Trump’s Mixed Messages About COVID Increasing Deaths and leaving No straight Path for AGING Families

August 3, 2020

Mixed Messaging Lethal in a Pandemic

The Chief of the world Health Organization had warned that mixed messages coming from national leaders give their people no clear path to follow to keep themselves safe from COVID. This is especially true of aging family members who are trying to protect the most vulnerable to coronavirus- older people.

In US Federal Government and US Scientist Point to two Different to Safety

In the US Federal officials, like the TRUMP administration offers one path to stay safe -while scientists like the CDC and Dr. Fauci offer another. It is like a signpost is a tsunami zone with two different directions to higher ground. State governors who have been left in charge of protecting American citizens, rather than the federal governments and all have different messages. Some states are closed down, while others do not allow masks in spite of the massive spread of the virus. People do not know what to do, as the Feds, the states, the counties, and cities all have different guidelines and laws about how to stay protected from the worst pandemic since 1918.

President Woodrow Wilson Pointed Wrong Direction is 1918 Pandemic

It is not new. President Wilson lied to the American public about the 1918 pandemic as he had declared war with Germany and wanted the US war machine to go full throttle. So soldiers in camps in the US died by the thousands and sailed to Europe spreading the 1918 plague, while Wilson never uttered a word about except to say it was like the common cold.

Science is being Maligned and Sidelined in COVID-19

What happens these when confusing messages are given by so many leaders who are not scientists but politicians with their own agenda? Scientists like Dr. Fauci are both maligned and sidelined. .The CDC once the most prestigious health agency in the world is muzzled by the Trump administration.

The result is 4,73M cases and 157K Deaths of COVID in the US

One terrifying result is COVID numbers soar in the US. As of Aug 1, we had 4.73 M cases and 157 K deaths. Younger people and even older residents are celebrating summer with no masks no social distancing as if there was no COVID.

Aging families, who want to keep their loved ones safe need aging professionals to offer clear paths to safety. Can you be that navigator to safety?

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Why is Rachel Maddow Telling Aging Professionals About Nursing Homes Death Instead of the Feds????

April 27, 2020

Nursing Homes Turning into Death Camps

I have been learning that nursing homes are turning into death camps from Rachel Maddow not the federal government or aging community. I watch her every night as she is someone who reports the news fairly, focuses on facts and science,not what politicians and the president says. She reports what politicians actually do to avoid what the Trump camp calls fake news. This enrages me as why aren’t I hearing this from the aging community?

I learned that 17 dead bodies piled up in an NJ Nursing Home a week ago . Three days ago it was reported by the Kaiser Family Foundation that Nationwide, among the states reporting data, states indicate that cases have occurred at more than 4,000 facilities, and nearly 51,000 cases and over 10,000 deaths have been reported by in-long-term-care-facilities/

No Fed Requirements To Report Covid-19 Deaths

According to the Kaiser Foundation until recently, there was no federal requirement for nursing homes to report coronavirus outbreaks and COVID-19 deaths. This lead to an information gap for families, residents, and policymakers. After gutting the Obama regulations to improve care in nursing homes in 2017, On April 19, 2020,( many days after Rachel Maddow and the NY Times were reporting the horror(,CMS released guidance that would require nursing homes to report cases of coronavirus directly to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).This move is totally hypocritical after Trump is the one who caused the horror by slashing regs that would have prevented deaths. This new data is not yet available, but there are a number of states that are already reporting data on long-term care facilities.

When I saw the carnage of nursing home deaths, yet SNF’s asking feds for immunity I was even further outraged.

We Need Inquiry Into Federal Response

I blogged about the root of this problem a week ago We need an inquiry but more than that we need a federal response, which there is none and national coverage which is just starting to occur after the most vulnerable on the planet were locked up in buildings where no one could visit, filled with the people with the highest risk, and staff going from facility to facility as they need three jobs to keep them afloat and spreading the virus then becoming ill themselves

TRUMP CUT BACKS IN NURSING HOME STAFFING INFECTION CONTROL

This lack of staffing and cut back in infection control federally mandated by the Trump government. Trump cut back regulation upgrades mandated by the Obama administration

The Obama administration effort, finalized in 2016, requiring all long-term care facilities to develop infection control and prevention plans to detect, report and contain communicable diseases.

It also covered telemedicine, so required publishing infection control rates weekly in Nursing homes that manage from 1.6 million to 3.8 million infections each year, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. A 2017 analysis by Kaiser Health News found that 74 percent of nursing homes have been cited for lapses in infection control — the most frequent type of health violation.

So, aging professionals, I am going to give you Rachel Maddow’s sage advice,

Sound the alarm- Aging Professionals

Read your local paper for nursing home problems in your area. Now they are only being reported cumulatively by the New York Times and major papers. Send letters to the editor. Write to your governor. Alert your Area Agency on Aging.

Call Your Local Nursing Homes

Call the nursing homes locally and ask what you can do. Besides setting off the alarm can you organize PPE by getting a local club or group of women who sew to help, Even kids have contributed like this child in Boston who sews masks.

Scream to the top of your lungs.

A holocaust is happening and the Trump administration is ignoring the carnage – Rage against the coming of the night for the older people we all love and have devoted our lives to helping.

15 Alarm Bell for Holiday Visit With Aging Parents

December 6, 2019

ALARM BELLS FOR AGING FAMILY HOLIDAY VISITS

It’s almost Christmas and Hanukka and time for the family visit with older relatives. If you suspect festive cheer with an aging family could devolve into some scary scenes, here are some red flags to put in a checklist and share with your midlife siblings before the holiday celebration.

Perhaps your older parents have piles of junk mail, dirty clothes, unwrapped gifts when Mom used to shine through her color-coordinated presents. All are cause for the sibling 911 alarm- then action.

