Selected Articles for Consumers

Consumer-Oriented Topics

What Are We Going to Do About Dad? (Health Affairs, Vol 24, Issue 4, 1064-1072. Copyright © 2005 by Project HOPE)

Articles from Caring for the Ages

Drug Discount Card Primer (Caring for the Ages, June 2004, Vol. 5, No. 6, p. 2-6)
Physicians and other practitioners are scrambling to learn about these cards and what effect they will have on patient care in long-term care and other settings.

New 24/7 Alzheimer's Call Center (Caring for the Ages, May 2004, Vol. 5 No. 5, p. 1,8)
The new service provides disease-specific information as well as counseling, confidential care consultation, decision-making support, crisis assistance, education and links to community resources for patients and caregivers.

Guest Editorial: My Mother, My Neighbor (Caring for the Ages, March 2004, Vol. 5 No. 3, p. 86-89)
A daughter confronts the true meaning of assisted living.

Caregiver Person-to-Person (Caring for the Ages, December 2003, Vol. 4, No. 12, p. 40-41)
A look at several resources in print for caregivers caring for chronically ill loved ones.

Caregivers Hold up the Sky (Caring for the Ages, December 2003, Vol. 4, No. 12, p. 42-47)
The vast majority of long-term care is provided informally and privately – at no public cost. As a result, an active, committed family caregiver movement has emerged.

Consumer-Directed Health Care (Caring for the Ages, December 2003, Vol. 4, No. 12, p. 38-39)
Consumer-directed health care complements, rather than replaces, the traditional service delivery system, maximizing choice and control for the elderly and people with disabilities and their families.

Emotional Effects of Caregiving Linger after Spouse's Death (Caring for the Ages, February 2002, Vol. 3, No. 2, p. 1, 32-33)
Studies find that depression, loneliness, and other adverse psychological effects of caring for a spouse with dementia can persist for years after the afflicted spouse dies.

Article Series: "A Daughter's Journal"

Caring for the Ages also features a serial column in which New York City-based health care consultant Ann D. Gross chronicles her experiences with her mother, who has moved into a nursing home.

1. A Daughter's Journal: Loneliness of the Long-Distance Caregiver (Caring for the Ages, December 2002, Vol. 3, No. 12, p. 32-33)
2. A Daughter's Journal: Saturday Night Fever at the Nursing Home (Caring for the Ages, January 2003, Vol. 4 No. 1, p. 32-37)
3. A Daughter's Journal: An Outside Visit to the GI Doctor (Caring for the Ages, February 2003, Vol. 4 No. 2, p. 45, 51-53)
4. A Daughter's Visit: It's All in the Timing (Caring for the Ages, March 2003, Vol. 4 No. 3, p. 56)
5. A Daughter's Journal: During a Visit, "the Play's the Thing" (Caring for the Ages, April 2003, Vol. 4 No. 4, p. 48)
6. A Daughter's Journal: The Sound & the Fury: Signifying Plenty (Caring for the Ages, May 2003, Vol. 4, No. 5, p. 44-47)
7. A Daughter's Journal: Birthdays & Denials (Caring for the Ages, June 2003, Vol. 4, No. 6, p. 74)
8. A Daughter's Journal: Homeward Bound (Caring for the Ages, July 2003, Vol. 4, No. 7, p. 54)
9. A Daughter's Journal: The Triple-Secret Stealth Mission (Caring for the Ages, August 2003, Vol. 4, No. 8, p. 30)
10. A Daughter's Journal: The Whole is More than the Sum of the Parts (Caring for the Ages, September 2003, Vol. 4, No. 9, p. 60-62)
11. A Daughter's Journal: The Homecoming Queen (Caring for the Ages, October 2003, Vol. 4, No. 10, p. 40-41)
12. A Daughter's Journal: After The Fall (Caring for the Ages, November 2003, Vol. 4, No. 11, p. 36-37)
13. A Daughter's Journal: The Circle Game (Caring for the Ages, December 2003, Vol. 4, No. 12, p. 66-67)
14. A Daughter's Journal: A Daughter's Goodbye (Caring for the Ages, December 2004, Vol. 5, No. 12, p. 65-72)

The above articles originally appeared in Caring for the Ages. Caring for the Ages is an official publication of the American Medical Directors Association, published by Elsevier. The above articles may not be reproduced in any form, print or electronic, without permission. The opinions expressed by the authors are their own and not necessarily those of AMDA or of Elsevier.