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

To B or Not to B12?
I have written a lot about dementia over the years as well as other issues that can mimic the...
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May 11, 2021
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Can You Live to 150?
During this seemingly relentless pandemic, it may be difficult to think about longevity as the COVD virus has swept...
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May 4, 2021
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Three Milion More Victims…
We see the numbers on a daily basis. How many have died from COVID, to date, we all probably...
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April 27, 2021
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Everything to Lose
Not a day goes by that the sun does not linger a bit longer, that the landscape gets a...
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April 20, 2021
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Not Just Spring…
We’ve heard of Spring Training for those who follow baseball teams like the CUBS or the SOX, and we...
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April 13, 2021
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Three Steps to the Now Normal
Yes, it has been a long year, maybe in part because it has been more than a year of...
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April 6, 2021
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As If COVID Were Not Enough
We’ve all heard about COVID’s symptoms…the GI upset, the shortness of breath, the fever, the added symptoms of the...
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March 30, 2021
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Diseases that Mimic Dementia…But Are Treatable-part 3
As you can tell from now a third installment about other medical conditions that can mimic dementia, it’s not...
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March 22, 2021
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Diseases that Mimic Dementia…But Are Treatable – part 2
Dementia is a fairly broad category that can include a number of different manifestations and/or causes. But the truth...
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March 16, 2021
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Diseases that Mimic Dementia…But Are Treatable – part 1
Dementia is the condition that adult Americans fear the most, and tragically there are conditions that can give a...
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March 9, 2021
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In the Caregiver's Words

Recent Client Praise

We all think that we could never get scammed, right? We all think that only other people can be fooled into giving away personal financial information of access, right? Well, this week I came as close as I want to being taken by on-line scammers. You perhaps cannot see very clearly the picture insert on this post, but two giveaways are highlighted, and one is not. This email came to me this week, and it took some close examination to see that there was a grammar error – the part that says “within 1 days” and a suspicious address – Amazon calls Seattle home, not “Knoxville, Tennessee.” The part you cannot see is what tipped me off, though; I don’t have an Amazon Prime account. If I had the account, I might have clicked through to update my credit card information, and you can guess how that story would have ended. I have said it before in other posts, but the bad guys are quite inventive, so we have to be on the alert for the next new thing, and these suggestions are some that you should share with your older loved ones as well as yourselves. Let me share some of the advice that Google offers:
- Don’t Click on the button until you hover your cursor over the button to see the address to which it will direct you if you do click;
- Check Reviews to see if you are dealing with what should appear to be a legitimate business-everybody gets reviewed;
- Contact Details should be present and verifiable – like the example that I just shared with you;
- “Whois lookup” is a site you can go to as a way to check that the website referenced is an actual, registered domain;
- Too Much is too much – your health care provider and purveyor of spirits may ask for your birth date, but no one else should be requesting it;
- Check Grammar, because a lot of the bad operators may not be operating in this country; English will not therefore be their first language;
- Go Offline and check your credit card statements each month for any charges that may come from web domains that you don’t recognize;
- Trust Your Intuition, because chances are that if the story does not sound right or the offerings don’t seem quite right, then you may be on the verge of being taken.
Of course there is more, but a fair bit of it gets into the more intricate elements of web site construction and such. I think the last is probably the bedrock of safe online commerce…listen to your feelings. It sort of makes me miss the days when I just had to worry about holding my purse close to me so that it wouldn’t get snatched. Be careful. 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.
“A friend told me how valuable the information [that Charlotte gave her] was!”
