Aging, caregiving and the journey through the second half of life

End of Life Medical Quicksand

March 22, 2017

We all know someone with a family member who has fallen into end of life medical quicksand and suffered an excruciating outcome. In his article I Know You Love Me–Now Let Me Die Dr. Louis Dr. Profeta, an ER physician,…

Spousal Care

March 14, 2017

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The Delirium Epidemic in Hospitalized Older Adults

March 3, 2017

“Medical care has evolved to be absolutely inhumane to older people.” Sharon Inouye, MD Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School Hospital-induced delirium, the sudden disruption of consciousness and cognition marked by vivid hallucinations and an inability to focus, affects 7…

Wisdom Cards

February 23, 2017

Aging Parents Dance Cards are a deck of the 20 cards designed for anyone involved in the care of an older adult. Each card is an aphorism I created on a topic, issue, or situation common to the caregiving experience.…

Why Do We Teach CPR, But Not Caregiving?

February 19, 2017

Indeed, why don’t we? This article by Dr. Richard Lindsey discusses how he enlisted help from Virginia’s college and university students to invent an app or product to improve the health of caregivers…This is the kind of intergenerational creativity we…

Higher Levels of Depression in Married Caregivers

February 18, 2017

“We also found that caregivers who are married and caring for a family member with a diagnosis other than cancer, such as Alzheimer’s disease, had higher levels of depression,” says Debra Parker-Oliver, professor of family and community medicine at the…

Home Unfurnishing Your Parent’s Stuff

February 15, 2017

This is an excellent article by Richard Eisenberg that offers eight strategies for systematically paring down the stuff of aging parents that apparently nobody wants. It’s a necessary but ultimately awkward ritual of sorting with an eye towards aggressively casting…

Augmented Eternity: Ready or Not

January 29, 2017

Read this amazing and disturbing article by Adrienne Matei that is published in “Quartz” entitled Beyond The Grave Technology is rewriting yet another chapter in the book on death. In addition to forestalling physical death with machines that can breath…

A New Set Design for Nursing Homes

January 22, 2017

This is a fascinating innovation in the physical design of a nursing home. Forget the clinical model of mini-hospitals and consider bringing the outside inside with a neighborhood look and feel. How comforting to have a front porch with your…

Online College Course: Communication Skills with Seniors

December 26, 2016

I have joined the faculty of Saint Joseph’s College of Maine to offer a new online course entitled Communication Skills with Seniors (Sl 320). Here is the course overview: The purpose of this course is to assist you in developing…

Second-Half of Life Blog