The following is disturbing and an indication of why we need to be mindful of who we put into office. The following is in effect in Pennsylvannia but could easily be the case inthe country. Part of the problem is that medicaid is routinely cut and now the average family is harmed. I reprinted this from the website and I left all information in case you want to contact the site for further information on this and other issues.
The Elder Care Law Alert
Marshall, Parker & Associates' E-mail Newsletters
2007
Elder Care Law Alert
March 6, 2007 Issue
_________________________________________
Jersey Shore, Williamsport, Wilkes-Barre, Clarks Summit
1-800-401-4552www.paelderlaw.com
________________________________
The Elder Law Firm of Marshall, Parker & Associates, LLC, is a recognized leader in providing coordinated legal and elder care planning services to older adults and their families throughout Pennsylvania.
_______________________________
Special Edition of the Elder Care Law Alert
New Medicaid Rules Hit Seniors and Nursing Homes:
Deficit Reduction Act is Enacted in Pennsylvania
Written By:
Under the new rules, people who made a gift after
The new penalties on gifts are part of a law, called the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA), passed by the last Congress and signed into law by President Bush in February 2006. The DRA forces
Approximately two thirds of nursing home residents receive some assistance from the Medicaid program. Nursing home residents who are already on Medicaid should not be affected unless they make a gift in the future, but new applicants will find it much harder to qualify. Because the Medicaid ineligibility period will no longer begin to run until the nursing home resident is out of funds, there will be a period of time during which neither the nursing home resident nor Medicaid can pay for needed care. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that this will affect about 15% of individuals who are admitted to nursing homes each year.
Why the DRA Means Trouble
Unmarried individuals usually don't qualify for Medicaid financial assistance with the cost of nursing home care until they have exhausted all but $2,400 of their cash and investments. $2,400 is not enough to pay for even one month in a nursing home. Therefore, in order for the nursing facility to get paid, help from Medicaid is needed.
The problem arises if the nursing home resident has made a gift with a value of more than $500 after
Under long-standing Medicaid program rules, gifts make an individual ineligible for Medicaid help with long-term care costs for a period of time. In the past, state examiners would look back for 3 years to see if you had made any gifts. Under the old law, the ineligibility period began when you made the gift. So, for most nursing home residents, the penalty period had run long before any application for Medicaid was filed.
For example, under the Pre-DRA rules, assume John gave his grandson $20,000 for college in December 2005. By April 2006 the penalty period would have expired and Medicaid would ignore the gift. If John needed nursing home care after that, Medicaid would help pay the nursing home when John spent his remaining funds down to $2,400.
Under the DRA, the look back period is expanded to 5 years, and most importantly, the penalty period doesn't begin until John is in the nursing home and has spent down his funds to $2,400. So, if John gives his grandson $20,000 for college in December 2006 and then applies for Medicaid Assistance 50 months later in February 2011, he will be ineligible for financial help for approximately 3 months. Who pays for that 3 months? Not, John - he has already spent down his assets to $2400 or less. Not the state - the DRA doesn't allow it. Not the grandson - the money is likely long gone. The nursing home is left holding the bag.
Special rules apply if you are married. But, gifts by either spouse make both ineligible for Medicaid nursing home benefits. Gifts can also make seniors ineligible for some other Medicaid long term care benefits, like home and community-based waiver services.
In some cases, a nursing home that isn't getting paid may decide to sue the children of the nursing home resident. Under
The DRA law is so complex that it has taken
More details of the DRA law and
What You Should Do Now
Seniors:
Seniors should anticipate that they will someday need long-term care, either at home or in a nursing home. The new law places a premium on planning well in advance of the onset of illness.
∙ Seniors who are healthy and have sufficient financial means may want to consider the purchase of long-term care insurance.
∙ Seniors who are unlikely to need long-term care within the next five years may want to make gifts now, rather than waiting. There are many ways to give away assets, including irrevocable trusts and retaining reserved interests. Don't make large gifts without advice from a lawyer who understands the DRA.
