Knight Ridder/Tribune
11/18/2008 9:28 AM ET
House and Senate Democrats unveiled competing versions Monday of a plan to start funneling $25 billion to U.S. automakers before the end of the year, but lawmakers from both parties and the Bush administration withheld support, demanding tough conditions as part of any rescue.
While some of us are directly effected by the auto industry, others may only feel it as things trickle down. Regardless, we all have an interest in seeing the domestic auto industry rebound from current economic crisis.
The potential collapse of the BIG 3 Manufacturers is real and NOW. Next week Congress and the current Administration will determine whether to provide immediate support to the domestic auto industry to help it through one of the most difficult economic times in our nation's history. Our elected officials must hear from all of us on why this support is critical to millions of people who will be impacted by their decisionsPlease go to the link below and get involved, it will only take a few minutes.
Please confirm that the e-mail has been sent. http://gmfactsandfiction.com
Auto industry facts:
*3 million jobs lost in the first year
*U.S. personal income reduced by 150.7 billion
*Goverment tax loss over 3 years 156 billion
*The level of economic devastation far exceeds the 25 billion of government support the US Auto industry is asking from Congress.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
Sunday, March 16, 2008
About Home Care and Tips to Remember when Hiring a Home Care Provider
We're living longer—and healthier—lives than ever before. However, there may come a time when help is needed and questions about living arrangements care arise. Most seniors want to remain in their home and a variety of home care services have become availabl
What is home care?
Home care typically refers to non-medical services, assisting individuals with activities of daily living. Home care is an increasingly popular choice for care because it enables individuals to remain in their own environments.
Home care can include simple tasks such as housekeeping, shopping, meal preparation and driving to appointments as well as personal care tasks such as bathing, dressing, grooming, toileting and even transferring from the bed to a chair or walking.
Many types of individuals, including those who are trained and supervised by agencies, provide such services. In general, home care providers are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They may work by themselves or as a team on a shift, part-time, hourly, live-in, or on an as-needed basis.
Listed below is a summary of non-medical care, home health care and the other types of care available.
- Home health care is specialized medical care, provided by nurses or physical and respiratory therapists. Care providers are trained medical, health care, psychiatric professionals, or certified nurses' aides. Home health services are usually ordered by a physician and may be covered by insurance.
- Homemaker Services include help with cooking, light cleaning, laundry, grocery shopping, and errands.
- Personal Care can include assistance with a variety of daily living activities such as bathing, dressing, toilet use, grooming and eating.
- Adult Day Care are daily, facility-based programs for seniors who need monitoring or companionship during the day.
- Respite Care - A trained volunteer or para-professional stays with your loved one and takes over your caregiving role, whether for several hours or several days. These brief reprieves from a caregiving situation are healthy for the caregiver and also for the care recipient…a change of daily routine for both.
Tips Before hiring an Independent Provider:
- Conduct an in-depth interview the candidate, preferably in person rather than on the phone
- Be specific about all of the tasks that the provider will be expected to take on;
- Discuss salary and offer to pay wages either weekly or bi-weekly. Do not pay wages in advance
- Request both work and personal references, and check them carefully. Ask the references about reliability, trustworthiness, and punctuality as well as the care provider's ability to handle stress.
- Consider a background check. For around $100-$150 you can have this done professionally.
- Be sure to include the potential care recipient in the screening process if he or she is able to participate, to ensure that both parties are comfortable, and that your loved one's needs are respected.
- Remember to check all references, before hiring the caregiver.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Elderly Drivers - When to Stop!
Most people don't think of the potential hazards of elderly drivers, but they can put themselves and others in danger. Many health and safety experts say that accidents involving elderly drivers happen because they dont want to give up their independence. So it is up to their adult children to recognize the signs and talk to their parents about turning over their car keys. Here are some tell tale signs that it is time to stop driving.
Getting Lost. Everyone gets lost from time to time, but if this happens in familiar surroundings it may signal mental confusion.
Ignoring Traffic Signals. Failure to notice or obey stop signs, traffic lights or other highway signs, may mean that your loved one did not notice them or didn't correctly interpret the meaning of them. Visual impairment or mental processing may be the cause.
Lack of judgement. Driving requires quick judgement. Whether, judging the speed of oncoming traffic, knowing when to pass a slower car safely, stopping at a stop sign, slow or poor judgment can greatly increase the risk of an accident.
