U.S. in 37th Place
June 22, 2011 at 10:30 am | Posted in Joanne Jordan, Office Manager | Leave a commentTags: Health, Life, News, Study
I read an interesting article this week in The Record about life expectancy in the U.S. – specifically, that life expectancy here ranks 37th in the world, far short of other industrialized nations. And we lag further behind each year.
A baby girl born in the U.S. in 2007 can expect to live to almost 81; a boy, 75½ . Had those babies been born and raised in Japan or Iceland, they could expect to live about 5 years longer.
Within the United States, there are enormous variations in life expectancy if you compare it at the county level. For men, there’s a 15 year range—from a low of 65.9 years in Holmes County, Alabama to a high of 81.1 years in Fairfax County, Virginia. For women, the range is more than 12 years, with a low 73 ½ in Holmes County, Alabama and a high of 86 in Collier County, Florida.
The life expectancy of black males in two-thirds of the counties in the U.S. in 2007 was the same as that of the top 10 industrialized countries more than 50 years ago.
With 30 to 40 million uninsured people in the U.S., lack of preventive care and high rates of chronic illness account for some of America’s poor performance. Across the country, men and women could add at least four years to their life expectancy by addressing four key health problems: smoking, high blood pressure, diabetes and obesity.
Here in Bergen County, NJ, the picture is not quite as bleak. Bergen County ranked 22nd out of 2300 counties for men’s and women’s life expectancy in 2007. In fact, males here are ahead of those in the top 10 healthiest countries worldwide.
My best explanation for this good fortune is a combination of factors, including our proximity to top-notch medical facilities and providers, and higher per capita income and education than many areas. But it is appalling how many people right in our own backyard do not have access to quality medical care. How can that be, in the country that spends more money on health care than any other country in the world?
Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management serves Bergen, Passaic, Rockland and Orange County with nurses licensed in New Jersey and New York. We help families dealing with various issues related to their elderly loved ones and would be happy to discuss any concerns you may have related to long term care. Please contact us in our Ridgewood Office at 201-587-5283 to schedule a consultation.
So Many Services for Seniors!
May 17, 2011 at 10:30 am | Posted in Pat Linard, PR | Leave a commentTags: bergen county, Family, GCM, Help, News, Personal
We are in the process of developing a new brochure for Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management. So we had a meeting today in our office in Ridgewood to brainstorm about all the great things we do. In addition to our brochure, we also use a folder that we give to potential clients and those suppliers of services that we meet face to face. In it, we have a diagram which shows a client surrounded by “geriatric care management.” Reaching out from geriatric care management are all of the services which we use and refer to in our care plans. Well, actually, the diagram doesn’t cover all of them but it notes many, such as doctors, nursing homes, hospitals, assisted living facilities, home care agencies, counselors, Medicaid , Veterans Benefits, insurance providers, financial planners and elder law attorneys.
What it doesn’t show are the myriad of other services which we work with or research on behalf of our clients. I didn’t realize how many other unique ways we help seniors and their families until our newest care manager mentioned that she had never heard of many of the services for seniors that we use to keep our clients independent and happy, and improve their quality of life. And she has worked in a doctor’s office for many years, with a large population of older adults and the elderly.
So here are a few examples: Once our clients have made progress by completing their round of physical therapy, we don’t want them to slide backwards. That’s why we refer them to a person who specializes in home-based exercise programs for senior citizens that will increase their balance and stamina. Another of our clients was bored at home so we developed an activity plan that included brain stimulating games. We have another client that needs to apply for Medicaid for his parents. The process is very involved, time consuming, and detailed—difficult for someone who holds a full time job and has a family. We have connected him with someone who knows the ins and outs of the process and can help him for a reasonable fee. And of course, since many of our clients have dementia, we are always on the lookout for ways that we can both help them with the disease but also help their families that are caring for them.
Services for the geriatric population are changing—at least that’s what I see in Bergen County. There are so many niche services with a specialty that it’s hard to know them all. But we always try to find the best services for those that need them if we can’t provide them ourselves.
Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management serves Bergen, Passaic, Rockland and Orange County with nurses licensed in New Jersey and New York. We help families dealing with various issues related to their elderly loved ones and would be happy to discuss any concerns you may have related to long term care. Please contact us in our Ridgewood Office at 201-587-5283 to schedule a consultation.
Clean Out That Medicine Cabinet!
April 27, 2011 at 10:30 am | Posted in Joanne Jordan, Office Manager | Leave a commentTags: Education, Help, News, Prevention, Tips
Here’s a free program that I love to promote: Operation Take Back. Sponsored by the DEA, this initiative provides a safe and legal way to dispose of unwanted, unused, and expired medicines. The benefits are many: it keeps these meds out of our water supply, out of the hands of teens who may abuse them, and out of the homes of older adults who may unwittingly ingest them. The drugs are collected at community sites, no questions asked, and are properly disposed of.
