Newly Associated Diseases from Exposure to Agent Orange

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During the Vietnam War (1962-1975), the United States military, as well as the Republic of Vietnam, used defoliants for tactical purposes to reduce cover for enemy forces, improve perimeter visibility of military installations, and even to kill enemy food crops. Agent Orange is the most infamous of the tactical herbicides whose names became shortened to the identifying color band on the drum in which they were shipped and stored. These toxic herbicides have created a host of health problems in Vietnam Veterans who are now in and around their sixtieth decade. The illnesses are even linked to the offspring of these veterans.

In 2017, then Veterans Administration Secretary David Shulkin decided to add more diseases like bladder cancer, hypothyroidism, and symptoms akin to Parkinson’s to the VA’s growing list of illnesses and health concerns with highly likely links to the toxic herbicide according to an Institute of Medicine 2016 report (IOM).  In addition to these findings, in 2018, the National Academies of Sciences found evidence linking Agent Orange to more diseases like hypertension and associated stroke. The Academy also links Agent Orange to monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), which is the presence of abnormal proteins in the bloodstream. The addition of these health concerns and diseases is in large part due to the change of their evidence classifications from the “limited or suggested” to “sufficient” category.

Earlier in 2019, then acting head of the Veterans Health Administration, Dr. Richard Stone, informed Congress that the VA was hoping to make a final decision on these “new addition” illnesses within 90 days. 90 days came and went. At a time when giving ailing senior veterans quicker access to rightful disability compensation and health benefits, thousands of veterans have lost hope. Unfortunately, for some, the culpability delay tactics are costing veteran lives; the longer the delay, the fewer lives to be addressed.

The Military Times is reporting these documents, obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by a veteran, are being broadly overlooked or objected to by the White House. According to the documents, there are about 83,000 veterans currently experiencing one of the three newly proposed presumptive illnesses. However, the current director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Mick Mulvaney, expressed concerns regarding the budgetary impact of disease expansion within the current program and its potential adverse effects on the existing disability benefits program. Budgetary concerns seem to be overriding over 40 supportive scientific studies, peer-reviewed studies and additional documents Shulkin presented in a letter addressed to Mulvaney. The position of the White House remains to expand veteran care through the private sector.

Much of the inability to form a consensus in providing additional benefits revolve around the use of the term “presumptive” in describing the illness. Presumptively linking hypertension to Agent Orange exposure may be scientifically valid; however, the case can also be made linking hypertension as a disease typically found in older people, like Vietnam Veterans. Thus as Vietnam Veterans age, presumptive illnesses and their sources become difficult to isolate. The Veterans Health Administration, upon reviewing the results of their Vietnam Veteran Morbidity Study and the Vietnam Mortality study, concluded in May of 2018 that there is insufficient scientific data and information to overcome the limitations that exist in the scientific support requirement for rulemaking.

The years go on, and the back and forth continues as more Vietnam Veterans suffer Agent Orange-related illnesses and die. The longer political ploys are used to delay the approval of adding presumptive disease, the more intact the Veterans Health Administration budget will remain. This country’s policy and the legislative process should not hinder America’s support of its veteran population. It is unconscionable to use delay tactics in the hopes this issue will self-resolve with the impending deaths of tens of thousands of sick Vietnam Veterans who may be fully deserving of additional medical care and benefits, but not receiving them. The VA must redouble its efforts to free up more benefit monies to right this egregious wrong.

If you need help planning for your veteran’s benefits, please get in touch with our Ruston, Louisiana office by clicking here to send us a message or by calling us at (318) 255-1760.

 

Emotional Support Animals for Seniors

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Most of us know what a service animal is, but the use of emotional support animals is becoming more and more common. So, what is an emotional support animal? An emotional support animal is a companion animal that provides benefits to a person who has an emotional or mental health disorder. In order to be characterized as an emotional support animal, documentation from a health professional must be obtained for the animal. Most commonly, these animals are dogs, but other animals can serve as emotional support animals. It is becoming more evident that these emotional support animals can provide some real benefits to the health and wellness of the senior population. Whether depressed, dealing with ongoing disabilities, or chronic illnesses, emotional support animals can be one of the best treatment options out there.

Emotional Support Animals and Physical Health

Emotional support animals can provide a reason for seniors to get out and remain active. For example, a dog needs to be walked. Walking the dog provides the seniors with physical exercise. Exercise is a much-needed part of a healthy lifestyle for seniors and can even improve mobility. The American Heart Association has even stated that people with heart disease who own a dog outlive those who do not. Similar health benefits can be found for other chronic illnesses such as diabetes. In arthritis sufferers, petting an animal can help to work out the arm.

Emotional Support Animals and Mental Health

Having an emotional support animal also helps to reduce depression and anxiety. It can reduce the stress hormone, cortisol, and increase serotonin, a feel-good hormone. Major triggers for depression in elderly people are loneliness and isolation. With an emotional support animal, many seniors often find companionship and friendship that helps them to cope with loneliness and isolation and can alleviate depression for the senior. It can also help in coping with the loss of a spouse.