Driving too fast or too slow. Erratic driving at inappropriate speeds can mean a lack of concentration, poor physical coordination, and a lack of judgement.
If you conclude that your loved one is putting themselves and others in danger on the road, then it is time to talk with them. A gentle approach focusing on functional ability rather than age or health is recommended.
Other Resources.
National Highway Traffice Safety Administrationwww.nhtsa.dot.gov
American Association of Retired Citizens
www.aarp.org/families/driver_safety
AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
www.seniordrivers.org
The Association for Driver Rehabilitation Specialist
www.driver-ed.org
Getting Lost. Everyone gets lost from time to time, but if this happens in familiar surroundings it may signal mental confusion.
Ignoring Traffic Signals. Failure to notice or obey stop signs, traffic lights or other highway signs, may mean that your loved one did not notice them or didn't correctly interpret the meaning of them. Visual impairment or mental processing may be the cause.
Lack of judgement. Driving requires quick judgement. Whether, judging the speed of oncoming traffic, knowing when to pass a slower car safely, stopping at a stop sign, slow or poor judgment can greatly increase the risk of an accident.
Driving too fast or too slow. Erratic driving at inappropriate speeds can mean a lack of concentration, poor physical coordination, and a lack of judgement.
If you conclude that your loved one is putting themselves and others in danger on the road, then it is time to talk with them. A gentle approach focusing on functional ability rather than age or health is recommended.
Other Resources.
National Highway Traffice Safety Administrationwww.nhtsa.dot.gov
American Association of Retired Citizens
www.aarp.org/families/driver_safety
AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety
www.seniordrivers.org
The Association for Driver Rehabilitation Specialist
www.driver-ed.org
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
Health Care Costs May Threaten Retirement:
NU Online News Service, Feb . 20, 2008, 1:00 p.m. EST
The rising cost of health care will cause a striking increase in the number of working Americans who probably won’ t be prepared financially to retire, according to recent findings by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
CRR’s National Retirement Risk Index projects that 61% of workers today will be at risk of being financially unprepared to retire. That is a 17% increase from July 2007, when the Index number was 44%.
The findings offer a reason to be concerned but not to lose hope, suggests Paul Ballew, senior vice president of customer insights and analytics for Nationwide Financial Services Inc., Columbus, Ohio, which sponsored the Boston College study.
For one thing, Ballew said, most Americans need to change their savings and spending habits. “The personal savings rate in the U.S. today is essentially zero,” he said.
The Index means that 61% of households are not on track to maintain their preretirement, non-health-care level of consumption in retirement.
“The Index also shows that risk will rise for younger workers and low-income households,” says Alicia H. Munnell, CRR director. “The number could be considerably higher once long term care costs are taken into account, and if households do not plan rationally.”
Back to Breaking News
The rising cost of health care will cause a striking increase in the number of working Americans who probably won’ t be prepared financially to retire, according to recent findings by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College.
CRR’s National Retirement Risk Index projects that 61% of workers today will be at risk of being financially unprepared to retire. That is a 17% increase from July 2007, when the Index number was 44%.
The findings offer a reason to be concerned but not to lose hope, suggests Paul Ballew, senior vice president of customer insights and analytics for Nationwide Financial Services Inc., Columbus, Ohio, which sponsored the Boston College study.
For one thing, Ballew said, most Americans need to change their savings and spending habits. “The personal savings rate in the U.S. today is essentially zero,” he said.
The Index means that 61% of households are not on track to maintain their preretirement, non-health-care level of consumption in retirement.
“The Index also shows that risk will rise for younger workers and low-income households,” says Alicia H. Munnell, CRR director. “The number could be considerably higher once long term care costs are taken into account, and if households do not plan rationally.”
Back to Breaking News
Friday, January 25, 2008
Tips for Keeping Warm
Global Warming might be a very real danger facing our planet, but that does not change the reality that it gets very cold in the winter in Chicago.
With the cold weather comes a variety of health concerns. Clearly sub zero temperatures can have serious risks for even the healthiest in the population, but the situation is far more serious for those that are already in a weakened state.
IDoA Director Charles D. Johnson said. “The state has a number of resources available that seniors can use so they aren’t left to make difficult decisions about paying their heating bills or taking their prescription drugs this winter".
" I hope that older persons, their families and those who care for them will take these practical, simple steps to prepare for the cold weather ahead.”
