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!
Posts Tagged ‘caregiver assistance’
Alzheimer’s Care: New Study Reports 1 in 7 People with Alzheimer’s Live Alone
Monday, May 7th, 2012One in seven people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease in the US live alone, and many don’t have designated caregivers or near by family members to help them judge situations as their disease progresses. That’s 800,000 Americans who will eventually need more support with Alzheimer’s care.
Screenings of older adults to catch Alzheimer’s earlier is part of the first National Alzheimer’s Plan, due to be finalized this month. The plan also urges doctors to help patients plan ahead for their future care needs while they still can, a critical component to continued independence and control. Alzheimer’s care often consumes families who are called on later in the process.
This article from the Boston Herald newspaper quotes Maine Medical Center’s Dr. Laurel Coleman, geriatrician, as she talks about Alzheimer’s care needed for patients who struggle both with a dementia diagnosis and a lack of support.
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.
Medicare in Maine: learn what’s new in Medicare at free workshop
Monday, March 12th, 2012Caroline Irwin from Coveside Senior Solutions will be discussing the latest in Medicare news at Home Instead’s March Educational Series at the Baxter Memorial Library in Gorham on Thursday, March 29, 2012, from 5-6pm.
Some of Caroline’s discussion points:
- Do you understand your current Medicare coverage?
- Are you confused by your Medicare choices?
- Do you wonder which plan is right for you: Medicare Supplement or Medicare Advantage?
- Do you review your Medicare coverage annually?
- Do you qualify for extra help with your prescription drug costs?
- Are you concerned about healthcare when you travel or winter elsewhere?
Many Maine Medicare beneficiaries find their healthcare coverage options confusing as well as overwhelming. This Medicare and YOU 2012 seminar will take the confusion out of Medicare by discussing the four components of Medicare and how they work (Parts A, B, C, and D), the types of cost share options available (Medicare Supplement, Medicare Advantage, and Prescription Drug Coverage), what to look for when shopping for a plan, and the qualifications for extra help with prescription drug costs.
Marcie Yager of Home Instead Senior Care will be hosting the free event at the library. Please RSVP to her at myager@homeinsteadmaine.com or 839-0441 to reserve your seat.
Long Term Care Insurance in Maine: What you don’t know just might lose you a few hundred thousand dollars.
Wednesday, February 22nd, 2012
By Nova Ewers, Beach Glass Transitions, LLC
Patricia Nelson-Reade, R.N., CELA, recently gave a presentation on Long Term Care planning to the Cumberland County Networking Group for Senior Service Providers at Sedgewood Commons in Falmouth, Maine.
Today Patty told the group about The Long Term Care Partnership Act. The gist: this act can help you save hundreds of thousands of dollars potentially. Yet, most people are unaware of its existence – including quite a few insurance professionals.
Here are the details:
The Long Term Care Partnership Act “permits purchasers of ‘approved’ long term care insurance policies to protect from Medicaid an amount of assets equal to the amount of the long term care insurance if the purchaser relies on Medicaid after exhaustion of the long term care insurance.” (quoted from Patty’s blog). So in other words, if you purchased an LTCI policy with a $300,000 payout, and you have activated a claim on your policy, you may access MaineCare when your assets are equal to or below $310,000 as opposed to the normal asset limit of $10,000 for a single person without an approved LTCI policy.
Sounds great, right? But the problem is that with the passing of this Act in 2009, it only covered policies sold after the enactment date, which does little for the vast majority of policy holders out there. And insurance companies were refusing to reissue older policies with new policies that could be endorsed in the Partnership Program, even if the old policies met the eligibility criteria because the insurance companies had no incentive to do so and were not required by the Act to do so. So in 2011, Maine added a statute to the Act that said insurance companies must reissue all policies that qualify for the Partnership Program as long as the policy holder submits a request by the determined deadline – September 28, 2012. Read More…
Living with Diabetes: help for diabetics in Maine
Sunday, February 19th, 2012A few facts: Diabetes affects 25.8 million people, or 8.3% of the U.S. population. Among U.S. residents aged 65 years and older, 10.9 million, or 26.9% had diabetes in 2010. That’s an incredible number of people living with this complex disease, and in Maine, the percentage is even higher. Diabetes is a major cause of heart disease and stroke, and is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States.
