s 329 senior centers, the comptroller, William C. Thompson Jr., announced on Thursday.

SEX, LOVE AND NURSING HOMES

SEX, LOVE AND NURSING HOMES

Death of spouse ups odds of nursing home care

An older person's likelihood of entering a nursing home or other long-term care facility is particularly high immediately after the death of a spouse, new research indicates.

Murder, She Writes

Read this comment by a reader of My Elder Advocate Blog. Hospitals are complicit in the murder and destruction of our elderly nursing home patient's. WHEN WILL THIS HOLOCAUST END!

A new comment from “Carmen ” was received on the post “A Typical Monday Afternoon at Sheepshead Nursing Home” of the weblog “My Elder Advocate”.

Calfornia Nursing Homes Kill Residents

That is correct...it is not a misstatement. I did not mean to say that two residents died as a result of neglect or abuse.

The nursing homes at issue are located near Sacramento, California. The nursing homes at fault are English Oaks and Marysville Care Center and here is what happened. At English Oaks a 91-year-old resident was choking on fruit and no one at the home provided the Heimlich maneuver - he died! At the Marysville Care Center an 84-year-old resident's head became stuck between the bed and a railing - she died. Both reports come from the California Department of Public Health. English Oaks also was fined in 2001 for not monitoring the feeding tube of a patient who got an infection and died. These facilities have a long history of serious violations.

Both facilities were owned by the same company, which received a "double citation" for these tragedies. A double citation...you have got to be kiddin me...someone needs to go to jail!
SEE NEWS STORY

Crisis of age requires cure

Financial Times

Every day an estimated 6,000 Americans turn 65. Four years from now, that figure will swell to 10,000 people a day so that by 2030, one in five Americans will be 65 or older. At the same time, geriatrics programmes across the US are shrinking, the number of certified geriatricians is falling relative to the population, physicians are disenrolling from Medicare, and fewer medical students are choosing careers in geriatrics.

Nursing home patients restrained, greed is not

By Saul Friedman-Newsday

Politicians and other soothsayers tell us how as a nation we honor and care for the oldest generation, our parents and grandparents, many of whom are ill or frail and need some comfort, security and dignity in their last years.

Prescription Abuse Seen In U.S. Nursing Homes

In recent years, Medicaid has spent more money on antipsychotic drugs for Americans than on any other class of pharmaceuticals -- including antibiotics, AIDS drugs or medicine to treat high-blood pressure.

One reason: Nursing homes across the U.S. are giving these drugs to elderly patients to quiet symptoms of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

Fighting Bedsores With a Team Approach - New York Times

Link: Fighting Bedsores With a Team Approach - New York Times.

A Typical Monday Afternoon at Sheepshead Nursing Home

By Jack Halpern

I recently came to know a nice elderly woman, who we shall call Mrs. Rothman. Her husband, Alan was placed in Sheepshead Nursing Home in Brooklyn after a recent hospitalization. This nursing home, although mediocre at best is near Mrs. Rothman’s home. Sadie is in her eighties and very frail herself. I had the opportunity to place her husband in a better home, but she would not get the opportunity to visit him.

The State's Deadly Neglect

State fines of less than $1,000 for ignoring broken bones, dehydration and the like are unlikely to be taken seriously by nursing homes. But the state has seemed almost afraid until now to punish Haven Healthcare, the owner of 15 nursing homes in Connecticut, for substandard care that has cost lives and caused suffering. SEE

Senior Moments: Preparing in advance for a hospital stay eases burdens on family

There's a good chance your aging parent will require hospitalization at some point, especially if he or she has chronic health conditions. If your parent relies primarily on you for assistance, it's important to do some preparation in advance even if it's only thinking about what will happen. LINK

Nursing Home Abuse Bill Sits in Congress, as Elder Abuse Reaches Epidemic Proportions

A nursing home abuse bill, the Elder Justice Act, has been under consideration in Congress for the past five years but has received scant attention and has yet to be passed. Although nursing home and elder abuse are serious and growing problems in this country, the nursing home abuse bill has never even been voted on. While no one in Congress opposes the nursing home abuse legislation, few are trying to push it through   the legislative process.