Tag: retirement planning

Critical Perspectives on the Evolution of American and British Banking Financial System

Dr Folarin Akinbami Publishes Financial System Book

Dr Folarin Akinbami recently published book regarding the Complexity and Crisis in the Financial System: Critical Perspectives on the Evolution of American and British Banking Financial System 

This book offers a fresh perspective on these issues by bringing together a range of academics from law, history, economics and business to look in more depth at the changing relationships between crises and complexity in the US and UK financial markets.
The contributors are motivated by three main questions:
• Is the present financial system more complex than in the past and, if so, why?
• To what extent, and in what ways, does the worldwide financial crisis of 2007–2008 differ from past financial crises?
• How can governments, regulators and businesses better manage and deal with increased levels of complexity both in the present and in the future?

Taken together, the contributions in this volume not only challenge many often taken-for-granted ideas about the nature of financial crises, but also broaden our understanding of the long-term causes (and consequences) of the global financial crisis of 2007-2008.

Click Here to Order Book

palliative care

What is Palliative Care

Dr. Timothy Ihrig explains the benefits of palliative care that prioritize a patient’s personal values and navigates a severe illness from diagnosis to death with dignity and compassion.

 

Palliative Care is a new buzzword swirling around the health care industry recently.

The conversation often begins with a pre-hospice situation because you need a chronic condition to qualify. You may still be treating your condition but struggling, or you may have been hospitalized several times recently, or managing multiple health issues and medications.

In a nutshell, palliative care is symptom management. It is a somewhat fuzzy concept because the protocol for care varies among companies who offer it. The ultimate goal is always the same – providing you a higher level of personalized care.

Many of the hospice agencies have incorporated therapeutic programs into their menu of services because it affords you the opportunity to see the value rich hospice can bring to your family.

Waiting for the last two weeks or two days of someone’s life to bring in hospice services doesn’t serve you justly. Hospice can provide so many valuable options when brought in early enough that 24 percent of people graduate off hospice service.

Palliative care is typically at no cost to you and provides a nurse visit to your home once a month. The nurse will assess your current health and your overall well-being.

The goal is to confirm you are managing OK with the current treatment plan outlined by your doctor, including checking on your medications, your vitals, your mental health and general safety.

A social worker twill also assists with resource options. Many companies also provide 24/7/365 telephone access to a nurse.

The palliative team can work in collaboration with your doctors and help you navigate your course of care. They also offer easier access to quick assistance when there is a sudden change in health, and you are dealing with a difficult or emergent situation.

Help with getting medication adjustments (especially pain meds) in a quicker, easier and more efficient manner than calling the doctor for an appointment, is another significant benefit of these programs.

by Elaine Poker-Yount  Community Liaison

What’s So Trendy About Adult Day Care That Everyone’s Going Crazy Over It?

What is Adult Day Care? Adult day care offers mental, social, and physical activities for adults who’ve lost some independence due to cognitive impairments or chronic health conditions.

 

Benefits of Adult Day Care

The benefits of adult day care: provides meals, activities, and social interaction in a facility where older adults are monitored by trained staff.

 

Services Offered in Adult Day Care

Adult day services are the perfect fit for families who wish to keep their aging loved ones at home, but need help during the day while they work.

Who uses Adult Day Care? Adult day care is an important care option for family caregivers who give unpaid in-home care for elderly relatives, disabled adults, friends, or neighbors.

 

Adult Day Care Staff

Adult day care staff requirements are not as stringent as medical facilities no nurses or certified nurse aides unless they provide day health.

 

Paying for Adult Day Care

Adult Day Care Costs. The adult day care costs for each state are listed according the cost of adult day care in the state. The list of adult day care cost allows you to see how costs vary across the country.

 

Does Medicare Pay for Adult Care? Medicare partners with Medicaid to sponsor the Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly. It pays for adult day care.

 

Does Medicaid Pay for Adult Care? Adult day health centers deliver programs for health, therapy, social services and activities to people needing care. Medicaid Waivers help individuals pay for care.

