• Plan for an Effective Senior Facility Care Meeting

    Meeting
    By Amy R. Abrams

    During the care plan meeting at your loved one's skilled nursing or other care facility, make sure your voice is heard.

    When you have a loved one in a skilled nursing facility or assisted living facility, you'll often be asked to participate in a "care plan conference," or a "quarterly care conference." Unfortunately, family members usually go to this meeting with little understanding of what a care plan document should provide, or what the goals of an effective care plan conference should be. This article helps you be prepared.

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  • More Americans 55 and Older Work Full Time

    Health care and retirement saving keep people on the job.

    How many older Americans are working full time -- any why? Here's eye-opening research on work from Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI):

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  • Learn the Truth About Hospice Care for Advanced Illness

    By Frank D. Ferris

    Here are the facts about how hospice and palliative care can give your family help and hope when they need it most.

    Hospice and palliative care services focus on meeting the physical, emotional and spiritual needs of a person with advanced illness, and also provide support for the patient's loved ones. Care can be provided wherever the patient resides, including the person's home, residential or skilled nursing facility, or assisted living environment.
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  • Life After Retirement

    Stephen F. Barnes
    By Stephen F. Barnes

    Living longer, healthier lives, Boomers are rejecting their parents' version of retirement -- and changing their future in the process.

    Like every other phase in their lives, Boomers are busy redefining retirement -- "busy" being the key word.

    San Diego State University professor Dr. Stephen Barnes, a specialist in adult learning and Boomer issues, discusses some of the many choices Boomers are facing, the effect these are having on the workplace, and the future world Boomers are inventing for themselves.

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  • Caregiving When Your Parent Is in Another City

    ADVISOR ANSWERS

    Q: How can I be an effective caregiver from far away? I don't feel comfortable just jumping in, but I think my help is needed.

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  • Assess a Career Change

    By Stephen F. Barnes

    Here's what to consider if you're thinking about a job change late in life.

    Q: I've been with the same company for the last 9 years, and I've recently realized I'm ready for a change. The problem is that I'm 56 years old, and intimidated by the prospect of looking for a new job.

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  • Help Children and Teens Cope When a Loved One Has Alzheimer's

    By Barbara Mandel Pache

    Young people need to understand dementia and share their feelings about it. These tips will help the entire family.

    Alzheimer's disease can have a big impact on every member of the family, including children. Each child reacts differently to someone who has Alzheimer's. The young people in your life might have questions about what is happening. It's important for you to take the time to answer these questions openly and honestly.

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  • Hollywood comes to my town... again.

    Hairy Tale Film Crew sign
    By John L. Hawkins

    A movie production crew takes over my street.

    Ahh, the glamor of Hollywood, the excitement of film-making... Unless the movie crew has filled up your street and you just want to get home! It happened in my neighborhood (again). Here's a report. San Diego might not be known as a hotbed of film production, but one day the one block street leading to my house once again filled with movie-making trucks, equipment, people and even actors who aren't people.
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  • Coping with the Stress of Major Disasters

    Dealing with disasters
    By José A. Álvarez

    Tips for dealing with the immediate shock and facing the challenges.

    Disasters affect us for months, and live in our memories for years. For those who lost homes due to fires, floods, tornadoes, landslides, hurricanes or other so-called natural disasters, life will never be the same.

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  • Build a Bridge to Stepkids

    By Emily Bouchard

    Sometimes it takes a while for children to warm up to new stepparents.

    Q: I'm a newly married stepmom. I have to admit, my husband and I jumped into this pretty quickly, only knowing each other a little under a year before getting married. Our marriage is solid, but his children are just not warming up to me. I knew it would take time, but we just don't seem to be making any progress. Help!

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  • How To Plan for Long-Term Care

    Marilee Driscoll
    Marilee Driscoll interviewed by Christa Ayer

    Long-term care insurance determines how well you'll be taken care of when you can't take care of yourself.

    Long-term care insurance is potentially one of the most important purchases you'll ever make. It likely determines how well you'll be taken care of when you can no longer care for yourself.

