Empowering Frail Elderly People

Empowering Frail Elderly People
Author: Duncan P. Boldy
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Total Pages: 297
Release: 2000-11-30
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0313002568

This book provides a unique analysis of provider-, environment-, client-, and societal-based obstacles to the empowerment of frail elderly persons in a philosophical framework of social values, as well as an applied framework wherein a variety of international case studies by a distinguished board of contributors provide concrete examples of the feasibility of achieving real empowerment. Empowerment means different things to different people in the context of housing, health, and social service delivery. This book analyzes the various definitions of the concept and practice of the empowerment of frail older persons and then discusses the definitions in a philosophical framework of social values regarding aging and the older person. Each chapter demonstrates the feasibility of achieving increased empowerment of older persons, even those with severe physical or mental disability. True empowerment of older persons in every country requires time, energy, money, and commitment to the goal. This book will be of interest to academic as well as professional audiences in areas of Gerontology, Psychology, Sociology, and Family Studies. Caregivers and policymakers will also find this analysis useful.

Housing Design for an Increasingly Older Population

Housing Design for an Increasingly Older Population
Author: Victor Regnier
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 336
Release: 2018-09-12
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 1119180031

“Longer lifespans and the needs of the oldest old are challenging the senior living industry to find bold and compassionate solutions to combine programs and services with housing. Victor Regnier's latest research provides a thoughtful and insightful roadmap that arrays new ways of thinking from small-scale settings to community based options. International case studies offer possible solutions with the best thinking from around the globe...all with Vic's unique perspective of extracting themes and concepts that are broadly applicable and essential to addressing the needs of those that live on life's fragile edge.” —David Hoglund, FAIA “Supporting the independence of the oldest-old is a tough problem Victor Regnier addresses in his latest book on aging and housing. Like previous work, Victor relies on the best practices of northern Europeans to outline a three-prong approach. First, providing extremely comprehensive home care services in an "apartment for life" setting. Second, reforming the conventional nursing home by exploring small group style accommodations. Third, combining new technology with community based services to age in place. Case studies document the experiences of others in making these programs work here and abroad. The magnitude of the 90+ and 100+ population increases in the next 50 years make it clear how important it is to address this concern today.” —Edward Steinfeld Darch “The movement of health care from the institution to the home is a theme that Regnier identifies as one of the most important lessons in rethinking the issue of how to support the ever growing and increasingly aged older population here and abroad. He examines simple but profound approaches we can take in making long-term care a more humane proposition. Familiar themes like humanizing technology and optimizing the impact of the natural environment are brought together with clear policy thinking about what we need to do. The timing is good because the impact of this growing segment of society will have major repercussions on health care for the next 50-70 years.” —Stephan Verderber, Ph.D. A comprehensive guide to designing housing for the world’s aging population The dilemma of helping older people maintain their independence through better housing with services is growing. This book presents innovative solutions for those who create and provide housing for the world’s increasingly longer-living population. By focusing on three specific housing and service arrangements, it offers alternatives that provide greater freedom of choice than the current living arrangements that exist today. It presents selected examples of housing and service solutions from the US, Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands to stimulate thinking about the possibilities of community-based service models. Housing Design for an Increasingly Older Population looks at a trio of options for housing the “oldest-old:” the Dutch Apartment/Condo for Life Model (AFL); decentralized Small/Green Houses; and the provision of enhanced personal and health care for people who want to stay in their own home. It offers unique and eye-opening chapters covering: what older people want; what age changes affect independence; demographics and living arrangements; how long-term care is defined; concepts and objectives for housing the frail; care giving and management practices that avoid an institutional lifestyle; innovative case studies; programs that encourage staying at home with service assistance; therapeutic use of outdoor spaces; how technology will help people stay independent; and more. Based on the author’s numerous conversations with other experts, as well as his examinations of high quality settings from Northern Europe and the US Building case study examples showcase innovative and compassionate solutions In-depth coverage of three major systems that work Examines successful programs such as PACE, Friendly Cities, NORC, and the “Village to Village Network” to demonstrate the progress made in helping older, frail people stay in their own homes for as long as possible Housing Design for an Increasingly Older Population: Redefining Assisted Living for the Mentally and Physically Frail is an important book for those who create, design, and manage assisted living and skilled nursing facilities, as well as for those who set policies regarding health, and personal care for our world’s aging society.

