Of all the great information about Alzheimer’s and dementia that Heather Mulder shared Tuesday night in her presentation at Bridle Brook of Mahomet, here is the point that really hit home.
If you see signs of Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, take the time to broach the subject rather than sit and stare at the elephant in the room.
Heather is Manager of Consumer Education and Outreach for the Greater Illinois Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association (alz.org). She conducted a presentation on “Know the 10 Signs: Early Detection Matters.” Bridle Brook is an assisted living and memory care community that BMA manages in Mahomet, Illinois.
To learn the 10 Signs of Alzheimer’s and other helpful information, click here.
There are many reasons why earlier is better when it comes to memory care issues, Heather noted.
It might not be Alzheimer’s or dementia. Urinary tract infections, vitamin deficiencies, malnutrition, dehydration, anemia, thyroid and heart problems, mini-strokes, alcohol, and even the medications you are taking can cause memory problems. Some can be treated or reversed, and some can be life threatening if not treated properly.
In the past, the only way to tell if a person had Alzheimer’s disease was through an autopsy. Today, doctors can diagnose through exclusion. The diagnostic steps include patient history; talking with close family members and/or friends; physical, mental and neurological exams; and brain scans to rule out other reasons for memory problems.
Be sure your doctor is comfortable in making a diagnosis; if not, you can contact the Alzheimer’s Association.
If there is a diagnosis of dementia, there are many benefits to having gotten an early diagnosis.
There are things that you can do to maximize the quality of life, including doing things on your Bucket List.
You will have more time to plan for the future and have conversations about how you want to be treated; to seek legal advice and complete legal documents; and to make plans for your finances and property.
You will have the opportunity to get the maximum benefit from available treatments.
Heather will be returning to Bridle Brook to conduct free educational programs on other Alzheimer’s topics on June 19, Aug. 21 and Oct. 16. We invite you to attend.
Bridle Brook of Mahomet features assisted living and memory care apartments and an adult day care program. The community, which is located at 1505 Patton Dr. in Mahomet, Illinois, also hosts an Alzheimer’s Support Group at 6 p.m. on the second Wednesday of the month. You can call 217-586-3200 for more information about the community.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of affordable assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
Russell Yohn caught my attention shortly after U.S. Congressman Joe Walsh had finished his “Senior Forum” at the Heritage Woods affordable assisted living community that BMA manages in South Elgin, Illinois.
Given that the focus of the forum was on what is happening in our nation’s Capitol, he wanted me to see “The Good Country Emblem” that he had created.
The words he used to describe a Good Country are as follows:
A good country to live in is composed of good people
Who help to keep it so
By each one doing one’s part
As one’s actions do count.
I thought that you would be interested in seeing his creation as well as some of the other handiwork that he showed me as we sat and talked in his studio apartment at Heritage Woods of South Elgin.
Russell painted scaled-sized images of our world on plastic eggs. With all the attention to Global Warming, the one that I found the most fascinating was the version that shows how much land was covered by glaciers during the last Ice Age. He painted the Ice Age view onto a L’eggs pantyhose container.
He also enjoys working with geometric shapes (as shown above).
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of affordable assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
By Rick Banas of senior living provider BMA Management, Ltd.
Using personal stories and items from the African American Museum of Southern Illinois in Carbondale, Illinois, Milton McDaniel spoke about the history of African Americans in our country and in Carbondale.
His presentation at the Prairie Living affordable assisted living community that BMA manages in Carbondale was part of a celebration of African American Heritage in honor of Black History Month.
Here are some of the insights that McDaniel shared:
In 1561, ships started coming in from Africa, carrying human cargo primarily to pick cotton and tobacco. Children as young as seven to eight years of age were expected to pick as much cotton as an adult.
Ships also carried in white “slaves” from Europe. They were labeled “indentured servants” rather than slaves. Rather than having to work as slaves for the rest of their lives, they only had to work as an indentured servant for seven years before they could be freed.
Up until 1960, there was one only black police officer in Carbondale. He was only allowed to patrol the Northeast side of town. He was not allowed to arrest anyone who was white.
