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 Dear
Friends & Relations,
In
1963 there were 17 million living Americans 65 years and older. In 2006,
an estimated 37 million Americans (12% of the population) were 65 and
older. Projections forecast that by 2030, approximately 71.5 million
will be 65 and older (20% of the population). Today, one in six
Americans or 44 million people is age 60 years or older.
The
theme for Older Americans Month May 2008 is "Working Together for Strong,
Healthy and Supportive Communities". The 2008 Program Champions highlight
programs and initiatives in states and communities that demonstrate the
principles of the Administration on Aging’s efforts to modernize
community-based long term care and provide greater assurance that older
people in the U.S. will maintain their independence in the community
longer than ever before. The 2008 Program Champions demonstrate
streamlined access to information and services, evidence-based
prevention and wellness projects, and consumer-directed service programs
that help seniors avoid unnecessary placement in nursing home
facilities. They also highlight innovative programs that assist older
people before, during and after natural or man-made disasters. An
important new program, the National Family Caregiver Support Program,
will help hundreds of thousands of family caregivers of older loved ones
who are ill or who have disabilities.
I
wanted to share this information with you for awareness and knowledge
that we are all connected and for all
to understand that by working together, and learning from other
successful states’ programs, vulnerability and other negative aspects of
aging could become a thing of the
past.
Congratulations to all 2008 Program Champions: Alabama, Alaska,
Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Kansas, Maryland, New York,
Ohio, Oklahoma, Washington (National Asian Pacific Center on Aging).
For
more information, visit:
U.S. Administration on Aging.
Joyfully,
Linda Jones, RN
Owner, Health Care Partners, Inc.
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HCP Update:
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by Julianne Stroud, RN,
Director of Education |
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Today many organizations have been
formed to protect animals, children and
the elderly. There was a time when only
animals were protected with rights
instead of children. In health care,
many helpless victims of elder abuse
tend to remain silent, and like children,
they have great fear and are too timid
to face the truth about their
protectors, they fall into “I’m going
to die anyway” and believe they are
unworthy of respect and dignity.
The
mission of Adult Protective Services
(APS) is to protect older adults and
persons with disabilities from abuse,
neglect and exploitation by
investigating and providing, or arranging
for services as necessary to alleviate
or prevent further maltreatment.
Penalties have been established for harm
caused to a vulnerable adult and for
those who interfere with an APS
investigation. Public Act 222,
establishes penalties for financial
exploitation.
All
persons who are employed, licensed,
registered or certified to provide
health care services, educational
services, social welfare services,
mental health, other human services, law
enforcement officers and employees of
the office of county medical examiner
must report suspected cases of adult
abuse, neglect or exploitation. The law
contains a penalty for failure to report
when mandated to do so.
The law
requires an oral report made
immediately, a written report can be
sent later, to describe the suspected
incident and need for protective
services when there is reasonable cause
to believe an adult is in danger because
of suspected abuse, neglect, or
exploitation and is vulnerable. A report
may be made by calling the statewide
Adult Protective Services 24-hour
hotline 800-996-6228.
Health
Care Partners, Inc. recently invited Ms.
Harriet Glassman, BSW, Oakland County
Adult Protective Services Manager from
the State Department of Human Services
to speak to the staff. Ms. Glassman
presented to all disciplines including
in-house staff; all employees were educated and
made aware of
the different items to keep in mind when
confronted with suspicion.
ANYONE CAN REPORT AND CAN BE ANONYMOUS.
THOSE WHO REPORT ARE PROTECTED.
Intake available 7 days a week/24 hours
a day.
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HCP Profile: |
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Mr. Eide Alawan, Patient Support
Services
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Name:
Eide Alawan.
Born:
Detroit, Michigan.
Married to Edna for 44 years with 3 sons, 1 daughter and 2 grandsons.
Childhood Dream: “To serve the
community at large and specifically the Muslim community”.
Graduated:
1959 Cass
Tech High School; 2 years at Henry Ford Community College.
Awards:
December
2006, The Youth Law
Center "Loren Warboys Unsung Hero Award" for his efforts on behalf of at-risk youth. The
award is presented each year to individuals who have made extraordinary
contributions to improve the lives of at-risk youth in the child welfare
and juvenile justice systems.
Joined HCP:
In
2004, with the Transcultural Department under Ms. Najah Bazzy, RN, and
is currently working in
Patient Support Services.
