Today the Obama Administration announced the release of the National Alzheimer’s Plan. U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius reaffirmed our nation’s commitment to conquering Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, with a specific goal of finding effective ways to prevent and treat the disease by 2025.
For more information about the plan and to watch a short video from Maine’s own Dr Coleman, Click Here!
Archive for the ‘Information You Can Use’ Category
Dementia Care Workshop for Caregivers; Bay Square at Yarmouth and Advantage Home Care Team Up
Tuesday, May 15th, 2012
Dementia Care workshop.
Bay Square at Yarmouth and Advantage Home Care team up to provide caregiver training for those caring for someone with Dementia. Looks like a great program. Make sure you register to attend.
Mother’s Day Gift Ideas: Buying for Seniors
Wednesday, May 9th, 2012Mother’s Day is next Sunday, May 13. Traditionally the second Sunday in May, Mother’s Day became an official holiday in 1914. Mother’s Day gift ideas often center around spring and it’s an especially fun holiday to celebrate and shop for.
Here are a few Mother’s Day gift ideas that might inspire you!
- The traditional Mother’s Day brunch or lunch, with a nice card
- Flowers or a blooming plant
- Seeds or plants for the garden, and a gift certificate for some planting help
- Blossom-scented soaps and lotions
- A pretty spring-colored cardigan
- Flower-themed cards or stationery, and stamps
- a gift in her name to a favorite non-profit or organization
- Alter flowers in her honor at church
- a basket of favorite foods
- a card filled with gift certificates for help around the house or yard or road trips to favorite place
- movie gift cards, or perhaps a NetFlix subscription
- Tickets to a concert or summer theater or trip to the Maine Botanic Gardens
- an appointment for a multi-generational family portrait
Experiences and time count for alot, but it you’re far away, helping your mom enjoy something that’s special to her is one of the great Mother’s Day gift ideas. Does she finally have time for painting lessons? Has she always longed to learn how to hook rugs, play the piano or learn French? Italian or Chinese cooking classes? An exercise program?
One of the best Mother’s Day gift ideas is simply to write a long letter, detailing a few favorite memories, and thanking mom for the time she spent raising you.
Hospice Care in Maine: When to Call for Hospice
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012The Dear Abby column today had a question from a reader that tugged heartstrings. When to call for hospice? If you think you or a loved one may need hospice care in Maine, when to call for hospice becomes the all-important question.
When to call for hospice has to be a question answered after discussion with your doctors and with your local hospice care provider. Hospice care in Maine is often covered by Medicare when recommended by your physician (often because the patient has a terminal diagnosis and six months left in life.) but when to call for hospice is also about comfort, both for the patient and the caregivers. Hospice workers are experienced and skillful, as well as patient and respectful. They can help the patient feel more in control and better about their last days, and help the family understand the process and give their loved one attention as family members, not caregivers.
Hospice care in Maine is provided by many health care organizations, including Androscoggin Home Care & Hospice, Hospice of Southern Maine, Chans Home Health Care at Mid Coast Health and other groups. Hospice care can be provided at home, and also in several dedicated hospice homes around the state, including Lewiston and Scarborough.
It’s never too eearly for hospice discussions when someone is facing a life-threatening illness or is nearing the end of life. Hospice can be arranged quite quickly. It’s much, much better to have the hope and help provided by hospice early enough to give the patient support and the family some assistance and relief. The whole point of hospice carein Maine is to give the patient some help and clarity about their life as it ends, and sometimes that gets increasingly difficult as aging progresses or disease take their toll.
Coastal Rehab Cape Elizabeth, ME hosts Open House at new location: Ocean View, Falmouth
Tuesday, May 1st, 2012
National Drug Take Back Campaign Maine Locations including Maine Medical Center
Friday, April 27th, 2012
A nationwide effort to collect unused and unwanted medications for safe disposal takes place Sat. April 28. Both prescription and over-the-counter medications will be collected across the state with no questions asked and no requests for identification.
Maine Medical Center will have two collection sites – one in Portland and one in Scarborough – on Friday April 27 and Sat. April 28 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. People can turn in unused or expired medication at the hospital’s parking lot on 141 Chadwick Street near the hospital’s South Entrance or at the parking lot of its Scarborough Campus, 100 Campus Drive, just off Route 1.
Senior Drug Take Back Program
Click here to find a drug take back site near to you.
