ProAging Information Network

(Silver Spring, Maryland – May 27, 2009)

Sandy Kursban, Founder and Chairman of Family & Nursing Care, will receive the Leadership in Aging Award at the Episcopal Senior Ministries 85th Anniversary Gala.  The Leadership in Aging Award is given to honor outstanding service to older adults in the greater Washington, DC area and nationally.  Since 1924, Episcopal Senior Ministries has been dedicated to helping older adults at all income levels live with independence and dignity. 

In 1968, Sandy Kursban founded Family & Nursing Care to provide dedicated help for those aging adults who wish to remain independent, but cannot do so without assistance.  Last year, Ms. Kursban helped establish the Family & Nursing Care Foundation, whose primary goals are to support community organizations providing low-income aging adults with home care, and professional homecare training programs for nursing and nursing assistants. 

Ms. Kursban shared, “I’m pleased and humbled to be honored in this way by ESM, an organization committed to so many of the same values and goals that I am.  Our mutual efforts to help older adults live with the independence and dignity they deserve are more important today than ever before.”

“I am proud of my mother,” stated Neal Kursban, President of the company, added,  She has accomplished so much over these past four decades.  The legacy she has created has and will continue to serve the increasing needs of the aging community. ”

Family & Nursing Care has earned the reputation as the area’s leading and most highly regarded resource for private duty home care. Licensed by the Department of Health and serving Suburban Maryland and DC, Family & Nursing Care and sister company Legacy Home Care offer customized home care services to fit their clients’ needs. Hourly or live-in care, short term, and ongoing needs are met. Coordinators are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

For additional information regarding home care services, please call 301-588-8200.

The event will be held Thursday, June 4, 2009

The Fannie Mae Building

3900 Wisconsin Ave., NW

6:30pm Cocktails, Hors D’oeuvres and Silent Auction

7:30pm Program and Live Auction

Master of Ceremonies: Bob Levey

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20090527/hl_time/08599190060900

By KATHLEEN KINGSBURY Kathleen Kingsbury – 2 hrs 40 mins ago

A simple fall is one of the most dangerous traumas the elderly face: one-quarter of older Americans who suffer a hip fracture after a fall die within six months of the injury. But what exactly causes so many people to fall, and thus how best to prevent such spills, has long evaded the medical establishment.

Now a new study conducted by Johns Hopkins researchers offers potentially lifesaving clues. Looking at data from the National Institutes for Health, researchers found that an estimated 35% of Americans over the age of 40 - roughly 69 million people - suffer from vestibular dysfunction, or as it is more commonly known, an inner-ear balance disorder. By age 60 and older, the data showed, inner-ear imbalances strike more than half of all Americans. (Watch TIME’s video "Uninsured Again.")

The study also found that vestibular dysfunction increased the risk of falling by a factor of 12. Although that link now seems obvious, doctors previously thought bone weakness, vision impairment and gait problems were the main culprits of falls among the elderly. And while physicians had always considered balance issues, they were concerned with those due to deteriorating vision or mental status, not the inner ear. "People with inner-ear balance problems regularly suffer dizziness or vertigo," says Dr. Yuri Agrawal, an otolaryngologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital and the study’s lead author, "so it makes a lot of sense that they are more apt to fall down."

Agrawal’s study, published in the May 25 issue of the journal Archives of Internal Medicine, is among the first to highlight the prevalence of vestibular dysfunction. It also showed that patients who have the condition but are asymptomatic - that is, with no self-reports of dizziness - are still three times more likely to fall than healthy adults. The findings suggest that screening for such conditions during regular preventive care of patients over age 50 may lead to fewer falls and, ultimately, save lives. "Patients who are aware they’re at a greater risk can take steps to minimize the chance of falling, such as physical therapy to improve balance or simply installing railings in places they tend to fall," Agrawal says. (See the most common hospital mishaps.)

Doctors still don’t know what causes vestibular dysfunction or why it is so common. The vestibular system in the inner ear is made up of three semicircular canals and two otolith organs that continuously send messages to the brain about the head’s rotation and motion as well as its orientation relative to gravity. Humans keep their balance using the vestibular system’s signals, along with visual cues and touch sensations. When the inner-ear signaling process is disrupted, it directly affects a person’s ability to maintain equilibrium.