 

Adult Day Services

Older adult daily living centers are also known as adult day services centers.  What is an older adult daily living center? Adult day services centers operate for part of a 24-hour day and offer an interactive, safe, supervised environment for older adults and adults with a dementia-related disease, Parkinson’s disease or other organic brain syndrome. Adult day services centers offer a community-based alternative to institutionalization and provide a reliable source of support and respite for caregivers. All adult day centers in Pennsylvania provide personal care, nursing services, social services, therapeutic activities, nutrition and therapeutic diets and emergency care. Some centers offer additional services such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, medical services, podiatry, etc. to meet the range of client needs.

 

How do caregivers choose an older adult daily living center for their loved one? The Department’s Caregiver’s Guide to Selecting an Adult Day Services Center brochure offers tips for selecting the appropriate adult day services center. In addition, the National Adult Day Services Association offers consumers and caregivers a site visit checklist. More information: Contact your local Area Agency on Aging to determine whether you or a loved one qualifies for services.

 

Bibliography
“Adult Day Care” . n.p., 1 Jan. 1970.Web. 15 Jan. 2016.
“Home & Community Care ” Adult Day Services. n.p., 1 Jan. 1970.Web. 15 Jan. 2016.

3 Surefire Steps for Beating the Assisted Living Blues

Assisted Living

Seniors today are not the seniors of yesteryear-most live full, active, and balanced lives. So deciding to move into assisted living, senior community, or another type of senior housing can be a confusing process for seniors and their families alike. The process of choosing assisted living communities can be daunting, but fortunately, there are resources that can help you.

 

We’ve compiled questions to ask and things to think about when considering assisted living communities. Choosing the right community requires serious consideration, so take your time when evaluating the services, features, and policies offered by those communities.

 

Atmosphere

  • As you arrive at the residence, do you like its location and outward appearance?

  • As you enter the lobby and tour the residence, is the decor attractive and homelike?

  • Do you receive a warm greeting from staff welcoming you to the residence?

  • Does the administrator/staff call residents by name and interact warmly with them as you tour the residence?

  • Do residents socialize with each other and appear happy and comfortable?

  • Are you able to talk with residents about how they like the residence and staff?

  • Do the residents seem to be appropriate housemates for you or your loved one?

  • Are staff members appropriately dressed, personable, and outgoing?

  • Do the staff members treat each other in a professional manner?

  • Are the staff members that you pass during your tour friendly to you?

  • Are visits with the resident welcome at any time?

Physical Features

  • Is the community well-designed for your needs?

  • Is the floor plan easy to follow?

  • Are doorways, hallways, and rooms accommodating to wheelchairs and walkers?

  • Are elevators available for those unable to use stairways?

  • Does a physician or nurse visit residents regularly to provide medical checkups?

  • To what extent are medical services available and how are these services provided?

  • Are handrails available to aid in walking?

  • Are cupboards and shelves easy to reach?

  • Are floors made of a non-skid material and carpets firm to ease walking?

  • Does the residence have good natural and artificial lighting?

  • Is the residence clean, free of odors, and appropriately heated/cooled?

  • Does the residence have sprinklers and clearly marked exits?

  • Does the residence have a means of security if a resident wanders?

Needs Assessments, Contracts, Costs & Finances

  • Is a contractual agreement available that discloses healthcare and supportive services, all fees, as well as admission and discharge provisions? What are the policies for refunds and transfers?

  • Is there a written plan for the care of each resident?

  • Does the residence have a process for assessing a potential resident’s need for services and are those needs addressed periodically?

  • Does this process include the resident, and his or her family and facility staff, along with the potential resident’s physician?

  • Are there any government, private, or corporate programs available to help cover the cost of services to the resident?

Services

  • Is staff available to meet scheduled and unscheduled needs?

  • Can the residence provide a list of services available?

  • Is staff available to provide 24-hour assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) if needed? ADLs include dressing, eating, mobility, hygiene and grooming, bathing, toileting, using the telephone, shopping, and laundry.

  • Does the residence provide housekeeping services in residents’ units?

  • Can residents arrange for transportation on fairly short notice?

  • Are pharmacy, barber/beautician, and/or physical therapy services offered on-site?

It’s important to be prepared when calling and touring assisted living centers. Each community is unique, if you’ve seen one assisted living facility; you’ve seen one assisted living facility. Review the checklist below to stay organized, compare communities and ask the right questions to help you decide on the community that’s right for your loved one.

