Sad news, Olive Riley, the 108 year old blogger from Australia I’ve talked about here, died today.
I can’t seem to get her blog, The Life of Riley to load right now, but I read it on the RSS feed, and here’s a story about her death.
Godspeed, Olive.
Tags: 107-year-old-blogger, Olive Riley death, Olive-Riley, The-Life-of-Riley, world's oldest bloggerI’m a nurse, and I work in a hospital, and it can be a high pressure environment.
And, goodness knows I’ve seen poor behavior from the likes of staff in all positions. I’ve been threatened more than once and I’ve had a phone thrown at my head at work. Unfortunately, these instances were physicians, but poor behavior can be exhibited by anyone as many people in healthcare can attest.
Fortunately, my professional encounters far, far outnumber the non-professional ones.
Recently, the Joint Commission (accrediting body for health care organizations in the U.S.) deemed that poor behavior can threaten patient safety and compromise quality of care:
Health care leaders and caregivers have known for years that intimidating and disruptive behaviors are a serious problem. Verbal outbursts, condescending attitudes, refusing to take part in assigned duties and physical threats all create breakdowns in the teamwork, communication and collaboration necessary to deliver patient care.
Effective Jan. 1, 2009, hospitals must have in place a policy outlining unacceptable behavior and how the institution intends to deal with it.
I have no idea how this will affect what really happens in health care, but it’s a start so that organizations have a process for managing disruptive behaviors.
Tags: , hospitals, Joint Commission, physicians, unacceptable behaviorNot only is my dad having to get a colonoscopy, his latest visit to the doctor showed he has hypothyroidism.
He called me today to tell me the doctor’s office called, “Go to the drugstore and get the thyroid medication we called in for you.” That’s all I know, he didn’t think to ask any questions.
He starts his medication tomorrow and I was a bit concerned, but then I had to tell myself that he’s not my mother, who would typically have the one side effect of a medication with the .0000001% chance.
The diagnosis does kind of explain a few things that have been going on with him, some for many years, though. We’ll see how this goes, it has the potential to make him feel better and I shall ignore everything else Dr. Google told me.
I broke my own cardinal rule and started looking things up on the Internet. Don’t do it.
I asked him about it, and he said that in 1961, a doctor told him he had low thyroid levels and gave him some medicine which was news to me.
My dad: “It got better after that.”
Me: “Yeah, I guess you oughta keep getting that checked every 50 years or so, whether you need it or not.”
Tags: hypothyroidmismIn what I hope doesn’t become another entry for the “What Now?” files, my dad informed me that he has to have a colonoscopy.
Now, while it’s good practice for people of a certain age to get them at prescribed intervals, this came up rather suddenly.
It’s routine-ish, but still, so was my mother’s carotid surgery which launched a 3 year nightmare of complications and lung cancer.
And, it’s scheduled for when I’m out of town and my husband is alone with the kids. While that’s going to be some logistics juggling for him (my husband), I am secretly glad I don’t have to go to that particular hospital right now.
Forgive me if I seem a little skittish, I’ll get over it.
Tags: colonoscpy, lung-cancer, routine surgerySenior citizens and disabled citizens will soon have to pay more for prescription drugs:
The state announced Monday copays in its drug assistance program will increase August 1.
The copay for generics will go from $5 to $6. It will go from $5 to $7 for brand names. They’re the first increases since 1992.
I’m not a politician, but there has to be another way.
Many of these people can barely afford the medications they get now. An increase will likely cause them to stop taking their medications altogether resulting in an increased burden on an already overloaded health care system.
(via Jay at Triple Venti)
Tags: drug assistance program, Drug copayments increase, New JerseyMy parents dutifully saved and paid for long term care insurance.
But, ironically, when my mother got sick she was really not able to use the benefits it provided for several reasons, but mostly because her care needs were custodial (rather than skilled needs that are provided by a licensed person) and they could be provided at home.
Nonetheless, I’m still glad they tried to be prepared.
Long term care insurance premiums are very costly and there’s a lot to consider in the fine print.
U.S. News has a good list of things to consider before purchasing long term care insurance: premium prices both now and in the future, coverage, the company (will it be around when you need the benefits?), the fine print and state laws.
Always consult a professional about this type of insurance, preferably someone who doesn’t stand to profit from your purchase, but educate yourself, first.
Tags: long-term-care-insurance, U.S. NewsTaiwanese researchers found that sudden hearing loss may foreshadow a stroke by as much a two years:
Five-year follow-up data on 1,423 patients hospitalized for an acute episode of sudden sensorineural hearing loss (SSNHL) showed they were more than one-and-a-half times more likely to suffer a stroke than a control group of 5,692 patients who had been hospitalized for an appendectomy.
Though more research is needed, it’s important that hearing loss patients be assessed carefully for their risk for stroke.
Tags: sudden hearing loss and strokeA study by Scottish researchers found a link between a person’s childhood IQ and the risk for developing vascular dementia.
Vascular dementia is the second most common form of dementia behind Alzheimer’s disease. A diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, however, did not appear to be linked to childhood IQ scores.
They compared the rate of vascular dementia among people with lower and higher IQ scores on tests taken when they were children. Results from impaired blood flow to the brain were 40 percent more likely to have scored lower on the IQ tests when they were kids.
Why might IQ have a relationship to vascular dementia?
John Starr, of the University of Edinburgh who led the study hypothesized:
“It may be that IQ is a measure of system integrity,” Starr said in a telephone interview. “The IQ may reflect something about the brain and the brain’s control over vascular disease later on.”
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to check my childhood testing scores.
Just in case.
Tags: John Starr, low IQ dementia risk, vascualr dementiaWhen my mother was sick, I ended up getting a crash course in some of the finer points of Medicare.
While the Medicare site itself is pretty good if you take the time to read it, The Eldercare Team provides an easy to understand resource, Medicare for the Confused, that covers nursing home benefits, hospital benefits, home care and more.
I’m telling you, if applicable, familiarize yourself with the parts (of any benefit plan, be it government or private) you are most likely to need to know about before you need them.
Tags: Medicare, Medicare for the confused, the eldercare teamI love stories like this:
It took him longer than he wanted, but Saturday was such a glorious bright and clear day to run 50 miles along Hungry Horse Reservoir that Bob Hayes wasn’t too disappointed to finish the Le Grizz ultramarathon in 11 hours, 4 minutes.
“It went OK, I finished OK and I feel pretty good right now,” said the 80-year-old runner from Evaro. “I was slower than last year. I’d like to think I don’t get slower, but because of age you do, and I did.”
I’m not even positive I can run a mile at this moment.
Tags: 80 year old runs ultramarathon, Bob HayesParents to the left of me, children to the right, here I am.
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