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Blog
Welcome to the Wisdom Along The Way blog — a gathering place for stories, reflections, and real-world guidance from Cindy Hasz. Here you’ll find wisdom born from experience, heartfelt encouragement, and practical support for those caring for aging loved ones. Whether you’re navigating the daily challenges of caregiving or seeking comfort and connection, these posts offer hope, understanding, and companionship along the journey.
Getting Maintenance Therapy Covered
"Transformative change" doesn't happen quickly or easily. Such is the case with implementing the Jimmo v. Sebelius paradigm shift for obtaining extended maintenance therapy for elders with chronic illness and the disabled of all ages.
1 min read
The Long and Winding Road
The battle I speak of does not roar but whimpers on in homes and skilled nursing facilities across our nation. It is the battle for getting extended therapy for those rehabilitating from acute injury as well as those suffering from chronic degenerative diseases.
1 min read
Standing Tall Amid the Lilliputians of Elder Care
I got on the phone to his primary physician to ask for a change in the order to keep him not only comfortable but also safe. Before I could get more than a sentence out of my mouth, she cut me off and asked to speak to the nurse on duty. After verifying that my information was correct, she did indeed change the order. That's when all hell broke loose.
4 min read
A Panic Attack in the Men's Department
Bemused glances and twinkling eyes followed us all the way to the door. We really must've been an odd sight. Her extreme anxiety and crabbiness seemed to just make people smile. She didn't notice how kindness and understanding lit faces like a traveling electrical impulse as we made our way across the room. But I did.
3 min read
A Nod to Aging Eros
When I met him, he lived in an exclusive residential facility on top of a hill with a million-dollar view he never saw. He sat in the middle of a huge room where he was enthroned amongst the trappings of a life gone by.
3 min read
Assisted Living Facilities, Choose Wisely, Choose Well
Certain truths are anything but self-evident. This is the case when trying to discern truth from fiction and marketing from reality in “Assisted Living” facilities. Assisted Living (AL) and Board and Care Facilities are a popular and rapidly growing elder care option somewhere between home sweet home and the dreaded “nursing home.”
1 min read
Getting Maintenance Therapy Covered by Medicare
The culture of the infamous "improvement standard" is deeply ingrained at all levels of care, and it will take patience and persistence to change the status quo. "Transformative change" doesn't happen quickly or easily. Such is the case with implementing the Jimmo v. Sebelius paradigm shift for obtaining extended maintenance therapy for elders with chronic illness and the disabled of all ages.
4 min read
Centers for Disease Control’s Guidelines for Opioid Use in Chronic Pain
Improper pain management, whether over-medication or under-medication, is the genesis of much suffering for the elderly with chronic pain.
The CDC even had to release new guidelines for opioid use for chronic pain. While those in active cancer therapy, palliative care and end of life care aren’t included in these guidelines, chronically ill elders certainly are.
2 min read
What Can a Geriatric Care Manager Do for You
I like to compare having a Geriatric Care Manager to having a guide to help you through an unfamiliar country. Your guide knows the best way to get where you’re going and the safest, quickest way to get there.
2 min read
My Own Helen of Troy
The connection between art and humor is not so far a reach. Both are self transcendent. Is not weaving the gold of humor from the straw of life one of the greatest arts? It is an art we can pay others to do for us, but ultimately, we must learn to perform that alchemy for ourselves.
3 min read
Paradigm Shift: Servant Leadership
The real Christmas story is counter intuitive. It’s a story about a virgin birth, God in human flesh, and a king who served. The story is of Jesus of Nazareth, a sovereign ruler who could not find a place to lay his head, who came to pay a debt he did not owe to give us a freedom we could not earn.
Who would do that? A servant leader.
3 min read
Assisted Living: A Devastating Truth (Part 2 of 2)
In part one of this article, we responded to the September 8th San Diego Union Tribune article, “Deadly Neglect”, which documented neglect in local assisted living facilities. What many people found out for the first time as they read the Union Tribune article was that these assisted living and residential care facilities for the elderly are regulated by the Department of Social Services, and not the Department of Health.
3 min read
Assisted Living: A Devastating Truth (Part 1 of 2)
The Union Tribune wrote a series of investigative articles titled “Deadly Neglect”, about the pandemic-related conditions in San Diego’s assisted living facilities. These were important articles and should have opened a lot of eyes.
5 min read
Alternative Therapies
One thing we find interesting is the research and growing anecdotal evidence mounting on the benefits of Coconut Oil in not only Alzheimer’s Disease but other degenerative neurological diseases, as well. Apparently, it’s the ketones and the medium chain triglycerides (MCT’s) that have a beneficial effect on our neurological systems.
2 min read
Geriatric Care Management and PIM
According to the Journal of American Geriatric Society, a full 30% of hospital admissions in elderly patients may be due to drug related problems or toxic drug effects. Potentially inappropriate medication ("PIM") is widespread with the elderly in both acute and community-based settings.
2 min read
Are You Listening? How Geriatric Care Managers Read Between the Lines
Remember when your parents were lecturing you on the rules for taking the car for a spin? Dad would put his face in front of yours and say, “Are you listening?” Of course, you would say “sure,” even though your mind was miles away on the adventure to come.
3 min read
Pro-active San Diego Caregivers: A Critical Factor in Home Care
San Diego caregivers are the single most important link in providing quality elder care for our clients in the home.
While medical and geriatric professionals are important to navigating the difficult obstacle course that is chronic illnesses, the only ones in the home of dependent elders on a regular basis are usually the care givers.
2 min read
Geriatric Care Managers Alert to Drug Overdose with Elders
Family members and friends should pay attention to any changes in an elder’s condition and report to their primary physician. Changes in appetite, weight, balance and gait, sleep habits, appearance or sudden mental confusion, etc. are signs that something may be amiss in the medication regime or that opioids and/or alcohol are being added to the mix.
1 min read
Geriatric Care Managers Can Help Post Stroke Patients
If you have an elder loved one who has suffered a stroke, and they’ve come home after hospitalization, no doubt they will either be attending outpatient therapy or having visiting therapists through a “home health” agency.
2 min read
Caregiver Agencies: The New Community Standard
No caregiver is an island… at least they should never be. Systems need to be set up in the home to support and direct care. The care of your loved one needs to be monitored daily by qualified individuals.
2 min read
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