Health and Aging

Caregiving

Tip sheets for Alzheimer’s caregivers now available as e-books

Caring for a person with Alzheimer’s disease can be a tough job with many demands and challenges. To help, the Alzheimer’s Disease Education and Referral (ADEAR) Center offers more than 25 tip sheets—many now available for mobile devices in .epub and .mobi (Kindle) formats.

The popular tip sheets offer brief, easy-to-understand information on a range of issues, from bathing and driving to disaster preparedness and personality changes. They can help caregivers of people at any stage of the disease—mild, moderate, or severe.

NIH-supported study finds U.S. dementia care costs as high as $215 billion in 2010

The costs of caring for people with dementia in the United States in 2010 were between $159 billion to $215 billion, and those costs could rise dramatically with the increase in the numbers of older people in coming decades, according to estimates by researchers at RAND Corp. and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. The researchers found these costs of care comparable to, if not greater than, those for heart disease and cancer.

ElderBranch

ElderBranch helps find and evaluate senior care providers throughout the country by analyzing data based on Medicare's evaluation process and Medicare health inspections.

Web Site: 
http://www.elderbranch.com/

Care.com

Care.com provides a way for families and care providers to connect, share caregiving experiences, and get advice. The company addresses various care needs that each family may go through — including child care, special needs care, tutoring, senior care, pet care, housekeeping and more. A fee-based subscription service enables families to find and select the care based on detailed profiles, background checks, and references for providers who are seeking to share their services.

Web Site: 
http://www.care.com

NIH partners with new public TV project

The National Institutes of Health is a partner in the new Next Avenue, a national public media project launched May 14, 2012, by PBS, focused on the growing 50+ population. NIH is collaborating with Next Avenue to share health information with this older audience, and the National Institute on Aging (NIA) is coordinating NIH’s participation in this effort.

How can I find information about local support groups for people with Alzheimer’s disease and their caregivers?

The Alzheimer’s Disease Education and Referral (ADEAR) Center offers free resources for people with Alzheimer’s disease and caregivers, as well as referrals to helpful organizations.
1-800-438-4380 (toll-free)
www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers

You can also contact the following organizations for more information:

El abuso de las personas mayores

Gerardo, de 73 años de edad, sufrió un ataque (derrame) cerebral. Como no podía cuidarse a sí mismo, se pasó a vivir con la familia de su hijo. Su hijo trató de ayudar, pero era Frida, su nuera, la que usualmente cocinaba comidas especiales y le ayudaba a bañarse y a vestirse. Frida ya estaba suficientemente ocupada atendiendo a dos muchachos adolescentes y trabajando como maestra de tercer grado. Al principio, todos estaban contentos de que Gerardo estuviera viviendo con la familia.

Spanish

VA expands caregiver support program developed by NIA-funded researchers

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is expanding support nationally to caregivers of veterans with Alzheimer’s disease with a program developed by NIA-funded researchers. The REACH VA (Resources for Enhancing Alzheimer’s Caregiver Health in VA) program is the first national clinical implementation of a proven behavioral intervention for caregiver burden and stress. Results of the original REACH program were published in 2006.

Abuse associated with increased risk of death for older people

Mistreatment and neglect of older people are associated with a significant increase in their chances of dying, according to a groundbreaking study by researchers at Cornell University and colleagues at Yale University. The study, which traced the survival of a group of older adults, found that only 9 percent of those with a reported incident of mistreatment and 17 percent of those suffering from self-neglect survived during a 13-year follow-up period.

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