Latest news about care for elderly people

What is the best diet for someone over age 60? There really isn’t a one-size-fits-all eating plan. “In geriatrics it’s such a broad range, from someone who’s maybe 65, young, active, still working versus someone who’s 85 and in a nursing home,” says Katie Dodd, a board-certified specialist in gerontological nutrition and owner of The Geriatric Dietitian, based in Medford, Oregon. “It’s such a wide array of where people are in life.”

That means dietary needs can vary. “As a geriatric dietitian, I tend to work with older adults who are a little bit sicker,” Dodd says. “So, a lot of what I’m helping them with is getting enough nutrition – getting enough food to stop unintended weight loss, to prevent malnutrition and muscle loss and all the things that go with that.”...

It may happen suddenly: assuming the caregiver role for an acutely ill spouse or severely injured child. Disaster or emergency can compel you to quickly take on responsibilities you never expected.

In another scenario – like an aging parent who’s experiencing subtle changes in their physical or mental functioning – you can find yourself picking up helpful tasks, one by one, until that mushrooms into a major caregiving undertaking...

As people age, health and mobility issues can make independent living at home more difficult. But not everyone can afford a nursing home or assisted living, and not everyone wants to move to one of these facilities.

In fact, 77% of adults aged 50 and older want to remain in their homes for the long term, reports AgingInPlace.org. But one-third of adults aged 50 and older say they need to modify their current home for themselves or a loved one in order to do so...

You may have isolation fatigue from reading so much about social isolation these days – but it's a real thing, impacting seniors at a high rate. One of the latest studies published in JAMA Internal Medicine says that homebound seniors aged 70 and older more than doubled, from 5% between 2011 and 2019 to 13% in 2020. According to researchers, the numbers of homebound seniors – meaning their ability to leave their place of residence is restricted without aid – would likely remain elevated through 2021 due to the pandemic.

The AARP Foundation and the United Health Foundation conducted a survey in 2020, publishing the results in The Pandemic Effect: A Social Isolation Report, which found that all adults are experiencing social isolation...

STATE PENSION age is set to be the marker by which Britons can expect to receive a free bus pass in certain circumstances. But with a proposal to increase the free NHS prescription age, it could symbolise the point at which individuals can access this kind of support as well.

State Pension age has historically stood at 60 for women and 65 for men, but after changes, by November 2018, age parity was reached. This was not the end of alterations, however, and since, the state pension age has risen to 66. The state pension age is gradually increasing for men and women and is planned to increase in future years to 68...

The HEALTH AND SOCIAL CARE levy on pensioners has broken the historic link between paying National Insurance contributions and building up State Pension entitlement. Those who continue working beyond age 66 will pay the NI levy without getting more State Pension in return.

This will dismay those who reach State Pension age without having made enough NI contributions to qualify for the maximum full basic new State Pension. If they continue to work after retirement age from 2023 they will pay the 1.25% levy on their earnings, but it will not make up their NI shortfall...

Spurred by decades of complaints about the high cost of hearing aids, Congress passed a law in 2017 to allow over-the-counter sales, hoping they would boost competition and lower prices.

Four years later, federal regulators have yet to issue rules to implement the law. But changes in the industry are offering consumers relief.

In August 2017, President Donald Trump signed the legislation that called for the Food and Drug Administration to issue regulations by 2020 for hearing aids that could be sold in stores without prescriptions or visits to audiologists or hearing specialists. That hasn’t happened yet, and President Joe Biden last month ordered the FDA to produce the rules for over-the-counter, or OTC, purchases by mid-November. That means it will most likely take at least until next summer for consumers to feel the direct effects of the law...

Residential homes ran by Manx Care are beginning a phased reopening after they were shut amid rising cases of coronavirus.

Eight care homes on the Isle of Man were closed to visitors and new admissions after "increased levels of community transmission".

The first homes to reopen are Southlands and the Gansey Unit in Port St Mary, Sweetbriar at Thie Meanagh in Douglas, and Cummal Mooar and Reayrt Skyal in Ramsey.

Strict restrictions remain in place for at least two weeks, including compulsory lateral flow tests for visitors...

Two great-grandparents separated over lockdown have celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary with a socially-distanced outdoor lunch at a care home.

Andy Davidson, an 88-year-old resident at Jesmond Care Home in Aberdeen, and his 86-year-old wife Margaret enjoyed some food and a whisky while separated by a Perspex screen as they marked the milestone.

Their daughter Brenda had cushions made with pictures of their faces on them “so they can cuddle up together” while care home visiting remains restricted...