Con-Versations with nurse nancyCon-Versations with nurse nancyFor those who have something to say about living, getting older, health, wellness, sickness, rising health costs, Medicare, even Michael Moores Sicko documentary and more. 
Articles
What’s In a Name?
2007-10-19 14:46:00 Shakespeare said, ” what’s in a name? A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Is this true? If so, why are generational labels so hated? The over 60 crowd decries the labels put upon them. I know, I am one with them. Now there is the boomer generation. Who thought of this name? ...
Medicare Advantage Health Plan Gets National Award
2007-10-17 16:47:00 My friends, this is a shameless plug. At a time when most of you are scrambling to understand your Medicare benefits and what plan to choose or switch to, I want to shout out some pride in what our own Medicare Advantage Health Plan is doing. Just 2 years old, our health plan leadership recently won ... More About: National , Award
It’s That Time of Year Again: Medicare
2007-10-15 18:15:00 It’s open enrollment for Medicare Advantage Health plans. And, it’s time to look at the prescription card benefit, Part D, again. When selecting which Medicare Advantage plan you want, you may want to consider those that have Part D (prescription coverage). Medicare actually has a site that lets you match coverage to your needs and ... More About: Time , Year
They’ll Never Get My Tonsils!
2007-10-11 21:27:00 A couple of years ago, on the day before my birthday, my appendix broke. It was an amazingly painful experience that left me grateful for the surgeon who removed the little bugger (normally two to four inches long). Not only is a busted appendix painful, but it can also prove deadly. Every year 300 to 400 ... More About: Tonsil
In the Autumn of Her Life
2007-10-10 15:18:00 On the east coast, where I reside, there finally seems to be a break in the heat with the promise of Fall arriving. It’s a time of year to which I usually look forward. The colors in the leaves turning from green to rich oranges, browns and reds. Autumn or Fall has many meanings: a ... More About: Life
If you love NFL films, you’ll love this!
2007-10-05 23:37:00 Bowling and retirement rise to a new level Every now and then, if you are lucky, you see a peek into true creativity. One of the joys of my job is that I get to see that creativity more than most people because of Erickson Retirement Community’s amazingly talented residents and staff. If you watch this Erickson ... More About: Love , Films
The Doctor is In, Part One
2007-10-03 15:20:00 Recently, the group of physicians, nurse practitioners, and other health professionals at Erickson Health held their annual meeting. The focus of this group of is on people 65 and older. You see, they truly understand the natural aging process and the potential affect this has on getting and treating chronic conditions such as asthma, hypertension, ... More About: Part , Doctor
D’em Bones
2007-10-01 20:08:00 Does anyone care that starting at age 40 and for every decade you live after that, you lose 10% of your bone strength? So by the time you hit your 60’s, 20% of your bone strength is gone. Then, if you don’t do leg strengthening exercises, keep your weight down, take calcium (and Vitamin D ... More About: Bones
Ageism Continues Unabated
2007-09-26 21:46:00 “Older adults are more likely than younger adults to talk excessively and about topics that are irrelevant to the stream of conversation . . . despite the fact that older and younger adults agree that it is inappropriate to inquire about such issues [such as weight gain and family problems] in public,” says psychologist William ... More About: Ageism , Abate , Conti
Watchdog 1: Flying in the Dark
2007-09-26 02:54:00 The August 2007 edition of The Tribune led with a story about the federal government’s collection and usage of airline passengers’ personal data for terrorist watch lists (Flying in the Dark ) http://www.ericksontribune.com/Home/TopSt ories/tabid/63/newsid404/5704/Flying-in-t he-dark/Default.aspx. The story highlighted serious flaws in the implementation of these lists and in the Department of Homeland Security’s and Transportation Security Agency’s information ... More About: The Dark , The D
Snap Judgments
2007-09-25 19:42:00 Snap Judgments By Michele Harris THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE A funny thing happened to me at AARP’s Life@50+ expo in Boston which attracted over 25,000 attendees this year. The sheer number of attendees attracted anyone with something to sell – be it back medicine, LASIK surgery, a new book or even a presidential platform. I am not old enough ... More About: Snap
Snap Judgments
2007-09-25 01:48:00 Snap Judgments By Michele Harris THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE A funny thing happened to me at AARP’s Life@50+ expo in Boston which attracted over 25,000 attendees this year. The sheer number of attendees attracted anyone with something to sell – be it back medicine, LASIK surgery, a new book or even a presidential platform. I am not old enough ... More About: Snap
Healthcare and Presidential Candidates: Does It Matter?
