Welcome to the January newsletter!
Boris Lantzman, President, Friendly Care
We have included a new interview feature. This month’s interview is one of a series of print interviews conducted by NCBAC™. The series includes leaders in the area of healthcare, aging and dementia. Some have conducted research, some are business leaders and others are experts in the best methods of day to day care.
Our next interview is with Boris Lantzman, President, Friendly Care Click here to read.
Our standard 3 articles and CEU quiz follow below.
A Delay in Getting Hearing Aids Can Mean More than Hearing Trouble
A few years ago, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine gave us yet another reason to worry about getting Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias: They demonstrated an association between hearing loss and cognitive decline.
Specifically, people with moderate hearing loss were twice as likely to experience cognitive decline as their peers, while those with severe hearing loss faced five times the risk.
Hospital Readmissions for Infections Too High Among Older Adults, Study Finds
Too many Medicare enrollees are being readmitted to the hospital to be treated for the same infection they had while they were inpatients, a new study shows.
Researchers at the University of Michigan looked at more than 318,000 hospital discharge records for Medicare patients 65 and older and found that 2.5 percent returned to the hospital within a month to treat the same infection they left with — also called a linked infection.
The Promise of Community Health Workers
They go by different names: outreach workers, promotores, non-traditional health workers, community health representatives. Whatever they may be called, community health workers (CHWs) act as a vital link between health services and the neighborhoods they serve.
These frontline public health professionals understand the unique needs of their underserved communities — from language barriers to lack of transportation or access to healthy food. They focus on building trust by applying their special understanding of language and/or culture to improve health knowledge and ultimately, improve health.