Chicago's Geriatric Care Manager Center of Excellence – Since 1991 | Chicago's Geriatric Care Manager Center of Excellence

There is an ‘I’ in Caregiver: 5 Tips to Avoid Burnout
We all have heard of coaches exhorting their players to work together by saying “there is no ‘I’ in...
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September 25, 2018
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Singing is a Breath of Fresh Air for Caregivers
Associate Care Manager Gregory is a Certified Senior Advisor (CSA) and Certified Dementia Practitioner (CDP) whose work focuses on...
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February 12, 2018
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Insta-Gram: It’s a Date!
Associate Care Manager Gregory Peebles returns with a series on the Internet and aging. Gregory is both a Certified...
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September 23, 2017
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In the Caregiver's Words

Recent Client Praise

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.
How about a free genetic test to learn more about your ancestors? Free… And finding out about the people who no longer are alive to tell their stories? And your older mom or dad figure why not... Well, identity theft is why not. How many of you have taken the test to find out more about your ancestors? You know, the one where you offer a sample of your saliva in a tube, mail it off and they return a “report” to you that details what they know about where other people with similar genetic profiles call “home.” Most people find they have ancestral roots that go back to a lot of places, not just the family homeland they heard about as children. So, of course, scammers would be finding a way to use this test which is supposed to put us all on the map in order to defraud unsuspecting elders. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General has sent out an alert. Scammers are offering people qualified for Medicare to get the same test that you or I may have paid for on-line. You may have thought your older parents were pretty insulated from this kind of scam, but here is how it works. We’ve all been to the public health or “aging well” events where a roomful of professionals are giving away books on senior residential options, refrigerator magnets, sticky note pads and a cool bag for carrying home the haul of freebies. There are other ways like telemarketing and door to door calls, but scammers are offering the unsuspecting older individuals a free cheek swab by simply providing their Medicare identity, and the target who does not recall that they no longer need to provide their social security number don’t hesitate to offer that in exchange for an ancestral map. Well, it becomes an access point to a different kind of map, your loved one’s financial map. And with the address and social information, scammers can begin the kind of work they do all too well. So, prepare your older loved one to be vigilant about:
- If a testing kit arrives at your loved one’s home, tell them to not do a thing if their physician did not request a test. Better yet, take note of the address of return and report it to the authorities.
- If a stranger offers a genetic test and…by the way…asks for a Social Security or Medicare number, stop. In fact, anyone other than a physician’s office or lab should not be given any of these pieces of identification.
- If anyone asks for Medicare information, and they are not a medical provider to your loved one, beware. So, this is more than saliva in a test tube. If you suspect Medicare fraud, depart the Office of the Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services.
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.
I have had the good fortune to connect with Julian Hills, a content writer and blogger for a great website and resource, Drugwatch.com. When I asked about the latest on diabetes and treatment, she offered these things to consider when it comes to elder care at home.

Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. Controlling the disease can save lives, but it’s also important for caregivers to know that controlling it can also come with its own set of consequences. Diabetes occurs in people who have high blood sugar because their body cannot move sugar into fat, liver and muscle to be stored for energy. The pancreas either does not make enough insulin or cells do not respond to insulin.

There are two common forms of the disease. The first, called type 1 diabetes, can be diagnosed in people of any age. The cause is unknown. These people need daily injections of insulin. The second, type 2 diabetes, is becoming more prevalent in the United States due to high obesity rates. Teens and young adults are now among many of the people developing type 2 diabetes. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that more than 8 percent of Americans have diabetes. Controlling diabetes is important because if untreated the disease can cause heart disease, stroke, hypertension, blindness and kidney disease. With nearly 26 million estimated cases in this country alone, an entire drug industry has blossomed, and caregivers need to be aware of the complications that have arisen from this group of drugs. While many of the medications on the market have helped patients control their condition, there are also a number of complications being reported.

As more and more people depend on these drugs, more and more lawsuits associated with their usage are arising. Here are some examples of conditions associated with these drugs:
- • Actos helps patients with type 2 diabetes by making their cells more sensitive to Insulin. But studies show extended use of the drug has been linked to an increased risk of bladder cancer. Patients taking Actos need to watch for painful or bloody urination, and unusually severe back pain.
- • Byetta is an injectable drug for type 2 patients. The drug controls blood sugar, but has been linked to damage of the pancreas, kidneys and thyroid. These complications can be fatal.
- • Januvia works in tandem with other type 2 diabetes medications to increase their effectiveness. It’s not for type 1 patients. Pancreatic cancer and pancreatitis are closely associated with the drug. In 2011, the Food and Drug Administration received nearly 200 reports of acute and chronic pancreatitis linked to the drug.
- • Victoza is another drug aimed at fighting type 2 diabetes. It has been linked to thyroid tumors, as well as pancreatitis and kidney failure.
Not all patients will suffer from these complications, but drugs may not be the only option. Adopting a healthier lifestyle may help people depend less on medication and avoid the potentially dangerous effects of these medications. Caregivers need to remember that helping people with the condition develop better diet and exercise habits is a great way to control the effects of type 2 diabetes.

