Helpful Ideas for Anyone Helping an Aging Parent (1)

Maintain a care notebook.  Keep a file of your parents’ medical records, including test results, current medications, allergies, insurance coverage and Social Security numbers, along with their physicians’ contact information.  Collect e-mail addresses and phone numbers for neighbors and close friends, as well as the phone number for the nearest hospital.

Commonly Used Medicines Send Seniors to Hospitals

[as reported in The Wall Street Journal]

Commonly used diabetes pills and blood thinners—not high-risk medications like opiate painkillers—are behind most visits by senior citizens to U.S. emergency rooms for drug reactions and unintentional overdoses, according to a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine. 

The findings suggest that hundreds of millions of dollars could be saved annually by improving the education and drug management of people with certain chronic conditions.

The study, conducted by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, estimated that 99,628 hospitalizations every year of people 65 years and older are linked to adverse drug events such as allergic reactions and unintentional overdoses. Nearly half of those hospitalized were adults 80 years old and older.

How To Slow The Effects of Aging

[adapted from The Washington Post]

 

Calm Down -- Stress seems to be the main cause of memory problems. When you think your memory is declining due to age, it could simply be that you have too much going on.

Exercise – A 2011 University of Arizona study of healthy people ages 50 to 89 found that people who exercise showed less decline in brain function over time than “couch potatoes”. The increased blood flow to the brain during and after a workout may help.

Make Friends – Social interaction boosts brain function, possibly because it requires effort from many areas.

Who Will Know If You’re In a Serious Auto Accident?

Maryland drivers can now add three emergency contacts to their driver’s license so police will know who to call if an accident occurs. The emergency contact information is stored electronically on an individual’s driver’s license and will be available only to authorized law enforcement and medical personnel.

You can go to the MVA’s website at http://www.mva.maryland.gov/ and add your three emergency contacts in just a few minutes! Go to the website, click “On-line Transactions”, then click “More”, look under "Other Services" and then click “Emergency Contacts” to add your contact names, addresses and phone numbers.

NOTE:  To perform this Emergency Contact transaction, you must be able to provide your driver’s license number, date of birth, and PIN or last 4 digits of your social security number.