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| Elder Care Information |
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What Most Long Term Care Professionals Don't Know
Medicare recognizes this need and, therefore reimburses your residents to receive advanced behavioral health services? making them free to your facility! Psychologists provide a wide variety of valuable and tested clinical services that can provide a big shot in the arm to your nursing home care. For example: 1. Psychotherapy is a treatment approach, which in many cases is equally, if not more, effective than drug therapies in nursing home care. Cognitive and interpersonal psychotherapies, for example, are effective treatments for depression. 2. Psychological alternatives to drug therapies are particularly valuable to elderly populations receiving nursing home care who are suffering from overmedication and side effects of various drugs and their interactions. These alternatives can reduce the medication use in your long term care facility thus reducing any complaints of over-medication of residents. 3. Psychologists can significantly bolster the impact of the nursing home care and treatment plan of patients suffering from chronic illnesses through a variety of advanced interventions providing a powerful treatment synergy that is invaluable. 4. People can be helped to control high blood pressure and manage chronic pain or headaches with fewer medications, when psychotherapy, behavioral techniques, and biofeedback are added to nursing home care. 5. Breast cancer patients who participate in group psychotherapy survive longer and manage their symptoms better than those who do not. 6. Pre-surgical psychological counseling leads to fewer complications and a reduction in medication utilization. 7. Psychotherapy added to nursing home care enables some diabetics who are at risk for erratic treatment compliance to maintain their discipline of diet and insulin treatments. 8. Psychological interventions help cancer patients to manage the unpleasant side effects of their chemotherapy so that their lives are disrupted less seriously and their daily effectiveness is maintained. 9. Individual and family psychological interventions added to your nursing home care are effective for enhancing resident quality of life. It does this by enabling the resident to effectively manage the depression, anxiety, and other adjustment issues resulting from the onset of chronic and disabling illness. 10. Psychotherapy and/or other behavioral interventions enrich your nursing home care by helping your residents to change lifestyle habits in order to reduce risks for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer. Become recognized as a forward-looking leader in long term care by having your own specialized psychological treatment program. It is well documented that psychologists assist residents in developing coping strategies and healthy behaviors, which can reduce the factors associated with the development of illness. 11. The psychologist has a unique expertise in the diagnosis and treatment of conditions addressed in nursing home care such as stress disorders, neurological impairments, brain disease and psychosomatic illness. Psychologists have been in the forefront of high quality research involving the mutual influences which mind, body, emotion and disease have on each other. 12. Next-generation physicians consult psychologists to obtain an expert assessment regarding any psychological disorders present, advice on the implementation of behavioral programs, the pinpointing of specific behavioral symptoms and the targeting of resulting treatment goals. One reason is that 81% of adults say that they would feel more comfortable seeing a physician who consults with a psychologist. 13. Diagnostic tests performed by psychologists are state-of-the-art tools. Increasingly, physicians are turning to them to pinpoint any emotional or behavioral factors that may be affecting or interfering with the treatment process in nursing home care. 14. These next-generation diagnostic services give added power to your nursing home care because they can be used to assess among other things, prognosis and the existence of functional impairments, degree of intellectual, cognitive and/or psychological impairment and the extent of any dementia or memory impairments. They also specify treatment and documentation guidelines which enable staff to reduce risk by use of more concrete factors to list in charting and by enhancing the odds for resident recovery and/or the slowing of the process of deterioration. 15. Sophisticated physicians are increasingly applying these results to develop faster-acting and longer-lasting rehabilitative services and treatment programs that stand head-over-heels above your nursing home peers in long term care. 16. Psychologists emphasize the least restrictive, safest, drug-free, most cost-efficient treatment alternatives available leading to them being increasingly recruited to provide services to long term care residents and being a factor in the numerous compliments administrators start getting from their bosses. 17. Dynamic Team-building. They will empower your nursing home care many times over because they are experts in facilitating cohesive team-work to generate results. They excel at working with teams of other health care professionals in nursing homes and other comprehensive rehabilitation facilities. Dr. Michael Shery is the founder of Long Term Care Specialists in Psychology, a firm specializing in consulting to the long term care industry regarding mental health programming. Its website, http://www.NursingHomes.MD, provides state-of-the-art mental health treatment, facility staffing and career information to long term care professionals. Receive a copy of "How Strength-Embedded Counseling Reduces Depression in Long Term.
