Caregiver Tip of the Month

Are elderly drivers safe? Yes – for the most part. The same can be said for teen drivers.

Do driving skills of elderly drivers decline with age? Yes, but just like other age groups, driving skills vary from one elderly person to another. Telling elderly drivers that it may be time to stop driving can be one of the most difficult milestones for caregivers. Driving represents freedom and independence for the elderly – the ability to visit friends, go to the movies and shop – without relying on anyone else.

Revoking an elderly person's drivers license over a certain age is not an acceptable solution. Elderly driving skills vary widely at all ages. It is unfair to punish most elderly drivers for problems caused by only a few drivers.

When the question of declining driving abilities becomes personal, the issues involved with elderly driving are very emotional. Elderly drivers might get defensive – even angry – when the subject of their driving abilities is raised. Thus, include the elderly person in the decision-making process if at all possible, rather than dictate a decision to them. It can also be very helpful if both you and your elderly loved one discuss the matter together with family members, doctors, and other people they respect, such as clergy and friends. But, despite your best efforts, you may still have to make the decision to stop for them for their own safety and the safety of other drivers and pedestrians.

Safe elderly drivers require the complex coordination of many different skills. The physical and mental changes that accompany aging can diminish the abilities of elderly drivers. These include:

• A slowdown in response time

• A loss of clarity in vision and hearing

• A loss of muscle strength and flexibility

• Drowsiness due to medications

• A reduction in the ability to focus or concentrate

• Lower tolerance for alcohol
  

Taken separately, none of these changes automatically means that elderly drivers should stop. But caregivers need to regularly evaluate the elderly person's driving skills to determine if they need to alter driving habits or stop driving altogether.

Daily Living Solutions

— products for seniors —

As we grow older, it often becomes difficult to use many everyday products because of arthritis and other conditions. If you or a loved one needs a little help – or a lot – we've selected a group of practical and affordable solutions from our affiliated merchants to help overcome those limitations.

Whether you are looking for yourself, or to help an elderly senior continue living in their own home, you'll find a wide variety of supplies and accessories – raised toilet seats, safety rails, incontinence supplies, large-handle eating utensils, pain relief, diabetic supplies, pill splitters and crushers, big-button telephones, canes, walkers, rollators, wheelchairs – and much more.

Everything is sorted into convenient categories in our Solutions for Seniors section.

Caregiving – Finding the money for care at home

A variety of resources can help pay for care at home. We discussed these resources in some detail beginning with the May 2004 issue of this newsletter and continuing each month through the August issue. To review these newsletters, simply click on Archives and select the issue you want to see.

Caregiver Tip #2

"Help! I've fallen down and can't get up."

Falling down and being unable to get help is not uncommon. Nearly 1/3 of all people over the age of 65 (and half of all people over 90) fall each year. Of course, the older you get, the more dangerous and debilitating falls can be; indeed, they often mark the end of independent living. If an elderly person fall and breaks a hip, their chances of regaining the ability to walk are only 50/50.

Medical research tells us that 30% to 50% of elderly people are afraid of falling – a fear that can cause them to lose confidence and restrict their normal range of healthy activities. A Personal Emergency Response System such as Lifeline Emergency Response Systems can give your loved one the confidence and peace-of-mind to ease these anxieties.

In an emergency, simply by pressing a button, they can contact a trained Lifeline staff member 24-hours-a-day from their home or yard. Lifeline then assesses their needs and quickly sends the appropriate support, whether it is a neighbor, friend, or their community's emergency services.

For more information, visit Lifeline's website.

Our visitors ask ...

Q. My elderly mother lives several hundred miles away in another state. She is very frail, but her mental health is pretty good. She's going to have major surgery soon and will need to stay in the hospital a few days to begin her recovery which she will complete in a skilled nursing facility. But, she's having some difficulty explaining exactly what her surgery is for, and I can't get any information from her doctor, or what to expect during her recovery. They keep saying they can't tell me anything because of HIPAA and patient privacy laws. What's this all about? I only want to help my mother.

A. In our opinion, the patient protection regulations that resulted from HIPAA are an excellent example of the best of intentions gone bad. (HIPAA stands for the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996; like many other federal laws, it covers a wide range of topics in addition to its primary purpose – health insurance reform.)

HIPAA works very well in that it prevents unauthorized people from learning about your private medical information. For example, a drug company can't get information about any illness you have so they can send you junk mail trying to sell you their latest "miracle" cure. And, telephone sales people can't get your personal medical information so they can try to sell you the latest herbal concoction that's guaranteed to cure everything from warts to hair loss to flat feet – and more.

Where HIPAA doesn't work is that your spouse and other members of your family are automatically included in the list of unauthorized people. While a few health care professionals may bend the rules slightly if you have the same last name as their patient, married daughters with different last names face an impossible hurdle. As just one example of the difficulties caused by HIPAA, I know a doctor in Florida whose husband was hospitalized in California; the hospital would not tell her anything by phone even though he was temporarily unconscious and could not give the hospital permission to talk to his wife.

Is there a solution? YES! In fact, there are two.

First, don't wait until you are faced with a medical emergency. Every time you and your loved visit a doctor, hospital, medical lab, etc., ask them for whatever form your loved one has to sign for them to talk with you about your loved one's medical affairs. Important note: Unfortunately, each form your loved one signs applies only to that particular health care provider; if your loved one has several health care providers, he or she will need to sign a permission form for each one of them. And, if you have brothers or sisters, be sure to include their names on each permission form your loved one signs.

Second, if your loved one has any of these documents,

— Durable power of attorney for health care
— Living will
— Trust(s)

and he or she is still mentally competent, each document should be reviewed at the earliest possible date by an attorney who specializes in elder law to be certain that the necessary HIPAA language has been included. If it isn't there when it becomes necessary to utilize the document, doctors and lawyers won't be able to communicate with each other, and it is very likely that your loved one's instructions in those documents will not be followed.

Recommended Reading and Videos

Many excellent books and videos can help guide you through the caregiving process. For our recommendations, including a brief description of each one, click here.

The material on this site is for informational purposes only, and is intended as a supplement, not a substitute for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment provided by a qualified health care provider. More