Posts Tagged ‘home care western chicago il’

According to a study published last year in The New England Journal of Medicine, one in five Medicare patients returns to the hospital within 30 days of being discharged. The problem is an expensive one: in 2004, these readmissions cost Medicare $17.4 billion dollars, the researchers also found.

Read more from the New York Times by Clicking HERE.

For more assistance with an aging loved one in your life visit our website at www.maryandmikecare.com.

A major contributor of heart disease and stroke is salt!  Visit us at www.maryandmikecare.com for information and assistance for an aging loved one in the Brookfield, IL area. 

Consumers’ tastes make it difficult to dash salt from diets

For years, Americans have been advised to consume less sodium, and they’ve taken that advice with a grain of salt.

Even many health-conscious consumers figured it was the least of their worries, especially compared with limiting their intake of calories, saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol and sugar.

ANTI-SALT INITIATIVE: 16 companies pledge to cut sodium

All that changed last week when a report from the Institute of Medicine urged the government to gradually reduce the maximum amount of sodium that manufacturers and restaurants can add to foods, beverages and meals. The report put a spotlight on what doctors and nutritionists have argued is a major contributor to heart disease and stroke.

Read more at usatoday.com or by Clicking Here.

Here is a great and helpful article that I found and wanted to pass on to you.  For more assistance with an aging loved one in your life visit our website at www.maryandmikecare.com. 

They’re great for diabetics — and for everyone else. People with (or without) diabetes should sample these 10 super foods

What are you eating? Choosing the right foods really does make a difference, especially if you are one of nearly 24 million Americans who have diabetes.

Research shows that “eating a healthy diet,” coupled with exercise and maintaining normal body weight, can “prevent type 2 diabetes in people who are predisposed” to develop the disease, says Christine Tobin, a certified diabetes educator and president of Healthcare and Education for the American Diabetes Association.

Tobin notes there are lots of lists of so-called super foods, but the American Diabetes Association chose its 10 best super foods for both type 1 and 2 diabetics because they contain nutrients that are especially important to people with diabetes, such as calcium, potassium, magnesium and vitamins A, C and E. They are high in fiber, which helps you feel full longer and keeps your glycemic index low so they don’t spike blood sugar (thus increasing hunger). And, Tobin says, they help maintain healthy levels of blood pressure and blood fats (like cholesterol), which are important for all of us but especially so for diabetics.

Read more about the TOP 10 (DIABETES) SUPER FOODS by Clicking Here.

Here is a great article from the New York Times that answers some of the more basic questions regarding the Class Act, which has gone through many changes throughout the health care overhaul.  For information and assistance with elder care for an aging loved one in the Darien, IL area, visit us at www.maryandmikecare.com.     

Parsing the New Law on Long-Term Care

Call it Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s final bequest.

A new blog about what changes in the health care system might mean for

The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act, or Class Act, the first national plan to help the great majority of Americans who have no insurance for long-term care, became law in March. Even though there was little fanfare — the measure was just one piece of the broader health care overhaul — the idea had been hugely important to Mr. Kennedy and his staff, who had been working on the current version of the plan since 2003.

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Here is a good article that I found about Alzheimer’s that I wanted to pass on to you.  For more assistance with an aging loved one in your life visit our website at www.maryandmikecare.com.

Seniors hoping to stay sharp in old age are bombarded with recommendations, from doing brainteasers to drinking red wine. But a recent review of research brings sobering news: Currently, there is no good evidence that any supplement, medication, diet or behavior change actually prevents Alzheimer’s or other age-related cognitive decline.

Such a grim verdict on a much-dreaded disease might seem like cause for despair. It’s not, say researchers.

“The bad news is we have nothing that’s been proven to prevent Alzheimer’s disease,” said Cynthia Carlsson, a professor and Alzheimer’s researcher at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, who was not on the panel that reviewed the research. “But the good news is we’re really at a tremendous point in understanding more about the disease causes.”

For instance, evidence is mounting to suggest Alzheimer’s damages the brain well before outward mental impairment shows up. So if doctors had tools to identify these pre-symptomatic individuals, they could start early treatments to help at least slow the mental slide.

Read more from agingcare.com or by Clicking Here.

 ”Arthritis is a debilitating disease that profoundly impacts the lives of millions of Americans on a daily basis,” says John H. Klippel, M.D., president and CEO, Arthritis Foundation. “The effects of the 46 million Americans with arthritis on the economy are enormous; the direct and indirect medical costs of this disease are estimated to be $128 billion each year. With the aging of baby boomers, the prevalence of arthritis is expected to rise by 40 percent – that is up to 67 million people – by the year 2030.”

Moving is the Best Medicine is the message for the 2010 Arthritis Awareness Month.

Original content HERE.  

Please visit http://www.arthritis.org/ to learn more about this debilitating disease.  For information and assistance with elder care for an aging loved one in the Westmont, IL area, visit us at www.maryandmikecare.com.

Treating hearing loss is an important thing to take care of.  Here is an article that I found that can help you with that.  For more great information and assistance with an aging loved one in your life visit our website at www.maryandmikecare.com. 

