Mature Lifestyles - July 2017

MATURE

Lifestyles

July 2017

a special publication by

2 - Mature Lifestyles - July 2017 - TheIntelligencer.com

Cambridge House marks 11th anniversary

By KIM ZAKRZEWSKI Cambridge House Marketing Director

In May 2017, the Cambridge House in Maryville turned 11 years old. We have been honored to have so many people call our community ‘Home’ since our construction was completed in May 2006!

We are fortunate enough to work with the Illinois Supportive Living Program as an Illinois Supportive Living Facility (SLF).

This means that we are able to offer financial assistance to those who meet certain income guidelines.

We can also offer assistance to those who have questions or concerns about their finances in private-pay scenarios.

Mostly, we assist those who wish to live independent lifestyles, while still requiring services such as meals, housekeeping, laundry, transportation, medication reminders, and assistance with bathing.

With 24 hours of Certified Nursing Assistants (CNA) available, as well as a Registered Nurse (RN) and Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) on staff, there is always assistance available for medical care.

Of course, we do have regular social activities that are offered on site. Monthly calendars are always provided for our residents and may also be mailed to members of the community if they wish.

For example, you won’t want to miss out on some of our upcoming events!

• Hawaiian Luau Event planned for August 16th 2:00-3:00pm with members from the ‘Smokin’ Oldies Band’.

• The 60’s Chicks performance planned for August 25th from 2:00-3:00pm.

• Emergency Preparedness in an Assisted Living Setting planned for September 6th from 2:30-3:30pm with insights from our Safety Committee.

• Fall Festival planned for Friday, September 22nd from 11:00am-2:00pm. The event will be family friendly, and will offer both indoor and outdoor activities, as well as musical entertainment.

Members of the public are always welcome to stop in to attend all of our special events, or just stop by and enjoy lunch or dinner.

We encourage you to take a full tour, if time allows, so that we can answer any questions you may have about senior living in a community like Cambridge House.

“It always helps to take the tour and see us firsthand,” said Move-In Coordinator Tracy Alfaro.

“Once you see our apartment size, and the common

areas where a lot of our activities take place, you will understand what sets us apart.”

If you are beginning to consider an assisted lifestyle, we recommend that you visit several communities to find out what they offer. In fact, we advise you to visit during various times of the day, different days of the week, and on any given holiday.

One thing we often hear when touring families is that we still seem brand new.

This is because we pride ourselves on creating a well-kept building. Our on-site Maintenance Director Bob Henry handles the upkeep of our building inside and out, year round.

“Our maintenance department is also available for any needs within the apartments,” Alfaro explained.

“We can help with hanging items on the walls, rearranging furniture if needed, and of course we do provide housekeeping once every week unless it’s required more often.”

The building itself will see updates in the next few months.

Recently, we have added nice new benches out in front of our building, where many of our residents enjoy the fresh air. Plans for new carpeting in our lobby and elevators are also planned.

The Cambridge House is home to 103 apartments, offering both one and two bedroom options. Each apartment has a spacious walk-in closet, kitchenette complete with a refrigerator/freezer and microwave. The apartments also offer a large private restroom complete with a seated shower. Each apartment is host to its own temperature control.

The most important thing to remember is that you are never alone when it comes to care planning. We want to provide a valuable resource when you are looking at options in this area.

We are often approached with so many questions from families or individuals who are just beginning to look into resources for long term care, and we do our best to listen, offer suggestions, and make recommendations that will provide the best service for your needs and help to make the entire transition a little easier.

If you would like any additional information on the Cambridge House in Maryville, please feel free to contact me directly. You may call 618-288-2211, visit www.cambridgehouse-maryville-slf.com, or email me at sales@cambridgehouse-maryville-slf. com.

The Cambridge House is located at 6960 State Route 162 in Maryville.

TheIntelligencer.com - July 2017 - Mature Lifestyles - 3

Senior housing in demand as baby boomers age

By HANNAH PROKOP The (Crystal Lake) Northwest Herald

WOODSTOCK, Ill. (AP) — As McHenry County gets grayer, developers are responding by building age-restricted communities for those older than 55, even as other segments of the housing market lag.

The real estate market has seen an increase in demand for senior housing as the baby boomer generation ages and looks to downsize in its own community, said Kathleen Ricketts, managing broker of Century 21 Affiliated in Algonquin.

