Health and Wellness
Brave Pioneers Create Centers of Growth: Inspiring Stories for National Nursing Home Week: Part 5
National Nursing Home Week is a time to celebrate all those that are making a positive difference in the lives of thousands by combating loneliness, helplessness and boredom. We invite you to add to the story, increasing the depth of possibilities we have yet to reach in honoring Elderhood and enriching our care partnerships. Windsor [...]
Full Story »Purity of Intention is A Shaky Foundation
I wrote previously of the anti-choice attack on palliative
care and the vulnerability of providers whose protection rests on proof of
their “intent” when providing palliation. The powerful forces for which purity
of intent is more important than r…
Giving Caregivers Some Space–Literally
Home & FamilyWould you put your mother in the backyard? A recent New York Times article highlights the “granny pod” model, a teensy, prefab structure with a kitchenette, bathroom and bedroom that go on an adult child’s property. The parent lives with you—sort of. Think of it as an iteration of mother-in-law apartments, which are attached to the house. The idea is the same: Take care of Dad, but have your own space and vice versa. The granny pod model has been …
Brave Pioneers Create Centers of Growth: Inspiring Stories for National Nursing Home Week: Part 4
National Nursing Home Week is a time to celebrate all those that are making a positive difference in the lives of thousands by combating loneliness, helplessness and boredom. We invite you to add to the story, increasing the depth of possibilities we have yet to reach in honoring Elderhood and enriching our care partnerships. Pinecrest [...]
Full Story »Dementia Incidence Going Down? We’ll Just Have to Wait and See
Is the incidence of dementia declining? We really want this to be true, because it would mean a lot less suffering for our parents’ generation and in our own. It’s personal and as we age the threat of dementia feels closer and closer. Unfor…
Full Story »A Thin Reed to Hang On
It’s no news to most GeriPal readers that a cadre of anti-choice
forces targets end-of-life care. In their sights are common end-of-life
decisions and palliative support for those decisions. They are hostile to
people who, at the end of a long decline or stuck in a prolonged dying process,
intentionally advance the time of death and exercise their right to stop
life-prolonging technology or treatment. The operative tactic is to tie the
hands of doctors attending those patients, when palliative treatment might ease
the patient’s chosen death.
Brave Pioneers Create Centers of Growth: Inspiring Stories for National Nursing Home Week: Part 3
National Nursing Home Week is a time to celebrate all those that are making a positive difference in the lives of thousands by combating loneliness, helplessness and boredom. We invite you to add to the story, increasing the depth of possibilities we have yet to reach in honoring Elderhood and enriching our care partnerships. Sanctuary [...]
Full Story »International Conference Takes Culture Change Across the Full Continuum of Care
Navigating the Way Home: Guiding Change Along the Continuum of Care, our 6th International Conference, ushers in a new and exciting period of growth for The Eden Alternative. Scheduled for May 30-June 1, the event features The Eden Alternative’s commitment to extending its vision across all care environments.
As many of us know, “culture change” is the common name for a global initiative focused on transforming care, as we know it, for Elders and individuals living with different abilities (physical, developmental, intellectual, and psychological). It advocates for a shift from institutional models of care to person-directed values and practices that put the individual first.
The Eden Alternative began its journey focusing on transforming the culture of care in nursing homes and other institutional settings. Since then, however, its impact has reached across the full continuum of care.
Full Story »Brave Pioneers Create Centers of Growth: Inspiring Stories for National Nursing Home Week: Part 1
National Nursing Home Week is a time to celebrate all those that are making a positive difference in the lives of thousands by combating loneliness, helplessness and boredom.
We invite you to add to the story, increasing the depth of possibilities we have yet to reach in honoring Elderhood and enriching our care partnerships.
Full Story »Woodland Park Green House Walls are Rising – April 28, 2012
The walls continue to rise above the foundations at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community. To learn more please read these posts about Woodland Park Green House Homes, a new community at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community. Woodland Park Green Ho…
Full Story »Nine Ways to Support Someone with Depression
Like so many others, I’ve experienced something of depression in my life, but never anything that lingered or caused me to think about suicide. However, my sister and one of my dearest friends did choose that way out.
I’ve had friends who have str…
Full Story »Elders Share Artistic Talents at the 2012 Eden Alternative International Conference
At the 2012 Eden Alternative International Conference, Elders have the opportunity to share their artistic flair by participating in a silent auction of Elder art. This is the second time the International Conference has featured this event. In 2010, Alice Bissell, a resident of Jackson County Medical Care Facility, an Eden Registry Member in Jackson, MI, contributed artwork to the silent auction. Bissell passed away in 2011, but her memory lives on in one of her beautiful paintings purchased by Eden Mentor Sandra Place at the auction.
Full Story »The Best Health Advice? Just Move
Sometimes it takes me all day to write a post for this blog. That is, six or eight or more hours sitting in a chair poring over books, magazines, printouts, a dozen or more open browser windows and a keyboard….
Full Story »A Test of Will, Part 2: Dr. Mark Crooks, A 57-Year Cancer Survivor, A Life Dedicated to Showing Baby Boomers How to Age Well
Mark Crooks, Ph.D. an exercise physiologist, sports psychologist, fitness pioneer and daredevil risked everything to survive four bouts of cancer spanning 57 years. This is the second of a two-part post, the first of which you can read immediately below this article. The stony truck driver was exhausted following his overnight haul from Chicago to Kansas City. He had kept himself awake by drinking a thermos full of coffee and taking several No-Doz. His eyes burned from staring at dark,…
Full Story »A Caregiver’s Hurricane Prep List
Home & FamilyLive in a hurricane area with an older relative? Does your parent or someone else you’re responsible for? The hurricane season is six months long (June 1 to Nov. 30); and you as a caregiver needs a substantive plan. You know how mothers-to-be have their bags packed and their route to the hospital mapped out? If an older adult lives with you, nearby, or at a distance, having the same mindset makes sense. Creating contingency plans—where your family member or …
An Inconvenient Truth: Of Dinosaur Farts and Bovine Excretions
During a recent bridge game, a friend asked if we thought that human activity on earth has played a role in climate change. With varying degrees of certainty, we all agreed: “People are the culprits.”
As a result of my morning scan of intriguing …
Full Story »Bargaining with Hospitals
For those of you without medical insurance or for those with high deductibles, take a look at this story from the Premium Health News Service which offers advice on how to bargain with hospitals to reduce costs for procedures. Also, look at … Continue reading →
Full Story »New Procedure Extends Life Slightly for Mice with Degenerative Brain Disorders
The internet buzzes quietly with new information about a rodent study that may have implications – way down the road – for people with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. As is most often the case, findings are preliminary, and based only on studies with mice.
Published on May 6, 2012 in the online journal Nature, the study describes a new and apparently successful protein therapy for mice with prion disease. Prions are transmissible pathogens that cause neuro-degenerative diseases in animals… and humans.
Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: an Entertaining Metaphor for Aging
The other night we went to see the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, and boy, did we enjoy ourselves.
A group of British retirees, most seeking lower costs and a bit of adventure, ends up as the guests in a seedy, formerly grand hotel in Jaipur, India. In fact, the hotel is terrible. As the movie zooms in on the characters’ personal stories we found ourselves gazing through familiar late-in-life prisms. Did I mention some of the fairly obnoxious adult children?
Full Story »Wondering About Yoga
I have been reading about core strength and the role that Yoga might playing in helping people maintain core strength after adutlhood.
I saw this, and thought that it was pretty solid common sense advice:
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