Hunger in Maine: Stamp Out Hunger via the Mailman
Wednesday, April 18th, 2012Help AARP Stamp Out Hunger in Maine. On Saturday, May 12, 2012 you can make a difference to hungry people in your community. Plan your shopping now to include an item or two every week, so you can donate a bagful to Stamp Out Hunger.
For the 2nd year, AARP Maine and the AARP Foundation will sponsor Stamp Out Hunger, the nation’s largest single-day food drive, under their Drive to End Hunger program. This is the 20th year of this effort, which is hosted by the National Association of Letter Carriers and the U.S. Postal Service.
What should you put in the bag? Canned meats and fish, canned soup, juice, pasta and pasta sauce, canned vegetables, cereal and rice are good choices. Make sure peanut butter is in plastic, not glass. Consider canned or dried formula, too. Check expiration dates in you’re raiding your own cupboard, and DO NOT include glass containers. You can help stamp out hunger in other ways, too. This is also a great chance to volunteer at your local food pantry to help off load, sort or organize incoming food. 
Here’s how it works: On May 12, letter carriers across the country will collect non-perishable food donations from their postal customers at the same time as they deliver the mail. They – in some cases with the help of volunteers – will then deliver these donations to a local food bank or pantry. Households nationwide will be alerted to the opportunity to participate in this food drive through a postcard or bag delivered to their home. Go to http://www.drivetoendhunger.org/fillthebag for more information and to enter a sweepstakes to win a year of free groceries!
If you want to know more about food insecurity in Maine, here’s a great article from the Lewiston Sun Journal that really puts a face on families who struggle weekly to put enough food on the table.
Just over 15 percent of Maine households weren’t able to put adequate food on the table at times during the past year, according to the latest survey by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That’s up from about 9 percent a decade ago. The number of food supplement — formerly known as food stamps — cases has more than doubled in the past 10 years, from about 53,000 in August 2001 to more than 132,000 in August 2011.
Stamp Out Hunger: Food Insecurity Grows in Maine
Gluten Free: How I Stopped Eating Gluten and Started Breathing Easy!
Monday, April 16th, 2012My journey to gluten free health started by accident. My symptoms were more than annoying but less than life threatening: a chronic cough and throat clearing, very frequent heart palpitations (every hour) and esophageal spasms that made me feel like I’d swallowed a live snake.
I’d been on prilosec or protonix since July, and finally quit the acid reducer December 1, when it became clear that my symptoms were not going away, and so were probably not from acid reflux. By this time, I was coughing so frequently I couldn’t hold a decent conversation, and had a difficult time talking on the phone. My doc was stymied.
An allergy, perhaps?
I spent a fair amount of time researching my symptoms, and finally decided that I had the hallmarks of some sort of inflamatory reaction. Hmmmm….like an allergy. Gluten allergies and intolerance have been rising in the population, so there’s lot of info on gluten reaction. I decided to go fluten free. I quit eating wheat, rye, barley and spelt products, which meant most baked products and pasta.
And what happened? An amazing transformation. Within a week of going gluten free, my symptoms abated. Within two weeks of being gluten free, my symptoms were gone. Completely gone. No coughing, no weird throat feelings, so irratic heart beat.
So now I’m living a gluten free life. Just a regular gluten free/gluten intolerant life, I mean. I have an acquaintance whose child was so gluten allergic they had to have separate toasters and the kid couldn’t use the same butter knife. (My friend quickly took the whole family down the gluten free road, since she couldn’t deal with the torque of trying to essentially keep two separate kitchens.)
Cooking Gluten Free
I read lables and make substitutes. Tamari sauce instead of soy sauce. Rice or corn chex or oatmeal instead of my beloved Wheatena. I had been substituting high-fiber barley for rice, but now I’m back to brown rice as a meal option. The only real problem is bread. Worse, since I’m a bread baker, it meant figuring out new ways to bake gluten free bread and rolls. I’ve discovered that there are literally hundreds of gluten free receipes on-line, and I’ve added a shelf of odd flours to my pantry. I’ve successfully made gluten free corn bread, excellent gluten free buckwheat crepes, delicious gluten free rolls for Easter that seemed to combine the best of popovers with yeast rolls, and a nice nutty sandwhich loaf.
Best of all, I feel great, I’m not paying for prescription meds, and I’ve controlled my symptoms naturally. It takes a little extra time, but because I’m a good and frequent cook, it’s easy for me to use rice flour in my gravy or corn tortillas instead of flour tortillas when I make fajitas.