    There are lots of decisions to make -- and they need to be informed decisions. Tempting as it is to think you'll never be in the position to need long-term care, you risk literally everything if you hide from this issue.

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  • I Have Colon Polyps: Now What?

    Your medical results

    When your colonoscopy discovers polyps, what should you do?

    You know it's important to have a colonoscopy periodically. You hope the doctor finds nothing -- but what if the doctor finds "something"? 

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  • Take a Closer Look at Health Care in Canada

    Janet Neilson
    By Janet Neilson

    What really happens in Canada?

    Americans are familiar with the stories of Canadians who would have died because of their government's health care rationing had they not been able to get care in the United States. Perhaps just as troubling, however, are the less dramatic but much more common instances of minor indignities, inequities and inconveniences imposed by the Canadian health care system.

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  • Maximize Your Memory

    By Barbara Mandel Pache

    The natural aging process can cause forgetfulness. But there are ways to maximize your memory -- whatever age you are.

    With age comes wisdom, and often times so does memory decline. Many people think of memory lapses as a normal part of aging, and others fear the worst: Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia. While approximately 1 in 10 people age 65 and older have Alzheimer's and related dementias, the loss of mental acuity can occur in the natural aging process. The good news is that there are ways for people to maximize their memory, no matter how old they are.

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  • Patients With Dignity

    By Hera Dore

    What can you do to maintain the dignity of your loved one during a hospital stay?

    As a nurse, I make it a priority to maintain the dignity of my patients. But to my shock, I was faced with a whole new situation when my mother was hospitalized several years ago and was not able to care for herself.

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  • 5 Things You Can Do to Reduce Your Risk of Alzheimer's Disease

    Protect your Brain
    By Diane Darby Beach

    You can reduce your risk of Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Here are 5 places to start living a brain-healthy lifestyle.

    An estimated 5 million people in the United States have Alzheimer's disease; this number is expected to double by the year 2050 as the elderly segment of our population grows. Specifically, as Baby Boomers age, the incidence of Alzheimer's disease will proliferate. This article is directed at you, the Baby Boomer.

    Also, you can use these tips to reduce your parents' risk of Alzheimer's and dementia. Since many of the tips in this article focus on staying active and connected, suggested activities are great for you and your parents to do together.

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  • Protecting Mom and Dad with Power of Attorney

    By Lois B. Kelly

    Plan now for an Advanced Health Care Directive and Power of Attorney, before you and loved ones need to use it.

    Several times a month, a call comes into Elder Law and Advocacy's office in San Diego that goes something like this: "Hello, my wife (husband, or parent) has advanced Alzheimer's disease and her doctor told me I need to get power of attorney. Can you help me?"

    Misconceptions about creating and using a power of attorney for health care or finances creates problems for many families. Here's what you need to know.

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  • Motorhome in California -- Where Length Really Does Matter

    By John L. Hawkins

    For many RVers , a longer motorhome is a better motorhome. A coach longer than 40-feet provides more living space, more storage, and often more driving power, style and luxury. This is why motorhome makers offer many longer coaches, and why they are so popular. If it fits your budget and lifestyle, why not buy a longer coach?

    That answer requires first answering three more questions:
    1. Is your motorhome longer than 40-feet 0-inches true bumper-to-bumper length?
    2. Do you want to drive your motorhome in California?
    3. Do you live in California?

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  • Understand Pre-Diabetes

    By Dr. Bud Beck and Noelle Edwards, M.P.H., San Diego Diabetes Coalition

    ADVISOR ANSWERS

    Q: What is pre-diabetes? How is it different from Type 2 diabetes?
    -- Malcolm M. in Boston, Massachusetts

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  • Does Aluminum Cause Alzheimer's?

    ADVISOR ANSWERS

    Q: My sister told me there's a connection between aluminum and Alzheimer's disease and suggested I throw out my aluminum pots and pans. She also told me that there's a lot of aluminum in antiperspirants, and that I should switch to just deodorant. Is this necessary?
    -- W.T., Del Mar, California

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