The Latest at The Golden Journey

No one immune to Alzheimer's

2011-04-28T12:40:00.000-07:00

"I won't get it," or "No one in my family has ever had it so I'm safe."

These are common phrases heard when the subject of Alzheimer's comes up. However, hiding one's head in the sand or family history is no indication of the susceptibility of becoming its victim.

Many famous people have had first hand experience with Alzheimer's. From celebrities to political personalities, this disease does not discriminate. The following article from CNN shows how some poeple are thrown into dealing with this disease, some see it coming, and others.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/04/27/seth.rogen.alzheimer/index.html?hpt=C2

3 Stages of Alzheimers instead of 1

2011-04-19T07:04:00.000-07:00

Old age is not a disease - it is strength and survivorship, triumph over all kinds of vicissitudes and disappointments, trials and illnesses. Maggie Kuhn

Many of us who have had this terrible disease touch our lives usually see it in a loved one. It shows itself in memory lapses, interrupted thinking, inability to find words or finish sentences. Unfortunately, by this time, the disease has taken hold of our loved one and it becomes a matter of trying to control or slow it down. By this time, the inevitable is realized.

But researchers are hoping to redefine Alzheimer's as a 3-stage disease in the hopes of making a diagnosis earlier rather than later. If found earlier, perhaps research and treatment can hold off or even cure this disease some day.

The following article from CNN explains why the redefinition of the stages of Alzheimer's might be a very important change in the diagnosis of what is quickly becoming a devastating disease.

http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/04/19/alzheimers.diagnosis.guidelines/index.html?hpt=T2

Budget Cuts in California

2011-04-14T11:44:00.000-07:00

We've all been hearing about the budget crisis at both the Federal and State levels. Cuts to funding of programs dealing with our elderly hit many people especially hard at this time of recession when caregivers and family and friends look to these services for help. In California, our Governor has outlined some of the cuts he signed. In an update from the Alzheimers Association, here is what our State Government has proposed:

Governor Brown Signs Legislation that includes $6 billion in cuts to Health and Human Services programs. Who will lose funding? Late in March, Governor Brown approved the following budget cuts:

1. Elimination of Medi-Cal reimbursement to Adult Day Healthcare (ADHC) programs (effective6/1/11)

2. Cuts to In-Home Supportive Services (IHSS) (effective 7/1/11)

3. Additional ge neral Cuts to Medi-Cal (effective 7/1/11)

What does that mean and why should you care?

4. Adult Day Health Care loses Medi-Cal Funding As many as 80-85 percent of the low-income participants in adult day health care (ADHC) programs are there because the program receives funding from Medi-Cal to serve these individuals. This means ADHC programs must be condensed; days shortened; staff let go; become social, private pay programs; or possibly close their doors completely.

Every ADHC in the state is now considering what populations they can serve including whether they will continue to serve people with Alzheimer's disease -- who are often the most service intensive and who need extensive supervision and support.

IHSS - $486.1 million reduction in funding.

Governor Brown eliminated domestic services from outside providers (i.e. cleaning and meal preparation) for recipients who are living with a care partner. The reduction requires all participants to be reassessed and to obtain certification from a licensed health-care professional that says without in-home supportive services, the recipient is at risk of being placed in a skilled nursing facility. This costly measure to reassess each and every individual will be a barrier of many days, weeks or months for frail or disabled people to receive needed services.

Medi-Cal - $584 million in savings, achieved through new mandatory co-payments on prescription drugs, physician and dentist visits, emergency room visits, and hospital stays.

What's Next?

We can't be sure, but we do know that these cuts are going to become law. The hope that a ballot initiative will be prepared immediately and allow for new revenue is no longer an option. It appears increasingly likely there will be an initiative to gather signatures for a November ballot measure; however, that would be about NEW tax increases that expired in July. This will almost certainly create a great deal of controversy.

In the absence of other alternatives to solve the continuing budget shortfall, the legislature and governor may be forced to implement further cuts. Elimination of some programs is a very real possibility in the absence of revenue-creating solutions.

What Can You Do?

Know your legislators and their websites, emails and phone numbers Call or email your representative. Tell him or her your story and how Alzheimer's impacts your life. As a constituent, make it clear that complete elimination of programs and services is unacceptable for you and other millions of Californians who rely on these programs.