The first ever National Prescription Drug Take Back Day was held on Saturday, September 25, 2010 and collected 121 tons of prescription drugs. By popular demand, a second Take Back day has been scheduled for this Saturday, April 30, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at locations all across the nation. In Bergen County alone, there are more than four dozen collection sites planned.
To find your nearest drop-off site, visit DEA Diversion.
Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management serves Bergen, Passaic, Rockland and Orange County with nurses licensed in New Jersey and New York. We help families dealing with various issues related to their elderly loved ones and would be happy to discuss any concerns you may have related to long term care. Please contact us in our Ridgewood Office at 201-587-5283 to schedule a consultation.
Dementia? The Time is Now to Fight it!
August 6, 2009 at 9:39 am | Posted in Mark Heftler, Admin | Leave a commentTags: Dementia, News, Tips
The Bergen Record the other day published a great article by Linda Shrieves detailing a number of tips to help younger adults “beef up their brains” in an effort to stave off dementia in later life.
Here are just a few of the 20 tips she listed:
4. Take dance lessons. In a study of nearly 500 people, dancing was the only regular physical activity associated with a significant decrease in the incidence of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. The people who danced three or four times a week showed 76 percent less incidence of dementia than those who danced only once a week or not at all.
7. Read and write daily. Reading stimulates a wide variety of brain areas that process and store information. Likewise, writing (not copying) stimulates many areas of the brain as well.
11. Take classes throughout your lifetime. Learning produces structural and chemical changes in the brain, and education appears to help people live longer. Brain researchers have found that people with advanced degrees live longer — and if they do have Alzheimer’s, it often becomes apparent only in the very later stages of the disease.
15. Pray. Daily prayer appears to help your immune system. And people who attend a formal worship service regularly live longer and report happier, healthier lives.
17. Get enough sleep. Studies have shown a link between interrupted sleep and dementia.
20. Eat at least one meal a day with family and friends. You’ll slow down, socialize, and research shows you’ll eat healthier food than if you ate alone or on the go.
For the entire list, and the original article, head over to the Bergen Record!
Helping Older Drivers
August 5, 2009 at 10:00 am | Posted in Sophia Heftler, GCM | 2 CommentsTags: AAA, Driving, News, Safety
I want to share an article I read in the July 30th edition of the Bergen Record written by Karen Rouse with you. It is very informative and I found some interesting facts and tips in it. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
Did you know AAA offers resources specifically for aging drivers and the challenges they may face? The transition from an independent driver to passenger who must depend on others to get around can be painful for many aging motorists.
The AAA New Jersey Automobile Club hopes to make it easier for mature drivers to know not only when it’s time to make that transition, but how to do it better. The organization recently announced the launch of www.AAASeniors.com a web site that addresses such challenges. The number of drivers 65 or older in the United States is estimated to grow to 30 million – about one in four drivers – by 2030 according to AAA.
“Our research found that many children of older drivers are unaware of the resources available to help them effectively address the issues of safety and mobility of their aging parents,” says Michelle Mount, director of public affairs for AAA New Jersey.
“People are remaining active and living longer than ever before. The driver safety tools and resources found on AAASeniors.com are designed to keep seniors safe and mobile for as long as possible”
The site features resources on senior mobility, how aging affects ones ability to drive safely and how to have a conversation with older drivers about whether they should continue driving and how to choose a vehicle. It also helps people assess whether an older family member or friend who is having driving problems by looking at the following signs:
- Does the driver have difficulty working the pedals – a signal of waning strength?
- Does the driver have difficulty merging on freeways or turning onto busy streets – an indication of visual problems?
- When merging, changing lanes or backing up, does the driver rely only on the mirrors rather than turning fully to check for blind spots over his or her shoulder? That may indicate a stiff neck.
For these and other assessment tools check AAASeniors.com.
I checked out the site and as a care manager I found it to be a very useful tool for adult children who are concerned about their loved-one’s continued ability to drive. It provides useful information to help extend their time behind the wheel safely.
Thank you Karen for a providing us with the information regarding this new web site and resource for adult children caregivers!
A Surprising Off-Label Use for Botox?
March 17, 2009 at 10:22 am | Posted in Mark Heftler, Admin | Leave a commentTags: Botox, News, Stroke
Botulinum toxin is kind of a scary thing – as the most toxic protein known to man, it’s used as a medication for a number of purposes, ranging from the cosmetic application to the prevention of muscular spasms.
