ProAging Information Network

Baltimore, Maryland – CSD Architects announces the launch of its “Sleepover Project” in an earnest move to gain insight into the daily lives of aging seniors who reside in assisted living and skilled nursing communities.  With the long-term goal of providing better design and building more responsive communities, CSD is sending each member of its senior living architectural design team to stay overnight in a senior living community.  Between March and September 2009, as many as 36 “Sleepers” will be assigned to a diverse range of communities – both geographically and demographically – from Boston to Los Angeles, Seattle to Miami; in urban, suburban and rural locations; and with accommodations ranging from modest to high-end. 

Sleepers will spend their time on site fully and physically experiencing what it’s like to be a resident in that community.  Upon arrival, the Sleeper will be assigned a specific medical condition and will then assume the limitations of that condition and experience a simulated version of its treatment and care.  Conditions may range from a stroke victim having partial paralysis to an Alzheimer’s patient receiving Memory Care.  Sleepers will participate in the community’s daily life for a full 24 hour period, and the varying levels of service and activities will accommodate their condition and corresponding lifestyle.

“As architects charged with the both the responsibility and the privilege of designing spaces to meet the needs of senior living community residents, staff and administration, we typically involve staff and administrators in our design process, from very early conceptual design through design development and beyond,” says president of CSD David Dillard, AIA. “However we are not always able to include the residents in that design process, and believe there is no better way to understand their perspective than to spend a “day in the life of” the residents themselves.”

CSD’s chief operating office/chief financial officer Mark Debinski adds, “This is the type of activity the leadership of CSD elects to undertake during the current economic slowdown in order to prepare its staff for the future.  We aren’t just hunkering down and waiting for our markets to improve; we are busy doing things like this that better prepare us to serve our clients as well as the ultimate users of our facilities.” 

Throughout their stay, Sleepers will record their experiences in a journal.  Those thoughts, observations and contemplations will be compiled into a master collection of journal entries with the intent to publish them for the benefit of all design professionals, complete with doodles, notes, reflections, and photos. 

CSD Architects is a 60-person architecture and interior design firm headquartered in Baltimore, with offices in Dallas and Denver. Consistently ranked as an industry leader, CSD practices the philosophy of people architecture, where building strong relationships is as important as building quality structures.

Related blog entry at www.everyoneisaging.com

Date: Friday May 15, 2009

Time: Noon - 2

Location: The Fairfax

9140 Belvoir Woods Parkway

Ft. Belvoir, VA 22060

 

RSVP Required Call: 703-992-1126

rsvp@proaging.com 

Description: Don’t miss one of the best networking locations on the calendar. Bring plenty of business cards and brochures! This event will feature Ben Cornthwaite, the Licensed Nursing Home Administrator at Greenspring will share his experience of living as a resident the nursing and rehabilitation center he manages for a week. Ben simulated the experience that residents face by using a wheelchair, wearing adult briefs, receiving staff assistance, and simulated a typical medication plan distributed with M & M’s. Ben will share his insights and experiences and lead a thought provoking discussion.

This event will also feature valet and demos of the innovative Draisin Bicycles by Bikes @ Vienna. These bikes are uniquely suited to senior living, caregivers and people with disabilities - take a look here: http://www.draisin.us/

 

RSVP Required Call: 703-992-1126

rsvp@proaging.com 

Steve Gurney, founder and publisher of Guide to Retirement Living SourceBook recently experienced the transition that thousands of his reader have made. Steve moved into an independent and assisted living residence to better understand the feelings and emotions that one faces when making this life transition. Steve will be discussing this project and the insights he gained and is chronicled at www.everyoneisaging.com at two events/conferences in Maryland.

For more than four decades, Potomac Valley Nursing and Wellness Center has been serving Montgomery County seniors with high quality health care. The premier nursing home has been a mainstay for residents recovering from acute illness and those needing long-term nursing care.

