Reflections & Insights
Navigating Medicare and Medicaid
If you’re caring for someone over the age of 65, chances are that you know something about Medicare, the health insurance program that covers nearly all older Americans. But there’s another really important program that you need to know about: MediCAID. Medicaid is...
3 Powerful Ways to Avoid the Hospital
Americans have a love affair with hospitals. We tend to think of doctors and nurses as the people who were working hard to make good grades while the rest of us were skipping class. I am pretty sure my brilliant, doctor friend Heather was walking around with a...
4 Things You Must Know When Picking a Home Care Agency
Everyone says that they want to stay at home as they age. And, actually most of the frail older adults living in this country today are, in fact, living in a home setting. Really very few live in nursing homes or assisted living facilities. Now you might think that...
Medicare Therapy Rules Made Easy
Most of us take for granted that we can get out of bed in the morning and do all the things necessary to head out and face our day. You know... the simple everyday things like moving around our house, showering, getting dressed and eating breakfast. I might be a...
The Burden of “Self-Care”
Every time I turn on my computer, I see some story or advice about the importance of self-care, especially for women. We read about how Arianna Huffington is on us to get more sleep, which has the effect of keeping me up all night worrying about the bad things that...
Creating a Resilient Response to Loss: The Special Challenge of Dementia
I’ve said many times that few things are more disorienting than the shift from being cared for by your parents to caring for your parents. The only thing that makes it harder is when your parent (or spouse) has dementia. This is quite possibly the most challenging of...
A Go-To Guide For Understanding Your Aging Parents’ Rehabilitation
I was 30 weeks pregnant with my daughter when a routine doctor’s visit uncovered the fact that a disconnected placenta had cut her off from getting food and water. Essentially, she was starving in utero. Later that same day, my girl was born by emergency C-section...
What to Do When Your Best Efforts Aren’t Good Enough
My neighbor George is not a daughter but he’s certainly part of the daughterhood. You see, until a year ago, he spent most of his time taking care of his parents in the home they shared. Now, from my perspective, he was the best kind of son any parents could hope to...