Long Term Care
I have written and taught about long term care for many years. In fact, until
2005, I was one of the few California instructors who taught the mandatory
8 hour Long Term Care course of continuing education for insurance agents.
LTC unquestionably will be a major issue for the parents of baby boomers
who are now in their 70's and who will certainly face many of the obstacles
addressed below. Further, baby boomers will need the info as well since,
due to the obvious lack of budgetary controls by politicians, individuals
will need to pay most of long term care by themselves. (The very poor will
be covered by the government, but the limited care for the middle class will
effectively be terminated due to cost.) So, read on. Please note that while
the individual areas may not directly impact you, they almost assuredly will
impact your children, parents and grandparents.
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The list below includes all articles and specific links in alphabetical order
with accompanying description. The listings in the column to the right are
separate sections for articles and links
1997
NURSING HOME DATA LINK: Basic nursing home data are now available from
the Centers for Disease Control. The CDC also has significant material on
National Hospital Discharge, Characteristics of Elderly Nursing Home Current
Residents and Discharges and much more.
ACCELERATED
DEATH BENEFIT There were 39.9 million individual policies or group
certificates that included an accelerated death benefit (ADB) as of December
31, 1997, compared with 18.1 million in 1994.
ADMINISTRATION ON AGING LINK: One of
the key sites that offers information on most government programs on aging
and eldercare including the Area Agencies on Aging. You MUST go to this site.
ADULT ABUSE PROFESSIONALS AND SURVIVORS
LINK:
ADULT DAY
CARE LINK: Excellent resource for how to select a quality care center
by the Adult Day Care Working Group of Montgomery County, Maryland
AGING: What happens when we get older and why getting
older doesn't mean you stop living and thinking.
AGING LINK 1: This site is provided
by the American Society on Aging and covers a myriad of issues relating to
the elderly and many not addressed elsewhere- elders of color, Gay and Lesbian
Aging issues (where one can also subscribe to a newsletter), social security
privatization, lon1g term care, mental heath and aging, national conferences,
and much, much more. Highly recommended.
AGING LINK 2:
International Longevity Center-Many excellent reports
AGING
IN AMERICA 2004 LINK: Merch Institute of Aging and Health (pdf-
48 pages) “In the United States, 20% of all Americans, or about 70 million
people, will have passed their 65th birthday by 2030. The average 75-year-old
has three chronic conditions and uses five prescription drugs. This report
presents information and recommendations on what policy makers, practicing
physicians and patients can and must do to ensure not just longer lives but
better lives for Americans.
AGING-RELATED
POWERPOINT SLIDES AND TABLES LINK: Federal Interagency Forum on
Aging-Related Statistics for the study entitled Older Americans 2004: Key
Indicators of Well-Being.
ALCOHOL
AND AGING LINK: Alcoholism is a major problem with the elderly. You need
to be aware and know what you might do to help.
ALZHEIMERS: Stages of Alzheimers, tests, caregiver
concerns. VERY extensive list of various articles you should find helpful
ALZHEIMERS BEHAVIOR: This "article" by Carly
Hellen, ORT/L of the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Control was prepared for staff.
But it covers subjects such as Verbal Anxiety, Abusive Language, Stripping,
Wandering, Depression, etc. in such a concise fashion that it is must reading
for all caregivers that face this horrendous disease. Read this- it can save
both you and a loved one a world of grief.
ALZHEIMERS DIAGNOSIS: A descriptive commentary
from the National Institute of Neurological Communicative Diseases and Stroke-
undated- distributed by the Long Island Alzheimers Foundation.
ALZHEIMERS DISEASE LINK: From
the Long Island Alzheimers Foundation. Covers Cost, Diagnosis, Life Expectancy,
Local Statistics, Research, Statistics, Symptoms
ALZHEIMER'S DISEASE LINK 2:
ALZHEIMERS
INFORMATION LINK: An outstanding site - this page offers helpful advice
about choosing a nursing home and how to prepare for the move into a long
term care facility.
ALZHEIMERS LINK: An excellent page that
provides some extensive and recent articles on Alzheimers and the new treatments.
ALZHEIMERS LINK 2: Lots of
solid info, particularly on medical advances.
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF HOMES AND SERVICES
FOR THE AGING LINK: They represent non profit organizations providing
care for the elderly. Links to State associations, consumer info, etc.
