June
is Alzheimer’s and Brain Awareness
Month: About 95% of people with
Alzheimer’s have the late-onset form, in which symptoms become apparent in
their mid-60s.
At
this month’s UCSF Dementia Research Education Symposium,
UCSF Memory and Aging Center Director Bruce Miller said that California
has 500,000 persons with Alzheimer’s Disease, the most in U.S.
UCSF
nurse Robin Ketelle emphasized dementia is a loss of brain function that
affects memory, thinking, language, judgment and behavior (symptoms), and that
occurs with certain diseases (causes), and “dementia does not mean a person is
mentally ill.” However, Alzheimer’s Disease,
which accounts for more than half of all dementia cases, has been recognized as
a mental illness in
the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of
Mental Disorders (DSM-IV); the term “dementia” has been replaced with neurocognitive disorder in DSM-5
June
15 marked the 10th anniversary of World Elder Abuse Awareness Day (WEAAD). In San
Francisco
This
month’s Senior & Disability Action (SDA) meeting featured Avoiding Elder Abuse panel discussion:
- Jill Nielsen of Adult Protective Services
(APS) has staff of 37 MSW workers, 3 nurses and case aides to respond to reports of suspected elder abuse; state law requires APS visit within 10 days,
interview client alone; self-neglect represents 50% of APS cases;
emotional abuse is hardest to investigate as law enforcement is not
involved (reporting is encouraged, but not required). APS can act only with consent of the
victim, unless there is Penal Code violation.
- Hyun-Mi Kim and Ana Luz Vazquez of API Legal Outreach: Hyun-Mi said that legal remedy
alone does not solve client’s life situation, so they take a holistic
approach by partnering with Asian Women’s Shelter for more comprehensive
services (case management) and Office of Citizen Complaints to
train police (appropriately respond to immigrant victims). In response to SDA Housing Organizer
Tony Robles, who argued that Ellis Act evictions are a form of elder abuse
that causes trauma, Ana mentioned she filed a restraining order against a
landlord for harassing a monolingual Tagalog elder.
- Prescott Cole of California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform (CANHR) discussed how predators use a familiar TV celebrity like Henry “Fonz” Winkler to repeat a reward message like “let your home pay you cash” to target
vulnerable seniors, who do not investigate the risks of reverse mortgages. Prescott noted that 10% of
reverse mortgages go in default, which amounts to an expensive loan
because predators skip telling seniors about the obligations of paying
ongoing taxes, insurance, maintenance of home, etc. He provided copies of CANHR’s Senior Scams Alert.
- Lisa Nerenberg of California Elder Justice Coalition (CEJC) provided an international perspective on elder abuse: World Health
Organization (WHO) and International Network for the Prevention of Elder
Abuse (INPEA) study, Missing Voices: Views of Older Persons on Elder Abuse (2002), identified disrespect as the most painful form of mistreatment by older
adults in all countries. Lisa
provided examples of how Asian countries, influenced by Confucian filial
piety, use policy to strengthen families: Singapore has a special court for older persons to compel financial support from their adult children,
and China has an elderly rights law that requires adult children to visit their elderly parents.
At
our Main Library, San Francisco Department of Aging and Adult Services (DAAS)
hosted WEAAD with speakers and film screening.
Administration for Community Living (ACL) Regional Administrator David
Ishida said APS now has a federal home in ACL’s Office of Elder Justice for data collection. Other federal level highlights: The Elder Justice Act,
which marked its 5th anniversary in March, received $4 million in
funding for the first time in fiscal year 2015. This year’s White House Conference on Aging
also included elder justice as one of its four priority issues.
DAAS
Director Anne Hinton welcomed San Francisco District Attorney George Gascon,
who said his staff scheduled presentations at four local senior centers in
recognition of WEAAD.