Elder Mistreatment

Elder Mistreatment
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 569
Release: 2003-02-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309084342

Since the late 1970s when Congressman Claude Pepper held widely publicized hearings on the mistreatment of the elderly, policy makers and practitioners have sought ways to protect older Americans from physical, psychological, and financial abuse. Yet, during the last 20 years fewer than 50 articles have addressed the shameful problem that abusersâ€"and sometimes the abused themselvesâ€"want to conceal. Elder Mistreatment in an Aging America takes a giant step toward broadening our understanding of the mistreatment of the elderly and recommends specific research and funding strategies that can be used to deepen it. The book includes a discussion of the conceptual, methodological, and logistical issues needed to create a solid research base as well as the ethical concerns that must be considered when working with older subjects. It also looks at problems in determination of a report's reliability and the role of physicians, EMTs, and others who are among the first to recognize situations of mistreatment. Elder Mistreatment in an Aging America will be of interest to anyone concerned about the elderly and ways to intervene when abuse is suspected, including family members, caregivers, and advocates for the elderly. It will also be of interest to researchers, research sponsors, and policy makers who need to know how to advance our knowledge of this problem.

Design for Assisted Living

Design for Assisted Living
Author: Victor Regnier
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 362
Release: 2003-02-28
Genre: Architecture
ISBN: 0471266477

Destined to become the defining work on the subject, this timely reference addresses the single fastest growing segment of the senior living industry -- assisted living for those who are unable to live independently but who do not need intensive nursing home care, meals, housekeeping, or twenty-four hour access to medical assistance. Victor Regnier?s visually rich guide includes dozens of design solutions from successful assisted living facilities along with fifteen case studies from the U.S. and Europe. The book also covers recent developments in the industry including major changes in financing, growth of dementia, and interest in aging-in-place. All in all, this is the most comprehensive guide to assisted living design that you'll find in any single volume.

Housing Frail Elders

Housing Frail Elders
Author: Jon Pynoos
Publisher:
Total Pages: 312
Release: 1995
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN:

As the number of people over age 75--and especially over age 85--increases dramatically in the United States and other industrialized nations, there is a growing need to create and adapt housing for this group of older, more frail citizens. Offering the first systematic comparative analysis of the subject, Housing Frail Elders draws on the experiences of several countries to highlight effective approaches and propose directions for the future. Chapters present information on housing in several countries. Each is based on the same general outline of topics: demographics, current housing arrangements, approaches to housing policy since World War II, the relative effectiveness of policies, and future directions. Throughout, the contributors emphasize the transferability of experience with programs and policies.

Improving the Quality of Long-Term Care

Improving the Quality of Long-Term Care
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 344
Release: 2001-02-27
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309132746

Among the issues confronting America is long-term care for frail, older persons and others with chronic conditions and functional limitations that limit their ability to care for themselves. Improving the Quality of Long-Term Care takes a comprehensive look at the quality of care and quality of life in long-term care, including nursing homes, home health agencies, residential care facilities, family members and a variety of others. This book describes the current state of long-term care, identifying problem areas and offering recommendations for federal and state policymakers. Who uses long-term care? How have the characteristics of this population changed over time? What paths do people follow in long term care? The committee provides the latest information on these and other key questions. This book explores strengths and limitations of available data and research literature especially for settings other than nursing homes, on methods to measure, oversee, and improve the quality of long-term care. The committee makes recommendations on setting and enforcing standards of care, strengthening the caregiving workforce, reimbursement issues, and expanding the knowledge base to guide organizational and individual caregivers in improving the quality of care.

