Caring Currents

High banking fees are taking their toll on senior citizens, according to several new reports, which reveals that debit cards may be to blame.

The Center For Responsible Lending has found that seniors spent $4.5 billion in overdraft fees last year, in large part because many of the elderly are switching over to debit cards after years of relying on checkbooks and cash. Debit card purchases and cash advances can easily trigger overdrafts -- and the resulting bank fees -- if older account holders are confused as to how the cards work and when the electronic withdrawls will hit their accounts.

What's more, many banks follow practices that result in greater overdraft fees, according to the report, including "routinely re-ordering daily transactions to subtract highest-dollar amounts first, and holding deposits longer than necessary."

At the same time, some financial institutions are jacking...  Read more

Several recent studies confirm the notion that age confers a certain measure of wisdom. For example, researchers at the University of Texas found that people 60 and older reported more feelings of peace and calm than did their younger counterparts. And a study in the journal Neurobiology of Aging concluded that older people are better able to control and regulate their emotions than younger people are.

If you're caring for an elderly parent or relative, you may be skeptical of these findings, especially if you're frustrated by loved ones' refusal to take steps that seem logical for their own health and safety. 

For example, you may find your parents' refusal to leave their cluttered, unmanageble home for an assisted living facility unfathomable -- and extremely unwise. You're baffled by how stubbornly your parents resist your reasonable arguments (and the lure of the glossy brochures you bring by to tempt them)...  Read more

Last week, we looked at new legislation aimed at easing the epidemic of falls among elders.

Turns out -- as with many aspects of getting older -- there are some high-tech options in the works to help keep seniors steady on their feet.

Some were designed for use in nursing homes or assisted living settings but could also be used by caregivers at home. Unlike Personal Emergency Response Systems, these systems are designed to prevent  falls rather than respond to them:

• The FallSaver is a small patch that attaches to the thigh with a "tilt sensor" that's activated when the wearer stands up. This is most useful for a senior who really shouldn't be walking without assistance -- if he gets up from bed or a chair, the device signals a care giver and alerts the wearer to sit down until help arrives.
• The University of Virginia is developing a Gait monitoring device that measures a user's...  Read more

I have a good friend whose mom hops on a plane every summer to visit her. Or did. For the first time my friend doesn’t want her 80-plus mom flying alone, feeling her health simply isn’t up to it. She still wants her mom to visit, and her mom wants to come -- and she probably can.

There are several ways to help frail seniors travel. Most aren't what I’d call super budget-friendly, but they’ll allow your parents to get up and go -- worth every penny, for some.

• With senior travel escort services, you pay a trained caregiver to fly (or go by rail) with your parents. The amount of help the escort provides during the rest of the trip can be negotiated. They're easy to find on-line using key words like, “senior travel escort,"  “senior check in and travel," and "senior travel companion." It may help to add the name of your parents’ town...  Read more

Summer is here and gas prices are astronomical. There goes the road trip. So many obstacles in the way of a summer holiday.  Here's one that shouldn't stop you: your parent's diabetes.

It's true that eating on the road (or in the air) can present challenges for your parent with type 2 diabetes, but with planning and attention your parent can take a break and still keep her blood glucose and weight in check.

That doesn't mean, however, that she can take a break from her disease. 

Need inspiration? Fellow traveller Alan, an Aussie type- 2er who blogs about his condition, just completed an around-the-world jaunt that lasted seven weeks and took in nine cuisines. 

He's come back with a bag of tricks to share, including:

1. Order appetizers or soups. Either of these options is often  meal in itself, but if it isn't, your parent can order both. It's smart to skip main courses, which are often piled with too much food...  Read more

Most folks think that the greatest danger a senior faces from falling is a broken bone, usually a hip. Not so.

Fifty percent of all elderly people who take a tumble and bang their head suffer fatal brain injuries, according to a just released Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. And many more wind up in the hospital with head injuries that can cause long-term problems that affect thinking and other functions.

Talk about a wake-up call. Here's another: Every year, one out of every three Americans aged 65 and older take a spill, and a third of such falls cause injuries serious enough to require medical treatment.

Falling is such a big problem among the aged that Caring Currents has visited the subject several times in the past few weeks and included fall prevention tips such as reducing floor clutter, installing adequate lighting, and encouraging your parents to do exercises to maintain strength and balance...  Read more

If you haven't bothered to start saving because you're counting on a fortune (large or small) from Mom and Dad after they go, it may be time to think again.

Unlike previous generations, most of us shouldn't expect too much in the way of an inheritance, according to a post in the New York Times personal finance blog Your Money: "8 Reasons You Should Not Expect An Inheritance."

Our parents are living longer and are faced with astronomical health care expenses, blogger Ron Lieber says, pointing out that many seniors are also draining their home equity through reverse mortgages to pay for medical and monthly bills. The upshot of these developments is that there will be little for them to pass along to the next generation.

Other reasons Lieber believes your parents may have little to leave you in their will include:

• Medicare and Social Security face likely cutbacks.
• Divorces drain wealth that could be passed on...  Read more

A little perspective is in order after the latest Alzheimer's news. To be sure, it's a major breakthrough in Alzheimer's research: Scientists have isolated one of the keys to the cause of this awful disease. There are at least three different kinds of beta amyloid, the sticky protein that's known to be a telltale sign of the disease, but only one kind (when injected in rats) caused symptoms of memory loss. It has long puzzled researchers that some autopsied brains are clogged full of beta-amyloid, although the people never showed any sign of the disease. 

This two-molecule form of beta-amyloid seemed to impair the synapses -- the communication connections -- within the brain. This discovery may speed the progress of drug-treatment development. It will surely clarify the path of future research.

But the big BUT is summed up by the neuroscience director at the National...  Read more

Should the family member who's handling the lionshare of caregiving for a parent with Alzheimer's be paid for his or her (usually her) services? That "increasingly popular option" came up in a Wall Street Journal column on blunting the costs.

The problem:

Alzheimer's care carries the twin burden of usually being available both 24/7 and long-term. We hear so many stories at Caring.com of members who give up their jobs or downshift to part-time in order to look after parents. They save on the cost of professional care. But they lose income, retirement savings, Social Security -- and, potentially, medical insurance.

The pitfalls:

Federal bills that would compensate family caregivers have tended to die in committee. Should taxpayers pay for this growing need? Families may not have funds to pay one of their members, especially in this economy. And If funds come from family, there may be sibling disagreements over how much -- or whether -- to pay...  Read more

Summer’s here. And with it come health risks for seniors. Older people are especially vulnerable to heat  illnesses, as elaborated on by the Centers for Disease Control. The two biggest risks are heat stroke (extremely serious) and heat exhaustion (milder than heat stroke but still serious). Dehydration and heat cramps are in there, too.

There are several things you can do to help protect your parents from the dangers of baking-high temps.

Make sure they:

• Are drinking plenty of hydrating fluids, like water, and avoiding dehydrating fluids, like alcohol and caffeinated beverages
• Limit time in the direct sun and wear hats, sunglasses, and sunscreen
• Have working air conditioning or electric fans -- and know how to use them
• Talk to their doctors about the relationship between heat and their medical conditions and medicines -- some illnesses and meds affect how our bodies deal with heat ...  Read more