∙ Keep records of any gifts made for at least five years. This includes regular gifts such as church or other charitable contributions.
∙ Get an asset protection power of attorney that will allow your family to plan for you in the event you become incapacitated. An asset protection power of attorney allows your family to try to protect the things you own if you ever need to qualify for Medicaid.
∙ If illness strikes, get the best possible planning advice as soon as possible. Make sure your lawyer is an expert in the DRA. Don't try to do-it-yourself. Mistakes can cost you and your family much more than the cost of good planning advice.
Family Members of Seniors Who Need Care:
Under
Be careful when signing documents for a parent, especially admission paperwork at the nursing home. Understand what you are signing. Sign as power of attorney for your parent, not on your own behalf. Don't make personal guarantees. Make sure your parent gets the best advice possible if they ever need long-term care. Mistakes can cost you dearly.
You might also want to contact your state representative and senator and tell them to repeal the family support law - Act 43 - that makes children financially responsible for their aging parents' health care costs.
Nursing Homes:
Nursing Homes may end up being the largest victims of the DRA. The American Health Care Association, a group representing nearly 11,000 long-term care providers, said the change in the penalty rule "leaves the nursing facility (not the state) to collect from individuals who have no funds to pay privately and are not Medicaid eligible during their penalty phase."
Nursing home administrators need to understand how the DRA is likely to affect their facility. Facilities are at risk if their residents have made ineffectively planned gifts within 5 years of Medicaid application. These residents may be ineligible for Medicaid payment when they run out of other funds. Nursing homes should work closely with a certified elder law attorney or other lawyer who understands the DRA.
Even small gifts of under $1,000 which were made years prior to admission can create a penalty. Administrators need to avoid the transfer penalty payment gap. A facility is much better off with a resident on Medicaid than with a resident who has no source of payment and who cannot be discharged. A lawyer who understands the DRA may be able to help the facility avoid the transfer/non-payment trap if contacted before the resident's private funds are exhausted.
In the past, some nursing homes have viewed elder law attorneys as enemies. Nursing home administrators must come to recognize that knowledgeable elder law attorneys are their allies in making sure residents always have a payment source for their care.
More Information
Extensive resources on the DRA are available on Marshall, Parker and Associates' website at www.paelderlaw.com.
∙ Understanding the Deficit Reduction Act- http://www.paelderlaw.com/DRA.html
∙ Selected Provisions of the DRA- http://www.paelderlaw.com/pdf/DRA_Provisions.pdf
∙ DPW Operations Memos-http://www.paelderlaw.com/Draft_memos.html
∙ Act 43 Filial Responsibility- http://www.paelderlaw.com/pdf/Act_43_of_2005.pdf
∙ Children Can be Liable for Parents' Nursing Home Costs-
Elder care professionals may also be interested in attending
Attorney Marshall can be contacted at webmail@paelderlaw.com or at 1-800-401-4552
You can even search our site by a keyword or phrase!
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*Attorneys Marshall and Parker are certified as Elder Law Attorneys by the National Elder Law Foundation under authorization from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.
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Monday, May 28, 2012
ELDER CARE NEWS: PA new law part 1
ELDER CARE NEWS: Part 2- Elder law expert Katherine Pearson explains new family support decision ...
This video explains the law in PA.
Short
Patience. When
dealing with most issues, particularly elder care issues it is important to
have patience. There will be some trying
days. Yeah there are some good days but
I find that guarded optimism and patience are the keys. This is of course following a relationship
with God. You would be amazed at how
well prayer worked when Dad was alive.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Homeless news, etc. courtesy Huffington Post
My problem with this is....this gentleman had a CHOICE to live on a food stamp budget. Most people living on a similar budget have no choice and even worse, there are people who are denied food stamps and have no money. What happens to them?
The chef, his wife and their two teenage sons are eating for a week on the equivalent of a food stamp budget in protest of potential cuts pending in Congress to the benefit program used by more than 46 million Americans.
That's $31 per person for the week, or about $1.48 per meal each.
