Webcast Gives Voice to Elder Care Challenges

"Speak Up! Influential Women Give Voice to the Challenges of Elder Care" featured energetic conversations, passionate people, and valuable information – all with a focus on the issues and possible solutions. If you would like to watch the session, or share it with a friend or colleague, the webcast is available for replay at: http://www.altarum.org/roundtablejune5. The webcast was sponsored by the Altarum Institute.

Home Safe Home helping to bring accessible gardens to western PA

Valley Care's Home Safe Home program is helping to lead a project to bring wheelchair-accessible gardens to nursing facilities in Butler, Allegheny, and Washington Counties. This is an expansion of a project that started last year, with the construction of a garden in Beaver.

The Beaver County Times just featured the growth of this project.

We'll keep you updated as the projects are completed!

Family Matters: NPR Series on Issues Facing the Sandwich Generation

Reprinted from npr.org

To cope with the hard times, millions of families have pulled together — stacking two, three, even four generations on top of one another. An NPR series explores the lives of three multigenerational households struggling with issues of money, duty and love.

We can’t wait: Administration announces new steps to fight Alzheimer’s disease

Reposted from www.hhs.gov

The Obama Administration announced on Feb. 7 new efforts to fight Alzheimer’s disease, including immediately making an additional $50 million available for cutting-edge Alzheimer’s research. In addition, the administration announced that its Fiscal Year 2013 budget will boost funding for Alzheimer’s research by $80 million.  Today’s announcement also includes an additional $26 million in caregiver support, provider education, public awareness and improvements in data infrastructure.

In January 2011, President Obama signed the National Alzheimer’s Project Act, which calls for an aggressive and coordinated national Alzheimer’s disease plan.  The Act also establishes an Advisory Council on Alzheimer’s Research, Care, and Services, which brings together some of the Nation’s foremost experts on Alzheimer’s disease to inform the development of the national plan. The preliminary framework for the National Alzheimer’s Disease Plan identifies key goals including preventing and treating Alzheimer’s disease by 2025.  As work on the plan continues, the Obama Administration is taking action.

“Today’s announcement reflects this administration’s commitment to confronting Alzheimer’s, a disease that takes a devastating toll on millions of Americans,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.  “We can’t wait to act; reducing the burden of Alzheimer’s disease on patients and their families is an urgent national priority.”

Read the rest of the article.

Aging in Place in the News

An article about aging in place ran in the Jan. 22nd edition of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. It highlights the growing movement towards putting services and supports in communities so that older adults can continue to live in their own homes.

Read the article here.

Dental Care Important for People with Dementia

REPRINTED FROM PennLive.com


When you’re living with dementia, simple tasks such as brushing teeth or visiting the dentist can become monumental roadblocks. 


Read the entire article here...

Coping with Holiday Stress When a Loved One Has Dementia

Reprinted from Dementiacarecentral.com

While the holidays are a joyful time for many, they can be stressful for caregivers as well as people with dementia. This page discusses some of the challenges of the holidays.