Nursing Home Rates Rising - Only Will Get Worse

According to the MetLife Mature Market Institute, the average nursing home rate is $229 per day, or $83,585 per year. The increase follows a 3.3% increase from 2008 to 2009. The highest average daily nursing home rates are in Alaska; lowest in Louisiana. Rates for a private room in an assisted living facility rose 5.2%, on average, to $3,293 per month, or $39,516 per year. Rates for a private assisted living facility room rose by 3.3% last year.

Look it is easier said than done but the burden of this care will fall on you. Health reform has pretty much ignored long term care. Don't count on the CLASS Act for much. So back to my three principles - plan now for your older years emotionally, physically and FINANCIALLY.

Diabetes Rates on Track to Triple

The number of U.S. adults with type 2 diabetes is on track to double or triple by 2050, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That's one in three adults.

 

Researchers attribute the rapid increase in diabetes to the fact that more people are being diagnosed with diabetes earlier in life. This allows them to better control it through diet and medication adjustments, and thus, living longer. The report was published in the journal Population Health Metrics.

 

Diabetes ranks as the No. 1 cause of adult blindness, kidney failure and limb amputations, not to mention its affect on stroke, heart attacks, certain kinds of cancer, dementia and lung disease. The CDC estimates the current cost of diabetes at $174 billion annually. That could double over the next 20 years, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Here is information from the National Institute of Health on diabetes management.

Things to Do Every Day for Good Diabetes Care

1. Follow the healthy eating plan that you and your doctor or dietitian have worked out.
2. Be active a total of 30 minutes most days. Ask your doctor what activities are best for you.
3. Take your medicines as directed.
4. Check your blood glucose every day. Each time you check your blood glucose, write the number in a record book.
5. Check your feet every day for cuts, blisters, sores, swelling, redness, or sore toenails.
6. Brush and floss your teeth every day.
7. Control your blood pressure and cholesterol.
8. Don’t smoke.

Things for Your Health Care Provider to Look at Every Time You Have a Checkup

1. Show your blood glucose records to your health care provider.
2. Tell your health care provider if you often have low blood glucose or high blood glucose.
3. Talk with your health care provider about how much you should weigh.
4. Talk about ways to reach your goal that will work for you.
5. The goal for most people with diabetes is less than 130/80. Ask your health care provider about ways to reach your goal.
6. Talk with your health care provider about any problems you have had with your medicines.
7. Ask your health care provider to check your feet for problems.
8. Talk with your health care provider about what you do to stay active.
9. Talk about what you eat, how much you eat, and when you eat.
10. Ask your health care provider about ways to handle stress.
11. If you smoke, talk with your health care provider about how you can quit.

Things for You or Your Health Care Provider to Do at Least Once or Twice a Year

1. Have an A1C blood test at least twice a year. Your result will tell you what your average blood glucose level was for the past 2 to 3 months.
2. Get a blood test to check your total cholesterol—aim for below 200; LDL—aim for below 100; HDL—men: aim for above 40; women: aim for above 50; triglycerides—aim for below 150.
3. Once a year, get a urine test to check for protein. At least once a year, get a blood test to check for creatinine. The results will tell you how well your kidneys are working.
4. See an eye care professional once a year for a complete eye exam.
5. See your dentist twice a year for a cleaning and checkup.
6. Ask your health care provider to check your feet to make sure your foot nerves and your blood circulation are OK.
7. Get a flu shot each year.
8. Get a pneumonia vaccine if you’re over 64 and your shot was more than 5 years ago.

Smoking and Alzheimers Linked

Smoking more than doubles the risk of Alzheimer's and vascular dementia.
A Kaiser Permanente study reported that an analysis of more than 20,000 men and women, studied since 1978, found a 157 percent heightened risk of Alzheimer's for people who smoked two packs or more a day. For vascular dementia, which is the second most common dementia, there was a 172 percent risk increase. For smokers who smoke less than two packs a day, the risk is less than their heavier smoking counterparts, but much greater than non-smokers. Half a pack to one pack a day smokers had a 37 percent greater chance of dementia, while one to two pack a day smokers had a 44 percent increase.

Some believe the numbers may still be an underestimation. Kenneth Hepburn, an associate dean for research at the Emory University School of Nursing, told CNN that many smokers may die before they develop dementia, and therefore not show up in data collected.