Goodbye restaurants, free nibbles on his talk show "The Chew" and all the luxe offerings at Eataly, the high-end New York City market he co-owns. Hello Trader Joe's, Jack's Dollar Store, Gristedes and Western Beef, a low-cost supermarket chain.
"I'm (expletive deleted) starving," said Batali, who's on the board of the food relief agency Food Bank for New York City, which issued the challenge to celeb pals like Batali and anybody else who wants to know what it's like.
Batali said his first reaction when asked to join was a big "gulp," then he realized while shopping for Friday's start of the challenge that with a little forethought it wouldn't be all that brutal.
One lesson: forget organic and anything pesticide- or hormone-free. "The organic word slides out and saves you about 50 percent."
So what's on the Batali menu through Thursday? Lentil chili with onion, water and cumin was one dinner that came with a complaint from his wife when he bought two bags of lentils instead of one, until he convinced her the extra cost would mean cheap eats for the next day.
"Rice and beans is in my lunch every day," Batali said. "We got a bag of mini gala apples for $3. We bought a pork shoulder roast for $8 and got two and a half meals out of it. I got a whole chicken for $5, but it was spoiled so I had to return it and got a $7 chicken instead. They were out of $5 chickens."
Convenience also has been sacrificed, like the afternoon his boys, 14 and 15, were running late and the family really wanted to grab hot dogs before a basketball game but couldn't.
His kids are doing well and didn't have to be dragged into what Batali described as less of a publicity stunt and more of a conversation starter about what it means to be hungry in America today.
"They're having more peanut butter and jelly than they've had in the last 10 years because bread is inexpensive and peanut butter and jelly, if you buy it at the right place at the right time, is cheap," Batali said.
Also, the boys are eating school lunch, as those in low-income families do for free.
The Batalis have been joined on the weeklong challenge by wholesale meat purveyor Pat LaFrieda, who has a new Food Network series, "Meat Men," Margarette Purvis, who heads the food bank, as well as more than 200 others who registered to complete the challenge. And anti-hunger groups in Las Vegas, Philadelphia and parts of Maryland and Ohio have led similar challenges over the last several months.
"Nearly 3 million New Yorkers have difficulty paying for the food they need," Purvis said. "They live in every single neighborhood. We're not trying to compare the food stamp challenge to the very real challenges people face. We're just trying to raise awareness that it's no longer just the homeless. It's working families who use the food stamp program. It's seniors. It's a lot more children, in every single neighborhood."
Any surprises for the chef?
"I thought spare ribs were cheap," Batali said. "Spare ribs this week are $5.95, so I'm making pasta sauce with two pork chops that were $1.39 a pound. It won't have as many bones to chew on but it'll have more edible meat, which at the end of the day is probably a better deal."
Batali has taken his challenge to "The Chew," where he and his crew will be chatting all week about eating on less.
"We, hopefully, aren't pretending or being like a bunch of yuppies saying, `Oh yeah, this is how you can do it. Look, we can grind our own oats!' We want people to think about calling and talking to their representation about cuts to the Farm Bill and the food stamp program," he said.
Subsisting on food stamps, especially when food is made from scratch, is doable, he said, "as a way to live, but certainly not as a way to thrive. You can always have pasta with tomato, but that's not thriving."
Mario Batali Food Stamp Challenge: Chef Spending $31 On Food For One Week
By LEANNE ITALIE 05/14/12 04:47 PM ET 
NEW YORK -- To much of the world, it was Monday. To Mario Batali, it was Day Four. The chef, his wife and their two teenage sons are eating for a week on the equivalent of a food stamp budget in protest of potential cuts pending in Congress to the benefit program used by more than 46 million Americans.
That's $31 per person for the week, or about $1.48 per meal each.
Goodbye restaurants, free nibbles on his talk show "The Chew" and all the luxe offerings at Eataly, the high-end New York City market he co-owns. Hello Trader Joe's, Jack's Dollar Store, Gristedes and Western Beef, a low-cost supermarket chain.
