Top Topics & Aging Articles
Index
Description
Geriatric Care Management - Offers care options to Johnson County Seniors. Geriatric care managers make home visits and coordinate multiple services for their clients who are facing complex situations and need help.
Discover the Power of Volunteering! - Volunteer opportunities with Meals-on-Wheels, Catch-A-Ride, insurance counseling, and more abound at the Area Agency on Aging.
How Does the SHICK Program Help Individuals? - Senior Health Insurance Counseling for Kansans volunteers educate and assist consumers with Medicare and health insurance questions, applying for low-cost or no-cost prescription drug assistance, and sorting out medical bills.
Adult Daycare:
How to Choose Adult Day Care - Covers what adult daycare can do for you; how to choose a facility; how to pay for adult day care; and where to get more information.
"I don’t have to worry on Tuesdays and Fridays” - Adult Day Care, a partial solution to a worrisome problem A look at an Adult Day Care facility through the eyes of a participant and her husband.
The National Adult Day Services Association (NADSA) - Information about NADSA from the first page of their internet site at nadsa.org - NADSA has information about adult daycare standards, guidelines, and start-up kits for new providers.
Caregiver Information:
Alzheimer's Safe Return Program - Information bracelets and registration so caregivers can be contacted when their loved one wanders.
Caregiver Resources - A bibliography of caregiver information, books, and some caregiver websites you don't want to miss - compiled by a consumer health librarian at Johnson County Library.
Caring With Love - Love, nurturing, and kindness help us be better caregivers.
Eldercare Locator – “Eldercare Locator,” a nationwide toll-free telephone service of the U. S. Administration on Aging puts callers in touch with information about state and area agencies serving the elderly in their own community.
Helpful Tips for Caregivers - 14 helpful tips for caregivers from the Cleveland Clinic Health System.
Computer Information/Web-sites:
Website Links to 1) A study on optimal time for adults to sleep. 2) Microsoft explains how to adjust text size, color, and sound for an aging workforce.
Consumer Information:
Consumer Protection - Identity theft, how to protect your personal information, the proper use of credit cards, what to know about buying a used card, and avoiding bill collection scams.
Disability Services:
Disabled Parking Placard And/Or Plate - The process of getting a disabled placard or plate for your car takes a little time, but the benefits are great. It helps to know about both.
Education & Learning Opportunities:
Enjoy writing? Want to learn to do it better? - Seniors get together to write about an assigned subject or another of their choosing, read their stories aloud (if they wish), and teacher suggests improvements in grammar or style.
Making A Short Story Long - Exceptional storytellers need pretty good listeners to draw them out a little, get all the details, all the colors. You can make your conversations an educational experience.
Financial Tax Information:
Reverse Mortgage – Questions and answers for homeowners age 62 and over who may qualify to receive money from their homes.
Solving the Annuity Puzzle – Explains different kinds of annuities, comparison shopping, and seeking financial advice.
Affinity Fraud - Friend Or Fraud? Scams That Target Groups - how to avoid losing money through investment schemes offered to groups you associate with.
Steps To Understanding Financial Issues - Resources For Individuals With Alzheimer’s Disease An overview of ten or more financial and legal tools caregivers might explore to assist someone with cognitive impairments...from the Alzheimer’s Association www.alz.org .
Food & Nutrition:
Diabetic Meal - Good meal and food choices for a diabetic meal.
It’s Not So Much The Diet, It’s Portion Size Portion - sizes for a variety of food groups explained, along with information on controlling your portion sizes. Food and Nutrition.
How Salty Is Your Diet? - How to identify the salt in your diet and reduce the amount you consume.
Food Stamps and the Medicare Savings Programs - A brief overview of the eligibility criteria and benefits of the Food Stamps and Medicare Savings Programs in Kansas.
Water, Water Everywhere. . . Water nourishes both our body and our souls and flushes toxins and waste products out of our systems. Rather than limiting water, the first thing we need to do is to eliminate caffeine from our diets.
Government Services:
Frequently Called County Offices - Services offered and contacts for the Election Office, Environmental Services, Treasurer’s Office, Motor Vehicle Office, (State Driver’s License Office), and Johnson County Courthouse. Also see www.jocogov.org
Healthcare Services:
Be a Good Patient – Ideas on communicating openly with your healthcare provider and following a care plan.
Blindness From Aging Eye Diseases On The Rise – Overview of eye diseases such as cataracts, glaucoma, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy.
