Boomers Helping Parents with Medication Management

According to a new survey from Caring.com, baby boomers are playing an active role when it comes to decisions about their parents' medications. Three quarters of boomers had some or a great deal of influence regarding the types of medications or other treatments taken by the person for whom they were caring. Nearly 70 percent talked about medications with their medical provider; over half researched medication options online.

Caring.com has resources and information available to help manage your parents' medications and recommends the following tips to ensuring medication safety:
• Keep an accurate list of medications
• Make note of when they should be taken
• Put safeguards into place to make sure they are taking the medication exactly as prescribed.

More here.

Bonus for Bad Work - Give Me That Job

As has been reported by many sources, The Des Moines Register is reporting that nursing homes throughout the country are eligible for hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer-funded bonuses despite past violations of basic health-and-safety standards. A review of 81 bonus payment programs in 36 states shows that some homes are collecting quality-of-care bonuses approved by the same federal agency that considers them to be below-average caregivers.

One OK home has earned almost $96,000 in bonuses during the past year and is considered a "five-star" nursing home by the state. But federal records show the home has been cited for more violations than the state and national averages. Also, Medicare itself ranks the home below average on 11 of 19 national quality measures.

So first, are you checking out nursing homes on CMS and state web sites? Second, ask the facility where mom and dad are staying if they are getting a bonus and what they plan to do with it to help residents.

Hal is that You?

Aging in place. That seems to be the buzz word for growing older. And to help you will be....robots. As the little kid in the etrade commercial says about his clown - that's a little creepy! Or is it?

Robots will scoot from room to room to wake homeowners in the morning, remind them to eat and send for help if someone falls. Sensors embedded throughout seniors’ homes will detect when the residents have sleepless nights or forget to take their medication.

With support from the National Science Foundation and others, the University of Texas at Arlington has created the Heracleia Human-Centered Computing Laboratory they are designing technology that will allow tomorrow’s seniors to remain independent longer. The lab houses a make-believe one-bedroom apartment equipped with high-tech cameras, motion sensors and robots, and is surrounded by computers.

Fears that seniors will be wary of such technology are unfounded, experts say. The AARP Foundation has found that nine of 10 older adults will agree to remote monitoring if it keeps them independent.

What about you?

Ann Nixon Cooper

Here is the portion of Obama's transcript where he put it all in perspective through the eyes of 106 year old Ann Nixon Cooper.

"This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons -- because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America -- the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that "We Shall Overcome." Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves -- if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment."

Let's bridge all the gaps - generation, age, race, politics and get on with the business of bringing this country back to greatness.

Internet Surfing Better Than Reading for Brain Stimulation

Researchers at UCLA are publishing a study in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry that finds that middle-aged to older adults who know their way around the Internet had more stimulation of decision-making and complex reasoning areas of the brain than peers who were new to web surfing. Reading didn’t stimulate the same number of brain areas as Internet searching.

24 adults from 55 to 78 years old underwent MRI scans while separately performing both activities, either a new Internet search or reading text on a computer screen that was formatted to look like a book.

While reading stimulated the same areas of the brain in both groups, those who regularly searched the Internet showed twice the increase in brain activity when performing the new Internet search than their counterparts, especially in the areas of the brain that control decision making and complex reasoning.

“The study results are encouraging, that emerging computerized technologies may have physiological effects and potential benefits for middle-aged and older adults,” says principal investigator Gary Small, a professor at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA and director of the campus’ Memory and Aging Research Center.

Far fewer boomers and seniors search the Web daily, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. The report, released in August, says 40% of people 50 to 64 years old and 27% of adults 65 and older are getting information online every day, compared to about 55% of those 18 to 49.

There is a myriad of information about the affects of stimulating the brain. It has been shown to ward off or delay dementia and Alzheimer's. And in study after study of our eldest, keeping their brain active was one of the keys to a quality and long life. This study suggests that more of the brain is stimulated through searching.

So the holidays are coming. Start searching and comparing prices online!