 “We salute and congratulate the Potomac Valley Nursing Home for 45 years of outstanding service. It is wonderful to have such a worthwhile organization serving the Rockville community so ably, and for so long, and providing premiere quality services for our frail elderly,” states Rockville Mayor Susan R. Hoffmann.

 Staff longevity is a key measure of Potomac Valley’s success.  The average length of stay of an employee there is 11 years. Several staff members have served for over 30 years; unheard of in most health care settings.

 In addition to superior rehabilitation services and award winning palliative care, Potomac Valley offers state of the art addiction and mental health wellness programs.

 In celebration of the anniversary, Potomac Valley is holding a Community Day, May 9th at 1:00 p.m.  Festivities will include: live music, clowns, raffles, face painting and many more family-centered activities.  The event is open to the public and admission is free.

For more information, contact: Gunnar Dahlberg

Potomac Valley Nursing & Wellness Center

1235 Potomac Valley Road

Rockville, MD 20850

(301) 762-0700

Electric organ (Wurlitizer Model #4373) in good working order, with instruction manual and bench, available for the taking to any institutution or program benefitting the elderly.  Please contact harriete@cox.net if interested.

Major Policy and Practice Changes in Home Care System, New Study Finds

– Multiple Chronic Conditions and Cognitive Impairment in Aging Home Care Patient Population

Presents Challenges for Home Care Agencies and Government Programs –

New York, NY – Multiple chronic health conditions and some degree of cognitive impairment are common in home care patients aged 65+ and lead to longer periods of home health care use, according to a new study from the VNSNY Center for Home Care Policy & Research. And, for each additional chronic condition, there is an increase in the number of days that older adults spend in home care, the investigators report in the current issue of the Journal for Healthcare Quality. 

In the first study to examine how chronic health conditions and cognitive impairment impact the duration of home health care use, researchers confirmed that the vast majority of home health care patients are 65 or older (87 percent).  Nearly 39 percent of home care patients are 75 to 85 years old, and 22 percent are age 85 or older. 

“People are living longer, yet many are living with one or more chronic diseases and decline in cognitive functioning, which has major implications for home health care agencies, clinicians and paraprofessionals,” said Christopher Murtaugh, Ph.D., Principal Investigator and Associate Director of the VNSNY Center for Home Care Policy & Research. 

“Clinically complex patients present health care planning and management challenges for home health care agencies.  More research-based evidence specific to older home care patients is necessary to help home care agencies effectively improve health outcomes for the patients they serve,” said Dr. Murtaugh.

Three quarters of home health care patients age 65+ were reported to have at least one chronic condition that contributes to the need for home health care upon admission to home health care, one quarter had two chronic conditions, and 17 percent had three or more, according to the study.  The top five chronic illnesses were hypertension (30 percent); diabetes (21 percent); arthritis and musculoskeletal diseases (16 percent); heart failure (13 percent); and chronic pulmonary disease (12 percent).

The researchers found that the more chronic health conditions patients had, the more days of home care they used.  For example, patients who had hypertension plus three or more other chronic conditions, such as diabetes, heart disease, and arthritis, had nearly 22 days more (78 days) of home care on average than patients with only hypertension (56 days).  In hospital and other inpatient settings, “length of stay” is typically used as a measure of resource use.

When older home health care patients had cognitive impairment and at least one chronic condition, the length of their home health care stay also increased. For example, patients with hypertension and cognitive impairment used home health care for 20 days longer than patients without cognitive impairment. 

Over a third (36 percent) of home care patients had some degree of cognitive impairment, according to the study.  “Mild” impairment was found in nearly a quarter of the patients (24 percent), and “moderate to severe” impairment was reported for 13 percent of home care patients.  Cognitive impairment has significant implications for home health care patients’ clinical outcomes and their ability to manage their own care.

On average, older adults used home health care for 53 days. The majority (81 percent) of the home health care patients age 65+ were discharged from home care within 60 days of admission. Only 1 percent of the patients received home care for more than a year. 