Catharine J. Jones, Diplomate Analytical Psychoanalyst
November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month, so I am going to give a lot of attention throughout this month to what we know as well as what we don’t know about dementia generally and Alzheimer’s disease specifically. More Americans fear an Alzheimer’s disease diagnosis than fear dying, and that should be no surprise, given that a new Alzheimer’s diagnosis is given every 67 seconds in the United States. But we should all be cautious in accepting any Alzheimer’s diagnosis for a loved one at face value. Research has shown that 24 percent of diagnoses actually are misdiagnoses. Given that there are about 100 different manifestations of dementia, perhaps we should be surprised that the rate of misdiagnosis is so low? And it is important also to bear in mind that the health care provider making the diagnosis may or may not be well-qualified to make the call either for lack of experience or for lack of proper tools with which to diagnose. Our team became involved with the mother of one of our people, because she was showing signs of cognitive decline. He recalls that on one of his visits her common introductions to friends of hers had become “You don’t have a name…this is my son.” He and his sister started making calls to her primary care physician’s office to get a sense of what was going on. In his mother’s file the diagnosis was “organic dementia.” The doctor had further prescribed an FDA-approved medication called Namenda for his mother for that “organic dementia.” First, Namenda is indicated for Alzheimer’s disease (not “organic dementia”) and is to be used in combination with another drug for Alzheimer’s called Aricept. Now with his mother’s doctor on the line, our staff member questioned why the prescription for a condition for which his mother had not be diagnosed and that was to be used only with a medication she had not yet been prescribed? And at $350 out of pocket per month? The doctor mumbled something about whether the son wanted his mother to have an autopsy to diagnose the condition…or was it the money. Stunned at how behind the times the doctor was, the son simply said it was the cost and the doctor withdrew the prescription. Let me get back to the autopsy. A decade and a half ago scientists could not definitively diagnose Alzheimer’s until after the individual had died and an autopsy of the brain could be performed. Now, we have neurologists who can confidently diagnose the condition with MRIs, PET scans and blood tests along with cognitive tests in real time and an historical look at a patient’s records. In these neuro-psych exams, the specialist is able to not only identify the condition, but more importantly what can be done. As it turns out with our team member’s mom, she had vascular dementia, the end result of numerous “mini-strokes” over time that deprived more and more parts of her brain of blood flow. As his mother’s condition deteriorated she was required to move from independent living to assisted care and finally to a memory unit. I have noted before in other posts that there are no cures for Alzheimer’s; well, there was no cure for vascular dementia that had progressed as far as it had for our team member’s mom either. But she lived to be more than ninety years of age and had a quality life. In the end, her quality of life was greatly assisted by those around her who knew the source of her dementia and how best to care for her. And that is as happy an ending as one can hope. For the rest of this month I am going to be talking a bit more about how dementia often gets confused with delirium or depression, as well as Alzheimer’s disease and also address your questions. Please just email me your questions or concerns at info@creativecaremanagement.com . 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.
Count slowly from one to sixty-seven…one thousand one, one thousand two, one thousand three… By the time you reach 67, one more person in the United States will have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease. In fact, one in three Americans will die with Alzheimer’s Disease. I have talked in the past about new diagnostic breakthroughs and some pharmacological and nutritional and other ways to modestly stave off the progression of this disease, but the fact is that there is no cure for Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s remains the only disease in the top ten causes of death in the United States that cannot be prevented, cured or slowed. But from the perspective of geriatric care management, it is not just the patient with the disease that requires help; it is their families and other caregivers in their orbits. To that end, I would like to share a brief overview of some of the resources available to support all the individuals who need help when this disease strikes:
1. Alzheimer’s Disease Alzheimer’s and Dementia Caregiver Center (http://www.alz.org/care/alzheimers-dementia-support-help.asp ) is an arm of the Association that has done the most to help patients with the disease as well. The Center provides training and other resources to caregivers as well las a 24-hour telephone hotline.
2. Family Caregiver Alliance(https://www.caregiver.org/national-center-caregiving) offers families resources at the local, state and national level. Not all locales may be covered, but their information and other resources at the national level can be a real asset to families.
3. Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving (http://www.rosalynncarter.org) offers training and education going beyond basic pamphlets. They do peer-reviewed literature searches across a host of related topics as well as sponsorship of researcher into interventions that work.
4. Eldercare Locator (http://www.eldercare.gov/eldercare.NET/Public/index.aspx ) is funded by the U.S. government and provides a unique matrix resource approach to resources nation-wide. From their web site one can search a range of service types by zip code to find specific services in your own locale.