SOURCES: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002194/
http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/factsheet11.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/pdf/ndfs_2011.pdf

Julian Hills is a content writer and blogger for Drugwatch. His journalism career has taken him from newspapers to local television news stations and even a 24-hour cable network in the Southeast. Julian is a graduate of Florida State University.

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 who need help with elder care at home in metropolitan Chicago. Please email your questions to info@creativecaremanagement.com.
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In the past two postings I have been talking about the warning signs of caregiver burnout as well as what caregivers can do to care for themselves. At the center of a lot of what can be done for the caregiver is a very simple philosophy: “Don’t try to do it all alone.” As a Geriatric Care Manager, this is where I often get the call. The caregiver or someone close to the caregiver needs somebody to help make decisions, take over some of the workload, stand up for an elder or other individual with special needs or counsel the caregiver on self-care.

There are other resources that can provide decision-making support, take on some of the caregiving responsibilities, advocate for an elder or caregiver and offer professional counsel on just coping with the responsibilities of caregiving. There are services to help caregivers in most communities, and the cost is often based on ability to pay. Look to programs such as adult day care centers, home health aides, home-delivered meals, respite care, transportation services, and skilled nursing.

Some steps you can take include:

-Find the local Area Agency on Aging. It may go by other names, but a Google search or even government or yellow pages search can give you some options. Check the Illinois AAA .

-If the elder or special needs individual is a Vet, the Veterans Administration is source of a good many support services,some of which are free to a veteran. For a map of service locations, go to VA MAP .

-There are other “affiliation groups” that can offer a range of support services. This can include the Elks, the Moose Lodge, Masonic Lodge and more. We should not overlook what religious denominations also can do along these lines. It may only be telephonic check-ups or meals or companionship, but it can be just the support or respite a caregiver needs.

-Transportation may be challenge for the elder in which case your state or local Area Agency on Aging can again be a resource.

-Just having a reliable agency to call on your elder who is relatively independent can also give piece of mind to a caregiver, and the Area Agency on Aging also offers pre-scheduled calling to homebound elders that can take some of the check-in responsibilities from the caregiver.

-Many local hospitals or long term care facilities offer day care for older adults. Because they already are equipped to meet the special needs of older adults, they often extend day services to area clients at a nominal charge.

Charlotte Bishop is a Geriatric Care Manager and founder of Creative Case Management, certified professionals who are geriatric advocates, resources, counselors and friends to older adults and their families throughout metropolitan Chicago. Please email your questions to Charlotte Bishop.,geriatric care manager Chicago, geriatric care Chicago

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When you were young, you may have dreamed of being like Superman or Wonder Woman. They both had remarkable powers that made them more than just better than the average person or even the best among the average humans. They had powers that came from something very special about their makeup, in the former case, well, “super powers.” Scientists at Northwestern University’s School of Medicine are using similar language now to refer to a rather small subset of people who live to be not just over 90 years of age, but some to be old enough to celebrate their 120^thbirthday. They are “Super-Agers.” Are you a super-ager? Well that depends. The physicians involved in the research are looking at a lot of factors that may help make a superager like psychosocial factors, education, family history, genes, physical health and the brain. And they are looking at people over 80years of age who have the memories of those 30 years younger as well as a control group of “average” people. For instance, they have found that super-agers have a thicker cerebral cortex, the important outer layer of the brain responsible for memory, attention, language and thinking. It was thicker than the normal agers, about the same size as members of the younger, middle-aged control group. There were other exceptional facets of the super-agers’ brains such as that part of the brain that controls social behavior. The scientists also have taken blood samples to further assess the DNA of the superager. So, if it is all based on the genes we receive, or as some say the parents we have chosen and that these people may be less numerous than only one of every hundred within the overall population, what’s the point? Well, one of the researchers points out that you don’t have to be the one who has the right genes to live longer. If they find that the superager’s’ genes turn off a certain protein or turn on a certain metabolic process that contributes to longevity, then you don’t have to have better genes to live longer. You just have to have some help to adjust the proteins, the metabolic processes or whatever it is that works the magic. So, there may be good news for us all. If you have an older loved one in your orbit who shows signs of being a superager, encourage them to reach out to NU’s medical school…today. 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.