Tuesday, June 10th, 2008

What are the symptoms of a stroke?

The symptoms of stroke are distinct because they happen quickly.Because stroke injures the brain, you may not realize that you are having a stroke and to a bystander, someone having a stroke may just look confused.

Symptoms of a Stroke May Include:

Sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm, or leg (especially on one side of the body)
Sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding speech
Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
Sudden trouble walking, dizziness, loss of balance or coordination
Sudden severe headache with no known cause
If you believe someone is having a stroke call 911 immediately.

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

Nursing Home Aduse is a serious crime. Most states have laws that include criminal penalties for different types of elder abuse. Often, nursing home abuse is not reported  because the individual homes do not take elderly abuse seriously. Residents are afraid they will be embarrassed, hurt or declared incapacitated if they tell.

Who to Report Abuse to

If you or someone you love has been the victim of nursing home abuse, contact legal counsel to find out what your rights are. If someone is in immediate, life-threatening danger, call 9-1-1 immediately.

If the danger is not immediate, but abuse is suspected, you must tell someone. Contact:

• A doctor

• A family member you trust

• Local adult protective services

• Long-term care ombudsman for the appropriate state

• Local police

How to Report Abuse

It is everyone’s personal responsibility to report any suspected case of elderly abuse to the authorities. When making a call to report nursing home or senior living abuse, you should be ready to give the elder’s name, address, contact information and details about your concerns.

Some questions you may need to answer include:

• Does the elderly person have any known medical problems?

• What kinds of family or other social support system does the elderly person have?

• Have you witnessed any incidents of hitting, yelling or other abusive behavior?
If you are reporting abuse but are not related to the victim, calling a nursing home abuse hotline is your smartest choice. Each state has organizations that monitor these hotlines and can offer help.

If you are making a formal complaint against a nursing home or specific staff member, you should find a sitter to monitor them in your absence or remove them from the nursing home right away.
 

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

An inquiry into acute care in New South Wales public hospitals is claiming elderly patients are being pressured into accepting nursing home beds even though they may not be suitable for the nursing home.

A social worker at Blacktown Hospital, Claudia Graham, has told the inquiry many elderly patients are discharged from hospital too quickly.

Ms Graham says families are often forced to place their loved ones in unsuitable aged care facilities because of pressure from the hospital to make beds available for other patients.

She says she often witnesses a rapid deterioration in elderly patients who have been told they will have to go into a nursing home.

Ms Graham wants to see a change of emphasis from patient flow to patient care.

She has told the inquiry more transitional care beds should be made available to allow time to find suitable nursing homes for patients.

The inquiry is taking evidence today at Sydney’s Westmead Hospital.

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

A jury Thursday awarded $1 million in punitive damages to the family of a 104-year-old woman who died after a short stay at Villa Valencia Nursing Home in Laguna Hills.

The judgment against the center’s owner, Virginia-based Sunrise Senior Living, comes two days after the same Orange County Superior Court panel rendered a separate $1 million verdict for negligence in the March 2005 death of Mary Kathleen Adams of Laguna Hills.

Sunrise Senior Living operates 440 senior homes in the U.S. and abroad – says it will appeal the decision.

The trial, which began in March, revolved around the physical decline of Adams, a retired teacher who admitted herself to the home after fracturing her leg.

Adams then developed pressure ulcers and was not given adequate treatment, such as daily skin checks, according to the lawsuit. She left the home after about two months, on Feb. 25, 2005, and died about two weeks later because of the ulcers, the lawsuit says.

Thursday, May 29th, 2008

Every year over 38 million Senior Citizen’s suffer drug complications, 180,000 of which are life-threatening, according to research by Dr. Jerry Gurwitz, chief of geriatric medicine at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

The risk for drug errors is seven times greater in seniors than in people under age 65, according to Medco Health Solutions, a pharmacy benefits manager.

“When I was in training, my mentor taught me the maxim that any new symptom in an older person should be considered a drug side effect until proven otherwise,” Gurwitz said.

Only a doctor can tell you whether your older relative is suffering from medication side effects or from an actual disease.

Read the entire artcile at cnn.com are steps you can take to help your doctor sort out which is which.

Thursday, May 22nd, 2008

More than 100 million Americans should be monitoring their blood pressure at home, according to three major health organizations that are issuing at home blood pressuremonitoring.Hypertension is a blood pressure reading greater than 140 over 90. Pre-hypertension is a reading higher than 120/80, the desired level, but just below 140/90.

Some of the specific recommendations include:

Patients should purchase a blood pressure monitor with cuffs that fit on the upper arm.Wrist monitors are not recommended.
Two or three readings should be taken at a time, one minute apart, while resting in a seated position. The arm should be supported, with the upper arm at heart level and feet on the floor.Readings should be taken at the same time every day, as recommended by a health-care provider.The target goal is a reading under 135/85, or less than 130/80 in high-risk individuals.The home monitoring recommendations open the door to a totally new way of controlling blood pressure, Oparil said.
Source: usnews.com

Thursday, May 15th, 2008

According to a recent study, having high cholesterol levels in your 40s may raise the chance of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life.
The study involved 9,752 people in northern California found that those with high cholesterol levels between ages 40 and 45 were 50 percent more likely than those with low cholesterol levels to develop Alzheimer’s disease later in life.The findings were presented this past week at a meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Chicago.

Read the entire article at reuters.com

Tuesday, May 13th, 2008

Results from a recent large government experiment are lowering the hopes that two common painkillers can prevent Alzheimer’s disease or slow mental decline in older people.The study will be ending early due to not enough data to prove how the drugs act on thinking and memory.

The study showed that the arthritis drug Celebrex and the over-the-counter painkiller Aleve showed no benefit on thinking skills. Earlier results from the same research showed the two drugs didn’t prevent Alzheimer’s, at least in the short term.

The experiment was halted several years early in 2004 when heart risks turned up in a separate study on Celebrex. Researchers also had noticed more heart attacks and strokes in the people taking Aleve in the Alzheimer’s prevention study.

Monday, April 21st, 2008

Top 7 warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease are:
1. Asking the same question over and over again.
2. Repeating the same story, word for word, again and again.
3. Forgetting how to cook, or how to make repairs, or how to play cards — activities that were previously done with ease and regularity.
4. Losing one’s ability to pay bills or balance one’s checkbook.
5. Getting lost in familiar surroundings, or misplacing household objects.
6. Neglecting to bathe, or wearing the same clothes over and over again, while insisting that they have taken a bath or that their clothes are still clean.
7. Relying on someone else, such as a spouse, to make decisions or answer questions they previously would have handled themselves.

Source: www.nih.com

Friday, April 18th, 2008

A new analysis of a study on an experimental Alzheimer’s drug reinforces the notion that the compound is broadly effective at improving the cognitive function of mild to moderate Alzheimer’s patients.A second analysis of the trial on the medication, known as Dimebon, also reveals that by improving the Alzheimer’s patients’ ability to perform daily tasks, the drug shaves off almost an hour a day in the amount of time the average caregiver must attend to his or her patient.The twin observations raise hope for a new and improved therapy to address both the symptoms and the underlying mechanisms driving a disease that the Alzheimer’s Association says currently affects more than 5 million Americans.

Read the full article on www.msn.com

Source: www.msn.com