Archive for What's New in Eldercare
Common Sense Caregiving by Gary Joseph LeBlanc: A must read for anyone caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s
A columnist and book dealer from Spring Hill Florida Gary Joseph LeBlanc offers a personal and down to earth account of his experience caring for his father who suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. This common sense account of is a must read for anyone caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease. Written as a completion of sixty-five articles from his column, LeBlanc gives an encouraging and enlightening guide for anyone navigating the turbulent waters of caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease.
Green Houses Growing Across the Country
The Boston Globe today takes a look at a “Green Home,” The Leonard Florence Center for Living in Chelsea, Mass. which opened a few months ago. The facility has 10 private bedrooms on six stories, and focuses on allowing seniors to establish their own schedules and maintain independence and social interaction while still being monitored by a caregiver. Instead of having a full staff, the facility rather has two primary caregivers that assist all of the residents with any needs they may encounter.
The Leonard Florence Center for Living was founded by the Chelsea Jewish Foundation, and is one of 89 Green Houses across the country. AARP is currently lobbying for legislation to ease access to money to construct smaller nursing homes and assisted living facilities.
Readers: Are you or a loved one living in a “Green Home”? What aspects of this type of living environment solidified your decision? Are there drawbacks that you were not expecting? Tell us in the comments!
Report to Analyze Effect of Alzheimer’s on Women, Society
The Alzheimer’s Reading Room today presents an announcement that the second in The Shriver Report series, an ongoing study in transformational moments in American culture and society, will focus on female Alzheimer’s caregivers. Last year’s report, titled “The Shriver Report: A Woman’s Nation Changes Everything,” was an extremely detailed look at the changes in our society caused by the large number of women joining the workforce in recent decades. On October 15, “The Shriver Report: A Women’s Nation Takes on Alzheimer’s” will be released, signifying the immense impact the disease has had on American society.
The study is led by and named for Maria Shriver, founder of the California Women’s Conference, and examines how aging Baby Boomers reaching their mid-60s and encountering Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia will impact society in the coming years. It will main focus on the effects on women, since they are a large majority of informal caregivers. Shriver provides an overview of how this shift will impact the workforce, with women needing to take time away from work to care for their aging loved ones, family life, and the healthcare system.
Study: Less Competition for Dates Means Longer Life
Males who grew up in areas with a higher male-to-female ratio live longer, a new Harvard Medical School study reported on by The Boston Globe explains. Men who were faced with less competition for dates in their late teens and early 20s lived an average of about three months longer than those who were young adults in areas with a higher proportion of females.
One of the authors of the study, Dr. Nicholas Christakis, professor of medicine and medical sociology at Harvard Medical, speculates that the stress of competing for a date, as well as the potential delay in getting married, may be the biggest factors in longevity.
“Wives are traditionally charged with taking care of the health needs of household members. Consequently, delays in marriage, absence of marriage, and limited partner choice might be more relevant to men’s health than to women’s,” the study says.