There are a number of issues that must be considered in geriatric pain assessment. The major issues that merit attention are presence of comorbidities, mental status, depression in late life, limitations in ADLs, medications, and the importance of family and other support systems (see Depression; Social Networks, Support, and Integration). (more…)

First and foremost, many of the services supported by the Aging Network would not exist without network funding and advocacy. Without network services, an essential tier of the continuum of long-term care would be lost—the one that bridges total independence in one’s own home and institutionalization. (more…)

Because it expresses my own orientation, I carry in my wallet a membership card to the Society for the Right to Die, which has imprinted on the back a signed statement of my living will.

When the aging process accelerates inexorably, you usually don’t just fail to wake up one morning because of old age. One of the many illnesses that afflict the elderly with increasing frequency will likely be the cause of death and dying. Here is where I feel a living will is important. (more…)

Australia’s health policy is funded and delivered by several levels of government and is supported by private health insurance arrangements. In place are systems for the delivery of health, income support, and housing and community services to support aging people. Medicare, the national health insurance scheme, is funded and administered by the Australian (commonwealth) government and provides coverage for a range of primary care services, including visits to medical practitioners. (more…)

Adults have two principal jobs in life - earning a living and raising a family — and much of life’s satisfaction comes from doing these jobs as well as possible. The man’s work makes him feel useful and other people respect him if he does a good job. In the same manner, raising a family and making a home are the woman’s way of being useful. (more…)

Being in good health is hard enough to come by at any age, but it becomes more difficult to maintain during the later years when people have fewer physical reserves upon which to call and the body takes longer to recuperate from an illness. Modern medical science can do much, however, to improve many poor health situations (more…)

Since the 1960s a number of critiques have been developed about the misrepresentations inherent in the images which portray minority groups. Critiques have been increasingly made of what are seen as demeaning images of women, gays, the living elderly index, ethnic groups and regional minorities. Here the assumption is that such groups suffer from the imposition of negative stereotypes: images which do not accurately represent their everyday realities and aspirations. (more…)

‘‘What is death?’’ is a classic question that has been much pondered by philosophers and theologians through the centuries. Today, the question has become, ‘‘When is this person dead?’’ Traditionally, this determination was made by observing the lack of respiration, pulse, and response to stimulation as well as by lowered body temperature (hypothermia). (more…)

Medical care for the elderly takes center stage making mental health care take a back seat, especially in nursing homes. A great deal of time is spent assessing vital bodily functions in order to ensure nursing home residents are as comfortable as possible. Because this is so time consuming, mental health care is easily overlooked even though it can add so much to quality of life. (more…)

The sleeping pills quadrupled the risk of suicide in the elderly, according to a study by the University of Gothenburg (Sweden), which is published in the journal ‘BioMed Central Geriatrics. The researchers show that even after taking into account the presence of psychiatric disorders, sedatives and hypnotics are associated with an increased risk of suicide (more…)