senior home care services

Mittens Before the Frost
I was asked today about the “mitten test.” It was one of our colleagues who had remembered something I...
Read more
September 18, 2018
0
0
A House is Not a Home (Part 3)
At CCM, home and safety are as important to us as to you, so it’s no surprise that it’s...
Read more
June 18, 2017
0
0
A House is not a Home (Unless You’re There)
At CCM, home and safety are as important to us as to you, so it’s no surprise that it’s...
Read more
June 5, 2017
0
0

In the Caregiver's Words

Recent Client Praise

Full Name:*
[text* fullname 75/ id:Full_Name]
Phone Number:
[text phones 75/ id:Phone_Number]
Email:*
[email* emailc 75/ id:Email]
Your Question:
[text question 75/ id:question]
Type the Characters Shown:*

[captchar captcha-220 class:contact-input]
[captchac captcha-220 class:contact-image size:m]

[submit class:ccm-send-btn1 "Get In Touch"]

Personally committed to you and your loved one's well being.

New contact form submission received from CreativeCareManagement.com [fullname] <[emailc]> From: [fullname] <[emailc]> Phone: [phones] Message Body: [question] -- This email was sent via the contact form on the Creative Case Management website, http://www.CreativeCaseManagement.com. info@creativecasemanagement.com, ccm.eachost8@ecommercearchitects.com, <[emailc]> Your message was sent successfully. Thanks. Failed to send your message. Please try later or contact the administrator by another method. Validation errors occurred. Please confirm the fields and submit it again. Failed to send your message. Please try later or contact the administrator by another method. Please accept the terms to proceed. Email address seems invalid. Please fill the required field. Failed to upload file. This file type is not allowed. This file is too large. Failed to upload file. Error occurred. Your entered code is incorrect. Your answer is not correct. Date format seems invalid. This date is too early. This date is too late. Number format seems invalid. This number is too small. This number is too large. URL seems invalid. Telephone number seems invalid. on_sent_ok: "location.replace('/thank-you-for-contacting-us-wp1/');"
As a geriatric care manager, I speak with my older clients who wrestle with weight gain as much as anyone younger. No surprise, obesity has become a recognized, global epidemic in the developed world, and it shows little sign of slowing in its progression toward greater individual bulk and poorer health. Yet, recently reported research in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society summarized in an article in Medscape on Aging and Obesity suggests that overweight older adults may have very similar mortality to normal weight older adults.

In a study of about 9,000 Australian men and women aged 70 to 75 years old, researchers tracked the mortality of individuals categorized by their Body Mass Index (BMI). BMI is a measure of the estimated body fat of an individual based on their height, weight and waistline. What they found shows that overweight individuals who are older do not seem to have worse mortality than their normal BMI counterparts. That said, being sedentary was associated with a greater risk of mortality. Being sedentary doubles the mortality risk among women, but it only increases mortality in elderly men by about 28%. Extreme obesity, however, was associated with significantly greater mortality.

While the researchers acknowledge that BMI is not a perfect indicator of body fat, per se, they did conclude that dieting among this age group does not offer any measureable mortality benefit. Losing weight among older adults may even be harmful to their well-being.

Given the mortality risk associated with extreme obesity and the ill effects of a sedentary lifestyle, the researchers further suggested that very high BMIs may discourage the activity which is beneficial to older adults.