[source: CDC, National Diabetes Fact Sheet, 2011]
If you or a loved one has diabetes, you must get educated on how to live with the disease.
Mid Coast Hospital’s Diabetes Education Program will offer a four week series of classes called Living With Diabetes on Mondays beginning February 27th, from 9:30 am to 11:30 am, at Mid Coast Hospital in Brunswick. The program is designed to help individuals with diabetes learn skills to successfully manage their health. The classes will include information about meal planning, blood sugar monitoring, and preventing complications. A family member or care partner is welcome to attend. Most insurance companies cover the cost of the classes. To learn more or to register call Healthline at (207) 373-6585.
Because about 215,000 people younger than 20 years had diabetes (type 1 or type 2) in the United States in 2010, this would be a good course for grandparents of young diabetics to attend. Learn how to help your youngster manage this disease. Kids will often listen better to grandparents than to parents!
The Mid Coast Hospital Diabetes Education Program is recognized by the American Diabetes Association.
Eating for MS & Alzheimers: brain cell biology
Wednesday, February 15th, 2012We see daily articles about eating various high-protein/low-carb or low-fat/low-calorie or other permutations of diet that will make us thinner, healthier or better looking. Check out this video, in which a doctor talks about the hunter-gatherer diet that has mitigated many of the symptoms of her progressive MS. She makes a connection between MS and the other “braining shrinking” diseases like Huntington’s and Alzheimer’s, and suggests that her hunter-gatherer diet will help with cataracts and macular degeneration. It seems obvious that we would have better overall health if we supplied our bodies with all the right fuel. Dr. Terry Wahls makes a great case for “eating your vegetables!”
The Dreaded Dead-of-Night Phone Call: Preparing Yourself and Your Parents for a Medical Emergency
Thursday, February 9th, 2012Answering the Call: Emergency Help for Seniors
The midnight phone call. It’s something we all dread, first when we have teenagers, then when the kids go off to college and lives of their own, and finally when our parents or other senior loved ones become less stable and sure of themselves.
Get prepared for those calls! Marcie Yager, L.S.W., from Home Instead, will offer free preparation advice Thursday, Feb. 23, from 5-6 p.m. at Baxter Memorial Library, 71 South St. in Gorham, Maine.
Many of us fear the phone ringing in the middle of the night to hear that a loved one is on the way to the hospital for an emergency. Join Marcie as she discusses tools and options that can decrease the stress of such a time, and help you better prepare the information needed by medical professionals either at the doctor’s office, hospital, or ambulance transport company. Simple preparations can provide security to all involved and free you to lend a supportive hand to your loved one rather than answering an endless array of questions to emergency personnel, says Marcie.
Refreshments will be served.
Please RSVP to myager@homeinsteadmaine.com or 839-0441.
Alzheimers: family assistance in diagnosis, and increased federal funding
Tuesday, February 7th, 2012Dr. Laurel Coleman, a geriatric physician at Maine Medical Center, has been on CBS and quoted in other news outlets recently for her assertion that family members should learn the symptoms and be asked to help in the Alzheimer’s diagnosis earlier in the disease.
For a doctor to ask someone with brewing dementia, “How are you?” isn’t enough, says Dr. Laurel Coleman, a geriatric physician at Maine Medical Center who is part of a federal advisory council tackling the issue.
“So often I hear, ‘The doctor only asks my mom how she is. She says fine and it’s over,’” says Coleman. “That’s not dementia-capable, or dementia-aware, primary care.”
Family input should be mandatory, she told a recent council meeting. It’s the only way to know if the person really is eating, taking her medicines as she claims, and not forgetting to turn off the stove.
Today, the Obama administration announced an additional $50 million for Alzheimer’s research over the coming months, and an additional $106 million in the coming year to research, caregiver support and education. This is an big step in the right direction to defeat this devastating disease.
Despite governmental wrangling on other issues, the National Alzheimer’s Project Act received bipartisan support and was enacted last January. Alzheimers and related dementias already cost our nation $183 billion a year, and with 10,000 baby boomers a day turn age 65there’s not a moment to spare in turning up the heat on research towards prevention and cure.
Step 1 is early diagnosis. The Alzheimer’s Association publishes a list of symptoms, and that’s a good place to start.