Assisted Living

Assisted Living
Author: Sheryl Zimmerman
Publisher: JHU Press
Total Pages: 365
Release: 2001-11-30
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0801877210

With the number of elderly persons needing long-term care expected to double to 14 million over the next two decades, assisted living has become the popular choice for housing or care. Assisted living represents a promising model of long-term care that blurs the sharp distinction between nursing homes and community-based care and reduces the gap between receiving long-term care in one's own home and in an "institution." Assisted Living: Needs, Practices, and Policies in Residential Care for the Elderly examines the evolving field of residential care and focuses on national issues of regulation, reimbursement, and staffing. The book is based on a four-state study of assisted living facilities and describes the facilities, the persons residing in them and their needs, and how the services vary by facility. Because one-third to two-thirds of residents in assisted living facilities have cognitive impairment, special attention is devoted to dementia care. The book also focuses on how today's long-term health care environment evolved, and it examines the future direction and implications of assisted living. Assisted Living: Needs, Practices, and Policies in Residential Care for the Elderly brings together a group of nationally recognized experts to help define the types of residential care that should be encouraged and sets guidelines for selecting an appropriate type of facility.

MediCaring Communities

MediCaring Communities
Author: Joanne Lynn
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Total Pages: 194
Release: 2016-06-16
Genre:
ISBN: 9781481266918

Americans want a long life and most of us will get to live into our 80's and beyond, but we have not squarely faced the challenges of living well in the last years of long lives. This book lays out a thoroughly pragmatic way to organize service delivery and financing so that Americans could count on living comfortably and meaningfully through the period of disability and illness that most will experience in the last years of life - all at a cost that families and taxpayers can sustain. MediCaring Communities offers to customize care around the priorities of elders and their families and to manage the local care system so it is reliable and efficient.Three out of four of us will need long-term care. The period of needing someone's help every day now lasts more than two years, on average. Most of us will not have saved enough to get through this part of life without financial help from family or government - indeed, we'll spend almost half of our total lifetime healthcare expenditures in this last part of life, mostly on personal care that is not covered by Medicare. We have not yet required housing to be modified for living with disabilities or secured a ready supply of home-delivered food, and we certainly have not required medical care to focus on the patient and family priorities in order to enable the last years to be meaningful and comfortable. Family caregiving will be a crisis as families become smaller, more dispersed, older, and facing inadequate retirement income for the younger generation. MediCaring Communities improve care by building care plans around the health needs and living situation of the elderly person and family, and especially from respecting their choices about priorities. The improvements in service delivery arise from integrating supportive services at home with customized medical care and installing local monitoring and management. The improvements in finance arise from harvesting savings from the current overuse of medical tests and treatments in this part of life. These come together in MediCaring Communities.Strong evidence supports each component, but the real strength is in the combination, where savings support critical community-based services, communities build the necessary environment, and elders and their families craft their course with the help of interdisciplinary teams. This book lays it out, using expansion of PACE (The Program of All-Inclusive Care of the Elderly) as the test case. The book provides a strong and complete guide to serious reform, and just in time for the aging of the Boomers which will escalate the needs dramatically during the 2030's. Now is the time to act.Advance Praise for MediCaring Communities"For decades, Joanne Lynn's has been the clearest, strongest, most soulful voice in America for modernizing the ways in which we care for frail elders. This essential book is her masterpiece. It offers a magisterial, evidence-based vision of that new care, and an entirely plausible pathway for reaching it. Facing a tsunami of aging, our nation simply cannot afford to ignore this counsel."-Donald M. Berwick, MD, President Emeritus and Senior Fellow, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, and former Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services."MediCaring Communities integrates good geriatrics and long-term services and supports, and building upon an expanded PACE program can be a tangible start. We should try this!"-Jennie Chin Hansen, Lead in Developing PACE; Past President, AARP; and Past CEO of On Lok Senior Health Services and the American Geriatrics Society.