Monthly Archives: June 2010

“Two Automated Services for Your Aging Parent’s Safety Health”

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By Guest Blogger Dale Carter of TransitionAgingParents.com”

Both solutions I’m highlighting today include the following benefits.

They are:

  • simple to set up and use
  • well-designed and tested
  • automated
  • flexible
  • support an aging parent’s independence and desire to age-in-place

The first product is OnTimeRX (“timely email, phone, SMS reminders”)  with reminder call (or message) for each medication a person takes.  This product has been in use since 2000, and was developed by Long-Term care pharmacist Susan Torrico.

  • How many of our aging parents take every one of their medications on schedule every time?  It is indeed a challenge for the elderly.
  • With the growing desire to age in place, and with the growing number of medications needed as we age, this service meets a critical daily need.
  • There’s an added bonus to the service!  Calls can also be scheduled for other reasons, such as monitoring blood sugar, meal times, etc.

The concept is simple with the reminder calls/messages being offered to a land line, cell phone, computer email, Blackberry, Palm, Windows Mobile smart phone, or PDA.

Here’s how it works.  You and your aging parent:

  • Tell the service how your aging parent wishes to receive the reminder calls and/or messages
  • Set up the reminder schedule
  • Record a personalized message for each call
  • Benefits?  It’s simple to set up, flexible to any care plan needs, and is reliable, stress-free and non-judgmental.  It certainly does support aging-in-place.

As OnTimeRX says, “Think of OnTimeRX as a personal assistance or automated ‘To Do list that keeps people on track and happily involved in their own daily care routines.”…www.OnTimeRX.com

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The second product is FineThanx (“make every day independence day”) offering a daily automated call.

  • How many of our parents forget to wear their PERS (personal emergency alert systems)?  I venture to say, quite a few.
  • We’ve heard the statistics.  One in every 3 persons aged 65+ falls each year.
  • With the growing desire to age in place and the risk of falling at home alone, wouldn’t it be great to have an automated system that checks on your loved one every 24 hours and communicates their status to their whole Circle of Care (including children that live far away)?

Peter Sharp, founder of FineThanx, developed this automated call system as a result of a person experience with his grandmother who fell, did not use her alert button and was not found for 2 days.

The service is simple but definitely meets the need!

  • A call is made once or twice a day to the home of the elderly person.  The automated message tells the person to press “1″ if they are ok, press “2″ if they need help.
  • If “2″ is pressed or if the call goes unanswered after 3 attempts, an second automated call sequence commences, calling one person at a time within the Circle of Care (established by the family)
  • Members of the family’s Circle of Care receives email notification of calls each day so they can rest assured their loved one is ok.

www.FineThanx.com

“Dale Carter, founder of Transition Aging Parents, is dedicated to providing insight and information to adult children of aging parents so their parents may “thrive and find joy” in every stage of life. To get your F.R.E.E. 5-Part E-Course and receive her bi-weekly articles on resources, options, and new innovations for aging parents, visit http://www.transitionagingparents.com “


WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The World Health Organization, governments and nonprofit groups are saving lives by distributing drugs to developing countries, but they are not paying enough attention to the dangers of drug-resistant bugs, according to a report released on Tuesday. Many such drug distribution programs may be driving drug resistance and endangering the lives they are meant to save, according to the report from the Center for Global Development. “Drug resistance is a natural occurrence, but careless practices in drug supply and use are hastening it unnecessarily,” the Center’s Rachel Nugent, who led the group writing the report, said in a statement. Millions of children in the developing world die every year from drug-resistant strains of malaria, tuberculosis, AIDS and other diseases, the report found. Since 2006 donors have spent more than $1.5 billion on specialized drugs to treat resistant bacteria and viruses, and this could worsen, the report cautions. So-called “superbugs” such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureas, or MRSA, now cause more than 50 percent of staph infections in U.S. hospitals. Bacteria and viruses begin to evolve resistance to drugs almost as soon as they first encounter them. If drug treatment leaves even one microbe alive, it will reproduce and whatever genetic attributes helped it survive will be multiplied in the next generation. Last week, experts told a Congressional panel that U.S. regulators need to provide a clear path for drug companies to develop new antibiotics and should consider offering financial incentives. The Center’s report looks for even broader action, urging WHO to lead others, including pharmaceutical companies, governments, philanthropies that buy and distribute medicines, hospitals, healthcare providers, pharmacies and patients. The report finds clear links between increased drug availability and resistance. For instance, in countries with the highest use of antibiotics, 75 to 90 percent of Streptococcus pneumoniae strains are drug-resistant, it found. Poor quality drugs, counterfeit drugs, incomplete use of drugs and other factors all contribute to the problem, the report found. And this problem will worsen as drug access programs succeed, it cautions. “The number of people being treated for HIV/AIDS, for example, increased 10-fold between 2002 and 2007; there was an 8-fold rise in deliveries of (drugs) for malaria treatment between 2005 and 2006, and the Stop TB Partnership’s Global Drug Facility has expanded access to drugs for TB patients, offering nearly 14 million patient treatments in 93 countries since 2001,” the report reads. “While increased access to necessary drugs is clearly desirable, it brings challenges in preserving the efficacy of these drugs and ensuring they are used appropriately.” For instance, in 2008, an estimated 440,000 cases of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis emerged. The Center for Global Development, an independent, nonprofit group, specializes in research on global poverty and inequality. SOURCE: http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/1424207 Center for Global Development, “The Race Against Drug Resistance”