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Alternative Medicine Prepare to Make Long-term Care Choices Several months ago, I was coming out of a gas station when a woman stopped me and asked me what I did for a living. On the back of our van is our web address. On the side wing windows is "Free Senior Home Placement." I explained to her that I am a Long Term Care Consultant. She breathed a sigh of relief. "Great I need you!" When Assistance with Long Term Care Becomes Necessary According to the Administration on Aging, it is estimated by 2030, the older population will more than double to approximately 71.5 million. It is also estimated that between 39 to 49 percent of people will use nursing home services during their lifetime. Unfortunately, there may come a time when your loved one may require assistance with long term care. The following is a list of warning signs one should be aware of when evaluating your loved one's situation. If the senior exhibits two or more of these signs, assistance is likely required: Long Term In-home Care Options Are you worried that you may lose all your life's earnings and nest egg due to the rising costs of in-home long term care? As you get older do you have the necessary finances to protect yourself from going broke while slightly incapacitated? Many seniors are worried about are worried about the costs of long-term health care. Solitary Confinement -- for Life Sixty-five year old Arthur Jones served a self-imposed life sentence - in his own home. What Most Long Term Care Professionals Don't Know Medicare recognizes this need and, therefore reimburses your residents to receive advanced behavioral health services? making them free to your facility! Review of the Changing Protein Requirements for Seniors Youth, it is said, is wasted on the young. Too busy figuring life they hardly take the time to enjoy it. Fortunately, with medical research and scientific progress, lifespans have doubled over the last century. We can now start life at fifty and have another go at youth. Health consciousness, appropriate diet and exercise, can make the later years of life a pleasant experience. Dietary principles play as especially important role in this regard. Compensating for the physiological changes of aging, they can give us better odds at achieving our genetically determined lifespans. Scaling Down (Almost) Painlessly Moving to a smaller house or apartment in a retirement community almost always involves a certain degree of trauma, both for the elder who's moving and for family members. However, by planning ahead you can reduce the discomfort involved and turn what might well become a nightmare into a pleasant event. Caregiving Across The Miles?Tips for Successful Long Distance Caregiving Caring for a parent or a loved one is a difficult job. Your duties as a caregiver become increasingly difficult as the miles increase between you and your loved one. The following are a few helpful tips in order to plan ahead in the event your loved one needs your help, as well as ideas on how to become a successful caregiver once your caregiving duties begin. Scaling Down (almost) Painlessly Moving to a smaller house or apartment in a retirement community almost always involves a certain degree of trauma, both for the elder who's moving and for family members. However, by planning ahead you can reduce the discomfort involved and turn what might well become a nightmare into a pleasant event. New Hope for Alzheimers Treatment There is now widespread agreement among research scientists and medical professionals that Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is a problem quickly growing to vast proportions. As the life expectancy of Americans continues to rise, increasing the percentage of the population over 65 years of age, so does the number of Alzheimer's cases. Paying For Elder Care Just Got Easier It's not a surprise that thousands of families across the nation are facing the challlenges of an aging population. The "sandwich" generation, those who are caring for their children as well as their parents, have been feeling the financial pinch of caring for loved ones. Paying the high cost of Elder Care can cost a family thousands of dollars a month. Too many families are unaware of how utilizing a loved one's life insurance policy can not only pay for Assisted Living and Nursing Home care, but can maintain the standards of living for the remaining spouse. How To Find Affordable Senior Housing A few years ago Miranda M. became a widow. After a short time her grandson (her only available relative) persuaded her to move across several states to be closer to him. Using The Proper Wheelchair Will Make Your Everyday Life Easier If you have an injury or a health problem that restricts your mobility, you can achieve the independence you desire with a wheelchair that's just right for you. Wheelchairs are constructed for people of every size, shape, and age, and have features designed to meet the many diverse interests of users and appropriate for the various levels of assistance required. Important factors to consider when choosing a wheelchair is the type of terrain and the general weather conditions with which you have to cope. There are wheelchair accessories as well as wheelchair ramps and lifts that will make life easier and more convenient if you experience life on wheels, permanently or temporarily. Mom Wont Participate! Q: Six months ago we placed my mother in an assisted living facility. She gets along fairly well, but we thought she would get involved with all of the activities. Instead she complains that she is very lonely, and won't participate. Do you have any suggestions? Helping Caregivers Get Comfortable Asking For Help Becoming a care giver might not have been a conscious decision on your part. It may have arrived quietly and unnoticed because you are the adult child of your elderly parents who now require care or you may have a special needs child that exacts your constant attention or a friend or spouse has become very ill and needs your support. In any of these situations the impact of providing constant care is tremendous. If Using The Stairs Has Become A Daily Struggle, A Stair lift Could Change Your Life Using stairs is an everyday nightmare for many people. As we grow older the stairs in our home can become more of a struggle due to mobility problems associated with old age, an accident or illness. Often when out shopping or in a public place an alternative can be found such as a lift or escalator, but the stairs at home can become a daily challenge. Many people who experience difficulty climbing the stairs come to dread having to use them. For people whose bathroom or toilet is upstairs it can be even more of an issue. Caring for Aging Relatives It happens somewhat slowly in the beginning, maybe with a small cough that gets worse as time goes on. It might simply begin with absent mindedness which is totally out of character, followed by total memory lapses. What do we do when our parents eventually need taking care of after they have spent so much of their adult lives taking care of us? What precisely is a child's responsibility to them? Is it self-centered to relocate them into an assisted home? And which siblings should shoulder the responsibility? These are questions which plague families whenever a parent happens to become sick. Second Hand Stair Lifts Buying second hand stair lifts is a viable and cost effective alternative to purchasing a brand new stair lift. Most stair lifts can be purchased new or second hand. Strategies on Paying for Nursing Home Care and Medicaid The decision to place your loved one into a nursing home is an extremely difficult decision, often causing much guilt for the caregiver. It is a very emotional decision for most clients we see and most are under a certain amount of stress, often great, when facing what they consider to be a drastic course of action. Respiratory Help Is Available For Seniors With COPD As HMOs Continue to Drop Coverage for Seniors - Now Over 500,000 Victims - Those Needing Expensive Respiratory Medication, Support and Homecare Services are the Hardest Hit
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