"I'm (expletive deleted) starving," said Batali, who's on the board of the food relief agency Food Bank for New York City, which issued the challenge to celeb pals like Batali and anybody else who wants to know what it's like.
Batali said his first reaction when asked to join was a big "gulp," then he realized while shopping for Friday's start of the challenge that with a little forethought it wouldn't be all that brutal.
One lesson: forget organic and anything pesticide- or hormone-free. "The organic word slides out and saves you about 50 percent."
So what's on the Batali menu through Thursday? Lentil chili with onion, water and cumin was one dinner that came with a complaint from his wife when he bought two bags of lentils instead of one, until he convinced her the extra cost would mean cheap eats for the next day.
"Rice and beans is in my lunch every day," Batali said. "We got a bag of mini gala apples for $3. We bought a pork shoulder roast for $8 and got two and a half meals out of it. I got a whole chicken for $5, but it was spoiled so I had to return it and got a $7 chicken instead. They were out of $5 chickens."
His kids are doing well and didn't have to be dragged into what Batali described as less of a publicity stunt and more of a conversation starter about what it means to be hungry in America today.
"They're having more peanut butter and jelly than they've had in the last 10 years because bread is inexpensive and peanut butter and jelly, if you buy it at the right place at the right time, is cheap," Batali said.
Also, the boys are eating school lunch, as those in low-income families do for free.
The Batalis have been joined on the weeklong challenge by wholesale meat purveyor Pat LaFrieda, who has a new Food Network series, "Meat Men," Margarette Purvis, who heads the food bank, as well as more than 200 others who registered to complete the challenge. And anti-hunger groups in Las Vegas, Philadelphia and parts of Maryland and Ohio have led similar challenges over the last several months.
"Nearly 3 million New Yorkers have difficulty paying for the food they need," Purvis said. "They live in every single neighborhood. We're not trying to compare the food stamp challenge to the very real challenges people face. We're just trying to raise awareness that it's no longer just the homeless. It's working families who use the food stamp program. It's seniors. It's a lot more children, in every single neighborhood."
Any surprises for the chef?
"I thought spare ribs were cheap," Batali said. "Spare ribs this week are $5.95, so I'm making pasta sauce with two pork chops that were $1.39 a pound. It won't have as many bones to chew on but it'll have more edible meat, which at the end of the day is probably a better deal."
Batali has taken his challenge to "The Chew," where he and his crew will be chatting all week about eating on less.
"We, hopefully, aren't pretending or being like a bunch of yuppies saying, `Oh yeah, this is how you can do it. Look, we can grind our own oats!' We want people to think about calling and talking to their representation about cuts to the Farm Bill and the food stamp program," he said.
Subsisting on food stamps, especially when food is made from scratch, is doable, he said, "as a way to live, but certainly not as a way to thrive. You can always have pasta with tomato, but that's not thriving."
Thursday, May 10, 2012
WTF news from http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2011/09/florida_sex_with_animals_zoophilia.php?print=true
http://blogs.browardpalmbeach.com/pulp/2011/09/florida_sex_with_animals_zoophilia.php?print=true
Florida: Today Is the Last Day to Legally Have Sex With Animals
Attention, Florida: Today is the last day to legally buck a bronco, hump a horse, grope a goat, or perform any other activities related to barnyard bangin'.
Senate Bill 344, which bans "sexual contact" and "sexual conduct" with animals, goes into effect on Saturday.
Unfortunately for animal sexers, several people have faced charges in Florida after being caught fornicating with fauna; however, we couldn't find a case of anyone being convicted.
Police say Eugene Hickman, a 54-year-old DeFuniak Springs resident, was arrested in June after his grandson walked into a bedroom and saw him naked on top of the family bulldog, attempting to have sex with it.
According to the Walton County Clerk, Hickman is scheduled to go to trial in November on an animal cruelty charge as well as a charge of lewd and lascivious exhibition charge for allegedly doing the deed in front of the kid.
