HealthBridge's In-Home Care Blog

Does this sound familiar?

You've identified your parents' senior care needs.  You've found a superstar caregiver that understands the situation.  You've even worked out a care schedule that makes sense for you and your folks.  In short, you have your family's senior care needs so organized it'd make the Container Store proud. 

You're the quarterback of your care team and you're smart enough to call the right plays.  So, your caregiver drives your parents to a new doctor's appointment and you meet them there.  The doc asks for your dad's Medical Power of Attorney to keep in his file, just in case. 

And you can't find it. 

In fact, you don't think it exists.  You check the file you've brought with you and the cabinet at home.  Nope, not there either. 

Is it possible that you could have done the hard caregiving tasks - identifying needs, finding the right caregiver, making a schedule - without getting the easy stuff done?

Yes, it could. 

Where are Senior Care Documents on your to-do list? 

If you're like most senior care givers, it's wedged right between organize the hall closet and alphabetize the refrigerator magnets.

We all put off this housekeeping task because it seems overwhelming.  Too many documents and not enough time. 

It used to be that a handshake agreement would do, but not anymore.  There is a document for every situation.  The key is understanding the purpose of each document, selecting the ones you need, and filing them properly. 

So, let's start with the top five documents you and your folks should have in place. 

1. Medical Power of Attorney.  This names the person you want to have the power to make any and all health care decisions on your behalf.  Don't worry, you're not turning over authority to this person right away.  In the event that a doctor certifies that you can't make these decisions for yourself, your Medical Power of Attorney will take over.
2. Durable Power of Attorney.  This one names the person you want to manage your financial affairs and make financial decisions on your behalf.  Unlike the Medical Power of Attorney, the Durable Power of Attorney is effective immediately.  You can, however, specify that you don't want this to become effective until you become unable to manage your finances yourself.
3. Advance Directives.  This document spells out your wishes about medical care in the event that you develop a terminal or irreversible condition and can no longer make medical decisions.  Your folks probably have told you where they stand on this.  Complete this document and periodically review it with them, so in a crisis, there's not a misunderstanding.  
4. Declaration of Guardian.  In the event that your loved one loses mental capacity, this document declares whom they wish to manage their affairs.  It addresses the guardianship of medical and financial affairs.  
5. Out of Hospital Do Not Resuscitate.  If your loved one is at the end of life and wishes to die at home, they must have an Out of Hospital DNR in place.  This document states that you do not want to be resuscitated if you stop breathing or your heart stops beating, and declares that certain resuscitative measures will not be used on you.

Now that you understand which documents are which, you can choose the ones to put in place.  Make sure to complete the Senior Care Document Checklist too, so you have a record of what you've completed and where you stored it. 

To help you keep all these documents in order, we've created the Essential Senior Care Documents Guide.  It includes detailed information about each document plus a boilerplate document you can download and fill out.  Click here to download the entire guide.  

Do your trips to the doctor or hospital encapsulate all of your health care events?  Do they represent all of your health care spending?

What about your vitamins, your gym membership, and the hours of senior care you provide?  How about your job, house and education?

Politicians and talking heads often declare that America spends more and gets less for our health care dollars.  They point to infographics like this one to illustrate their point. 

The implied solution to the problem is simply to spend less on health care.  Reduce the cost of care.  Problem solved. 

But, is it possible that the system of care delivery - the care of sickness and emergency - is fundamentally flawed? 

The Blue Ridge Academic Health Group has published a report entitled, The Role of Academic Health Centers in Addressing the Social Determinants of Health.

Its statistics are stunning.

 
The report summarizes the situation as follow:

Our current health care system is costly and ineffective to an increasing degree each year because it has too limited a focus – sick care delivery – and pays inadequate attention to health promotion.

Moreover, the health promotion programs that are in place rarely focus on social determinants of health such as jobs, housing, education, etc. Instead, the focus largely remains on the health problems and concerns of individuals, rather than on the problems endemic to a population...

As a senior caregiver, you can relate.  Senior care is largely unfunded by health insurance and other entitlement programs.  The role of the caregiver as a contributor to the overall health care system, too, is often unrecognized.

If this study included the contributions of the family caregivers, I'm certain the results would be even more dramatic.