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The World Health Organization, governments and nonprofit groups are saving lives by distributing drugs to developing countries, but they are not paying enough attention to the dangers of drug-resistant bugs, according to a report released on Tuesday.

Many such drug distribution programs may be driving drug resistance and endangering the lives they are meant to save, according to the report from the Center for Global Development.

“Drug resistance is a natural occurrence, but careless practices in drug supply and use are hastening it unnecessarily,” the Center’s Rachel Nugent, who led the group writing the report, said in a statement.

Millions of children in the developing world die every year from drug-resistant strains of malaria, tuberculosis, AIDS and other diseases, the report found.

Since 2006 donors have spent more than $1.5 billion on specialized drugs to treat resistant bacteria and viruses, and this could worsen, the report cautions.

So-called “superbugs” such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureas, or MRSA, now cause more than 50 percent of staph infections in U.S. hospitals.

Bacteria and viruses begin to evolve resistance to drugs almost as soon as they first encounter them. If drug treatment leaves even one microbe alive, it will reproduce and whatever genetic attributes helped it survive will be multiplied in the next generation.

Last week, experts told a Congressional panel that U.S. regulators need to provide a clear path for drug companies to develop new antibiotics and should consider offering financial incentives.

The Center’s report looks for even broader action, urging WHO to lead others, including pharmaceutical companies, governments, philanthropies that buy and distribute medicines, hospitals, healthcare providers, pharmacies and patients.

The report finds clear links between increased drug availability and resistance. For instance, in countries with the highest use of antibiotics, 75 to 90 percent of Streptococcus pneumoniae strains are drug-resistant, it found.

Poor quality drugs, counterfeit drugs, incomplete use of drugs and other factors all contribute to the problem, the report found. And this problem will worsen as drug access programs succeed, it cautions.

“The number of people being treated for HIV/AIDS, for example, increased 10-fold between 2002 and 2007; there was an 8-fold rise in deliveries of (drugs) for malaria treatment between 2005 and 2006, and the Stop TB Partnership‘s Global Drug Facility has expanded access to drugs for TB patients, offering nearly 14 million patient treatments in 93 countries since 2001,” the report reads.

“While increased access to necessary drugs is clearly desirable, it brings challenges in preserving the efficacy of these drugs and ensuring they are used appropriately.”

For instance, in 2008, an estimated 440,000 cases of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis emerged.

The Center for Global Development, an independent, nonprofit group, specializes in research on global poverty and inequality.

SOURCE: http://www.cgdev.org/content/publications/detail/1424207 Center for Global Development, “The Race Against Drug Resistance”

Personal Financial Advisors

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Meeting with a financial planner is an easy way to get personalized advice on having more money. While general financial advice can be help plot the journey to increased wealth, one-on-one consultation with an expert will solidify your approach.

Before you set up an appointment, learn the difference between a financial planner and a financial advisor. A financial advisor is usually a commission-based expert who has at least some stake in the investments you buy. A financial planner will help you set short- and long-term financial goals, make a plan to get there and prepare for life’s emergencies. Some financial planners are commission-based, such as life insurance agents. However, many are fee-based, which means that you pay them by the hour for customized financial planning advice.

If your main objective is to find the least-biased advice possible, choose a fee-based advisor or planner. The good news is most advisors will give you a free consultation, which allows you to get a feel for how they can help you.

A great resource is the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors. For more information, visit www.NAPFA.org.