Most likely, things start going awry simply due to advancing age, Agrawal says. Smoking, hypertension and diabetes are also associated with higher rates of inner-ear balance problems. Fortunately, the condition is easily diagnosable in the doctor’s office: patients are asked to stand on a firm padded surface and close their eyes. Without the ability to use touch and vision to stay balanced, patients who suffer from an inner-ear problem promptly fall down. The addition of that simple test to annual physicals, Agrawal says, "would likely save millions of dollars and lives."

Indeed, according to the study, preventing tumbles could save the U.S. health-care system billions of dollars. More than 15,000 Americans die each year as a result of a fall, but far more - approximately 3 million - are injured. Falls not only cause physical injuries, such as hip fractures and organ damage, but also often lead to patients’ loss of independence. And the costs to treat such outcomes add up quickly. Direct costs for medical care related to falls exceed $20 billion annually, according to data published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2006. "By employing effective interventions, we can appreciably decrease the incidence of fall-related injuries, improve the health and quality of life of older adults, and significantly reduce health-care costs," that study’s authors wrote.

 

Date: Friday June 19, 2009

Time: 8:30 a.m. - 10ish

Location: Springwell, a senior living community

2211West Rogers Ave

Baltimore, MD 21209



Description: Join other senior-serving professionals for a fantastic networking and educational opportunity. Bring plenty of business cards and brochures. Program A 43 Year Old In a Retirement Community? Steve Gurney, the founder and publisher of Guide to Retirement Living SourceBook wanted to gain a first hand perspective on the transition that thousands of his readers have made in his 20 year career. He moved into an independent and assisted living community and gained insights that changed his perspective on how we age and provide care to elders. Steve will share his thoughts and moderate a discussion on how we can redefine aging for future generations. 

Please RSVP 800-394-9990 ext. 1126

rsvp@proaging.com 

http://www.retirement-living.com/event/615/proaging-at-springwell

Baby Boomers Key To Economic Recovery

Baby Boomers should be renamed Economic Boomers.

 As a statistical demographic, they control more than half of the discretionary spending, they hold more than 70 percent of the country’s wealth and a behavioral trend that indicates that they are still spending that money, even during the recession.

 That’s why, according to one expert, they hold the key to America’s economic recovery and why the best thing American business could do right now is market to boomers.

 “When the American economy recovers, it will be on the backs of Baby Boomers,” said Steve Howard, author of Boomer Selling, from ACTion Press (www.boomerselling.com). “Consumer spending is the backbone of our economy, and Boomers are still spending – they are simply being more selective than before the recession. When selling to them, you can’t ‘quick close’ them, you can’t corner them into buying something they don’t want and you can’t trick them into buying something they can’t afford. So, the best thing any business in America could do right now is to learn how to sell to Boomers. It’s not just good for business – it’s good for the economy.”

 Boomers carry with them not only the hopes of companies that offer consumer products and services, but also the economy itself.

 “When it’s crunch time in the ball game, you field your best players,” Howard said. “In a recession, the best spenders are the star athletes, and right now, they are Boomers. They are conspicuous consumers, but they are also smart consumers, and their buying patterns help the cream of American business rise to the top.”

 Howard described the characteristics of Boomers, and how they decide to buy:

• They are smart, insecure, caring, direct, confident and suspicious.


• They’ve seen every sales trick in the book and hate most of them.


• They are the vanguard of the consumer culture, so marketers and sales people have been trying to sell to them since they saw their first cereal commercial on a 12 inch black and white TV (before cable).


• Sales tricks and pressure tactics do nothing but insult them


• They not only know the value of a dollar, but they also know the value of a penny. They’ll buy a $1,000 suit at Nordstrom’s, then stop at Wal-Mart for socks.


• They sometimes don’t make sense – they’ll remodel their kitchen with a giant six-burner stainless steel range, and then use it for heating water for tea.


• They’ll bargain and haggle at the drop of a hat, squeezing concessions from salespeople. They’re favorite question is “is that the best you can do?”


