I had the opportunity to write an article for Health Leaders entitled The Chief Experience Officer that looked at having someone in a hospital or long term care facility responsible for how the health care experience is delivered, spiritually, physically, clinically. As a marketer, I wrote it simply to support...
Archives: January 2009
Make Your End of Life Decisions While Your Life is in Full Bloom
There is a great article in the NYT in which they interview a now retired physician Robert L. Martensen about the state of health care. He observes that “most Americans die in hospitals or nursing homes, and neither is configured to take care of dying patients.” So you end up...
Elder Abuse – Families Often Responsible
We often think of abuse of our elders in terms of physical abuse and often associate that with nursing homes. But abuse can also be verbal, financial exploitation. And most abuse comes from family caregivers themselves. The latest study in the British Medical Journal reports that more than half of...
Grandma Is Getting More Exercise Than You
I got a Wii. Woo-hoo. A Christmas present. And guess what, instead of watching television all night and sitting on my a__ I burn at least some calories. And as I have observed in my nursing home travels and speaking engagements, Wii is all the rage with seniors. Califormia, no...
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
In my keynote The Meaning of Life (so presumptuous huh!) we cover eight basic points that we have learned from older folks about living a quality life. Among them we talk about lifelong learning, having a great attitude and having a broad social network. We have cited studies in the...
Elder Abuse Support
It’s said that it has to come to this. We have blogged before about the Good Samaritan Society Nursing Home in MN and the abuse suffered by residents at the hands of seemingly wholesome teenagers. Now the 15 families of the alleged abuse victims have formed an official support group...
Adult Medical Day Care an Alternative Worth Considering
One of the first things you may consider for a loved one who needs extra assistance is adult day care or adult medical day care. It is a great resource particularly for those isolated in their homes who are capable of going out but choose not to socialize. Here is...
Even Hollywood Can’t Take Care of Our Elders
The Motion Picture & Television Fund — a charity started by Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford and other Hollywood luminaries to care for entertainers – – said Wednesday that it was closing a hospital and nursing home by year’s end. The facilities have been a $10-million annual drain on the fund’s...
Falls Associated with Certain Drugs
In a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine falls among elderly people are significantly associated with several classes of drugs, including sedatives often prescribed as sleep aids and medications used to treat mood disorders. Antidepressants showed the strongest statistical association with falling. Anti-psychotics often used to treat schizophrenia...