Category Archives: Publications of Interest
Articles of interest from published magazines, newspapers, other blogs or websites
What does the future of home health care hold? We want your help to find out
(From MedCity News August 25, 2014)
by Teresa Lee
The value proposition of providing care in the home is simple: improve patient outcomes while providing care in the least costly, and generally patient-preferred, setting. Americans, especially as they age, prefer to age in place, which remains an option for millions of older Americans and those with disabilities thanks in part to the Medicare home health benefit.
To date, the role of home health care has been influenced significantly by Federal policies, particularly the Medicare program’s home health benefit. This framework, however, was not designed to support the rapidly growing demographic of older Americans, which estimates suggest include up to 10,000 new Medicare eligible adults each day.
Age In Action – Newsletter
Below is a link to the newest issue of the “Age In Action” newsletter which is issued quarterly by the Virginia Center on Aging at the School of Allied Health Professions, Virginia Geriatric Education Center and Virginia Commonwealth University (Edward F. Ansello, Ph.D., Director)
Interdependence: The Real Secret of Aging at Home
From: The Huffington Post Blog Post 50 05/15/2014
The Blog by Rachel Anderson
Aging at home sounds so normal. Indeed, throughout most of human history it’s been the norm. Yet there are issues. (Of course there are issues. This is a blog.)
Often, people say they want to age in place because they know where their friends are, their support team (from doctors to hairdressers and mechanics), their shops and shopkeepers and of course, their family members and friends.
But nothing stays the same forever, so I asked AARP Foundation’s Walter Woods, a vice president, programs-Isolation Impact Area, what happens as all those connections themselves age, shut down, move away, sicken or even die?
Plus, suburbs. So many people live in areas with inadequate transit.
The Village Movement Coming Soon?
From: The DavisVanguard May 9. 2014 Davis, California
by Renee Dryfoos
It should be no surprise that thousands of people are turning 65 each and every day in our country. And, it seems rather generally known that options for living a quality life throughout the life-span while remaining in one’s own home, are limited.
For those of us wishing to remain in our own homes, a relatively new and exciting model has emerged. Beginning in Boston with Beacon Hill, the “Village” movement has begun, and now boasts approximately 100 villages nationwide. These are “virtual” villages, i.e. they are networks of households in geographic proximity to one another, sharing services of a common organization, their “Village.”
Aging at Home: How Your Social Life Keeps You Healthy
(From : The Huffington Post — POST 50 May 01, 2014)
The Blog by Rachel Anderson
The numbers are coming in about a rising problem with social connectedness among older adults. It’s not about their social status, as it might have been in younger years. Rather, it’s about how entrenched they are in robust social networks. Do they have enough social resources to stay safely independent? Do they feel connected and secure?
The answers to those questions can have startling implications for their health.
Once again, we turn for insight to AARP Foundation’s Walter Woods, a vice president, programs-Isolation Impact Area. He rattles off the data – that lack of close personal connections raises the odds of dying early (almost as much as poverty does the same); that our bodies don’t like being alone and tell us in a thousand ways — through higher blood pressure, more stress hormone, greater inflammation, poor sleep and depression.
New Habitat program to help seniors stay in their own homes
(From: Visalia Times-Delta05/06/2014)
Written by: Teresa Douglass
Volunteers paint a house as part of Habitat for Humanity’s A Brush with Kindness home repair program. Since many of the recipients of this program are seniors, Habitat would like to expand the program to include other resources for seniors such as home safety inspections, Meals on Wheels and Neighborhood Watch. This new program, Aging in Place, aims to help seniors live independently as long as possible.
Before Betsy Murphy retires in June as executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Tulare County, she’s come up with one more program that will likely catch on and thrive.
She named it Aging in Place.
CvilleVillage 