• They know they are special, and they believe they should be recognized for being unique

 “If they are so difficult, why bother with them?” Howard asked. “The short answer is that because that’s where the money is. They may be savvy and egotistical, but they are also loyal and offer referrals to people who go out of their way to take care of them. They are a lot of work for salespeople, but if you can earn their trust and confidence, they will be the best customers you ever had.”

 

ProAging Members:

Please come out and support Virginia Hospital Center’s Lifeline Scholarship Fund at Rock Bottom Brewery on Thursday, May 28th from 4 to 9pm. There will be a silent auction with authentic sports memorabilia and a variety of raffle prizes. The items are listed below!

We hope to see you there.

Auction items:

Cal Ripken - signed baseball

Colt Brennan – Redskins signed football

Chris Cooley – Redskins signed jersey

Jason Campbell – Redskins signed football

Redskins Defensive Coaches signed football

Redskins Offensive Coaches signed football

A pair of Washington Capitals “tickets” – (Awesome Seats!)

 

 Raffle items:

Sonicare Toothbrush set

Philips DVD Player

Golf bag with various golf items

2 $50.00 Teal Center gift certificates

6-Week Gift cerfiticate for a VHC Exercise class

Brittany Halbardier

Virginia Hospital Center Foundation

1701 North George Mason Drive

Arlington, VA 22205

Phone: 703.717.4438

Fax: 703.558.5183

bhalbardier@virginiahospitalcenter.com

Source: http://lpn.advanceweb.com/editorial/content/editorial.aspx?cc=200090

By Sandy Keefe, MSN, RN

 

There is growing concern among healthcare professionals that the current model of care in EDs across the U.S. is not designed to meet the needs of elderly patients.

In fact, researchers have found older adults are at greater risk for medical complications, functional decline and poorer health-related quality of life after discharge than they were before their ED visit (Hwang, U. & Morrison, R.S., 2007. Journal of the American Geriatric Society).

To correct this situation, experts from the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York have developed a model for geriatric EDs that recommends structural modifications such as nonskid floor surfaces and visual aids, as well as protocol interventions that include early identification of patients at risk for adverse health outcomes, minimum use of urethral catheters and other "tethering" devices, and discharge coordinators to improve continuity of care and reduce the risk of return visits. (Hwang, 2007)

A Growing Population

Carol Velasquez, RN, CEN, ED manager at Marshall Medical Center in Placerville, CA, a Sierra Nevada foothill community with a significant number of retirees, has made a number of changes over the years to make her department more geriatric-friendly.

"As our population of elderly retired adults continues to grow, we’re making changes to improve their care," she said. "The large baby boomer population is creating a large older-adult population. They are now accessing healthcare services more often, with everything from flu and pneumonia to trauma associated with falls or hard work on large, rugged foothill properties."

In Newport Beach, CA, Carla Schneider, MSN, RN, director of the ED at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, described a similar situation.

"We have a large population of older adults in our community, and have set up our ED to meet their needs," she said. "For example, we place our elderly patients in an area where there’s a nurse all the time."

Structural Modifications

Schneider and her team have made a number of structural modifications to reduce stimuli that contribute to agitation. "Noise pollution concerns everyone, so every nurse and patient care tech here in the ED has a phone that can be used to contact them, eliminating the use of the overhead system," she said.

A little forethought also can create a less confusing environment.

"Remember, when you’re lying on a gurney, you’re looking straight up," Schneider said. "We use dimmer switches to reduce the light in their eyes when we’re not doing an assessment or performing a procedure."

At Marshall, elderly, confused patients are bedded near the nurse’s station if they’re not accompanied by family members.

"In addition, we ask family members to notify staff if they are leaving the department," Velasquez said.

Minimal Use Of Tethering Devices

ED nurses at Hoag recognize the importance of giving patients as much freedom as possible, and use tethering devices only when clinically necessary.

"If a patient comes in with a fractured hip, for example, we don’t automatically insert a urinary catheter," Schneider said. "The patient isn’t incontinent and is able to use the bedpan; there’s no need for that intrusive device."

Marshall nurses also minimize the use of devices that limit patient movement, such as pulse oximeters.

"Once we’ve established a good baseline and determine it’s not essential to monitor the oxygen saturation continuously, we’ll remove the sensors that can be so irritating to patients," Velasquez said.