The courts and prosecutors have gone both ways on the issue of wildlife whoopee -- in 2004, Ocala resident Randol Mitchell's girlfriend walked in on him having sex with her Rottweiler and was charged with animal cruelty. In 2005, Alan Yoder was charged with animal cruelty after he was caught having sex with his guide dog in Tallahassee, but that charge was later changed to breaching the peace. The judges in both cases withheld adjudication.
Still, State Sen. Nan Rich's bill banning sex with animals didn't pass until her third attempt because legislators were convinced they were wasting their time on something that never happens.
As ex-New Times Juice-man Thomas Francis can tell you, people having sex with animals happens a lot more than you'd think.
We'll bet someone a dollar that Cody Beck is still having sex with horses in Arizona, and there are even more cases around Florida that have occurred over the years.
In 2009, a Panhandle man asphyxiated the family goat while having sex with it, and there was a horse incident in the Keys shortly thereafter.
The moral of the story -- come tomorrow, it's definitely illegal to fondle, have sex with, help someone else have sex with, cause someone to have sex with, have sexual contact with "however slight," or permit someone on your property to have sex with an animal.
If you're really concerned about getting caught screwing animals after today, don't fret -- it's only a misdemeanor.
Click here to read the law as it is on the books.
Senate Bill 344, which bans "sexual contact" and "sexual conduct" with animals, goes into effect on Saturday.
Unfortunately for animal sexers, several people have faced charges in Florida after being caught fornicating with fauna; however, we couldn't find a case of anyone being convicted.
Police say Eugene Hickman, a 54-year-old DeFuniak Springs resident, was arrested in June after his grandson walked into a bedroom and saw him naked on top of the family bulldog, attempting to have sex with it.
According to the Walton County Clerk, Hickman is scheduled to go to trial in November on an animal cruelty charge as well as a charge of lewd and lascivious exhibition charge for allegedly doing the deed in front of the kid.
The courts and prosecutors have gone both ways on the issue of wildlife whoopee -- in 2004, Ocala resident Randol Mitchell's girlfriend walked in on him having sex with her Rottweiler and was charged with animal cruelty. In 2005, Alan Yoder was charged with animal cruelty after he was caught having sex with his guide dog in Tallahassee, but that charge was later changed to breaching the peace. The judges in both cases withheld adjudication.
Still, State Sen. Nan Rich's bill banning sex with animals didn't pass until her third attempt because legislators were convinced they were wasting their time on something that never happens.
As ex-New Times Juice-man Thomas Francis can tell you, people having sex with animals happens a lot more than you'd think.
We'll bet someone a dollar that Cody Beck is still having sex with horses in Arizona, and there are even more cases around Florida that have occurred over the years.
In 2009, a Panhandle man asphyxiated the family goat while having sex with it, and there was a horse incident in the Keys shortly thereafter.
The moral of the story -- come tomorrow, it's definitely illegal to fondle, have sex with, help someone else have sex with, cause someone to have sex with, have sexual contact with "however slight," or permit someone on your property to have sex with an animal.
If you're really concerned about getting caught screwing animals after today, don't fret -- it's only a misdemeanor.
Click here to read the law as it is on the books.
 |
| flixya.com |
NEWS: Stop and Frisk 1
Published on The Root (http://www.theroot.com)
Home > How Cops Turn 'Stop and Frisk' Into 'Stop and Arrest"
Ever since "Stop and frisk" became an issue I have been a little right centered concerning it. Granted a disproportionate amount of Blacks and Latinos are targeted but in New York City, the crimes are commited mostly by Black and Latinos. There was a statistic that showed that most crime committed with a gun in New York were more than likely done by a Black or Latino between the ages of 16 and 29. Something to think about
Ever since "Stop and frisk" became an issue I have been a little right centered concerning it. Granted a disproportionate amount of Blacks and Latinos are targeted but in New York City, the crimes are commited mostly by Black and Latinos. There was a statistic that showed that most crime committed with a gun in New York were more than likely done by a Black or Latino between the ages of 16 and 29. Something to think about
How Cops Turn 'Stop and Frisk' Into 'Stop and Arrest'
By: Katti Gray
Posted: June 13, 2011 at 12:26 AM
Justice-reform advocates want young black and brown men to avoid being tricked by police into emptying their pockets.
