Monthly Archives: October, 2014

“Lebanon County Area Agency on Aging meets needs of large senior population” – Lebanon Daily News

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aaalogo

by John Latimer | Lebanon Daily News

“Started in 1974, the Lebanon County Area Agency on Aging is in its 40th year of operation.

“During those years it expanded from a staff of 5 and a budget of $50,000 to a staff of 44 full and part-time employees and an operating budget of $3.4 million.

“Those numbers and many others were presented on Thursday by Administrator Carol Davies at the agency’s annual public hearing held at the Maple Street Senior Center in Lebanon, where the AAA offices are located.

“The agency’s services are needed in the county because 23 percent of its population, or nearly 31,000 residents, are 60 or older, Davies said. That compares to 21 percent statewide and 18 percent nationally.

“Of the county’s senior population, Davies said, 2,235 used the agency’s programs, and the goal is to increase it to 2,693 in 2014-14, which would represent about 8.7 percent of county seniors. Those numbers do not include the 2000 people who used the APPRISE Medicare counseling program and 11,000 people who called the agency, Davies noted.

“‘We are working to increase our reach into the community with the services we provide,’ she said.”

Click here to continue reading this Lebanon Daily News article.

 

Posted in: Aging, Events & Actvities | Tagged:

Pennsylvania Link to Aging and Disability Resources’ Lancaster County partners were at Representative Hickernell’s Senior Expo

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hickernell comp

Lancaster County partners of the Pennsylvania Link to Aging and Disability Resources were in attendance at Representative Dave Hickernell’s Senior Expo that was held earlier today at the Freemasons Cultural Center at Masonic Village in Elizabethtown.

Throngs of seniors visited the exhibits that filled the huge room. Plenty of partners in the Lancaster County Link network of collaborative partners received visitors who came to find out what services and resources the exhibitors provided.

These collaborative partners had exhibits:

  • A Life Transition Service
  • AlbrightLIFE
  • Central Penn Nursing Care, Inc.
  • Gentiva Home Health
  • Home Instead Senior Care
  • Hospice and Community Care
  • Juniper Village at Mount Joy
  • Keystone Pet Enhanced Therapy Services – KPETS
  • The Lancaster County Office of Aging – a core partner
  • The Pennsylvania Link to Aging and Disability Resources
  • PA Home Care of Lancaster
  • Visiting Angels

Two volunteers from Lancaster County collaborative partner organizations, Samantha McCulley of Senior Helpers and Jim Sanders of RSVP of the Capital Region, Inc. did an exceptional job of welcoming visitors to the Pennsylvania Link to Aging and Disability Resources exhibit area.

 

 

Posted in: Aging, Events & Actvities | Tagged:

“The Impact of IMPACT”

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“The world of Medicare post-acute care (PAC), which as a general rule covers the 90-day period following hospitalization, is set to change. Over the next 7 years, the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation Act of 2014 (IMPACT) law rolls out a series of reforms that ultimately will rewrite payments in this sector, which accounts for about 23% of all Medicare spending. By 2022, payment rates will be tied to “individual characteristics instead of the setting where the patient is treated,” according to a summary. Doing so requires that individual characteristics come to be documented in a standard way, and the act requires Medicare to institute uniform assessments and collect them.

“The Act was quietly signed into law on October 6, 2014. In contrast with many Capitol Hill debates during the last 5 years, Congress approved the proposals by unanimous consent in the Senate and under a procedure known as “suspension of the rules” in the House of Representatives, which requires a two-thirds majority. The statute directly affects four different PAC service delivery settings: skilled nursing facilities (SNF), home health agencies, inpatient rehabilitation facilities (IRF), and long-term care hospitals (LTCH).

– See more at: http://altarum.org/health-policy-blog/the-impact-of-impact#sthash.PPOmKzCx.dpuf

Posted in: Health | Tagged:

Penn State Berks plans inaugural TEDxPSUBerks event

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“Penn State Berks will host its inaugural TEDxPSUBerks event, beginning at 9:30 a.m. Friday, Nov. 14, in the Perkins Student Center Auditorium. Organized by the Penn State Berks Student Veterans Organization, their goal is to create a memorable experience to connect and bring diverse disciplines and backgrounds together around new ideas, focusing on the theme ‘Love and Education.’TED berks

“TEDxPSUBerks will be a unique conference where attendees can openly discuss big ideas and challenges that affect the community. This event highlights an impressive lineup including speakers who are not typically heard from locally but who are doing incredibly creative, innovative and provocative work in their fields.

“The format is short, powerful talks, each focused on a single topic or idea. No talks will exceed 18 minutes. There will be no keynote speeches and no panel discussions.

“Interested attendees can participate by tuning into a live stream or by going to one of the many areas on campus we will have a live stream, such as the Multipurpose Room in Perkins Student Center.”

Click here to read the Penn State news release in its entirety.

Berks County Link collaborative partner, IM ABLE Foundation‘s Chris Kaag is one of the TEDxPSU Berks presenters.

“Chris Kaag, ‘Improvise, Adapt and Overcome: Challenges Are Stepping Stones Not Crutches’

“Kaag is president and founder of the IM ABLE Foundation and Corps Fitness. He works to promote healthy lifestyles for all and to raise money to provide adaptive equipment grants to help those with a physical challenge become more active. As the founder of Corps Fitness, Kaag runs daily workout classes that bring his experience as a U.S. Marine into his no-frills fitness facility, which accommodates both abled and disabled participants. Kaag served in the U.S. Marine Corps until he was diagnosed with a rare degenerative nerve condition.”