Schneider’s staff members use physical restraints only when absolutely necessary for patient safety.

"We have clinical-care extenders, volunteers with bachelor’s degrees who can sit at the bedside and remind patients to stay in bed," she said. "These volunteers provide our older patients with company, conversation and observation for their own safety."

Risk Assessments

When elderly patients come to the ED, whether by ambulance or private vehicle, timely risk assessments are crucial. According to Schneider, staff performs a number of assessments in triage, including those for falls, suicide risk and abuse.

"Our automated EMR (electronic medical record) prompts the nurse to ask about a history of falls within the past six months as well as any dizziness, gait issues and mental status changes," she said. "We also consider the patient’s medications and their effects. Patients who are at risk for falls have an orange armband so everyone knows to put the bed in the low position with rails up, educate the family about the importance of staying with the patient, etc."

At Marshall, patients at high risk for falls are identified with yellow wristbands, and nurses take the process one step further, adding a red stripe if someone is on an anticoagulant that increases the risk of bleeding.

The EMR at Hoag features special review screens that target other risk factors in the elderly.

"In addition to asking the patient questions about abuse, we’ll look for red flags such as a caregiver who won’t let the patient answer questions posed by the staff," Schneider said. "During our more focused admission assessment, we look at the patient’s neuro status, ability to get around, mental status and other factors that can indicate potential risks."

Schneider follows up to ensure compliance with these procedures.

"We audit regularly to make sure all of these assessments are being done at the time of triage and admission," she said. "If they’re not completed, we go back to the caregiver and reinforce their importance in terms of safety and comfort for our elderly patients."

 

 

  The rapid rise of elderly Americans as the baby boom generation matures is leading to an unprecedented number of opportunities in geriatric medicine, the deputy director of the National Institute of Aging (NIA) told 200 students and faculty recently at the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

"NIA is doing a lot of innovative and interesting research and there are many opportunities for young people," said Marie Bernard, MD, who spoke to at the request of the School of Medicine’s Center for Research on Aging. She added, "I am concerned that young people are hearing about flat-line budgets and they should not be discouraged."

Center co-founder Jay Magaziner, PhD, MSHyg, said, "With the aging of the post-World War II baby boom generation, a fifth of the U.S. population will be over age 65 within the next 20 years. Given the special care needs of this group, Dr. Bernard pointed out the need to prepare a health care work force that can meet the growing demands for their care."

Bernard said, "We don’t have enough providers, such as nurses, doctors and pharmacists in geriatrics for the coming growth of our field." She said because older people are increasing in numbers, they use more services, and current care is not optimal.

Better health care and nutrition in some parts of the world have led to a worldwide increase in the number of people 65 and older, while the number of people ages 5 and younger is decreasing, she said. "This is a global issue," said Bernard.

She also noted specific health problems as U.S. residents age. In the United States, females are not living as long as women in other industrial countries. Obesity for U.S. citizens is the highest among industrial countries, she said. In 1990, all U.S. states reported less than 20 percent of their population as obese. Now most of the states report more than 20 percent of their population as obese. She added that the percentage of the population developing diabetes is also rising, even in younger age groups.

She said that about 80 percent of American elderly people have a chronic disease. They also have unique geriatric syndromes. The 12 percent of the population who are elderly account for 26 percent of the physician office visits, 35 percent of hospital stays, 34 percent of the drug prescriptions, and 38 percent of the emergency medical service responses.

Among the salaries for physician specialties, geriatrics are at the medium range at about $163,000 annually, although geriatric physicians are among the most satisfied among doctor specialists, she said.

Magaziner, professor and chair of the School of Medicine’s Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, said that UMB "is in an ideal position to meet the challenge posed by Dr. Bernard of preparing for the health care needs of the rapidly growing aging population. Both research and educational efforts aimed at preventing and delaying the onset of health problems and disability, and treating this growing segment of the U.S. population are needed, at the same time that we need to find ways to contain costs. We also are in a good position to provide training and direct care for this group. Our ability to mount multidisciplinary programs that involve all schools on this campus places us in a unique position to take on Dr. Bernard’s challenge."