People who lower the thermostat to reduce heating bills risk developing hypothermia, a potentially fatal condition in which the body temperature drops dangerously low. At increased risk are older people who take certain medications, drink alcohol, lack proper nutrition and who have conditions such as arthritis, stroke, Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.
“Seniors should make sure they set their thermostats to above 65 degrees. This year is going to be particularly tough on seniors on fixed incomes because of the rising cost of the price of gas and electricity to heat homes, but I urge them not to turn the heat down any lower than 65 degrees – it is too dangerous for seniors,” Director Johnson said. “Their health and well-being should come before anything else.”
Before winter officially arrives, Director Johnson recommends that seniors get their furnace checked to ensure that it is in good working order and heating ducts are properly ventilated. Having heating equipment checked each season by a qualified technician to make sure it is operating properly can make a great impact on how much extra money is spent on utility bills.
Other cold-weather tips from Director Johnson and the Department on Aging include:
• Dress in layers and cover as much skin as possible while outdoors. A hat is important since so much body heat escapes from an uncovered head.
• Keep active. Make a list of exercises and activities that you can do indoors when you cannot get out.• Eat well and drink 10 glasses of water every day.
• Keep extra medications in the house. If this is not possible, make arrangements now with a pharmacy that will deliver.
• Stock up on extra non-perishable food supplies, just in case.
• Have your house winterized. Be sure that walls and attics are insulated. Caulk and weather-strip doors and windows. Insulate pipes near outer walls, in crawl spaces and attics that are susceptible to freezing.
• Be informed. Watch the news and weather.
. Contact your Gas and Electric companies, Let them know if you have any special needs (i.e. oxygen, home dialysis, etc.).
• Make sure you and your family knows how to shut off the water supply in case pipes burst.
• Prepare your vehicle for winter: Check wipers, tires, lights and fluid levels regularly. Keep a windshield scraper and small broom for ice and snow removal. Maintain at least a half tank of gas during the winter season. Plan long trips carefully and travel by daylight with at least one other person.
• Protect against fire. If you don’t have a fire extinguisher, buy one. Make sure space heaters are at least three feet from anything flammable. Do not overload extension cords.
• If you live in a house, plan now for someone else to shovel the snow when it comes. Do not shovel snow or walk in deep snow. The strain from the cold and hard labor could cause a heart attack; sweating can lead to a chill and even hypothermia.
. Be careful about going out side with exposed flesh.
. Dress in layers. The warmest way to dress is to have one layer that Protects against wind,then other layers for warmth.
. When venturing outside make sure people know where you are going, and when you are expected to return.
Senior Care Resources can help provide the information, sources, and manpower to help you care for your loved ones and keep them on a positive path to wellness.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Keeping the Brain sharp.
Everyone connected to the health profession, or anyone who has ever nursed a sick family member, understands the importance of a good mental attitude. In a world of ever more complicated equipment and ever-changing drugs, it is very difficult to always know what to do to best supplement your care. But one thing that will always have a positive impact on the healing process is to have a strong positive attitude.
In the face of great adversity, and often prolonged pain and suffering; keeping one’s spirits up falls into the category of “Easier said than done”, but the advantages are well documented.
Staying Well
A positive out-look can trump even genetics in determining longevity and wellness. A strong “Will to live” is a powerful tool to help one get well, but it is an even more powerful weapon against getting ill in the first place. The truth is “Grumpy old men” seldom live to be “Grumpy old men.”
Here are a few of those “Easier said than done”, tips for maintaining a good out-look.
1. Work to develop the attitude that you can obtain anything you set out to achieve.
2. Set high, but reasonable expectations.
3. Actively try to eliminate obstacles in the way of your goals.
4. Don’t let negative people bring you down, and can stop you from accomplishing your goals.
5. Surround yourself with positive people in your life.
Bench-press with your mind
Think of your mind as a muscle. Body-builders are forever pushing, flexing and challenging their muscles to keep them strong- we must all do the same thing with our minds. Learning is a life time process.
1. Read a book, This is particularly true when you reach for text books.
2. Take a class. No it’s not just for the young. In fact, free from the worry about grade point averages, continuing education can be both fun and challenging.
3. Puzzles, any puzzles, can help keep your mind sharp, but the more difficult the better.
4. Explore your artistic side- painting, drawing; sculpture all can all keep those neurons firing.
5. Surround your self with interesting people.
6. Engage in the real “Art of conversation”, not just pleasantries
Dr. Glenn Ostir, a Lead researcher at the Sealy Center on Aging, explained it this way: "I believe that there is a connection between mind and body – and that our thoughts and attitudes/emotions affect physical functioning, and over all health, whether through direct mechanisms, such as immune function, or indirect mechanisms, such as social support networks."
