Patti's Blog - Advocate for Elders, People with Disabilities and Their Families

Seizing the chance to redefine aging

Excerpt from: Healthy Cal (click for full article)

 

I wheeled her over the grass to the spot in the photo. This sick, frail, elderly woman then reached up to the iron fence, pulled herself out of her wheelchair and began rattling it.

At 90 years old. All by herself. One month before her death.

And that is when I took this photo.

What rang in my head at this moment were the words of Peter Reed, executive director of the Pioneer Network, an organization devoted to changing the culture of aging: “The way we treat older adults in this society borrows more from the prison system than it does the healthcare system.”

Glaucoma Awareness Month & Resources for Free/Low-Cost Eye Exams & Eyeglasses

Excerpt from: Disability.gov (click for full article)

 

Glaucoma affects more than 2 million Americans over the age of 40, though nearly half are unaware that they have this eye disease, since it presents no early symptoms. Glaucoma is the leading cause of preventable blindness and, once vision is lost, the damage is permanent. The National Eye Institute recommends regular annual exams for early detection. However, doing so can be challenging for people with disabilities and the elderly, as they are often on limited incomes.

Fortunately, there are many national and state resources available to provide financial aid to people with vision problems. In recognition of National Glaucoma Awareness Month, below is information on free or low-cost resources for eye exams and eyeglasses.

Viewing Different Bodies Helps Brain Understand Disabilities

Excerpt from: Psych Central (click for full article)

 

A new USC study finds evidence that watching television, of all things, can improve compassion and empathy.

Researchers discovered that seeing people with different bodies, such as amputees or those born with residual limbs, causes the brain’s motor network to work hard to process physical differences.

Experts believe the finding supports initiatives to include more individuals with physical differences in mainstream media — such as Sarah Herron, a contestant on ABC’s show “The Bachelor,” who was born with a foreshortened left arm.

“Generally, it’s considered impolite to stare. But what these results suggest is that we need to look. It’s through this visual experience that we’re able to make sense of those different from ourselves,” said Sook-Lei Liew, Ph.D., lead author of a paper that appeared online in the journal NeuroImage.

Advancing living options for adults with disabilities

Excerpt from: SF Gate (click for full article)

 

The FRED Conference (March 1 and 2, register now, it sells out) is an opportunity to join a national coalition of special needs professionals and families to share information and create a forum to advance adult living options for people with disabilities.

• Understand more about the crisis in housing, employment and recreation for current and future generations of adults with special needs.

• Learn what exists today, best practices and how to get started building new cutting edge communities.

• Be part of an ongoing discussion to build a future and change lives.

Magic of the Fountain of Youth

Excerpt from: AARP (click for full article)

 

The aging of America has implications for the nation. In the recent elections, a majority of the voters were over 50, the first time that's happened. Today, 36 percent of the federal budget is consumed by Social Security and Medicare, a growing cost shouldered by the shrinking population of younger Americans. An aging America also has implications for our communities, where we must rethink our transportation networks, our housing patterns and our schools.

The aging of America has implications for the nation. In the recent elections, a majority of the voters were over 50, the first time that's happened. Today, 36 percent of the federal budget is consumed by Social Security and Medicare, a growing cost shouldered by the shrinking population of younger Americans. An aging America also has implications for our communities, where we must rethink our transportation networks, our housing patterns and our schools.

Neuroinflammation may be behind general-anesthesia-associated learning disabilities

Excerpt from: Eurekalert (click for full article)

 

Several studies have found evidence that children who undergo repeated surgical operations with general anesthesia before the age of 4 may be at an increased risk for learning disabilities. In the March issue of Anesthesiology, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers report an animal study indicating that several factors – age, the specific anesthetic agent used and the number of doses – combine to induce impairments in learning and memory accompanied by the inflammation of brain tissue. An accompanying paper from the same team finds that the offspring of mice that received a specific anesthetic gas during pregnancy also showed the effects of neuroinflammation and impaired learning. Both articles have been released online.