2007-09-24 17:49:00 So many candidates for president, so early in the campaign. I sometimes wonder if anyone is paying attention. Are you? Kaiser research arm has a non-bias reporting of all the health plans submitted by these multiple candidates. You can find those by clicking here. A recent study conducted by one of the television networks (though I ... More About: Presidential , Healthcare , Candidates , Matter , Resident
Paper Dedicated to Seniors Shatters Stereotypes
2007-09-21 20:25:00 Warning: If you are not interested in media trends and seniors’ reading habits, today’s blog isn’t for you. The Simmons Market Research Bureau, the industry gold standard for researching and surveying newspapers, recently conducted a study among the recipients of The Erickson Tribune. Here are some of their findings: More About: Stereotypes , Paper , Seniors , Dedicated , Stere
Defibrillate Your Monday Morning Blues
2007-09-17 17:16:00 Monday morning is not just for would be football quarterbacks analyzing the previous days games. No, Monday morning has been known for years as the most common time for heart attacks to occur. Why? There are many inclusive reasons surrounding this phenomenum. Mostly they have to do with the mind body connection. The ingredients for this ... More About: Blues , Morning , Monday , Onda , Monday Morning Warning: preg_replace() [function.preg-replace]: Unknown modifier '1' in /home/blogtop/public_html/blogdetails.php on line 161
Seniors, road rage, iPod phones, and consumer products
2007-09-10 16:16:00 One of my favorite movies scenes of all times is when middle-aged Evelyn Couch (Kathy Bates in the movie Fried Green Tomatoes) is waiting patiently for a parking spot in a shopping center. Just as the spot becomes available, two young girls in a cute little car cut in front of her and steal her ... More About: Products , Phones , Ipod , Consumer , Rage
Aging in Place: Benefit or Burden
2007-09-10 15:33:00 I have been off on vacation. A great time. I went no where. I cleaned and rearranged things at home, getting rid of all those items I could not live without but of course, can. I saw friends, babysat my 7 month old grand-daughter and still continued to assist my 93 year old Mom stay ... More About: Place , Aging , Benefit
Who pays for medical errors?
2007-08-29 20:07:00 Ultimately, each one of us pays for medical errors and we have been for years. Complications that result from medication errors and hospital acquired infections cost about 30 million dollars a year according to several sources.Well, starting in October, 2008, Medicare is not going to pay for what it perceives to be medical errors, in hospitals. Medicare, CMS, will deny reimbursements to hospitals for preventable errors, such as hospital based infections and injuries, that occur while patients are in their care. It is hoped this will encourage better quality and help reduce avoidable injury and infection rates. Medicare is also refusing to pay for hospital injuries that occur while patients are hospitalized. Forcing hospitals to pay, Medicare officials said, should help lower infection and injury rates. Hospital-acquired infections are the most common cause of preventable patient harm, with CDC estimating that 1.7 million U.S. residents are infecte... More About: Medical , Errors , Pays
Who pays for medical errors?
2007-08-29 19:13:00 Ultimately, each one of us pays for medical errors and we have been for years. Complications that result from medication errors and hospital acquired infections cost about 30 million dollars a year according to several sources. More About: Medical , Errors , Pays
Every 10.9 Seconds another American Turns 60
2007-08-29 17:34:00 Interested in knowing the future of America? Take nine minutes to view this new video posted by UMBC (University of Maryland, Baltimore County). Yes, it’s essentially a commercial for The Erickson School (of Aging, Management, and Policy) but if you’re a businessman or a social engineer, the numbers the video presents are overwhelming. If you’re ... More About: American , Seconds
‘Life is what you make it’
2007-08-28 17:58:00 You know when you have experiences in your life that are so timely it’s surreal? I had one yesterday. I went to photograph the antiques at a woman’s home at Charlestown. Afterwards she asked me to sit and chat for a while. I don’t know how we got on the subject, but she started telling ... More About: Life , Make
Pet-friendly decorating
2007-08-27 17:40:00 As I said in my September “Design Secrets” column, U.S. pet owners spent $36 million last year on their pets. That’s a lot! So what’s costing them that much money? Designer pet products are all the rage. I found some affordable ones available at stores like Target. More About: Friendly
Medicare Discovers Preventive Health Care
2007-08-21 17:33:00 I love it. Medicare has had enough. Not that this new plan is perfect, but it’s a step in the right direction. Hmmm, we can save lives AND money by practicing preventive health care. As noted consultant Tom Peters recently stated in his blog: “There is little doubt that we lose far more lives to preventable errors (like ... More About: Health , Health Care , Care , Discover
Fit as a Fiddle, who coined these phrases?