These
welcoming remarks were followed by a screening of Alive Inside and discussion, which I skipped since I had another appointment elsewhere and I
had already seen this documentary when it was released last year with filmmaker
in-person. ...and then I just wanted to listen to my own playlist like glam rocker Todd Rundgren (who turned 67 this
month): Hello, It’s Me (“It's important to me that you know you are free ‘cause I never want to
make you change for me”). ((^_^))
The Forum at Grace
Cathedral hosted Safeguarding the Golden Generation: Understanding Financial Exploitation,
which featured a screening of Last Will and Embezzlement (2012) documentary. Seniors lose an
estimated $2.9 billion annually to financial abuse and exploitation. Perpetrators exploit
the vulnerabilities of seniors who may have dementia and/or depression. In addition, older adults from the Depression
era may be more trusting and socially isolated.
Abuse is underreported due to embarrassment or fear of losing
independence (like being placed under conservatorship or nursing home if
they’re found to have diminished capacity).
A
lively panel discussion followed the film:
·
Filmmaker
Pamela Glasner made her documentary based on her father who had Alzheimer’s
Disease. While in a Florida Florida
·
Evans Law Firm
attorney Ingrid Evans provided tips on elder abuse fraud protection.
·
Communities Against Senior Exploitation (CASE) program manager and California Senior Legislature assembly member Shirley Krohn
has proposed increasing fines from $1,000 to $25,000 for financial institutions
that fail to report financial abuse.
What
else can be done to prevent elder abuse?
“Unfortunately, regulations are really not
preventing the abuses. Why On Lok has
never had an abuse problem, either by an employee or the organization, is
because it is based in the community, and it’s open to everybody. We have no visiting hours. ... The advantage
of that is that there is an outsider that goes in or visits. ... So there is
constant in and out. People, the
community is very aware of what happens. … You’re not a nursing home on the
outskirts where nobody sees you and knows what happens. So the problems of abuse are much more
difficult to detect and combat.” --
Marie-Louise Ansak, Founding and
Directing on On Lok Senior Health Services, 1971-1996 (pp. 127-128)
To support this
transparency and reduce social isolation so we can age safely, it helps to design our environments so we
can live out and about in the community with good public transportation options
for all ages and abilities.
At last month’s Aging and Tech conference, I couldn’t get enough of IDEO designer Barbara Beskind so I was hoping to see her again (but didn’t) at IDEO’s San Francisco office, which hosted At Home With Growing Older (AHWGO) forum, Embolden Bodies – Human Centered Design For Independent Living.
At last month’s Aging and Tech conference, I couldn’t get enough of IDEO designer Barbara Beskind so I was hoping to see her again (but didn’t) at IDEO’s San Francisco office, which hosted At Home With Growing Older (AHWGO) forum, Embolden Bodies – Human Centered Design For Independent Living.
Susi Stadler, AHWGO
cofounder and architect who specializes in the design of age-friendly and
intergenerational environments, welcomed an intergenerational audience to
discuss “approaches, strategies and products that assist people to gracefully
age at home.” She called aging an
extreme sport—both delightful and scary, that takes focus and work.
Ideas from
interdisciplinary panel:
- Will Carey, Industrial
Designer at IDEO, showed slides of products based on user experiences that
fit into everyday like a tendon machine, guide for blind to navigate using
vibration and sound, walkers with tennis ball material guides
- Jennifer Carton Wade, Senior Occupational Therapist at Laguna Honda – advocates for occupational justice (ability to do what’s needed to live fully in the community) because aging is marginalized, especially in transportation and mobility; she is less gadget-oriented, preferring to empower people to do on their own so they do not feel deficient; she also provided Handy Tips for Remaining Home as You Age
- Tasneem Babul Rayani, Contributing Industrial Designer at AHWGO, emphasized addressing the real (versus perceived) problem and designing to use our bodies naturally like squatty potty
One older woman in
the audience asked that they “not design for, but with us, old people because
you don’t know until you get there.”
