Declining Health & Frailty

So what’s in the world come over you…


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The title of this blog is taken from John Prine’s song “Speed of the Sound of Loneliness,” which seems apropos for an article on the profound impact of loneliness on the health of aging parents. Here’s the first punch line:…

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Aging In The Wrong Place


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As the boomers pass en masse through middle age, it is assumed that they will undergo “generativity,” a term coined by the psychoanalyst Erik Erikson in 1950 to denote “a concern for establishing and guiding the next generation.” Generativity represents…

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I Don’t Need Assisted Living!


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An older adult is ready to move into an independent living community and undergoes a “pre-placement” health assessment by the facility’s physician. Based on the findings, the physician indicates that the older adult “needs assisted living.” The older adult and…

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Boomer Community: Aging with the Right People


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Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods. Aristotle Stress is an isolator. As its intensity increases, it promotes distrust of others and that distrust leads to greater isolation from the essential social networks…

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Boomer Perspective: Moment of Truth


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One sees great things from the valley, only small things from the peak. —Chesterton While aging is inevitable, arriving at a healthy perspective about its meaning and potential is not. In our youth-oriented culture, middle age more often than not…

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The Transitional Care Dilemma: Good News


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Sooner or later aging parents get swept into the complex currents of transitional healthcare. It may be a simple back and forth between the primary care provider and one or more specialist, or it could be a major health setback…

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Pulling the Cardiac Plug


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Even the best laid plans of aging can fall apart. Katy Butler’s recent article in The New York Times, What Broke My Father’s Heart, tells a painful tale of the unwanted impact of medical technology in the last and most…

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When Am I Going Home From The Nursing Home?


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This is one of the predictable dilemmas of aging we all wish we could avoid. We can’t. At some point we run out of aging-in-place options and a parent winds up in a place they never wanted to be, a…

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Hospital Quicksand: Words Are Not Enough


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I was asked for suggestions on how to help seniors preserve control in a hospital setting where all control quickly vanishes. Interesting question I thought. What would make things better? And then I remembered David. David is a friend of…

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No Place Like Home for Aging Parents? Maybe, Maybe Not (Follow Up)


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Leslie Peters was my guest on a recent blogtalk radio show I host (http://www.blogtalkradio.com/solie/2009/11/07/no-place-like-home-for-aging-parent-maybe-maybe-no). I asked her to provide me with a “list” of questions that would help aging parents and their adult children screen potential senior living accommodations. She…

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