The Promise Makers

Can we keep the promises we make to our parents?

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Aging Parents Needing Extra Care--Who Helps Best? Us? Others? What We Need to Keep in Mind

8 Instructive things to keep in mind when considering assisted living, home health care, and family caregiving.....

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Aging Parents and Far-Away-Living (or Not) Children. Thoughts About Home Health Care (or Not)

The dilemma when health issues increase

Most caring children--far-away-living or not-- have undoubtedly thought about the time when living alone will become problematical for their parents....

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Medical Emergencies, Emergency Rooms, Hospitals: Getting Optimal Care

CBS News presented a segment about the “Best Hospitals” issue. It’s the video’s specific information, imparted by Dr. Jon Pook in the interview, that I found most instructive. Dr. Pook is a doctor at at NY-Presbyterian/Columbia U. Medical Center and chief medical correspondent for CBS news.

He discusses measures to insure getting optimal hospital care. For example, he stresses the importance of communication needing to be “a good hand-off” between the patient’s regular doctor and the hospital’s doctor or the hospitalist, comparing it to the passing of the baton in a relay. He calls attention to basic, but critical, things........

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Best Hospitals 2013-14: U.S. News & World Report

The US News & World Report “Best Hospitals” issue is always an excellent resource. I’ve copied from the website and added links and my text, with the goal of helping parents age well.

For example, click this link http://health.usnews.com/best-hospitals to research a particular medical specialty and find the best hospitals with that specialty. For example, Mt. Sinai, which had the #1 Geriatrics rating in 2010 and 2011, was #2 in 2012, and is #4 for 2013-14. The top 10 Geriatrics Departments:

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Older Traveler, Limited Mobility, Abroad Aboard a Barge at 79--What We Learn

A gray-haired woman, bent over her walker, was moving somewhat awkwardly towards our group and the private bus that was taking us to the Gare de Lyon in Paris. We would then board the TJV for a barge trip in Burgundy.  Although 99-year-old, Sr. Advisor R has said "DON'T ASSUME" countless times, I did assume this woman wasn't traveling on our barge. WRONG!

Initially I didn't know her age, nor that she was accompanied by a sister--11 years younger. While I do know that affect influences our first impression of people and while I've been trained, as a counselor, to be objective and nonjudgmental, barge travel isn't luxury liner travel. It involves a degree of mobility--at minimum navigating steps to get to the bedrooms and bathrooms below deck, and often walking ladder-like steps with railings and a gangplank to get from the barge to often  unmanicured terrain--all this before reaching the point of interest.

In  six days I watched a 79-year-old......

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Aging--Celebrating Elders' Birthdays: A Once-A-Year Chance

My mother didn’t want a birthday celebration; in fact it just occurred to me: I can’t ever remember there being a birthday party for her. I think she didn’t want a “fuss.” I wonder if she didn’t want to discuss her age. (She looked younger than she was–died 2 weeks before her 89th birthday.) In any event, we all complied. Being a far-away-living child, I made a card, sent a gift, phoned–we were all happy with that and I never regretted it.

Dad, on the other hand, enjoyed celebrating so we chose destination birthday celebrations......

Being mindful of the 9 points listed in the last post would, I trust, have averted the surprise party and denture disaster. And isn't a surprise guest an excellent alternative for those who would hate a surprise party?

As we continue our commitment to help parents age well, birthdays give us many options--only limited by our good sense--for adding stimulation and joy to our elders' lives.

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