Happy New Year

2010 has started out slow. After a busy holiday season and nice getaway vacation in December I am raring to go. Have sent out lots of e mails, scheduled many meetings and am eager to start solving all those age related problems that affect so many older adults out there. FOr instance:trips to the emergency room. Older adults constitute up to 60% of the ER visits overall. Yet sometimes this population is so vulnerable that the ER experience itself can be debilitating. We always reccommend going with an advocate, hopefully a family member who knows your situation, is aware of the event that precipitated the ER trip, knows your medications, can ask for pain control or even something as simple as a drink of water. If a family member isn't availabe a paid caregiver should accompany and the best case scenario is a geriatric care manager who by definition is a professional advocate. Never let your aging loved one langer in an ER alone.