Director Sheila Malkind
invited the intergenerational audience to this year’s Legacy Film Festival on Aging:
September 18-20, 2015 at New People Cinema! (I suggested that Sheila screen Dancing with Maria documentary about 90-year-old ballerina Maria Fux who challenges students of all abilities so they are "made to dance.")
Dr. Margaret (Peg) Miller
and Lonnie Hinckley of St. Francis Episcopal Church hosted a Transportation Fair for Seniors and Persons
with Disabilities, which included all-male representatives from local
public and private options:
- BART:
FREE BART field trips for 10 to 20 seniors (age 65+) in group to get familiar with BART (includes roundtrip fare, Senior Clipper Card, travel
tote, lunch, station and car tour, outing of choice); 62.5% BART fare discount for
seniors and persons with disabilities
- SFMTA: Muni
fares will increase July 1, 2015 (senior fare from 75 cents to $1), but
there is still FREE Muni for low-to-moderate income (up to $71,350 Bay Area annual median income
level) seniors and persons with disabilities, FREE Shop-a-Round for seniors, persons with disabilities, or eligible for ADA Paratransit;
FREE Van Gogh Shuttle for groups of seniors and persons with disabilities; check out Muni Access Guide
- Flywheel: mobile app or phone call dispatch to
request taxis with ramp van, wheelchair accessible, can specify vehicle
- Taxis (
- Ride “sharing” platforms: did not address access
for blind iphone users, riders with service dogs and wheelchair users, which is ongoing concern especially with City’s
proposal to privatize paratransit and subject of discrimination lawsuits under Americans with Disabilities Act
- Private door-to-door transport
DeSoto Cab rebranded as Flywheel Taxi & inside paratransit van
What Prompts Elder Abuse? Researcher Find Common Triggers
ReplyDeletePBS Next Avenue/New America Media , News Report, Emily Gurnon , Posted: Dec 27, 2015
ORLANDO, Fla.--Tony Rosen, MD, has seen his share of cuts, bruises and broken bones. In his job as an emergency room physician at New York-Presbyterian Hospital, he witnesses the painful end result of accidents and attacks involving aging adults.
“I see lots and lots of older adults who either report that they fell or the caregiver or whoever’s standing next to them says, ‘They fell,’” Rosen said in a recent interview. “And we assume that some of those falls are, in fact, not falls but physical abuse.”
As of yet, there aren’t good ways to distinguish one from the other. But after working with professionals in other areas, including law enforcement, a prosecutor’s office and social workers, Rosen was able to figure out what happens before the violence descends.
Digging Down
In a recent study with researchers Karl Pillemer, PhD, Mark Lachs, MD, of the Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, and others, Rosen qualitatively analyzed the criminal files from 87 cases of physical elder abuse in Kings County (Brooklyn, N.Y.) from 2003 to 2014. In all of the cases, the perpetrator either pleaded guilty or was convicted at trial….
As part of the findings of what Rosen called their “preliminary research,” the group assembled a list of what they termed acute triggers of physical elder abuse, he said during a presentation on the study at the annual Gerontological Society of America meeting in Orlando, Fla., last month.
The abuser in the greatest proportion of cases (41 percent) was the victim’s son. The second largest group were spouses (18 percent). The median age of the mostly female (72 percent) victims was 68, and 18 percent of abusers were “acutely intoxicated with alcohol or illicit substances” when the abuse occurred, Rosen said.
Triggers of Abuse
The new study of factors that trigger elder abuse identified 10 categories of acute precipitants. They include:
• Victim attempting to prevent the perpetrator from entering or demanding that he/she leave
• Victim threatening or attempting to leave/escape
• Threat or concern that the victim would involve the authorities
• Conflict about romantic relationship
• Presence during/intervention in ongoing family violence
• Issues with multi-generational child-rearing
• Conflict about the perpetrator’s substance abuse
• Confrontation about financial exploitation/demanding money
• Dispute over theft/destruction of property
• Disputes over minor household issues
http://newamericamedia.org/2015/12/what-prompts-elder-abuse-researcher-find-common-triggers.php
Transportation Fair Shows Seniors and People with Disabilities Options for Getting Around
ReplyDeleteByJudy Goddess
Posted on February 17, 2016
Ninety seniors and people with disabilities learned about the options available to them for getting around the city on Feb. 11 at the Minnie and Lovie Ward Recreation Center.