The Wisdom of Age

2011-04-14T07:44:00.000-07:00

"Old age is no place for sissies" Betty Davis Studies show that the brain may shrink as far as a decade ahead of the symptoms of Alzheimers appearing. Although these tests are not yet ready for use on the general public, the hopes of researches are that this could lead to another tool of diagnosing this terrible disease as early as possible. Brain Shrinks a Decade Before Alzheimer's Appears Source Fox News http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42580059/ns/health-aging/from/toolbar Source msnbc

The Wisdom of Age

2011-04-13T07:20:00.000-07:00

"Resolve to be tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerant with the weak and the wrong. Sometime in your life you will have been all of these." Dr. Robert H Goddard We may, at one time or another, be each of these in our lifetimes. It's when we grow older that we can actually empathize with each. Our compassion with the aged can help us achieve all these goals. Show this compassion with an elder in your life -the rest will come.

When a Loved One Gets Violent

2011-03-30T09:32:00.000-07:00

The caring for a loved one with Alzheimers or dementia is difficult enough. Now add violence to the mix-it's just gotten more difficult. Anger, violence, temper tantrums---these are all very real possibilities, perhaps probabilities, when dealing with these terrible diseases. The personality of someone we know can drastically change as Alzheimers and dementia progress. I have personally dealt with this as my mother became, shall we say, articulately profane. She was never one to use profanity or swear words - that is, until her dementia was in the latter stage and she had some small strokes. Suddenly, it was as if a completely different person was using her mouth. One minute, she was swearing at my father, my siblings, me, her caregivers, her doctor and nurses; the next, she didn't remember speaking those words. For my mother, I got her to her doctor and he was able to medicate her. This was of tremendous help and although I do not believe in medicating to the point of catatonia, the medications he prescribed for her helped her live a much calmer, more enjoyable life. Yes, it took some time to get the right prescriptions to work for her. We had to pass on the newest medication at the time due to its likely side effect of kidney stones. But we kept working together with her doctor and finally achieved a level of comfort for her. The attached article from CNN helps to explain this aspect of the diseases and gives some tips for dealing with this change. I hope it can help someone out there. When Alzheimer's turns violent - CNN.com

2008-07-09T16:51:00.001-07:00

Finding the Right Care for Your Elders

There are many options for care for our elders. Many are unknown to most of us, but the following link has an expansive listing of options for care, regardless of what stage you might be in. The Golden Journey can help you find the option best for you and your loved one.

http://www.businessweek.com/investor/content/oct2006/pi20061016_810088.htm?chan=search

Caught in a Caregiving Squeeze

2007-07-23T18:45:00.000-07:00

The Baby Boomers are in a sandwich---not ones made for a meal, but one which put them in the middle of taking care of their parents AND their children. This stress and tension can cause health problems, not to mention, what they miss raising their own children.

From CBS News, (February 19, 2007)the following article shows what one family in Lancaster, California, is going through. They are not alone

Maryann Winchell can't slow down for a minute-driving to her parent's home, shuttlinghem to the doctor, taking them to the pharmacy - getting them back home.

"Every day, I'm there," Maryann says. "Some days I'm there for four hours; some days I'm there all day.

Her 65-year old mother, Mary Saavedra, has rheumatoid arthritis. Her 82-year old father, David, has Alzheimer's.

"I have to be there for them, I feel like I have to be there for them," she says.

Maryann and her husband, Stacy, are snadwiched between ailing parents and teen-aged kids who need attention, too.

"There are so many different people my parents have to look after and take care of and help," says their daughter, Suraida. "So there's not a lot of leftover time."

Or leftover money.

Stacy bears the brunt of the finacial load, working several jobs as a nurse practioner - believe it or not, in geriatrics.

He says that he does not foresee having any money put away for retirement - or an easy way to pay for the kids' college.

The Winchell family isn't alone. About 25 million baby boomers say they help their parents financially - and if their parents become seriously ill, the burden is bigger.

That's because Medicare isn't always enough. Only about 53 percent of all seniors' health care costs are covered, leaving more and more of the financial burden on their children.

For instance, Maryann's mom's arthritis responds only to a drug called Enbrel. Each month, it can cost up to $1591.99. That cost almost wiped out her parents' $2,000 monthly income, mostly social security. Then there's their $900 rent, R$260 for utilities, and the co-pays for her mom's other medication. Mayann and her husband has to take up the slack. So she spends hours doing research. That how she found a Medicare-approved HMO that will charge her just $330 co pay for that arthritis drug - but only for three months.

And what if her dad needs a nursing home that could cost $6,000 a month and more? Does Medicare pa? No.

"About 50 percent of nursing home care resident paid for their nursing home care with out-of-pocket resources. That's either their savings or family savings," says Gerald Krominski of the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research.

Maryann's parents aren't there yet and thy're ljucky to have a committed advocate working the system for them.

"Don't take no for an answer and find a way out, because it's a business. Everything is a business," Maryann advises.

