Category Archives: Senior Living

Parkinson’s Awareness Month

by Bernice Detig Development Manager, Los Angeles & Ventura

April is Parkinson’s Awareness Month, and I, along with Parkinson’s Foundation, California Chapter urge everyone in Southern California to join our community as we promote greater awareness of how Parkinson’s disease (PD) affects the one million Americans living with PD, and their families

Awareness is even more critical now during the coronavirus pandemic to ensure that we are reaching this vulnerable community to provide the tools and resources they need to better manage the disease from home or in the event of a hospital stay. These tools include the Parkinson’s Foundation Aware in Care hospital safety kit, medical alert card, a customizable medication schedule and more.

 

To get involved, individuals can take part in the Foundation’s many online programs, including Moving Day Virtual, an online event that encourages the Parkinson’s community to move and fundraise to support better research, care and resources. Additionally, PD Health @ Home offers virtual health and wellness programs to stay safe and healthy at home during the coronavirus pandemic. Community members can also share these online programs, their story or others’ stories on social media.

My uncle is affected by Parkinson’s Disease and daily takes life changing medications, exercises and lives his best life at home during this pandemic. Together, we can make life better for people with Parkinson’s disease by improving care and advancing research toward a cure. I can be reached at 562-317-4866 [email protected]

If you have been diagnosed with or care for someone with Parkinson’s Disease, please know that you are not alone at the Ventura Parkinson’s Disease Support Group.

For more information and meeting dates please call Patty Jenkins at 805-766-6070 or email her at [email protected].

Increase funding for services and programs older adults

by National council On Aging (NCOA)

Congress is trying to agree on the content of more legislation to relieve the effects of the COVID-19 outbreak. That means your voice matters more than ever.

To save lives and support older adults in crisis, Congress must include significant increases in funding for services and programs older adults and their caregivers depend on.

Contact your Representatives and Senators today and tell them these four things should be in any COVID-19 relief bills:

Give additional resources to Older Americans Act programs and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program so more older adults have food, in-home services, and caregiver support.

Make it easier to use Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services so vulnerable older adults can get the care they need at home.

Make essential health care and prescription drugs more affordable for low-income Medicare beneficiaries by increasing premium and cost-sharing assistance.

Help nonprofit charitable organizations maintain operations and meet rapidly growing demand by providing additional support.

Thank you for taking action! Please ask your friends and colleagues to join you. Every voice matters.

Grief Support during the Coronavirus Stay in Place Order

During this challenging time of COVID 19, Livingston Memorial’s Camarillo Hospice is committed to providing bereavement services to the community. Their highly skilled grief counselors and volunteer support group facilitators are providing tele-therapy during the stay in place order to those grieving the death of a loved one. If you, or someone you know is in need of grief support, please contact Stacia Sickle, Coordinator of Bereavement Counseling, at 805-389-6870 x452. For more information on Camarillo Hospice, visit LMVNA.org

Other support groups conducted through Tele-therapy at this time:

  • Young Widow and Widowers Support Group Tuesdays 5:30 to 7:00 pm
  • Widow and Widower’s Support Group Wednesdays 1:00 to 2:30 pm
  • Bereaved Mom’s Support Group: 2nd Thursday of every month 6-7:30 pm
  • Adult Loss of Parent Support Group: 1st and 3rd Thursday of every month 6:00 to 7:30 pm
  • General Bereavement and Good Grief Club TBA

Education program on communication, behavior and self-care helps families facing Alzheimer’s

Individuals living with dementia often experience changes in behavior that can be confusing to friends and family. Behavior is a powerful form of communication often used by people living with dementia to express their needs. However, for some caregivers, learning effective communication and managing behaviors can be a challenge. The Alzheimer’s Association is offering the Savvy Caregiver Workshop to help nonprofessional caregivers communicate effectively with their person and manage behaviors.

The Savvy Caregiver Workshop teaches the knowledge, skills, and attitudes needed to handle the challenges of caring for someone with Alzheimer’s disease. Through an evidence-based curriculum, participants will learn techniques to:

  • Reduce caregiver distress
  • Communicate effectively with their person
  • Access community resources
  • Become more competent caregivers for their person

The Alzheimer’s Association® is offering this four-part workshop on May 5, 12, 19, and 26. In accordance with the statewide Stay at Home order, this workshop series will be conducted online in a virtual classroom.