I recommend the gluten free experiment if you’re suffering from a chronic cough and throat clearing (and you’ve checked it out with your doc and don’t have any other obvious cause). Especially if you’ve been told it’s a symtpom of acid reflux, but it’s not going away. It’s an easy experiment to make, because you can eat almost everything except baked goods and pasta. Give yourself a personal challenge and see what you feel like in a week.
Good luck and best wishes from Deborah at Maine Senior Guide
Grandchildren and College: College Tuition Help from Grandparents
Saturday, April 14th, 2012Have you always planned to help your grandchildren pay for college? With the price of college nowadays, college tuition help from grandparents matters more than ever. There are several ways you can help them with college expenses and save on your tax bill at the same time.
Here are three tips to help grandchildren pay for college.
College Tuition Help from Grandparents
1. Write a Check to the Child
Just as in 2011, you can give a grandchild $13,000 in cash a year — or $26,000 if your spouse joins in the gift — without incurring gift tax implications. Write the check and give it to your grandchild. Still have time before college? Set up a custodial account at a bank, mutual fund or brokerage firm. The money can be used for tuition or other college-related expenses.
2. Give Stock
College tuition help from grandparents can also take the form of appreciated stock or other investments. If you give appreciated stock or other investments to your college-bound grandkids, your family can potentially cut the capital gains tax bill. Let’s say you want to sell stock you’ve owned two years to free up some cash for tuition. You will probably pay 15 percent capital gains tax rate on the profit. But you can give a certain amount to your grandkids at a lower tax rate.
Keep in mind that if your child is under age 19, or age 24 if a full-time student, the Kiddie Tax rules may apply.
If a child affected by the Kiddie Tax rules receives “unearned income” above a $1,900 threshold in 2012 (unchanged from 2011), the excess is taxed at the top tax rate of the child’s parents. In other words, a portion of your child’s earnings could be taxed at a rate of up to 35 percent. If the threshold is not exceeded, the Kiddie Tax doesn’t apply for that year. If it is exceeded, only unearned income in excess of the threshold gets taxed at the parents’ higher rates.
3. Pay Tuition Yourself
Tuition can be paid directly to a financial institution with no gift tax implications, under current tax law, but the money cannot pass through the hands of grandchildren (or their parents) first. It has to go right to the university. This approach might be appealing if you’re worried about the youngsters spending it frivolously.
This tax break applies only to tuition and can’t be used to pay room, board and other college expenses. However, you can still give your grandchild a cash gift of up to $13,000 in 2012 (unchanged from 2011) to cover those other expenses ($26,000 if your spouse joins in the gift) and not incur any gift tax implications. College tuition help from grandparents: the gift that keeps on giving.
Senior Blood Pressure: free check available
Thursday, April 5th, 2012CHANS Home Health Care is pleased to offer free community-based blood pressure clinics. The clinics will be held at the following times and locations:
• Monday, April 9 11am-12noon Westrum House, 22 Union Street, Topsham
• Tuesday, April 10 2-3pm Dike’s Landing, Bath Housing, 20 Dike’s Landing Road, Bath
• Tuesday, April 10 5-6pm Bath United Church of Christ, 150 Congress Ave., Bath
• Wed., April 18 10-11:30am Mid Coast Hunger Prevention, 84A Union Street, Brunswick
• Thursday, April 19 11:30am-1pm People Plus, 35 Union Street, Brunswick
• Friday, April 27 9:30-10:30am Pejepscot Terrace, 36 Pejepscot Terrace, Brunswick
The National Institutes of Health recommends screening adults for high blood pressure every two years for anyone with blood pressure of 120/80 mmHg or less. If you have high blood pressure or prehypertension you should have your blood pressure checked at least once every year.
Most people cannot tell if their blood pressure is high because there are usually no symptoms. High blood pressure increases the risk of heart failure, heart attack, stroke, and kidney failure. If you have high blood pressure, regular blood pressure measurements can help determine if your medication and diet are working.
Low blood pressure may be a sign of a variety of illnesses, including heart failure, infection, gland disorders, and dehydration.
For more information about the blood pressure clinics please call CHANS Home Health Care at (207) 729-6782.
Blood pressure screening is also available at Mid Coast Hospital, Wednesdays from 10:00 a.m. – Noon in the Community Resource Room near the Emergency Department.