"So, what needs to be done to prepare for our aging population?" Bernard asked the audience rhetorically. She said that the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, of which NIA is a part, has made the following suggestions in its publication Retooling for an Aging America:

* Enhance geriatric competence of the general work force in common problems

* Increase recruitment and retention of geriatric specialists and caregivers

* Implement innovative models of care

Source: http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/bus/stories/DN-attmed_26bus.ART.State.Edition1.40d848e.html

By ANDREW D. SMITH / Special Contributor to The Dallas Morning News

 

Long-term treatments for diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic killers work only if patients care for themselves properly.

 

Photos by JOHN A. BOWERSMITH/Special Contributor

Mandar Kakade (left) and Ravi Ichapurapu , electrical engineering graduate students at Texas Tech, show Dr. Ron Banister the user interface on a system that can monitor patients’ vital signs without physical contact. That’s why doctors, hospitals, and high-tech companies such as Dallas-based AT&T Inc. are so excited about a new generation of devices that let medical professionals track patient progress.

These wireless devices automatically send doctors stats that people already measure – weight, blood pressure, etc. – so doctors can intervene at the first sign of trouble rather than waiting till patients feel bad enough to seek help.

The Department of Veterans Affairs already uses such "telehealth" technology on 35,000 patients.

Now, private health groups – working with insurers, universities and technology makers – have begun tests that could lead to widespread deployment over the next couple of years.

"A lot of this is old technology," said Bob Miller, executive director of AT&T’s communications-technology research department. "But we’re putting it together in ways that will help millions of people live dramatically better lives."

The old technology in question includes thermometers, scales and blood-pressure cuffs. Even the wireless data transfer relies largely on established systems, such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, that have been modified to save power.

Combined, however, these old technologies create something new.

Doctors can suddenly see – and confront – daily fluctuations in important indicators. If, for example, a hypertensive patient’s blood pressure begins to rise, his doctor can check whether he’s eating properly or taking his pills. If patient behavior doesn’t explain the problem, the doctor can change the treatment, observe the effect in real time and tweak as necessary.

Such early interventions could prevent many of the acute attacks that gradually transform a functional person into an invalid. They may also help save society from financing costly emergency room visits and other intensive treatments.

"Many patients struggle to follow complex treatment regimes," said David Whitlinger, president of the Continua Health Alliance, a technology industry consortium that develops and promotes open standards for medical devices.

"After each serious problem, they vow to stay healthy, but eventually they slip up and begin a downward spiral that ends in the emergency room. Then the cycle begins again.

"It’s incredibly dangerous for patients and incredibly expensive for everyone else – and now we think we can stop the cycle by enabling doctors to nip problems in the bud."

Preventing problems

As wireless networks make it easier to share patient data, device makers are coming up with new tools to spot possible problems.

A New York company called 24Eight, for example, has designed insoles laced with pressure sensors and accelerometers. These sensors monitor how walkers distribute weight and differentiate between good balance and deteriorating balance that puts a person at risk for a fall.

If all works well, the insoles will allow doctors to restrict elderly patients to wheelchairs just before their balance deteriorates to the point where they could hurt themselves.

That may sound like a modest breakthrough, but it could be enormous.

A nursing home with 200 patients averages about one fall a day. Of those, studies show, one in three will require an ER visit, and one in 20 will lead to a fatal complication within six months.

24Eight is working with AT&T, Texas Instruments Inc. of Dallas and Texas Tech University to test its balance-sensing insoles – along many other devices – at the Garrison Geriatric Center in Lubbock.

"We haven’t collected enough data yet to discuss results, but we think it’s incredibly important to shift the focus of care from treating problems to preventing problems," said Andrew Dentino, head of geriatric and palliative medicine at Texas Tech’s medical school.

For all the potential of balance-sensing insoles and other cutting-edge devices, wireless technology may do even more for simpler products such as plastic pill organizers.

Forgotten medication creates huge health problems that could disappear if pill dispensers sounded the alarm at each missed dose. The first message might be an actual alarm to remind the patient. The second might be a text message sent to a relative, caregiver or doctor.

Obstacles remain

Despite the potential benefits, big obstacles still hinder the adoption of telehealth technology.

