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Caregivers of Older Adults Blog | Senior Health (10)

6 Tips For Preventing Social Isolation for Seniors

By Cyndy Marsh on Tue, Jun 24, 2014 @ 04:21 PM

The kids walked by her apartment twice a day. She sat by the window every morning watching; remembering and sometimes wishing they might stop by some day. Every afternoon they would parade down the sidewalk again and every once in a while one of them would glance over to the window where she sat and perhaps offer a slight smile or wave. The kids never really thought much about the old woman in apartment 21; they just strolled by. 

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Mental Illness in Seniors: Are they suffering in silence?

By Cyndy Marsh on Wed, May 21, 2014 @ 02:02 PM

“Despite great strides in our understanding of mental illness and vast improvements in the dialogue surrounding it, too many still suffer in silence.” This is the very first sentence in this year’s Presidential Proclamation for National Mental Health Awareness Month.  As America’s population ages, the need for mental and behavioral health services continues to grow.  Unfortunately there are many myths about aging and mental disorders, such as anxiety and depression being normal signs of aging.  Too often such generalized statements are the cause of older adults being under diagnosed or overlooked for problems that are very treatable.  However, even the normal physical and emotional stresses that go along with aging can be risk factors for mental illnesses like anxiety and depression. 

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Quality of Life for Seniors: Over the Hill or a New Beginning?

By Cyndy Marsh on Fri, May 16, 2014 @ 09:05 AM

May is the month designated to celebrate Older Americans and we’re reminded of getting older when we see the celebrities on the cover of the AARP magazine getting younger and younger with each issue. At what point do we become “older” and perhaps feel we’ve just gone over the proverbial hill? AARP has become the standard-bearer for determining the age to become old officially at 50 by sending an invitation to join the ranks of everyone 50 and older! Not so fast, AARP also reported on a Canadian study showing that “our cognitive-motor skills – meaning the speed at which we process something and then react to it – peak by age 24, then begin to diminish slowly.”  Now speed certainly isn’t everything – anyone over 50 can tell you that! What some older folks may lack in speed, they can certainly make up for in strategy, efficiency and pulling from years of experience and knowledge skills.

At a time when our youth-oriented culture encourages all to cling tightly to our fast-fading youth, when is the time to truly embrace our age and revel in the well deserved time of honoring and accepting with full gratitude the time we have left? Often we get so caught up in the past and wanting to recapture or reclaim the springtime of our lives without recognizing the many blessings of the present and the years still ahead. In her book, The Gift of Years, author Joan Chittister writes in a chapter about aging and letting go, “A burden of these years is the temptation to cling to the times and things behind us rather than move to the liberating moments ahead.”

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Doctor-Patient Communications: Making the Most of your Appointment

By Cyndy Marsh on Wed, Apr 02, 2014 @ 10:57 AM

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Caregiving: The Capacity to Care

By Cyndy Marsh on Wed, Jun 26, 2013 @ 06:00 PM

So now you’ve joined the ranks of an estimated 65 million American caregivers (National Alliance for Caregiving and Evercare, 2009).   If you have recently become a caregiver for a family member, friend or neighbor, this may be a good time to do some serious thinking about what is expected of you in this role.  Although there are as many different scenarios in caregiving as there are caregivers, here are some tried and true tips that may help you get started.  First and foremost is to remember to take care of YOU!  The following link to the Caregiver’s Bill of Rights by Jo Horne is a good place to start because it begins with “I have the right…to take care of myself.  This is not an act of selfishness.  It will give me the capability of taking better care of my relative.” http://www.caregiver.com/articles/caregiver/caregiver_bill_of_rights.htm

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What is a “Geriatrician” and Do I Need One?

By Cyndy Marsh on Tue, Jun 04, 2013 @ 02:04 PM

The shift in medical practices often happens without much notice from the general population; as in the case of pediatrics and geriatrics. While the specialized focus of pediatrics, which is the medical specialty dealing with the development and care of children, did not begin to emerge in Europe until the 18th century, it wasn’t until early in the 20th century that the first well-child clinics were established to monitor and study the normal growth and development of children. With the emerging blitz of Boomers, there is a valid concern about the number of future physicians who will be caring for an aging population as indicated in a recent article entitled “Pediatrics to Geriatrics?” By Elizabeth R. McAnarney, that states,

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Healthcare: Beyond Death Panels

By mmLearn.org on Thu, Nov 08, 2012 @ 08:51 AM

During this year of political debates, elections and unending speeches, it may be difficult to remember some of the assertions made just a few years ago about death panels.  You may recall the fire storms ignited with the suggestion that the government would set up boards to determine whether seniors and the disabled were worthy of care.  What was especially troublesome and frightening for the elderly and their caregivers was the idea of death panels or rationing to control healthcare costs.  With all the rhetoric and accusations from one side to the other, the average person probably found these claims difficult to understand.

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Diabetes Medications and Seniors

By Nina Rios on Mon, Aug 20, 2012 @ 11:11 AM

In 1993, almost half of people diagnosed with diabetes were older than 65, making type 2 diabetes a common occurrence in elderly patients. 

Elderly patients pose unique cases, as self-management of diabetes comes with greater difficulties once age impairs cognitive functions and  inhibits the ability to safely make changes in exercise and diet. Additionally, identifying and responding to hypoglycemia, which medication may cause, becomes more difficult with age.

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Living with Parkinson’s Disease

By Nina Rios on Tue, May 22, 2012 @ 04:00 PM

Diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1998, actor Michael J. Fox perhaps best captured the dramatic impact it can have when he said, "Parkinson's forced me to make a fundamental life decision: adopt a siege mentality—or embark upon a life journey."  Mr. Fox is probably one of the best-known advocates for finding a cure for this debilitating disease and has brought national attention and raised the kind of awareness that sometimes only a celebrity can create. There are some startling statistics from the Parkinson’s disease Foundation:

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Emergency? Yes! No! (Urgent Care or ER?)

By Nina Rios on Mon, Jan 09, 2012 @ 04:19 PM

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