The Benefits of Memory Care

For many people dealing with Alzheimer's or Dementia, the gradual loss of memory can not only be worrisome, but can be downright dangerous. While families try to help loved ones stay as independent as possible, there often comes a time when those suffering with memory loss need more help than loved ones can provide. If you've been trying to decide if assisted living is the right choice for your family, here are five benefits to professional memory care that may help you make your decision:

1.Meals

It's not unusual for those with memory issues to forget to feed themselves. Even if a loved one ensures that the kitchen is stocked, some patients simply forget to eat. On the other hand, some patients forget that they have already eaten, and eat again; often consuming double or triple necessary calories. In either case, eating issues can lead to weight loss or gain, illness and, in the case of weight gain, mobility issues. An assisted living facility will make sure that your loved one is eating three, nutritionally-sound meals each day.

2.Housekeeping

It's an unfortunate occurrence when those with memory care issues live in filth and clutter. Accumulation of dust and dirt can exacerbate respiratory illnesses, and clutter can cause trips and falls. Assisted living facilities have housekeepers on staff that will ensure your loved one's living environment is kept neat and clean. Not only will your loved one's room be kept clean, but their laundry will be washed as well. Having a clean living environment will greatly reduce the risk of illness or injury to your family member.

3.Personal Hygiene

People with memory care issues often neglect their personal hygiene, simply because it doesn't cross their mind to shower. When your loved one moved into an assisted living facility, his or her personal hygiene will never be forgotten. Your family member will receive help with incontinence issues, toileting and bathing. Proper hygiene is essential in maintaining healthy skin, an important part of the overall health of your loved one.

4.Transportation

It can be difficult for even the most dedicated family members to transport a loved one back and forth to scheduled appointments. When your loved one moves into an assisted living facility, he or she will be safely transported to every necessary medical appointment that takes place off-site. Additionally, residents are often transported to field trips of sorts, or scheduled outings designed to keep residents active and involved. In fact, seniors in assisted living facilities are often more active than those who continue to live on their own.

5.Family Support

Caregivers often forget about themselves and their own health when looking after a loved one with memory issues. When your family member moves into an assisted living facility, he or she won't be the only one getting support. Assisted living facilities provide both support and education for family members of residents. If you have questions or need help adjusting, the professional staff will be there for you.

It can be a difficult decision to move your loved one into an assisted living facility. You must ask yourself if your family member, and your family, will benefit more by continued home care or by the transition to assisted living. There's nothing to feel guilty about when considering an assisted living facility for your loved one; the benefits far outweigh any discomfort you're feeling.

Georgia Manor is a freelance writer nationwide. To learn more about safe and fun senior living, check out the several assisted living information sites available on the internet.

Is Assisted Living Right For You?

The decision to transition from living independently to living in an assisted living situation can be a difficult one for the elderly. Many times the elderly are not prepared to face this decision because of perceptions that this transition marks the beginning of the end with the loss of hard won independence and dignity and respect. With a good plan and honest discussion, the elderly and their children can prepare many years beforehand to decide when should be a good time to consider an assisted living option. Assisted living is not the same as being in a nursing home, and with good planning, it is an excellent option to consider.

Assisted living can be called by a number of other names. These include residential care, board and care, congregate care, adult care homes, adult group homes, alternative care facilities, and sheltered housing. They all provide the same essential services, which is a daily level of support for everyday activities while allowing the elderly to maintain their independence. These facilities provide different levels of care depending on the needs of seniors. This can range from help with meal preparation to getting assistance in the middle of the night for using the bathroom. Assisted living facilities are a good choice for seniors if they find that their living situations require more personalized care services than their family and friends can provide. They are also ideal if seniors do not require around the clock medical care or the direct kind of supervision offered in a nursing home. Assisted living facilities are far more focused on the independence of the seniors living in them.

Good assisted living facilities provide around the clock safety and security as well as 24 hour access to medical care. These facilities develop personalized care plans tailored for individual needs and disabilities. Typically in a residential type facility, rooms are shared with other individuals unless more money is paid for single occupancy. They provide group dining areas and have common areas for social and recreational services. Assisted living facilities can be found in converted homes, apartment complexes, and even renovated schools.

What kind of services do assisted living facilities provide? It is important to remember that each state has its own licensing requirements for assisted living facilities, so seniors need to look into their own state laws and requirements when doing research. Essentially though, assisted living facilities will provide three meals a day in a common dining area as well as assistance with eating, bathing, dressing, going to the bathroom, and walking. They also provide assistance with housekeeping, transportation, access to health and medical services, and security. Emergency call systems are generally set up in each senior's living space, and exercise and wellness programs are provided for quality of life services. Medication management is very important to seniors, and assisted living facilities provide help with that as well. Staff is always on hand in assisted living facilities should they be needed, and most assisted living facilities try to develop a strong sense of community with their residents in order to allow them to live fully and as independently as possible.

