Wireless Network Detects Falls by the Elderly

University of Utah electrical engineers have developed a network of wireless sensors that can detect a person falling. This monitoring technology could be linked to a service that would call emergency help for the elderly without requiring them to wear monitoring devices.


For people age 65 and older, falling is a leading cause of injury and death. Most fall-detection devices monitor a person's posture or require a person to push a button to call for help. However, these devices must be worn at all times. A 2008 study showed 80 percent of elderly adults who owned call buttons didn't use the device when they had a serious fall, largely because they hadn't worn it at the time of the fall.

Now, University of Utah electrical engineers Brad Mager and Neal Patwari have constructed a fall-detection system using a two-level array of radio-frequency sensors placed around the perimeter of a room at two heights that correspond to someone standing or lying down. These sensors are similar to those used in home wireless networks. As each sensor in the array transmits to another, anyone standing -- or falling -- inside the network alters the path of signals sent between each pair of sensors.

Mager is presenting the new fall-detection system Tuesday, Sept. 10 in London at the 24th Annual Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communications.

The team plans to develop this proof-of-concept technology into a commercial product through Patwari's Utah-based startup company, Xandem Technology. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation.

"The idea of 'aging-in-place,' in which someone can avoid moving to a nursing home and live in their own home, is growing," says Patwari, senior author of the study and associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Utah. "Ideally, the environment itself would be able to detect a fall and send an alert to a caregiver. What's remarkable about our system is that a person doesn't need to remember to wear a device."

By measuring the signal strength between each link in the network -- similar to the number of "bars" on your cell phone -- an image is generated to show the approximate location of a person in the room with a resolution of about six inches. This imaging technique, called radio tomography, uses the one-dimensional link measurements from the sensor network to build up a three-dimensional image.

"With this detection system, a person's location in a room or building can be pinpointed with high accuracy, eliminating the need to wear a device," says Mager, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering and first author of this study. "This technology can also indicate whether a person is standing up or lying down."

What's more, the system is programmed to detect whether a fall was indeed a dangerous one, rather than someone simply lying down on the floor. By conducting a series of experiments measuring the amount of time that elapsed when a person fell, sat down, or laid down on the ground, the researchers determined a time threshold for accurately detecting a fall. This information was fed back into algorithms used to determine whether a given event was a fall or one of the other benign activities.

Article care of: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/09/130909093112.htm

April is Financial Literacy Month

April is Financial Literacy Month.  Here you will find cost-cutting warning signs and how to help your senior stretch their dollar.

Finances may be among the most difficult issues that seniors and their family caregivers face. Many situations complicate the financial lives of older adults and their loved ones. The recession, multi-generational living and fixed incomes, to name a few, can throw seniors and their families into turmoil and prompt them to search for solutions.

If you are a family caregiver facing a situation that is impacting your loved one's financial situation, you may need resources to help. Answers could be just around the corner.  Click here for more information: http://www.caregiverstress.com/finances

Senior Activities For Valentine's Day

VALENTINE'S DAY 

 Here are some ways you can fill a senior's Valentine's Day with extra love:

·         Have flowers delivered, or deliver them yourself if you live nearby

·         If your client has old letters from the love of their life, dust them off and read them together

·         A special treat is even sweeter when it's shared, so sit awhile and share something yummy

·         Get the grandkids and adult kids involved - seniors love homemade valentines, even better if they include a recent photo

·         Share a special breakfast or lunch and stories of loved ones

·         Frame an old photo of you with your senior, include a card about how much they mean to you

·         Continue a tradition they may have shared with their late spouse

·         Be there -your time and presence can add happiness to a day that may have otherwise been lonely

There are so many ways to bring happiness to hearts of seniors on Valentine's Day; I'd love to hear how you plan to spend Valentine's Day and the ways you've found to brighten the day for your senior. 

Senior Safety For Halloween

The fun of Halloween can be exciting for most but the pounding on doors is nerve-wracking for seniors who worry masked villains will take note that an elderly person is frail and living alone. 

If you are a caregiver and/or loved one of a senior, or a senior themselves, one way to avoid problems is to have a caregiver, younger relative or neighbor drop by to help you greet trick-or-treaters. The presence of a young or middle-aged adult will deter troublemakers and give the impression there is more than one person living in the home.

Another option for seniors is to leave a note on the door that reads something like "Candy for this house is being passed out  300 Clyborne Street next door, collect your trick or treat there."   You have the option of either passing out candy with the neighbors or simply giving the candy to the neighbor to pass out on your behalf.

Keep a chain lock in place when opening a door. Candy can be passed through the limited opening the chain provides.

