I have worked with seniors and their healthcare issues for a long time. The best advice I can give you is don’t grow old. Don’t get me wrong, I am not advising you against aging, unless, of course, you have figured out how to stop the clock ticking. If you have, I’ll trade you winning lottery numbers! I am suggesting, however that you can age more slowly if you have a lifestyle of increased activity and proper nutrition. Read More...

Hospice Care: An Option at the End of Life

We will all do two things in our lives – pay taxes and die.  We do the very best we can to plan for our taxes, why don’t we do as much to plan for our death?  National Hospice Foundation statistics show that Americans are more likely to talk to their kids about drugs and sex than they are to talk with their parents about death.  Fewer than 25% of us have thought about how we would like to be cared for at the end of life and put it in writing. Read more...

The Fight for Independence

One of the greatest fears of older adults is the loss of independence. That loss is felt acutely when it translates into the need for institutional living. Even the most luxurious congregant living facility isn’t the same as your own home. “Aging in place” is the chief desire of our aging parents, but for some, it just may not be possible without assistance.  Read more...

Help for the Sandwich Generation

If you are tired of being called a Baby Boomer, take heart, you may now fall into the Sandwich Generation. The Family Caregiver Alliance (FCA) estimates that between 20% and 40% of caregivers have children under age 18 to care for in addition to an aging relative. If you are female, you are 72% more likely than a male to be the one responsible. Read more...

Shorter Hospital Stays? No Problem

There has been a growing awareness in our country that long hospital stays are a thing of the past. In the 50’s my mother was in the hospital for two weeks when she had her children by C-section, now it’s a three day stay, or less! Even though some may feel that drive-through brain surgery is just around the corner, a short hospital stay is not necessarily a bad thing.  Read More...

I Hear Fine...Everybody Mumbles

(Long version 1662 words)           (Short version 634 words)

According to the National Institute on Deafness and other Communication Disorders, one in three individuals over the age of 60 and half of those over the age of 85 will have hearing loss. The hearing loss associated with aging is called presbycusis or high frequency, sensory neural hearing loss, caused by a deterioration of the VIII nerve. It is insipid and gradual. For most hearing impaired adults, their hearing loss began when they were in their late 40’s or early 50’s. It is binaural, permanent and invisible. 
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