HOUSING
- Moving in with the kids and grand kids? Baby Boomers, strapped for cash and looking at more belt-tightening, are turning to multi-generational housing. An interesting solution – can it work for you? http://seniorhousingnews.com/2012/06/07/npr-multigenerational-households-rising-as-baby-boom-money-squeeze-gets-tighter/
HEALTH
- Elderly people and their families have long wished to avoid nursing homes. Now the chronically ill and others who need medical care can avoid hospitals under a program in New Mexico. What if we had this option in Washington? http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/Stories/2012/May/30/Graham-Hospital-At-Home.aspx
- The new fix on how to care for seniors who have just faced hospitalization – and the wrong answer. http://seniorhousingnews.com/2012/05/30/assisted-living-an-obvious-solution-to-prevent-rehospitalizations-but-needs-a-model/
- Get measuring: If your belly measures half of your height or more, you’re at risk for heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure. Don’t worry so much about overall weight; belly fat may be a better indicator of health – or lack thereof — than weight might be. http://blog.aarp.org/2012/06/07/forget-the-scale-measure-your-waist-to-predict-health-risk/
- Cutting calories can also help your heart even if you eat a healthy diet. A new study shows that the more your heart rate varies, the easier it adapts to changes. http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Aging/2012/20120606-Cutting_Calories.htm
LEGAL
- Agreements that residents sign when they enter a long-term care facility deserve another look. In California, a resident who sued her assisted-living facility, was awarded more than $750,000 in attorney’s fees and costs by a state appeals court, despite the requirement in the facility’s agreement that residents with disputes must pay their owner attorney’s fees. The plaintiff in the case sued the home for elder-abuse violations. The court upheld the facility’s requirement that the dispute go to arbitration, but it refused to make the resident to pay her own attorney’s fees, as the agreement required. That clause, the court said, violates public policy. The Elder Abuse Act specifically called for recovery of attorney fees and costs to plaintiffs who win in court, and the facility’s agreement was contrary to that law and thus public policy. The court affirmed the arbitrator’s award of $666,725.30 in attorney fees and $94,694.70.
OTHER
- Finally. In this age of changing technology, more than half of seniors are online, where they have access to more information about health care, aging services, and elder-care data. But being online also helps keep seniors and their families in touch, which can lead to happier families all around. http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/WebsWeLike/2012/20120606-More-Than_Half.htm