Do we need to reduce health care costs in the US?  Yes.  Should we work to improve health for people of all ages?  Definitely.

Is insurance reform the way to accomplish this?  It's just a start.

Special thanks to Paul Levy, CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.  He has written many articles that have inspired my thinking on healthcare leadership, executive transparency and healthcare reform.  He also wrote the article that inspired this one. 

Subscribe today and get the Dallas In-Home Care Guide free!

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The Dallas In Home Care Guide gives you a solid overview of the different types of senior care and who pays for what.  

Click here to subscribe and get the ebook today.

As a caregiver, you know it takes more than one person to get everything done.  Your husband, kids and neighbors say they'd love to help with senior care, but it's impossible to keep them current.  Corralling all the people who would "love to help" makes herding cats look easy.

How do you get everyone on the same page?

Sticky notes?  Email?  You could create a whole new system for notifying your family and friends and hope that they develop a habit of checking it out.  Or, you could just go where your family and friends already are:  Facebook.

First, what is Facebook?

For those of you from the cryogenics lab who were just unfrozen, Facebook is a social networking website that helps you find old friends, share photos and events and update your network about your life.  And, it's popular.  In fact, it has so many members that, if Facebook were a Country, it would be the third largest in the world. 

You should be on Facebook and so should anyone over the age of eighty.

How can it help senior caregivers?

Sure, Facebook helps you connect with friends you forgot you had.  And, it lets you share pictures of the grandkids, dogs and kittens.  But, there's another side to Facebook that can improve your life and the care of your loved one.

Since it's a safe bet that everyone involved in your loved one's care is already on Facebook, you can create a secure, private group to connect them.  The good folks at ReadWriteWeb explain how: 

Creating a family group is simple. After clicking this link, you'll notice the name of the group has already been filled in for you based on whatever your last name is (assuming you're currently logged into Facebook, that is...and aren't we always?). You can edit the name if you like or leave it as is.

You then have the option of inviting more members to join the group. In Step 2, there are boxes provided to enter in the names of your family members already on Facebook. If you need more boxes, just click the green plus sign below. Finally, and likely the reason why Facebook created these groups in the first place, there is an option to invite other people in your family to join Facebook.

You can type in email addresses by hand or import them from your email address book. (Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, Outlook, Apple Mail, and many others are supported.)

The group, once created, looks like any other Facebook group with a Member List, Discussion Board, Wall, Events Section, etc. However, there's a big difference between this group and others you'll find on Facebook. It's a completely private group, not visible to anyone else.

In other words, you can post away in here without worries that your online friends will see your activity.

So, now you can create a group of family and friends who want to help with your loved one's senior care.  You can post events like doctor's appointments and other activities and invite members of the group to attend those events.  You can even post sensitive status updates privately, without your entire social network knowing.  

With private family groups in Facebook, you can organize the care team by setting up a group on the world's most popular network.  

If you and your care team need a little extra help, call HealthBridge.  We have a team of Certified Nursing Assistants that would love to help out.  

To stay current, subscribe today.   You'll also get the Dallas In-Home Care Guide free!

Subscribe to HealthBridge and get this free 15 page ebook.

The Dallas In Home Care Guide gives you a solid overview of the different types of senior care and who pays for what.  

Click here to subscribe and get the ebook today.

The life of a caregiver is pretty rewarding.

You help your parents as they helped you.  You contribute to their health and well being while making handsome deposits in your own "caregiver karma" account.  And, when you're lucky, you even get recognized for your hard work and dedication.

Even though you're busy with your own kids, job, spouse, work, and your million to-dos, you take care of your folks because you love them.  There isn't anything you wouldn't do for them.

But, there are a few things you'd love to not have to do for them.

As a family caregiver, you need to a strategy for how you deal with the parts of caregiving that aren't rewarding or meaningful.  Today, I'm going to talk about one of the most time consuming hassles for ourselves and our clients:  taking your parents to doctors' appointments.

Appointments are a big part of an older adults life.  No matter how healthy they are, they have a team of doctors and therapists managing their care.

And they're all going to want an appointment now and then.

The Process, not the content

First, allow me to clarify one distinction.