The study’s authors report that their findings support the critical need to address two key policy and practice issues to improve home health care for patients with clinically complex conditions:

Chronic conditions and cognitive function should be accurately assessed and recorded on the required Centers for Medicare & Medicaid’s (CMS) Outcome and Assessment Information Set (OASIS). Consideration should be given to incorporating a chronic disease checklist into the OASIS admission assessment and including the new methods for rigorously assessing mental status currently being tested in a CMS demonstration.

Better tools are needed to provide effective care to people with multiple chronic conditions and cognitive impairment. Clinical practice guidelines and evidence-based practice recommendations must address the complexity associated with multiple chronic conditions, especially in older adults. The nation’s current focus on chronic health conditions in the health care system should be paralleled in quality improvement and quality assurance efforts in home health care.

 

To conduct the study, researchers determined the ages of home health care patients, using OASIS data on 6.5 million home care discharges from Medicare-certified home health care agencies from 2004 through 2005.  Once they determined the ages of home care patients upon admission, the researchers used just the data on 5.6 million discharges for patients age 65 and older. 

“Complexity in Geriatric Home Healthcare,” by Christopher Murtaugh, Ph.D., Timothy Peng, Ph.D., Annette Totten, Ph.D., and Beth Costello, M.A., of the VNSNY Center for Home Care Policy & Research; Stanley Moore, B.S., Independent Contractor; and Hakan Aykan, Ph.D., Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, was published in the Journal for Healthcare Quality March/April 2009. [The views expressed in the paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the organizations where they are employed.]

Thursday June 4, 2009

8:00 am -1:00pm

F. Scott Fitzgerald Theatre

Rockville Civic Center Park

603 Edmonston Drive

Rockville, MD

 

The Taboos of Aging:

 

Sex, Substance Abuse and Suicide

 

 

Join Featured Speakers:

 

Dr. Alan Berman

Robert Hendricks

Dr. Susan Milstein

 

Three Category 1 Continuing Education Units (CEU) for Maryland Social Workers

 

Please call the office for registration information at 301-765-3325

 

A limited number of table sponsorships are available for $150.  Please call the office for more information

 Over 370 Fairfax area residents with disabilities, responding to a survey conducted by the Fairfax Area Disability Services Board, reported that the most important services necessary to live independently and maintain a high qualify of life are transportation, case management, and assistive technology. The board released the results of its triennial Fairfax Area 2009 Needs Assessment during its April meeting.

 Also high on the list were medical/therapeutic services and employment. Survey participants listed lack of information about services, problems accessing services, and the affordability of services as the most significant barriers to independence faced by people with disabilities. The full report can be found at www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dsb/2009_needs_assessment_findings.htm or by calling 703-324-5874, TTY 703-449-1186. 

 The needs assessment provides key information to help the board identify services and resources that need improvement and funding, to prioritize its goals and initiatives, and to advise elected officials and state and local agencies.

 The needs assessment provides us with very important information and has allowed us to better meet the needs of people with disabilities who live in the Fairfax area,” said Ann Pimley, Fairfax Area Disability Services Board chairman. 

 The survey was sent between October 2008 and February 2009 to people with disabilities living in the Fairfax area (including Fairfax County and the cities of Falls Church and Fairfax). It was distributed through local disability organizations, Fairfax County agencies, Fairfax County Public Schools, Disability Services e-News, the Golden Gazette, and at public outreach events. The Department of Family Services’ Disability Services and Planning unit managed the survey.

 The Fairfax Area Disabilities Services Board has 15 representatives appointed by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. The board represents and advocates for people with disabilities in the Fairfax area and holds monthly meetings that are open to the public. Information about the board can be found at wwwfairfaxcounty.gov/dsb.