McHenry County had 66,414 residents who were age 55 and older in 2010, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. That number grew to 75,083 people as of 2015 census estimates.

People ages 45 to 54 made up the largest percent of McHenry County’s population, according to 2015 estimates. About 52,000 people out of 307,357 - or 17 percent - fell in that age range, estimates show.

Although proposals for homes and apartment complexes that are not age-restricted in the McHenry County area have been sparse, in the past couple of years, senior housing has been proposed or constructed in municipalities including Huntley, Algonquin, Lake in the Hills and McHenry - some with more than one senior living development.

“They’re getting older, and the thing is, a lot of them want to stay in the community of which they live because this is where they work. They’ve got their friends, their family, their activities, their houses of worship are all here,” said Ricketts, also treasurer with Heartland Realtor Organization.

Many residents want to stay in McHenry County but don’t want to live in a multistory house that requires a lot of maintenance, Ricketts said.

“The villages want to keep their residents in town, too, so I think that’s why they’re much more receptive to (senior living developments),” Ricketts said.

In Huntley - home to Del Webb’s senior community, Sun City - a market rate senior facility and an affordable senior facility are in the works.

Huntley Horizon Senior Living Community, an affordable living project by Alden Realty Services, is under construction at the northwest corner of Regency Parkway and Princeton Drive and includes independent living, skilled nursing and memory care components.

The Huntley Village Board also last month was to approve plans for a $30 million, 130-unit market rate independent senior living facility called Huntley Springs from Resort Lifestyle Communities.

The 9.7-acre site that Huntley Springs will sit on is

part of a 30-acre site that originally was zoned for town houses in 2006, Huntley Development Services Director Charles Nordman said.

Resort Lifestyle Communities plans to split the parcel into three lots - one for Huntley Springs and the remaining two for either town houses or a second senior independent living facility, Nordman said.

Although there has been demand for senior homes in Huntley in the past few years, inquiries now are starting to tail off with the new developments, Norman said.

“At this point, we kind of have most of the bases covered as far as senior living is concerned,” Nordman said.

In Algonquin, Clarendale of Algonquin - a 186-unit senior housing facility with independent living, assisted living and memory care units - opened in September, and now the village has seen two more senior living proposals.

Spectrum Housing is proposing an independent living and assisted-living facility off of Harnish Road, and DKI Incorporated is looking to build a three-story building with 60 independent living senior apartments on Wentworth Drive south of West Algonquin Road.

Dave Erickson, developer of Ryan Companies who built Clarendale of Algonquin, said that because there continues to be demand in the market for senior housing and Clarendale’s product type is very good, he’s not worried about any competition.

“We’re in a position in McHenry County where there’s strong home values and incomes, so we feel like we’re positioned very well in a good market,” Erickson said.

Clarendale is about 40 percent full, Erickson said.

Neighboring village Lake in the Hills also has two senior developments that have come before the board, one in the Lakewood Point subdivision and one near West Algonquin Road and Harvest Gate.

In McHenry, White Oaks is growing with construction of a new memory care community underway.

Although there have been many senior living developments coming to McHenry County, what’s really needed is affordable senior housing, said Julie Biel Claussen, McHenry County Housing Authority executive director.

There are about 250 people on the Housing Authority’s wait list who are looking for affordable housing, Biel Claussen said.

“These new developments that are coming in are really helping meet that demand,” Biel Claussen said. “But that’s not to say that they will meet the demand soon. The demand is way larger than what they’re able to do with the 60 to 70 unit developments, but at least it’s a start.”

4 - Mature Lifestyles - July 2017 - TheIntelligencer.com

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Study: Artery problems as you age may be delayed American Heart Association News

Potentially dangerous artery problems considered common as people age may actually be avoided or delayed well into the senior years, according to new research.

The risk for high blood pressure and increased blood vessel stiffness, which both increase the risk of heart disease, may be reduced with a healthy lifestyle, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal Hypertension.

There’s a catch, though: It takes a lot of work.

“What we are showing is that, even in a population acculturated to a Western lifestyle, it is possible to maintain a healthy vasculature over age 70. But it is extremely challenging,” said study author Teemu J. Niiranen, M.D., a research

fellow at Boston University School of Medicine.

The researchers defined healthy vascular aging as absence of high blood pressure and having vascular stiffness of the arteries of a person 30 years or younger.