It's not the content of the doctors' appointments that makes them such a hassle, it's the process.  For the fifteen minutes your with the doctor, it's a wonderful use of time.  You ask questions, share concerns, and collaborate on your mom's care.

Unfortunately, the process starts long before you see the doctor.  You have to take a day off work in order to get to your folks place, get mom ready, and drive to the office.  Then, you have to sit in the waiting room glancing around to guess what types of illnesses are lurking among the coughers and sneezers.  After the visit, you do the entire process in reverse.

Since most older adults have an appointment every couple of weeks, the time drain becomes unmanageable.  And time, in the life of a caregiver, is a super-precious commodity.

So, how do you make the best use of your (very limited) time?

We've spent a few years working with clients our clients to come up with the best solution to this problem.  Here are the three best methods to save time and still ensure your parents get to all their appointments.

1.  Get a head start.  In this method, you'll still take some time off work to drive Mom to and from the doctor's appointment.  But, you'll save precious time on the front end by making sure Mom is ready to go when you arrive by having a caregiver give you a head start.  Schedule a "get ready to go" appointment an hour before you plan to pick up Mom.  A caregiver will swing by and make sure Mom is dressed and ready to go, has gathered all the necessary paperwork and ID cards, and is prepared for the appointment.  Find a caregiver that doesn't require an hourly minimum, since you won't need a bunch of help.  This method won't save you the drive time nor the appointment time, but it can add hours back to your busy day.

Estimated time saved:  1 Hour.

2.  Meet at the doctor's office.  Here, you'll simply pop over to the doctor's office at the time of the appointment.  Your mom's caregiver will go to her house and prepare her for the visit, then drive her to the appointment.  You'll meet them in the waiting room and accompany Mom to the visit.  After the appointment, you'll head back to work and your mom's caregiver will drive Mom back home.

Estimated time saved:  3 Hours.

3.  Read the notes.  If Mom's appointment falls on a day that you absolutely can't make, but you don't want to reschedule the appointment, choose this method.  Your mom's caregiver will get her ready, drive her to the appointment, and take notes during the visit.  Afterward, Mom's caregiver will drive her home you'll get a summary of the visit including any new medications and follow up appointment notes.  For this method, I recommend ensuring Mom's caregiver is a Certified Nursing Assistant, so they'll be comfortable with the clinical lingo used in the visit.

Estimated time saved:  5 Hours.

Use one of these methods and you'll add a heap of time back to your overloaded schedule.

Want to learn more about how awesome caregivers can save you time and sanity?  Give us a call or send us an email before your mom's next doctor's appointment and we'll help you out.

To stay current, subscribe today.   You'll also get the Dallas In-Home Care Guide free!

Subscribe to HealthBridge and get this free 15 page ebook.

The Dallas In Home Care Guide gives you a solid overview of the different types of senior care and who pays for what.  

Click here to subscribe and get the ebook today.

My grandparents were Italian.  They understood spaghetti sauce.

Or, I should say, they each understood spaghetti sauce.  To say they, together, understood the sauce would imply they in some way agreed about it.  Which, ahem, they did not.

Too much garlic, not enough garlic.  Yours is too spicy, yours is too sweet.  You get the drift.

To me, they were both right.

Howard Moskowitz would agree.  One of my favorite authors, Malcolm Gladwell, tells the story of Howard Moskowitz and how he changed the way we eat spaghetti.   I'm wondering if Moskowitz's way of thinking can do the same for senior care.

But first, back to the spaghetti sauce.

It's hard to imagine now, but twenty five years ago there was one type of spaghetti sauce - a sort of thin, traditional version - made famous by the dominant brand Ragu.  For thirty years food industry experts would ask focus groups what they wanted in a spaghetti sauce.  And, for thirty years, people would describe the sauce they already had.

Seemed pretty simple.  There was one type of spaghetti sauce and everyone loves it.  Problem solved.

Not really.

Moskowitz didn't believe that there was a perfect sauce for everyone - rather there were perfects sauces for different people.  As a scientist, he experimented.  When given dozens of different choices, a third of the people he polled chose extra chunky. 

As obvious as this may seem today, this was a major breakthrough.  Over thirty years of asking people about their ideal spaghetti sauce, no one ever asked for extra chunky.

But, not because they didn't like it. 