The Community Living Campaign organized the transportation fair to inform and assist people who live in communities that have traditionally been poorly served by public transport and private cab companies, such as Ingleside and Excelsior, and other neighborhoods outside San Francisco’s downtown and tourist areas.
In her opening remarks, CLC Executive Director of Marie Jobling, said, “We know that isolation significantly contributes to illness and depression among the elderly. Transportation is a way to break the barriers of isolation that too often accompany aging and living with disability. To create an aging friendly neighborhood, people have to be able to get around.”
After brief presentations from transportation providers, the audience was invited to visit their tables for further information.
Muni
A representative from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency discussed Free Muni for Seniors and People with Disabilities and offered help in completing the form to apply for the program.
BART
While BART does not offer free rides, a representative said that the regional transportation agency offers a 62.5 percent fare reduction for seniors and people with disabilities and that riders can use their Clipper card on BART.
San Francisco Paratransit
San Francisco Paratransit offers seniors and people with disabilities who are unable to independently use public transportation pre-scheduled door-to-door shared-ride vans; group vans to bring seniors to senior centers and other qualified sites; and their newest service, “shop-a-round” vans to take groups grocery shopping. The first two services require pre-qualification from San Francisco Paratransit; the “shop-a-round” van does not.
San Francisco Paratransit also pre-qualifies residents for cab vouchers. Luxor, Yellow Cab and Flywheel all accept vouchers from SF Paratransit. Representatives from the three cab companies emphasized the ease with which cell phone users can request and pay for service.
For more information on paratransit services and pre-qualification, call (415) 351-3942 or visit www.sfparatransit.com.
Cell Phone Applications
Cell phone apps make it easier to reserve transportation and to pay for trips. Luxor, Yellow Cab and Flywheel are asking customers to use their cell phones to reserve and pay for services. Even San Francisco Paratransit is adding cell phone access and payment system for its services….
Access Issues
While requesting a ride using an app works well for customers with cell phones, not everyone owns a cell phone. For those who own cell phones but did not bring them to the fair, or who need help in installing and using apps, CLC offers classes on basic computer skills at the I.T. Bookman Community Center. For more information about these classes, contact Deb Glen at (415) 846-7717.
http://www.ielightsf.com/2016/02/17/transportation-fair-shows-seniors-and-people-with-disabilities-options-for-getting-around/
Transportation Fair Shows Seniors and People with Disabilities Options for Getting Around
ReplyDeleteByJudy Goddess
Posted on February 17, 2016
Ninety seniors and people with disabilities learned about the options available to them for getting around the city on Feb. 11 at the Minnie and Lovie Ward Recreation Center.
The Community Living Campaign organized the transportation fair to inform and assist people who live in communities that have traditionally been poorly served by public transport and private cab companies, such as Ingleside and Excelsior, and other neighborhoods outside San Francisco’s downtown and tourist areas.
In her opening remarks, CLC Executive Director of Marie Jobling, said, “We know that isolation significantly contributes to illness and depression among the elderly. Transportation is a way to break the barriers of isolation that too often accompany aging and living with disability. To create an aging friendly neighborhood, people have to be able to get around.”
After brief presentations from transportation providers, the audience was invited to visit their tables for further information.
Muni
A representative from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency discussed Free Muni for Seniors and People with Disabilities and offered help in completing the form to apply for the program.
BART
While BART does not offer free rides, a representative said that the regional transportation agency offers a 62.5 percent fare reduction for seniors and people with disabilities and that riders can use their Clipper card on BART.