Passion(s):
Interfaith
and Intrafaith Outreach; MI Roundtable; Interfaith Hope & Health
Coalition; Interfaith Partners. He is a founding member of Faith
Communities for Families and Children in Wayne County, Michigan,
sponsored by The Skillman Foundation. He is a
member of the Islamic Center of America, located in Dearborn, Michigan,
the largest mosque on the North American continent.
Greatest job demand:
“The ability to understand and be sensitive to the needs of assigned
cases. One challenge is knowing that folks I see are not even being seen
by their own family and maybe sometimes the client doesn’t even know
[that] but anyway, they still become like family and it’s difficult to
become unbonded. The difficulty is to serve when they are
assigned and to cut them off when care ends.”
Greatest impact in your life:
“September 11, 2001. It caused my life to accelerate to explain my faith
tradition which is Islam. I do Interfaith Outreach and presentations. I
am a panelist on Interfaith Odyssey on Sunday mornings at 7:00 a.m. on
PBS, the show concerns itself with community curiosity of how faith tradition
deals with certain topics of interest and faith questions on spirituality
and healing. I saw the Pope and was 1 in a delegation of 130 people of
various faiths. It was a
great and powerful experience to be a part of”.
Greatest invention ever:
The computer.
What makes your heart soar?
“Seeing
people of faith coming together to improve relationships throughout the
community, throughout the world.”
Email Eide:
ealawan@healthcarepartnersinc.com
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Article
of the Month:
Conversation on Chocolate with Jennifer Hayes
If it tastes this good, it has
to be bad, right?
WRONG!
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by
Jennifer Hayes, Director of Patient
Services |
Chocolate is regularly eaten for pleasure. But,
there are many potential beneficial health effects from
eating chocolate.
Antioxidants extracted from chocolate suppress
cell-damaging chemicals and boost immune functioning in
human blood samples.
Diets high in flavonoid-rich
cocoa powder or dark chocolate
benefit the circulatory system by lowering blood
pressure and have slightly higher concentrations of good
HDL cholesterol.
Other beneficial effects are suggested, such as
anticancer, brain stimulator, cough preventer and
antidiarrheal effects.
Studies have shown that
eating dark chocolate can
improve insulin sensitivity,
or how well insulin works in
the body, which, in turn,
may help with blood glucose
control. Remember chocolate
is certainly no substitute
for taking your blood
pressure, cholesterol, or
diabetes medicine!
Eating large quantities of any chocolate increases risk
of obesity. There is concern of mild lead poisoning for
some types of chocolate. Chocolate is toxic to many
animals because of insufficient capacity to metabolize
theobromine.
When chocolate is mixed with sugar and fat, it
appears to boost the “feel-good” chemicals of endorphins and
serotonin in the brain, thus promoting euphoria and calm.
Pleasure of consuming
Part of the pleasure of eating chocolate is due to the
fact that its melting point is slightly below human body
temperature: it melts in the mouth. A study reported by
the BBC indicated that melting chocolate in one's mouth
produced an increase in brain activity and heart rate
that was more intense than that associated with
passionate kissing, and also lasted four times as long
after the activity had ended.
For more info on chocolate visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate
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Mental Health:
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by
Joanne Corbo Cruz, MSW, LMSW |
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Successful Family
Caregiving
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Family caregivers are
a fast growing community. Baby boomers are aging, more of our injured
troops from the Iraq War are coming home and many families aren’t fully
prepared for the challenges of caregiving. According to the Department
of Health and Human Services, 50 million people in the United States are
family caregivers for their elderly parent(s), the chronically ill,
disabled children, spouse or friend. This “free service” is estimated to
cost $306 billion dollars a year, which is twice the cost of homecare
and nursing home combined at $158 billion. This reality says a lot about
the importance of the family’s mental, emotional and physical well being
to be able to successfully provide long term or even temporary care. The
National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA) helps provide some answers
and messages to live by, such as (1) Believe in yourself (2) Protect
your health (3) Reach out for help (4) Speak up for your rights.
Visit
www.thefamilycaregiver.org
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by Pedro V.
Caing, MD |
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Dr. Pedro V. Caing is the Medical Director
of Health Care Partners, Inc. He is an active staff member of Oakwood
Hospital in Dearborn, Michigan, and he maintains a private practice in
Internal Medicine at 3735 Monroe Street, Dearborn, MI 48124.
telephone: 313-277-6560,
email caing62740@comcast.net. |
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Diabetes afflicts 20.8 million people in the United States,
with over 2.3 million new cases diagnosed each year. Diabetes costs the
U.S. an estimated $174 billion in medical expenditures and lost
productivity.