In a study of nearly 3,200 people ages 50 and older from the Framingham Heart Study, researchers found 566 individuals, or nearly 18 percent, met the requirements for healthy vascular aging.

Most were in the youngest group, ages 50 to 59, where about 30 percent had the measures of healthy vascular aging. Among those 70 and older, only 1 percent had the soft arteries of a 30-something.

“People with healthy vascular aging were at a 55 percent lower risk of developing cardiovascular disease. Those results are mainly a

result of the softness of their arteries,” Niiranen said.

The researchers found women were more likely than men to have healthy vascular aging, but lifestyle factors played a predominant role.

Most importantly, having a low body mass index and being free of diabetes seemed to be associated with healthier arteries into old age.

Other factors, including use of lipid-lowering drugs, also made a difference.

In essence, the health goals the American Heart Association calls Life’s Simple 7 can impact aging of the blood vessels, Niiranen said.

The components of Life’s Simple 7 include fasting blood glucose, cholesterol, resting blood pressure, body mass index, smoking status, diet quality and physical activity.

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TheIntelligencer.com - July 2017 - Mature Lifestyles - 7

Influx of elderly patients forces ER to practice comfort care

By MELISSA BAILEY Kaiser Health News

A man sobbed in a New York emergency room. His elderly wife, who suffered from advanced dementia, had just had a breathing tube stuck down her throat. He knew she never would have wanted that. Now he had to decide whether to reverse the life-sustaining treatment that medics had begun.

Dr. Kei Ouchi, then a resident at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, had no idea what to say. The husband, who had cared for his wife for the past 10 years, knew her condition had declined so much that she wouldn’t want a heroic rescue. But when Ouchi offered to take out the tube, the man cried more: “She’s breathing. How can we stop that?”

Ouchi had pursued emergency medicine to rescue victims of gunshot wounds and car crashes. He was unprepared, he said, for what he encountered: a stream of older patients with serious illnesses like dementia, cancer and heart disease — patients for whom the lifesaving techniques he was trained to perform often only prolonged the suffering.

As the nation’s elderly population swells, more older Americans are visiting the emergency room, which can be an overcrowded, disorienting and even traumatic place.

Adults 65 and older made 20.8 million emergency room visits in 2013, up from 16.2 million in 2000, according to the most recent hospital survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The survey found 1 in 6 visits to the ER were made by an older patient, a proportion that’s expected to rise as baby boomers age.

Half of adults in this age group visit the ER in their last month of life, according to a study in the journal Health Affairs. Of those, half die in the hospital, the study found, even though most people say they’d prefer to die at home.

The influx is prompting more clinicians to rethink what happens in the fast-paced emergency room, where the default is to do everything possible to extend life.

Hospitals across the country, including in Ohio, Texas, Virginia and New Jersey, are bringing palliative care, which focuses on improving quality of life for patients with advanced illness, into the emergency department.

Interest is growing among doctors: One hundred forty-nine emergency physicians have become certified in palliative care since that option became available just over a decade ago, and others are working closely with palliative care teams. But efforts to transform the ER face significant challenges, including a lack of time, staffing and expertise, not to mention a culture clash.

Researchers who interviewed emergency room staff at two Boston hospitals, for instance, found resistance to

palliative care.

ER doctors questioned how they could handle delicate end-of-life conversations for patients they barely knew.

Others argued the ER, with its “cold simple rooms” and drunken patients screaming, is not an appropriate place to provide palliative care, which tends to physical, psychological and spiritual needs.

Ouchi saw some of these challenges up close during his residency in New York, when he visited the homes of older patients who were frequent visitors to the emergency room.

He saw how difficult it is for these patients to make it to the doctor. Often, “they can barely see. They can barely get out of the house,” he said. To make it to a doctor’s appointment, he said, they’d often have to call for a ride service, which could take several hours to arrive.

“So what do they do?” Ouchi said. “They call 911.”

When these patients arrive at the emergency room, doctors treat their acute symptoms but not their underlying needs, Ouchi said. In more severe cases, when the patient can’t talk and doesn’t have an advanced directive or a medical decision-maker available, doctors default to the most aggressive care possible to keep them alive — CPR, intravenous fluids, breathing tubes.

