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. Click here download the newsletter as a .pdf file.
“The CARE Act is ‘more than just a law.’ It’s a change in the practice of health care.”
WASHINGTON — “For today, there are no doctor’s visits. No long afternoons with nothing to do. No struggles over bathing — or not.
“At the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., a group of older adults — some in wheelchairs, some with Alzheimer’s — and their caregivers sit in a semicircle around a haunting portrait of a woman in white.
“’Take a deep breath,’ said Lorena Bradford, head of accessible programs at the National Gallery, standing before The Repentant Magdalen by Georges de La Tour.
“’Now, let your eyes wander all over the painting. Take it all in. What do you think is going on?’
“’I think she looks sad,’ said Marie Fanning, 75, of Alexandria, Va., an Alzheimer’s patient.”
“Marie Fanning (left) sits next to her husband, Bill, during the Just Us program at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., on March 5. Marie, who has Alzheimer’s disease, and Bill are regular attendees at the program. (Lynne Shallcross/KHN)”
Click here to read this article in its entirety.
Pennsylvania’s CARE Act was sponsored by State Representative Hal English; the Pennsylvania CARE Act was based on model legislation developed by AARP. With its unanimous passage in the State Senate and House, Pennsylvania became the 25th state to enact a version of the CARE Act. The law was unanimously approved by state General Assembly and signed by Governor Wolf in April of 2016 and became law on April 20, 2017.
Berks-Lancaster-Lebanon County Link partners were briefed on the Pennsylvania’s CARE Act at separate Link cross-training meeting in each county in 2017 and 2018.
“Experiencing a health emergency like an injury from a fall, or even a heart attack, typically occurs unexpectedly. While these and many other acute conditions only last for a short period of time, the road to recovery may require additional assistance like in-home care. The good news is that Medicare can provide home health care (HHC) services to help you recover.
“Home health care is meant to provide health services and equipment to individuals while they are homebound. Unfortunately, Medicare does not cover custodial care, or long-term care, often required for those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, cancer, and many other conditions. There are programs available that provide long-term care and assist with the cost.
Find our more, click here to continue reading this article.
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. Click here download the newsletter as a .pdf file.
by 
“The world’s elderly population is surging, and in many countries health and home care services are already stretched. Researchers in New Zealand, with South Korean colleagues, are working on a project that suggests a different solution – robots. South Korea provides the robot-making expertise, and New Zealand the network of rest homes as testing grounds. Both countries have received funding from their governments to collaborate on health-bot projects.
“In Gisborne, on the east coast of New Zealand’s North Island, Lillian Neilson loves to sing those old songs from her youth. The staff and therapists of Selwyn Village in Auckland sometimes sing or hum along with her, turning to their phones to search for words she’s forgotten.
“‘I used to be a singer,’ she says. ‘You’ve heard of Daphne Walker [New Zealand star of the mid-20th century]? I was the young Daphne Walker.’
“But Neilson, 84, a mother of four and a former maternity nurse, doesn’t know any other Māori in the rest home, and few residents add their voices to hers.
“‘I do feel lonely, so I generally come in my room and I sing my songs. I put the telly on and sing the music that comes over.’ But Paro, a fluffy Canadian “seal” with large, fathomless eyes, provides a willing audience.”
Read this WikiTribune article in its entirety, click here.
“Jordan Hall (left) and Victoria Warfel hold one of the therapeutic robotic harp seals.” – Lititz Record
SPECIAL NOTE: Robotic “Harp seals” are living at Signature Senior Living – Lancaster and Signature Senior Living – Lititz.
This December 2016 Lititz Record article about the grand opening a Signature Senior Living – Lititz included this about the robotic harp seals.
” … the hit of the open house were the PARO robotic harp seals. Jordan Hall, assistant director of the Lancaster facility, and Victoria Warfel RN, wellness director of the Lititz facility, explained the seals to interested guests. Warfel said that the seals are used in the memory support area. Seymour is the Lititz facility’s seal, while the Lancaster facility’s seal is named Lucy. Each robotic seal can recognize its name and residents’ voices as well as tone of voice. It and responds to being petted, cuddled and talked to and reproduces the sounds that a real harp seal makes in various situations.
“‘Harp seals were chosen because people don’t have expectations of a harp seal. If it were a cat or dog, people expect them to act in a certain way, and some people are allergic to cats and dogs or may be fearful of dogs. The harp seal can be whatever people want it to be, and it’s proven to reduce stress in patients,’ Warfel explained, adding that there are about 100 of the robotic seals in the US.”
Celina Raddatz and her mother, Guadalupe Pena Villegas, at home in California. Xavier Vasquez/NPR
by Franziska Monahan
“Celina Raddatz quit her job at a nursing home in 2014 when she realized she would have to take care of her mother full-time. Raddatz’s mother, Guadalupe Pena Villegas, 83, suffers from Alzheimer’s and bipolar disorder, a combination that sometimes makes her a danger to herself and others, and thus requires her to be supervised 24 hours a day.
“Raddatz and one of her sisters, Rosalia Lizarraga, 61, had been caring for their mother together. But as the Alzheimer’s progressed, the task became too stressful for Lizarraga. The full responsibility fell on Raddatz, who was determined to fulfill a promise she and her siblings had made their mother as children.
“‘When my mother was sane, she made us promise never to put her in a nursing home. And of course, us young kids said, “OK, mom we would never …” Raddatz says. ‘But we never ever once ever thought that she would get sick like this.’”
Nearly 1 in 3 Medicare patients undergo an operation in their final year of life.
“Maxine Stanich, at age 87, had signed a ‘do not resuscitate’ directive, ordering doctors to not revive her should her heart stop, but doctors gave her a defibrillator anyway. (Photo courtesy of Susan Giaquinto)”
by Liz Szabo
“At 87, Maxine Stanich cared more about improving the quality of her life than prolonging it.
“She suffered from a long list of health problems, including heart failure and chronic lung disease that could leave her gasping for breath.
“When her time came, she wanted to die a natural death, Stanich told her daughter, and signed a ‘do not resuscitate’ directive, or DNR, ordering doctors not to revive her should her heart stop.
“Yet a trip to a San Francisco emergency room for shortness of breath in 2008 led Stanich to get a defibrillator implanted in her chest — a medical device to keep her alive by delivering a powerful shock. At the time, Stanich didn’t fully grasp what she had agreed to, even though she signed a document granting permission for the procedure, said her daughter, Susan Giaquinto.”
Continue reading this article at California Healthline, click here.
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. Click here download the newsletter as a .pdf file.
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. Click here to download the newsletter as a .pdf file.
This week the Secretary writes about the 2018 Direct Care Worker (DCW) of the Year Award Nomination Extension.
The DCW of the Year Award was established to recognize the outstanding work of home-care aides who bring care home to thousands of older Pennsylvanians every day so they can remain in their homes
The nomination deadline for this year has been extended to Friday, January 26, 2018.