The biggest hurdle to transitioning to an assisted living facility is preparedness. It is not an easy discussion to have, and seniors and their family members should be prepared to look honestly and critically at their living situations to determine whether or not assisted living is right for them. Like any family discussion, it needs to be done from a position of love and respect.

Derek Roberts writes for elderly care blogs. If you or a loved one is looking into assisted care, check out his blogs with more assisted care information.

Some strategies for seniors as Kentucky observes Fall Prevention Awareness Day Saturday, Sept. 22

Kentucky has joined 45 other states in proclaiming Saturday, Sept. 22 as Fall Prevention Awareness Day. In 2011, fall-related injuries among the elderly in the Bluegrass were associated with $266 million in hospital charges, according to Julie Lasslo, Kentucky Safe Aging Coalition coordinator at the Kentucky Injury Prevention and Research Center.

"Falls come at an immeasurable impact on the quality of life for many seniors," Lasslo writes in the Lexington Herald-Leader, noting that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that one-third of Americans are hospitalized due to falls. She says such falls are not an inherent part of the aging process and some simple strategies can prevent them:

# Engage in a physical activity regime that includes balance, strength training, and flexibility.
# Consult with a health professional about getting a falls risk assessment.
# Have medications periodically reviewed.
# Get an annual eye exam.
# Store frequently used items at waist level.
# Remove clutter from stairwells, hallways and walking paths.
# Install and use handrails in stairwells and bathrooms.
# Remove throw rugs.
# Place double-sided tape under area rugs and loose carpet.
# Keep your home well-lit and consider using a night light.

For more information, go to Nofalls.org.

New tool allows analysis of nursing-home deficiencies across the country; Kentucky seems to rank high in serious problems

Reporters now have a tool at their fingertips that will allow them to find nursing home problems in facilities across Kentucky, which appears to ranks high in serious problems.(iStock photo)

The tool was launched this week by ProPublica, a nonprofit, investigative news group, and allows "anyone to easily search and analyze the details of recent nursing home inspections, most completed since January 2011," report Charles Ornstein and Lena Groeger.

The tool has features that the federal government's Nursing Home Compare doesn't have, including the ability to search using any keyword. Results can also be sorted according to the severity of the violation and by state.

About 1.5 million people still live in nursing homes nationwide, though more seniors are living at home or in assisted-living facilities. The reports show there were almost 118,000 deficiencies cited against 14,565 homes. According to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the average number of deficiencies for a nursing home inspected in the U.S. is eight and the average in Kentucky is seven.

ProPublica's analysis shows Kentucky ranked fourth nationwide for the most "K" and "L" deficiencies, considered the most serious kind. The state had 45 in the analysis, as did South Carolina. Texas had the most in the country by far, however, with 183. 

While ProPublica does rank the states, nursing home industry officials say "inspectors in different regions of the country have different thresholds for issuing a citation, and that could unfairly make one state's homes appear worse than another's," Ornstein and Groeger report. (Read more)

Cost of long-term-care insurance going up, but it's still a wise investment, depending on your income

Judy Witte says her long-term-care insurance premiums
are going up at a worrying rate. C-J photo by Matt Stone.

Seniors are facing increases in their premiums for long-term-care insurance as insurance companies scramble to deal with increasing longevity of seniors and low interest rates that are "crimping investment returns," Chris Otts reports for The Courier-Journal.

Louisville retiree Judy Witte, 72, said she received a letter from her insurance company recently saying her premiums will go up by 77 percent, from $986 to $1,746 per year.

Her situation is part of a larger trend in which the cost of an average policy has increased by 6 to 17 percent from 2011 to 2012. Long-term-care insurance helps pay for the cost of assisted living, nursing homes, hospice care and home care.

In the Louisville area, assisted living costs about $45,000 per year and nursing homes cost about $72,000 per year and more.

People should buy long-term-care insurance if they can't afford the care they might need without dipping into their savings, Otts reports. "For example, someone who receives $100,000 a year in retirement income but spends only $30,000 might be able to afford an assisted-living center or nursing home," Otts notes. But if that same person spends $80,000 a year, then it would be a wise investment to buy long-term-care insurance because they would not be able to afford the assisted living or nursing home costs.

The right time to buy long-term-care insurance is between age 50 and 60. If Witte had waited to buy hers today, it would have cost her more than $26,000 a year, Otts reports. "To me, it's a precious possession," she said. "It helps me sleep at night to know I have this." (Read more)

Expert: Health care landscape already changed, despite what Supreme Court decision is this week

Whether or not the federal health-care reform law is upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court tomorrow, initiatives are already in place that will change the way health care is delivered, an expert said at a Lexington conference Tuesday. Gregg Nunziata, senior director at research and consulting firm The Advisory Board in Washington, D.C., "said the burgeoning number of baby boomers entering retirement, the ever-accelerating advances in technology and the increasing public health crisis that finds more and more Americans with chronic illness such as diabetes, are fundamentally changing how health care works in America," reports Mary Meehan for the Lexington Herald-Leader. As people age, they are "demanding a different kind of care, and they will be living long into their golden years," he said. When they become seniors, who already tend to cast their vote, they will become a powerful voting bloc.

