Auld blog posts, like auld acquaintances, deserve a better fate than to “be forgot, and never brought to mind.” So in the spirit of Auld Lang Syne, we would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a healthy and happy new year in 2017! We also would like…
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America’s opioid epidemic has reached crisis proportions, enough so that last week the United States Surgeon General took the unprecedented step of sending a letter to 2.3 million American health care professionals asking them to take a pledge to “turn the tide” on the opioid crisis. Relieving pain is…
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One of this blog post's authors, Teresita Hogan, MD, speaks on care transitions during the Geriatric EM Boot Camp in Milwaukee. Editor’s Note: In our Feb. 19 Health AGEnda post, the team we’re informally calling the Hartford Geri EM Champions shared information about the first two Geriatric Emergency Medicine…
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One of this blog's authors, Dr. Kevin Biese, right, and Dr. Jan Busby-Whitehead lead a collaborative project at UNC-Chapel Hill to develop a unique model of a geriatric emergency department (ED) focused on improving care transitions. Editor’s Note: This is the first of two parts. “Geriatric Emergency Medicine”—As health…
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A hospital emergency department can be a chaotic and dangerous place for older adults, resulting in poor outcomes, distress, and dissatisfaction for them and their families. We’ve had several posts on Health AGEnda related to emergency department (ED) care of older adults (See Building a Better Emergency Department for Older…
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Having lived in New York City for many years now, I’ve grown used to the blare of ambulance sirens. Still, when I hear one go by, I sometimes find myself saying a little prayer of hope that the patient onboard makes it OK through the insane city traffic. These past…
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In 2001, older adults and disabled residents were left behind for days near Ground Zero after the September 11 attacks. In 2005, Hurricanes Katrina, Rita, and Wilma struck the southern United States, with a particularly devastating effect on older adults in long-term care facilities. Katrina took the lives of at…
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In January, shortly after the earthquake in Haiti, a distressing article hit the newswire. I was horrified to read that 84 surviving residents of the Port-au-Prince municipal nursing home lacked food, water, medicine, and basic care despite the fact that they were only a mile from the airport where aid…
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It is the eighth anniversary of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks. I am sure everyone remembers the details of that day all too well; yet you may not be aware that after the attacks, hundreds of older and disabled residents living in the high rise apartment buildings of…
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