Elder Care
          Digest

December, 2006

 

Making a difference at the holidays

 

I - Personal Contact is the Best Gift of All

 

Want a great idea on how to make a real difference?  Gerrett Matthews writes in the Evansville (Ind.) Courier & Press that nursing home residents, more often than not, will be spending the holidays alone.  Having outlived many family and friends, they are greeted by an occasional card from a stranger and a rotating staff of professional caregivers.  His response was to compose the biographies of local residents and, in his recent article, encourages readers to select one of these residents and make their holiday special with a personal visit, call or at least a card or gift.  This simple act can make all the difference this season.

 

If you are already visiting nursing homes, then you know the joy it can bring.  If you don't know where to start, just visit a nearby nursing home and talk to the activity director or the administrator.  They should be more than happy to help you get involved.

 

Many houses of worship have nursing home or elder care ministries that would appreciate your involvement. 

 

II - Students Play Santa

 

Students at Friendship Elementary (North Carolina) have adopted the Liberty Wood Nursing Home in Thomasville (N.C.) for a community service project, according to an article 11/17/06 in The Dispatch.  The students will collect personal need items such as lotion, bath soap, shaving cream, hair brushes/combs, Kleenex, shampoo and conditioner, notepads, large print word searches, color pens, markers, sugar free gum and candy.  The children will then deliver these glad tidings in the form of goody bags to the residents this holiday. 

 

These activities are great ways to introduce young people to nursing homes.  Several volunteers with Positive Lights started out this way and now bring their own young children with them as they continue their habit of elder care volunteerism.

 

Consumer Reports Offers Nursing Home Quality Monitor

 

CBS The Early Show Health Watch hosted a special on 8/22/06 regarding the importance of choosing a quality nursing home for eldercare.  Reporting that a not-for-profit nursing home is more likely to provide good care than a for-profit facility, they directed the public to Consumer Reports.  Previously titled, the Nursing Home Guide, the Consumer Reports experts have produced a Nursing Home Quality Monitor to aide the public in the search for quality care facilities.  This tool can be accessed at www.consumerreports.org by selecting the "Health" topic.

 

There are other good resources, some of which can be found on the Positive Lights web site at http://www.positivelights.org/elderfacilities.htm

 

As Consumer Reports points out, a change in administration or ownership can make a major difference so don't rely just on historical data.  Check things out for yourself.

 

Planning Ahead for Elder-Care

 

Jennifer Openshaw discusses the financial considerations regarding eldercare in her article published 9/27/06 in the Market Watch from Dow Jones.  Read this article at www.MarketWatch.com.  A website is referenced that offers legal direction in all states www.elderlawanswers.com.  Also, check our website,  www.positivelights.org under "Elder Law" for other excellent resources.

 

St. Louis University Develops Improved Dementia Test

 

The commonly used test doctors use to detect the early stages of dementia is called the Mini Mental Status Examination (MMSE).  Researchers at the St. Louis University have now developed a test that has improved the detection of persons with mild neurocognitive disorder (MNCD).  This new test is called the St. Louis University Mental Status Examination (SLUMS).  The SLUMS test is a 30 point screening questionnaire that tests for orientation and memory, attention and executive functions.  The article in the Belleville Newsdemocrat offers a link that anyone can use to perform this test themselves, but doctors warn that this should not replace a full screening.

 

http://www.belleville.com/mld/belleville/living/16101269.htm

 

For a copy of the test, click on: http://medschool.slu.edu/agingsuccessfully/pdfsurveys/slumsexam_05.pdf

 

Additional Information on the test can be found at: http://www.slu.edu/x11329.xml

 

 

The Positive Lights Elder Care Digest is a free news service from Positive Lights, Inc. Copies may be distributed to friends and colleagues without prior permission of Positive Lights, Inc.

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