“Our default in the ER is pedal to the metal,” said Dr. Corita Grudzen, an emergency physician at NYU Langone Medical Center who studies palliative care in the ER. But when doctors learn after the fact that the patient would not have wanted that, the emergency rescue puts the family in the difficult position of deciding whether to remove life support.

When older adults are very ill — if they need an IV drip to maintain blood pressure, a ventilator to breathe or medication to restart the heart — they are most likely to end up in an intensive care unit, Grudzen said. Rates of transfer from the ER to the ICU have been rising, she noted.

“It’s a terrible place to be if you’re older,” Grudzen said, as older patients are more likely to develop hospital-acquired infections and delirium. Meanwhile, it’s not clear whether these aggressive interventions really extend their lives, she said.

Some have sought to address these problems by creating separate, quieter emergency rooms for older patients.

Others say bringing palliative care consultations into regular emergency rooms could reduce hospitalization, drive down costs and even extend life by reducing suffering.

There’s no hard evidence that approach will live up to its promise. The only major randomized controlled trial, which Grudzen led at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City, found that palliative care consultations in the emergency room improved quality of life for cancer patients.

8 - Mature Lifestyles - July 2017 - TheIntelligencer.com

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10 - Mature Lifestyles - July 2017 - TheIntelligencer.com

Some seniors just want to be left alone – and that’s a problem Judith Graham Kaiser Health News

The 84-year-old man who had suffered a mini-stroke was insistent as he spoke to a social worker about being discharged from the hospital: He didn’t want anyone coming into his home, and he didn’t think he needed any help.

So the social worker canceled an order for home health care services. And the patient went back to his apartment without plans for follow-up care in place.

When his daughter, Lisa Winstel, found out what had happened she was furious. She’d spent a lot of time trying to convince her father that a few weeks of help at home was a good idea. And she’d asked the social worker to be in touch if there were any problems.

Similar scenarios occur surprisingly often: As many as 28 percent of patients offered home health care when they’re being discharged from a hospital — mostly older adults — say “no” to those services, according to a new report.

Understanding why this happens and what can be done about it is important — part of getting smarter about getting older.

Refusing home health care after a hospitalization puts patients at risk of a difficult, incomplete or slower-than-anticipated recovery. Without these services, older adults’ odds of being readmitted to the hospital within 30 or 60 days double, according to one study.

Why, then, do seniors, resist getting this assistance?

“There are a lot of misperceptions about what home health care is,” said Carol Levine, director of the United Hospital Fund’s Families and Health Care Project, a sponsor of the new report.

Under Medicare, home health care services are available to older adults who are homebound and need intermittent skilled care from a nurse, a physical therapist or a speech therapist, among other medical providers.

Typically, these services last four to six weeks after a hospitalization, with a nurse visiting several times a week.

Some patients receive them for much longer.

Many seniors and caregivers confuse home health care with “home care” delivered by aides who help people shower or get dressed or who cook, clean and serve as a companion. The two types of services are not the same: Home health care is delivered by medical professionals; home care is not. Nor is home care covered by Medicare, for the most part.

This was the mistake Winstel’s father made. He thought he was being offered an aide who would come to his apartment every day for several hours. “I don’t want a babysitter,” he complained to Winstel, chief operating officer of the Caregiver Action Network.

Like many other seniors, this older man was proud of

living on his own and didn’t want to become dependent on anyone.

“Older adults are quite concerned about their independence, and they worry that this might be the first step in someone trying to take that away,” said Dr. Leslie Kernisan, a San Francisco geriatrician and creator of the website Better Health While Aging.

Other reasons for refusals: Seniors see their homes as sanctums, and they don’t want strangers invading their privacy. They think they’ve been getting along just fine and have unrealistic expectations of what recovering from a hospitalization will entail.

Or there are circumstances at home — perhaps hoarding, perhaps physical neglect — that an older adult doesn’t want someone to see. Or the patient’s cognition is compromised and he doesn’t understand his needs or limitations. Or cost is a concern.

Robert Rosati, vice president of research and quality at Visiting Nurse Association Health Group, New Jersey’s largest private home health care provider, said about 6 percent of seniors who’ve agreed to receive home health care from his organization after a hospitalization end up refusing services.

Often, a breakdown in communication is responsible.

Patients haven’t been told, in clear and concrete terms, which services would be provided, by whom, for how long, how much it would cost and what the expected benefit would be. So, they don’t understand what they’re getting into, prompting resistance, Rosati said.

