Posts Tagged ‘retirement community hinsdale’

Seasonal flu is especially dangerous for seniors over 65 and others with weak immune systems. The viral infection can exhaust the body making it easy for life-threatening complications such as bacterial pneumonia to take hold. It can also worsen the symptoms of conditions like heart disease, asthma, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

With seasonal flu, seasons vary in terms of timing, duration and severity.  Each year in the United States, on average, more than 200,000 people are hospitalized, and the combination of flu and pneumonia is the cause of at least 36,000 deaths. Ninety percent of these deaths are people over age 65.

However, this flu season could be worse because of the virus 2009 H1N1. The Center of Disease Control (CDC) expects both 2009 H1N1 flu and seasonal flu to cause illness, hospital stays and deaths this season and is preparing for an early and possibly severe flu season. However, the 2009 H1N1 (earlier referred to as “swine flu”) is a new influenza virus first detected in people in the United States in April 2009.

Swine flu is a virus infection which can cause a wide range of symptoms, including fever, cough, sore throat, body aches, headache, chills and fatigue. Some people have reported diarrhea and vomiting. Like seasonal flu, swine flu can vary from mild to severe. Severe disease with pneumonia, respiratory failure and even death is possible with swine flu infection.

Certain groups may be more likely to develop a severe illness from swine flu, such as pregnant women and people with chronic medical conditions. Flu viruses generally spread when droplets from a cough or sneeze of an infected person are propelled through the air and land on the mouth or nose of people nearby. Flu viruses can also spread when a person touches respiratory droplets on another person or an object and then touches their own mouth or nose (or someone else’s mouth or nose) before washing their hands.

Everyone age 50 and older should get the seasonal flu vaccine as soon as possible. Most seniors do not appear to be at high-risk for the H1N1 (Swine) flu, but they should get the H1N1 vaccine when it’s available to them. However, seniors who have health conditions associated with a higher risk of flu complications should get the H1N1 vaccine as soon as possible.

Three recommendations from the CDC:

• Get a yearly seasonal flu vaccine as the first and most important step in protecting against seasonal influenza. Ask your doctor if you should get a 2009 H1N1 vaccine.
• Take everyday preventive actions such as hand washing and covering the mouth during a cough or sneeze.
• Take flu antiviral drugs if your doctor recommends them. Antiviral drugs are prescription medicines (pills, liquid or an inhaled powder) that fight against the flu by keeping flu viruses from reproducing.

Does a person with dementia lose his or her old personality? Sometimes. Does it seem like a different person inside the same familiar body? At times, it can. Do family members sometimes mourn the loss of a parent or brother – even though the person is still clearly with them? Yes, they do.

Dementia can lead to symptoms and behaviors that can seem worse than cancer, heart disease, and other more ‘body-centered’ illnesses, but let’s not lose heart. The person inside that familiar body is still the person we love. That person and, in fact, all of us have common psychological needs.

Tom Kitwood, the late Alzheimer’s researcher, suggests that people with dementia, like all people, have six psychological needs and that as we care for people with dementia, we should strive to fulfill those needs every day.

As you care for someone with dementia – whether it’s caused by Alzheimer’s or another disease or condition, consider finding ways to fulfill these six psychological needs – every day:

1. Attachment – We need to feel attached to another person or to a group. We want to feel connected to someone or something.
2. Love – Everybody needs it. To love someone; to be loved and accepted; to love an activity, a food; to love God, self-love/self-respect.
3. Comfort – We all need to feel comfort. We need to be warm, dry, and clean; to have a full-stomach and not be thirsty; to have quiet when we want it; to have our anxiety calmed; to have a sense of tenderness, closeness, and bonding with others.
4. Identity – We need to have others know who I am or who I was. We want to be individual, to be special, to have our own identity. We want our individuality to be recognized in our food preferences, our clothing, our activities and recreation. (Tell and re-tell your loved one his or her own ‘life-story.’ It may prompt something good.
5. Inclusion – We want to feel we are a part of something, to belong to a group, to be a member, to not feel left-out.
6. Occupation – We want to be occupied (to have something to do); to help others; to occupy ourselves with ‘work’ that, if at all possible, has meaning and purpose. (Give your loved one ‘jobs’ like folding laundry, setting the table, help with dinner, etc.)