It's not a good idea to simply turn off lights and keep a house dark to dissuade trick-or-treaters. A dark house is an invitation for burglars and vandals. Turn on the interior and exterior lights, even if you will not be home or you choose not to answer the door.

Finally, never let an unknown trick-or-treater into your home to use the bathroom or make a phone call. Make up an excuse such as "I have company right now, this isn't a good time, but you can try so-and-so's house," and refer them to a neighbor's home where there are multiple adults.

Halloween should be fun, safe and enjoyable for all.  use these tips and have yourself a Happy Halloween.

Medicare open enrollment starting

 Millions of seniors enrolled in some of the most popular Medicare prescription drug plans face double-digit premium hikes next year if they don't shop for a better deal, says a private firm that analyzes the market. / ASSOCIATED PRESS

The open enrollment period for seniors choosing their 2013 Medicare plan starts today, and U.S. health officials say there are more high-quality health plans to choose from this time around.

“In 2013, people with Medicare will have access to a wide range of plan choices, including more four- and five-star plans than ever before,” U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement released Friday.

This year, there will be 127 four- and five-star plans offered, versus 106 such plans offered last year. There also will be an increase in four- and five-star prescription drug plans for seniors on Medicare, with 26 offered in 2013 compared with 13 such plans in 2012, the statement said.During the open enrollment period, which ends Dec. 7, seniors can use the star ratings system to guide them in choosing their health and drug plan options, health officials said. Medicare plans are given an overall rating on a one- to five-star scale, with five stars being the highest rating.

Since the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, Medicare can alert beneficiaries who have been enrolled in lower-quality plans (three stars or fewer) and let them know how they can change to a higher-rated plan, HHS officials added. Five-star plans also are being rewarded by being allowed to recruit and enroll beneficiaries throughout the year. In 2012, thousands of people with Medicare joined a higher-rated plan, health officials noted.

New benefits also have been added to Medicare because of the Affordable Care Act. The Medicare prescription drug coverage gap, also known as the “donut hole,” is being phased out. Next year, people with Medicare who reach the “donut hole” will receive about 53 percent off the cost of brand-name drugs and 21 percent off the cost of generic drugs, the statement said.

Article can be seen here:  http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20121015/LIFE/310150002/Medicare-open-enrollment-starting?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE%7Cs

Is America Failing Our Nation's Seniors?

In 2008, the Meals On Wheels Association of America released the results of a groundbreaking research report entitled "The Causes, Consequences and Future of Senior Hunger in America" that our Foundation had commissioned. The findings of the co-principal investigators, Dr. James Ziliak of the University of Kentucky and Dr. Craig Gundersen then of the University of Iowa, were shocking and unacceptable. In 2001, the research showed, five million seniors in the United States, or one in nine, were facing the threat of hunger. The next year, we asked the same researcher examine several more years of date and update the report. By 2007, the number of seniors facing the threat of hunger was six million. Any reader who can do the math knows that is a 20 percent increase in just six years. But without context, the average reader might not be able to grasp the magnitude of the number. Let me give some context. There are 33 states in this country that each have total state populations of less than 6 million.

Is America failing our nation's seniors? And if we are moving in the clearly wrong direction where senior hunger is concerned today, what of the future?

The baby boomers (and I am one of them) are now entering the ranks of older persons, and it is safe to assume that we will be a demanding lot, constantly in search of more and different kinds of services. We will not likely want to live in assisted living or the even less desirous nursing home environment as generations before us have. Rather, we will want to live independently in community settings. Yet that raises a critical question: Can community-based organizations and the concomitant services needed keep up with the demand? Or will America, having failed to turn the tide on senior hunger with the current generation continue down the path of failure with the next-- and much larger-- generation of our nation's seniors?

It is easy to focus on the short term view of the past, the last couple of decades that have seen a faltering economy that went from great highs to unparalleled, sustained lows and a burgeoning population of older adults, and to lay the blame here. But we have seen depression in the place of deep recession in the more distant past. And we have seen population surges like that of the last century, not driven by birth rates, but by immigrants who came to these shores seeking a better life. Many of those numbers of older persons, like my own grandparents who came into his vast, wonderful land of ours, this great melting pot, seeking the American dream. Even with its own troubles, America did not fail them.

But it is different for millions of older Americans today. At least 6 million in 2007; and while we do not have more current research to account for the impact of the economy of the past several years on seniors, one researcher has suggested that the real number of those facing hunger's real, ominous and daily threat might be 30 percent higher.

