While quantity and quality of senior living options and related technologies continue to evolve, the senior care industry faces at least three major challenges; The median caregiver turnover rate across the industry was 66.7% in 2017, the highest rate since 2013. About 10,000 Baby Boomers turn 65 each day. The number of people aged 65 and over is projected to …
While presenting a Keynote for the Nebraska Healthcare Association Annual meeting, I guided the audience through a ‘one minute, relaxation- meditation’. I asked the group to begin taking a few deep breaths, to close their eyes and allow themselves to be fully relaxed and simply be present. Taking long slow, conscious deep breaths, I then asked the participants to place …
After mom died, I moved my dad to Brookdale Assisted Living in San Marcos California, only a few minutes drive from my home. I was able to visit him frequently, joining him for an afternoon swim or for dinner. During this time I got to know and spend quality time with many of the residents, Dad’s new friends and neighbors. As I learned …
‘Being Mortal, Medicine and What Matters Most in the End’, by Dr. Atul Gawande is a must read for caregivers and families alike. Gawande begins with the assertion that ‘for a clinician, nothing is more threatening to who you think you are than a patient with a problem you cannot solve.’ He further shows us that for more than half a …
My Dad recently passed away one month shy of his 93rd birthday. Here’s one story that embodies his spirit and legacy, courage, perseverance and joy. ~~~ Dad could still muster the energy to walk to the end of the driveway and into the passenger seat of my convertible. Over the years I did my best to look out for him, to visit …
In my new memoir, Who Cares? The Give and Take of Family Caregiving, I detail many of the challenges and personal hardships I faced while caring for my siblings and elderly parents. I was often exhausted, stressed, even depressed, after what seemed like endless trips to the emergency room, doctor visits and hospital stays. Not to mention the negative impact …
I received no warning regarding the mental-emotional challenges of living in a world driven by technology. I never got this letter…and neither did you. January 1, 2000. Advisory and Health Warning for the use of Electronic Mail from the Department of Communications, Stress Management, and Sanity . “Attention, over the next several decades your primary method of communication will be electronic mail, aka …
Here’s a teaser from my new book due March 2015 “If healthcare is about well being, then why am I so stressed out?” “The physician will hardly be thought very careful of the health of his patients if he neglects his own.” Galen (130-200 AD) A few years back I was presenting a keynote for the North Carolina Health Information …
You’ve probably seen this ad on TV, the one with the guy driving down the highway, alone, top down, sun and wind in his face. Next scene you see the same guy standing on the side of the road, his car broken down, in the middle of who knows where! Is this guy stressed? NO! Does he look worried? NO! …
