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The first time I was alone with him he scared me half to death. He was a big man, a schizophrenic, and his voices were acting up. I was driving him to have lunch at my boss's suggestion and at every stoplight after I imagined choking her for suggesting this dangerous assignment, I envisioned the many ways my body could be found if all six-foot-five of him got gnarly with me.

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.

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.

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.

Caregivers are allowed to give care around the activities of daily living (ADL’s). The term “ADL” refers to a set of common, everyday tasks, performance of which is required for personal self-care and independent living. The most often used measure of functional ability is the Katz Activities of Daily Living Scale. In this scale, the set of tasks assessed are bathing, dressing, transferring, using the toilet, continence, and eating.

Though I am often shocked to find people so unrestrained (lying on floors, walking around naked or relieving themselves on the nearest green plant), it is also strangely refreshing to observe the freedom of the primitive. They dance with us easily, tell you that they love you or need you or hate you, as the case may be. They do more than tell the truth - they simply are the truth. Each personality stands out in stark relief.

The primary provider of care in the home is undoubtedly the caregivers who are with your loved one for hours every day. Most of that time the caregiver is alone without anyone to monitor them. How do you make sure that the caregivers with your mother and father are giving the care you hope they are? How do you make sure that they are giving the care you’ve been promised by their company? How do you get past the marketing fluff, the shining promises to the nitty-gritty of rea

I was at the corner coffee shop the other day, when I ran into a man who I have seen over the last few years at a certain nursing home down the hill. I'd never really talked to him, though he'd been a constant presence at dinner time, helping his wife as I sat and fed other patients in the same dining room. As he got into his car, I asked how his wife was. He smiled an ironic little smile something between pride and exasperation. "If you asked her, she'd say she was getting b