Kathy Bowles, director of the Center for Home Care Policy & Research at the Visiting Nurse Service of New York, suggests a plain-language, positive way to convey this information. For example: “A nurse will check your medications and make sure they’re all in order. She’ll assess if you need physical therapy to help you regain your strength. And she’ll teach you and family members how to care for you once home care is over.”

“A lot of resistance arises from pride,” said Bowles, also a professor of nursing excellence at the University of Pennsylvania. “The conversation has to change from ‘Look, we think you really need help,’ to ‘We want to help you take care of yourself.’ ” Emphasizing that a physician has recommended home health care can also be helpful. “In my experience, if a doctor says ‘I’d like a nurse to come see you and check that you’re feeling better,’ people are fairly responsive,” Kernisan said.

Instead of arguing with an older adult who says “I don’t want any assistance,” try to follow up by asking “Tell me more. What are you concerned about?” Kernisan suggested. “People really want to feel listened to and validated, not lectured to.”

TheIntelligencer.com - July 2017 - Mature Lifestyles - 11

Boomer trend: More golden years in poorer health

By LISA GILLESPIE Kaiser Health News After the last of the baby boomers become fully eligible for Medicare, the federal health program can expect significantly higher costs in 2030 both because of the high number of beneficiaries and because many are expected to be significantly less healthy than previous generations.

The typical Medicare beneficiary who is 65 or older then will more likely be obese, disabled and suffering from chronic conditions such as heart disease and high blood pressure than those in 2010, according to a report by the University for Southern California’s Schaeffer Center of Health Policy and Economics.

Adjusted for inflation, overall Medicare spending is projected to more than double between 2010 and 2030 to about $1.2 trillion. A massive influx of baby boomers into Medicare will be the main driver. With the last baby boomers turning 65 in 2029, Medicare rolls are expected to number 67 million Americans in 2030, the Schaeffer Center said.

But costs per beneficiary could grow by 50 percent over the same time due to longer life expectancies, shifting health trends and medical cost inflation, the report said.

In inflation-adjusted dollars, Medicare is projected to spend 72 percent more for the remaining lifetime of a typical 65-year-old beneficiary in 2030 than a 65-year-old in 2010.

“It’d be one thing if there was an increase in life expectancy while maintaining health, but this is different. If you have more people that are disabled, it’s more costly,

and we’re paying more because they’re living longer,” said lead researcher Dana Goldman at the University of Southern California.

“In some ways, we are victims of our success” in extending lives and preventing mortality, he said. “We’ve done such a good job of preventing cardiovascular disease that now we have more cancer and Alzheimer’s.”

The average life expectancy for 65-year-olds is projected to rise by almost a year from the 2010 norm, to 20.1 years in 2030. People with disabilities at 65 will extend their old ages, too — by more than a full year, to 8.6 years in 2030, the Schaeffer Center said.

Obesity is likely to surge, affecting 47 percent of Medicare elderly beneficiaries by 2030, up from 28 percent in 2010, according to the report.

“The people about to become eligible are more sick and obese (than past beneficiaries), even though there are treatments that will keep them living longer,” said Etienne Gaudette, a lead economist from the Schaeffer Center.

Significant increases in beneficiaries with these chronic conditions are also forecast by 2030: — Hypertension: 79 percent vs. 67 percent in 2010.

— Heart disease: 43 percent vs. 36 percent.

— Diabetes: 39 percent vs. 24 percent.

— Three or more chronic conditions: 40 percent vs. 26 percent.

Smaller increases are forecast for elderly beneficiaries with cancer — 26 percent vs. 21 percent — and stroke — 19 percent vs. 14 percent. Lung disease is expected to see the slowest growth of all, about one percentage point to 16 percent.

Handymen, home care helps seniors trying to age in place WASHINGTON (AP) — Where you live plays a big role in staying independent as you age. Now researchers say an innovative program that combined home fix-ups and visits from occupational therapists and nurses improved low-income seniors’ ability to care for themselves in their own homes.

Still to be answered is whether that better daily functioning also saves taxpayer dollars — by helping enough older adults with chronic health problems avoid costly hospi-

tal or nursing home stays.

