quality of life in senior centers Archives ⋆ Cathy Cress

5 Ways Care Managers Can Bring Quality of Life to LGTBQ Elders

June 26, 2020

It is PRIDE MONTH but Many LGTBQ elders have a miserable Quality of Life.A recent report found that LGBT elders tend to have more medical problems, higher poverty levels social isolation than straight elders. Loneliness and isolation among LGTBQ elders bring” elevated rates of depression and mood disorders, anxiety disorders, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), alcohol use and abuse, and suicide ideation and attempts, as well as psychiatric co-morbidity.” Same-sex partners are not allowed many of the resources afforded to spouses and biological family members during the aging process. LGBT elders tend to lack support from many mainstream aging programs such as senior centers and places of worship or they are afraid of the stigma and discrimination that could result from joining those programs.

Mainstream retirement communities often deny LGBT elder couples the right to live in them so they often continue to live on their own, even if they need access to the services offered by those communities. These elders may fear discrimination and be ostracized by housing staff and often stay in the closet to obtain housing. Because large numbers of gay elders choose to live alone, they have fewer opportunities for social interaction than their heterosexual peers.

Geriatric Care Managers and Aging Life Professionals can use quality of Life Activities to bring back joy to LGTBQ seniors. Here are five resources.

Use Reminiscence Therapy

As a result, many LGBT elders live in the community and can really benefit from the quality of life activities that geriatric care managers can bring into the home through a personal assistance service and Reminiscence Therapy

Arrange dinner parties and Outings for Emotional QOL

One LGBT program in California created social connections by arranging dinner parties, shopping trips, and grocery shopping.

Finding activities that help elders grow and nurture their emotional, intellectual, physical, and/or spiritual quality of life can help to nurture an older person’s whole life and bring back joy. For example, look at this youtube on an older woman who reconnected with art, which is her talent and spirituality and younger people plus her family, through a quality of life assessment.

Create LGTBQ Quality of Life in Assisted Living

But what about the quality of life for LGBT aging clients. This recent article in the New York Times shows how one retirement community responding and found joy for LGBT clients, where many LGTB aging clients have to fight for acceptance.

Read Journal Of Aging Life Issue on LGTBQ ELders

If aging life or geriatric care manager want to find resources for LGBT aging clients or more about their issues, The Journal of Aging Life Care has an article with many resources to help you serve these vulnerable clients in finding Joy and acceptance.

The Journal Of Aging Life has a resources list for a research tool for aging LGBT clients In the article below By Jennifer Crittenden

Read Handbook of Geriatric Care Management QOL Resources

The Handbook of Geriatric Care Management 4^th edition has a seminal chapter written by geriatric care manager Nina Herndon with a quality of life assessment to help you pinpoint the quality of life needs of all clients including LGTBQ seniors they serve Joy in addition to care ‘

With COVID-19 Share Nina Herndon’s VIRTUAL Activities Program with Your Clients

To respond to COVID-19 and the shelter in place orders for all seniors, who are the most vulnerable including LGTBQ seniors who may have already had HIV has developed a Sage Hummingbird Virtual program you can use remotely.

Nina also has developed the first activity kit for the quality of life, Joyful Moments , that you can use to train care managers on inventive activities to use in your own GCM or homecare program.

Find out more to help not only seniors with COVID but the most discriminated seniors besides seniors of color –-LGTBQ during PRIDE MONTH .

California Cuts Pushing Frail Elders into the Cesspools of COViD-19

May 22, 2020

Here in California, the frailest, poorest and oldest in the state are being potentially knifed in the back by slashing budget cuts to the very services that keep them out of nursing homes.

The Multipurpose Senior Services Program , one of the first geriatric care management programs in the nation, designed to keep fail elders out of nursing homes, is set to axed from the California State budget.

The Governor has also proposed elimination of $2.9 million of state funding and $3.9 million in federal matching funds for the 11 statewide Caregiver Resource Centers,

providing critical respite care and counseling to caregivers of adults with chronic and disabling health conditions.

Both programs were designed 4 decades ago to keep elders at home and out of more expensive nursing homes and staunch family caregiver burnout. They offer huge safety nets, designed to keep frail seniors in the community.