Visit The Birches Assisted Living web site to learn more about dementia care.

October. It seems there are pink ribbons everywhere not to mention walk/runs, fundraisers, Sing for the Cure, Walk for the Cure, Taste for the Cure, all in recognition of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. These important events raise money for research, and it is working. Today, there are two and half million breast cancer survivors in the United States.

Over the past twenty years, great improvements have been made in the treatment of breast cancer. As a result, the number of breast cancer survivors continues to rise. The American Cancer Society’s most recent estimates (2009) for breast cancer in the United States are:

• 192,370 new cases of invasive breast cancer
• 40,170 deaths from breast cancer

Unfortunately, the chance of getting breast cancer goes up as a woman gets older. Women 65 years or older comprise half of the new breast cancer patients annually.

There are many conflicting reports about treatment of elderly breast cancer patients. If a 90-year-old is diagnosed, are surgery and chemotherapy too debilitating to contemplate? In many cases, physicians have a hard time knowing what to advise. In juggling decisions about treatment, clinicians and their patients are hampered by lack of clinical trial data relating to older women. But age is just one factor. Also vital to treatment decisions are functional ability, frailty and tolerance.

For instance, a 70-year-old woman in poor general health has a 9-year life expectancy, whereas a 79-year-old woman in excellent health has a 14.6-year life expectancy. The 79-year-old in good health stands to gain more from aggressive treatment than the 70-year-old woman in poor health. But it is also true that the 70-year-old woman in poor health may choose to accept the risk of aggressive treatment if it would result in even a modest extension of her life.

As stated before, there is documented evidence that older women get less intensive treatment. If there were more research about the biology of breast cancer in the older woman, it would help with decisions about tolerance, effectiveness and personal preferences.

For all women, the American Cancer Society’s recommended guidelines for early detection in all women without symptoms include:

• Mammogram: Women age 40 and older should have a screening mammogram every year and should continue to do so for as long as they are in good health.
• Clinical breast exam: After age 40, women should have a breast exam by a health expert every year.
• Breast self-exam (BSE): BSE is an option for women starting in their 20s. Women should report any changes in how their breasts look or feel to their health professional right away.

Too often, the term “aging,” invokes negative images which can stigmatize older adults. But more and more, leaders in the healthcare field, the media, and seniors themselves are focusing on the positive elements of healthy aging over a lifetime. Perhaps the aging Baby Boomers have wrought this change, but it is indeed refreshing to think of post retirement years as a time to consider new roles, new relationships and creative ways to communicate.

Let’s think of the advantages older adults have. At last there is time to stay engaged in one’s social life which can lead to greater health and longevity. I’m convinced isolation and loneliness age people faster than the years going by. Remaining social, especially being helpful to others, promotes wellness by keeping older adults physically active and mentally connected.

Another advantage is a senior’s vast accumulation of experiences, skills and knowledge. It’s like a very deep toolbox. From showing a grandson how to use pliers to adjusting, yet again, to setbacks and losses, older adults have the benefit of knowing they have coped before and will again. Many seniors have developed solid confidence because of this wisdom. It’s almost as if they now truly believe, “If I got through that, I can get through this!”

More older adults see their lives as valuable resources that should not be wasted by passivity. Even older adults with physical limitations can find activities and social events that suit their needs and challenge them to remain engaged.

In conclusion, thinking of aging in positive terms can help prevent the well-known pitfalls of lost ability, relationships, and autonomy. By remaining engaged socially, mentally, and physically, older adults can make post retirement some of the “best days of their lives.”

Visit The Birches web site to learn more about how we engage our residents. http://www.birches.net