You can use this list to assess your parents or older family members during the holidays and compare notes on a post-holiday conference call. If all midlife siblings have the same criteria, it makes easier to agree on what to do and what to flag as family New Year’s resolutions.

Below is a list of red flags. If you saw any of these problems on Thanksgiving or Hanukkah or face them on Christmas- now is the time to do something about it. Use this is a checklist.

Alarm Bells List for Visiting Aging Long Distance Relatives During the Holidays

Unpaid bills
Missed appointments
Clutter in a home that was once always neat .
Refusing to go to medical providers
Not taking care of activities of daily living: cooking, bathing, dressing, housekeeping, etc.
Entering contests, credit card maxed out on shopping channels
Recent fall

POST-HOLIDAY EMERGENCY PLAN

When midlife adult children return from the holidays, the family can have a family meeting alone or with an aging professional and look at the problems on everyone’s list, agree on the top red flags and start helping the long-distance family.

Don’t wait till you and your midlife siblings are shocked out of sleep by late-night calls from brothers and sisters, frantically telling them of a crisis with aging Mom or Dad. Don’t force yourself and the other adult children to book last minute, high-cost flights, and gather in scary, sterile hospital rooms with brothers and sisters they have not really communicated in years.

Call an aging life or geriatric care manager for help

Should Seniors be Able to Cruise-Even With Limiting Disabilities ?

September 25, 2019

Midwest ALCA Conference Gem

I just spoke at the ALCA Midwest Chapter Conference. I had never been in Indianapolis and only driven through Indiana when I was young and crisscrossed the coasts many times, barreling fast through that state. What I found there besides wonderful people from the midwest and ALCA, was an extraordinary nurse and rendering a service that I thought all care managers should know about.

I now specialize in quality of life and believe that every elder should have joy in their life and any age or level of disability. If they want to go on cruises they should be able to go. But cruise lines find elders who may be incontinent, have mobility problems and confusion -a difficult task for a shipboard crew and other passengers.

Elite Supported Travel Is Extraordinary

But I had dinner with this extraordinary RN who had the answer to elder cruise dilemma’s. Kathy Speer Shoaf specializes in organizing cruises for elders with medical or mental issues. Kathy runs Elite Supported Travel and organizes travel with cruise lines like Holland American, for elders who would have difficulties on any cruise

Kathy is a Travel Expert with 20+ years of clinical and management experience in Geriatric, Neurology, Rehabilitation and senior housing as an RN and ATP (Adaptive Technology Professional). She realized after years of counseling with families and clients that the QUEST to enjoy life “Should Never Have to Stop”. Her ability to overcome Fear and Anxiety about travel… Makes “Bucket-List Dreams come true. Her professional career has allowed her to be a public speaker, CEU educator, clinical consultant, and passionate travel advocate.

Should Seniors be Able to Cruise Even With a Limiting Diagnosis?

Kathy is uniquely qualified to understand travel challenges and create rational solutions. Her passion is to deliver “Travel opportunities so that everyone can ENJOY their Life”, even when accessibility challenges and clinical issues exist. All seniors and those afflicted with limiting diagnosis still deserve to be able to fulfill their dreams if it is a cruise.

The cruise industry has always attracted the older generation, who typically have more disposable income and time in their autumn years to spend on a lengthy and leisurely cruise, but have aging issues that are hard to meet on the high seas. Kathy Speer has the answer to that problem. So, care managers and senior agencies who work with elders who want to take a cruise should put Kathy in their continuum of care and contact her right away. She is also a delightful dinner companion.

Danger Sign on Summer Vacation with Siblings and Aging Parents

July 11, 2019

It’s almost Summer vacation time. Are you rattled ?Are alarm bells going off in your head about aging parent issues -yet you have a brother or sister that hardly speak. You may expect another meal with your Mom in mismatched clothes forgetting all her nouns . You may see that sibling on the coming holiday gathering then largely ignore him or her.

Nasty surprises in store

But you and your sibling may have some nasty parental surprises on the family vacation to prompt you to rethink sibling cut off.

Front view portrait of two angry friends ignoring each other at home in the night sitting on a couch in the living room at home

If you suspect your holiday visit to aging relatives could have some alarming scenes, here are some red flags to put in a checklist and share with your midlife siblings before the holiday call.

Perhaps your aghast that your older parents have piles of junk mail, dirty clothes, unwrapped gifts when Mom used to shine through her color-coordinated presents. All are cause for the sibling 911 alarm- then action.

You can use this list to assess your parents or older family members during the visit and compare notes on a post-holiday conference call. If all midlife siblings have the same criteria, it makes easier to agree what to do and what to flag as family post vacation resolutions. But- if you and siblings are at war- it makes that conference call much harder.

Below is a list of red flags.

If you saw any red signals on Memorial Day , or expect to face them on Labor Day- now is the time to do something about it. Use this is a checklist of some worrisome signs you may have seen.

Alarm Bells List for Visiting Long Distance Relatives During the Holiday visits

Unpaid bills

Missed appointments

Clutter in a home that was once always neat

Weight loss

Memory loss, change in short-term memory

Poor grooming by a person who was once meticulous

Getting lost

Wandering

Refusing to go with friends on outings or to religious services

refusing any suggestion or conversely agreeing to everything without consideration

Mood swings, getting angry when normally easy going

Refusing to go to medical providers

Not taking care of activities of daily living: cooking, bathing, dressing, housekeeping, etc.

Entering contests, credit card maxed out on shopping channels

Time for a Family Meeting

When the midlife adult children return from the summer vacation, the family can have a family meeting alone or with an aging professional and look at the problems on everyone’s the list, agree on the top red flags and start helping the long distance family.