The household model of care reflects a maturing of the field of gerontology — the study of the medical effects of aging. Gerontology as a discipline only dates back to the 1940s, and it didn’t begin to gain traction in the U.S. until the 1960s and 1970s.  More

Late one afternoon, social worker Jennifer Ronzio got word of a letter sent from one of the families she served. Carol, her supervisor, suggested Jennifer sit down before reading it. More

I stood in the office kitchen and read a flyer that had been posted on the refrigerator. “Talent Show” was printed at the top with a list of candy and their prices: Tootsie rolls- 15 cents, cookies- 25 cents, lemonade- 10 cents. No date, no time and no location. All I could think was “wow where is this place with the cheap candy, I want to go.” Little did I know that Kailyn Timme had more planned than an economy friendly concession stand. More

The phone rang at Gloria Tremane’s house around 11:30. “Grandma, it’s Sara,” said the voice on the other end of the line. “I’m sorry to call so late, but ... I’m in trouble.”  More

As a Health Care Executive in the Hospital and Nursing Home arena, one of the most troubling things that I had to deal with was the “unpreparedness” of loss of life, terminal illness, fatal accident, estate planning, advance directives and aging itself. A vast majority of these dealings were a result of “unwillingness” to discuss these topics sometimes by the individual themselves and or other family members. We all think we will have time or that the time is not right to have these discussions. Sometimes there are family members who are unwilling and or maybe the correct terminology I like to use is “selfish”.  More

Chances are you’ve walked into a room and forgotten why you went there. And misplaced your keys or eyeglasses at least a few times. Many people worry about these memory lapses. They fear they’re heading toward a serious condition like Alzheimer’s disease, an irreversible brain illness. More

Will doing crossword puzzles prevent memory loss as we age? Does exercise delay or prevent Alzheimer’s disease? Will adding fish oil to a diet help keep our brains healthy as we age? NIH recently convened a conference to answer these and other questions. The conclusion? Research so far has offered good leads about preventing Alzheimer’s disease and age-related cognitive decline. Still, more research is needed before we can be sure what’s effective. More

Ways to Control Diabetes

If you are overweight or are an uncontrolled diabetic, you may be frustrated or even feel hopeless that you can ever lose weight or achieve control of your diabetes. The good news is that many people have been successful with both and you can do it too. More

All of us have habits we have developed because of our own comfort, convenience, demand and most importantly our individuality. Whether the habits are good or bad, they are ours  More

At one of the senior living communities where I serve, there’s a woman named Dorothy. Dorothy ‘s father was a preacher. Her grandfather was a preacher. She had brothers and uncles and cousins who were preachers. She ended up marrying a preacher (who, himself, was the son of a preacher), and she had a son of her own who grew up to be – that’s right! – a preacher. More