Advocates of drug and juvenile-justice reform have launched a campaign against what they contend are the New York Police Department's illegal "stop and frisks" and the disproportionate number of arrests of black and brown young men for possessing allowable amounts of marijuana.
The "Know Your Rights, Build Your Future" workshops, aiming to inform teens and young men about their rights to resist police officers' random demands that they empty their pockets, were launched last Tuesday night at the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building in Harlem. (The New York Task Force on Racial Disparity & Community Justice Network for Youth, part of the San Francisco-based Haywood Burns Institute, held a separate but related event last Friday in Brooklyn .)
The awareness campaign's launch -- and proposed legislation reducing the penalties associated with those arrests -- follows a March 2011 report, "Up in Smoke" (pdf), from the national Drug Policy Alliance and the New York City-based Institute for Juvenile Justice Reform and Alternatives.
"Up in Smoke" alleges that the NYPD spends $75 million a year on the illegal arrests -- despite the fact that New York State decriminalized personal possession of marijuana weighing no more than 7/8 of an ounce in 1977. Possessing the allowed amount or less is a violation, worthy of a ticket and possibly a $100 fine. But if the person has the marijuana in public view, it becomes a misdemeanor, a criminal offense punishable with arrest, a fine and even a prison sentence of up to three months.
What's happening is that disproportionate numbers of black and brown young men, ages 16 to 29, are being duped into publicly revealing their allowable marijuana and then being arrested, thereby gaining a criminal record, advocates say. Police officers will say, "Empty your pockets!" turning a routine stop into an arrest and a police record.
"In 2010 in New York State, there were 54,000 marijuana arrests ... 50,000 of them came from New York City, and -- surprise, surprise -- from neighborhoods that primarily are black, Latino and low income," says Kyung Ji Kate Rhee, executive director of the IJJRA. "It's not like these individuals had a felony charge and marijuana happened to be an additional charge ... You're telling me that 50,000 had marijuana in plain view? Does that sound right to you? After that initial point of police contact, they trick you into turning out your pockets."
The NYPD did not respond to requests for comment.
Roughly a third of the marijuana arrests are legitimate, Rhee says. The remainder result from racially driven stop-and-frisks for which there is no legal "reasonable suspicion" that a crime has been committed. "A cop approaches a young man of color: 'Where are you going? Where are you coming from? Why are you hanging out on this corner?' " she adds. "Cops can stop people, but there are legal thresholds ... [Otherwise], you have the right to walk away.
"If you're a young person of color, of course, you have to use common sense," she continues. "You have to scope out the dynamics and the landscape. The real test is to ask the officer, 'Am I free to go or am I being detained?' If he says you're being detained, that there's a specific suspicion of an illegal activity ... there's a form they have to fill out, listing a whole series of stuff they have to check off. It can't be just a hunch that a person has done something wrong."
The DPA's Sayegh says that his office has sought but obtained no official meetings with NYPD higher-ups regarding this issue. What has been made clear by police officers attending meetings at the precinct level and through New York City
Based on that law, it's not uncommon for New York City
Various studies have shown that white men are the heaviest marijuana users, Sayegh says. And that makes the illegal arrests in New York City New York City
Because NYPD is the nation's largest police department, the changes it adopts often tend to set a kind of national standard, he adds. And that might influence change in other municipalities where communities of color are deliberately targeted for certain kinds of low-level, but no less detrimental, arrests, Sayegh explains.
The IJJRA's Rhee says, "If you really are concerned about young people and the choices they make -- whatever your opinions on marijuana use -- what the NYPD is doing is not the way to go about it."
Katti Gray is a Brooklyn, N.Y.-based freelance writer.