 

Questions to Ask When you Call or Visit

  1. What is your staff-to-resident ratio?

  2. What kind of experience and training does your staff possess?

  3. How many staffers are on duty overnight?

  4. Can staff administer medications?

  5. Do you have a nurse on staff 24/7?

  6. Do you have any experience with (issues or diagnosis of your care recipient)?

  7. Do you do an initial assessment prior to admission?

  8. What types of apartments are available?

  9. What is the monthly cost per apartment type?

  10. If there is a wait list, how many are on it and what is the policy?

  11. Tell me about some of the current residents.

  12. Do you have any outdoor space?

  13. What is your discharge policy?

  14. What additional services are available if the needs of a resident change?

  15. What are your billing and payment policies?

  16. Are all services included in the monthly fee? If not, what and how much are additional services?

Home Care For The Elderly

How to find good home care for the elderly?

 

Needs

 

First consider the actual care needs and write out a list of items that need to be provided.

 

Be able to give an example of a typical day for the care recipient, from the moment they wake up until they go to bed and include a timeline of when they prefer meals, naps and other activities.

 

 

Hands-on

 

How much hands-on care is needed vs. companion care?

If more companion care is needed, make a list of possible activities.

 

 

Transportation

 

Do you need a Caregiver who can escort the client to doctor’s appointments and social activities?

 

If so, what mode of transportation will they use?

Will the Caregiver drive the client in the client’s car?

 

Keep in mind that you may need to research your car insurance coverage if this is the case.

 

Will the Caregiver drive the client in the Caregiver’s car?

If so, be

aware that it will be difficult to be 100% sure that the Caregiver’s insurance policy is up-to-date even if you verify this in the beginning.

 

If they have a late or missed payment the policy could be cancelled without your knowledge.

 

Will they take public transportation (bus or taxi cab)?

 

This is probably the safest method of transportation to prevent the risks of insurance issues.

 

(Some cities provide special transportation privileges for seniors and you may want to contact your local Department on Aging for information).

 

 

Memory Loss

 

Is there memory loss?

 

If so, have you had the type of Memory Loss diagnosed (Alzheimer’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease, Pick’s Disease, Frontal Lobe Dementia, Frontotemporal Dementia, Lewy Body Disease, Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus, Vascular Dementia, Parkinson’s Disease)?

 

Blood clots and brain tumors may also cause dementia.

 

A diagnosis of dementia type will help the agency to better understand the care needs and assign a Caregiver with the right type of training and qualifications.

 

 

Language

 

Do you need a Caregiver who speaks a certain language?

 

Hours

 

How many hours of care per day will you require?

 

Review the list of services you will need performed during the care visit and decide on the minimum number of hours per day which would work as a starting point.

 

The agency will need to know the hours of service to assign a Caregiver and will allow you to adjust the hours after the first week to accurately meet the care needs.

 

Dietary

 

Are there any special cooking requirements?

 

Communicate any food allergies or specific cooking requests and consider how groceries will be purchased or delivered if the care recipient is unable to shop for groceries on their own.

 

 

Additional Skills

 

Are there any “skilled” care requirements, such as taking blood pressure, blood sugar testing, wound care or a feeding tube?

 

Communicate if these specialized services will need to be performed or monitored.

 

 

Medication Management

 

What is the care recipients method for managing medications?

 

Do you know for sure if the medications are currently being taken correctly?

 

Be able to provide a list of medications and the method of monitoring so the Agency will be aware of possible side effects and other requirements such as taking pills with or without food, etc.

 

 

Care Management

 

Will Care Management be required?

 

As Caregivers are responsible for providing the “hands-on” care, they do not have time to manage the overall care issues.

 

A trained Care Manager can supervise all of the care needs, from organizing medications in a pillbox and obtaining refills (due to insurance purposes, this service usually must be provided by a Supervisor or R.N. depending on the state laws), to arranging doctor’s appointments and other necessary services.

 

A Geriatric Care Manager will work with family members and take on responsibilities which they are unable to perform and provide professional expertise in guiding the long-term care decisions.