AMERICAN HEALTH CARE ASSOCIATION LINK:
The AHCA is a federation of 50 state health organizations representing
nearly 12,000 non-profit and for-profit assisted living, nursing facility,
long term care, and subacute care providers that care for more than one million
elderly and disabled individuals nationally. The site is an excellent resource
for info on state facilities, long term care articles, statistics and
much more. Highly Recommended
ASSISTED LIVING LINK : This site by the
Assisted Living Federation of America provides information, articles and
an extended checklist for checking out a facility. About 6.5 million
elderly need assistance with activities of daily living- and this number
is expected to double by 2020.
ASSISTED
SUICIDE LINK: (Annals of Internal Medicine) "Assisted suicide requires
physician involvement, but physicians' limited competence in performing the
full range of tasks, the competencies of other professions, and the possibility
that other professions could expand their authority in this area suggest
that physician-assisted suicide is a far too narrow construct of the task."
An extensive review of this difficult subject.
BENEFITS CHECK UP LINK:
BenefitsCheckUp — a free, easy-to-use service that identifies federal
and state assistance programs for older Americans. From the National Council
on Aging:You take 10 or 15 minutes to enter information about your financial
situation into an online questionnaire. Then, BenefitsCheckUp explains what
benefit programs you may be eligible for and how to apply for them.
BIPOLAR LINK:
Bipolar disorder is an illness characterized by moments of euphoria and
increased irritability. This is usually called manic depression, because
there are times of anger and guilt, and then suddenly the person becomes
overly excited and has reckless behavior. Lots of information from Caregiver.com
CALIFORNIA NURSING HOME LINK: provides
consumers with comprehensive, consumer-friendly comparative information about
the quality of California nursing homes, as well as alternatives to nursing
home care, government programs and services, and other helpful resources.
CARE OF THE DYING LINK 1:
Provides info on pain relief and symptom management. Includes Patient
Questionnaire, Family Caregiver Questionnaire, Bereaved Family Questionnaire,
Professional Questionnaire, Competency Assessment Tool, System Assessment
Tool and much much more.
CARE OF THE DYING LINK 2:
Partnership for Caring:
America’s Voices for the
Dying
is a national, nonprofit organization devoted to raising consumer
expectations and increasing the demand for excellent care at the end of life.
Includes Download Living Wills, Medical Powers
of Attorney (Advance Directives)
CAREGIVERS: It's not just the person going
in to a home that suffers. Caregivers- mostly women- suffer tremendous financial
and emotional burdens. READ THIS- it could save you or a loved one from many
problems.
CAREGIVERS LINK 1: In the above pages,
I give a good condensed overview of what a caregiver must do and recognize.
This link, however, goes to the major web site for caregiving and covers
more extensively the areas and problems for a caregiver. Highly recommended.
CAREGIVERS MAGAZINE LINK: A very
extensive monthly commentary on all areas of caregiving. Highly recommended.
CAREGUIDE LINK: The internet's "most
comprehensive Child Care and Elder Care Resource". Yes, some of the
links I provide may be slightly redundant, but you can't afford to miss the
information they provide.
CARE LIMITATIONS- A simple chart that describes
the percentage of help that nursing home patients need depending upon ADLs
.
CHOICES IN DYING LINK: This
organization has fostered the rights of the individual to determine how they
might die. A truly controversial issue and this information might help you
make up your own mind or accept the decisions of others.
CHOOSING
A NURSING HOME LINK Complete guide to choosing a facility, including
what to look for, questions to ask, and how to make the transition to living
in a facility.
COMMUNICATING WITH PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA:
This article by Anna Ortegara, RN, MS provides tremendous insight on
how to communicate with people who have trouble expressing themselves. Mandatory
if you have loved one in any stages of Alzheimers
COMPANY
LTC POLICY LINK: A listing of many companies offering long term care
policies. You cannot tell if the policies are good or bad per se, but it
gives you a place to start.
COST
OF CARE MAP LINK: (John Hancock) Go to this page, click interactive map.
then click any areas you are interested in and you get invaluable data. Highly
recommended.
COSTS OF DYING: What are the costs to Medicare.
COUNSELING: Counseling for the elderly, speech
pathologist, more
CREMATION LINK: "The Internet Cremation
Society is an organization that screens cremation service providers throughout
the U.S. and Can | 