Hot Weather Advice For Older People – Identifying hypothermia risk factors. Checking up on and helping seniors at risk of over-heating in hot weather.
If You Don’t Take Your Medicine, You Won’t Get Well Senior citizens who are skipping prescribed medicine because they cannot afford it are suffering major health declines. Fortunately there are some solutions other than quitting or skipping your pills.
Knights of the Blind - Lions Clubs have had sight conservation as a major service project for many years with a variety of programs including processing eyeglass donations, vision screenings, and transporting eyes or corneas from donors.
Pain Management – Prescription and non-prescription solutions to lessen or eliminate pain.
Unsteadiness – Exercise can improve balance and flexibility, prevent falls, and lead to longer independence.
Hobbies & Pastimes:
Could Your Greatest Gift Be Your Story? How to get started on your story— one of the greatest gifts you can give your family and friends.
Discovering Your Creative Spirit - Creativity is within every human soul and can be planted like any seed, and nurtured until it blooms using four building blocks for successful, creative living.
Fun Activities – Seniors answer the question “What do you do for fun?”
Self-Starters – What some people are doing in retirement to fulfill dreams and ideas quietly nourished for years.
The Egg Journal – Writing in your journal about eggs or any simple memory is a doorway to your memories that you can open and share through journaling.
Home Healthcare & Hospice:
How To Know When Your Aging Loved One May Need Help At Home – Overview of eight warning signs that a person may need home health care. Also, where to get information on home health care in Johnson County.
Volunteers Vital to Hospice Care – Volunteers are always needed at Johnson County hospices, and they play a vital role in contributing to hospice care.
Home Repair & Adaptation
Retrofitting Your Home To Meet Changing Needs - Home accessibility and safety issues, common modifications that need to be made, and estimated costs of these modifications here in Johnson County.
Things Redi Kilowatt Never Told Us – Fire Safety and Your Electrical Panel Box Wiring During the 1970s, aluminum wiring was used in a lot of applications. It has been implicated in a number of house fires and has thus dropped out of favor. If you have aluminum wiring, you must be aware of its limitations and make certain it is properly installed and maintained.
Insurance
Confused about Medicare and Health Insurance Options?
Shick volunteers help untangle the webs of confustion - one real life story about the peer-to-peer, one-on-one benefit of Senior Health Insurance Counseling for Kansans, a program offered in Johnson County and throughout Kansas.
Food Stamps and the Medicare Savings Programs - A brief overview of the eligibility criteria and benefits of the Food Stamps and Medicare Savings Programs in Kansas.
How Does the SHICK Program Help Individuals? - Senior Health Insurance Counseling for Kansans volunteers educate and assist consumers with Medicare and health insurance questions, applying for low-cost or no cost prescription drug assistance, and sorting out medical bills.
Insurance Problems? SHICK Can Help! - Senior Health Insurance Counseling for Kansas (SHICK) is a free program offering older Kansans an opportunity to talk with trained, community volunteers and get answers to questions about Medicare and other insurance issues.
Introduction to Kansas Medicaid Services - A brief overview of Medicaid services, eligibility criteria, and application processes in Kansas.
Long-Term Care Insurance – Benefits and considerations regarding long-term care insurance.
Questions To Ask An Agent When You’re Considering Buying Long-Term Care Insurance - Important questions to help you choose and compare long-term care insurance; and information on where to get insurance counseling help.
Lawn & Garden
Easy Kansas Flower Gardens - Black-eyed Susans, Purple Coneflowers, Hollyhocks, Larkspur and other flowers commonly grown in Kansas can be part of your flower garden that will come back year after year if you spread your seeds in late summer or early fall.
Lasagna Gardening – Don’t dig. Build your garden in layers like you make lasagna.
Legal/Consumer Issues
Advanced Directives - Advanced Directives prevent families from making decisions that cause agony, at a time when the focus should be a holy and grace-filled death.
Division of Assets On Spousal Impoverishment - The Spousal Impoverishment Law protects a portion of a couple’s income and assets for one spouse when the other has to go into a nursing home.
Living Will May Not Solve End-Of-Life Issues - Experts advise making out a living will—but also getting a durable power of attorney for health care.
What's A Court Appointed Guardian? Explains the process for appointing a guardian to make decisions about a person’s living arrangements, care, etc. or a conservator to make decisions about real and personal property, income, benefits, etc.
