Chicago's Geriatric Care Manager Center of Excellence – Since 1991 • caregiver supportChicago's Geriatric Care Manager Center of Excellence

What’s Your Complaint?
If you grew up in a family as I did we were taught not to, or shown role models...
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June 11, 2024
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Are Your Prepared?
Have you ever taken a trip that was planned by a third party… maybe a National Geographic voyage or...
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June 3, 2024
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Well, Don’t Do That
I have to believe that you’ve heard the one about the patient who shows up at the doctor’s office. ...
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April 30, 2024
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The Synergy Between Seniors and Earth Day!
April 22 is Earth Day, a date that has brought together activists and celebrants since its inception in 1970. ...
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April 22, 2024
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Can’t Find Your Keys?
When I speak to some clients our conversation moves from their work lives and forward to their retirements now....
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April 16, 2024
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Are You in the First Half or the Second Half of Your Life
A philosopher/theologian whom I regard quite highly talks about the first half and the second half of life. Life...
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April 2, 2024
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Another Side Effect of COVID: SCAMS
Just when you thought you’d heard everything about COVID! We early on learned how to be vaccinated, and most...
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March 12, 2024
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Why D is More than a Passing Grade
There is much talk recently about “grade inflation” which rather diminishes the formerly exclusive appeal of a report card...
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January 29, 2024
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The Risk Factors AND Ways to Prevent Alzheimer’s
Alzheimer’s Disease affects nearly six million people in the United States according to estimates from the CDC, and that...
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January 22, 2024
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How to Get All the New Years You Can
It’s not a magic pill or a quick transformation, but it’s not difficult either. The “it” is greater longevity,...
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January 17, 2024
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In the Caregiver's Words

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Free White Paper: How to Avoid Bad Medicine
Many are unaware of the massive scope of the pharmaceutical market and all the ways in which seniors are taking more and more unnecessary drugs because of it. We discuss how caregivers can look out for signs that their loved one’s medication is over prescribed. We also discuss other warning signs people should look out for when buying prescription or over-the-counter drugs.

Inside "Caregiver Advice about Bad Medicine"

Learn about polypharmacy and how to protect elder loved ones from it.