There is a school of thought that says, keep the mind young, and the body will follow.
Senior Care Resources can help provide the information, sources, and manpower to help you care for your loved ones and keep them on a positive path to wellness.
Larry Lubell
SCR
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Hard Choices
The Baby-boomer generation, best known as the “ME” Generation suddenly finds it’s self ever-increasingly confronted with the responsibility of caring for an aging loved one.
In part because many Baby-Boomers waited to have children, often this new role comes at a time when they have school-aged children, requiring that they make imposable choices between the demands of work, children and caring for an elderly parent. Yes this is a challenge that has been faced by every generation, but the conditions today are in many ways more trying than in the past.
Demographics
The Federal Agency and Forum on Statistics1 projects that the United States will have over twenty million seniors over the age of eighty-five by the year 2050. This figure represents over a 600% increase over the current number. As of 2008, almost forty million men and women are reaching the age of sixty-five, and beyond. This is great news! Unfortunately not all of those seniors are healthy.
Medical science, at times seems much better at keeping people alive than at keeping the healthy. We have an ever-growing number of people who are living many years with debilitating diseases People too sick to care for them-selves but not ready to die.
Science has made many amazing advances, and so many more seem just outside of our reach. Each of these breakthroughs offers hope, promise, and increasingly, a cure: but often these treatments them selves come at a heavy price. Many of the treatments available for cancer utilize chemotherapy regiments that can leave the recipient so sick and or weak they are unable to live a self-sufficient life style. Instead they need more hope than they ever wish to admit, and more than family members or a spouse can provide.
Smaller Families/ dispersed Families
Back in the days of big families, often all living in the same neighborhood, caring for a sick relative frequently involved walking down a flight of stairs, or a few houses down the block. Several siblings could share the tasks involved in providing care. Today many people find they are alone with the burden of providing the care their parent’s needs. The primary care giver might not have a sibling, or few siblings to share the load, and or they live in another city or State.
We are also the first generation where divorce has become commonplace. This increases the number of both seniors living alone, as well as their children, now in the role of caregiver, not having a spouse to turn to for help. A single mother might have no help with the responsibilities at home, and have little time to additionally devote to senior care.
Longer Hours at Work
I remember being in middle school and the teacher telling the class how the 40 hour work week would become the 30 hour work week by the time we were out of college. Wow was she ever wrong. For many professions, 40 hours/ week is considered “Part-time” More and more of us are working 50 hours or more. The devises that promised to free up our time and make us more flexible, in fact frequently just tie us tighter to our jobs. Clients and supervisors can reach us anywhere and at any time. If you are not willing to take a clients call at 9:00pm, they will have no problem finding some one else who will. These occupations makes the difficult job of caring for a loved one, into an often impossible one.
What’s with all this Homework?
In our desire to have our children be more successful than our selves, we have placed additional pressures upon them. That coupled with the rise in competition from a global market, have conspired to create an extremely competitive world for our children. We have all heard the stories of the straight A students that can’t get into State Universities, because so many other A students applied. It seems as if even perfection is not enough. Many high schools, and now grammar schools are handing out insane amounts of homework. While parents should not be “Doing” their children’s homework, they often have a role to play.
When Did Parents become Chuffers
Again times have changed. With schools dropping many sports due to increasing insurance costs, more and more after school activities are off school grounds and require transportation. We turn on the news and hear stories about child predators, and refuse to let our children walk on their own. All of this pick up and drop off can take a major bite out of one’s time.
Insurance Companies cutting the time allowed in the hospital.
The cost of a hospital stay has jumped so dramatically that insurance companies are putting tighter restrictions on recovery times spent in a hospital setting. This does save the companies money, and help keep premiums a bit lower, but it also means that people still in need of major care are being sent home. And that demands the time and attention of family and friends to make up the difference.
A whole Generation suddenly finds it’s self ever-increasingly confronted with the responsibility of caring for aging loved ones while still struggling to keep on-top of all of the demands of life in the 21st Century.
That’s why Senior Care Resources is here to help.
In part because many Baby-Boomers waited to have children, often this new role comes at a time when they have school-aged children, requiring that they make imposable choices between the demands of work, children and caring for an elderly parent. Yes this is a challenge that has been faced by every generation, but the conditions today are in many ways more trying than in the past.
