ELF News Archives
May 2008
- Nursing home, assisted living costs soar -
Home health care, long touted as a cheaper alternative, is rapidly catching up, according to the latest annual survey by Genworth Financial, a provider of long-term care insurance. It estimates Florida patients who need a Medicare-certified home health aide for a full shift daily are paying $42,763 a year on average.
News-Journal 05/29
- Vanderbilt takes team approach to elder care -
This is the geriatric frontier, where rules of care for the mature bodies of men and women, many of whom have chronic diseases, are being redefined by a multidisciplinary approach to health care that focuses on more than the ailment of the day.
Tenessean 05/29
- Life is more than just housing -
Most residents of Island Elderly Housing (IEH) live alone, and are at a stage in life when going out for dinner on their own is very difficult.
MV Times 05/29
- Elderly facing risk of suicide -
"It is a little known fact that suicide is more common among older Americans than any other age group. While people 65 and older account for 12 percent of the population, they represent 16 to 25 percent of the suicides," ...
The Republican 05/29
- Business to serve growing number of elderly -
Elders Resource, LLC will open Monday, June 2, with a broad range of support and services designed to help members of the Greater New Haven region's aging population with all of their needs.
Shore Line 05/28
- Managing your folks' money: 5 steps -
Even if you think you're well prepared to take over an aging parent's finances you'd better read this guide...Two years ago, Bill Mesquita's longtime companion died. Overcome with grief, he wasn't able to keep up with day-to-day tasks like bill paying. Before Yvette and her two sisters realized what was happening, their dad had racked up $30,000 in credit-card debt.
Money.CNN 05/28
- A Night at the Nursing Home -
Sometimes, our patients give us gifts far greater than anything we've given them. I started working in nursing homes when I was a firstyear medical student. I really don't know why. They called me, and I answered. Many years later, my nursing home patients are still at the center of my practice. After visiting them, I almost always leave with the feeling that I have learned and grown wiser, and that I have taken away more than I have given.
Red Orbit 05/28
- "Look, Ma, No Plan!" Elder Care Expo is Place to Start a Family Conversation About Aging -
No one likes to talk about elder care. Almost no one plans enough for getting older. And no one wants aging to happen to them. During Mother's Day weekend...
PR Web 05/24
- Home Remedy: Alternatives to nursing homes -
While failing health can make a nursing home the only option for some, many can live comfortably at home or with their children with help from a home-health aide and regular visits from a nurse.
Daily Local 05/24
- Warehousing the elderly -
Home care for the elderly is a better alternative than a nursing home. Most people would rather remain at home as they age, and since home care is significantly cheaper than nursing homes, there is no reason that they should not remain at home. The average cost of nursing-home care in Utah for a year is $57,332, and the average hourly rate for home care in Utah is $20.56, or $47,041 per year.
Salt Lake City Tribune 05/23
- Start Early To Avoid Family Conflicts -
How many people have heard stories about it or experienced it ourselves - friends and family members of an elderly person having a falling out over how to take care of that person in the last stages of their life? It's certainly a story plenty of professionals whose job it is to help older people and their loved ones through this precarious time period have heard many times over.
Zwire 05/22
- In-home elder care on the rise -
The demand for in-home services for senior citizens is on the rise and is expected to continue to increase as a larger percentage of the population enters their senior years.
The Australian News 05/22
- Nursing homes forced to sack staff -
THIRTY-NINE of the nation's nursing homes were forced to sack or move staff last year after police checks revealed they had criminal records, including for assault and rape.
The Australian Newst 05/22
- Israel : perceptions of nurses, families, and residents in nursing ... -
... by nursing homes; however, sometimes, in order to fulfil a need, the nursing staff must be aware of the needs of the residents and of their families. ...
The Mature Market 05/22
- Budget plan fails frail elderly -
Gov. Rendell, through his proposed 2008-2009 budget, is failing Pennsylvania's most vulnerable seniors. This budget flatlines funding for the frail, poor elderly who depend on medical assistance to pay their bills for nursing-home care.
Philly 05/21
- Nursing home residents happier with quality of care but less satisfied with quality of service -
New research finds that 82% of long-term care consumers and 70% of employees say they are satisfied with their facility. It marked a 2% rise compared to a year earlier among residents and family members describing their levels of satisfaction as "excellent" or "good," according to study authors.
McKnights 05/20
- Seniors are dying in nursing homes, but nobody is listening -
The latest death in a nursing home, at Leisureworld Caregiving Centre in Toronto, saw resident Wally Baker die April 30 after a fall from an automated lift that is used to move people from their bed.
St. Catherines Standard 05/17
- Harmful care rampant in nursing homes, official says -
A total of 20% of nursing homes deliver care that is directly harmful to residents...Improve screening of all nursing home staff by creating a nationwide centralized database, create a demonstration project to establish mandatory compliance programs for selected nursing homes, and enhance the quality of care data made available to the nursing home industry and the public by expanding on CMS' Nursing Home...
McKnighs 05/17
- Serious Deficiencies in Nursing Homes Are Often Missed -
“Poor quality of care — worsening pressure sores or untreated weight loss — in a small but unacceptably high number of nursing homes continues to harm residents or place them in immediate jeopardy, that is, at risk of death or serious injury,”
NY Times 05/15
- Seniors celebrate homes away from home -
"Nursing homes, these days, are filled with caring people that care about our elderly," said Robins. "I think it's a good time to show how much we do care about our elderly."