Discover the potential danger of some over the counter drugs

Dive into many of the ways in which some drugs do not cooperate well with food.
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Personally committed to you and your loved one's well being.
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Let me first say that Medicare is absolutely a boon to older adults who will face many medical issues associated with aging at the same time they also are on more modest fixed incomes than they had enjoyed in their earlier years. Now, shift gears from Medicare to Medicare Advantage, or Medigap as it is often called. These are also called Part C plans, and they can pick up what otherwise would be out of pocket costs like copays or deductibles not covered by Medicare. Medicare Advantage plans have more than 22 million enrollees, and no one would term these supplemental plans (whose open enrollment just closed) a scam. But there are some not so obvious costs embedded within many Medicare Advantage plans that everyone should know. You don’t always hear about what happens if you switch carriers for Part C. Especially if you have had a medical event like a surgery or diagnosis or accident that may lead to ongoing issues…or not…issues such as if you’ve had a medical event…which will then become a “pre-existing condition. Try to change plans and suddenly some care coverage will be denied or some of your specialists are not “in network” or coverage may even be denied. All of this is not something that we can fully address in a single blog post, but every 65+ year old deserves an advocate who can help sort through a very complex minefield of coverages. So, if you are a caregiver to an older loved one, you have almost a year to do some research in anticipation of the next enrollment period, and here are some resources to help. Specifically, check out this: Medicare.gov Medicare also has a resource titled: "When can I buy Medigap?" And there is another Medicare publication that explains the rules for getting in or out of a Medigap plan. As I have said, you have nearly a year before the next open enrollment period. Please do your homework…and maybe even consider it advance planning for your own future. I had used the plural –scams. Continue to help protect your older loved one from:
- Winning a Sweepstakes – if they get the call that they have “won,” and all they have to do is give some personal information or pay a “fee for the transfer,” hang up!
- Tech Support – may call to help your loved one defend themselves against a “virus” or “malware,” don’t let them go to a site, log on to anything…just hang up!
- Old Crushes – may reach out with a text or email harkening back to a school crush from back in high school – log off or hang up!
- Social Security – if someone calls about benefits or technical issues, don’t give them any information – first hang up and then call the Social Security Administration directly – 800.722.1213.
Now, you will have made someone’s world safer. Please enjoy the run-up to your holidays, and embrace your families. Charlotte Bishop is an Aging Life Care Advisor, Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Care Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families in metropolitan Chicago. She also is the co-author of How Do I Know You? A Caregiver’s Lifesaver for Dealing with Dementia.
We have probably all used some expression about being "only as old as you feel" or know someone who is "young at heart" or my favorite that "you do have to grow older, but you do not have to grow up." Well you get where I am going. It is a medical fact that chronological age is not a truly accurate assessment of how well a person really is. If you are a caregiver for an older loved one, you may at times would like to know how well they really are, not just how well they may be cared for by their provider. Some researchers in Norway have come up with a way to calculate a person's fitness age, and this may be one that caregivers and older adults may both want to know. Fitness experts for a long time have known that one of the best ways to measure fitness is to measure an athlete's peak oxygen intake. To do that they run that athlete to their maximum exertion and then measure their VO2 max, or how effectively the body is delivering oxygen to the cells. In many big clinical studies, this has proved to be a pretty good predictor of how long a person may be expected to live. Well, not too many of us have access to the apparatus to measure our peak oxygen intake, so these Norwegian researchers found a reasonable alternative for estimating how old a person's health is using some measures that we all can record. First, the researchers measured the real peak oxygen intake of nearly 5,000 people whose ages ranged from 20 years old to 90. They also took a lot of other measurements and ultimately found that five really basic measurements do a very reliable job of predicting the fitness that peak oxygen intake measured. The five include:
- gender
- calendar age
- waist measurement
- resting pulse; and
- frequency and intensity of regular exercise.
For that last item, they have a brief check list for you to approximate the rigor of your weekly fitness routine, and for resting pulse, just find a quiet place and count your pulse for 30 seconds and then multiply times two. To let their algorithm tell you what your or your older loved one's fitness age is, just go to http://www.ntnu.edu/cerg/vo2max and plug in the numbers. No one can control their gender or their birthdays, but the exercise part and the waistline part are controllable. So, this is a way not only to find your "real age," but also to take years off that number. Good luck on that and Happy Birthdays.
If you’re like me, you may have had moments when you’ve looked at the latest clinical information on the health benefits of dark chocolate, and your first response is, “But I don’t like dark chocolate.” What’s a milk chocolate lover to do when dark chocolate gets all the good press, and it seems the only benefit you get from milk chocolate is that it tastes…well…really great! Good news, milk chocolate lovers, new research is pointing to overall health benefits for milk chocolate that include it’s ability to fend off dementia and more. Disclaimer here, when we extend the benefits to milk chocolate, it’s about “minimally-processed milk and powdered varieties” of chocolate. So, read the labels, but be prepared for five health benefits:
1. As with dark chocolate, our milk chocolate intake is part of an overall healthy diet that can reduce the risk of heart disease. Research has shown that adults who even eat a bit less than an ounce of chocolate daily are less likely than those eating no chocolate to develop heart disease. Researchers haven’t pinpointed what the mechanism of action is, but the outcome is real.
2. The antioxidants in chocolate help to defend your blood vessels against plaque buildup by reducing low density lipids – the bad cholesterol. Dark chocolate has an advantage with its greater concentration of stearic and oleic acids, but the less-processed milk chocolate also confers an advantage.
3. Especially if you have high blood pressure or a family history of hypertension, chocolate helps blood vessels to dilate without damaging the vessels, because of the flavonoids all chocolates possess. Improved blood flow means lower blood pressure.
4. Research from Harvard Medical School has found that this blood flow improvement is important to the areas of the brain associated with higher cognition. In other words, chocolate improves mental acuity and memory, but …the good news…you need to consume chocolate daily to optimize the effects.
5. Scientists at the University of Copenhagen found that people consuming chocolate, particularly dark chocolate, had reduced cravings for non-healthy salty or sweet or fatty foods. Who would have thought that chocolate helps promote a healthy diet overall.
Five benefits (and yes, dark chocolate does have an edge over milk chocolate) are a pretty good return on your dietary investment. And you can’t overindulge and expect positive results, but a bit of chocolate-induced happiness has more benefits than just a happy palate. Charlotte Bishop is an Aging Life Care Advisor, Geriatric Care Manager and founder of, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families in metropolitan Chicago. She also is the co-author of How Do I Know You? A Caregiver’s Lifesaver for Dealing with Dementia.
Free White Paper: Advice on Heart Health for Seniors
Cardiovascular disease accounts for one-third of all deaths in America today. The heart matters! We provide advice on how you and your loved one can maintain a healthier heart -- it is not just limited to diet and exercise!

