“Extreme Heat Message and Precautions | Be Informed, Make a Plan, Build a Kit, Get Involved” – Administration for Community Living

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go kit

Summer is almost here. While we prepare to enjoy the warm weather, it’s important to take precautions in case extreme heat strikes.

By evaluating your needs, you can plan for any heat related situation.

The following steps will prepare you to handle periods of extreme heat and the associated risks:

  • Consider how potential power outages during periods of extreme heat might affect you. Plan to be temporarily self-sufficient if the electricity goes out. It’s possible that you will not have access to a medical facility or a pharmacy.
  • Identify the resources you use on a daily basis and what you can do if they are limited or not available. Make provisions for medications that require refrigeration, and plan arrangements to get to a cooling center, if needed.
  • Think about what you need to maintain your health, safety, and independence. Build A Kit that includes any specialized items such as extra wheelchair batteries, oxygen, catheters, and medication. Also include non-perishable food and water, items for service animals and pets, a cooler, and anything else you might need.
  • Check on family, friends, and neighbors who do not have air conditioning, especially those who spend much of their time alone, or are more likely to be affected by extreme heat.
  • Be watchful for signs of heat stroke and dehydration. These include shallow breathing, a lack of perspiration, dizziness, dry mouth, and headaches.

The HHS emPOWER Map 2.0 features the monthly total of Medicare beneficiaries with electricity-dependent equipment claims at the U.S. state, territory, county, and zip code level to identify the areas and populations that may be impacted and at risk for prolonged power outages.

For more information about extreme heat preparedness and tools, go to ready.gov/heat and cdc.gov.

SOURCE: Administration for Community Living

Posted in: Aging, Caregiving, Disabilitiies, Emergency Preparedness, Uncategorized

“‘I was panicked’: Deaf patients struggle to get interpreters in medical emergencies” – STATNews

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deafJohn Paul Jebian communicates with his son Pierre, in Miami, Fla. – Scott McIntyre for STAT

by Leila Miller

“The chest pain was bad enough. Then John Paul Jebian asked staff at Baptist Hospital of Miami for an American Sign Language interpreter. They instead brought a video screen with an internet link to a remote interpreter to help him understand what the doctors and nurses were saying.

“Jebian, who is deaf, said a nurse struggled to set up the equipment as he anxiously wondered whether he was suffering a heart attack.

“‘I was panicked,’ said Jebian, 46, recalling that July 2012 day. ‘I didn’t know if I had to have surgery. Everything was going past me. I didn’t know what was happening, when it was happening.’

“With the minutes ticking by and staff still unable to operate the video interpreting service, the hospital turned to another option.”

Click here to continue reading this article at STATNews.com.

Posted in: Disabilitiies, Healthcare

Volunteer Actors Needed for Keystone 6 Exercise!

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Volunteer Actors Needed for Keystone 6 Exercise!

Tuesday, August 15, 10am-1pm | Lunch provided

The Pennsylvania Department of Human Services is sponsoring an exercise and we need volunteers! This exercise is called Keystone 6 and is focused on mass care and sheltering during a large-scale disaster. The scenario is based on a large nuclear explosion in New Jersey that drives people to evacuate into Pennsylvania. We are testing our capabilities for opening state managed shelters at both Penn State University’s Harrisburg campus (Middletown) and Shippensburg University.

To see how we might accomplish this, we need people to serve as actors and go through the registration process at the shelter locations, as an evacuee might. We hope to have people with disabilities or other access and functional needs participate so we can practice how we would meet these needs in a real situation.

We promise you do not have to sleep on a cot! Lunch will be provided and you will also be provided information to assist you in forming your own emergency preparedness plan. No reimbursement is available for travel or time.

We need your help so we can best plan for the needs of all Pennsylvanians!

Interested individuals please contact Christine Heyser at cheyser@pa.gov  or 717-461-0389 with the following information:

  1. Name
  2. Preferred location: PSU Harrisburg or Shippensburg
  3. Special dietary needs for lunch, if any
  4. Optional: If you are a person with a disability or other access or functional need, would you be willing to briefly describe the need(s)?
Posted in: Disabilitiies, Emergency Preparedness, Events & Actvities

“Planning to Age in Place? Find a Contractor Now” – The New York Times

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by Paula Spahnaging in placePHOTO – Joyce Hesselberth | The New York Times

“‘All the carpets are coming up, so they won’t be a trip hazard,’ said Ernie MacNeill, walking through the split-level house in Fair Lawn, N.J., that he is remodeling for a client who struggles to walk.

“Mr. MacNeill also plans to widen a bathroom door to provide better access for a wheelchair or walker.

“‘We’ll knock this closet back,’ he added. The home’s owner, Elliot Goldberg, 71, currently has to transfer from one stair lift to another to reach his third-level bedroom and bath. Moving the second-floor closet will make space for a new lift that can turn the corner and proceed upstairs, a far safer configuration.

“Mr. Goldberg, a Vietnam veteran with multiple health problems, has lived on this quiet suburban street for 30 years. His wife died four years ago, but he shares the house with their daughter and grandson.”

Continue reading this New York Times article, click here.

