Posts Tagged With ‘ elderly ’

Falls Are Serious and Costly One out of five falls causes a serious injury such as broken bones or a head injury. Each year, 3 million older people are treated in emergency departments for fall injuries. Falls are the most common cause of traumatic brain injuries (TBI). In 2015, the total medical costs for falls totaled more than $50 billion. Medicare and Medicaid shouldered 75% of these costs. Who We Are: Silver Spaces is a leading software company dedicated to improving the safety, security, and overall well-being of the elderly within their homes. Our mission is to empower caregivers, healthcare... Continue Reading

You’ve heard the adage “use it or lose it”. It’s particularly apt in describing what happens as we age. Typically we move less, lose muscle strength, and suffer the consequences of losing independence, have greater fall risk and other undesirable things. At the beginning of each year, people commonly make New Year’s resolutions to lose weight, or somehow “get in shape”. But, we also know that most people don’t keep those resolutions very long and eventually just give them up. A Key To Independence Here are some thoughts on what any older person can and must do if you don’t want... Continue Reading

Everyone over the age of 50 has had them–senior moments. Events you would prefer to forget. But you can’t. You are worried that new ones will embarrass you or be hurtful. Even more frightening is that you don’t know if you should laugh at them or make an appointment with a neurologist. Finally, a definitive […] Originally Published on https://stangoldbergwriter.com/ Continue Reading

They said or did something you don’t understand, or worse, cause you concern about their cognitive health. Some people suggest you laugh off these “senior moments,” but you can’t. After all, these are your parents or grandparents and you love them. Finally, there is a resource that will enable you to either relax or provide […] Originally Published on https://stangoldbergwriter.com/ Continue Reading

This is the first of an article series on senior moments abstracted from my book, Preventing Senior Moments: How to Stay Sharp Into Your Nineties and Beyond. Everyone has said or done something they immediately regretted, like forgetting the name of a granddaughter, misusing a common word, making a bizarre connection between events, or forgetting […] Originally Published on https://stangoldbergwriter.com/ Continue Reading

A common worry many adult children express about aging parents is that the parents are alone and it’s time they got some help. The kids are worried because of changes in the parent’s health, mobility or memory problems. The aging parent may not agree that there is anything to worry about, and this, of course, leads to resistance. Assisted living is something adult children frequently mention as a solution to their worries. But is it? There are pros and cons to consider and the family needs to understand what assisted living is and what it isn’t.  On a personal note, I had a 96 year old mother-in-law... Continue Reading

Most of us probably know someone who can’t hear very well and doesn’t use hearing aids. It can be frustrating trying to have a conversation with that person. particularly in a group setting, like a dinner table or in a restaurant. They say “what?” and you repeat, but they still don’t hear you much. Can you do anything about this? Maybe. It depends on why some aging parents will or won’t accept wearing hearing aids. Why do folks resist hearing aids? Hearing aids used to cost thousands of dollars and Medicare never did cover them. You had to get an in-person test and a prescription. You... Continue Reading

The types of long-term care located in various communities are largely driven by what their oldest residents can afford. This has created stark differences in what’s available to White and minority retirees, a new study finds. Assisted living facilities, despite the high cost, have been the fastest-growing part of the long-term care industry over the past 20 years. In the cities and suburbs, where the vast majority of Americans live, more of these facilities are located in predominantly White communities. Adult day care centers, at less than half the price of assisted living, have also expanded... Continue Reading

COVID has moved from a central place in our lives to a risk that, while still important to heed, has moved out of the foreground. One thing we will not forget, however, is COVID’s toll on nursing homes and other long-term care facilities, where the virus has killed more than 200,000 older Americans and staff. The tragedy also played out in nursing homes in Canada, where the deaths received high-profile coverage in the news media, just as they did in this country. A survey of Canadians at the end of 2020, while COVID was still raging, indicates that the pandemic caused major changes in their thinking... Continue Reading

Your aging parent may have demanded something from you long ago: “Promise you’ll never put me in a home!” And you may have promised that. Perhaps you never thought through the implications. For elders who saw what healthcare was like before Medicare in 1965, their fears are founded in what things looked like then: unregulated warehouses for old people. Assisted living did not yet exist. Choices were few and none of them looked like anything other than what descriptions they were given. These included “God’s waiting room”, “a place you wait to die”, “hell hole” “it’s a bunch... Continue Reading