The Alzheimer’s Association is the premier source of information and support for the five million Americans with Alzheimer’s disease. Through its national network of chapters, it offers a broad range of programs and services for people with the disease, their families and caregivers and represents their interests on Alzheimer’s-related issues before federal, state and local government and with health and long term care providers.

To register for this workshop and to find information about other classes and support groups, call (800) 272-3900 or visit alz.org/CACentral.

Outbreaks can be stressful

Getting plenty of sleep can reduce stress.

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may be stressful for people. Fear and anxiety about a disease can be overwhelming and cause strong emotions in adults and children. Coping with stress will make you, the people you care about, and your community stronger.

Stress during an infectious disease outbreak can include

  • Fear and worry about your own health and the health of your loved ones
  • Changes in sleep or eating patterns
  • Difficulty sleeping or concentrating
  • Worsening of chronic health problems
  • Worsening of mental health conditions
  • Increased use of alcohol, tobacco, or other drugs

Everyone reacts differently to stressful situations

How you respond to the outbreak can depend on your background, the things that make you different from other people, and the community you live in.

People who may respond more strongly to the stress of a crisis include

  • Older people and people with chronic diseases who are at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19
  • Children and teens
  • People who are helping with the response to COVID-19, like doctors, other health care providers, and first responders
  • People who have mental health conditions including problems with substance use

Take care of yourself and your community

Taking care of yourself, your friends, and your family can help you cope with stress. Helping others cope with their stress can also make your community stronger.

Ways to cope with stress

  • Take breaks from watching, reading, or listening to news stories, including social media. Hearing about the pandemic repeatedly can be upsetting.
  • Take care of your body.
  • Take deep breaths, stretch, or meditate
  • Try to eat healthy, well-balanced meals.
  • Exercise regularly, get plenty of sleep.
  • Avoid alcohol.
  • Make time to unwind. Try to do some other activities you enjoy.
  • Connect with others. Talk with people you trust about your concerns and how you are feeling.

Older Adults

Non-essential air travel should be avoided.

Older adults, 65 years and older, are at higher risk for severe illness. We are learning more about COVID-19 every day.

What you can do

If you have a serious underlying medical condition:

  • Stay home if possible.
  • Wash your hands often.
  • Avoid close contact (6 feet, which is about two arm lengths) with people who are sick.
  • Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces.
  • Avoid all cruise travel and non-essential air travel.
  • Call your healthcare professional if you have concerns about COVID-19 and your underlying condition or if you are sick.

For more information on steps you can take to protect yourself, see CDC’s How to Protect Yourself

Stress and coping

Older people are at higher risk for severe illness from COVID-19 which may result in increased stress during a crisis.

Fear and anxiety about the COVID-19 pandemic can be overwhelming and cause strong emotions.

Things you can do to support yourself

  • Take breaks from watching, reading, or listening to news stories and social media. Hearing about the pandemic repeatedly can be upsetting.
  • Take care of your body. Take deep breaths, stretch, or meditate. Try to eat healthy, well-balanced meals, exercise regularly, get plenty of sleep, and avoid alcohol and drugs.
  • Make time to unwind. Try to do some other activities you enjoy.
  • Connect with others. Talk with people you trust about your concerns and how you are feeling.
  • Call your healthcare provider if stress gets in the way of your daily activities for several days in a row.

If you, or someone you care about, are feeling overwhelmed with emotions like sadness, depression, or anxiety, or feel like you want to harm yourself or others call 911

Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s (SAMHSA’s) Disaster Distress Helpline: 1-800-985-5990 or text TalkWithUs to 66746. (TTY 1-800-846-8517)

How seniors can protect their health and finances during the pandemic

Social distancing and staying in place have become important.

by Chris Orestis, President of LifeCare Xchange

Throughout the coronavirus pandemic, health officials have been clear and consistent in their message to seniors: While anyone can fall victim to COVID-19, those who are 65 and older are in an especially high-risk group.

That’s why older Americans need to be especially careful and – in the case of the very elderly – family members may need to step in to make sure they are taking the right precautions, says Chris Orestis.