Steps To Understanding Financial Issues - Resources For Individuals With Alzheimer’s Disease An overview of ten or more financial and legal tools caregivers might explore to assist someone with cognitive impairments...from the Alzheimer’s Association www.alz.org.
Legislative/Advocacy
Senior Groups - meeting for social, advocacy, and legislative purposes. These groups have regular meeting times, although there are occasional changes in the scheduling of these groups. Please be sure to call to confirm details of the group you are interested in.
Silver-Haired Legislature Column for May 2004 - The Silver Haired Legislature bills are designed specifically to assist the well-being of Kansas Seniors. YOUR persistent interaction with Kansas Legislators is critical in placing senior health needs into their vision for Kansas.
Medicaid
Food Stamps and the Medicare Savings Programs - A brief overview of the eligibility criteria and benefits of the Food Stamps and Medicare Savings Programs in Kansas.
HCBS Care at Home or in Assisted Living - A brief overview of Medicaid waiver programs for Home and Community Based Services in Kansas, including information about financial eligibility criteria and who does the assessments for functional eligibility.
Introduction to Kansas Medicaid Services - A brief overview of Medicaid services, eligibility criteria, and application processes in Kansas.
Medicaid Care in Nursing Facilities - A brief overview of Medicaid eligibility criteria to cover nursing facility care in Kansas.
Paying for Nursing Facility Care - Overview of payment options for nursing facility care including private pay, Medicare for short-term care, long-term care insurance, and Medicaid. Includes contact information and information about estate recovery for Medicaid recipients. See also Part I - Planning for Nursing Home Care in Johnson County.
Planning for Nursing Home Care in Johnson County - A step by step process for planning for nursing facility care, lists of agencies who can help, and questions to ask in reviewing facilities. See also Part II – Medicaid Eligibility and Estate Recovery for Nursing Facility Care.
Medicare
Confused about Medicare and Health Insuarnce Options? Shick volunteers help untangle the webs of confustion - one real life story about the peer-to-peer, one-on-one benefit of Senior Health Insurance Counseling for Kansans, a program offered in Johnson County and throughout Kansas.
Food Stamps and the Medicare Savings Programs - A brief overview of the eligibility criteria and benefits of the Food Stamps and Medicare Savings Programs in Kansas.
How Does the SHICK Program Help Individuals? - Senior Health Insurance Counseling for Kansans volunteers educate and assist consumers with Medicare and health insurance questions, applying for low-cost or no cost prescription drug assistance, and sorting out medical bills.
Insurance Problems? SHICK Can Help! - Senior Health Insurance Counseling for Kansas (SHICK) is a free program offering older Kansans an opportunity to talk with trained, community volunteers and get answers to questions about Medicare and other insurance issues.
Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 - Medicare’s Prescription Drug Discount Card has some limitations that consumers should find out about before enrolling.
Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Update - Publications, web site and phone line to help clarify new drug program.
Mental Health/Reflections
The Mental Health and Aging
Coalition meets every 4th Tuesday from 10-11:30 at the Roeland Park
Community Center, 4850 Rosewood Drive, Roeland Park, Kansas 66205. The
meeting is open to anyone interested in this topic who works with older
adults and their families in eastern Kansas.
Attitude 101 – Programming your brain with the right attitude is so important; they ought to teach it in school.
Keep Your Brain Young -How to keep your brain functioning efficiently by doing your physical and mental calisthenics, and changing your diet.
Role Model In Aging - Staying active, being positive, and having a close loving family has given one older woman a long and rewarding life despite many health challenges.
Surviving The Family Vacation - Helpful hints on how to make family vacations fun with a little cooperation, effort and involvement.
The Art Of Growing Old - One can feel sorry for oneself or one can accept oneself and others and go with the rhythms of life to achieve harmony within.
Top Ten Strategies For Aging Successfully - Dr. Roger Landry, a physician in the field of Successful Aging focuses on the health and wellness of the mind, body and spirit. His Masterpiece LivingSM program is being tested in several senior communities.
Nursing Facilities
It’s Going To Be A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood - Nursing home environments are changing, and can be more positive and appealing to residents and their families.
Paying for Nursing Facility Care - Medicaid Eligibility and Estate Recovery - Overview of payment options for nursing facility care including private pay, Medicare for short-term care, long-term care insurance, and Medicaid. Includes contact information and information about estate recovery for Medicaid recipients. See also Part I - Planning for Nursing Home Care in Johnson County.