Inside "Guide toward a Healthier Senior Heart"

Get informed about cardiovascular disease and steps for prevention

Learn what to expect from cardiac recovery

Discover how chocolate can possibly help reduce hypertension
Get the Support You Need Now! Call 847-869-5118 x511
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Personally committed to you and your loved one's well being.
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In my first of this two part series, I talked about how Thanksgiving as well as the holidays that follow can be opportunities to give a helpful wellness check on an older loved one's home. A lot of my suggestions were focused on preventing falls around the home for an older loved one who may not be as nimble as they once were, and home may actually be less safe with the natural wear and tear in an aging household. But there are other health risks for aging adults in America, with dementia, depression and dietary insufficiency forming the three D's for caregivers. Starting with dementia, less than 1 percent of adults between 60 and 64 years of age suffer from some sort of dementia. But by the time adults reach age ages 80 to 84, that prevalence is about 12 percent, and it doubles once they exceed 90 years of age. Depression is one of the most common conditions of aging adults with estimates of about one in five adults over age 65 suffering at some point with clinical depression. Diet can be even higher than this with one group of researchers pegging the prevalence of malnutrition among older adults at nearly 23% across 12 developed countries. So, if you are a caregiver visiting an older loved one during the holidays, look for the following signs:
- Dementia...
  - Without being prying, check your loved one's refrigerator; look for how well-stocked it may be as well as signs of decay or mold
  - Take note of their overall hygiene; are they bathing with enough frequency or laundering their clothes regularly.
  - If your loved one owns a pet, how well groomed and fed is the pet; note also, however, that your loved one may be taking better care of Fido than themselves.
- Depression...
  - This one also encourages a trip to the frig to see if the low supply may indicate a loss of appetite; in fact a lot of what may appear as dementia in the list above actually may be masking a depression.
  - Talk to them about their sleep patterns; inability to sleep through the night or difficulty falling asleep may be signs.
  - Get a sense of how active your older loved one is; are they staying active socially, are they still involved in clubs or hobbies?
- Diet...
  - The refrigerator should be a stop on this check-up as well; an older adult may not admit they cannot afford all that they should eat - but an under-stocked refrigerator may be a tell.
  - Share more than one meal with your loved one; sometimes malnutrition can be attributed to lack of appetite (refer to signs of depression here as well as medications that may be suppressing appetite or causing nausea)
  - Note any more pronounced weight loss; clothes that appear to be looser particularly around the collar or waist band.
  - Be alert to bruises or wounds that are not healing well or problems with teeth; regarding teeth, be sensitive to particularly bad breath that may be a clue to poor diet or tooth and gum decay.
Charlotte Bishop is a Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Care Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families in metropolitan Chicago. Please email your questions to info@creativecaremanagement.com.