Your parent diagnosed with dementia – what are your fears?
There are so many signs of dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease and other types of memory loss. After working in this business for nearly ten years, I can spot many of the signs within minutes of meeting an individual. Sometimes families seem more concerned with the “diagnosis” than what is really going on with the individual. By [...]
See an older adult neglecting simple daily tasks
Ever met an older individual who doesn’t seem to be managing well? By this I mean that they seem to be neglecting simple daily tasks like bathing, eating good meals, keeping their house. And when the subject is brought up, there is a great deal of anger and denial and usually the words “I can [...]
Minding someone elses business not always a good idea
Ever have one of those moments when you’d love to “mind someone else’s businesses”? Over the years I’ve usually found this to be a bad idea even if the information, in my opinion, would be helpful. I was at the gym yesterday and took a shower after I finished my routine. There was a woman [...]
Long term care ombudsman serves to protect the consumer
All nursing homes, personal care homes and assisted living facilities have an ombudsman appointed by the state government. The role of this individual, whether paid or voluntary is to represent the residents and the families when concerns arise. In many cases these facilities have a family group meeting once each month. In all honesty, these [...]
A care navigator can help you advocate for yourself in a nursing home
Carrying over from yesterday, families must learn to advocate for their family members in nursing homes, and, individuals who have no one to advocate for them, if finances permit, should hire an advocate or care navigator. Many people don’t want to complain about receiving substandard care or waiting an hour for staff to respond to [...]
Children of family member in nursing home must be squeaky wheel
Ever had a family member in a nursing home, often called a “skilled facility” or an called an even nicer term, a “care facility”? Because of the state of health care today, individuals are transferred to nursing homes when they previously would have remained in the hospital. There are several difficulties with this occurrence. All [...]
Planning ahead could prevent divorce due to health issues
I suppose at some point, divorcing because of the health issue of a spouse becomes a practicality, however sad this sounds. I know of many older adults who have divorced because of social security and income tax issues. It seems that sometimes the “system” forces us to make changes because they affect our health or [...]
Diagnosis of debilitating disease at early age difficult
Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease can be debilitating at any age. However it seems that the younger one is diagnosed the more tragic, the more consequential to the rest of a life; especially if there is a healthy spouse. More frequently today, the healthy spouse is opting out of the marriage and the [...]
New marriage and diagnosis of Alzheimers
Marriages today are transitory. We finish one and begin another. We have blended families with children from one marriage and children from another marriage. Or we wait to marry until we’re much older sometimes to others who have been married and had children. I know of one married couple who were both previously divorced and [...]
Walking away from sick spouse an option?
What happened to “until death do us part”? My parents married somewhere about 60 years were married for life. Despite numerous health problems over the years they managed to do their best and raise six children. My father when fairly young was working for the railroad and fell off a box car because there was [...]
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