Help for our aging parents: Welcome to Ability4Life.

“Illness and aging are dynamic and ever-changing – as are people.” Nira Rittenberg, Occupational Therapist Baycrest Centre for Geriatrics

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• Ontario Hospital Association: a very social Social Media conference

  Posted in Blog: Whose health is it anyway? Communicating Technology on February 6, 2013 by kathy

  

  Facebook,YouTube and Twitter: not just for kids
  There’s lots to be said about Facebook’s older users – many’s the grandmother I’ve met who keeps up to date via her grandchildren’s Facebook.  YouTube’s another source of  entertainment – my daughters regularly send videos that their grandfather watches on his iPad.
  My social media tool of preference is twitter [...]

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• Retirement: what does it mean ‘in real life’?

  Posted in Communicating Decisions on December 16, 2012 by kathy

  

  What does Retirement mean to you and your parents?
  For many of our parents, leading a disciplined productive life was an expectation, and was necessary to keep body and soul together.  But now, with so many living so much longer, retirement can loom like a life sentence. The emptiness of days unfilled can be depressing and [...]

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• Montessori Methods for Dementia

  Posted in Brain-works Feel Good Stuff Guest Bloggers Sources and Resources on October 29, 2012 by kathy

  

  Thanks to Guest Blogger and consultant, Carol Saba-Consultant and Educator, Certified in Montessori Methods for Dementia™
  Is it possible for people living with dementia to read, sing, play a musical instrument, enjoy activities and contribute to their home and community again?  Absolutely!  That is exactly what has happened when Montessori Methods for Dementia™ (MMD) was [...]

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• Guest blog: Melanie Bowen on Guided Care Model

  Posted in Guest Bloggers Many things I didn't know Sources and Resources on October 22, 2012 by kathy

  

  Many thanks to Guest Blogger, Melanie Bowen – Awareness Advocate for Natural health
  The Guided Care Model: Nurses Assist Cancer Patients
  Researchers have studied a new concept in nursing for cancer patients and have reported positive findings on the The Guided Care Model a nursing concept that involves patients and their families. According to a scientific [...]

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• Crowdsourcing: what does it mean for health?

  Posted in Blog: Whose health is it anyway? Feel Good Stuff Seen and heard Technology on October 16, 2012 by kathy

  

  Crowdsourcing according to the man who coined the term – Jeff Howe contributing editor of  WIRED magazine – involves anyone who wants to be involved, with barriers removed through the digital world.
  Crowdsourcing is the process by which the power of the many can be leveraged to accomplish feats that were once the province of [...]

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• Speaking of Aging Tour and Sunnybrook Speaker’s Series

  Posted in Listen to me! Planning for the future Seen and heard Sources and Resources on September 1, 2012 by kathy

  

  Two health and aging events, two different perspectives
  The Speaking of Aging Tour is the Canadian Institutes of Health (CIHR) Institute of Aging cross-country ‘town hall’ events that support CIHR’s mission: to promote, encourage and find research that supports active and satisfying aging. As one of the 25% n the room not an academic, [...]

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• A reluctance to disagree with ‘doctor’s’ orders

  Posted in Blog: Whose health is it anyway? Communicating Decisions Who's the boss? on August 19, 2012 by kathy

  

  We’re supposed to be – and encouraged to be  – enlightened, take-charge, take responsibility kind of people. This applies even more so when taking care of someone else (who presumably is more vulnerable, less able to take charge).  But what about the reluctance to go against, to question, to outright disagree with the very healthcare [...]

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• Multiple Health Conditions and Doctors who Listen

  Posted in Blog: Whose health is it anyway? Day to day living What is in the Medicine Cabinet on June 19, 2012 by kathy

  Almost 3 in 4 individuals aged 65 years and older have multiple chronic conditions
  Journal of American Medical Association

  My father-in law is one of them: he has ‘multiple chronic conditions’.  High blood pressure, heart failure, high cholesterol, glaucoma – all of which are treated with prescription meds,. He also suffers (and I do mean suffers) from [...]

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• Bart Mindszenthy: Eldercare lessons from Corporate Crisis Management

  Posted in Communicating Planning for the future on May 15, 2012 by kathy

  

  In 1986 Bart Mindszenthy gave his first speech about planning for a corporate crisis. He compared it to preparing for a death in family.  “It’s the same range of reactions: Denial, avoidance, arrogance, innocence:

  It’s not going to happen to us
  We’ll wing it
  A good plan costs a lot of money

  Listening to him, it’s [...]

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• Oral care: in eldercare, the mouth is often overlooked

  Posted in Day to day living Safety What is in the Medicine Cabinet on April 16, 2012 by kathy

  

  Our mouth – so important for so many reasons – seems overlooked, dismissed, ignored in its role in overall health and well-being. Consider the work we expect from our mouth: in addition to the vital task of eating (and all that’s required from lips, tongue, teeth, cheeks) there’s the impact of talking, coughing, sneezing [...]

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