He offers a few tips on things seniors and their families can do:

Prioritize healthy practices. Follow health guidelines. Wash your hands, avoid touching your face, and sanitize surfaces. “Social distancing and staying in place have become important new additions to our lifestyle because avoiding contact with infected people is the surest way to prevent contracting the virus,” Orestis says. “Grocery stores and retailers have set up senior-only shopping hours, and seniors should take advantage of those. In addition, food delivery services can bring take-out meals or groceries to your home.”

Trust nursing homes. “Despite the tragic deaths that occurred at Life Care Center’s nursing home in Kirkland, Wash., the nursing home industry has been working around the clock in every community to protect their residents,” Orestis says.

Know what financial resources are available. “We’ve experienced a stock market drop, but It is important at times like this to not ‘panic sell’ and lock in your losses,” Orestis says. He points out there are still safety nets and even financial opportunities that can help seniors. For example, the passage of the CARES Act will pump $2 trillion into the economy. Social Security income, Medicare, and Medicaid payments remain unchanged. Income from annuities remains guaranteed.

For owners of permanent life insurance policies, Orestis says, there are a couple of options to get liquidity from this asset. If the owner wants to keep the policy in force, they can take out a policy loan for upwards of 90% of the cash surrender value. If the policy owner wants to stop paying premiums, they could use a life settlement to sell the policy under tax-favorable conditions to receive a percentage of their death benefit as a lump-sum today.

Vet your news sources. The coronavirus is getting round-the-clock news coverage. But mixed into the information coming from reliable sources is a flood of misinformation. “Fact-check information by reading statistics from the websites of reliable medical resources and verified news organizations,” Orestis says.

Chris Orestis, known as the “Retirement Genius,” is President of LifeCare Xchange and a nationally recognized healthcare expert and senior advocate.

A protein plays a major role in Parkinson’s disease as well as other brain disorders

by Sharon Reynolds for NIH Research Matters

A protein called alpha-synuclein plays a major role in Parkinson’s disease as well as other brain disorders. In these conditions, the protein misfolds and aggregates (collects and sticks together) to create clumps called Lewy bodies within cells. Lewy bodies are thought to be toxic to certain neurons in the brain.

Parkinson’s disease and another disease involving alpha-synuclein, called multiple system atrophy (MSA), are particularly difficult to tell apart based on early symptoms. While there is no cure for either, the two diseases require different treatments to keep people with the conditions healthy as long as possible.

Researchers led by Dr. Claudio Soto from UTHealth in Houston used a test called protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) to detect small amounts of alpha-synuclein aggregates in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). PMCA works by exposing regular alpha-synuclein protein to samples from patients that might contain misfolded alpha-synuclein. If present, the misfolded protein amplifies itself by misfolding regular alpha-synuclein. This copying process allows detection and analysis of the misfolded proteins, which aggregate and assemble into thin, twisted fibrils. Such fibrils form a large component of Lewy bodies.

Previous studies suggested that the fibrils produced in people with Parkinson’s disease and MSA may adopt slightly different shapes. To see if PMCA could be used to distinguish the different fibrils, the scientists tested CSF samples from people known to have Parkinson’s disease, MSA, and other neurological diseases not related to alpha-synuclein.

The research was funded in part by NIH’s National Institute on Aging (NIA) and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS). Results were published on Feb. 13, 2020, in Nature.

The scientists confirmed that the PMCA products from people with Parkinson’s disease and MSA reacted differently with a fluorescent dye. They showed other differences as well, such as their ability to resist degradation by molecules that cut proteins. In studies looking at the structure of the alpha-synuclein fibrils, the team found that the fibrils twisted differently between Parkinson’s disease and MSA.

When tested in samples from 94 people with Parkinson’s disease and 75 with MSA, PMCA was able to tell the difference between the two diseases with about 95% accuracy. No signal was seen when samples were tested from 56 people with other neurological diseases not related to alpha-synuclein.

“By amplifying the abnormal [alpha synuclein] aggregates, we can detect with high efficiency which disease the patient has,” Soto says. “This has huge implications both for accurate diagnosis and clinical care of the patient, and the development of new specific treatments for both diseases.”

If you have been diagnosed with or care for someone with Parkinson’s Disease, please know that you are not alone at the Ventura Parkinson’s Disease Support Group.

For more information and meeting dates please call Patty Jenkins at 805-766-6070 or email her at [email protected].

Tips to prevent Medicare fraud

You can report Medicare fraud on any kind of phone.