It turns out no one knew how to answer the question.  As Moskowitz says, "It's like that Yiddish expression...To a worm in horseradish, the world is horseradish!"  All people had ever tasted was the thin, traditional version they were used to. 

They didn't have the words nor the experiences to describe a different type of sauce.

Do senior caregivers fall into the same trap?

We often say that our product is peace of mind.  What we mean is that - while we may be doing tasks like bathing and dressing assistance, memory activities, transportation, etc. - what we're really doing is providing families with the peace of mind that their loved one is in good hands.  

How do you describe that feeling?  My suspicion is that most people describe the tasks, activities and events that they believe will lead to peace of mind.  It's a practical way to describe an abstract thing.  

How can we give older adults the tools they need to describe the experience they want?  

If instead of asking questions, we shared senior care stories, would we get different responses?  

To stay current, subscribe today.   You'll also get the Dallas In-Home Care Guide free!

Subscribe to HealthBridge and get this free 15 page ebook.

The Dallas In Home Care Guide gives you a solid overview of the different types of senior care and who pays for what.  

Click here to subscribe and get the ebook today.

I can remember Valentine's Days in Dallas that were so warm people were picnicking in short sleeves at White Rock Lake. 

Not this year.  

Last week Mother Nature set a record - twelve and a half inches of snow.  

And, I mean real snow.  Shovel the driveway, build a snowman, dust off the sled, kind of snow.  

Every school closed.  Most roads were impassible.  Most business decided to phone it in and catch up later.  

It would be easy for me to say that our senior care business never closes.  Since we provide many clients around the clock care, technically, it doesn't.  But making an edict from my office that "the show must go on," doesn't take care of our clients. 

Our heroic caregivers were called upon to do something that very few people did on Friday - go to work. 

And they went.

But, I'm not surprised.  Our caregivers are senior care heroes.  They're compelled from deep within to care and help their clients.  They shoveled their driveways, they de-iced their cars and they made their way out onto roads with very few tire tracks before theirs - all to help their clients.  

Many of them were without power.  Most people call the office to tell them they won't be able to make it to work when the power goes out.  Our caregivers called the office to make sure their clients had power. 

The HealthBridge Care Coordination team proved their all star status this weekend too.  Before the first snowflake fell, Amanda Tanner and Erin Wade called all of our affected clients to walk through the emergency preparedness plan.  

The snow many have made things tougher, but our coordinators made sure no one was surprised.  

So, to all of our team members who care for our clients and coordinate the care - Thank You.  

Without you we would be adrift.  

Please swing by my office when you can - the hot chocolate is on me.  

PS:  The photo above is a bridge over Prairie Creek, right here in Richardson, Texas!

To stay current, subscribe today.   You'll also get the Dallas In-Home Care Guide free!

Subscribe to HealthBridge and get this free 15 page ebook.

The Dallas In Home Care Guide gives you a solid overview of the different types of senior care and who pays for what.  

Click here to subscribe and get the ebook today.

Well, the weather outside is frightful.

As I look out my window, I see snowflakes the size of wooden nickels floating down in sheets. 

Contrary to popular opinion, the penguins at Northpark aren't the only cold things in Dallas.  Today, it's really cold.  And really snowy.

Well, really snowy by our standards. 

The thing about snow in Dallas is that we really don't know what to do about it.  Should we go to work?  Stay home?  Salt the roads?  Sand them?  Will schools close?  

As a senior caregiver, you know that getting your loved one out in this weather off the list.  The great thing about snow around here is that it'll be gone by tomorrow.  

So, since we have a snow day, I thought I'd make a few recommendations of how to pass the time.  First, fire up the fireplace.  Second, make a cup of hot chocolate.  Third, curl up with a great senior care book.  

Here are my suggestions for a Great Senior Care Read:

• They're Your Parents Too!  How Siblings Can Survive Their Parents' Aging Without Driving Each Other Crazy by Francine Russo.  If you share the senior care responsibilities with your siblings, you must read this book. 
  
  
• Caregiving - The Spiritual Journey of Love, Loss, and Renewal by Beth Witrogen McLeod.  McLeod provides an unflinching look at the difficulties and rewards of caring for a loved one. 
  