Researchers are unsure of why the association between smoking and dementia is so strong. Rachel Whitmer, the study's co-author said that smoking may play a role in the damage of blood vessels, as well as brain cells.
The people studied were all middle-aged at the time the research. None smoked less than a half pack a day. So far, there is no evidence to support smoking less than a half pack a day, or smoking while young but then stopping before mid-life, increases dementia risk compared to non-smokers.

Eldercare Locator Beefed Up

Eldercare Locator, a free service under the U.S. Administration on Aging, has been around for two decades. It maintained a toll-free hotline for older adults and caregivers looking for information about resources with regards to aging. Eldercare Locator has upped its gane. The new call center allows callers to speak with an Information Specialist who can connect them to a local agency that can answer questions about long-term care alternatives, transportation options, caregiver issues and government benefits eligibility. Upgrades also include a redesigned website. So check it out and save yourself frustration by knowing where to turn for help.

Hey Man - More Healing Powers of Marijuana

Smoked cannabis has been shown to alleviate chronic neuropathic pain caused by trauma or surgery.


Researchers at McGill University Health Centre provided 21 participants aged 25 to 77 with cannabis of varying strengths. When inhaled in low doses three times a day, the stronger cannabis—containing 9.4% of the active ingredient THC—was shown to provide modest pain reduction, reduce anxiety and give users better sleep compared with individuals using lower-strength cannabis or placebo.

This is among the first studies to determine the analgesic qualities of cannabis for treating chronic neuropathic pain, and the first to allow patients to smoke cannabis at home and monitor their reactions to the drug.

The report appears in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.


Source: McKnights

End-of-life Care Could Depend on Physician's Religion

A British suggests that the religious beliefs of your physician could impact the care you receive at the end of life.

Researchers at Queen Mary University of London surveyed more than 3,700 United Kingdom physicians about their religious views, ethnicity and the care they give to dying patients. Those who described themselves as very or extremely religious were less likely to discuss treatment options that could hasten death, even if patients were deemed fit to have such a discussion.

Atheists and agnostics were more likely to discuss all treatment options, and were almost twice as likely to have provided treatment that “they expected or partly intended to end life.”

Physicians who deal with terminal patients at the end of life should be more aware of how their religious views affect the treatment decisions they make, said lead researcher Dr. Clive Seale. More in the Journal of Medical Ethics.

'Cross-talk' in the Brain Slows Responses in Old Age

New research suggests that breakdowns in certain brain connections could be responsible for slowed physical reaction times as we age.

Commonly known is that one side of the brain controls the opposite side of the body. Researchers call this “Cross-talk." This is regulated by an area of the brain called the corpus callosum, according to researchers at the University of Michigan. But as we age, the brain's ability to regulate the cross-talk diminishes. As a result, both sides of the brain send signals when one side of the body moves.

Researchers compared the response times and brain activity of a group of 65 to 75-year-olds with those of a group of 20 to 25-year-olds. The researchers used computer joysticks to measure physical response times, and functional MRIs to measure brain blood flow and activity. As regulation of the cross-talk lessened and both sides began chatting at once, physical response time slowed, according to the report. 

Full implications of the discovery were not known but give researchers another springboard from which to study aging, the brain and behavior. The study appears in a recent edition of the journal Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience.

Heck I don't need my brain to cross-talk to me. I do a good enough job of that myself. And what do they call texting while driving? I call that cross talk to and it slows responses just as effectively as an aging brain!

A Guide for Families of People with Dementia Living in Care Facilities.

The Alzheimer’s Association-Greater Illinois Chapter is offering a free online resource, Encouraging Comfort Care: A Guide for Families of People with Dementia Living in Care Facilities. This 21-page booklet provides information to families and staff of long-term care facilities about Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias, particularly care issues related to the late and final stages.

The Guide will enable families to make informed choices about a variety of medical decisions they may face on behalf of loved ones with dementia living in nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and other types of care facilities. It also equips families to ask good questions aimed at obtaining the best care for their loved ones, including a checklist of comfort care measures to be discussed with staff members of care facilities.

For staff members of long-term care facilities, the guide is a tool for those who wish to educate families and assist them in care planning.

To view and download the free guide, click here.