Life Done Right™

We are living in the age of technology that consumes enormous energy and will probably leave future generations swearing at us on their deathbeds. Lack of fresh water, air pollution, plastic water bottles…it’s all bad. The rise of Alzheimer’s disease is also a bad thing. While there’s no cure, there is the fact that the […]

You gotta love it…Japan is discovering that housing aging inmates requires “a major revamp of its jails to provide elevators, handrails and wheelchair ramps for incarcerated seniors.” Hell, if it costs $8,000 per month or more to park someone in a nursing home, maybe we could all save some money by giving away all our […]

Staring at yourself in the mirror may stroke your vanity, but it utterly fails to show you the beauty or ugliness inside your body…say inside your brain. Alzheimer’s disease make mice in New York City kitchens seem like friendly house guests by comparison. The guys or gals in the white research coats are smacking theories […]

Here’s the setup: an 85-year-old Baltimore woman who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, cataracts and a benign brain tumor can function fine in an assisted living facility but doesn’t qualify for Medicaid aid unless she goes into a nursing. The state of Maryland was told to reconsider her plight […]

One day someone will hopefully sit me down and explain why it costs $50,000-$80,000 per year to live in a nursing home. I mean, c’mon. The resident is usually sharing a room the size of a shoe box and remains in bed for a good portion of the day in many cases. What costs so […]

The notion of zapping the brain with a couple jolts of electricity in order to shock it out of depression seems about as informed as applying leeches to the body in an effort to rid the blood of unwanted impurities. When all else fails, though, and the days are growing darker by the minute, I […]

It’s bad enough that nursing homes stink like rotting flesh and a fair portion of the residents are simply waiting for the invisible hand of darkness to snatch them from their misery, but now comes word that while you were feeling good about dumping off your loved one there, relieved that it was no longer […]

Did you require a night light as a kid? Did the dark frighten you so bad that falling asleep seemed more like an episode of the Twilight Zone instead of a Disney nursery rhyme? Since fear is hard-wired into our emotional system (don’t get all academic on me), it’s no surprise that our experience of […]

Journalist-slash-gossip-girl Nikki Finke thinks Hollywood studios are closer to nursing homes than Animal Houses filled with buffed and toned 20-year-olds looking to hook up with anyone promising to take their virginal career to the next level. She specifically says, “More and more executive suites are filled with over-fifty and over-sixty fogies, all aging, overcompensated, entrenched […]

How refreshing to see Senator Charles E. Grassley of Iowa actually using his position of power to pester those long-term care insurance companies who love to collect premiums but often fall short when when it comes to paying out after the insured winds up in the nursing home. The racket of collecting huge premiums and […]

Privatization, the rebel yell of the Bush administration, is supposed to be the bitter pill that solves all the woes of publicly funded social programs. Just throw that Medicaid cash at private companies and by god they’ll run those nursing far more efficiently than some yahoo public company CEO. Well, the facts are in and […]

The task of getting old is not for loners. The ability to maintain your daily living activities can unexpectedly become interrupted by disease, an accident, or just plain old age. That’s when you need the help of a caregiver or home health aide. Like anything that can be billed to the government, though, fraud rears […]

New Alzheimer’s disease research suggests gene therapy might reverse the disastrous damage done by Alzheimer’s disease. The cure for this bastard condition seems within reach. Whether it turns out to be merely a mirage or actually restores the mind to its rightful condition is up to the researchers. Let’s hope it works. There’s too damn […]

Alzheimer’s disease just may turn out to replace the word cancer as the most feared diagnosis. Aside from people living longer, there must be some logical explanation for why the human mind is susceptible to this horrible condition. Someone recently declared, “I’d rather have a physical illness than a mental illness any day!” If that […]

Globalization has finally hit the nursing home racket. Forget the mafia. Nursing home operators are the new muscle men in town. Need to die gracefully…that will cost you $6,000 to $8,000 per month in America. That’s a lot of dough for sitting around in a room the size of a dorm with a bunk mate. […]

A new puppy is pure delight. There’s nothing like seeing a bundle of energy tearing around the house and nibbling at everything in sight. Aside from the occasional mess on the rug, a puppy that grows up to become a trusted companion is worth the time and investment.
Does the same apply for your aging […]

Nightmares that force you awake in the middle of the night usually involve some kind of jeopardy that threatens your existence. Maybe you’re being chased by wolves or about to ride off a cliff going 100mph or perhaps you imagine being run over by a drunk driver. Whatever the nightmare, it more than likely will […]

Some call it “aging in place,” some call it staying put, some just cuss and say, “ain’t no fricking way you’re gonna put me in one of those nursing homes or assisted living facilities!!” Baby Boomers are waking up to the crappy nature of places that isolate seniors in old age. Honestly, who the hell […]

Money truly does buy just about anything, including a nurse to tag along on your around the world adventure, despite the fact that you might be suffering from a terminal illness or just ain’t moving the way you used to as a young tot. Companies that provide trip nurses to accompany you on your vacation […]

Broadway attracts the ego like mosquitoes are attracted to a pale woman’s arm. Over time, though, the ego undergoes a transformation that places less emphasis on public approval and gravitates toward an inner audience that could care less about satisfying a stranger’s penchant for entertainment. Patricia Ben Peterson once plied her personality on Broadway but […]