How Serious are This Year’s Seasonal Illnesses? The Ebola virus is the current headline-making illness, with the terms “epidemic” and “panic” appearing over and over on the evening news. We feel like we have been down this road before, when the swine flu and mad cow disease were the diseases everyone was afraid of. Should we be taking special measures to protect ourselves and our senior loved ones from Ebola, or can we assume that we are safe? While we seek a balanced, prudent approach to this mysterious new threat, doctors want to make sure that we don’t fail to... View Article
Senior Hospital Visits Aren’t Always Covered Under Medicare An elderly person has a health scare and his family takes him to the hospital. After a few tests, the doctor states that the patient needs to spend a few days in the hospital. He stays for a few days, receiving the typical care and treatment, and the doctor discharges him when he believes he can safely return home. So far, so good, but a few days later a surprising piece of mail arrives: it’s a bill for the hospital stay, including the drugs that were administered by hospital staff. Surely there... View Article
Memory Lapses May or May Not Predict Dementia No one is a bit surprised when a dear elderly relative forgets where she left her reading glasses. It’s perfectly understandable when a senior can’t recall the name of a distant relative who lives in another town at a family holiday gathering. There are other times, however, when a memory lapse sends up red flags in the minds of family members—having a hard time saying the name of a son or daughter, for example, or repeating a story that was told just a few minutes ago. We don’t want to overreact in... View Article
Should Patients Have More Control Over their Medical Care? Most of us stand in awe of our doctor. He peers into our ears, listens to our heartbeat, shines lights into our eyes, asks us a few questions, and somehow knows what is going on inside our body. We watch him do all this with the anxiousness of someone watching a mechanic check out their car’s engine, a machine that is a complete mystery to its owner. When the doctor hands us his diagnosis and a prescription, it barely crosses our mind to question whether he’s positive he has come up... View Article
Massage Could Benefit Some Seniors in Various Health Areas Family caregivers often feel that a gentle, invigorating massage is just what the doctor ordered. The stress of shuttling children to and from school, getting meals on the table, and checking up on aging parents simply melts away when a skilled massage therapist goes to work. But have you ever thought of actually taking your senior loved one along for a massage of her own? Experts in the discipline advise that a treatment could have significant benefits in a number of different areas, not to mention the general “good feeling” and... View Article