Planning for Nursing Home Care in Johnson County - A step by step process for planning for nursing facility care, lists of agencies who can help, and questions to ask in reviewing facilities. See also Part II – Medicaid Eligibility and Estate Recovery for Nursing Facility Care.
Planning for Long Term Care
Lifelong Communities - A Kansas Department on Aging initiative to develop communities that provide the government, housing, transportation, health care, community services and attitudes that people need to live there comfortably for a lifetime.
Long-Term Care Insurance – Benefits and considerations regarding long-term care insurance.
You Only Die Once - Our death is the most significant event that happens to us, and this book is the only one I found that helps me understand what’s involved. You Only Die Once encourages people to lighten up about this subject, but take it seriously—talk about it and create a good ending.
Steps To Understanding Financial Issues - Resources For Individuals With Alzheimer’s Disease An overview of ten or more financial and legal tools caregivers might explore to assist someone with cognitive impairments...from the Alzheimer’s Association www.alz.org.
Prescription Drugs
If You Don’t Take Your Medicine, You Won’t Get Well - Taking your medicine correctly now will make you feel better and cut down on future health costs. Consider options for making prescriptions more affordable.
Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act of 2003 - Medicare’s Prescription Drug Discount Card has some limitations that consumers should find out about before enrolling.
Medicare Prescription Drug Plan Update - Publications, web site and phone line to help clarify new drug program.
Recreation & Fitness
A Titanium Frame Of Mind - Sixty-five-year-old Glen Shepard joins 3,000 other bicyclists taking off on the 750-mile cycling odyssey, Paris-Brest-Paris. For twenty years, he’s exercised or done something almost everyday to raise his heart rate.
Add Water To Your Workout – Johnson County Park and Recreation’s 50+ Programs offer different classes and opportunities for swimming and water exercise at many locations.
Surviving The Family Vacation - Helpful hints on how to make family vacations fun with a little cooperation, effort and involvement.
Travel Tips For Seniors - 20 travel planning tips to make travel fun, not frustrating.
Retirement Housing Options
Assisted Living - Weighing the Options: Information on Assisted Living from the AARP website aarp.org which covers comparing facilities, calling, visiting, looking at the contracts, and weighing the cost. Also references other publications and resources.
The Dilemma: Staying Put Or Moving To A Retirement Community - A senior living facility should provide for its residents a place where seniors can meet their “potential” for health and wellness of the mind, body and spirit. An interview with Dr. Roger Landry, a physician with a strong emphasis in the field of Successful Aging.
Social Security
Social Security Benefits - Social Security Benefits Information from the national social security internet site www.ssa.gov about applying for benefits, and contact information including phone numbers and the location of the Johnson County office.
Support Groups
Alzheimer’s and Parkinsons Caregiver Support Groups – Listing of Alzheimer’s and Parkinsons support groups in Johnson County including some exercise classes for Parkinsons.
Emotional Support Groups for Grief, Widowed Persons, Grandparent Caregivers – Listing of grief support groups, grandparent/relative caregiver group, and widowed persons groups.
Grandparents As Parents - Support is a key to being effective as a parent of a grandchild. One support group meets in Roeland Park. For info call Leeann Hochstetler at (913)362-1899.
Transportation
Giving Up My Car - It isn’t easy to stop driving and give up your car, but there a few things you can do to ease the pain.
Transportation in Johnson County - Provides a quick overview of affordable transportation programs available in Johnson County.
Volunteer Opportunities
Discover the Power of Volunteering! - Volunteer opportunities with Meals-on-Wheels, Catch-A-Ride, Insurance Counseling, and more abound at the Area Agency on Aging.
SHICK Needs Volunteers - Training is provided for SHICK volunteers to help those who need assistance to make informed decisions about Medicare benefits, supplemental insurance policies, and long-term care insurance. Volunteers also help people resolve unpaid medical bills and assist in accessing prescription drug assistance.
Volunteers Assist the Visually Impaired - Highlights a few of many volunteer opportunities through the Volunteer Center of Johnson County 341-1792 www.vcjc.org.
Human Services & Aging
11811 S. Sunset Drive, Suite #1300
Olathe, KS 66061-7056
(913) 715-8800 : voice
(913) 715-8825 : fax
(913) 894-8822 : TTY
E-mail