 Fairfax County is committed to nondiscrimination on the basis of disability in all county programs, services and activities. To request this information in an alternate format, call Department of Family Services’ Disability Services and Planning at 703-324-5421, TTY 703-449-1186.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090421/hl_nm/us_usa_healthcare_congress;_ylt=AoHoHjr7ISNQk50lORRnc.E_cbYF

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Medicare program for the elderly may offer ways to encourage better care at a lower cost as a big part of reforming the U.S. healthcare system, a leading Senate Democrat said on Tuesday.

"Medicare is the big driver here," Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus told reporters following a committee discussion with industry groups on ways to change the payment system.

Politicians and experts agree it is important to reward doctors and hospitals for better quality of care and move away from a system that pays them based on the number of procedures and treatments.

Medicare accounts for about one-fifth of U.S. healthcare and private insurers tend to follow the government program’s payment structure.

Baucus, who is taking a lead on writing healthcare reform legislation in the Senate, said he was optimistic Congress would enact a healthcare overhaul. Revamping the $2.5 trillion healthcare system is a top priority for President Barack Obama, who argues it is crucial to long-term U.S. economic recovery.

"Everybody here wants to address quality and reimbursements based on quality," Baucus said.

It was the first of three meetings on reform, which Democrats who control Congress hope to deliver to Obama by the end of the year. The next session will focus on covering the uninsured, Baucus said.

"More is spent per person on health care in the United States than in any other nation in the world, and yet America has some of the worst health outcomes," committee member Senator Jay Rockefeller said in a statement.

Glenn Steele, president of the Geisinger Health System in Danville, Pennsylvania, told the committee Medicare could help lead changes.

 

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090421/hl_time/08599189253600;_ylt=AgIHqcicuMcm85GO8l6XdbQ_cbYF

By JOHN CLOUD John Cloud – Tue Apr 21, 4:20 pm ET

Why do some people live to be older than others? You know the standard explanations: keeping an abstemious diet; engaging in regular exercise; and, if you’re an unusual Frenchwoman, smoking cigarettes until you are 117 years old.

But what effect does your personality have on your longevity? Do some kinds of temperaments lead to longer lives? A new study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society looked at this question by examining the personality traits of 246 children of people who had lived to be at least 100. (The study chose the offspring of centenarians because they are easier to follow over time than the very aged since they don’t die as often before follow-up interviews can be conducted. Also, children of those who live to 100 are themselves likelier to live longer.) (See pictures of the world’s most celebrated senior citizens.)

The study shows that those who live the longest are more outgoing, more active and less neurotic than other people. Long-living women are also more likely to be empathetic and cooperative than women with a normal life span. These findings comport with what you would expect from evolutionary theory: those who are extroverted enough to make friends and help others are those who are going to be able to gather enough resources to make it through tough times. (See 20 ways to get and stay happy.)

Interestingly, however, other traits that you might consider advantageous had no impact in this study on whether participants were likely to live longer. Those who were more self-disciplined, for instance, were no more likely to live to be very old (which might explain the long life of the smoking French lady). Also, being open to new ideas had no relationship to long life, which might explain all those cantankerous old people who are fixed in their ways.

Whether you can successfully change your personality as an adult is the subject of a longstanding psychological debate (here’s a pdf of one paper that lays out the issues). But the new paper suggests that if you want long life, you should strive to be as outgoing as possible.

Unfortunately, another recent study shows that your mother’s personality - which, of course, you can’t change - may also help determine your longevity. That study looked at nearly 28,000 Norwegian mothers and found that those moms who were more anxious, depressed and angry were more likely to feed their kids unhealthy diets full of chocolate, soda and pancakes. Patterns of childhood eating can be very hard to break when we’re adults adults, which may mean that kids of depressed moms end up dying younger.

Personality isn’t destiny, of course, and everyone knows that individuals (and perhaps entire nations) can learn to change. But both of the new studies show that long life isn’t just a matter of your physical health but of your mental health also.