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

Copyright ©2011
Today’s posting is from one of our long-time business associates and health care industry expert. Mr. John Marchica is founder and president of Darwin Health, a research resource and think tank in the industry. He is a published author and national speaker on the U.S. health care system. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services announced results from the second performance year of its Independence At Home demonstration. Evaluators found that participants saved over $10 million—on average, about $1,010 per beneficiary. CMS said all 17 participating practices improved quality in at least two of six quality measures and four practices improved quality on all six. Seven providers received a total of $5.7 million in performance incentives. “The Independence at Home Demonstration is a patient-centered model that supports providers in caring for chronically ill patients in their own homes,” said Dr. Patrick Conway, CMS acting deputy administrator and chief medical officer. “These results continue to support what most patients already want–the ability to have high quality care in the home setting.” In this demonstration, providers must meet the performance measures for at least three of the six following areas:
- Follow up contact within 48 hours of a hospital admissions, hospital discharge, and emergency department visit
- Medication Reconciliation in the home within 48 hours of a hospital discharge and emergency department visit
- Annual documentation of patient preferences
- All-cause hospital readmissions within 30 days
- Hospital admissions for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions
- Emergency department visits for Ambulatory Care Sensitive Conditions The Independence At Home initiative serves about 10,000 Medicare beneficiaries. In order to be accepted into the program, participating practices are required to demonstrate experience in providing care in the home to high- cost, chronically ill beneficiaries. Selected providers include primary care and other multidisciplinary teams led by physicians or nurse practitioners, are organized for the purpose of providing physicians services, and serve at least 200
Last year, when Dr. Conway announced first-year results from the demonstration at an ACO conference we attended, the crowd roared. The comparatively modest program saved $25 million, or about $3,000 per beneficiary per year. Everyone was impressed. This year’s results appear to be more modest until you look deeper into the numbers. In 2014, the average target expenditure per beneficiary per year (PBPY) was $4,646. In 2015, the average PBPY target expenditure was $3,873—a 20 percent decline. Actual PBPY expenditures dropped 17 percent, from $4,290 in 2014 to $3,672 in 2015. Looked at another way, CMS’ target was more than $400 less in 2015 than providers actually received in the first performance year. They set the bar higher and providers still managed to save money. Unfortunately, isn’t possible to compare savings from both performance years because CMS changed the regression methodology used to calculate the control groups that allow it to determine savings. But the takeaway is clear: this program has been wildly successful at controlling costs for the most expensive, chronically ill patients in the Medicare program. We wouldn’t be surprised if CMS pulls the plug on the demonstration and rolls out the program nationwide. We are happy to share this guest posting on Charlotte’s Blog. For subscriptions to Darwin’s regular weekly information, just click here. 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.
October 29th is World Stroke Awareness Day. We may not be hearing as much about strokes as we once did, because in the United States the incidence of strokes is on the decline. Just under 800,000 people will have a stroke this year, and three-quarters of them will be over the age of 65. The reason the incidence in the United States is on the decline is because Americans are doing a better job of managing their blood pressure and because fewer of us smoke. Because so many of the stroke victims are older adults, it is important for caregivers to help their loved ones to further prevent stroke. With the proper preventive measures fully 80% of strokes could be prevented. Here are some suggestions for preventing strokes:
- Know your loved one's blood pressure; this is a routine part of anyone's annual physical, but you also can get a screening at health fairs or even your retail pharmacy using a machine;
- Know the signs of atrial fibrillation, a condition in which the heart rate goes so high that it fails to pump blood effectively which can lead to pooling and clot formation;
- Stop smoking - this is just one more very good reason to kick the habit if your loved one has not already done so as smoking doubles a person's stroke risk;
- Monitor your loved one's cholesterol intake and blood levels - any total cholesterol count above 200 is cause for concern;
- Manage blood glucose levels in your loved one if they are a diabetic - one of the complications of diabetes is poor circulation which can lead to stroke;
- Diet and exercise are part of almost every approach to better health - boost your loved one's intake of fruits and vegetables (five portions a day) and reduce intake of trans-fats and salt;
- Manage alcohol intake - most doctors recommend limiting alcohol consumption to two or fewer drinks a day.
The good news about managing these risk factors is that not only will you as a caregiver be reducing your loved one's risk of stroke, but you will be adding to their quality of life as well. In addition, you may find that these healthy habits also are contagious which can results in a healthier caregiver. Stroke prevention can become a win-win! For more information, I recommend checking out the web site for the National Stroke Association (http://www.stroke.org/site/PageNavigator/HOME). 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.
For a very long time scientists have told us that there are no cures for Alzheimer’s Disease and that even the approved medications do very little to slow the progression of the disease. But researchers at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, are onto what they suspect may be a preventive measure. It’s lithium. Lithium is the lightest of the metals among the elements, and you may have seen it as a component of some of the longer-lasting batteries, but for dementia? Well, it actually has been used historically to treat the manic episodes of bipolar disorder, but it can have side effects and it is dosed in extremely small quantities – micrograms. Yet, some new research holds promise for treating Alzheimer’s disease. Animal studies reported by scientists have shown that Lithium has neuroprotective qualities that improve learning and memory. In humans, observational studies suggest that it could be beneficial in slowing the progression of dementia in patients with bipolar disorder. The Danish researchers collected data on more than 800,000 citizens going back to 1986. About one in ten of these people had been diagnosed with dementia since 1986 and the rest were the “control” group. They examined “naturally occurring” levels of lithium in drinking water across geographic residences of the study subjects. Since most of the study subjects did not move around over their lifetimes, this worked reasonably well. Their conclusion was statistically clear. Individuals with the higher levels of lithium in their natural drinking water were simply less likely to develop dementia that those with lower levels. Some observers are already making comparisons to the fluoride that has been added to public water for generations in order to prevent dental caries. Could this be another “easy fix” as well? While the results of these early efforts are statistically compelling, a bit more research is encouraged to be sure that it is not something else entirely that is making the difference for the Danish subjects or if Lithium just happens to be in the right water at the right time. We will keep you posted. And we also will need to keep this and subsequent studies in mind for a second edition of our recent book, How Do I Know You? A Caregiver’s Lifesaver for Dealing with Dementia. Please check it out, and please also be so kind as to review it for Amazon and for us. In the book, we cover what we know about dementia, what can be done to stave off the effects of dementia and most importantly what caregivers can do for their loved ones with dementia and for themselves. We also offer a lot of resources, many of them accessible on-line. 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.
Full Name:*
[text* your-name]
Phone Number:
[text your-phone-number]
Email:*
[email* your-email]
Your Question:
[text custom_fields.question]
Type the Characters Shown:*