MSSP is of a daycare program providing rich social and health services to frail elders and their families. The Care Resources Program caregiver respite and support to overwhelmed family caregivers.

These programs save the state a bundle of money. Each of the MSSP clients is disabled enough to be eligible for nursing homes and poor enough to be eligible for MediCal. So instead of the state paying $80,000 or $90,000 per person per year in a nursing home, the State pays only on average a little over $5,000 for the person to be in MSSP.This makes the cuts both fiscally stupid and mystifying.

What California government is doing is ripping giant holes in this web plummeting 45,000 seniors into the cesspool of COVID-19 skilled nursing facilities, where almost half of California COVID-19 deaths occured.

Without the services and supports available through MSSP, and the Caregiver Resource Center, many older Californians will have no other choice but to be admitted to nursing homes, where nearly half of all deaths related to COVID-19 have occurred.

But the doors may be barred. Given the high risk of COVID-19 in nursing homes, owners are reluctant to take new patients. So, the elimination of the Caregiver Resources Center and MSSP is really a death sentence to frail elders. It leaves no fire extinguisher for caregiver burnout of the family caregivers who care for elders with the toughest disease: brain impairment- Alzheimer’s, stroke, dementia, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s other conditions that may cause memory loss or confusion.

This may cause a cascade effect- placement of these horribly demented elders, into the plague-infested nursing home or also to death’s door

Governor Newsome has been a national hero as the first governor to issue a stay at home order to close counties down in California. He slowed the spread of coronavirus and kept California in a safe zone compared to most other states. But this was at the cost of taxpayer dollars as 4.7 Californians were put out of work.

He finds himself in a double bind now with a chasm of a budget hole, that he is trying up to fill with cuts like the ones proposed to the senior program. But the cuts will lead seniors to nursing homes costing $80,000 a year instead of the $5000 for MSSP into those caldrons of coronavirus

California is always the canary in the coal mine- the innovator that most states follow. So, these cuts can be expected across the nationwide. Who is the real villain in these cuts, the Trump Presidency. 875 billion was approved in the House of representatives in the HEROES Act. Cutting both programs saves $119 million. But these cuts would be eliminated if Congress OKs this aid for state and local governments — a prospect many state lawmakers believe is unlikely as President Trump is threatening to veto the money to the states . This has spurred a cacophony of outrage from local legislators and senior advocates. angered state lawmakers from both

major political parties who say it’s irresponsible in light of the coronavirus pandemic that has spread through nursing homes across the state. It’s one of many conflicts emerging this week as lawmakers hold public hearings examining Newsom’s proposal before they must vote on a spending plan by June 15.

Want to help save these programs

PUBLIC COMMENTS – WRITTEN: Submit written public comments by email to: sbud.committee@sen.ca.gov

The 2 Deadliest US Sites of COVID-19 Nursing Homes & Prisons

May 2, 2020

PRISON INMATES AND NURSING HOME PATIENTS NOT 6FT APART – 6 FEET UNDER

70% of inmates in federal prisons have COVID-19. In Kansas, the Lansing Correctional Facility had a riot of inmates over COVID-19 lack of care or protection It took the rebellion to get the coronavirus testing PPE and care. The Bureau of Prisons in Kansas confirmed finally that 79 staff have coronavirus and 88 prisons and prisoners dead.

Older residents in nursing homes cannot rebel like prisoners. Many can’t even walk. The Atlantic Magazine just published an article, We are Killing Elders Now. The writer states “In at least six states, these fatalities account for half of all COVID-19 deaths, and according to the World Health Organization, half of all coronavirus fatalities in Europe have been traced to nursing homes too. Some of this mortality is linked to long-term-care facilities that are shoddily run or that violate health standards. But most of them are doing the best they can with what they have. And they don’t have much”.

KAISER FOUNDATION NURSING HOME STAFFING AND USE OF PPE NOT REQUIRED IN MOST STATES

Kaiser reports -Staff Screening. It is more common for states to recommend rather than require daily screening of staff for illness in NFs (24 states recommend, 16 states + DC require)

Use of PPE. More states recommend (23 states) than require (7 states + DC) staff to use PPE

Two States that require testing for coronavirus of ALL residents of nursing homes are Maryland where 556 have died as of the Washington Post article. and Tennessee

THE FEDS HAVE NO CMS FEDERAL GUIDELINES OR REPORTING

We have no federal guidelines for safety testing according to an article by the Kaiser Foundation

It is now estimated that 16,000 deaths have occurred in nursing homes and that is without the federal government revealing any numbers and not making available any testing. But the numbers are probably huge- if we could just do testing.

