image of mature couple reviewing paperwork together at home on their kitchen table

Ten Important Questions About Advance Health Care Directives

April 16 is National Healthcare Decisions Day. Have you created health care directives? If you haven’t, or you aren’t sure your documents are up to date, here some questions you might have. #1: Why should people express their wishes about health care? Isn’t that for their doctor to decide? Today’s health care technologies are pretty…

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Eight Questions About Seniors and Dehydration

This summer, much of the country has been suffering under the blistering heat. High temperatures are especially dangerous for older adults, and dehydration is one of the big factors when they experience heat-related illness. Yet even during cooler times of the year, older adults are at risk of having a less than optimal level of…

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How To Get Your Aging Parent To Accept Help

How To Get Your Aging Parent To Accept Help

I have been practicing as an Aging Life Care Manager for almost 20 years and have been asked this question at least 100 times. I frequently here, “we really see the usefulness and benefit of your service, but how can we convince our parents to let you in”? My response is typically, “Every situation is…

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Mindful Forest Therapy for Alzheimer’s.

Shinrin-Yoku, a Japanese term translated to “Forest Bathing”, is a mindful way of spending time in the woods that allows you to reconnect with nature, providing significant health benefits in return. Generations ago, being in nature was a natural consequence of existence, but with the increasingly institutionalization of older adults, a hyperactive mind, and a…

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Surrogate Decision Making

Surrogate decision making should be someone who knows your history, has clinical expertise, knowledge of the health care delivery system, that can interpret your diagnosis and treatment plan, has expertise in the older population, has the time and psycho-social expertise to help a family make difficult decisions and above all puts your personal desires above…

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The Assisted Living “Healthcare” Myth

Making the move from home to an assisted living/personal care home is typically one of the most difficult decisions a family caring for aging parents will make. Frequently, adult children see what they want to see and have a hard time looking past the glamour of the environment. Every web site, marketing person of the…

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Transitioning into an “Older Person”

The world is currently experiencing an unprecedented increase in the population of older persons and there is no region that is exempt. There are currently over 700 million persons around the world age 60 years and older. By 2025, this figure is expected to double. I will be transitioning into that demographic in 3 years and the current…

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ARNICA – PAIN Remedy From Nature

Herbalism and Western Allopathic medicine may seem at times in odds with each other, but in fact they work extremely well together to increase the possibilities of healing. Most herbs do not interfere with the actions of drugs and can be used to enhance or support allopathic treatments. Our bodies recognize and utilize the medicine in plants simply…

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Code Lavender

Support for the Caregiver – “Code Lavender”

Code Lavender is becoming increasingly important as more and more elderly require caregivers, many of which are overwhelmed.

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Mindful Meditation

Mindful Meditation Reduces Loneliness in Older Adults

A new study on mindful meditation led by Carnegie Mellon University’s J. David Creswell offers evidence it reduces loneliness in older adults.

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