In addition, having an emotional support animal can provide mental stimulation for seniors. This can come in the form of talking about animals or even reading about them. This is of great benefit to those suffering from dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Often those with dementia or Alzheimer’s suffer from bouts of agitation, emotional support dogs can help to calm them down. Those who suffer from loss of appetite due to these diseases have had improved appetite having an emotional support animal.

Types of Emotional Support Animals

As previously stated, dogs are the most common of the emotional support animals, but there are other options. Cats, like dogs, are a fairly common choice. Birds can be an option for people who do not have a lot of space. Birds also do not require a lot of maintenance which makes them ideal for seniors. Birds come in many varieties, so be sure to research to find the right bird. Fish are an option for people who may be allergic to furry pets. The companionship offered by other pets is not there, but watching the fish can be calming and relaxing. Smaller furry animals such as rabbits, hamsters, mice, and even domestic rats. These animals also don’t require a lot of space but can be handled and many are affectionate animals, good for companionship.

The support for emotional support animals and seniors is fairly recent, but studies on the effectiveness of these animals continue to be surfacing. Service animals have proven to be of great service to people with disabilities over the years, but the benefits do not stop with service animals. If you or a loved one is experiencing chronic illness or mental disorders, consider talking to the family and doctor about getting an emotional support animal. This can greatly improve the quality of life and increase the length of life.

If you have any questions about something you have read or would like additional information, please feel free to contact our Ruston, Louisiana office by clicking here to send us a message or by calling us at (318) 255-1760.

Dementia Patients Have New Technology for Care

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The increasing number of seniors and near-seniors experiencing dementia in the United States is on a rapid rise. A hallmark of cognitive decline is a long pre-clinical phase followed by an actual medical diagnosis that progresses from early to middle and late-stage dementia. Poor memory, agitation, confusion, and understandable fear of the future are some of the first characteristics a senior may experience as cognitive decline takes hold. It is a frightening diagnosis for anyone’s future well-being.

When symptoms begin to show there are some relatively simple technologies available that will enhance the senior’s at home safety and provide a level of comfort as they begin their first steps in what can multi-year journey of dementia. These technology tools can reduce feelings of overwhelming for caregivers and their loved ones who are living with the disease. While some of the devices may seem quite simple to those without problems of cognition they can improve the quality of life for all involved.

People living with dementia often confuse day and night and can become distraught as they argue with a caregiver about time. A specially designed clock for those with dementia can alleviate the confusion and allow a caregiver to maintain routine behaviors. Some of these clocks do not give the actual time but rather a simple display design identifying morning, afternoon, evening, and night. Other clocks will display the date, time of day and day of the week in on either a 12 or 24-hour display which can be particularly helpful to a veteran who lived their life on military time. The clock also has a multilingual feature and can be set in 8 different languages.

Google has a screensaver clock app that is visible at all times displaying the day of the week and morning, afternoon and night. Many clock app designs allow for thousands of options allowing intensive customization. Finally, combination clocks with large magnifying aids and numbers offer both digital and analog, the day of the week, and more – all in oversized text.

Adaptive phones and video chat devices that are preprogrammed with frequently dialed numbers on large buttons or with picture identification allows a dementia patient ease of use in staying connected to loved ones. Staying in touch with friends and family is essential to the well-being of seniors experiencing cognitive decline. Often, a person living with dementia will forget what a person said or did, but they seem to be able to remember how it made them feel. The senior might hang up the phone after a FaceTime or Skype and not remember who they just spoke to but still feel better for it.

If the senior lives alone, electrical appliance use monitoring can alert a caregiver if an appliance has not turned on or off. This tool plugs into a power strip or wall outlet and can provide additional safety for the senior at home alone in the event a stove was left on, as well as let a caregiver know if the senior is remembering to eat or cook for themselves by monitoring the kitchen appliances.

People with dementia could wander and even become lost. Wearable GPS location and tracking devices have many options that can alert a caregiver what room in the home a loved one is occupying. If they walk outside to retrieve their mail and forget to come back in a caregiver can be alerted remotely and perform a location and wellness check. If the senior does not get out of bed and move to the kitchen for breakfast or a recliner to watch television a caregiver will be alerted. Anything that is outside of the expected routine of the senior with dementia can become an alert to a caregiver.

Companion care robots have several positive benefits in the homes of people with dementia. Robots can decrease rates of neglect or abuse by assisting an overwhelmed human caregiver. When a caregiver’s workload is reduced through the use of robots, they have more time to focus on human interaction, typically with a better attitude. Caregivers can then become better listeners and observers as well as have time to identify and address key patient issues. In the absence of a human caregiver a chatbot, similar to a smart home assistant, can bring conversation, daily reminders, read or play games and answer questions for a person living with dementia. Companion care robots are a new standard of caregiving because of the multitude of tasks it can perform and alerts it can provide.