Back then, people got along; there didn’t seem to be a lot of problems. There were many “Mom & Pop” stores owned and operated by African Americans on the Northeast side of town and probably 50% of the businesses in town were owned by people of color.
At the same time, as a young boy in the 1950s, McDaniel was living in a community where there were “white only” water fountains and segregated restaurants. As an 11-year-old boy, he worked as a bus boy at a restaurant where blacks were not allowed to eat. He talked about a restaurant in Carbondale that had black cooks but a white only clientele and a restaurant where black athletes from Southern Illinois University (SIU) were the only blacks who could eat there.
He talked about school desegregation and the Civil Rights Movement.
He showed pictures of the bus that came through Illinois and stopped in Carbondale to pick up folks to go to the March in Washington, D.C. in 1963.
A person in attendance who grew up a little further south recalled sitting on the front porch of a home in Cairo, hearing bullets bouncing off the courthouse.
McDaniel talked about how basketball help bring Carbondale together in 1967.
The men’s basketball team at Southern Illinois University, with Walt “Clyde the Glide” Frazier, won the National Invitational Tournament at Madison Square Garden.
At the same time, the men’s basketball team at Carbondale High School was competing for the state title in Champaign. The team, which featured four black starters, amassed a 29 and 3 record and finished second in the State.
McDaniel was a member of the Carbondale Terriers and remembers playing against Frazier in some of the sandlot games that were played during the summer months.
He told the story about a young African American from Carbondale who became the first black man to be allowed to work as a Fireman on a train operating north of the Ohio River. As the person responsible for managing the steam engine’s output of steam, the fireman had to know every signal, every curve and every change in elevation to safely control the train.
This young African American would guide the train from Carbondale to St. Louis. He would then hitch a ride on a train back to Carbondale. Because the fireman was black, he had to ride back to Carbondale in the luggage car with the bags and the caskets.
McDaniel was the young African American.
Holding up a poster of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. that is on display at the Museum, McDaniel read the quote from Dr. King accompanied his picture:
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”
Prejudice is not something we are born with, he said, but something we are taught.
To learn more about Black History Month, go to History.com. You can view a video on the Origins of Black History Month below.
BMA Management is proud to announce that our Blog on Calling Assisted Living an “Acute Care Setting” Is Just Plain Wrong has been nominated for a 2012 Assisted Living Today Best Blog Award.
To see the nominations and to cast your vote for Best Blog, click here. Voting is located at the bottom of the page.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of affordable assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
By Rick Banas of senior living provider BMA Management, Ltd.
Falls can be a life changing event, especially for older adults, Dr. Paul DeHaan MD (pictured right) said as he talked about balance and falls at the free community health education program that was held last week at the Heritage Woods affordable assisted living community that BMA manages in McHenry, Illinois.
The Board Certified Orthopedic Surgeon has been in McHenry for the past 25 years, taking care of broken bones and worn out hips and knees. He is on staff at Mercy McHenry Medical Center.
An estimated 11 million seniors fall each year, he said, and 40% of the admissions to nursing homes are because of falls.
Elderly Caucasians and Asians are the ones most risk of falling as are people who take a lot of medications, especially if prescribed by more than one physician; and those living alone. Most falls occur at home.
The inability to stand on one foot for five seconds is one of the tell tale signs that a person is more at a risk of falling.
He offered this advice…
When it comes to reducing your risk of falling, moderate amounts of exercise can make the biggest difference.
Wear shoes that fit properly and have non-skid soles.
Make sure that you are getting a proper intake of calcium and Vitamin D.
Make sure that staircases are free of clutter, that there are handrails on both side of the stairs, and that there is adequate lighting so you can clearly see the steps.
Use non-skid rugs.
Keep a nightlight on in the bathroom to help you see. Don’t lock the bathroom door because a locked door makes it more difficult for someone to help you if you should fall.
Before you get out of bed, sit on the edge of the bed for a little bit of time to reduce the risk of getting dizzy when you stand.
If you should fall, try to fall sideways to protect your head. Do not try to get up if you are, or if think you are, injured so you don’t risk further injury. Call for help. If you are going to try to get up, take a few deep breaths first. Make sure you are okay. If possible, crawl over to the nearest strong and steady piece of furniture and use it to provide support. Slowly begin to rise.