2007-08-20 19:12:00 A short time ago, we produced an education pamphlet about staying healthy. We called it: Fit as a Fiddle. That started a thought: who coined these phrases and how did they come to be? All about Fit as a fiddle: More About: Phrases , These , Coin
Fit as a Fiddle, who coined these phrases?
2007-08-20 17:07:00 A short time ago, we produced an education pamphlet about staying healthy. We called it: Fit as a Fiddle. That started a thought: who coined these phrases and how did they come to be? All about Fit as a fiddle: Meaning: Very fit and well.Origin: Of course the 'fiddle' here is the colloquial name for violin. 'Fit' didn't originally mean healthy and energetic, in the sense it is often used nowadays to describe the inhabitants of gyms. When this phrase was coined 'fit' was used to mean 'suitable, seemly', in the way we now might say 'fit for purpose'. Thomas Dekker, in The batchelars banquet, 1603 referred to 'as fine as a fiddle': "Then comes downe mistresse Nurse as fine as a farthing fiddle, in her petticoate and kertle."Not long afterwards, in 1616, there's W. Haughton's English-men for my Money, which includes:"This is excellent ynfayth [in faith], as fit as a fiddle."I found a great site at http://www.phrases.org.uk/index.html ;. Go ahead, c... More About: Phrases , These , Coin
How Old is Old?
2007-08-16 19:11:00 How old is old? Is age about image? or is it about actually aging? From the time we are born, we are encouraged, enticed, maybe even pushed to act and dress older. Look at the clothes available for infants nowadays: min-cheerleading outfits, jeans, Tee shirts with sayings and more. We coo and say how cute ...
How Old is Old?
2007-08-16 15:24:00 How old is old? Is age about image? or is it about actually aging? From the time we are born, we are encouraged, enticed, maybe even pushed to act and dress older. Look at the clothes available for infants nowadays: min-cheerleading outfits, jeans, Tee shirts with sayings and more. We coo and say how cute these young babies, toddlers are. We accept their image to look older. Then it progress to havve young children dress and act older. It's a different world. We allow and encourage this.....until they actually become old, whatever that is. And then, we only accept old when old looks young: no grey hair or wrinkles. Is this true? or is it a perception, and is perception a reality?What prompted this? I subscribe to many blogs on aging. Today at Timesgoby.net, a guest blogger, Ellen Lee, of http://pomegranate-tiger.blogspot.com/&nb sp;wrote a blog about grey hair. And that sparked this blog.So what's wrong with looking your age? Peer pressure? societal pressure? Isn't this ...
Who's Blogging: is it real or paid?
2007-08-10 15:13:00 I subscribe to many blogs, mostly from elder bloggers, because I like to see who is saying what about whom. Clear? Yesterday I went to a blog about long term care. There was a post that I thought had incorrect health information and I wanted to comment. After many tries to register, comment, and even reach the blogger, I failed. Why? The blogger allows no comments and there is no profile and no email content. Then I reviewed her blogs and realized (I must be slow) that all the blogs reference similiar companies and it hit me: this must be a paid blogger. Paid bloggers are paid to blog about companies, drugs, movies, etc. This blog is NOT a paid blog.It is run by Erickson employees who enjoy what they do and where they work and want to blog about anything and everything (here the focus is on health) that interests them in hopes others, not Erickson employees, will join in. Do we sometimes cross the line and promote life at Erickson? Maybe we slip, but if we do, its because we are pas... More About: Blogging , Real , Blogg
Change the Way You Age, Taking Control
More articles from this author:2007-08-07 15:58:00 Recently, one of the residents of an Erickson managed community attended a Congressional Briefing on Osteoporosis and Medicare funding for screening programs, particularly, DXA (bone density scans). The briefing was to get women's groups involved to help support the understanding of the need for reimbursement for DXA. Over the next 3 years CMS will cut DXA by 75%. This will stop many outpatient centers in their tracks! Many have closed already! CMS is promoting prevention for seniors, yet cutting the reimbursement costs. Why is that? Do you care? Here are excerpts from the National Osteoporosis Foundation website, http://www.nof.org/advocacy/updates/index .htm, that YOU need to know: “Medicare reimbursement rates for specialized tests (DXA) that help detect osteoporosis before a fracture occurs have been reduced so dramatically that providers are beginning to discontinue this necessary treatment. The loss of DXA test providers for patients with osteoporosis and low bone mass w... More About: Change , Control , Taking , Chang , Chan 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 |
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