CMS announced it would have a meeting of a “panel” of experts “ sometime at the end of May”. After probably 20,000 older people died and the feds did nothing this shows their sense of urgency about this pandemic’s national “elder cleansing”.

WHAT CONNECTS PRISONS AND NURSING HOMES – CONCENTRATION CAMPS

So, what is the connection between the viral spread of COVID-19 in nursing homes and prisons- 6 feet ? Prisoners and residents, in nursing homes, and prisons cannot social distance. Jails and prisons have human beings crammed together with no choice. Nursing homes have 2 beds or if you are on Medicaid three to a room. Neither group has a choice to social distance. They are ” concentrated” as in concentration camps or death camps.

Do SOMETHING – HELP NURSING HOMES PREVENT MORE CARNAGE

So, as someone who has spent her career in aging, I am calling out to everyone, especially professional in aging – do something. Since the feds appear to be doing little- call your congressman, write a letter to the editor.

BE KIND LIKE RACHEL MADDOW REPORTS LA JEWISH HOME LA WAS

Rachel Maddow suggests calling your local nursing homes and see what they need. Be kind like the LA Jewish Home was to a smaller nursing home LA Brier Oaks. They wanted to test their residents and had no tests and the larger LA Jewish Home had tests and shared them with the smaller as a good neighbor. What they found was ravaging but it also showed caring and generosity. Care and be generous and show the helpless elders in nursing homes in your town you are opposed to -nursing home being prisons or concentration camps.

5 IDEAS FOR QUALITY OF LIFE ACTIVITIES OVER THE HOLIDAY TO HELP LONELY SENIORS

December 16, 2019

Loneliness in seniors is at an epidemic level in the US.

We live in an age where we can communicate with family across the country and around the globe with a few clicks of a mouse or taps on a smartphone screen. However, despite advances in communications technology and the increasing connectedness it brings, seniors are not always connected to their community and end up isolated and lonely.

Shrinking Social Circles Key

One of the biggest issues for seniors is that their social circles begin to shrink as we get older. Friends, significant others, and family members move or pass away. Even those who still live close by may be inaccessible due to limited mobility, triggered many times once a senior can no longer drive safely. Age-related changes in one’s physical condition, such as hearing loss and low vision, can make it so difficult to communicate that it doesn’t seem worth the effort anymore- the result loneliness and isolation. According to an AARP study, 19% of older adults in the United States suffer from loneliness; 8% of older adults often feel lonely, and 11% feel lonely at least some of the time.

In the UK, only 17% of older people are in contact with family, friends, and neighbors less than once a week, and 11% in

contact less than once a month.

Holidays are Miserable for The Lonely

The worst times are the holiday where Joy to the world sings to the tragic ears of elders who find themselves alone only surrounded by memories. How can we reach out to spread joy

Increase Quality Of Life Through a GCM Program

Lifespan, a 35-year-old care management program in Santa Cruz, California, has begun a quality of life program called “Well Being”. to address loneliness and isolation. Their service is designed to bring joy back to elderly clients, many of whom are isolated or living alone.

Based on the brilliant work of GCM Nina Herdon’s research and own quality of Life program, the Hummingbird Program, Lifespan serves lonely elders at any stage of their lives- from mentally clear to levels of dementia. Lifespan employs personal assistants trained in quality of life activities, to engage elders in intellectual, physical, emotional and spiritual quality of life activities after the care manager does a quality of life assessment and creates a quality of life action plan outlining what activities would bring back joy and activities they love and can do again with the personal assistant help.

5. IDEAS FOR QUALITY OF LIFE ACTIVITIES OVER THE HOLIDAY TO HELP LONLEY SENIORS

Holiday reminiscence: Capture family tales during holidays like Christmas, Hanukkah. Use empathetic listening if you can. Make all the messages you are giving the older person—tone, how fast you speak, how they are sitting—say that you want to listen to the client.
Ask questions that prompt the story, but don’t make judgments. If they are going to record the memory, do it in a way that doesn’t distract or stop the client from talking. Record on Quick Voice Recorder on your phone. for their family Start somewhere in the story. If the elder isn’t going to tell stories on his or her own, start the story and see if they will follow along. “You wore a yarmulke to the synagogue on the Chanukah and you would go with your mom and Dad?”