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NEW FORMAT
Gonna try and organize my blog (and my thoughts) a little better. I will be doing my best to categorize each entry so you can have an idea what I am writing about since I get to a wide variety of topics. As time goes on I am also going to touch up the links on the face of the blog and in the links section. But for now the topics will be:
1) ON A PERSONAL NOTE: This will contains my own personal rants without a lot of attribution. No news stories.
2) ELDER CARE NEWS/INFO: News specifically dealing with elder care and/or care giving.
3) LIVING NEWS/INFO: News specifically dealing with homelessness and for people in need
4) SHORTS: Just a blurb or a thought. I will try to keep this to one or two sentences
5) WTF: self explanatory
Reader input is always accepted of course
1) ON A PERSONAL NOTE: This will contains my own personal rants without a lot of attribution. No news stories.
2) ELDER CARE NEWS/INFO: News specifically dealing with elder care and/or care giving.
3) LIVING NEWS/INFO: News specifically dealing with homelessness and for people in need
4) SHORTS: Just a blurb or a thought. I will try to keep this to one or two sentences
5) WTF: self explanatory
Reader input is always accepted of course
Wednesday, May 2, 2012
ELDER CARE NEWS New link
I came across a new link while looking for information for my mother
http://www.eldercaredirectory.org/state-resources.htm
http://www.eldercaredirectory.org/state-resources.htm
ELDER CARE NEWS: from UCLA TODAY
This is an interesting article I reprinted from UCLA today. From time to time I feel the anxiety from being a caregiver as well as being the child of an elderly parent. For those of you in my situation you may experience that morbid feeling that something bad is going to happen. You mentally prepare yourself everyday.
Be mindful the advice is universal but some of the practical suggestions are really for Los Angeles residents:
While caring for an aging parent has its rewards, the stress combined with juggling the demands of work and raising a family can take its toll.
• Talk to an aging parent or spouse about finances, health care and support systems. Make a plan. Organize important documents and information.
• Set realistic goals. Assume a reasonable amount of responsibility.
• Take care of yourself. Get proper rest. Eat well. Pay attention to your body's warning signs: problems sleeping; trouble concentrating or loss of interest; feeling sad or agitated; feeling tired; change in eating habits resulting in weight gain or weight loss; feeling that nothing you do is good enough; physical symptoms that don't decrease with treatment such as digestive problems or headaches. If you experience these for more than two consecutive weeks, you may have depression.
• Reduce your stress. Meditate, do an enjoyable activity, talk to a friend or delegate responsibilities.
• Don't be afraid to ask for help. When it's offered, accept it.
________________________________________________________________
• Sittercity is UC's new online resource to help you find caregiver services. UC pays the fee that gives you access to Sittercity's database of pre-screened caregivers complete with reviews and references. You choose who to hire, negotiate rates and pay the caregiver.
• Elder Care Locator is a free nationwide service to help elders and caregivers find resources in their community. Call (800) 677-1116 and you will be connected with the local Area Agency on Aging.
• Family Caregiver Alliance provides education, services, research and advocacy for caregivers nationwide. Their Family Care Navigator connects you with local support groups, respite programs and more.
• Alzheimer's Association operates a 24-hour-a-day helpline at (800) 272-3900. They offer education, support groups and resources for people with memory loss and their caregivers.
• Find a geriatric care manager through the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers.
© 2012 UC Regents
Be mindful the advice is universal but some of the practical suggestions are really for Los Angeles residents:
Caring for those who care for the elderly
Are you a caregiver and don't even know it?
Maybe you buy groceries for an aging parent who has trouble getting to the store. Maybe you spend your lunch break chauffeuring them to a doctor's appointment. Or perhaps you swing by their house on your way home to check if the fridge is stocked and the laundry isn't piling up.
While caring for an aging parent has its rewards, the stress combined with juggling the demands of work and raising a family can take its toll.
"It's physically taxing and emotionally draining," said Nanette Levine-Mann, co-director and elder care counselor at UCLA's Staff and Faculty Counseling Center who facilitates an ongoing monthly caregivers support group. "And if you're doing it long distance, you're flying back and forth. You worry about whether they're getting enough care or if you're doing enough."