It's an exhausting full-time business for boomers still caring for kids - and now caring for dependent parents, too.

Walk for a Cure

2007-07-23T18:22:00.000-07:00

Help walk to cure Alzheimer's!

I will be joining a walk for the cure for Alzheimer's on Friday, August 24th, 2007, in Santa Barbara, California. There are many walks being organized and if anyone might be interested in great exercise for a great cause, log onto www.alz.org/memorywalk/ to see if there is one near you.

You can set up your own Alzheimer's Walk Website. This easy and fun-to-use site lets you track donations, email friends, family, work and organizations asking for their help in donations and posts your donors on the "Honor Roll" showing who donated for someone special you want to walk for.

So exercise your legs while raising money for a cure for this devastating disease. We will all be touched by Alzheimer's in one way or another---let's work and WALK to cure it!

Finding the right elder care can relieve stress at work

2007-03-23T18:18:00.000-07:00

For those who work outside the home, finding the right elder care for our elderly loved ones can take a toll on our jobs and that can lead to stress for everyone. More and more time off of work is used to search for the care, alternative housing and services our elderly need.

According to CBS Evening News, companies lose revenues in the billions due to employees taking time off to care for their elderly loved ones. That effects everyone - from the CEO to the shareholders.

The Golden Journey works around our clients' schedules so their time off of work is for their needs and enjoyment - not to work another job in caregiving.

From CBS News Evening News and CBS News.com: February 21, 2007

(CBS) When Linda Blossom leaves her office at Freddie Mac, the mortgage giant, another job begins. She takes care of her 74-year old mother, who has been battling breast cancer for years, CBS News correspondent Kelly Wallace reports. "She acted a little stressed for a while and then all of a sudden, I didn't see the stress anymore," says her mother, Gladys Tulloch. What changed? Blossom started attending monthly support group meetings at her office, where, on company time, she and other workers can vent and share tips about caring for mom and dad. Blossom says it's made a "huge, huge" difference. "I've told people, it's all about people helping people," she says. Mary Ann O'Connor, director of benefits for Freddie Mac, says it also protects the company's bottom line.

Links:
MetLife Mature Market Institute
MetLife Mature Market Institute Studies Page

"By offering something like this, it definitely helps Freddie Mac because they're coming to work and they're being productive and they can focus on the job at hand," O'Connor says. That's important, because companies lose a staggering $33 billion a year when employees miss work or quit to care for their loved ones. As the workforce ages and people live longer, those numbers are only going to go up. Johnny Taylor, who tracks workplace trends, says corporations that once were pressured to provide better child care are now going to have to provide better elder care.

"Employees will begin to demand it because it will be such a strain on them personally and financially to provide for their elder parents and their grandparents and the like and they'll call for it," Taylor says. "It'll become a part of the new benefits package."

Corporate America has a long way to go. According to a survey conducted by Taylor's group, Society for Human Resources Management, for CBS News, only about one in four companies offers any elder care benefits. McGraw-Hill allows workers to add mom or dad to their health plan. Prudential Financial offers legal help to prepare living wills for elderly parents. Blossom's company, Freddie Mac, provides emergency elder home care for which employees pay just $15 a day. What businesses get in return, according to Blossom, is not only greater productivity, but loyalty.

"If they didn't understand it here, I wouldn't be here," she says. For this mother and daughter, that understanding means everything. "It's been a real blessing," Tulloch says. "I'm really very blessed."

Lonliness May be linked to Alzheimer's

2007-03-23T17:36:00.000-07:00

Loneliness May Up Alzheimer's Risk
Study Shows Lonely People Twice as Likely to Be Diagnosed With the Disease
By Kathleen DohenyWebMD Medical News
Reviewed By Louise Chang, MDon Monday, February 05, 2007

More From WebMD
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Lonely individuals are twice as likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's diseaseAlzheimer's disease as those who are not lonely, according to a new study.
Researchers focused on the effects of emotional isolation, or loneliness, in which people perceive themselves as feeling socially isolated and disconnected from others -- sometimes even if they're surrounded by family and friends.

"It turns out people who have this feeling of being socially isolated are at higher risk of developing Alzheimer's," says David A. Bennett, MD, co-author of the study and director of the Rush University Medical Center Alzheimer's Disease Center in Chicago.
Though a small social network of friends and family has been linked in previous research to a higher risk of Alzheimer's, Bennett's group focused on a person's perception of being alone, regardless of their social network size.