All the while, when the national attention, or should I say national debate, turns to seniors and senior issues, the discussion seems confined primarily to Social Security and Medicare - "their programs," those entitlements to which individuals who have paid into the system look for help to sustain them in their elder years. They regard their payments to the trust funds as investments, and they expect to reap some advantages from those investments. Fair enough. But because these programs are entitlements -- which means both that they guarantee some benefit and that they are costly to the budget to maintain (particularly as there are fewer and fewer young people paying into the system than in years past) -- they have become the rallying cry for those who say "look at what we do for seniors. What more do they want?"

Well, sometimes it's not about what they want, but what they need. Feeding the hungry is not a response to an optional want. It's a moral obligation... and food is certainly something to which every man, woman and child is entitled. Plainly put, it's not good enough any longer for Meals On Wheels to be viewed as a feel-good, do-good social service program. Surely local Meals On Wheels programs are that, and they are integral parts of the fabric of every community. That is why the data show us that 99 percent of the American public views these programs positively. But that's not enough. Our elected officials love these programs, and we are grateful for that. At least once a year they are pleased to do a photo-op delivering a meal. But is once a year enough?

When budget issues arise in Congress and the two parties are duking it out on the floor of the Congress, Meals On Wheels generally comes up. But is it good enough to use the story of cutting off meals to seniors and then fail to make adequate funds available to meet the need, so that in the end, after the partisan sparring is over, Meals On Wheels programs in fact have to reduce the number of meals or the number of seniors they serve?

So, I ask the question again. Is America failing our nation's seniors? And, what do we do about it? We, at Meals On Wheels programs throughout the United States, continue to deliver the best services and meals that we can. We are asked to perform two separate tasks. First is simply to feed those seniors who would otherwise go hungry. Second -- and this sets Meals On Wheels and our services apart -- is to ensure that those being fed receive food that is nutritious; that meets government guidelines for nutritional composition; that is maintained at proper temperatures, even if they are being transported forty or more miles along with other meal deliveries being made to other seniors waiting for their food; that is medically, ethnically, and religiously appropriate; and that tastes good too.

Is America failing our nation's seniors? The statistics would say the answer is yes. But are we failing our nation's seniors? No. We are Meals On Wheels, and Meals On Wheels programs are not failing our nation's seniors. Our programs are a lifeline and an anchor for the hundreds of thousands of seniors who need a helping hand. Yes, we can and we will end senior hunger and provide nutritious meals at the same time. We have the courage of our convictions and we will stand up against those who would seek to shut us out and shut us down. There simply is no other option.

Stand with us. In this the richest nation on Earth no one should go hungry. We must not fail our nation's seniors. Stand with us in this fight.

Huffington Post Report by Enid Borden

Be a Santa to a Senior! Gift Requests Expected to Increase This Holiday as Economic Slump Continues

Be a Santa to a Senior! Gift Requests Expected to Increase This Holiday as Economic Slump Continues


Be a Santa to a Senior®, the popular campaign that has delivered 1.2 million gifts to needy seniors in the past six years, is gearing up again this holiday season during a time when seniors may need more of the bare necessities to survive.


 The Home Instead Senior Care® offi ce serving Burbank and Glendale has joined Providence St. Joseph’s Hospital, Joslyn Adult Center of Burbank, and others to pro-vide presents to seniors who otherwise might not receive a gift this holiday season.


Program sponsors expect gift requests to be up this year as the economic downturn continues and Social Security benefi ts fail to keep pace with daily living expenses. 


“Most people aren’t aware that there are literally hundreds, if not thousands, of seniors in every community who have no family and are alone,” said Gary Reid, owner of the Home Instead Senior Care offi ce serving Burbank and Glendale. “What’s more, this holiday season fi nds many older adults struggling to make ends meet.”


Prior to the holiday season, the par-ticipating local non-profi t organizations identify needy and isolated seniors in the community and provide those names to Home Instead Senior Care. Christmas trees, which will go up in local businesses on November 15th, feature ornaments with the fi rst names of the seniors and their respective gift requests. Holiday shoppers can pick up an ornament, buy items on the list and return them unwrapped to the store, with the ornament attached. Volunteers will then collect, wrap and deliver the gifts to area seniors. 


Burbank tree locations include Curves locations at 1090 San Fernando Rd. and 940 W. Alameda Ave.; Burbank Town Center, 201 E. Magnolia Blvd.; Burbank YMCA, 321 East Magnolia; Williams Chiropractic, 2811 W. Olive; Vintage Senior Living, 2721 Willow St.; as well as Michelle Bouse’s Boutique, 2110 Riverside Dr., Toluca Lake.


For more information about the program, call 818.843.8688 or log on to Be A Santa To A Senior