Smart home environmental controls can adjust thermostats and turn lights on and off providing a safer and more comfortable living space. They are also capable of sending alerts via smartphones in the event of an unforeseen event or change in patterned patient behavior. Smart homes coupled with in-home cameras are a great way to ensure the safety of a person with dementia. Cameras that allow two-way conversation as well as provide a visual projection of medication sites, relaxation areas and more allow a remote caregiver to monitor their loved one’s movement. Alerts are sent if no motion has been detected for a set time.

Medication management and reminder messages provide additional support for a person living with dementia at home. Whether a high-tech pill dispenser or pillbox marked with days of the week, a vibrating alarm on a watch or scheduled audible reminder from a smart assistant or chatbot can help keep a patient taking the correct dosage of medication at the proper time. Medication management through technology tools helps avoid a potentially catastrophic situation of incorrect or no dosage.

These technology tools are useful to all seniors living at home but especially to those suffering cognitive decline. Establishing repeatable, patterned behavior through these tools creates a structure that alleviates some of the more frustrating aspects of losing memory. Caregivers can focus on the more human-oriented tasks and loved ones from far away can maintain a connection as well as monitor the well-being of their family members. As a family, and even in the absence of a dementia diagnosis, setting these tech tools in place is a smart idea for a senior living at home alone.

We hope you have found this information useful. If you have questions or would like to discuss your particular situation, please don’t hesitate to reach out to our Ruston office by clicking here to send us a message or by dialing (318) 255-1760.

 

Virtual Care and Senior Living

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For care providers and aging seniors in the information age, the future is now.  While still with some challenges, the adoption of virtual care as a standard in senior living and aging services has become a fully integrated and accepted practice to overcome obstacles in senior healthcare.

Virtual care techniques have been in use for over a decade and have moved beyond the infancy stages. Several top providers of senior living care accept virtual care as an effective means to administer care. Furthermore, seniors and staff providing care recognize the value that technology-enabled solutions offer. If you are an aging senior, you are likely to experience some form of virtual care in your lifetime.

One of the more prevalent applications of virtual care is to overcome the challenges of staffing shortages and staff retention in care facilities. Recruiting, paying, and retaining the necessary staff for senior care is one of the most significant issues senior care facilities face as a whole. Virtual care can be made available during staffing shortages, particularly during after-hours and weekend care, as well as on holidays. Provider oversight includes platforms using audio and video virtually connected to a bedside 24 hours a day. This alert system will provoke human intervention in a crisis. The virtual monitoring of senior residents can alert a skeleton crew of care providers tied to the virtual platform in the event of an emergency to intervene and provide complex or urgent care that requires a human touch.

Advancing positive outcomes is a hallmark of virtual care for seniors. Proper implementation and oversight of virtual care systems can avoid unnecessary hospitalization which reduces health care costs as well as stress on aging seniors, their caregivers, and family. Because healthcare is becoming prohibitively expensive, senior care providers view virtual care implementation as a high priority for health care reform. The 2018 Telehealth Industry Trends presentation cites research showing that “…after hours skilled nursing virtual care providers have successfully treated more than 80 percent of skilled nursing residents in place using virtual care technologies.” Health care provided on-site helps residents avoid the expensive costs of hospitalization and the accompanying trauma associated with patient emergency hospital trips.

Virtual care is ideal for assisting the goals of the senior “aging in place” trend. Older adults are increasingly interested in technological applications to improve their aging experience and allow them to maintain healthy independence while remaining in their own homes. In the event of an adverse health event, remote monitoring and wearable technologies can alert care providers or loved ones immediately.  For seniors who have chronic conditions, this type of monitoring can bring peace of mind to know their health is being monitored 24 hours a day. By using an integrated virtual system, the senior also plays an active role in their well being. Home monitoring “smart speaker” service solutions for seniors are being aggressively developed and marketed by non-traditional healthcare companies like Amazon and Google.

Independent senior living will especially benefit through virtual care technologies in rural markets where seniors can often have trouble finding convenient care options. A major hurdle facing this trend is connectivity. Often times in rural environments internet connections are unreliable and sometimes nonexistent. Programs like Connect Americans Now are working to bridge the digital divide and provide reliable broadband connectivity for some 19.4 million Americans living in rural areas. Virtual systems can help monitor vital signs of health for difficult to reach senior populations as well as enhance social engagement to offset feelings of loneliness and isolation. These rural seniors benefit immensely by having ease of interaction with healthcare professionals and social contact with friends and loved ones. Overall, virtual care technologies can bring better health care and quality of life to rural seniors.

Virtual technology has a myriad of applications to benefit aging seniors. In senior living facilities it can augment staffing issues and still provide 24-hour monitoring and oversight. It can also make aging in place strategies for seniors much safer, particularly for those seniors in rural communities.

If you have any questions or would like to discuss care planning options for you or a loved one, please don’t hesitate to contact our Ruston, Louisiana office by clicking here to send us a message or by dialing (318) 255-1760.