San Francisco Paratransit
San Francisco Paratransit offers seniors and people with disabilities who are unable to independently use public transportation pre-scheduled door-to-door shared-ride vans; group vans to bring seniors to senior centers and other qualified sites; and their newest service, “shop-a-round” vans to take groups grocery shopping. The first two services require pre-qualification from San Francisco Paratransit; the “shop-a-round” van does not.
San Francisco Paratransit also pre-qualifies residents for cab vouchers. Luxor, Yellow Cab and Flywheel all accept vouchers from SF Paratransit. Representatives from the three cab companies emphasized the ease with which cell phone users can request and pay for service.
For more information on paratransit services and pre-qualification, call (415) 351-3942 or visit www.sfparatransit.com.
Cell Phone Applications
Cell phone apps make it easier to reserve transportation and to pay for trips. Luxor, Yellow Cab and Flywheel are asking customers to use their cell phones to reserve and pay for services. Even San Francisco Paratransit is adding cell phone access and payment system for its services….
Access Issues
While requesting a ride using an app works well for customers with cell phones, not everyone owns a cell phone. For those who own cell phones but did not bring them to the fair, or who need help in installing and using apps, CLC offers classes on basic computer skills at the I.T. Bookman Community Center. For more information about these classes, contact Deb Glen at (415) 846-7717.
http://www.ielightsf.com/2016/02/17/transportation-fair-shows-seniors-and-people-with-disabilities-options-for-getting-around/
Why Older Adults Are So Susceptible to Financial Fraud
ReplyDeleteResearch suggests that changes in our brains as we age may be a key factor
December 15, 2016
By Olivia DaDalt
…Older boomers are wealthier than the generations before them, with a median net worth of $241,333, a 34 percent increase over that of the War Babies generation (born 1936 -1945) and a 39 percent increase over Depression Babies (born 1926-1935). Older adults also represent greater purchasing power. Nielsen reported that the 50+ population consists of nearly 100 million consumers who are responsible for $230 billion worth of sales in packaged goods, a whopping 49 percent of total sales. As AARP spokesman Jody Holtzman commented, “You’d have to be an idiot to turn your back on this humongous market.”
…In 2010, one fifth of Americans over age 65 reported ,,,they had been subject to some sort of financial fraud or abuse…Most studies show no link between income and prevalence of financial abuse…
Why do older adults seem to be particularly vulnerable to financial abuse and scams?...more trusting than other age groups, in general. When asked in a MIT study, “Do you feel that most people can be trusted?” boomers gave the highest percentage of “Yes” answers.
Higher levels of trust among older adults may have something to do with actual changes in the brain.
In a UCLA study,…Older participants perceived the untrustworthy faces as significantly more trustworthy and approachable than younger participants did.
…showed less activation of the anterior insula, a part of the brain known to support interoceptive awareness, or what is commonly called a “gut feeling.” These gut feelings warn of potential risks or dangers, such as an untrustworthy person. Decreased activity in the anterior insula portion of the brain in older adults may suggest that their awareness or assessment of risk is not as strong as that of their younger counterparts, which in turn may contribute to a greater vulnerability to fraud and scams.
This phenomenon may also be related to what researcher Laura Carstensen calls the “positivity bias,” or the tendency to devote more attention and memory to positive information in general…
Also related to changes in the brain, this bias seems to exist to help keep older adults’ moods and morale high. Yet despite these potential benefits, this bias can have perilous consequences for their financial security, leading them to ignore warning signs such as the aggressiveness or insistence of a telemarketer and to focus instead only on the potential rewards or profits they promise.
...individuals still had faith in their own financial abilities even while they were eroding. This lack of awareness of their changing financial capacities could also put older adults at higher risk for financial fraud or abuse.
Further, if they are unaware of their own shortcomings, they might see no reason to be more cautious about money, to monitor themselves or to question their own decisions to ensure that they are financially sound.
It is easy to see how all these factors could combine, resulting in an individual who is both overly trusting of others and overly confident in his or her own declining financial capacity: a perfect target for scams and financial abuse.