[captchar captcha-220 class:contact-input]
[captchac captcha-220 class:contact-image size:m]

[submit class:ccm-send-btn1 "Get In Touch"]

Personally committed to you and your loved one's well being.

1 New contact form submission received from CreativeCareManagement.com - Caring for the Caregiver Received Contact form white paper 1 Contact info@creativecasemanagement.com,lynda@llvirtual.com Name : [your-name] Email : [your-email] Phone Number : [your-phone-number] Question : [custom_fields.question] -- This email was sent via the contact form on the Creative Case Management website, http://www.CreativeCaseManagement.com. 1 Your message was sent successfully. Thanks. Failed to send your message. Please try later or contact the administrator by another method. Validation errors occurred. Please confirm the fields and submit it again. Failed to send your message. Please try later or contact the administrator by another method. Please accept the terms to proceed. Please fill the required field. The field is too long. The field is too short. Date format seems invalid. This date is too early. This date is too late. Failed to upload file. This file type is not allowed. This file is too large. Failed to upload file. Error occurred. Number format seems invalid. This number is too small. This number is too large. Your answer is not correct. Your entered code is incorrect. Email address seems invalid. URL seems invalid. Telephone number seems invalid.

See all Testimonials »

Creative Care Management, Inc.

1740 Ridge Avenue • Suite 111
Evanston, IL 60201

847.869.5118 x511 tel
847.869.0410 fax

info@creativecaremanagement.com

Evanston • Chicago • Skokie • Park Ridge • Glenview • Niles • Northbrook • Deerfield • Wilmette • Winnetka • Glencoe • Highland Park • Lake Forest • Naperville • Hinsdale • Wheaton • Oak Brook • Lombard • Glen Ellyn • Bloomington/Normal • Springfield • Decatur • Champaign/Urbana • Kankakee

Gay Friendly

senior home care services

Mittens Before the Frost

A House is Not a Home (Part 3)

A House is not a Home (Unless You’re There)

Contact

Newsletter Sign Up

Areas We Serve

Accreditations

Connect

Careers