ChangingAging.org

Joe Angelelli writes…
There’s a good article in the Post-Gazette today about noise pollution in downtown Pittsburgh. The hum of air conditioners is drowning out the public art sound installations…
Oddly enough, this son of an audiologist has always been super sensitive to noise (hyperacusis…I’m the guy holding his ears on the airplane when the announcements are [...]

Al Power checks in early with this gem…

A decade past, Prince saw delirium as a positive force–falling in love. Soulja Boy took it a step farther: “That’s when I start to fall.” Now that’s a concept geriatricians can latch onto.
The real dangers of geriatric delirium are spelled out in detail in this week’s issue of [...]

This blog gets some mighty powerful comments….
My 92-year-old mother with advanced dementia still lives at home and attends an Eden-accredited day centre. Six weeks ago I received a call from the acting manager to say they were finding my mother’s behaviour very challenging and wanted to bring in their ‘Dementia Behaviour Management Advisory’ team to [...]

Livonia, MI, has the eighth oldest population of any town in the U.S. Even the churches get that aging is a huge issue.

Here is something new from the Eden Alternative.
Become the expert in your home for culture change; not just for yourself but for your team, your organization and the Elders you serve. Learn to overcome the challenges in the complex world of long-term care by creating an action plan specific to your home.
It does not matter [...]

My good friend Tom Taylor is a gifted songwriter with some of the cleverest lyrics around. One of his best loved songs, “Murder on this Train”, weaves a famous tale of intrigue, then challenges the listener to recall the name of the train–while telling you which trains it isn’t–in a humorous recitation. [...]

By Al
Speaking at the Life Services Network’s annual meeting in Chicago…

I caught part II of a nice session on Nursing Strategies for Culture Change, facilitated by Barbara Frank. Barbara framed the session around the concept of moving culture change forward by encouraging critical thinking. She encouraged nurse managers to convene [...]

Thanks to my friend June Burgess, Eden Coordinator for the UK and Ireland, for alerting me to this news release. The BBC highlighted the problems with antipsychotic drug overuse in people living with dementia in the 11/12 BBC online edition.
The article highlights the problem in the UK, which is also reflected in the US and [...]

I am always looking for new ways to communicate the ideas that are important to me. Here is the latest:
Imagine a paraplegic person–spinal cord injury, permanently paralyzed from the waist down. He rolls his wheelchair up to a building with an entrance stairway. Thanks to the Disability Act, he can now access most buildings with [...]

This week I’m in balmy Houston, Texas, giving some talks for the regional Alzheimer’s Association. Yesterday, I spoke in Beaumont, Texas, and met Nancy Ritter, who is 59 and was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s four years ago. I was gratified to hear her say that my ideas resonated with her very well – it’s always most [...]