[rpwe limit=”20″ thumb=”true” order=”DESC” orderby=”date” post_type=”post” post_status=”publish” ignore_sticky=”0″ thumb_height=”145″ thumb_width=”210″ thumb_align=”rpwe-alignleft” excerpt=”true” length=”20″ readmore=”true” readmore_text=”Read More »” tag=”47″]
Managing Problematic Behavior in Dementia Through the Power of Pleasant Events
Updated November 2025 In a previous post, I spoke about behavior management problems in dementia (also known as ‘behavioral and psychological symptoms of dementia,’ or BPSD for short) and talked about both the underlying causes of behavior management issues, and the problems posed by relying on medication management. I also said that I would spend […]
Preventing a Break: Osteoporosis in Older Adults
Updated December 2025 Data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey suggests that Americans are experiencing an “epidemic of low bone mass” in the femoral neck, lumbar spine, or both. The problem increases with age, affecting 47.5% of Americans who are 65 and over (and 51.5% of women in that age range). Low bone […]
Helping Seniors Downsize
4 Things Older Adults Fear the Most
Updated October 2025 Oftentimes, family members become frustrated if they face resistance from their elderly relatives when they suggest having help or considering another place to move. In many cases, this resistance comes from fears that seniors have while they face the challenges of staying active and independent as they age. Understanding and acknowledging these […]
The Behavioral Challenges of Dementia and How to Manage Them
Updated November 2025 At the nursing home where I work, approximately 50% of the residents have some form of diagnosable dementia (which is now referred to as ‘major neurocognitive disorder’ in the current version of the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). Typically, it’s one of the two most common forms […]
The Hospice Movement
The Hospice movement was started in Britain in 1967 by a physician, Cicely Saunders, who advocated pain management for the dying. Her philosophy was that dying people needed dignity, compassion and respect. and “abolished the prevailing ethic that patients should be cured, that those who could not be cured were a sign of failure and […]
Preventing Caregiver Burnout
The impact of one individual’s health can have a ripple effect on an entire family. Family members are caring for their loved ones in the home more today and for longer periods of time than ever before. If you are the primary caregiver for a dependent loved one, you are at risk for developing caregiver […]
Report Reveals Out-of-Pocket Cost of Health Care in Last 5 Years of Life
Updated July 2025 The Journal of General Internal Medicine published a report in 2012 that looked at data from more than 3,000 people covered by Medicare to gauge the impact of health care cost on seniors. Researchers measured how much Medicare-eligible seniors had spent out of pocket on healthcare in their last five years alive, […]
Nutrition Programs for the Elderly
Good nutrition is important for everyone, and good nutrition for older adults is especially crucial to maintaining their health and independence and improving recovery time from illnesses and injuries. How older adults get their nutrition varies widely. On the federal level, there are Nutrition Programs authorized and funded in part by the Older Americans Act. […]
Fatal and Non-Fatal Injuries from Falls On the Rise Among Seniors
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one out of four older adults (those aged 65 or older) falls each year.1 In 2013, 2.5 million nonfatal falls among older adults were treated in emergency departments and more than 734,000 of these patients were hospitalized. In 2020, 14 million older adults in the United […]