Called candida auris, this fungus is highly contagious, drug-resistant, and it’s plaguing nursing facilities. Half of the patients who contract this disease die within 90 days. It’s so difficult to eradicate that many facilities have stopped accepting patients infected with it. Public health officials struggle to contain the pathogen, while...
An article in The New York Times tells the tragic story of addiction and its effect on a Virginia coal mining town that has already seen its share of hard times. But it’s more than that. It’s about the lawmakers who had a chance to do the right thing to make...
Many of us are caring for--or know someone who is caring for--a family member, often an aging parent. With 10,000 baby boomers turning 70 every day, caring for this demographic is a growing health care matter, and it’s only time before it becomes a political issue. Let’s take a look...
If you’re creating a Living Trust, you'll need to access financial records and other important documents. End-of-life planning now will save future anxiety and stress This is important for your own family, but it may be even more critical for those who are caring for family members. A stunning 10,000 baby boomers...
On August 1, New Jersey became the eighth state to allow doctors to prescribe lethal medication to terminally ill patients who want to end their lives. On Sept. 15, Maine will become the ninth. By October 2019, 22% of Americans will live in states where residents with six months or...
Juli Engel was delighted when a neurologist recommended a PET scan to determine whether amyloid — the protein clumps associated with an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease — was accumulating in her mother’s brain. Her mother, Sue Engel, is 83 and lives in a retirement community in Florida. She’s been experiencing...
I had a doctor who used to tell me that a certain amount of stress was good for me. And I have to agree. I like the adrenalin rush of working on a deadline, of juggling priorities to meet objectives and the exhilaration of making it all work. Stress keeps...
Kara Swisher is a business technology journalist and contributor to The New York Times. In a recent article, she describes her own symptoms that led to her rush to the ER with a stroke. What saved her life? It well may have been a long-distance consult with her doctor brother...
A New York Times article regarding one couple’s discussions about moving to a retirement home brought back memories of my own parents’ ongoing dialog. My folks were in their mid-eighties, still healthy and active, but their three-bedroom home on a Florida lakeshore was becoming a burden. After a lifetime of shopping...
The employment landscape for those 60 and older According to Inc. Magazine, there are now more than 76,000,000 Americans reaching the age of 60 and beyond, “and it seems they either can’t or don’t want to stop working.” An article in The Atlantic points out that employment in America of those aged 65...
You’ve created a Living Trust, an Advanced Healthcare Directive and signed a Do Not Resuscitate Order (DNR). You’ve done everything right, but is this enough? In one alarming example, a nurse was under the misguided belief that Living Trusts automatically include DNRs. She instructed the doctor not to resuscitate the...
They’re officially called Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs), but you probably know them as tiny houses. They’re small, carefully designed, tidy and, well, adorable. People are fascinated by these little houses for a lot of reasons. They’ve become part of the conversation about the housing crisis that has become a global...
