Health and Wellness
Understand More About Age-Related Memory Loss
Just about everyone — aging parents and adult children — worry about memory loss, though many of us turn our angst into jokes about senior moments. This book looks interesting. While I don’t always learn cutting edge new information b…
Full Story »The Inside Game: Drug Industry and the FDA
Ever wonder why there are so many marginally effective drugs on the market? Or why certain brand name drugs are so expensive? Pharmaceutical companies will tell you that the expense comes from high R&D costs. More likely its from high … Continue reading →
Full Story »Green House Homes News from Maryland
A Kaiser Health News article, Maryland’s First Green House Project Nursing Home Aids Low-Income Seniors, described a new community on the site of the old Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Associated Catholic Charities will run the Green House Residence…
Full Story »The Best Time to Grow Old
The negative perception of aging in our current society makes life miserable for our elders, leaves the middle-aged questioning their value and plants psyche-altering thoughts
Read More
NPR’s Series: A Future with Aging Parents
I thank my lucky stars that I’m living a happy, independent life as an almost-83-year-old. And – so far – unlike so many others my age, I’m NOT creating burdens, financial or otherwise, for my kids. Knock on wood!
A recent “Family Mat…
Full Story »Get Rid of Old Meds
If you have old and unused medications stashed around your house — or if your elder parents have them — make a note of the 2012 Take-Back Initiative. It’s sponsored by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and coming right up o…
Full Story »9 Need-to-Know Technologies for Caregivers
Home & Family | TechnologyCan you say the Jetsons? Increasingly, family caregivers are getting a helping hand through high-tech products and services. Bone up on these trends: GPS safety technology provides the location of the wearer: devices can be used on the wrist, as a clip-on, or on a pendant. Some cars and smart phones have them – enabling you to speak or touch your desired destination – and see or hear turn-by-turn instructions. Promoted: Join AARP Live’s “Town Hall” on May 17th to …
More On Feeding Tubes
Feeding Tube We continue to get lots of searches concerning feeding tubes for elderly parents. Judi wrote about her experience with Audrey, Carol and Judi’s mother. I think Judi handled the situation well, and her decision was correct. Many tim…
Full Story »Detached Retina: My Aging Eye, Part III
Note: I received a good question asking why my head is up. I had jus gotten dressed, and the picture was snapped before I looked back down. My first week of recovery, following vitrectomy surgery to repair a detached retina in my left eye, is over. I…
Full Story »Green House Construction Update at VMRC – April 8, 2012
Easter Sunday at Virginia Mennonite Retirement Community Construction Site April 8, 2012 My posts on the Woodland Park Construction and other Green House® Homes information include: Green House Homes at Woodland Park (VMRC) Construction Up…
Full Story »Just Like in the Tribes of Eden
Another cool case of life mirroring art. Golden Letters would fit right into the Shire. All they need is a young woman and a crazy wild horse.
Full Story »
Tune-In To The Cindy Laverty Show Friday For an Hour of Tribes of Eden
Last week Tribes of Eden author William H. Thomas joined radio host Cindy Laverty to discuss the power of trust and relationship in both fiction and real life. Listen to the interview online here: The Cindy Laverty Show: 04/20 Cindy Talks with Dr. Bill Thomas About His New Book, Tribes of Eden
Full Story »Helping Aging Parents (and Ourselves) Avoid Scams
Read Prime Targets for Spam Artists, Paula Span’s April 20, 2012 column over at the New Old Age Blog. The fact that victims may not report fraud due to embarrassment is troubling and of special concern to adult children. Span posted her second co…
Full Story »Culture Change Advocates as “Wayfinders”
Life coach Martha Beck’s new book, Finding Your Way in a Wild New World, captures the key qualities of what she calls a “Wayfinder.” Wayfinders, by her definition, look a lot like culture change advocates to me. Beck describes Wayfinders as individuals driven by an authentic instinct to follow a specific path, with the goal of healing their world by discovering and embracing their own true nature. Culture changers across the care continuum often share stories of having experienced a deep, inner calling to “do what’s right” and begin seeing and addressing care through new eyes, in spite of the odds or barriers they face.
Full Story »Robot Caregivers?
Home & Family | TechnologyWith a shortage of caregivers, some researchers and healthcare professionals are turning in a new direction: Robots. A recent Wall Street Journal article discusses the value of Paro, a robot that looks like a baby seal. It’s being tested on dementia and autism patients in long-term facilities, but could also be used at home. That is, if you have $6,000. The Japanese-born Paro has a cry that sounds like a seal—we all know what that is, right?— weighs about the size of …
Sen. Corker: Long-Term Care is “Heading for a National Crisis”
Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn) warned today that long-term care financing is “a major train wreck” and “heading for a national crisis.” Corker, the senior Republican on the Senate Aging Committee, said he was very worried about the viability of private long-term care insurance and added , “there is no doubt there is a public sector role” in the future of financing long-term care supports and services.
At a time when the issue has fallen victim to partisan demagoguery (Exhibit A: the CLASS Act) Corker’s remarks, at a Senate Aging Committee hearing on long-term care, suggested an opening to build a consensus on future financing and delivery reforms.
Full Story »Distractions : The Weight II
by Jason D. Johnson Senior Living Executive Magazine recently published an article from Anya Martin featuring neuroscientist, Dr. Adam Gazzaley. Gazzaley is an associate professor
Read More
Conclusion: The Boomer Generation Is Changing Aging
Ten years after beginning a serious inquiry into understanding the sociological and cultural collision between the Boomer generation and marketing, business, and aging, I have come away with some overarching observations and conclusions. Aging is a nonnegotiable part of the human condition, a biological imperative that binds, beckons, and bothers. Aging begets elderhood. These are facts, immutable, independent of generational context. What remains malleable is flexibility of meaning: social, cultural, and institutional narratives about human aging continue to evolve. A…
Full Story »Culture Change is a Buzz in Texas
On March 12, 2012, Dr. Bill Thomas and 186 culture change advocates gathered at the The Brookwood Community in Brookshire, Texas to share in a movement to transform the culture of care regardless of where people live. The day was filled with great food, great stories, and great new friends! We are pleased with the event’s [...]
Full Story »Occupy Death
A friend alerted us to the recently posted TED talk given by Dr. Peter Saul, an intensive care physician in Australia. The problem of frail elders’ lives artificially prolonged in the absence of clear instructions about end of life wishes is not si…
Full Story »