Health officials are looking at ways to cut down on costs, which is necessary because "the government is the major funding source, and the major funding source is broke," Nunziata said. To cut costs, the government and insurers are looking at new ways to pay for health care. One example is the Centers for Medicaid and Medicare scoring hospitals based on their performance and paying them accordingly. "A low score could reduce payments by only 1 percent or 2 percent," Meehan reports, but that can translate to a multi-million dollar loss. "Every hospital is being judged and Washington is keeping score," he said.
Bundling payments is another method being tried, in which one flat fee covers all of the care that is provided in a procedure. "The idea would be to force more efficient and cost-effective care by encouraging cooperation," Meehan reports. (Read more)

Large percentage of patients with dementia given drugs they don't need; see how your nursing home is doing

Kentucky reporters can now see how the nursing homes in their area are treating patients with dementia. The Boston Globe has published a list of all the nursing homes in the country that shows the percentage of residents without psychosis or a related condition but who are being given antipsychotic drugs. The data came from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.

Almost 40 percent of nursing home residents with dementia are on powerful antipsychotic drugs though they don't have psychosis or a related condition, federal regulators announced at the end of May. Their aim is to cut the use of these drugs on these patients by 15 percent by the end of this year.

The median use nationwide for patients being given antipsychotic drugs but who don't have psychosis is 16.7 percent. In Kentucky, 161 of 280 nursing homes surveyed were over the median number, according to the nonprofit advocacy group Kentuckians for Nursing Home Reform.

To see how your nursing home is doing, click here. (Read more)

Beshear vetoes parts of budget, but health spending is intact

Though Gov. Steve Beshear vetoed 45 parts of the state budget yesterday evening, health-related spending was safe from the cut.

The budget will help reduce caseloads for social workers who investigate child abuse and neglect, funds colon cancer screenings for 4,000 uninsured Kentuckians, substance-abuse treatment for Medicaid recipients and includes funding for an elder abuse registry to protect senior citizens from unscrupulous caretakers.

"This is the most difficult budget I have ever drafted, and it will also be a challenge to implement and manage over the next two years," the governor said in a statement.

In the two-year, $19 billion budget, Beshear voted more than three dozen line-item appropriations, including "portions of the General Fund budget that limited his ability to manage the state's budget or spent money that doesn't exist," reports Beth Musgrave of the Lexington Herald-Leader.

He also cut some earmarks, including $100,000 for Actors Theatre of Louisville and $150,000 for the International Mystery Writers' Festival in Owensboro. "I am vetoing these parts because they identify new spending earmarks yet the General Assembly failed to appropriate additional funds to finance them," Beshear said. (Read more)

Pat Boone commercial about Medicare has many inaccuracies

A television commerical misleads seniors into believing the federal health-care reform law will ration and deny care and contains other inaccuracies, according to FactCheck.org, a non-partisan, non-profit service based at the University of Pennsylvania.

The ad features singer Pat Boone and is being aired repeatedly in Ohio (and presumably in Northern Kentucky) by the conservative 60 Plus Association. It claims the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act will create the Independent Payment Advisory Board, made up of elected bureaucrats who "can ration care and deny certain Medicare treatments so Washington can fund more wasteful spending."Boone says,"Unaccountable bureaucrats should never have the power to deny you the care you deserve."

The board is neither made up of bureaucrats, nor can it ration care. "The IPAB is tasked with finding ways to reduce the growth in Medicare spending," FactCheck reports. "Its 15 voting members won't be bureaucrats, according to the health care law (see page 502); they will be doctors and medical professionals, economists and health care management experts."

The law also says proposals from the IPAB "shall not include any recommendation to ration health care, raise reveneues or Medicare beneficiary premiums ... increase Medicare beneficiary cost-sharing (including deductibles, coinsurance and copayments), or otherwise restrict benefits or modify eligibility criteria."

The ad says the law will cut $500 billion from Medicare, but fails to mention that cut is in the future growth of Medicare over 10 years and will come from the supplemental Medicare plans seniors can buy.  Moreover, though Boone suggests seniors should object to the $500 billion in cuts, they are meant to extend the funding of Medicare Part A by 12 years.

The ad also states Medicare will be bankrupt in nine years. "The truth is that Medicare Part A — the hospital insurance trust fund, one of four parts of Medicare — is expected to be insolvent by 2020, according to the projections from the Congressional Budget Office, or perhaps 2024, according to the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees," FactCheck reports. "Shortfalls have been projected for Part A 'almost from inception,' says a Congressional Research Service report," but Congress has always found a way to extend the program. (Read more)