Lecture at Young at Heart Adult Day Care in St. Louis, MO on July 21, 2010 from 5-7pm

Viki will be speaking at Young at Heart Adult Day Care in St. Louis, MO on July 21, 2010 from 5-7pm.

Research shows that there are thousands of seniors living in our community who do not need a nursing home, but do need help, especially during the day to continue living safely at home.

Young at Heart Adult Day Care provides high quality care for an aging senior, or a family member with a cognitive or physical disability that limits their safety at home. Young at Heart is a good alternative to a nursing home for many people who are not ready to leave their home; and a great option for family members getting worn down with worry and the round the clock commitments of time to provide in-home support.

Owned and operated by Peter Nicolazzi and Laura Bone, Young at Heart Adult Day Care is licensed by the State of Missouri and is a Medicaid Provider. They are also members of the Missouri Adult Day Services Association. Pete has a history of over 20 years in a variety of social work settings. Most recent experience in the past 8 years has been working as a geriatric medical social worker in long term care. Voted Best Customer Service Award of 2003 from Barnes-Jewish Extended Care for superior performance and service to Patients, Families, Visitors and Staff. Laura brings 20 years of nursing experience with a specialty in Rehabilitation Nursing. Voted Nurse Manager of the Year of 2001 from Rehab Care Group. Clinical experience include medical/surgical, acute rehabilitation and Emergency Medicine. Laura is a member of the Association of Rehabilitation Nurses. Laura is currently serving as Vice President on the Missouri Adult Day Services Board.

Have a kind and respectful day.

n4a Annual Conference & Tradeshow 7/18/10 and 7/19/10 in St. Louis

Viki will be attending the n4a’s Annual Conference and Tradeshow all day on July 18th and will be presenting on July 19th from 3:15-4:15pm.

The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) is the leading voice on aging issues for Area Agencies on Aging and a champion for Title VI Native American aging programs. Through advocacy, training and technical assistance, they support the national network of 629 AAAs and 246 Title VI programs.

They advocate on behalf of their member agencies for services and resources for older adults and persons with disabilities. Action characterizes how they move their agenda forward, and when there is a question about aging, they have the Answers on Aging. They work with their members in achieving their collective mission of building a society that values and supports people as they age.

The n4a 2010 annual conference and tradeshow that runs from July 17-21, 2010 at the Hyatt Regency St. Louis at The Arch in St. Louis, MO will celebrate, showcase and facilitate the replication of the most innovative policies, programs and services that assist older adults and people with disabilities.

Have a kind and respectful day.

Discrimination at the End of Life for the Mentally Disabled. It is not what you think!

The people we are supposed to be protecting are not being allowed a peaceful, dignified and good death. There is substantial discrimination for those who are mentally disabled at the end of life. Wait a minute you say. Aren’t there laws that protect people who are disabled? Yes, but the laws and regulations can be a double edged sword and may end up actually harming the patient. Here is what happens.

A patient has been mentally disabled for their entire life. They have a family member who is their conservator and are part of their local Regional Center. So there are protections already in place. These protections have worked well during their lifetime but may cause them problems when it comes time to die. What happens is that because the patient can not say, “Enough already, I am ready to die”, they continue to have their dying/suffering prolonged. The doctors hesitate to do what they would do for a “regular” patient because they don’t want to get in trouble. If you or I wanted to stop receiving aggressive treatments, we could say stop and the doctors would have to listen. But because there are so many legal protections in place mandating the treatment of the disabled, even when the family wants to stop, it is difficult to stop treating the patient. And if the patient does not have a strong advocate, then the healthcare professional will err on the side of life and keep prolonging their dying process. This is why having a strong advocate in place may make a difference. The advocate can ask for the patient to be allowed the peaceful death offered to other patients.

An example of this is seen in the last days of the dying process. When people near the end of their life, they stop eating as their body is no longer able to digest and use the food. If you feed a dying person near the very end, you can increase their pain and suffering. For most of us when we are dying, we will refuse food and people will let us stop eating. Now it may be difficult for our loved ones to accept that we are no longer interested in eating, as food often represents love, but we should respect the patient’s wishes because we don’t want to increase their pain and suffering. For the mentally disabled patient there are laws which state they must always be offered food orally. So we feed the dying disabled person even though we would never treat a “normal” person that way as it would increase their pain as they are dying. This is what it comes down to. We treat the dying mentally disabled differently than a regular patient. And this can significantly change their dying experience. The laws which protected them throughout their life may harm them when they are trying to die a peaceful death. At the end of their life, we shouldn’t treat the disabled person as “special” but instead we should treat them as “normal.” That way we can ensure they get the good death they deserve.

Have a kind and respectful day.