 

Posted in: Events & Actvities | Tagged: ,

“Almost half of US veterans with brain injury are jobless” – Futurity.org

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Following the lightWhile mild brain injury was more common during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the number of traumatic brain injuries was significant and largely caused by blasts from improvised explosive devices. (Credit: DVIDSHUB/Flickr)

“About 45 percent of US veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars who suffered traumatic brain injury are unemployed, a new report shows.

“Compare that to the number of veterans who suffered mild brain injury or no brain injury: about 33 percent are unemployed.

“While mild brain injury was more common during both wars, the number of traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) was significant and largely caused by blasts from improvised explosive devices.

“Veterans who are unemployed and not looking for work are more likely to have experienced moderate to severe TBI; have lower education levels; suffer from suspected psychiatric conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and depression; be aged 40 or older; and be divorced, separated, or widowed.”

Read this article in its entirety at futurity.org.

Posted in: Mental Health, Veterans | Tagged: ,

Want to know more about alzheimer’s? Know where to get help.

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alz logo

als helpline

alz connect

Posted in: Alzheimer's Disease and related disorders

“Hiring People With Disabilities Isn’t Just the Right Thing to Do — It’s Good for Business” – The Daily Beast

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hiring peopleBartek Szewczyk/Getty Images

“A new study reveals that hiring people with intellectual and developmental disabilities doesn’t just improve culture—it improves the bottom line.
“What kind of employers hire people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD)? You might imagine that they’re like George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life—big-hearted souls that sacrifice their business’s profits to improve their communities. A new study, however, shows that hiring people with IDD doesn’t mean that employers have jettisoned their business interests. On the contrary, hiring people with IDD is good for the bottom line. Mr. Potter should have a look.

“The study was conducted by the Institute for Corporate Productivity, or i4cp, a company that analyzes the practices of high-performance organizations. Among some of the striking findings are just how many employers believe that their employees with IDD offer specific benefits to their workplaces. More than three-quarters of employers surveyed ranked their employees with IDD as good or very good on work quality, motivation, engagement, integration with co-workers, dependability, and attendance. Many employers reported being initially leery of hiring people with IDD, only to see their concerns dissolve after the employees were on board.”

Click here to read this Daily Beast article in its entirety.

 

Posted in: Disabilitiies | Tagged: ,

“Older people abuse drugs because they’re in pain, but there are better ways to help” – The Conversation

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Inez Willis sorts her daily medical prescriptions at her independent living apartment in MarylandPain, sleeplessness and ‘difficult’ behaviour: just some of the reasons we overprescribe. Gary Cameron/Reuters

“It should be no surprise that older adults are the largest users of prescription medication. After all, older adults are far more likely to have chronic health conditions than are younger people. It follows, then, that the misuse or abuse, of prescription and over-the-counter medications is a significant problem among older adults.

“The medications they misuse include painkillers, especially opiates; sleep aids and anti-anxiety agents, especially benzodiazepines, and various psychiatric medications such as anti-depressants and anti-psychotics.

“For the most part, older adults are not using these drugs to get high. They are using them in the hopes of quelling pain, sleeplessness, anxiety, or depression. And they may also be given them to reduce dangerous, disruptive, or annoying behavior, especially among those older adults who have severe mental disorders, including dementia (often called, accurately or not, Alzheimer’s disease).

“Overuse of medications that may be useful in the right dose for certain specific conditions creates a variety of serious problems including:”

To read this article in its entirety at The Conversation, click here.

Posted in: Aging, Alzheimer's Disease and related disorders, Health, Mental Health | Tagged: ,

“Handicapped hunters refuse to give up” – LancasterOnline

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muddy run hunting“Greg Finger, 16, of Gap, has a customized gun rest attached to his wheelchair for hunting.” – Photo Source: P.J. Reilly, LNP – Always Lancaster

by P.J. Reilly | Staff Writer, LNP – Always Lancaster

“Leo Hoffman had a busy Thursday.

“The 63-year-old New Providence resident ran his normal morning bus route, picking up students and delivering them to McCaskey High School for Shultz Transportation Co. of Willow Street.

“Then he went deer hunting at Muddy Run Recreation Park in Drumore Township during the park’s annual hunt for handicapped hunters.

“It was only the second time in many years that the once-avid deer hunter went hunting.

“The first time was last year at Muddy Run.

“‘I haven’t gone out in years,’ said Hoffman, who is retired from York’s wastewater treatment plant. ‘Just here.’

‘I used to hunt all over the place when I was younger.’”

Click here to read this article at LancasterOnline in its entirety.

Posted in: Disabilitiies, Uncategorized | Tagged:

AHEDD, Comfort Keepers and Country Meadows become the latest Berks County Link collaborative partners

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29 partners

Three more Berks County resource provider agencies/entities/organizations have become collaborative partners with the Pennsylvania Link to Aging and Disability Resources in the Berks County partners’ network.

This week, these resource providers of services are now collaborative partners:

These collaborative partners join a growing network of Berks County agencies/entities/organizations that provide information and resources for persons aged 60 and over; persons with a disability; veterans; family members and caregivers.

If you would like more information about how to become a collaborative partner (there’s no cost) or to align with any county partners’ network in the Berks-Lancaster-Lebanon Service Area, contact Berks County Coordinator, Ann Barlet at 610.478.6500, ext. 5523.

Or text or call Brian Long, Berks-Lancaster-Lebanon Service Area Lead Coordinator at 717.380.9714 or email: blllink@mail.com

Posted in: Aging, Disabilitiies, Events & Actvities, Housing, Uncategorized, Veterans