My Elder Advocate

FATHER'S DAY

Before I piss everyone off, I would like to wish all Dad’s a Happy Father’s Day, especially those in nursing homes who don’t have children and families to visit them. In my immediate family we don’t celebrate Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. Not because we think that my wife and I don’t need a special day. We just think that we don’t need a special day to love each other. “Everyday is Father’s Day”, yelled Rabbi Wainkrantz in Yeshiva Ohel Jacob. We all hate to stand on restaurant lines anyway.

The Geriatrician Shortage: Who will care for our seniors?

A sweeping change is occurring at the basic structure of our society. We once were proud of the fact that we had a culture of caring for the aged. But the scenario is slowly moving towards growing neglect and isolation of elders on the one hand and lack of capacity and will of the government to reach out to them on the other.

Last week, Beth Israel Hospital in New Jersey, all but decimated it's geriatric department. Employees were unceremoniously terminated without any notice going out to the hundreds of elderly patients, advising them to make other arrangements. Not that these elderly really have other choices. Beth Israel serves a huge population of indigent elderly.

Theresa Redling, Beth Israel's Chief of Geriatrics, said she received her notice Wednesday. Ms. Redling, who also served as Hospice Medical Director at Beth Israel, was awarded the 2008 Humanism in Healthcare Award. This honor is bestowed, by The Healthcare Foundation of New Jersey, on individuals in the trenches of patient care who have consistently demonstrated the principles of caring and compassion in their work in hospitals and in nursing education programs in the Essex, Union and Morris region served by The Foundation.

"I think this will be devastating to the senior community that Beth Israel serves," Redling said.

Gay, Lesbian Elders' Health Threatened By Discrimination

Discrimination in many social and institutional environments poses an important threat to the health and well-being of gay and lesbian seniors and their families. This problem exists despite changes in attitude in recent years towards gays and lesbians, according to a recent study.

Death of spouse ups odds of nursing home care

An older person's likelihood of entering a nursing home or other long-term care facility is particularly high immediately after the death of a spouse, new research indicates.

Escape From the Nursing Home

By IRA ROSOFSKY, New York Times Opinion               

LUCKY you. You just won the lottery, and you’re getting a payout of $75,000 a year! Just in time. You’re frail, and at age 65 you wonder how far your measly Social Security check will go. MORE

 

When holiday traditions have to change

If new family dynamics force a different way of celebrating, proceed with care and creativity

BY PAT BURSON, Newsday Staff Reporter LINK:

Counseling Helps Keep People with Alzheimer’s Out of Nursing Homes

Spouses who cared for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease were much less likely to place their partner in a nursing home if they received targeted counseling and support, researchers report. This delay in institutional care can be beneficial for both family members and those with Alzheimer’s and save millions of dollars in health-care costs. 

Middle-aged women are less likely to be happy

By Marilyn Elias, USA TODAY

Women from the mid-30s to mid-50s are less likely than Americans overall to be very happy, and many are racked by worries about aging parents and other family members, a national survey reports Monday. MORE

My Elder Advocate BLog Hits 10,000 Visits

By Jack Halpern, CEO
My Elder Advocate

My Elder Advocate is pleased to announce that we had our 10,000th visitor to our blog on Sunday, October 29, 2006.

The word is out! Our society needs and wants secure, accountable, and dignified care for our elderly citizens. Ultimately our society will be judged by by the way we take care of our children and elderly. If we relinquish that responsibility to morally corrupt politicians and callous bureaucrats, we will be failing ourselves and all future generations.

This is your blog! Feel free to comment, ask questions, and submit articles. Please forward the blog link to your family and friends. They will be glad that you did.

Geriatrics Lags in Age of High-Tech Medicine

NEW YORK TIMES

Margaret Mary Foley, 97, just wasn’t herself. Overnight, she stopped eating, went from mildly confused to disoriented, and was unable to urinate. When her panicked family rushed her to the emergency room, doctors did invasive tests, difficult for a woman her age, and then suggested surgery.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/18/health/18aged.html?ex=1161921600&en=5b30bb949ef7fd6a&ei=5070&emc=eta1