“Did your Mom do Christmas Hannakka baking on the holiday?” ” What was your favorite holiday treat”

3. If in a facility the quality of life assistant can ask if the older person likes to celebrate the holiday. IF so ask the facility if you can bring some decorations or ritual holiday symbols like a small Christmas tree, holiday food or a menorah or accompany the older person to a holiday dinner for community members.

4. On the traditional holidays celebrated by a client who observes a religion, such as Judaism, Christianity, or Islam, make sure that the decorations of that holiday are in their home, assisted living room, etc. Ritual music is played, a ritual meal is prepared, and ritual prayers are said.

5. Smell different scents like pine of a Christmas tree smell of gingerbread or cocoa. Our sense of smell is embedded in our brain next to memory. So some activities that might work with elders with dementia are making holiday scent cards, bringing scent, bringing holiday scents and tastes of ritual foods having them help prepare food.

10 Arts Based Quality of Life Activities for Unhappy Seniors In Assisted Living

June 17, 2019

If you want to expand your ALCA or Geriatric Care Management service into Quality of Life or market it to Assisted Living here are 10 activities that you could use with older adults with arts and creativity

Research in the arts, creativity, aging and community-based programs has shown that arts-based cultural programs can increase the quality of Life for older adults. Elders who are depressed, isolated withdrawn or just plain bored can benefit from arts-based programs if it is at their present level of disability. Furthermore, studies have shown that not only do older adults who participate in arts-based programs have a better Quality Of Life; they also maintain independence more easily.

Examples of activities in arts to engage older in if they would like to do that, in spite of a disability

Creative- examples

Art

examples

A client who used textile arts, knitting weaving or sewing and has macular degenerations or limited vision – can enroll in a blind center or senior program with a loom and weave on a loom and asked the colors they want to use.
An artist with arthritis caused by age, worked with an art therapist on staff to switch paints that were
easier to use, adapted paint brushes by slipping foam hair curlers over the handles or build up the grip with sports tape and got her involved in an artist group of older artists to paint with

Music

Examples

The client who loves opera enrolled in local opera meet up group; get tickets to Met Opera series at a local theater, with an assistive listening device, and opera put in iPhone and get a headset so she could listen to favorite opera on her own
– Identify what music they like and arrange to take them to local concerts, arrange to watch and listen on television or TV, or join a choir if they used to do that and arrange transportation
Introduce elder to local community college or local college or theater company musicals and get tickets plus arrange transportation
If a client has dementia find out the music that was popular when they were young, get headphones and play on an I Phone for them.

Dance-

examples

Find a dance with dementia program in your community and get the client involved
Locate senior dances at a senior center in your area and see if your client would be interested
Find dance concerts on television on PBS, YouTube or see if your client can subscribe to the dance
channels
Arrange to take them to local dance events, like ballet, modern, or musical films with dancing

Use Offering Quality of Life Activities to sell ALCA or Care Management to Sell Your Care Management to Assisted Living When Residents are Depressed, Isolated or Want to Move out.

FREE WEBINAR- 10 Steps to Success in Selling Care Management to Assisted Living

10 Steps to Success in Selling Care Management to Assisted Living

THIS WEBINAR BEGINS: Monday, June 24, 2019, 2 PM PST Ends 3:15 PM PST

DURING THIS FREE WEBINAR YOU WILL LEARN

How to Make a Winning First Impression at Assisted Living Sales Meeting- Preparing Presentation

What Referral Triggers to Use When Selling Geriatric Care Management to Assisted Living

What Feature to use When Selling Geriatric Care Management to Assisted Living

What Benefits to use When Selling Geriatric Care Management to Assisted Living

How to Close the Sale of Geriatric Care Management to Assisted Living

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California Cuts Pushing Frail Elders into the Cesspools of COViD-19

10 Arts Based Quality of Life Activities for Unhappy Seniors In Assisted Living

Art

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Dance-

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