Caring for Seniors’ Mental Health

Even the healthiest, most engaged senior living residents may suffer from bouts of depression—particularly if they’ve recently experienced the loss of a friend.  
There are several effective strategies caregivers and family members should use in these situations, experts say, including consultation with a geriatric psychiatrist. However, like many medical fields, there is a lack of psychiatrists [...]

Teaching the Press a Lesson

Senior living executives, residents, family members, and advocates of senior living everywhere are singing the praises of Bob Elmer, administrator of The Elms Assisted Living community in Westerly, Rhode Island. Elmer recently had issue with an article in his local newspaper. Like many members of the press with little experience in the senior living space, the reporter [...]

Health-Care Bill Secures Senate Vote

The Senate moved the health-care bill closer to passage by approving it with a 60-40 vote on Saturday. The $871 billion package had to overcome a Republican filibuster and Democratic holdouts.
“This is major reform,” White House senior political adviser David Axelrod said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “It’s not perfect. And over time, it [...]

To Make Change Happen, Tell a Good Story

The best strategy executives can adopt when seeking to accomplish companywide change is to share insightful stories with employees that will help them truly understand the initiative, says Duke Energy CEO James Rogers. And this doesn’t accomplish just intellectual understanding, Rogers adds. It achieves an emotional understanding that is critical to success.

Senior living executives, frontline [...]

National Recognition for the Best
in Senior Living

The 2010 ALFA Hero Awards and Best of the Best Awards programs are now accepting nominations. Here are the details you need to get your company and staff the recognition they deserve.
ALFA Hero Awards
Five awards are presented in all for extraordinary service and dedication to operational excellence in senior living. The categories are Executive Director, [...]

When Alzheimer’s Affects a Marriage

The latest issue of ALFA Update features a video report by The Wall Street Journal that looks at the challenges spouses of individuals with Alzheimer’s must face, particularly as they try to cope with loneliness.
Alicia Mundy, reporter for The Journal, comments on various interviews the newspaper has conducted with psychologists, members of the clergy, and family members [...]

President Proclaims November Alzheimer’s Awareness Month

November has been proclaimed National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month by President Obama, who calls for a renewed commitment to research and treatment. Yesterday’s ALFA Update reported on the president’s official proclamation, which notes that research conducted and supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Veterans Health Administration has shed light on the early effects [...]

Seniors Head to the Polls on Election Day, With Assistance

Often referred to as the largest block of reliable voters, seniors will head to the polls tomorrow for municipal elections in several U.S. cities and gubernatorial and state legislature elections in Virginia and New Jersey. Senior living providers often play a major role in helping residents access the polls, with many communities serving as polling [...]

Expanding Service Spectrum

Largely driven by the demands of an aging population—an increasing number of senior living communities offer services for residents with Alzheimer’s and cognitive impairments. It’s a strategy that’s meeting a consumer need and expanding the spectrum of typical senior living services. But those providers who have sucessfully expanded their scope of services say there’s a lot [...]

Advocate Now, Provide for the Future

ALFA Update recently covered a new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report, which says the aging U.S. population could fuel an increased federal deficit. Between now and 2030, the number of adults over the age of 75 will double and the number over 85 will triple. But here’s the challenge: 60 percent of those older adults [...]