“We’re improving people’s lives, improving their abilities,” said Sarah Szanton, a Johns Hopkins University associate nursing professor who leads the experimental program reported Wednesday in the journal Health Affairs.

Surveys show most older adults want to live at home for as long as possible. Yet chronic diseases and their resulting disabilities — problems walking, bathing, dressing, cooking — can make that difficult in

homes with steep stairs, doorways too narrow for walkers, and other obstacles.

And seniors who have trouble with those so-called activities of daily living are costly for Medicare and Medicaid, too often ending up in hospitals or nursing homes because they couldn’t care for themselves at home, or had a bad fall while trying.

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Aging boomers, lack of funding may lead to Alzheimer’s crisis

By ALLIE SHAH Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

The devastating impact of Alzheimer’s disease on his own mother — and on his father, who struggled to care for her — first prompted Gerry Richman to take a hard look at the disease.

As vice president of national productions at Twin Cities Public Television, he was the mastermind behind a 2004 Emmy-winning documentary called “The Forgetting: A Portrait of Alzheimer’s.”

Now, Richman is back with another eye-opening film on the subject.

“Alzheimer’s: Every Minute Counts” — airing across the country Wednesday — chronicles the struggles of people living with Alzheimer’s and the emotional and financial challenges it poses for their families.

It also forecasts, through interviews with doctors and researchers, a looming crisis for the country as baby boomers enter their senior years and their risk of developing Alzheimer’s increases.

“A lot of the experts use the term ‘skyrocket,’?” Richman said, referring to the potential deluge of Alzheimer’s cases.

The current numbers are scary enough. More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s — with one new case identified every minute.

Alzheimer’s is a neurological disease that robs a person’s memory and ability to care for oneself. There is no known cure, and it is not reversible.

In addition to the emotional toll, it can cost tens of thousands of dollars to take care of someone with Alzheimer’s, making it one of the most expensive diseases and provoking some health experts to predict that it will collapse both Medicare and Medicaid — and the finances of millions of people.

“This is a major wake-up call to the country about the need to find a cure and to support all efforts to find a cure, or there will be a major social and economic crisis in the United States,” Richman said.

A CALL TO ACTION Part of the problem is that for too long, Alzheimer’s was not a recognized disease.

“It’s a weird thing because it’s not physically obvious, but it causes strange behavior,” explained Elizabeth Arledge, writer, producer and director of both “The Forgetting” and “Every Minute Counts” documentaries.

“Only within the last 20 years have people realized that it’s a disease.”

Although Alzheimer’s can strike people younger than 65, it generally occurs in those much older. The risk of developing the disease doubles every five years after 65,

according to the National Institute on Aging. It becomes much more common among people in their 80s and 90s.

With longer life spans come greater numbers of people at risk of Alzheimer’s.

“There hasn’t been a large population of 85-year-olds until this generation,” Arledge said.

As public awareness of Alzheimer’s has grown, so has the amount of funding for medical research dedicated to it. Over the past four years, federal funding for the disease has doubled to $991 million. But that amount still pales in comparison with the billions the federal government spends on research for heart disease, cancer and HIV/ AIDS. Death rates for those diseases have dropped. Alzheimer’s research advocates are hoping for a similar outcome if funding is increased. Arledge said that message comes through in the documentary.

“If there’s something that people will come away with from the film, it would be that things can change when people mobilize,” she said.

In the meantime, medical researchers are in a race against time to develop new therapies to better treat Alzheimer’s symptoms.

“Do we cure cancer, heart disease or diabetes? No, but we can make significant progress,” said Dr. Ron Petersen, director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s disease Research Center. “So if I’m destined to develop Alzheimer’s disease-related changes in the brain at age 75, and I can push that to age 78 or 80, that’s a big deal. That’s why I say delaying onset and slowing progression is a more realistic goal than a cure.”

TIPS FOR PREVENTION Despite limited research funds, some promising discoveries have been made in recent years. One finding, discussed in the film, is that sleep — particularly deep sleep — may have a protective effect on the brain and help ward off dementia.

“Part of the thought is that the proteins that are abnormal in the brain that probably cause or contribute to Alzheimer’s disease are continually being turned over and metabolized,” Petersen explained. “They get washed out in the spinal fluid system, and metabolized, and on their way. It turns out that during sleep, there’s an important trafficking of this amyloid protein, which is thought to be one of the major culprits. And if you don’t get adequate sleep, the clearing of the protein may be impaired, and that may contribute to some of the buildup of the protein and the toxicity.”

