Health Articles Update

photo credit: andrewrennie

If today you are blissfully unburdened by responsibility for an elderly parent, one day you will be, as all of us are bound to be. It doesn’t come upon you all at once though. It usually starts with little episodes of memory loss. Your father who would never forget your wedding anniversary or your birthday, seems to no longer really care to remember. He tells the same stories over and over again, and seems to not even be aware that he’s told it before. Time flies, and almost as if overnight, your old father or mother can no longer be independent. And like so many people charged with elderly health care, you spend perhaps 25 hours every week helping with doctors’ appointments, meals, and oh, so many things. You notice that doing all of this on top of taking care of your own family, becomes a terrible burden. Or perhaps you are just retired and were only just beginning to enjoy the peace and quiet of your golden years, when your mother broke something seriously in the fall. Your whole life in an instant becomes all about taking care of her. If this is you, you need to know that 20% of America is caught in the same predicament. That number will double in a mere 50 years. (more…)