Help prevent scammers from using the coronavirus national emergency to commit fraud by following these do’s and don’ts.

Do’s

  • Protect your Medicare Number and your Social Security Number.
  • Use a calendar to record all of your doctor’s appointments and any tests you get.
  • Learn more about Medicare and recent scams.
  • Know what a Medicare plan can and can’t do before you join.

Don’ts

  • Give your Medicare card, Medicare Number, Social Security card, or Social Security Number to anyone except your doctor or people you know should have it.
  • Accept offers of money or gifts for free medical care.
  • Allow anyone, except your doctor or other Medicare providers, to review your medical records or recommend services.

Contact your doctor to request a service that you don’t need.

How to report Medicare fraud
You can report suspected Medicare fraud by:

Calling us at 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). TTY users can call 1-877-486-2048.If you’re in a Medicare Advantage Plan, call the Medicare Drug Integrity Contractor (MEDIC) at 1-877-7SAFERX (1-877-772-3379).

Have this information before you report fraud:

  • Your name and Medicare Number.
  • The provider’s name and any identifying information you may have.
  • The service or item you’re questioning and when it was supposedly given or delivered.
  • The payment amount approved and paid by Medicare.
  • The date on your Medicare Summary Notice or claim.

You may already be taking steps to protect your health during the COVID-19 emergency. Be sure to also protect your identity from scammers by guarding your Medicare Number.

It’s easy to get distracted and let your guard down during these uncertain times. Scammers may try to steal your Medicare Number. They might lie about sending you Coronavirus vaccines, tests, masks, or other items in exchange for your Medicare Number or personal information.

Protect yourself from scams:

Only share your Medicare Number with your primary and specialty care doctors, participating Medicare pharmacist, hospital, health insurer, or other trusted healthcare provider.

Check your Medicare claims summary forms for errors.

Visit Medicare.gov/fraud for more information on protecting yourself from fraud and reporting suspected fraud.

Sincerely,

The Medicare Team

Note: You can learn more about COVID-19 and your Medicare coverage on Medicare.gov.

Evidence review on dementia care and caregiving intervention now available for public comment

by Dr. Melinda Kelley Office of the Director (OD).

A few years ago, NIA collaborated with the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to assess the evidence for interventions to prevent cognitive decline and dementia. In 2018, in response to the emerging science presented at the 2017 National Research Summit on Care, Services, and Supports for Persons with Dementia and Their Caregivers, NIA embarked on a similar collaboration with AHRQ and NASEM — this time to assess care and caregiving interventions for people with dementia (PWD) and their caregivers. I wanted to take this opportunity to share an update about this project with you, as well as an important new opportunity for public input.

As we did for the previous review, NIA asked AHRQ to conduct — through its Evidence-based Practice Centers (EPC) program — a rigorous systematic review to understand the evidence base for effective care and caregiving interventions. For this study, we asked AHRQ to consider the complexities and multifaceted nature of dementia care and caregiving, including the diversity across populations of PWD and their caregivers, settings and intervention design and outcomes. A final review protocol, developed by the Minnesota EPC, describes the full scope of this review and the criteria for studies to be included.

From now through 04/21/2020, the draft review is posted online and is available for public comment. We invite all individuals with an interest in this topic to provide input directly to AHRQ via its evidence review page.

A second phase of this project will involve an assessment of the AHRQ-EPC evidence findings by an expert committee, established by NASEM on this topic, at the request of NIA. This committee is charged with assessing the quality of the existing evidence, based predominantly on the evidence presented by the AHRQ and the EPC in this newly released systematic review. They will also develop a detailed report to convey the current state of knowledge, identify which, if any, interventions might be ready for dissemination and implementation on a broad scale, and describe any relevant research gaps in the field.

On April 15, 2020, this NASEM committee will convene, along with other stakeholders and experts, a public workshop — to be held via videocast — to discuss the data contained in the draft AHRQ systematic review and to consider input from a range of stakeholders. We are excited to welcome the broader public, including “Inside NIA” blog readers, to join this virtual event. Following the workshop, the committee will draft a full report, expected to be released in early 2021.

We encourage you to take part in this important project by sharing your comments on the AHRQ evidence review and/or participating in the NASEM workshop. Your input is an invaluable contribution toward developing a comprehensive understanding of the best ways to help provide essential care and services for the millions of people living with dementia and their caregivers.