Sept 1, 2017
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Edition 14 Volume 8 & 9
In the News
2017 Elder Planning Issues Conference – Victoria, BC
Greying Boomer at the Wheel
Palliative Care and End-Of-Life Needs for Hospital Patients Not Always Recognized by Medical Professionals
NB Government Says Aging Strategy Plan Coming
Revisiting Crime and Abuse Against Seniors
12 of the Most Common Health Issues Affecting Seniors
Healthy Fall Foods for Seniors and Care Providers
9th Edition EPC Materials
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/ From all of us at CIEPS, we wish you a very safe
and enjoyable Labour Day weekend
2017 Elder Planning Issues Conferences (EPIC)
”Redefining Retirement and Relevance"
Providing more value for an Aging Consumer
If you haven’t registered for the October 1-3, 2017 Victoria, BC conference please do so as soon as possible…limited seats available
to ensure that this conference will be held.
Please help support it!
Time is running out - Register Now!
Are you interested in finding out more about our aging society and the impact it will have on our futures? If so, this is the conference you will want to attend.
Here is what a non-EPC attendee said after attending the Niagara Falls, ON EPIC in June…
I wanted to let you know that I thoroughly enjoyed the conference! The speakers and their topics were fascinating. I learned a great deal and feel like I have a much better handle on the sheer depth and breadth of the topic of “elder planning”.
It’s often a topic that people dread discussing, but after the conference, I came away more inspired and more hopeful of the future, not just for those fast approaching their senior years, or those fully in it now, but for someone like me in my pre-retiree years (45+), and for the millennials far off in the distance! We will have to move towards a more senior-focused/elder population focused society, and this will benefit everyone.
I also listened to the presentations from the dual-perspective of (1) someone who works for a company that supports financial advisors, so very useful to know how these issues will affect them and their clients and (2) from my own personal perspective, as someone who is a caregiver for my 88-year old father (who just moved into a seniors’ residence) – and all the issues he has faced as he ages (loss of my mom, loss of his friends, fear of running out of money, “aging in place” and the desire to stay in his house until it no longer made sense, etc. etc.!).
Congratulations to you and to everyone else at CIEPS for an informative and even “entertaining” conference! You wouldn’t think that would be an appropriate word for this, but the speakers were all engaging and charismatic.
I took copious notes…
Thank you!
Brenda McLaughlin, Corporate Affairs
Fidelity Investments Canada
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Greying boomer at the wheel? Oh the horror!...from an article found on the Toronto Sun website on August 3, 2017
A new poll and accompanying press release from State Farm insurance is a singularly spectacular example of flawed, bigoted and condescending public relations that stereotypes older drivers as a danger to themselves and others.
Having milked decades worth of car insurance premiums from baby boomers, State Farm insurance now wants them to consider “hanging up the keys.”
“As Canadian boomers age, the number of elderly drivers on our roads increases,” State Farm says in a press release accompanying a national survey the company claims “highlights sensitivity and concerns about seniors behind the wheel.”
In fact, it’s a singularly spectacular example of flawed, bigoted and condescending public relations that stereotypes older drivers as a danger to themselves and others.
“Canadians are conflicted when it comes to the balance between road safety and the autonomy associated with driving.” John Bordignon, media relations, State Farm Canada, suggests in the release.
“It’s important for family members to have supportive conversations early on and explore transportation alternatives over time, so that changes in lifestyle come gradually,” Bordignon suggests.
The primary concern of State Farm’s survey and release is that drivers 65 and older are over-represented in fatal crashes, particularly those over 80 years old.
“In a 2011 report, Transport Canada stated that drivers aged 65 and over represent 17% of fatalities though they only account for 14% of licensed drivers,” the company notes in its release.
But statistics, as we’re all aware, lie, contort and bend themselves into knots to suit one’s self-serving purpose.
Older drivers are indeed marginally over-represented in fatal driving statistics.
So are the young.
This from MADD Canada’s website:
“Young people have the highest rates of traffic death and injury per capita among all age groups and the highest death rate per kilometer driven among all drivers under 75 years of age,” MADD writes on its statistics page.