By the time one is diagnosed with type 2 diabetes
mellitus, more than 50% of the insulin secreting beta cells in the
pancreas have been lost due to cell death.
Because diabetes is a complicated disease that worsens over
time, early and aggressive management is important to prevent its
devastating complications. Complications associated with diabetes
include heart disease, kidney failure, blindness and stroke. It ranks 6th
in the 10 leading causes of death.
It is not uncommon for diabetes to co-exist with other
metabolic disorders. A condition called Metabolic Syndrome
consists of Diabetes, High Blood Pressure and Abnormal Cholesterol (high
triglycerides, bad LDL and low good HDL) levels.
There are new
effective medications, along with diet and exercise, that are available
now to achieve treatment goals. This means a fasting blood sugar between
70 – 100 mg% and a hemoglobin A1C of less than 7%, blood pressure of not
over 120/80, total cholesterol of less than 200, triglycerides less than
150 and LDL of 70 or below. Early diabetes responds well to oral
medications: Metformin, Actos and Avandia lower insulin resistance; Sulfonylureas (glypizide and glyburide) stimulate the pancreas to
produce more insulin; Januvia increases incretins, the intestinal
hormone that suppresses glucagon production - the substance that causes
the transfer of blood sugar in the liver into the blood. Novel Insulin
preparations are required when the pills are ineffective.
After a thorough examination your doctor will decide what
strategy is best for you. Regular checkups are necessary to ensure that
there are no side effects of the medications and that the treatment is
at goal. Periodic urine examination, blood test for kidney function and
cholesterol determination, yearly dilated eye examination, heart
checkups and a baseline ultrasound test of the arteries in the neck and
lower extremities are necessary to monitor possible diabetes
complications.
The average person with diabetes
takes nine different medicines. He may not feel any different whether he
takes them or not, but the pills are intended to keep his numbers right
on target and avoid serious health problems later. |
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Suggested
Reading
Dr. Weil, age 63, presents health facts in a
non-threatening way. His
main mission here is to
recommend "aging
gracefully," which he
considers accepting the
process instead of fighting
it. As the director of the
country's leading
integrative-medicine clinic
(combining the best of
traditional and alternative
worlds), he focuses on
proper nutrition, moderate
exercise, and meditation and
rest among his "12-point
program for healthy aging."
The most eye-opening
sections are those that
discuss the spirituality of
aging and its emotional
aspects.
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Last issue's
Suggested Reading: |
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A Family Caregiver Speaks
Up, "It Doesn't Have to be
This Hard"
by Suzanne Geffen Mintz,
President of the National
Family Caregivers
Association
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Full of advice for family
caregivers, this one of a
kind book written by a
family caregiver provides
lessons from family
caregivers across the
country, tips for
interacting with the
healthcare system to better
meet the needs of families
dealing with chronic
illness, and a cogent
presentation of how public
policy has a profound effect
on even the most intimate
details of life in
caregiving families. |
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Thank You... |
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to all of our referring
physicians, nurses, social
workers and office staff for
providing excellent care to
our patients! The staff at
Health Care Partners
continues to provide quality
care to our patients and
communicates their progress
to all of our referring
physicians!
Health Care Partners tracks
our outcome-based quality
improvement measures on a
monthly basis. Our scores
for the last quarter were
above the national average
on 4 of the 7 measures!
At Health Care Partners, we
care and it shows!!! |
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Quick
Links |
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www.healthcarepartnersinc.com |
www.professionalparentcare.com |
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www.thefamilycaregiver.org |
www.healingdoc.com |
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www.senioroptionsmi.com |
www.banananose.com |
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Contact Us |
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For more helpful information, contact Health Care Partners at
any of
the
following
numbers.
Health
Care
Partners,
Inc.
18000 W.
Nine
Mile Rd.
Suite
400
Southfield,
MI 48075
Phone:
248-358-1186
Fax: 248-784-3919
Don't
forget
to add
us to
your
address
book!
Your comments or suggestions for future
issues
are
always
welcome;
or if
you
would
like
your
name
removed
from
this
email
please
contact
Jane
Cortez.
For back issues of e-news, visit our
website
and
click on
the
Contacts
page at
www.healthcarepartnersinc.com |
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