Solutions and Next Steps
It is important for older adults and their families to put into place early comprehensive financial plans that incorporate decisions about health care, future housing options, asset management, and contingencies to account for any possible financial incapacity (such as power of attorney arrangements, living trusts, or financial advocates). Doing so can help avoid any uncertainty or confusion that might expose older adults to a greater risk of exploitation or fraud.
…The MIT AgeLab Website has more tips and resources to help prevent seniors from falling victim to financial abuse.
http://www.nextavenue.org/older-adults-susceptible-financial-fraud/
How bankers and doctors can collaborate to detect ‘early warnings’ of Alzheimer’s
ReplyDeleteBy JASON KARLAWISH
DECEMBER 12, 2017
Banking and medicine have little in common. One is for creating and managing wealth, the other for managing health. Yet together they could help detect and fight the growing burden of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. I call this partnership of banking and medicine whealthcare.
Thanks to decades-long advances in personal and public health, the average 65-year-old American can expect to live another 19 years. This remarkable progress presents a challenge: Many people might not have enough money to live that long.
…Retirement funds, if we have any — half of American families have saved less than $5,000 for retirement — are ours to manage, and we really need that cash to pay for our living expenses and most of our long-term care. Aging Americans are also taking on more debt, such as their children’s and grandchildren’s student loans. Since 1992, the proportion of Americans 75 and older carrying debt has increased from one-third to one-half.
These age-related financial challenges often coincide with the emergence of troublesome health events, particularly age-related declines in memory and thinking skills. They put older adults at risk of needing long-term care and of being vulnerable to financial fraud, exploitation, or their own financial errors. Once money is lost, a cognitively impaired adult can’t go back to work. Someone else — the family or the state — has to step in to pay.
“This is a set of circumstances ripe to balloon,” said Patrick Harker, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, in his opening address at “Aging, Cognition and Financial Health: Building a Robust System for Older Americans,” a two-day conference hosted by the bank in collaboration with the Penn Memory Center, which I co-direct.
…Our day-to-day use of our money provides signals of brain function that can be far more real-world and meaningful than the results of online cognitive tests and brain scans. This is where the banking and financial services industries can help achieve our national “moonshot” goal of preventing Alzheimer’s disease by 2025.
In the pencil, paper, and dial-up telephone days, tracking a family’s finances over multiple institutions was a challenge, even for individuals whose brains were healthy. Today, it’s been made easier by volumes of financial data that can be rapidly aggregated and analyzed, along with automated communication of real-time alerts.
…banking and financial services industries could provide Alzheimer’s “early warnings” using a system that sees older adults’ health as enmeshed in the maintenance of their wealth. Such as system could adopt tried-and-true methods of public health: surveillance, monitoring, and intervention.
…EverSafe, a financial technology company, demonstrated how financial data across accounts can be aggregated and analyzed, and how the company can send out automated alerts when an account has an unusual transaction suggesting fraud or error…
Casey Greene, a Penn professor and expert in machine learning, showed how we could benefit from studying health and wealth data with the same methods he uses to study genetic and other biological data. Financial information such as credit card purchases and ATM use, as well as voice records from call centers and medical records, could be subjected to methods that learn and predict who’s likely to experience cognitive decline or become a victim of fraud.
Technology, of course, is only as good as the people who use it. The financial services industry is built on trust, and trust is about human interactions. …change in 2018. Just as doctors must ask their patients for the name of an emergency contact and call that person in the event of an emergency, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority’s rule 4512 mandates that brokers and dealers ask for similar contacts…
https://www.statnews.com/2017/12/12/alzheimers-doctors-bankers-collaboration/
Exercise improves bloodstream and memory; it animates concoction changes in the cerebrum that upgrade learning, state of mind, and thinking. Activity diminishes the chances of creating coronary illness, stroke, and diabetes.
ReplyDelete