In addition to sleep, other lifestyle behaviors may minimize your risk of dementia-related illnesses. Among them: — Regular aerobic exercise, such as brisk walking every day.

TheIntelligencer.com - July 2017 - Mature Lifestyles - 15

Caring for a loved one?

Care for yourself, too

By EMILY BAZAR Kaiser Health News

Michael Sloss’ mother was diagnosed with dementia about five years ago, and his father a year after that.

Now Sloss and his brother care for both parents, ages 83 and 85, whose personalities have been transformed by the decline in their mental and physical health.

The brothers wrestle with their parents’ memory loss, anger and delusions. They nurse them when they’re sick and help them bathe. And they lift their father into and out of bed.

“Mostly, it’s been rough,” says Sloss, 60, of South Pasadena, Calif. “But we have been blessed with a lot of support.”

The brothers first sought help from their family’s church, which offered a respite when their parents attended Bible study and fellowship for a few years after their diagnoses. But that ended when the elder couple’s physical ailments made it too difficult to transport them to and from services.

Eventually, the brothers found the USC Family Caregiver Support Center, which has connected them with support groups, caregiver classes and services that give them breaks from caregiving.

The USC organization is one of 11 nonprofit Caregiver Resource Centers across California that serve about 14,000 families a year. Their aim is to offer low-cost or free services, regardless of income, to people caring for someone 18 or older.

Their offerings include stress-busting activities like yoga and meditation; legal and financial consultations; and tips on how to choose a home health agency, talk to doctors or manage difficult behavior.

“This was designed to help everyone, including middle-income families,” says Donna Benton, director of the USC center.

A 2015 report by the AARP Public Policy Institute and the National Alliance for Caregiving found that roughly 43.5 million adults in the United States had provided unpaid care to an adult or child in the prior year.

The need is expected to increase as baby boomers age and become caregivers for loved ones or require care for themselves, says Amy Goyer, AARP’s family and caregiving expert.

“As our health care improves, people live longer, but they tend to live longer with chronic illnesses or conditions,” she says.

There also will be a declining number of caregivers for those in need, because Americans are having fewer children and family structures are changing, Goyer adds.

Simply put, caregiving is hard, it may get harder, and it

often leads to emotional, physical and financial hardship.

Related Stories ‘Boot Camp’ Helps Alzheimer’s, Dementia Caregivers Take Care Of Themselves, Too May 9 Severe Shortage Of Home Health Workers Robs Thousands Of Proper Care Apr 26 How To Help Alzheimer’s Patients Enjoy Life, Not Just ‘Fade Away’ Apr 20 “People tend to think it’s something temporary … like a sprint, and then it turns into a marathon,” Benton says.

“And then you have all the wrong coping tools. Then you burn out.”

Goyer cares for her father, who is 93 and has Alzheimer’s disease. Caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s or dementia adds an extra burden because of its intensity, she says. “It’s caregiving on steroids because of the constancy of it.”

Help is available, much of it for free. But the network of resources is like a “puzzle you put together,” Goyer says, so be prepared to make multiple calls and queries to different organizations.

If you’re in California, start with the Caregiver Resource Centers. Find out which one serves your county through the Family Caregiver Alliance or calling the USC center at 800-540-4442 to be transferred to the right location.

A staff member will work directly with you to determine what you need.

“We’re there as a comprehensive, one-stop center,” Benton says. “If you have someone who helps you cut through the red tape, it can save you hours and days of aggravation.”

Whether or not you’re in California, Goyer suggests, reach out to your local Area Agency on Aging, which can also connect you with resources. Visit eldercare.gov and enter your ZIP code to find local contact information.

When you call, request a personalized assessment of your situation, Goyer recommends.

“Always ask them, ‘What support do you have for caregivers?’ The person you’re caring for might be eligible for chore services or housekeeping or respite care,” which can give you a break from caregiving, she says. “In some cases, if their income qualifies them for Medicaid, they might be able to get home health aides.”

The Family Caregiver Alliance, a national group based in San Francisco, can link you to support, most of it free. Visit www.caregiver.org and click on the “FCA CareJourney” tab to fill out the online survey.

16 - Mature Lifestyles - July 2017 - TheIntelligencer.com

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