Health Information for Seniors

NIHSeniorHealth is an "easy-to-use website [which] features health and wellness information for older adults from the [US] National Institutes of Health." Health information is organized alphabetically by name or in categories such as:
* Bones and Joints
* Cancer
* Diseases and Conditions
* Healthy Aging
* Heart and Lungs
* Memory and Mental Health
* Treatments and Therapies
* Vision and Hearing

Also available: "Exercise stories" with seniors sharing their experiences with various activities, a collection of health videos (with the option of reading the transcripts), and a training module called: Helping Older Adults Search for Health Information Online: A Toolkit for Trainers.

Bringing Companions to Medical Visits: US Study

According to a survey of 12,018 US Medicare beneficiaries 65 years or older, bringing a family member or friend to medical visits improves patient satisfaction with medical care. Researchers found that:

• 38.6 percent of participants reported regularly being accompanied to medical visits
• Companions included spouses (53.3 percent); adult children (31.9 percent); other relatives (6.8 percent); roommates, friends or neighbours (5.2 percent); non-relatives (2.8 percent); or nurses, nurse aides or legal or financial officers (less than 1 percent)
• 63.8 percent of companions helped with communication, including 44.1 percent who recorded physician comments and instructions, 41.5 percent who communicated information about the patient’s medical condition to the physician, 41 percent who asked questions, 29.7 percent who explained physician’s instructions and 3.3 percent who translated the English language
• 28.4 percent of companions were reported to be present for company and moral support, 52.3 percent to assist with transportation, 16.6 percent to help schedule appointments and 8.4 percent to provide physical assistance.

Beneficiaries with regular companions were more highly satisfied with their physician’s technical skills, information-giving and interpersonal skills. Those whose companions more actively helped with communication rated their physicians’ information-giving and interpersonal skills more favourably. This relationship was stronger among patients who reported themselves to be in worse health.

Article:
Jennifer L. Wolff; Debra L. Roter
Hidden in Plain Sight: Medical Visit Companions as a Resource for Vulnerable Older Adults
Arch Intern Med. 2008;168(13):1409-1415.

New Health Literacy Tool for Professionals Who Serve Older Adults (US)

As part of Health Literacy month, the US Department of Health and Human Services released a new health literacy tool for people who serve older adults. The Quick Guide to Health Literacy and Older Adults is designed to provide useful strategies and suggestions to professionals who work with older adults to help bridge the communication gap between professionals and older adults.

In a national assessment of health literacy, only three percent of the older adults surveyed were found to be proficient in health literacy. Persons with limited health literacy have more adverse health outcomes including less frequent use of preventive services, higher hospitalization rates, and more emergency room visits. For older Americans, difficulties with health literacy can complicate already challenging health problems since as many as 80 percent of older Americans have at least one chronic disease.

For more information visit: http://www.health.gov/communication/literacy/olderadults/default.htm.

Reading service for low vision seniors in Vancouver

The 411 Seniors Centre Society in Vancouver now offers "a new service for people who are blind or have low vision. A volunteer is available to read aloud letters, forms, invoices and other correspondence for seniors who are unable to do so themselves... The service is currently available on an on-call/as-needed basis."

To access the service, contact Carol Lloyd at 604-684-8171

From: 411 Seniors Centre Society News & Views newsletter August-September 2007

BC Seniors Advocacy Network (BC SAN)

The BC Seniors Advocacy Network offers volunteer advocates who "support vulnerable seniors dealing with complex situations including: the quality of long-term care, situations of abuse, accessing services and supports to live in the community, etc. If you are a senior dealing with a difficult situation and are not sure what to do next or where to go, [BC SAN] trained advocates are willing to provide free supports to help you."

From: 411 Seniors Centre Society News & Views newsletter August-September 2007

New volunteers are being recruited and trained. Contact Gregg Schiller, BC SAN Project Coordinator (located at the 411 Seniors Centre Society, 411 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver BC). Phone Gregg at 604-684-8171, extension 239 or email gschiller@411seniors.bc.ca.

