The facts are well known, the St Louis Today reports: “…By 2030, about 72 million Americans will be 65 or older — roughly twice the number in 2000, according to estimates by the National Institute on Aging. While plenty of attention has been given to how this coming tidal wave of seniors will strain Medicaid, aging specialists and health care advocates are also beginning to address the “forgotten population” — those who may have enough assets to pay for some health care services but not the cost of a long-term nursing home.

It can be a difficult population to care for. Typically, people 80 or older have one chronic disease; those 85 or older have two chronic diseases. Many of these seniors also have problems doing everyday tasks such as cooking meals, washing their clothes or tying their shoes. On average, 24-hour care in a nursing home runs about $60,000 a year…” Therefore the need for building that safety net for all elders.

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Living Well provides medical advocacy to help patients who are hospitalized

On the Wellness section of the New York Times, Pam Belluck compile the advice of three experts  on the questions family members can ask to lower a patient’s risk for delirium during a hospital stay.

Pam says “…Many readers have asked me what family members can do to help lower an elderly patient’s risk. To find out, I turned to three experts –  Dr. Margaret Pisani at the Yale University School of Medicine, Dr. Wes Ely at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine and Dr. Sharon Inouye at Harvard Medical School. Based on their advice, here are six questions family members should ask to lower an elderly patient’s risk for hospital delirium…”

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Not all senior care or residential facilities are safe!

America’s largest elderly people live in California. 3.7 million over age 65. Most of these seniors live in institutions and although some of these facilities provide an outstanding care for many seniors,  a staggering number of others are being abused and neglected and even are dying on these residential care facilities. Some of these facilities are so eager to retain the residents that they ignore the issues that will need real medical care and well trained medical staff and keep the residents away from the needed care until it is too late.

Tanya McRae  conducted an investigative report on abuse and neglect of the elderly at skilled nursing facilities and nursing homes. In the video, one daughter shares her story of her mother’s horrific death, and attorneys explain staggering number of other criminal cases.

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More than 40 percent of adult patients in acute care hospital beds are 65 or older. Seventy million Americans will have turned 65 by 2030. They include the 85-and-older cohort, the nation’s fastest-growing age group. Elderly people often have multiple chronic illnesses, expensive to treat, and they are apt to require costly hospital re-admissions, sometimes as often as 10 times in a single year. Living Well Assisted Living at Home has designed a new model of comprehensive care that will help care for elders at home, including those who are frail, recovering from surgery, accidents or any illness. The model also strives to care for those suffering from dementia, at home.

In an article written by Milt Freudenheim for the Health section of the New York Times, in June 28, 2010, we find how geriatricians and other professionals are lobbying for best practices in the field of aging.  In the article it is stressed the fact of how “..to stay independent, the elderly will need to stay healthy. Many of these people could be back on the golf course and enjoying their grandchildren if we did the right thing for them,” said Mary D. Naylor, a longtime geriatric care researcher and professor of gerontology in the School of Nursing at the University of Pennsilvania. Her research showed that even fragile older people could avoid a quick return to the hospital if they are managed by teams of nurses, social workers, physicians and therapists, together with their own family members. Hospital re-admissions, which cost $17 billion a year, could be reduced by 20 percent — $3.5 billion — or more, she said…” Obviously a new approach to care for the elder is imperative if we wnat to promote wellness in this sector of the population and reduce the increasing costs of caring for seniors.

Mr. Freudenheim continues by saying: “…Many internists, family physicians and other primary care doctors are lobbying for payments for a team approach based in the physician’s office. The concept, which they call a patient-centered medical home, will be tried out under the new health care law by Medicare, Medicaid and some private insurers. Secretary Sebelius has called the medical home idea “one of our most promising models for improving the quality of care and bringing down health care costs…”

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Medical advocacy is a key component of Living Well’s approach to care that has been demonstrated to lead to improved quality of life and avoid further complications for seniors’ health. It is vital to avoid unnecessary visits to the ER and prolonged home stays.

Pam Belluck offers advice on how to prepare when an elderly patient is headed to surgery or a hospital stay in a recently post in The New York Times. She offers  Six Questions to Protect Elderly Patients.

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