AlzHub

You're Either Part Of The Problem Or Part Of The Solution

Thanks to The Tangled Neuron for this post responding to a surprisingly shallow and poorly researched article on How To Run A Senior Living Home from Forbes.com.

Where is the "assisted" part of assisted living?  Looking at the assisted living industry as a numbers game should not be encouraged.  There's too much of that already.  This is an industry with problems.

Using Sunrise Senior Living as a role model was an immediate red flag for me.  A model for neglect, accounting and stock irregularities?  Sure.  Role model?  No.

Friendship and Alzheimer's

We should all be so lucky.  Thanks to Steve Harper for pointing the way.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/03/02/assignment_america/main2532328.shtml

Be sure to watch the video.

Neglect Is A Symptom Of Greed

The Sunrise Senior Living saga gets uglier every day:

Accounting problems, suspiciously timed stock selling and a call for investigation.

-Corrupted Chamber of Commerce: Thomas Donahue by Matt Stoller at The Huffington Post.

"If it were possible to pick one person as the representative for American business in Washington, Thomas Donahue is that man.  He is the President and CEO of the United States Chamber of Commerce, the most important business lobbying group in the country.  He is also on the Board of Directors and the Audit Committee of Sunrise Senior Living, and was caught selling stock ahead of the revelations of accounting problems."

-SunriseShareholders.org

A project of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Capital Stewardship Program that owns a lot of Sunrise stock and wants an investigation into problems at the company.

-Sunrise Insider Sales Need Independent Probe, Pension Fund Says - by Mark Pittman at Bloomberg.com

"Five board members, including founder and chief executive Paul J. Klaassen and his wife, director Teresa M. Klaassen, sold $32 million in shares before a May 9 announcement that the company would review its accounting, pension fund spokesman Dan O'Sullivan said in a statement today that repeated claims made in last week's letter."

CBS News: Assisted Living, Erratic Regulation

CBS News aired a report last night (Nov. 13th) on the abuse and neglect that occurs in assisted living homes.

The short report, by Armen Keteyian, touched on a couple of the issues that have been covered here and on other blogs repeatedly.  The main focus of the report was the dangerous combination of problems within the industry and little to no oversight.

The report and video can be found on the CBS website here.

Now the reason for this post.  The majority of the comments on the CBS website under the article have been from within the industry and they are taking this opportunity to deny, spin and shift blame.  Reports like this on national news shows are too important to allow to be defused like this.

I'm asking, and hoping for, readers here to leave a couple of comments under the article on the CBS website letting the public know that there is indeed a problem, there is indeed too much abuse and neglect and that something needs to be done.

I left my comment under the name keith1740.

National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month 2006

November is National Alzheimer's Disease Awareness Month.

Awareness really may be the key. If people really, truly became aware of the what the disease is all about - the effect on people with the disease, on families, on caregivers, the enormous costs, the lack of answers or a cure, the ever increasing number of people diagnosed - then, if there is any humanity left in this world, the rest will take care of itself.

Read, write, tell, listen, share, learn.

MEME - Blogging

Via jewbu quest:

Do you like the look and the contents of your blog?

Look:  I wanted to keep it simple and easy on the eyes. A confusing site about Alzheimer's didn't make much sense. My lack of design skills are readily apparent.
Content:  I won't be happy until I can write "Cure Found For Alzheimer's".

Does your family know about your blog?

No, but that's not a hard and fast rule. 

Can you tell your friends about your blog? Do you consider it a private thing?

Friends, yes. Acquaintances, no. Since it is published for the world to see I can't say it's private but they are my personal thoughts on a public issue.

Do you just read the blogs of those who comment on your blog?  Do you try to discover new blogs?

Both.  I read the blogs of those who comment and I look for new (to me) blogs. There are some talented writers out there.

Did your blog positively affect your mind?  Give an example.

The topic of my blog is overwhelming and without any clear cut answers.  My blog lets me write it out and have my thoughts and info in one place so it is easier to handle.  If it also helps someone else, that's even better.

What does the number of visitors to your blog mean?  Do you use a traffic counter?

I don't have a counter.  Comments are a better indication of whether I've made a connection. If I were concerned about the number of visitors, I'd have picked a different topic.

Do you imagine what other bloggers look like?

Not anymore.  I haven't been right yet.