“More 19-year-olds die or are seriously injured than any other age group,” MADD notes, adding “16-25 year olds constituted 13.6% of the population in 2010, but made up almost 33.4% of the impairment-related traffic deaths.”
So the problem, as State Farm suggests by highlighting that “one in 10 (survey) respondents has been in a collision involving a senior citizen,” isn’t older drivers.
State Farm fairly points out the link between age and impairment from illness and medication.
That justifiable concern warrants a conversation about effective screening.
Most provinces already subject older drivers to a mandatory written test every two years and doctors in most provinces are required to report conditions that impair the ability to drive safely. Perhaps more can be done.
However, unless government plans to hand every boomer a self-driving car upon retirement, Canada lacks the transit infrastructure to cart its growing seniors population around.
And not every family can drive grandpa to the shuffleboard parlour whenever he gets a notion to stretch his rickety legs.
Which means legions of greying boomers will increasingly clog the nation’s concrete arteries.
Imagine the horror.
Palliative care and end-of-life needs for hospital patients are not consistently recognized by healthcare professionals…an article found on the McMaster Hospital Portal
Review question
How are transitions into palliative care currently being managed in hospital settings, and how can this management be improved? Can improving palliative care transition management reduce hospital admissions and length of stay?
Background
During the last year of life, patients will often transition from receiving ‘curative treatments’, which focus on curing or managing disease, to receiving palliative care, which focuses on maximizing quality of life.
Effectively managing the transition from curative treatment in hospital to palliative care can be difficult, in part because it can be challenging for caregivers to recognize when a patient has entered the final months of life, and in part because many caregivers and patients do not adequately discuss patient preferences for end-of-life care.
Understanding the current state of palliative care transition management and uncovering ways to improve transitions can help ensure that patients receive the care they desire, while also saving health system resources through avoiding unnecessary curative treatment.
How the review was done
Two detailed searches of a number of electronic databases for studies published prior to 2013 were conducted. Studies that focused on managing transitions from curative to palliative care in the United Kingdom (U.K.) were included in the first review, and studies on the impact of avoidable hospitalizations resulting from palliative care were included in the second review.
A total of 1,464 studies were identified in searches, and 12 were included in the review after assessments for eligibility.
This review was funded by the Health Services and Delivery Research program, which is part of the National Institute for Health Research (U.K.).
What the researchers found
Patients are often in need of palliative care, and not aware of their prognosis. Patients are not routinely offered the opportunity to make decisions about end-of-life treatment.
Physicians and nurses often did not recognize when patients qualified for palliative care, and reported difficulties in recognizing that a patient had entered the final months of life.
The results of the review (which found evidence from two U.K. hospitals) suggested that 7.2% of hospital admissions were potentially avoidable, which could yield an annual cost savings.
Conclusion
Patients with palliative care needs represent a significant portion of the hospital inpatient population, but healthcare professionals often have trouble recognizing when patients may require palliative care. Healthcare providers do not adequately communicate with patients about the trajectory of their disease, and do not routinely offer patients the ability to make decisions about their treatment at the end of life. Improving the management of palliative care transitions can reduce hospital admissions and inpatient length of stay, resulting in significant health system cost savings.
New Brunswick government says aging strategy plans coming soon...
The New Brunswick government says they are working on rolling out specific programs to address the aging population challenge that the province is facing.
Recent Census numbers indicate the aging population issue in New Brunswick isn’t going away as one in five residents are over the age of 65.
Seniors and Long-Term Care Minister Lisa Harris said her government is committed to ensuring the issue is handled properly and that in depth review of the recently released Report on Aging remains underway.
The New Brunswick Senior Citizens Federation president Leonard LeBlanc indicated that they have been consulted by Harris and the provincial government over how best to tackle the problem of an aging population, a topic he said affects more than just seniors.
“Government has got no money to build nursing homes at every street corner. Forget about that. They can’t afford it and nobody can afford it,” LeBlanc said.“Government provincially, MLAs on both sides of the house, municipalities, families, everybody is going to have to get involved to make sure the aging population is well looked after.”