 

Posted in: Aging, Aging in place, Disabilitiies, Uncategorized

“What is a caregiver? What does a caregiver do? Here are some things to think about as you begin your own caregiving process.” – Caregiverslibrary.org

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caregiver pix

“What Is A Caregiver?

“A caregiver is a person who provides needed help to an aging or infirmed loved one. Caregivers may supply emotional support, physical assistance, financial assistance, and many other types of care. Regardless of the situation, there are several guidelines to consider when you provide care for an adult friend or relative:

“The Person You Care For Is An Adult.

“He or she has the right to make decisions about his or her life. You should respect that right unless your loved one has lost the capacity to make decisions or could put others in danger through his or her behavior.

“Whenever Possible, Offer Choices.

“The ability to make choices is a basic freedom, so provide choices whenever possible: from where to live to which cereals to eat at breakfast to what to wear. Choices enable us to express ourselves. As your loved one’s options become more limited, through health losses, financial constraints, or social losses, you have to work harder to provide choices.

“Do Only Those Things That Your Loved One Cannot Do.

“Caregivers often take over when they shouldn’t. If your loved one is still capable of performing certain activities, such as paying bills or cooking meals, then encourage him or her to do so. Helping your loved one maintain a feeling of independence will make him or her feel better about being in a care-receiving situation.

Click here to read the remaining list of what caregivers do at caregiverslibrary.org.

Posted in: Uncategorized

Friday Wrap-Up, May 19, 2017 | a message from the Secretary of Aging

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friday wrap-up 03-11-16

Each week the Office of the Secretary of Pennsylvania’s Department of Aging releases a Friday newsletter with information relevant to activities, issues and events for older Pennsylvanians and persons with disabilities across the Commonwealth.

NOTE: See this notice in the newsletter about a “seed grant of $15,000 and ongoing technical assistance to create or expand support services to grandparents and other relatives raising children. Any not-for-profit organization can apply for the program, including aging service providers, county agencies, and health care providers. June 15 application due date.”

Click here to download the newsletter as a .pdf file.

Posted in: Addiction, Aging, Caregiving, Disabilitiies

“Who Voted for Harmful Health Care Bill? – AARP is holding supporters of the ‘age tax’ accountable”

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who voted which way

“The U.S. House of Representatives on May 4 passed the American Health Care Act by a razor-thin margin: 217 to 213.

It includes an “age tax” that would add up to $13,000 to the cost of insurance for those 50 to 64 and would discriminate against people with preexisting health conditions such as cancer and diabetes. What’s more, it would cause millions of Americans to lose coverage and put Medicare in worse financial shape. That’s just a partial list of what’s wrong with the legislation, which is now under Senate consideration. AARP promised to hold Members of Congress accountable if they voted for this harmful bill. Here they are.

Call 1-844-259-9351 and urge your Senators to vote NO on this high-cost, high-risk health care bill.

Click here to see the lists.

Posted in: Aging, Events & Actvities, Healthcare

“Severe Shortage Of Home Health Workers Robs Thousands Of Proper Care” – Kaiser Health News

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caregiver shortageRenzo Viscardi (center), pictured with his parents, Anthony Viscardi and Cheryl Dougan, relies on round-the-clock care from home health aides. (Courtesy of Cheryl Dougan)

by Judith Graham

“Acute shortages of home health aides and nursing assistants are cropping up across the country, threatening care for people with serious disabilities and vulnerable older adults.

“In Minnesota and Wisconsin, nursing homes have denied admission to thousands of patients over the past year because they lack essential staff, according to local long-term care associations.

“In New York, patients living in rural areas have been injured, soiled themselves and gone without meals because paid caregivers aren’t available, according to testimony provided to the state Assembly’s health committee in February.

“In Illinois, the independence of people with severe developmental disabilities is being compromised … ”

Click here to read this Kaiser Health News article in its entirety.

Vicki Hoak, chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Homecare Association reinforced the issues in this article in her presentation at the May 18 Lancaster County 50+ EXPO. She is the cross-training presenter at the Lebanon County Link partners’ cross-training meeting on June 2.

  • 02 June 2017 – Pennsylvania Homecare Association, Vicki Hoak and Ames Home Services, Bill Ames – This meeting will be held at Ames Home Services, 240 Hinkle Road, Annville, PA 17003.
Posted in: Aging, Alzheimer's Disease and related disorders, Caregiving, Disabilitiies

“Say What You Mean” – Changing Aging

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“Collect a vocabulary from your own imagination, experience, as well as picking up skillful language use from others.”

say what you mean

by Kyrié Carpenter, ChangingAging Contributor

“Stigma is a word that comes to us directly from its Greek origin, originally meaning ‘a mark made by a pointed instrument.’ In a more modern definition that ‘mark’ is a label or diagnosis that defines the person and is inherently negative or shameful. In botany, stigma denotes the part of a flower that accepts the pollen. I want to take this image and offer that we can use stigma more true to this definition, as the part of the organism that can accept the pollen or inspiration.”

Click here to continue reading this article at Changing Aging.

Posted in: Uncategorized

“Understanding depression | Caregiver: get the facts” – SAMHSA

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understanding depression

Click on the graphic to download this important information.

Posted in: Caregiving, Mental Health