"We found that different anesthetic drugs – sevoflurane but not desflurane – had different effects on neuroinflammation and on learning and memory function in young mice," says Zhongcong Xie, MD, PhD, corresponding author of both studies and director of the Geriatric Anesthesia Research Unit in the MGH Department of Anesthesia, Critical Care and Pain Medicine. "If they are confirmed by future studies in animals and humans, these findings would suggest that some anesthetics may be safer than others in young children and indicate ways to reduce risks."

Junior Seau's Family Files Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against NFL

Excerpt from: NPR (click for full article)

 

The family of former NFL linebacker Junior Seau has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the NFL, the Associated Press is reporting.

According to the wire service, Seau's family accuses the NFL of "acts or omissions" that "hid the dangers of repetitive blows to the head."

As we've reported, Seau committed suicide last May and a postmortem study of his brain by the National Institutes of Health found that he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a disease associated with receptive injuries to the head.

The AP reports that the family also included the helmet manufacturer Riddell Inc. in the suit, claiming it was "negligent in their design, testing, assembly, manufacture, marketing, and engineering of the helmets."

Why Some Hospices Turn Away Patients Without Caregivers At Home

Excerpt from: NPR (click for full article)

 

"Lots of families can't afford to stop working to care for a patient," says Terry Berthelot, a senior attorney at the Center for Medicare Advocacy's Mansfield, Conn., office, where she works with seniors who've been denied hospice care, among other things.

Medicare typically pays most of the bills for hospice care. Under Medicare rules, patients who enter hospice care typically have less than six months to live.

Once a patient chooses to enter hospice, the benefits include medical treatment for non-curative purposes such as pain and symptom management, as well as emotional and spiritual support for patients and their families. Depending on a patient's needs, a nurse, home health aide or other hospice worker generally visits a patient on a regular basis.

Grief Over New Depression Diagnosis

Excerpt from: New York Times (click for full article)

 

First, the new volume revises some of the criteria for major depressive disorder. The D.S.M. IV (among other changes, the new manual swaps Roman numerals for Arabic ones) set out a list of symptoms that over a two-week period would trigger a diagnosis of major depression: either feelings of sadness or emptiness, or a loss of interest or pleasure in most daily activities, plus sleep disturbances, weight loss, fatigue, distraction or other problems, to the extent that they impair someone’s functioning.

Traditionally, depression has been underdiagnosed in older adults. When people’s health suffers and they lose friends and loved ones, the sentiment went, why wouldn’t they be depressed? A few decades back, Dr. Kupfer said, “what was striking to me was the lack of anyone getting a depression diagnosis, because that was ‘normal aging.’” We don’t find depression in old age normal any longer.

But critics of the D.S.M. 5 now argue that depression may become overdiagnosed, because this version removes the so-called “bereavement exclusion.” That was a paragraph that cautioned against diagnosing depression in someone for at least two months after loss of a loved one, unless that patient had severe symptoms like suicidal thoughts.

With Bus Strike, Fragile Students Face Hard Trips

Excerpt from: New York Times (click for full article)

 

More than 110,000 children have had to find new ways to class since most drivers walked out on Wednesday in a dispute between their union and the city. None have been more profoundly affected than the tens of thousands of special-needs children and their parents, who tend to travel the longest distances, and for whom even walking out the door can be a challenge.

“This is catastrophic,” said Rachel Howard, director of Resources for Children with Special Needs, a nonprofit organization. “The more vulnerable and severely disabled the child, the more catastrophic it is.”

While attendance at most schools is at normal levels, some special-education programs are half empty. The city’s Education Department said 62 percent of special-education students showed up on Friday, compared with 49 percent on Thursday.

Only about one-third of the children who receive bus service in the city are in special-education programs, but they account for most of the busing costs because of limitations on how long they can ride and how many other children they can ride a bus with, as well as requirements for extra attendants and door-to-door escorting.