These days, however, it looks like Botox is claiming another procedure for its repertoire of successes: freeing up muscles of stroke victims. Though not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration, the off-label use of Botox on stroke victims has been widely accepted by Medicare as a reimbursable procedure.
For this, the patient is injected deep into the muscle tissue with Botox. Though Botox cannot restore the use of muscles when stroke has destroyed the brain region that controls them, it can help patients look and feel better and often find it easier to dress, hold objects and bathe themselves.
Second Quarter Newsletter
March 16, 2009 at 8:46 am | Posted in Mark Heftler, Admin | Leave a commentTags: News, Support
The first quarter is quickly ending, and that means a busy time for Distinctive Care. Beside the typical paperwork and accounting, important number tracking and things of that nature, we’re very excited to be wrapping up our second newsletter. We’ve received a great deal of positive feedback from our first newsletter, which went out the beginning of January, and we’re hoping to keep our friends and contacts equally as happy and informed as we’ve done in the past.
If you’re interested in signing up for the newsletter, I encourage you to head over to our website. Just drop your information in the sign-up box, and we’ll get our Medicare guide right out to you, along with our quarterly newsletters and anything else we find newsworthy and important.
Our First Support Group Meeting
February 17, 2009 at 8:00 am | Posted in Sophia Heftler, GCM | Leave a commentTags: Alzheimer's Disease, Dementia, News, Support, support group
Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management’s first caregiver support group meeting was a success!
The group seemed to come together very well and it was an open and caring place to discuss the challenges and rewards of providing care for a loved one. The meeting is at the First Presbyterian Church on Shuart Lane in Ramsey, NJ. Caregivers from both nearby towns in Bergen and Rockland County are welcome to attend. The group is facilitated by Barbara Siembieda, MS, Geriatric Counselor and co -faciliatated by myself, Sophia Heftler, RN, CALA, Geriatric Care Manager. We have both been through the facilitator training offer by the Alzheimer’s Association. I have many years experience in working with Clients who have varying degrees of Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia. It’s very exciting to be able to help caregivers to better understand the disease, its challenges and its rewards.
Welcome to all those who are considering joining. Take the first step and contact Barbara at Distinctive Care Geriatric Care Management in Ridgewood, NJ at 201-857-5283.
RFID Networks to Fight Alzheimer’s
February 6, 2009 at 8:15 pm | Posted in Mark Heftler, Admin | 2 CommentsTags: Alzheimer's Disease, Dementia, News, Personal, Prevention, Study, Technology
Interestingly enough, the blog article I wrote regarding the Elder Gadgets at CES has garnered a fair amount of interest, and led to increased blog traffic – clearly, there are some elder-oriented individuals out there who are interested in technology, like myself! So, for today, another article about technological advances being used in the geriatric field.
The University of South Florida is testing a system of RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) chips on bracelets in conjunction with strategically placed receivers to track elderly resident in facilities. By monitoring their patterns, the researchers hope to be able to diagnose the onset Alzheimer’s in their patients. Sudden veers, long pauses, and a tendency to wander are all indicators of dementia. By spotting these early on, the researchers hope to be able to implement preventative measures for their patients and residents, stopping the disease before it has time to take hold.
In other news, for those who have been following our blog and perhaps have actually met me, I just wanted to say I was accepted to Seton Hall Law School today, and should be starting there in the fall of this year. Yay!
For the Coffee Drinkers Out There
January 29, 2009 at 2:34 pm | Posted in Mark Heftler, Admin | Leave a commentTags: Alzheimer's Disease, Coffee, Dementia, News, Prevention, Study
A 21 year study was just recently completed. During the course of the study, 1,409 middle aged men and women, along with the number of coffees they drank each day, were carefully tracked. At the end, it was discovered that those individuals who drank between 3 and 5 cups each day were 65% less likely to develop dementia when compared to those who drank 2 cups or less.It was also noted that drinking more than 5 cups each day was not significantly different enough from the 2 to 5 cup range, so it’s not simply an issue of more is better.
A few reasons for the results have been posited. In the past, coffee consumption has been linked to decreased risk for Type 2 diabetes, a disease which has been associated with increased risk for dementia. Coffee may also have an antioxidant effect in the bloodstream – this would reduce the risk for vascular forms of dementia. It’s also been discovered that caffeine has been shown to reduce the buildup of amyloid plaques in the brain during animal studies. Amyloid plaques are one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease.
So for all those coffee drinkers out there, don’t forget to keep drinking your brew each day!
Mark Heftler
Sophia Heftler
Pat Linard
Christine Clark, GCM
Joanne Jordan, Office Manager
Amy Shein, GCM
Deborah Varisco, GCM
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