New booklet from BCCPD: "Know about Keeping Your Body Safe"

The BC Coalition of People with Disabilities' Wellness & Disability Initiative/AIDS & Disability Action Program have published a new booklet in the Know about series. Developed specifically for people with cognitive disabilities, Know about Keeping Your Body Safe emphasizes the different levels of social connection and appropriate touching. It also provides opportunities to practice certain behaviours which are an important part of learning how to make better choices and “keep our bodies safe.”

The booklet comes with a Caregiver Companion Guide, which provides suggestions for using the booklet, a Relationship Ripples sheet (8.5 x 11 inches) with instructions for consumers using the booklet, and a Relationship Ripples poster (11 x 17 inches).

Other titles in the Know about series include:

• Know about HIV and AIDS
• Know about Condoms
• Know about Safer Sex
• Know about Seniors and HIV
• Know about Communicating with Your Doctor (uses sexual health examples)
• Also available: HIV/AIDS Prevention Resources for Educators: Reaching Students with Special Learning Needs (quarterly newsletter) and Tips for Living Well (quarterly newsletter).

To order free samples of any of our publications, please email wdi@bccpd.bc.ca or phone 604-875-0188. You may also fax your request to 604-875-9227.

Community Living Research Project

Recently announced in the North Shore Association for the Mentally Handicapped (NSAMH) Keeping In Touch (KIT) newsletter (August 2007)

The Community Living Research Project "is exploring community living supports available locally, provincially, nationally, and internationally for adults with developmental disabilities.
... Other phases of the project include interviews and focus groups with adults with developmental disabilities and their families and a province-wide survey to be distributed to adults and their families."

The Project is located at the UBC School of Social Work and Family Studies. Topic areas to be covered include:

• young adults transitioning from high school
• residential alternatives to group homes
• non-residential supports
• services for seniors

For more information about the project or to see the literature reviews, including plain language versions, visit the Community Living Research Project website at: http://www.communitylivingresearch.swfs.ubc.ca/

New Canadian health website: What Older Women Want

A Canadian study of older women's health needs and concerns published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal in July 2005, and reported widely in the media, has sparked a new website directed at both patients and health practitioners: http://www.wowhealth.ca/

Known widely as 'WOW' or the 'What Older Women Want' study, conducted by Drs. Cara Tannenbaum, Nancy Mayo and Francine Ducharme, the study asked 5000 older women across Canada which of their health needs they felt were not being met or addressed adequately by their health practitioners.

Among the top unmet concerns Canadian senior women mentioned were: screening and treating urinary incontinence; counselling about memory loss (or perceived memory loss); and exercise strategies to address falls and functional decline.

"Women were very satisfied with the care they were receiving to treat their blood pressure and prevent heart attacks and stroke, but emphasized gaps in care surrounding more 'taboo' issues, such as discussing urine or memory loss," says Dr. Tannenbaum, a Geriatrician at the Institut universitaire de gériatre de Montréal, and lead author of the WOW study. "It may be that women are uncomfortable talking about these issues with their physicians because it is embasrassing, because they believe it is a part of normal aging or because they are unaware that treatments exist."

In order to address this gap in primary health provision and give older women what they want, Dr. Tannenbaum teamed up with the Canadian Women's Health Network and the Centre de recherche de l'Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal to create the WOW website: http://www.wowhealth.ca/

The website contains a portal for health consumers that provides health information on the three unmet health needs of older Canadian women: urinary incontinence, memory loss and exercise. The information is clear, straight-forward and easy-to-read, with engaging illustrations and diagrams. The focus is on prevention, with tips on diet, lifestyle changes and exercise; treatment options are also provided.

The WOW website also has a portal for health practitioners, outlining the kinds of questions that practitioners should be asking their older female patients routinely, and the ways in which they can provide prevention and improvement strategies to their patients for urinary incontinence, memory loss, as well as the particular exercise needs of older women.

For full study details on the What Older Women Want study, visit: http://www.wowhealth.ca/pdf/wowCMAJ.pdf