  
• The 36 Hour Day:  A Family Guide to Caring for People with Alzheimer's Disease, Dementia and Memory Loss Later in Life by Nancy Mace and Peter Rabins.   I keep this book on my desk.  It's a tremendous reference for memory caregivers.  It's practical, necessary, and highly relevant. 
  
  
• The Other Side of Sadness:  What the New Science of Bereavement Tells Us about Life after Loss by George Bonnano.  This Columbia clinical psychology professor shows us the natural human resilience related to loss and how it draws out compassion and focus.  Seniors experience such a flood of loss, that this book is a must read. 
  
  
• When the Time Comes:  Families with Aging Parents Share their Struggles and Solutions by Paula Span.  Span is a wonderful writer and an authority on the subject.  She blogs on the New York Times New Old Age blog, which I recommend following as well.  You'll find inspiration in the stories of her book and you'll be surprised how closely you identify with many of them.

What senior care books have inspired you?  What are you reading right now?  

To stay current, subscribe today.   You'll also get the Dallas In-Home Care Guide free!

Subscribe to HealthBridge and get this free 15 page ebook.

The Dallas In Home Care Guide gives you a solid overview of the different types of senior care and who pays for what.  

Click here to subscribe and get the ebook today.

As a family caregiver, you're redefining busy on a daily basis.  You've got appointments for kids, grandkids, parents, spouse, volunteer groups - oh, and your life too.  

You know how important daily activities are to the health and mental fitness of your loved ones - it's practically senior care 101.  But, you also know that lining up interesting activities every day is a full time job.

How can you keep your senior loved one active and not overwhelm your overflowing to-do list?  

Visit a Senior Center, of course!  (Great news - there's more than just Bingo). 

HealthBridge's own Courtney Layton took on the task of searching out the Metroplex's Senior Centers.  Check out the list.  There's sure to be an activity near you.

Metroplex Senior Centers

Dallas - 14 locations

• Cedar Crest Senior Center (1007 Hutchins Road, 75203)
• Concord Senior Center (6808 Boulder Drive, 75232)
• Elmwood Senior Center (1315 Beckley Ave, 75244)
• Emeritus Center at Mountain View College (4849 W. Illinois Ave, 75211)
• Jefferson Senior Center (1617 West Jefferson Blvd, 75208)
• Juanita Craft Senior Center (4500 Spring Avenue, 75210)
• K.B. Polk United Senior Center (6801 Roper St, 75209)
• King New Beginning Senior Center (114 West Hobson Ave, 75224)
• M.L.K. Senior Center (2901 Pennsylvania Ave, 75215)
• Pleasant Grove Senior Center (7224 Umphress Road, 75271)
• Rankin Senior Center (3100 Crossman Ave, 75212)
• South Senior Center (2500 Romaine Avenue, 75215)
• Sunshine Senior Center (8341 Elam Road, 75217)
• West Dallas Senior Center (2828 Fish Trap Road, 75212)
• Overview of Various Locations: for ages 60 and older, daily meals, transportation services, various activities, field trips, health services, workshops and seminars

Richardson

• Location: 820 W. Arapaho Road, (972) 744-7800
• Overview: serves ages 55 years and older, offers benefits counseling, concession area, Robin's Nest gift shop, located below Senior Health Center, transportation services
• Weekly Activities Include: dance classes, fitness classes, support groups, pool tournaments, ceramics, crochet & quilting, card groups, ping pong
• Special Events: bowling, tennis & golf leagues, day and overnight trips, "Lunch Bunch" restaurant outings, volunteer opportunities, computer courses

Plano

• Location:  401 West 16th Street, (972) 941-7155
• Overview:  fitness room, billiards room, snack bar, Geriatric Wellness Center of Collin County, transportation services, on-site library
• Weekly Activities Include:  bingo, bridge, ballroom dances, off-site bowling & golf, dances, movie nights, support groups, $3 lunch provided by The Collin County Committee on Aging
• Special Events:  volunteer programs, various classes, day and overnight trips, AARP meetings, health clinics, birthday parties, breakfasts, craft shows