Over time, the stress can build until it’s overwhelming. "Caregivers may feel sad, agitated, have trouble sleeping or they can't concentrate on a project,” said Maureen Kelly, elder care counselor at UC Berkeley's CARE Services for faculty and staff. “They may think ‘I'm not doing anything well. I'm not being a good daughter or son. I'm not being a good parent or spouse. I'm not being a good employee.'"
The UCLA Staff and Faculty Counseling Center offers free, confidential one-on-one counseling on elder care concerns. Counselors can direct you to the right resources, help you navigate the complex legal and health insurance maze that accompanies elder care, and help you adjust to caregiving. (See resource information below)
UCLA also offers monthly support group meetings that sometimes feature guest speakers who discuss hospice care, compassion fatigue and other pertinent topics.
It’s unknown exactly how many UCLA faculty and staff serve as caregivers, in part because many do not identify themselves as such.
Nationally, 43.5 million Americans care for someone over the age of 50, according to the Family Caregiver Alliance (FCA), which runs the National Center on Caregiving. Caregivers experience higher levels of stress and suffer from depression at twice the rate of the general population. One study found that 40 percent to 70 percent of family caregivers have clinically significant symptoms of depression.
Caregivers also are at greater risk for high blood pressure, obesity and other health problems, according to the FCA, because they often sacrifice their own needs to take care of someone else's.
Counselors emphasize that feeling caregiver stress or frustration is normal and understandable.
Counselors emphasize that feeling caregiver stress or frustration is normal and understandable.
As Kelly explained, the experience of caring for an elder is unique. Someone raising a healthy baby, for example, expects that child to grow up and have a bright future. But for caregivers, the time and energy that's invested doesn't stop the deterioration an elder will inevitably face as part of aging.
"Caregivers are continually dealing with a sense of loss. ‘My mom can't see as well as she used to. My dad was a physicist but now he can't remember his children's names," Kelly said. "There's a lot of grieving and a pervasive sadness, in addition to the stress."
So how can faculty and staff get help and take care of themselves while tending to an elder?
• Talk to an aging parent or spouse about finances, health care and support systems. Make a plan. Organize important documents and information.
• Set realistic goals. Assume a reasonable amount of responsibility.
• Take care of yourself. Get proper rest. Eat well. Pay attention to your body's warning signs: problems sleeping; trouble concentrating or loss of interest; feeling sad or agitated; feeling tired; change in eating habits resulting in weight gain or weight loss; feeling that nothing you do is good enough; physical symptoms that don't decrease with treatment such as digestive problems or headaches. If you experience these for more than two consecutive weeks, you may have depression.
• Reduce your stress. Meditate, do an enjoyable activity, talk to a friend or delegate responsibilities.
• Don't be afraid to ask for help. When it's offered, accept it.
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If you're interested in joining the eldercare support group at UCLA, call the Staff and Faculty Counseling Center at (310) 794-0245. The support group will meet next on Feb. 28 from noon to 1 p.m. at the UCLA Wilshire Center, Room 635. The center is open from Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Evening and early morning appointments are available upon request.
Here are other resources:
• Sittercity is UC's new online resource to help you find caregiver services. UC pays the fee that gives you access to Sittercity's database of pre-screened caregivers complete with reviews and references. You choose who to hire, negotiate rates and pay the caregiver.
• Elder Care Locator is a free nationwide service to help elders and caregivers find resources in their community. Call (800) 677-1116 and you will be connected with the local Area Agency on Aging.
• Family Caregiver Alliance provides education, services, research and advocacy for caregivers nationwide. Their Family Care Navigator connects you with local support groups, respite programs and more.
• Alzheimer's Association operates a 24-hour-a-day helpline at (800) 272-3900. They offer education, support groups and resources for people with memory loss and their caregivers.
• Find a geriatric care manager through the National Association of Professional Geriatric Care Managers.
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