For many years, the biggest problem was compatibility. Each device maker built its products from scratch, so products from different companies couldn’t talk to one another.

Continua believes it has largely solved this problem.

The organization began operations in 2006, after Intel convinced 25 large device makers to support a standards-making body. Since then, it has grown to include more than 180 companies and has issued its first set of standards. Devices that adhere to those standards will soon be widely available.

Going forward, the problem will be finding doctors who can receive the information those devices transmit, and finding some way to pay doctors fairly for analyzing that information.

Most doctors still lack the electronic record systems that would allow them to collect and store readings from telehealth devices.

According to a government-sponsored survey published last year in the New England Journal of Medicine, only 17 percent of the nation’s doctors use electronic record systems.

The Obama administration hopes to raise that number by giving doctors $19 billion over the next few years to buy electronic systems, but many observers expect slow progress.

Even if doctors do go digital, they will need to work with insurers to devise a fair way to bill for remote monitoring.

"No question: There are serious obstacles," said Ron Banister, an assistant professor of anesthesiology at Texas Tech. "But if the trials demonstrate benefits as large as we hope to see, then a lot of this stuff will become very common in the next two or three years."

Source: http://www.examiner.com/x-9931-SF-Health-Examiner~y2009m5d27-UCSF-Memory-and-Aging-Center-uses-YouTube-to-help-those-affected-by-dementia

The UCSF Memory and Aging Center has a dedicated YouTube channel where you can find videos of the center’s doctors and nurses talking about the symptoms and causes of different dementias and about current research in the field.

You can also find videos geared toward the families and caregivers of people with dementia to help cope with the challenges of taking care of a loved one.

Dementia refers to a group of symptoms, such as memory loss, changes in personality or mood, and inability to control emotions, among others, that prevent someone from conducting their daily functions as they normally would. About 5-8% of people over 65 years old have some form of dementia, and it is estimated that as many as 50% of people over 80 years old suffer from it.

Stroke, infections that affect the brain (Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease), and diseases that cause the degeneration of nerve cells in the brain (Alzheimer’s disease, Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease) can all lead to dementia, but much remains unknown about the mechanisms behind the condition.

The Memory and Aging Center hopes that the YouTube videos will help to establish better communication between the clinic and the community so that people will reach out and be diagnosed and treated sooner. This will also enable more people to get into clinical trials.

The center also has a Facebook page where people affected by dementia can find support and information.

Source: http://www.mediabuyerplanner.com/2009/05/27/age-of-magazine-readers-on-the-rise/

The median age of readers of consumer magazines seems to be on the rise, having increased by more than 3 years between the spring of 2001 and spring 2009.

According to numbers from Mediamark Research & Intelligence, and crunched by MediaPost, the median age of readers of 90 leading consumer magazines has increased by an average of 3.1 years, while the age of the population at large has increased 2.1 years.

For readers of women’s magazines, the median age increased by 3 years, compared to 2.3 years for the female population in general. Some of the biggest leaps were seen by Harper’s Bazaar, which saw media age jump 6.9 years, Martha Stewart Living (6.4 years), Country Living (6 years), Ladies’ Home Journal (5.8 years), House Beautiful and Gourmet (5.7 years), Entertainment Weekly (5.4 years) and Bon Appetit and Health (5 years).

For magazines targeting men, the median age of readership jumped 3.5 years, compared to 2 years for the male population at large. Biggest increases were seen by Automobile (7 years), Hot Rod (7 years), and Road & Track and Field & Stream (5 years).

The median age of readers decreased for a number of magazines - some of them significantly. Cosmopolitan saw the median age of female readers fall by 1.7 years, Seventeen’s median age fell by 2.1 years, Skiing’s median age fell by 4.9 years, and the median age of Star’s readers fell by 4.6 years.

As the median age of magazine readers overall rises, advertising pages are plummeting. Ad pages for consumer magazines fell 26% in Q1 2009, according to the Publishers Information Bureau.

Big publishers suffered significant losses: neither Hachette Filipacchi Media nor Hearst Magazines had a single title that posted gains in ad pages, while Time Inc. had just one - Sports Illustrated Kids, which rose about 30%.