The numbers are, pardon the expression, staggering: The National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence reports that 2.5 million older adults have an alcohol or drug problem. The journal Psych Central ups the ante, reporting that around 3 million pe… Continue reading
Recently, an 88-year-old member of my family underwent elective spinal surgery for disabling back pain. While the duration of hospitalization for anyone after surgery can be unpredictable, we were surprised to find out our family member would be discha… Continue reading
(This article appeared previously in Kaiser Health News.) For the first time, the federal government is shining a spotlight on the quality of rehabilitation care at nursing homes — services used by nearly 2 million older adults each year. Medicare’s Nu… Continue reading
Designers of social and assistive robots clearly have figured out how to make their creations lovable, including giving them cute names. There’s Paro, Aibo and Buddy, to name a few. But while experts still expect social robots to find a niche in the c… Continue reading
If you have a parent or other loved one who will soon be released from the hospital after an injury or surgery, he or she might not yet be well enough to return home, even with the assistance of in-home care. That likely will mean a transition to a sho… Continue reading
After a stroke, only about 10 percent of people recover almost completely without intervention. For everyone else, therapy is a crucial part of the recovery process. Whether you need physical, occupational and/or speech therapy following a stroke depen… Continue reading
(This article appeared previously in the American Association for Cancer Research’s Cancer Today.) In July 2010, 52-year-old Julie Barthels, a clinical director of a rape crisis center, woke up with a sharp pain in her right breast. When the pain persi… Continue reading