I have spent weeks, if not longer, researching a variety of topics relating to caring for our elderly parents. As important as it is to lovingly care for our elderly parents, it is also a daunting task at best. While researching the various aspects and responsibilities involved with caring for elderly parents, I was surprised to find little information regarding the care of elderly parents who, due to their own personalities and tendencies, make it extremely difficult if not impossible to have the parent living in your home.  Read more... (1667 words, 1 image, estimated 6:40 mins reading time)

Since 2006, residential care homes for the mentally ill and elderly in Oklahoma have failed to complete or review criminal background checks for at least 26 employees, records show.

In a case involving the now-closed Green Country residential home in Fairland, administrators were unaware of the requirement for employee background checks.

“I didn’t know I was supposed to have an (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigations report) on her,” a staff member told an inspector, according to a Health Department report.

At Quality Living Residential Care in Bluejacket, criminal checks were not completed on three employees, including the administrator.  Read more... (969 words, 2 images, estimated 3:53 mins reading time)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A surprising number of frail, elderly Americans in nursing homes are suffering from futile care at the end of their lives, two new federally funded studies reveal.

One found that putting nursing home residents with failing kidneys on dialysis didn’t improve their quality of life and may even push them into further decline. The other showed many with advanced dementia will die within six months and perhaps should have hospice care instead of aggressive treatment.  Read more... (817 words, 2 images, estimated 3:16 mins reading time)

Dementia is often viewed as a disease of the mind, an illness that erases treasured memories but leaves the body intact.

But dementia is a physical illness, too — a progressive, terminal disease that shuts down the body as it attacks the brain. Although the early stages can last for years, the life expectancy of a patient with advanced dementia is similar to that of a patient with advanced cancer.  Read more... (821 words, 2 images, estimated 3:17 mins reading time)

Finding illustrates need to report suspected problems, expert says

First Posted Posted August 4, 2009.

By Serena Gordon
HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Aug. 4 (HealthDay News) — When seniors stop taking proper care of themselves, their risk for death increases nearly sixfold, a new study shows.

In addition, elderly people who are abused physically, emotionally, financially or through withdrawal of care don’t fare much better. Their risk for dying more than doubles, the researchers report.

“Elder self-neglect and abuse really have severe consequences,” said study author Dr. XinQi Dong, an associate professor of medicine at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.  Read more... (725 words, 2 images, estimated 2:54 mins reading time)

Advocate Advises How To Protect Loved Ones.

(CBS) Investigating physical abuse and outright neglect of patients, CBS News has been exposing the horrors inside some of this country’s nursing homes.

If you’re wondering what the government is doing about this, CBS News Correspondent Vince Gonzales reports the answer is: not nearly enough.A distress call came from a frightened family.

“I was told you could be helpful to me, and I’m really anxious to talk to you,” said a voice on Ila Swan’s answering machine.

It’s a call to action for Swan of the Association for Protection of the Elderly.  Read more... (608 words, 3 images, estimated 2:26 mins reading time)

A Caregiver Berates an Elderly Man in a Public Park; Will Passers-By Take Action? Would you?

What do you do when faced with a difficult decision?

Would you react differently if you knew someone was watching?

What if your dinner out was ruined by kids running wild and out of control while an oblivious parent ignored the chaos?

What do you do when faced with a difficult decision?

Would you react differently if you knew someone was watching?

What if your dinner out was ruined by kids running wild and out of control while an oblivious parent ignored the chaos?  Read more... (585 words, 3 images, estimated 2:20 mins reading time)

A 73-year-old former Edmonton man convicted of tying his mother to a chair and threatening to throw her off a balcony was today placed on 12 months probation.

However, the judge in the case told the wheelchair-bound Clifford Morin if he had been younger, healthier or without reasons for his behaviour toward his now-deceased mother, he would have sent him off to a penitentiary.

“I would not have had the slightest hesitation in sending you to jail,” said Justice Jack Watson, noting the elderly members of society must be protected by the law.  Read more... (588 words, 3 images, estimated 2:21 mins reading time)

t is a tale of two towns that speaks volumes about the state of Britain’s health.

In the affluent Moreton Hall area of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, average life expectancy is 93.4 years – the highest in the country.

But in the deprived Middlehaven district in Middlesbrough, it’s 67.8 – the lowest.

That is a difference of almost 26 years, a startling statistic revealed in a report into heart disease and stroke by the health watchdog, the Care Quality Commission.

Its study highlights the postcode lottery of care in the Health Service and exposes massive variations in the quality of services for sufferers of cardiovascular disease (CVD).  Read more... (626 words, 3 images, estimated 2:30 mins reading time)

The number of people who have reached the age of 100 has broken the 10,000 barrier for the first time, figures showed yesterday.

Analysts have put the booming figures of the very elderly down to major improvements over past decades in medical treatment, hygiene, sanitation, nutrition, housing and living standards.

Data from the Office for National Statistics puts the count of centenarians in England and Wales last year at 9,640, a level far ahead of any recorded in the past.

The rate of increase of numbers of very old people is now such that the total is certain to have passed 10,000.  Read more... (397 words, 3 images, estimated 1:35 mins reading time)