The deaths of 12 patients at a Hollywood nursing home following Hurricane Irma were preventable and should never have happened. Yet they did. But why? And what can you do to make sure this will not happen before you move your loved one into a...
You’ve seen the headlines: “Hospitals Face a Shortage of Nurses as COVID Cases Soar.” “Rural Hospitals Can’t Find the Nurses They Need to Fight COVID.” “A Crisis Situation as Military Medical Teams Deploy to Staff Hospitals.” What you may not have known is that before COVID, we were facing...
Have you noticed the purple pinwheels around town? This is to remind us that June 15 marked World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. Sadly, the elder abuse numbers just keep going up. More than 5 million Americans are abused every year and the annual financial loss is...
More than half of all Americans are concerned that the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted their ability to achieve a secure retirement, according to a new poll taken by the National Institute on Retirement Security. This should come as no surprise. We all know that this pandemic...
You may be pleasantly surprised to hear that Gainesville has opted into a nationally recognized program to be designated age-friendly by both the AARP Network of Age-Friendly Communities and the World Health Organization’s Global Network of Age-Friendly Cities and Communities. As a requirement to join the...
Florida is finally in the news for a great reason! We are about to become the first state in the entire country to pass groundbreaking legislation that criminalizes attempting to change an elderly or disabled person’s will or trust with the intent to exploit or...
The news has been full of alarming statistics about the high percentage of long-term care workers refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. Given the more than 100,000 COVID deaths nationwide of long-term care residents, the implications are obvious. How are we ever going to get COVID under control...
Florida ranks last in the latest national scorecard evaluating long-term services, compiled by AARP. There are 50 other states (D.C. is included) ranked higher than we are, even though we are home to the largest population of seniors in the entire country. Stating I am embarrassed...
With all the bad news about COVID-19 and long-term care facilities, I wanted to write about an organization that deserves more positive attention. Founded in 1975 as a result of the Older Americans Act and under the umbrella of the Florida Department of Elder Affairs, the...
I wish I could tell you that in my 24 years of working with seniors, I never saw financial exploitation. Unfortunately, I have witnessed theft of property, investments, money, jewelry and more. Most of these crimes are perpetrated by someone the older person knows and trusts...
