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Elder Care

What’s the Difference Between Hospice & Palliative Care?

February 11th, 2008 by Ami Icanberry

American hospice service started with the Connecticut Hospice in March 1974. Today, there are over 2,884 Medicare-certified hospices, and an additional 200 volunteer hospices in the U.S., with as many as 1.5 million Americans seeking hospice treatment in recent years. As a program designed to facilitate “palliative” care for terminally ill patients and their families—many people wonder, what then is the difference between hospice and palliative care, or are they one in the same? While palliative care addresses patients...Read the rest of this article »

Alzheimer’s Care Explained

February 11th, 2008 by Gilbert Guide

Alzheimer's disease, the most common form of dementia, is a progressive, degenerative brain disorder. Brain cells shrink or disappear, gradually destroying a person's memory, ability to learn and make judgments. An estimated 4.5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease. By 2050 the number of those affected is projected to range from 11.3 million to 16 million. As Alzheimer's advances, an individual's capacity to reason and carry out normal daily activities diminishes. As the disease affects disparate areas of the brain, different...Read the rest of this article »

When to Move: Transitioning from Home to Facility

February 11th, 2008 by Lara Belonogoff

When does homecare stop fitting the bill? This question is faced by many and here's the rub—many people are reticent to move out of their home. I have come across similar situations in my family twice. When both my grandmother and aunt were ill, the attitude towards moving either into a long-term care facility was reticence. Both women were viewed as matriarchs who held together the family fabric in some invisible but very tangible way—similar to a French seam. Moving...Read the rest of this article »

Should We Beware of These Nursing Homes?

November 29th, 2007 by Jill Gilbert

An Associated Press article posted today on MSNBC cited an interesting development on the Medicare website—Medicare is “outing” the 54 worst nursing homes in the country, an unprecedented move for the large government-funded agency. The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reviews all Medicare-certified skilled nursing facilities. In the past, it seemed as if major repercussions were never applied to sub-par facilities or those in need of improvements. Medicare, it appears, is changing. And the result should benefit...Read the rest of this article »

Advocate 101 for Family Caregivers: When your Loved One is Hospitalized

March 2nd, 2007 by Lara Belonogoff

As a family caregiver, short-term hospitalization of a loved one can be a difficult situation whether he or she is living in a long-term care facility or at home. As the family caregiver, the change can prove challenging at points, especially as hospitalization normally points to an unstable medical condition or an acute condition. Here are a few pointers for how to negotiate the situation. The most important issue to keep in mind is that you have most of the...Read the rest of this article »

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