There’s no time like the present to treat hearing loss

(ARA) – Hearing loss can be life-altering. People who have difficulty hearing can feel isolated and lose self-confidence, which can put a strain on relationships with family and friends. But even when people who are losing their hearing are aware of the problem, it can be difficult to bring up the idea of getting a hearing aid. If you take the time to talk about why now is the most important time to get a hearing aid, it can make a huge difference in their lives.

If you or someone you know is being impacted by hearing loss, the thought of doing something about it can be daunting. Keep in mind the following tips – as well as the idea that having this talk might just improve your quality of life and your relationships.

If you are opening the conversation with someone, consider the following:

* Talk about both of your perceptions – but be open and not accusatory. For example: “Could you understand the server at dinner last night?”

* Talk about situations where you both may have problems and then situations where one of you seems to do better.

* If activities have changed, for example, he or she has stopped going to meetings, etc., talk about how hearing can impact the ability to feel connected and comfortable in these situations.

* Talk about the common signs and symptoms of hearing loss – for example, turning the TV up loudly, complaining about other people mumbling, etc.

* Take a hearing assessment online – like that on Starkey.com – together and see how you both do.

* Go with your loved one to the hearing test with a hearing professional so you can share your perspective as well.

When the decision is made to get a hearing aid, it’s helpful to realize there is an adjustment period. It can take a wearer some time to re-adjust to being able to hear well.

When the person wearing the hearing aid is still new to it, it helps to be conscious of where and how you’re speaking to him or her. Be sure that you are devoting all your attention to the wearer, and cut out as many distractions as you can. Seek out well-lit spaces where it’s easiest to see each other’s facial expressions, which are a big part of any conversation, and face each other. Avoid actions that make it harder to hear or cause distraction, like eating during the conversation, reading the paper or resting your chin on your hand. When adjusting to a new hearing aid, it helps to shut windows and turn off the TV when having a conversation, and to sit close to the person during conversation.

It can take time for the brain to re-adjust to hearing things fully, so it’s important to speak at a natural level and pace. Try not to speak too quickly – a good way to slow down your speech a bit without going too slowly is to make sure that you’re pronouncing each word clearly, so that it doesn’t rush into the next word. If the person you’re speaking with misunderstands something you say, try rephrasing your sentence. Some words are harder to hear (or lip-read) than others.

Because some of the most common complaints about hearing aids are feedback and background noise, do your best to eliminate those problems. New technology advances have made great strides in allowing hearing aids to cut out feedback and reduce the difficulty of hearing in noise. S Series from Starkey not only cuts out the annoying whistling and allows for better hearing in noisy conditions, it can also be personalized based on individual lifestyle assessments.

Encouraging a loved one with difficulty hearing to get a hearing aid will have a positive impact on his or her life and yours. While it can be a difficult transition, once he or she is accustomed to it, having a hearing aid will make the world much richer.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Here is a great article for anyone who is caring for an aging loved one with Alzheimer’s .  Visit us at www.maryandmikecare.com for help with a loved one in the area. 

Many Alzheimer’s Patients Find Comfort in Books

Familiar music can engage those with Alzheimer’s when almost nothing else can, researchers have shown. Now it appears that books written for these patients may have a similar effect.

Researchers have found in a number of studies that reading can improve a patient’s quality of life. The meanings of written sentences can be understood by — and prompt cogent responses from — even those who have difficulty handling verbal exchanges.

Caregivers may be surprised to learn that reading ability is not always destroyed by Alzheimer’s.

Read more by Clicking Here.

Here is a great article that I came across and wanted to pass along to you.  For more great information and assistance with an aging loved one visit our website at www.maryandmikecare.com.

Illness in the family? How to reduce caregiver stress

(ARA) – Who would ever imagine a healthy college senior might suffer a stroke? But that’s exactly what happened to Nancy Worthen’s daughter, Maggie, at the end of her senior year at Smith College in Massachusetts.

When Maggie fell into a coma after experiencing a brain stem stroke, one of the many stressful challenges Worthen faced was keeping family and friends from around the world updated on her daughter’s condition. “You just have so many people who want information and are trying to reach you,” she says. “We wanted to make it simple for people to find out what was happening.”

Worthen turned to a resource that’s becoming increasingly popular among families and caregivers of patients who’ve experienced a serious health event like Maggie’s stroke – free, personalized Web pages where they can post information about their loved one’s progress.

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Here is an interesting article that I found and wanted to pass on to you.  For more great information and assistance with an aging loved one in your life visit our website at www.maryandmikecare.com. 

Treatment Eases Involuntary Laughing, Crying Tied to Alzheimer’s, MS

Calming the condition can greatly improve patients’ quality of life, experts note

Involuntary crying or laughing can be a common symptom in patients with certain neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer’s, multiple sclerosis or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

However, a combination of drugs could be the first effective long-term treatment for the problem, researchers say.

The new treatment for curbing these unwanted crying/laughing episodes — known to doctors as “pseudobulbar affect” or PBA — uses two drugs, dextromethorphan and low-dose quinidine.

Read more by Clicking Here.