Klew TV 05/15
- Green Houses -
The residents are known as elders, the caregivers as shahbazim, people who provide skilled and certified assistance coupled with a 24-hour nurse presence within a few steps of every person every hour every day. Shabaz is derived from a Persian word that means "royal falcon," connoting great importance. Thus a shahbaz in a Green House is the important caregiver.
D Journal 05/14
- Remember impact of nursing homes -
This is National Nursing Home Week, a time when residents, caregivers, families, staff and volunteers honor and celebrate nursing-facility life.
This year's theme is "Love Is Ageless," and it is a perfect time to visit your loved ones, friends and neighbors as many facilities will be holding special events. If you are unable to visit, make a phone call, send a card, flowers or even an e-mail.
Arizona Central 05/12
- Nursing homes aren't so great -
I was astounded by the article "California's nursing homes are getting better"...The Foundation Aiding the Elderly recently had to bring a lawsuit against the state because of the Department of Public Health's failure to provide regulations required by legislation on staffing requirements, which they had failed to do so for six years.
ModBee 05/12
- Nursing homes in crisis: Still deeper cuts in funding the wrong diagnosis at a desperate time -
More than half of the nursing homes in northeastern Minnesota are bleeding financially — a crisis brewed by the state’s failure to provide adequate reimbursement for them.
TimberJay 05/12
- Hands of Time; New solutions for elder care -
In a region with the highest population of seniors in Canada per capita, helping people who suffer from dementia is a significant challenge...She told the senators that about 17.4 per cent of Niagara's population is over the age of 65, and about eight per cent of them suffer from dementia.
Well and Tribune 05/12
- Elder-care benefit a boon to boomers -
A recent conference sponsored by The Foundation on Aging and the Kansas City Partnership for Caregivers was aptly named.
Kansas City 05/07
- Care home ratings 'may mislead' -
The Commission for Social Care Inspection (CSCI) gave 70% of providers a three star (excellent) or two star (good) rating.
But the charity Age Concern says many homes may have been given a one star (adequate) undeservedly.
News BBC 05/07
- What’s your question about nursing homes? -
My mother lives in a nursing home and is probably in her last days. What can I do for her?
Richmond Register 05/07
- Elder Care Crisis: Part One -
Across Minnesota nursing homes are in serious trouble. With expenses coming in higher than income month after month a significant number of nursing homes are facing the very real possibility of being forced to close...In each case, finances were the deciding factor in forcing the nursing homes to close.
Northlands News 05/06
- High living costs challenge seniors -
The cost of living is no respecter of retirees or people planning for retirement. Many California retirees, for example, are not eligible for public assistance, even when they cannot afford basic housing, food, transportation and health care.
The Federal Poverty Line, which determines income eligibility for most public programs, covers less than half of basic costs incurred by California seniors. This line in the sand, based on the national average cost of food, is certainly not one size that fits all.
Inside Bay Area 05/06
- Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report -
Costs for nursing homes, assisted living facilities and some in-home care services have increased for a fifth consecutive year and might continue to increase as a result of an expected shortage of long-term health care workers,...
Kaiser Network 05/06
- Nursing Homes Hiding Assets To Avoid Victim Negligence Liability -
In a recent article in the American Bar Association Journal published in October 2006, written by Terry Carter, the article explores how Texas has passed massive tort reform of its medical malpractice laws. The massive overkill championed by President Bush when he was governor, Texas style, places a maximum of $250,000 recovery on non-economic damages (pain-and-suffering). As Carter notes, these caps on what is called non-economic damages affect the elderly and the poor esspecially hard, since they have a very difficult time showing lost earning power under economic damages, which are not capped under the Texas law.
Injury Board 05/05
- Living healthy can help make you wealthy
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Those who traditionally live healthier have a greater chance of avoiding elder care, which costs a fortune. In Georgia, nursing homes can reach $40,000 a year, assisted-living facilities $27,000 a year and home health care $22,000 a year. For those who think Medicare and Medicaid cover all these costs, think again. Living healthier is not a 100 percent solution to avoiding elder care costs, but I can give personal testimonies to clients in the 80s and 90s who are avoiding elder care based on their lifestyle.
On-Line Athens 05/05
- Bill would shift care from nursing homes to communities -
State Senators have approved a plan to help more than 5,000 elderly and disabled people in Connecticut move from nursing homes and other institutions back to their homes or other community settings.
Newsday 05/05
- Elder Care: Letting Families Decide -
"There is such a need for quality care in the home, especially as baby boomers get older," But critics warn that referral agencies may not be right for everyone, since they make patients responsible for setting up their own care. They also are not licensed by the state's health department and do not provide as much oversight as traditional home-care businesses.
Courant 05/05
- 5,000 complaints a month over care home abuse fears -
Families worried that elderly relatives are suffering abuse in care homes are making 5,000 complaints a month.
The rate of calls to social workers by concerned children or friends suggests high levels of mistreatment may be hidden behind the care home doors.
Daily Mail 05/02