Eldercare, Aging and Long Term Care

Alzheimer's - How Does Vascular Dementia Differ from Alzheimer's?.

Vascular dementia (VaD) is the second most common type of dementia after Alzheimer's and is responsible for up to 25% of all dementias. VaD, previously known as multi infarct dementia, like Alzheimer's, is caused by brain damage. The crucial difference is that in VaD the damage is due to strokes. Between 500,000 and 700,000 Americans have a stroke each year. Scientists believe that after three months approximately 25% to 30% (125,000 people) will develop dementia.   Strokes can affect the cortical and sub-cortical areas of brain tissue, so symptoms tend to vary depending on the stroke location. However, because the brain and its nerve pathways are so complex, this is not always so. This also means that some mental abilities may not be as reduced as in Alzheimer's disease.

In Turnabout, Children Take Caregiver Role - NYTimes.com.

Across the country, children are providing care for sick parents or grandparents — lifting frail bodies off beds or toilets, managing medication, washing, feeding, dressing, talking with doctors. Schools, social service agencies and health providers are often unaware of those responsibilities because families members may be too embarrassed, or stoic.

A Colorado Home Is Ready for Its Owners’ Old Age - NYTimes.com.

Universal design, a movement promoting the idea that all structures, public and private, should be equally accessible to everyone, has been around for many years. It is rooted in the work of Ronald Lawrence Mace, an architect and industrial designer with polio who helped develop the country’s first accessible building code, paving the way for the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Aging in place, a related but more recent movement, which holds that homes should be built so owners can continue to live in them despite age-related problems, has been driven by the aging boomer population. The problem is that from a marketing and design point of view, the word “aging” is still the kiss of death. In a culture where Botox, Cialis and plastic surgery support the illusion that mortality is for other people, who wants a bathroom that looks as if it belongs in a rehab center?

Nursing home pressure ulcer rates topped 11% in 2004, new report finds - McKnight's Long Term Care News.

More than one in 10 nursing home residents had a pressure ulcer in 2004, according to newly released statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Key findings from the report show that roughly 159,000 nursing home residents—11% of the total—had some form of pressure ulcer that year. Stage two pressure ulcers were the most prevalent, the report found. Younger residents who experienced shorter lengths of stay also were more likely to have pressure ulcers. A total of 35% of those with pressure ulcers stage two or higher (more severe) received special wound care treatment, according to the CDC. There were no significant differences in pressure ulcer rates between white and non-white residents, according to the report. The report, "Pressure Ulcers Among Nursing Home Residents: United States, 2004," was released Wednesday. Authors gathered data for the report from the 2004 National Nursing Home Survey, which sampled responses from more than 14,000 nursing home residents around the country. The CDC report can be found online at http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/upcoming.htm.

Alzheimer's - How Does Lewy Body Dementia Differ from Alzheimer's?.

Lewy body dementia (DLB) is increasingly being seen as one of the most common forms of dementia. Like vascular dementia, it is believed to be the second most common type after Alzheimer's.   In this type of dementia the cause of the brain damage is different to Alzheimer's and abnormal protein deposits (intracytoplasmic proteins) called Lewy bodies are the hallmark of this disease.   Unlike Alzheimer's DLB appears to affect men and women equally but like Alzheimer's mostly affects the over 65 year old age group.

Nation & World | With smartphones, doctors reinvent house call | Seattle Times Newspaper.

Beyond their cool quotient, smartphones such as the iPhone and other handheld devices are becoming as handy as stethoscopes in a doctor's arsenal.

Sensors Help Keep the Elderly Safe, and at Home - NYTimes.com.

Increasingly, many older people who live alone are not truly alone. They are being watched by a flurry of new technologies designed to enable them to live independently and avoid expensive trips to the emergency room or nursing homes.

Health | Diabetes ruled a disability by law | Seattle Times Newspaper.

SAN FRANCISCO — In a decision with potential implications for the nation's 24 million diabetics, a federal appeals-court panel ruled Friday that a Type 2 diabetes patient was entitled to the protections of the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).

Washington Times - Study finds bid to cut Medicare costs failed .

An ambitious effort to cut costs and keep aging, sick Medicare patients out of the hospital mostly didn't work, a government-contracted study found. The disappointing results show how tough it is to manage older patients with chronic diseases, who often take multiple prescriptions, see many doctors and sometimes get conflicting medical advice. The study showed just how difficult it is to change the habits of older patients and their sometimes inflexible doctors. And it points up the challenges the Obama administration will face in trying to reform health care for an aging nation. Most of the patients had serious, but common, age-related illnesses including diabetes, heart disease and lung disease. Programs were set up at 15 centers across the country. Only two cut the number of times these patients were hospitalized, and those are still in operation. None saved Medicare any money.