The Alexander Technique, named after its developer Frederick Matthias Alexander (1869–1955), is an alternative therapy based on the idea that poor posture causes a range of health problems. The American National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health classifies it as a "psychological and physical" complementary approach to health when used "together with" mainstream conventional medicine.
Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform everyday activities. This typically involves problems with memory, thinking, behavior, and motor control. Aside from memory impairment and a disruption in thought patterns, the most common symptoms of dementia include emotional problems, difficulties with language, and decreased motivation. The symptoms may be described as occurring in a continuum over several stages. Dementia ultimately has a significant effect on the individual, their caregivers, and their social relationships in general. A diagnosis of dementia requires the observation of a change from a person's usual mental functioning and a greater cognitive decline than might be caused by the normal aging process.
James Parkinson was an English surgeon, apothecary, geologist, palaeontologist and political activist. He is best known for his 1817 work An Essay on the Shaking Palsy, in which he was the first to describe "paralysis agitans", a condition that would later be renamed Parkinson's disease by Jean-Martin Charcot.
A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF) or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms have slightly different meanings to indicate whether the institutions are public or private, and whether they provide mostly assisted living, or nursing care and emergency medical care. Nursing homes are used by people who do not need to be in a hospital, but require care that is hard to provide in a home setting. The nursing home staff attends to the patients' medical and other needs. Most nursing homes have nursing aides and skilled nurses on hand 24 hours a day.
William Booth Gardner was an American politician who served as the 19th governor of Washington from 1985 to 1993. He also served as the ambassador of the GATT. A member of the Democratic Party, Gardner previously served as a state senator, representing the 26th district from 1971 to 1973, and was the Pierce County Executive prior to his tenure as governor. His service was notable for advancing standards-based education and environmental protection.
An assisted living residence or assisted living facility (ALF) is a housing facility for people with disabilities or for adults who cannot or who choose not to live independently. The term is popular in the United States. Still, the setting is similar to a retirement home, in the sense that facilities provide a group living environment and typically cater to an older adult population. There is also Caribbean assisted living, which offers a similar service in a resort-like environment.
Long-term care insurance is an insurance product, sold in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada that helps pay for the costs associated with long-term care. Long-term care insurance covers care generally not covered by health insurance, Medicare, or Medicaid.
Long-term care (LTC) is a variety of services which help meet both the medical and non-medical needs of people with a chronic illness or disability who cannot care for themselves for long periods. Long-term care is focused on individualized and coordinated services that promote independence, maximize patients' quality of life, and meet patients' needs over a period of time.
The American Health Care Association (AHCA) is a non-profit federation of affiliated state health organizations that represents more than 14,000 non-profit and for-profit nursing homes, assisted living communities, and facilities for individuals with disabilities. The organization's president and CEO is Mark Parkinson, a former governor of Kansas. The National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) is a part of the AHCA.
Mark Vincent Parkinson is an American businessman and former politician serving as head of the American Health Care Association (AHCA) and National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL). He served as the 47th lieutenant governor of Kansas from 2007 to 2009 and the 45th governor of Kansas from 2009 until 2011. He was also a state legislator.
Geriatric care management is the process of planning and coordinating care of the elderly and others with physical and/or mental impairments to meet their long term care needs, improve their quality of life, and maintain their independence for as long as possible. It entails working with persons of old age and their families in managing, rendering and referring various types of health and social care services. Geriatric care managers accomplish this by combining a working knowledge of health and psychology, human development, family dynamics, public and private resources as well as funding sources, while advocating for their clients throughout the continuum of care. For example, they may assist families of older adults and others with chronic needs such as those suffering from Alzheimer's disease or other dementia.
Patient advocacy is a process in health care concerned with advocacy for patients, survivors, and caregivers. The patient advocate may be an individual or an organization, concerned with healthcare standards or with one specific group of disorders. The terms patient advocate and patient advocacy can refer both to individual advocates providing services that organizations also provide, and to organizations whose functions extend to individual patients. Some patient advocates are independent and some work for the organizations that are directly responsible for the patient's care.
Many retirement issues for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBTQ) and intersex people are unique from their non-LGBTI counterparts and these populations often have to take extra steps addressing their employment, health, legal and housing concerns to ensure their needs are met. Throughout the United States, "2 million people age 50 and older identify as LGBT, and that number is expected to double by 2030", estimated in a study done by the Institute for Multigenerational Health at the University of Washington. In 1969, the Stonewall Riots marked the start of the modern gay rights movement and increasingly LGBTQ+ people have become more visible and accepted into mainstream cultures. LGBTQ+ elders and retirees are still considered a newer phenomenon creating challenges and opportunities as a range of aging issues are becoming more understood as those who live open lives redefine commonly held beliefs and as retirees newly come out of the closet.
A professional live-in caregiver provides personal care and assistance to individuals, including those suffering from chronic illness, Alzheimer's disease, and dementia, within the home setting. Typical duties of a live-in caregiver include meal planning and preparation, assistance with grooming, dressing and toileting, medication management, laundry and light housekeeping, and transportation/escorts to doctor's appointments or social engagements. Professional live-in caregivers are often provided by an outside agency, which may also coordinate their services with the client's preferred in-home health agency and other medical providers.
HollyRod Foundation is a nonprofit organization founded by actress Holly Robinson Peete and retired NFL quarterback Rodney Peete that provides "medical, physical, and emotional support" to individuals living with Parkinson's disease as well as families of children with autism. The HollyRod4kids initiative assists families affected by autism through providing resources to help improve the lives of children diagnosed with the disorder. Concurrently, the foundation provides aid for Parkinson's Disease patients through its HollyRod Compassionate Care Program in partnership with the Center for Parkinson's Research and Movement Disorders located at the University of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine.
As of 2017, approximately 1.4 million Americans live in a nursing home, two-thirds of whom rely on Medicaid to pay for their care. Residential nursing facilities receive Medicaid federal funding and approvals through a state health department. These facilities may be overseen by various types of state agency.
Diane G. Cook is a Parkinson's disease patient advocate, especially well known for the use of the science of self-efficacy to help newly diagnosed patients with Parkinson's. She accomplishes this through her roles as a senior patient advocate for the ProjectSpark Foundation. Cook also is a present and past clinical investigator on a number of clinical trials, and a speaker, writer and presenter at numerous local, state, national, and international forums focused on Parkinson's. She was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2008.
California End of Life Option Act is a law enacted in June 2016 by the California State Legislature which allows terminally ill adult residents in the state of California to access medical aid in dying by self-administering lethal drugs, provided specific circumstances are met. The law was signed in by California governor Jerry Brown in October 2015, making California the fifth state to allow physicians to prescribe drugs to end the life of a terminally ill patient, often referred to as physician-assisted suicide.
The Parkinson's Foundation is a national organization that funds research and provides educational resources to Parkinson's disease patients and caregivers. The Parkinson's Foundation was established in 2016 through the merger of the National Parkinson Foundation and the Parkinson's Disease Foundation. The Parkinson's Foundation has headquarters in Miami and New York City, in addition to 17 chapters throughout the United States.
Virginia H. Fraser was an American activist for human rights, women's rights, and elder rights. She was the Long-Term Care Ombudsman for the state of Colorado for more than two decades. She co-wrote several works on nursing home care and eldercare. She was inducted into the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in 2002.
