This is the hottest summer ever, news reports tell us. We stay inside, we use air conditioning, we hydrate well. But some aging parents who live alone or with only part time help at home are at particular risk. It’s not just that older people can’t regulate their body temperature as well as younger people. […]
According to the Federal Trade Commission, Medicare fraud costs taxpayers $60 billion a year. Fraudsters get away with it because most of the time, no one is stopping them. Here’s a real case, in which I personally spotted the suspicious billing that immediately looked to me like fraud. A family member we’ll call Tony had […]
Imagine having multiple sclerosis and being in a wheelchair for 25 years. That was Eleanor, in Tennessee, feeling trapped. When her neurologist told her she would never improve, she refused to accept this pronouncement. She had a quality of defiance. Her thought: “Don’t tell me I can’t do something. I’m going to prove you wrong”. And […]
Artificial intelligence is advancing so rapidly, it can be hard to speculate about its effects on elders. What we can see is that applied to healthcare, it could be very positive. For older adults with multiple chronic conditions, there are different doctors with different perspectives, each a specialist in one thing. For anyone who has […]
We hear of ageism in the workplace. Older workers are laid off and when they seek new jobs, they are discriminated against in favor of younger, cheaper, less experienced workers. We hear of ageism in the media where elders are depicted as frail, impaired, dependent and in need of oh, so many medications. We do […]
Our government is currently focusing on the mental health of elders, particularly the loneliness they experience. For those with aging loved ones, pandemic related social isolation exacerbated what was already an underlying problem. Many elders do not have consistent, meaningful connections with enough others to prevent the sadness and hopelessness so many experience every day. […]
There are plenty of aging parents out there making life difficult for their adult children, as we see from our experience working with elders’ families at AgingParents.com. A common problem for families happens when the one in charge of finances, typically the patriarch, develops cognitive impairment and can no longer safely manage the family trust and […]
Do you have a stubborn aging parent? Are you worried that he or she is doing unsafe or just plain dumb things? You’re not alone. Here at AgingParents.com, we see this scenario often, and it’s frequently about control over the family finances. Here’s an example, based on a real case with some elements altered for […]
This really happened. George is 90 and is generally doing well, but he has a few memory problems. His wife, Gloria worries about him keeping track of things. He has a full-time caregiver from a qualified agency. He goes to the gym for an hour every day. The caregiver drives him there and to the […]
How did the adult son of a wealthy but secretive 85-year-old father get his dad to finally reveal important information about his assets? It wasn’t easy. Many adult children have an elder who thinks he’s fine and doesn’t need any help. Even if the patriarch or matriarch is fine, there is no guarantee they’ll stay […]