"We are talking about a tendency to feel isolated and alone in the world," he says. "You can have a small network and not feel isolated; or you can have a large network but don't know how to connect, and feel isolated." The Study Bennett and his colleagues recruited 823 people (average age: nearly 81) in and near Chicago. All were free of dementia at the start of the study.
Participants had agreed to donate their brains at death to the Rush Memory and Aging Project.
The researchers assessed loneliness using a five-item questionnaire in which participants agreed or disagreed with statements that they didn't have enough friends, often felt abandoned, or experienced a sense of emptiness. They repeated the test annually.

A score of 5 indicated the most loneliness. At the start, the participants' average score was 2.3.
76 Developed Alzheimer's. During the follow-up of nearly four years, 76 participants developed Alzheimer's. When the researchers looked at the scores of those with Alzheimer's, they found risk of the disease was more than double for those who had loneliness scores of 3.2 (landing them in the bottom 90th percentile) compared with those who were not lonely and had an average score of 1.4 (in the top 10th percentile).

The link between loneliness and Alzheimer's was there, Bennett says, even when they adjusted for small social network and infrequent socializing, both known risk factors.
However, when they autopsied the brains of 90 people who died during the study, they didn't find a link between high loneliness scores and the physical brain changes that point to the disease. Though loneliness increased the chances of getting a clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's, it didn't seem to increase the physical brain changes tied to the disease and seen at autopsy.
More research is needed to figure out exactly how loneliness boosts the risk of Alzheimer's, Bennett says.

"The loneliness is doing something to the brain," he says. It may be that it lowers your brain reserve, setting you up for memory problems.

2007-01-12T09:28:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the Latest at The Golden Journey. I hope that you find the information here of use and access the links provided. Articles, ads and other information is supplied by outside sources, so please feel free to research these sources further.

Possible Tax Deductions for Elder Care

As tax time is once again upon us, do not forget that many healthcare items may be tax deductible if they are paid through private money. Though there are important qualifications for tax deductions, many elder expenses can be deducted. Feel free to contact The Golden Journey for further information. We can send you more detailed information from The Alzheimer's Association. Don't let caregiving tax deductions slip away.

If you are caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's, you may qualify for tax deductions if you pay privately for care. The Alzheimer's Association CareFinder™ can point you to federal and state tax deductions and credits you may qualify for. According to The Alzheimer's Association, (source www.alz.org) there may be some valuable tax deductions for you or someone you care about. ALWAYS CONSULT YOUR TAX ADVISOR FOR INDIVIDUAL DEDUCTIONS BEFORE CLAIMING ANY ON YOUR TAX RETURN.

Tax Deductions and Credits
As a caregiver, you may qualify for tax deductions and credits if you are paying privately for care. Federal taxesA person with Alzheimer's may need help with self-care and chores. Taking care of a chronically ill person could qualify a caregiver for federal income tax deuctions. Deductible expenses include: personal care items, such as disposable briefs and special foods, home improvements, such as grab bars, in-home care, such as physical or occupational therapy, nursing services, assisted living or other residential care, nursing home care. A caregiver can take federal income tax deductions only if the ill person has been certified as chronically ill. This certification must have been made by a licensed health care practitioner within the last 12 months. Long-term care services must be given under a prescribed plan of care.

If you are caring for someone with Alzheimer's, keep records about your payment for services. And be sure to save certifications and plans of care. State taxes Forty-one states and the District of Columbia provide assistance with the costs of privately paid Alzheimer care. State tax credits and deductions vary by state. If you paid someone to care for your dependent so you could work, you may qualify for your state's child and dependent care credit. A qualifying dependent is a person of any age who is physically or mentally incapable of self-care. The dependent must also live with you.

The amount of credit varies state by state. Many states allow for a deduction of medical expenses for long-term care services. In order to deduct long-term care expenses, the chronically ill person must be certified by a physician and must have a plan of care. Some states give a caregiver tax credit to alleviate expenses incurred as a result of in-home care of a chronically ill person. Most states require the care recipient to live with the caregiver for at least six months of the year. Each state has different qualifying expenses and different credit amounts. Many states allow for a credit or deduction of long-term care insurance premiums paid for the taxpayer, the taxpayer's spouse and the taxpayer's dependents. For most states, an insurance policy must be qualified under federal law or authorized by the state. The amount of the credit or deduction varies state by state. For additional information on any of these tax credits or deductions contact your state Department of Revenue. This discussion is not intended as tax advice. The determination of how the tax laws affect a taxpayer is dependent on the taxpayer's particular situation. A taxpayer may be affected by exceptions to the general rules and by other laws not discussed here. Taxpayers are encouraged to seek help from a competent tax professional for advice about the proper application of the laws to their situation.