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of affordable assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
By Rod Burkett of senior living provider BMA Management, Ltd.
As President and CEO of the largest provider of assisted living in Illinois and Immediate Past President of the Affordable Assisted Living Coalition (AALC), I found some recent information about Medicare spending on older adults to be intriguing.
The information was posted in a DataBrief on the SCAN Foundation website and reflects an analysis of Medicare Benefits prepared by Avalere Health, LLC. You can see the DataBrief at thescanfoundation.org
The SCAN Foundation is an independent not-for-profit organization that supports efforts to keep seniors self-sufficient at home and in the community.
The analysis looked at how much Medicare spent on health care services for older adults who required supportive services to assist them with activities of daily living such as help with eating, bathing, dressing, toileting and transferring.
The analysis showed that over the course of one year Medicare spent approximately $4,300 less on health care for a person who lived in assisted living or a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) than a person who required supportive services and was living in their own home or apartment.
The figures shown in the analysis reflect Medicare spending for inpatient hospital, outpatient hospital, physician, emergency department, skilled nursing, home health and hospice services.
The analysis reflects spending data on nearly 2.2 million individuals on Medicare who required supportive services. Of those, nearly 1.2 million lived in their own home or apartment; more than 800,000 in a nursing home; and more than 200,000 in assisted living or a CCRC.
When you multiply an annual savings of more than $4,300 per person times the more than 200,000 that lived in assisted living or a CCRC that totals a savings of more than $870 million in Medicare spending in just one year.
The analysis also shows that the Medicare health care costs for individuals who need assistance and are living in assisted living or a CCRC is nearly $600 a year less than those living in a nursing home.
In light of the tremendous cost savings, how unfortunate it is that the Draft Framework for the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s that was recently released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS.org) virtually ignores assisted living.
In our assisted living communities, we have and do care for a significant number of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia. These are people who do not require the skilled nursing care services of a nursing home. These are people who may need help ordering their food and remembering what time of day it is and how to get to their apartment.
According to the Assisted Living Federation of America (ALFA.org), more than one-third of the residents currently living in assisted living communities nationwide have Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia.
A growing number are living in specially designed Memory Care neighborhoods that offer special individualized and group programming. We are honored to have received approval from the State of Illinois to develop one of five pilot affordable assisted living Memory Care programs. The pilot projects will operate through the State’s Supportive Living program so they can serve those of all incomes, including individuals on Medicaid.
We will soon have under construction Memory Care apartments on the campus of our Heritage Woods affordable assisted living community in South Elgin, Illinois.
Unfortunately, the National Plan to Address Alzheimer’s only mentions assisted living in one of its strategies and recommendations. Our company is providing feedback to the Department of Health and Human Services on why assisted living should play a much more prominent role in the National Plan.
We encourage you to join BMA in sharing your comments with the HHS. You can send an e-mail to NAPA@hhs.gov
What are your thoughts? Leave a comment and let us know.
“BMA Management is the leading provider of affordable assisted living in Illinois and one of the 20 largest providers of assisted living in the United States.”
Of all the great information about Alzheimer’s and dementia that Heather Mulder shared Tuesday night in her presentation at Bridle Brook of Mahomet, here is the point that really hit home.
In the past, the only way to tell if a person had Alzheimer’s disease was through an autopsy. Today, doctors can diagnose through exclusion. The diagnostic steps include patient history; talking with close family members and/or friends; physical, mental and neurological exams; and brain scans to rule out other reasons for memory problems.
By Rick Banas of BMA Management, Ltd.
Russell painted scaled-sized images of our world on plastic eggs. With all the attention to 
Using personal stories and items from the 
The analysis looked at how much Medicare spent on health care services for older adults who required supportive services to assist them with activities of daily living such as help with eating, bathing, dressing, toileting and transferring. 
A growing number are living in specially designed Memory Care neighborhoods that offer special individualized and group programming. We are honored to have received approval from the State of Illinois to develop one of five pilot affordable assisted living Memory Care programs. The pilot projects will operate through the State’s Supportive Living program so they can serve those of all incomes, including individuals on Medicaid. 
