Long Term Care

While the Kindle or iPad has replaced the hardcover book for many, some of us still have shelves and piles overflowing with decades of accumulated books. These books may represent a time in our life, a phase in our career or just deeply appreciated words of wisdom, and it’s hard to…

While there is evidence that a growing number of seniors reside with younger family members for economic reasons, there are some who opt to live this way for the benefits of intergenerational living. In her recent personal essay on the website On Being, Courtney Martin writes about the Oakland, CA co-housing…

Being a caregiver is a tough job, whether you’re a family member or a paid employee. Injury among caregivers is high, given the physical demands of the job, and most paid workers earn so little that they must rely on Medicaid for their own health insurance. The hours are long,…

For many people with Alzheimer’s or significant memory problems, their lives are lived mostly in the past- their days are spent thinking of long ago places and decades-old activities. Some get confused and try to physically return to those places, causing caregivers concern as they attempt to wander away. The result?…

While flu vaccinations are a highly recommended, if underutilized, public health measure, they’re especially important for seniors and particularly those seniors who reside in residential care facilities. Flu can be a serious and even fatal illness in older people. Now researchers from Brown University have found that upping the usual…

You may not realize it but China faces a greater crisis of an aging population than nearly any other nation on earth. The one-child policy of China has meant that as seniors age out of the workforce, there are fewer younger people to enter fill in the gaps, or help care…