Garland

• Location:  600 W. Avenue A, (972) 205-2769
• Overview:  75-cent lunch program, transportation services, fitness center.  Most activities at both the main Senior Activity Center AND the Carver Center located at 222 Carver Street, (972) 205-3305
• Weekly Activities Include:  bridge groups, fitness classes, bingo, dance classes, billiard and poker tournaments, themed dance nights
• Special Events:  Wii bowling tournaments, day and overnight trips, "Grub Club" lunch outings, Poker Tournaments, birthday parties, shopping outings, theater outings, movie nights

Carrollton

• Location:  1720 Keller Springs Road, (972) 466-4850
• Overview:  meeting, exercise and fitness rooms, sits on a lake, hiking and biking trails, full-service kitchen, serves adults 50 years and older, $5 annual membership fee
• Weekly Activities Include:  dominoes, party bridge, ping pong, embroidery, ceramics, dances, billiards, hand and foot canasta, pinochle, watercolor classes, and fitness classes
• Special Events:  $4 monthly luncheons, movie nights, Travelin'N Texas group, "Lunch Bunch" restaurant outings, various classes and seminars, ice cream socials, volunteer activities

Farmers Branch

• Location:  14055 Dennis Lane, (972) 241-8636
• Overview:  22,400-square-foot facility, computer lab, workout facility, more than 70 programs geared toward meeting the physical, mental, social and emotional needs, serves ages 50 years and older
• Weekly Activities Include:  dances, health and fitness classes, chair and table massages, bridge, health and wellness checks, cooking and gardening groups, book exchange, poker tournaments, crafts
• Special Events:  day and overnight trips, various courses, volunteer opportunities, breakfasts, Wii bowling league, meet and greet returning soldiers at DFW airport, movie nights

Mesquite - 3 locations

• Evans - 1116 Hillcrest, (972) 285-6761
• Goodbar - 3000 Concord, (972) 279-6881
• Rutherford - 900 Rutherford, (972) 216-7791
• Overview:  serves ages 55 years and older, daily lunches, transportation services, fitness center, rotating benefits counseling sessions
• Weekly Activities Include:  exercise classes, bingo, bridge, dances, ceramics, Wii bowling, table games, various arts and crafts sessions
• Special Events:  various courses and seminars, pool parties, birthday lunches, day and overnight trips, game nights, shopping trips, potluck dinners

Lewisville

• Location:  1950-A South Valley Parkway, (972) 219-5050
• Overview:  transportation services, fitness room, billiards, daily for a voluntary daily donation of $1.50, health screenings, financial and health seminars
• Weekly Activities Include:  bingo, movie showings, arts & crafts, Spanish classes, manicure appointments, bridge, dominoes, pinochle, exercise classes, Wii bowling, horseshoes
• Special Events:  dances, volunteer opportunities, newcomer's breakfasts, reading and writing clubs, benefits counseling, poker tournaments, day and overnight trips, walking club, lunch group outings, computer classes

Allen

• Location:  451 E. St. Mary, (214) 509-4820
• Overview:  serves ages 50 and older, $5 annual membership, daily $3 meal services, fitness room, craft room, game room, transportation services
• Weekly Activities Include:  dancing, yoga, tai chi, ceramics, painting, scrap booking, cards, dominoes, chess club, karaoke, sing alongs, piano classes
• Special Events:  day and overnight trips, annual Ms. Senior Allen pageant, Geriatric Wellness Center nurse visits, volunteer opportunities, financial and medical workshops

Irving

• Location:  200 South Jefferson, (972) 721-2496
• Overview:  serves ages 50 and older, $10 annual membership, transportation services, continental breakfast, hot lunches daily for $1, gift shop, fitness center
• Weekly Activities Include:  dance lessons, Bunko, bingo, yoga, ceramics, foot massages, aerobics, Tai Chi, scrapbooking, Spanish classes, computer classes, support groups, wood carving classes, quilting and crochet classes, watercolor classes, acrylics
• Special Events:  annual Mrs. Mature Irving Pageant, Senior Idol talent contest, day and overnight trips, poker tournaments, book club, volunteer opportunities, benefits counseling, health and wellness clinics

To stay current, subscribe today.   You'll also get the Dallas In-Home Care Guide free!

Subscribe to HealthBridge and get this free 15 page ebook.

The Dallas In Home Care Guide gives you a solid overview of the different types of senior care and who pays for what.  

