Consider an In-Patient Rehab Facility Before You Suffer a Fall AS A SAVVY MEDICAL consumer, you may already know which hospital you’d go to in an emergency or which doctor you’d turn to for a particular procedure. But many people never plan where they’d go for a few weeks or months of inpatient rehabilitation to recuperate from a fall. That choice may not even occur to a family until Mom, Dad or a spouse winds up in the hospital. “The case manager comes in and says, ‘Look at these facilities and tell us where you want to go so we can start our paperwork.’ The family and patients are overwhelmed,” says
Dr. Saket Saxena, a geriatrician at Cleveland Clinic. But it may be time to give the scenario a little thought. This year 1 out of every 4 older adults will fall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and 20 percent of those people will suffer a serious injury, such as a broken hip or a head injury. While the best option is to go home after hospitalization for a fall, where you can rely on in-home or outpatient follow-up treatment, not everyone is well enough or has the support at home. It could
help to know which rehab facility would be best for your family, should you ever need to stay in one. What Are the Choices? In-patient rehab is meant to be a temporary transition stage between the hospital and your return home. “After a fall, your ability to walk may be compromised. You may not be able to carry out the activities of daily living. You may need physical therapy and occupational therapy in order to go home again. Or you may have a wound that needs to be
dressed every day,” explains Dr. Carla Perissinotto, associate chief for geriatric clinical programs at the University of California—San Francisco. There are two types of inpatient rehab facilities: acute care (in a stand-alone facility or within a hospital) and skilled nursing (beds within a nursing home that are intended for a short-term stay). Both have round-the-clock nurses and certified nursing assistants. Both kinds of facilities also have physical therapists and occupational therapists on staff. ...Read More
Aging and Your Eyes Are you holding the newspaper farther away from your eyes than you used to? Join the crowd—age can bring changes that affect your eyesight. Some changes are more serious than others, but for many problems, there are things you can do to protect your vision. The key is to have regular eye exams so you can spot problems early. How Can You Protect Your Eyesight? Have your eyes checked regularly by an eye care professional—either an ophthalmologist or optometrist. People over age 60 should have dilated eye exams yearly. During this exam, the eye care professional will put drops in
your eyes to widen (dilate) your pupils so that he or she can look at the back of each eye. This is the only way to find some common eye diseases that have no early signs or symptoms. If you wear glasses or contact lenses, your prescription should be checked, too. See your doctor regularly to check for diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure. These diseases can cause eye problems if not controlled or treated. See an eye care professional right away if you: Suddenly cannot see or
everything looks blurry See flashes of light Have eye pain Experience double vision Have redness or swelling of your eye or eyelid Common Eye Problems The following common eye problems can be easily treated. But, sometimes they can be signs of more serious issues. Presbyopia (prez-bee-OHpee-uh) Floaters Tearing Eyelid problems Tips for Healthy Eyes
Protect your eyes from too much sunlight by wearing sunglasses that block ultraviolet (UV) radiation and a hat with a wide brim when you are outside. Stop smoking. Make smart food choices. Be physically active and maintain a healthy weight. Maintain normal blood pressure. Control diabetes (if you have it). If you spend a lot of time at the computer or focused on one thing, you can forget to blink. Every 20 minutes, look away about 20 feet for 20 seconds to prevent eye strain. …...Read More
Disrupted sleep-wake cycle might be measure for preclinical Alzheimer’s People with dementia due to Alzheimer’s disease are known to have disrupted sleep. New NIHfunded research, published online Jan. 29, 2018, in JAMA Neurology, links a disrupted sleep-wake cycle to an earlier, preclinical disease phase, in which people have evidence of the disease but no symptoms. The study, by researchers at the
Knight Alzheimer's Disease Research Center at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, suggests that a fragmented sleep-wake cycle might be explored as a biomarker for preclinical Alzheimer’s. For the study, 189 people (average age, 66 years) wore watch-like sensors for 7 to 14
days to collect data about their rest and activity levels. These participants also kept a sleep diary. In addition, they had positron emission tomography (PET) brain scans, cerebrospinal fluid analysis, or both to look for any biological signs of Alzheimer’s, including abnormal levels of the proteins amyloid and tau.
The researchers found that cognitively normal participants who had biological changes related to Alzheimer’s were more likely than those without these changes to have fragmented sleep-wake cycles, with higherthan-normal periods of rest during the day and more periods of activity at night….Read More
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