And, of course, the Aging Life Care Association (https://www.aginglifecare.org) helps visitors to their web site with a Care Finder down to the specific zip code level. If you reflect back on other public health challenges where cures ultimately have been found, they all started with building from the grass roots a support system that not only supported the patients and their families, but also the march to a cure. It takes a village. Charlotte Bishop is an Aging Life Care Professional and 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.
Therapy dogs work, because we all – as the saying goes – get by with a little help from our friends. It may be a cliché and it may be a good basis for a song, but it also works. Moreover, recent research shows that those who happen to have the companionship of furry friends have better medical outcomes. The research among chemotherapy patients demonstrated that patients who had the benefit of a dog with them during their treatments scored statistically higher on measures of “social well-being.” In my experience companion animals in assistive care settings make a difference for all the residents who get the benefit of a pet or a stroke of the furry worker dog. On my son’s campus, they also bring therapy dogs on the rounds during finals week. But do not just take the scientists’ word for it; dogs are mammals, and mammals emote. I know you can talk to some people who claim their pets know what they are thinking or when they are having a “bad day.” We don’t want to project too much intellectual capacity to our four-legged friends, but mammals emote. Reptiles and amphibians don’t. I understand that it has something to do with the physiology of their brains. If you have a pet these holidays – and it is well-behaved around strangers – don’t hesitate to share the warmth…even if the warmth also brings a bit of residual fur along with it. Everyone benefits when you share that love…and I believe even the dog will benefit. Speaking of which…the picture that accompanies today’s post is of a Jack Russel mix. The reason is that we have an orphan within our service community. Her name is Annabelle, and she was orphaned just this week after a number of years of faithful service to her master. She is only seven years old, and if you or someone you know could give her your love, she promises she will return the favor. She is only 15 pounds and she runs on regular fuel, so you will get lots of great miles per ounce. Please reach out to me or click on the link for info@creativecaremanagement.com . What better time of the year than now to share the love? Have a great holiday season and a very happy new year! 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.
We are what we eat. We have all heard that countless times, but to get down to the details, our heart also is what we eat, and it is a really important organ to feed well. I am going to share with you the top ten foods that the Cleveland Clinic and the American Dietetic Association say will promote heart health. We do not have to be confined to these ten. At the end of the list, I will give you a link to an even bigger list of foods as well as other menu suggestions that will treat your heart and your palate well.
1. Salmon - As a meat, salmon is quite lean, but it also is rich in Omega-3 fatty acids which are really cardio-protective. You can make it even healthier by broiling it.
2. Flaxseed (ground) - Also is full of Omega-3 fatty acids. It also has a lot of natural fiber which will be great for your heart as well as GI. It also contains phytoestrogens which help women to ward off breast cancer and osteoporosis.
3. Oatmeal - Because we cannot get enough Omega-3 fatty acids, oatmeal is high on the list. In addition, it contains the important minerals magnesium, potassium, folate, niacin and calcium. The soluble fiber also is good for your GI.
4. Black or Kidney Beans - These legumes bring important quantities of B-complex vitamins, niacin, folate, magnesium and calcium. They, too offer more omega-3 fatty acids and soluble fiber.
5. Almonds - They make the list, because they also add omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium and fiber. To these, almonds also offer vitamin E, heart-favorable mono- and polyunsaturated fats and phytosterols, which help to block cholesterol absorption.
6. Walnuts - They are right up there with almonds with omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin E, magnesium, fiber, heart-favorable mono- and polyunsaturated fats and phytosterols. To these they add folate.
7. Red wine - Catechins and reservatrol (flavonoids) are antioxidants that not only take free radicals and metallic ions out of circulation, but they also enhance our moods - no, the alcohol does not get all the credit.
8. Tuna - This fish does one better than salmon by adding to the Omega-3 fatty acids doses of folate and niacin.
9. Tofu - Made from soy bean curd, tofu offer good quantities of niacin, folate, calcium, magnesium and potassium.
10. Brown rice - In addition to the fiber, we also receive b-complex vitamins, niacin and magnesium from this grain.
These are the top ten; for the rest of the list along with recipes, go to WebMD.

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 in metropolitan Chicago. Please email your questions to ccbishop@creativecasemanagement.com.