Click here to subscribe and get the ebook today.

Caregivers care about results. 

"Don't give the me the recipe, let me taste the pie," a client once told me.  

That's why, on this blog, we refrain from covering the back and forth volley of health care politics.  

But, from time to time, we'll dive into an issue that surprised us or has our clients all atwitter.

Earlier this week, President Obama released his Fiscal Year 2011 Budget to Congress.  In it is something called the Caregiver Initiative.  Since this piece of the budget isn't getting much press, we wanted to share it with you here. 

Here's what it includes:

• $50 million more for the National Family Caregiver Support Program, which through area agencies on aging, provides families support, information, counseling and respite help.
  
  
• $2.5 million more for Lifespan Respite Care program, which doubles its financing.  This program, which is available to caregivers of disabled family members no matter their age, provides for brief periods of home care or facility stays to allow the caregivers a break to recharge and regroup.    
  
  
• An additional $50 million for the Home and Community Based Services program, which uses area agencies on aging to provide adult day programs, home care and transportation services.  

Some senior care advocates love the measures.  As Elinor Ginzler or AARP says, "Approximately 65 million Americans provide care to a loved one, giving more than $375 billion worth of unpaid care each year—often at their own financial and emotional expense.  Increasing support to these invaluable individuals would be an important step to help those who do so much to help others."

Howard Gleckman, Senior Research Associate at the Urban Institute disagrees.  "President Barack Obama wants to increase funding for a government program intended to make it easier for family caregivers to get respite care. These hard-pressed families desperately need the helping hand. But the White House initiative is a symptom of all that is wrong with long-term-care policy in the U.S."

What do you think?

To stay current, subscribe today.   You'll also get the Dallas In-Home Care Guide free!

Subscribe to HealthBridge and get this free 15 page ebook.

The Dallas In Home Care Guide gives you a solid overview of the different types of senior care and who pays for what.  

Click here to subscribe and get the ebook today.

Were there sailboats in the East River?

Imagine walking across the Brooklyn Bridge the day it opened in 1883.

As you crossed the 5,989 feet of Gothic masonry and angular steel, you'd no doubt marvel at the achievement of the engineers and builders.  They had accomplished what many had said was impossible - to connect New York and Brooklyn by suspension bridge. 

All this at a time when traffic below this bridge was propelled by wind and traffic above it was propelled by horse.

But, this impressive team of engineers wasn't the same team that had started the project thirteen years earlier.  Tragedy and accident had left the Brooklyn Bridge without its visionary designer and its chief engineer.

Thankfully, the project was saved by a caregiver.

The bridge was commissioned to be built in 1870 by John Roebling and his son, Washington.  In the first three years of construction, John Roebling had died of a work site accident and Washington Roebling fell ill with decompression sickness which left him bed bound and unable to talk.

From the moment of his illness, Washington Roebling's wife Emily was by his side.  She took care of him daily and ensured that his needs were met.  Emily, an accomplished student, but not a professional engineer, also began to look after the progress of the bridge.

She quickly realized that her husband's legacy was going to be usurped by his rivals, if he was unable to complete the bridge.  Not willing to allow that to happen, Emily devised a plan.

She positioned her husband's bed in front of a window from which he could watch the construction of the bridge.  As Washington watched the progress, Emily became his surrogate Chief Engineer, interpreting his ideas, relaying instructions and making decisions.  For the final eleven years of the project, Emily was the public face of the Brooklyn Bridge.  She conducted interviews, met with politicians, and oversaw the team of workers to ensure the job was done properly.

Chief engineer by day, caregiver by night.

During the construction of the bridge, John Roebling's condition didn't improve and and Emily remained his caregiver the entire time.

Emily Roebling's contribution to the Brooklyn Bridge has been recognized with a plaque on the bridge itself.

As a caregiver, you know that may not have been her greatest nor her most challenging accomplishment.

Here at HealthBridge, we've been blessed to hear many wonderful senior care stories.   If you're caring for a loved one, we'd love to hear your story. 

If one of our certified nursing assistants can help your care for your loved one, we'd love to hear that too.  Just click here or give us a call.  

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The Dallas In Home Care Guide gives you a solid overview of the different types of senior care and who pays for what.  

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