Harris cites government recruitment of employers and support for local entrepreneurs as ways they’re working towards bringing younger people to the province to help offset aging numbers, a move that should also provide more investment dollars for senior care.
Harris did not provide an exact timeline for programs to be rolled out but did advise she expects announcements to be made in the coming months.
Revisiting crime and abuse against seniors
This report addressed the issue of elder abuse in Canada and internationally, including the prevalence of abuse, perpetrator and victim characteristics, crimes posing the greatest threat to seniors and gaps in research. The concluding section also comments on the extent to which the World Health Organization's definition of elder abuse adequately addresses the victimization of seniors.
Canadian Research
While much research remains to be done in Canada on the issue of the prevalence of crime and abuse against the elderly, the most authoritative (due to its rigour and size) national study, the General Social Survey on Victimization, indicates that approximately 10% of seniors in Canada are victims of crime each year. As with other age groups, the majority of these crimes are property rather than violent crimes.
The body of Canadian research on crimes against the elderly is sparse. It is also difficult to arrive at generalizations at this time as studies vary as to the geographic area covered, the behaviour examined, the age range of the samples, and their time frames.
Findings drawn from the Canadian research literature include:
- Each year, about 10 percent of Canadian seniors are victims of crime. The vast majority of these are property crimes.
- Up to one percent of Canadian seniors experience violent crimes or physical abuse.
- About 4 5 percent of senior’s report experiencing some form of abuse from the age of 65 on.
- Financial abuse/exploitation and emotional abuse appear to be the most prevalent forms of abuse.
- The overall prevalence of elder abuse in Canada is similar to the levels found in the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.
- Seniors are less likely to report being victims of crime or spousal abuse than are non-seniors.
- Many crimes against seniors are not reported to police but are reported to health professionals, community groups, and financial institutions agencies.
- Senior victims of violence usually know their attackers, who are equally as likely to be family members as friends or acquaintances.
- Males report more incidents of violence than do females. While men report more violence at the hands of acquaintances and strangers, women report more family-related incidents.
- Seniors at more advanced ages report lower rates of violence than do younger seniors.
- Less than 10 percent of senior victims of violence suffer significant injuries.
- Physical force, rather than weapons, are most often used in violent attacks on seniors.
- The perpetrators of violent acts against seniors are usually males and tend, on average, to be older than those who commit these acts against younger people.
- Seniors were more likely than non-seniors to stay home due to the fear of crime, whereas non-seniors were more likely to alter their behaviour in some other way in order to protect themselves (e.g., to take self-defense courses).
The three principal areas of concern for seniors, identified in this review, are:
- Financial crimes by strangers. A variety of fraudulent schemes fall in this category, including Ponzi schemes (investment), false promises of prizes, aggressive telemarketing, schemes involving health products, and fraudulent home repairs.
- Crime and abuse by relatives and caregivers. This includes the full range of crime and abuse, including physical, emotional, and sexual abuse, as well as financial exploitation and neglect. There is also the undue exercise of control, such as isolating the senior from others or interfering with his or her participation in religious services. This report covered the signs of each type of abuse.
- Crime and abuse in institutional settings. Here again, there is the full range of abuse and physical, sexual, and emotional abuse, as well as systemic abuse.
According to the United States Department of Justice, 20 to 40 percent of elder abuse cases involve financial exploitation. Factors increasing a senior's vulnerability to fraud committed by strangers include:
- Home ownership;
- A tendency to not solicit advice before making a purchase;
- Financial risk-taking behaviour;
- Lack of knowledge of consumer rights;
- Lack of awareness of fraudulent schemes;
- Openness to marketing appeals;
- A reluctance to hang up the phone on telemarketers.
Warning signs of possible consumer fraud include: Large volumes of unsolicited mail congratulating the recipient on winning a prize; numerous unsolicited phone calls offering prizes and investment opportunities; financial difficulties in covering basic expenses when the senior's income should be sufficient; and a stranger accompanying an elderly person to the bank and encouraging him or her to make a major withdrawal.