Demographics
The Federal Agency and Forum on Statistics1 projects that the United States will have over twenty million seniors over the age of eighty-five by the year 2050. This figure represents over a 600% increase over the current number. As of 2008, almost forty million men and women are reaching the age of sixty-five, and beyond. This is great news! Unfortunately not all of those seniors are healthy.
Medical science, at times seems much better at keeping people alive than at keeping the healthy. We have an ever-growing number of people who are living many years with debilitating diseases People too sick to care for them-selves but not ready to die.
Science has made many amazing advances, and so many more seem just outside of our reach. Each of these breakthroughs offers hope, promise, and increasingly, a cure: but often these treatments them selves come at a heavy price. Many of the treatments available for cancer utilize chemotherapy regiments that can leave the recipient so sick and or weak they are unable to live a self-sufficient life style. Instead they need more hope than they ever wish to admit, and more than family members or a spouse can provide.
Smaller Families/ dispersed Families
Back in the days of big families, often all living in the same neighborhood, caring for a sick relative frequently involved walking down a flight of stairs, or a few houses down the block. Several siblings could share the tasks involved in providing care. Today many people find they are alone with the burden of providing the care their parent’s needs. The primary care giver might not have a sibling, or few siblings to share the load, and or they live in another city or State.
We are also the first generation where divorce has become commonplace. This increases the number of both seniors living alone, as well as their children, now in the role of caregiver, not having a spouse to turn to for help. A single mother might have no help with the responsibilities at home, and have little time to additionally devote to senior care.
Longer Hours at Work
I remember being in middle school and the teacher telling the class how the 40 hour work week would become the 30 hour work week by the time we were out of college. Wow was she ever wrong. For many professions, 40 hours/ week is considered “Part-time” More and more of us are working 50 hours or more. The devises that promised to free up our time and make us more flexible, in fact frequently just tie us tighter to our jobs. Clients and supervisors can reach us anywhere and at any time. If you are not willing to take a clients call at 9:00pm, they will have no problem finding some one else who will. These occupations makes the difficult job of caring for a loved one, into an often impossible one.
What’s with all this Homework?
In our desire to have our children be more successful than our selves, we have placed additional pressures upon them. That coupled with the rise in competition from a global market, have conspired to create an extremely competitive world for our children. We have all heard the stories of the straight A students that can’t get into State Universities, because so many other A students applied. It seems as if even perfection is not enough. Many high schools, and now grammar schools are handing out insane amounts of homework. While parents should not be “Doing” their children’s homework, they often have a role to play.
When Did Parents become Chuffers
Again times have changed. With schools dropping many sports due to increasing insurance costs, more and more after school activities are off school grounds and require transportation. We turn on the news and hear stories about child predators, and refuse to let our children walk on their own. All of this pick up and drop off can take a major bite out of one’s time.
Insurance Companies cutting the time allowed in the hospital.
The cost of a hospital stay has jumped so dramatically that insurance companies are putting tighter restrictions on recovery times spent in a hospital setting. This does save the companies money, and help keep premiums a bit lower, but it also means that people still in need of major care are being sent home. And that demands the time and attention of family and friends to make up the difference.
A whole Generation suddenly finds it’s self ever-increasingly confronted with the responsibility of caring for aging loved ones while still struggling to keep on-top of all of the demands of life in the 21st Century.
That’s why Senior Care Resources is here to help.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Caring for the Person With ALS
ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) often referred to as "Lou Gehrig's disease," is a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord. Motor neurons reach from the brain to the spinal cord and from the spinal cord to the muscles throughout the body. The progressive degeneration of the motor neurons in ALS eventually lead to their death. When the motor neurons die, the ability of the brain to initiate and control muscle movement is lost. With voluntary muscle action progressively affected, patients in the later stages of the disease may become totally paralyzed.
MDA is the world's largest non-governmental sponsor of research seeking the causes of and effective treatments for neuromuscular diseases, sponsoring some 400 research projects annually.
to This Chapter:
The Early Stages
The Later Stages
Hygiene and Skin Care
Nutrition and Swallowing
Preventing Contractures
Respiratory Care
The Early Stages
The Later Stages
Hygiene and Skin Care
Nutrition and Swallowing
Preventing Contractures
Respiratory Care
With ALS the patient why loosing the ability to make their musles work, their brain continues to work. this can be very trying on the person and their care givers.
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