Do you think blogging has any real benefit?

Yes. It brings people with similar interests or situations together.  Insights and
information are shared.  On a larger scale, I hope that blogs can act as a basis for changing what needs to be changed and fixing what needs to be fixed.

Do you think that the blogsphere is a stand alone community separated from the real world?

I don't believe it's a stand alone community.  With large companies, major news organizations and millions of people using them, they are too mainstream to be considered stand alone.

Do some political bloggers scare you? Do you avoid them?

Don't have time.  There are so many and finding one that is honest and unbiased is like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

Do you think that criticizing your blog is useful?

Yes.  It makes me think, provides a different point of view and it means someone is actually reading it.

Have you ever thought about what would happen to your blog if you died?

I wouldn't write it anymore.

Which blogger has had the greatest impression on you?

All the caregiver bloggers for keeping me involved but especially Karma for getting me to share.

Which blogger do you think is the most similar to you?

Hopefully none are too similar.

Name a song you want to listen to.

Completely unrelated but since I'm writing this on a beautiful clear evening:  California Stars from Mermaid Avenue (Wilco and Woody Guthrie).

2006 Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk Los Angeles

The Memory Walk was a huge success again this year.  They announced that this walk alone had raised over $500,000 and counting.  I won't even attempt to estimate how many people were there, let's just call it "thousands".

I'm guessing, but the Los Angeles walk has got to be one of the largest of all the walks held around the country.  The actual walk part was supposed to be 3 miles but it couldn't have been much more than a mile. 

There was live music, information booths from various companies and organizations and some food.

Since this is Los Angeles, there were also celebrities.  Celebrities whose lives have also been affected by Alzheimer's.  They come out year after year to take part, help raise money and to cheer the rest of us on.

Thanks to everyone invovled.

And now, the photo's:
(Click the images for larger versions)

Celebrities leading the walk.
L to R: L.A. County Supervisor Yvonne Brathwaite Burke, Rafer Johnson,
Ron Rifkin, Shelley Fabares, Steve Edwards, Leeza Gibbons, Bryan Cranston,
Victor Garber, David Hyde Pierce, Bob Goen.

Start of the walk.

Walking along the infield of Hollywood Park.

Walking along the water.

and what would an event be without dancing...

More celebrity images:

Bryan Cranston

Leeza Gibbons

Shelley Fabares

Peter Gallagher

Rafer Johnson

Ron Rifkin

Victor Garber

Steve Edwards and David Hyde Pierce

2006 Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk

I registered this morning to walk in the Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk at Hollywood Park next weekend (Oct. 7th).  I missed last year and am looking forward to going again.

If there's a walk near you, get out and raise a little money, get some exercise and raise awareness of Alzheimer's disease.

I plan to follow up here with some photo's from the event.

Alzheimer's Association Memory Walk website.

The Los Angeles Memory Walk website.

Consumer Reports On Assisted Living

Finding problems with the quality of care at assisted living facilities is, unfortunately, like shooting fish in a barrel.  Here's an article from Consumer Reports titled: Assisted Living - How much assistance can you really count on?

It shouldn't be any surprise that the answer is not much.  Also no surprise, the article includes examples featuring Sunrise Senior Living.

10 Things

Continuing the theme from my last post, here is an article from SmartMoney.com pointing out common problems faced with assisted living facilities.

The article is called "10 Things Your Assisted-Living Facility Won't Tell You" by Stacey L. Bradford.

Here's the list:

1) We promise more than we can deliver.
2) We can raise our prices at any time.
3) Our staff has very little training.
4) Medication errors are common and our pharmacy charges too much.
5) We face scant regulation.
6) You're practically on your own at night.
7) You may have to hire a private-duty nurse, too.
8) We stop spending once our beds are full.
9) Practically anyone can hang an assisted-living shingle.
10) Check your dignity at the door.

I personally had to deal with #'s 1, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 10.  In fact, the only one I can definitely rule out is number 2 because our contract specified when prices could be raised.  It isn't surprising to me to see that Sunrise Senior Living* is mentioned more than once in the article.

Click here to read the entire article and each item on the list in more detail.  Scary stuff.

*Sunrise Senior Living and Sunrise Assisted Living are the same company.  They changed the "assisted" part of their name a few years ago in what now seems a rather prophetic move.