Finding Quality Health Care from US DHHS

This booklet offers information for consumers on evaluating health care services to find quality care and make good health care decisions. It provides tips on finding and communicating with a physician, asking questions, and taking an active role in health care. From the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
DHHS Guide to Health Care Quality

Project Lifesaver....Tracking Missing Persons Suffering From Alzheimer's and Other Diseases

Project Lifesaver uses modern technology to track missing persons suffering from Alzheimer's, Down Syndrome, and autism….check it out. It could save a loved one’s life.

Disappearing seniors may be found County adopts new tracking device
Hudson Reporter - Hoboken,NJ,USA
Lifesaver devices are used in all 21 counties in the state of New Jersey, with more than 26 law enforcement agencies nationwide. ...

Caregivers in NJ

This is a link to the DHSS Caregiver site (which I have posted about previously). This links right into their site map to make it easy to see what they have that may pertain to you and your situation…check it out.

CaregiverNJ - Site Map
Assistive Technology Advocacy Center (ATAC); Division of Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DDHH); NJ Commission for the Blind. In-Home Caregiver Education and ...

Article from a Michigan newspaper about Caregiving

This article is actually from a Lansing, MI newspaper, but I think it bears some relevance to this blog. it strikes a cautionary tone about an aging population and caregiving becoming a bigger issue than it is now.

Help: A labor of patience and compassion
Lansing State Journal - Lansing,MI,USASo two years ago, Koons, 56, invited her mother, Marjorie Martyn, to come from New Jersey to Lansing for a short visit. As her mother’s eyesight worsened, ...

New Jersey's Kinship Care Portal

Here is a link to New Jersey's DHSS Kinship Care web page....primarily for those raising children of relatives or others.

DHS established the Kinship Navigator program to help kinship caregivers negotiate the labyrinth of government and community resources that may be available to them. This toll-free service helps kinship caregiver identify available resources and then advocates on their behalf to access those services.

http://www.state.nj.us/humanservices/sp&i/Kinnav.html

Fiscal Irresponsibilty by the Government?

Here is an interesting article I found on Medical news Today. The US Comptroller was on 60 Minutes about a week agao and spoke of how fiscally irresponsible the Medicare Drug Program was.

The Medicare prescription drug benefit is "financially irresponsible," U.S. Comptroller General David Walker, head of the Government Accountability Office, said in a segment on CBS' "60 Minutes" this weekend, Reuters reports. Walker called the drug benefit "probably the most fiscally irresponsible piece of legislation since the 1960s ... because we promise way more than we can afford to keep." Walker said that $8 trillion would need to be invested immediately to cover the difference between what Medicare will take in and what it will owe to beneficiaries over the next 75 years.

He also mentions how overburdening it will be when the major segment of the baby boomer generation starts to retire. Sounds like a problem?

Resources for Grandparents and Others Raising Children in NJ

This link points to a pdf (Adobe Acrobat document) file that is a fact sheet providing important information and resources for the grandparents and other relatives raising children in NJ. The file appears to be dated 2005 so some info may have changed, but at least it gives a good place to start for people that need assistance who serve as caregivers for children.

The article lists resources for grandparents, foster care, public assistance programs, state laws may be helpful to grandparents and other relatives raising children, and a list of national resources (phone numbers and web addresses listed). The file is hosted by the Brookdale Foundation.

Resource Sheet at Bookdale Foundation
through Work First New Jersey. • A “child-only grant” is for the child and based only on the child’s income. • An adult caregiver may also be included in ...

CVS Trying to Open Up Minute Clinics for Primary Medical Care

According to this article CVS is setting up MinuteClinics in some of their stores nationwide. They have 11 of them in NJ. A MinuteClinic is like a mini medical-care facility, staffed by nurse practitioners and physician assistants to treat common ailments. Clinic staff see patients with ailments such as strep throat, ear, eye, bladder and sinus infections, bronchitis and minor skin infections. MinuteClinic also offers basic vaccinations, including flu shots. Read more about it below...

CVS looking to bring in-store clinic to Bridgewater
Bridgewater Courier News - Bridgewater,NJ,USA
Judith Martin Waterman, a spokeswoman for the Medical Society of New Jersey, said there are "pluses and minuses" to places such as MinuteClinic. ...

NJ DHSS Caregiver portal

Here is a link to the NJ DHSS Caregiver resources page....lots of good info here...ranging from county and state programs, hospice care, definitions of terms in care-giving...you name it is in here.

http://www.state.nj.us/caregivernj/

Lifespan Respite Care Act

Here is some more info on the Caregiver support bill written by Mike Ferguson of NJ. The bill authorizes $289 million over 5 years for states to build up caregiver resources. 900,000 NJ residents may benefit from this program.

I think it is a good start. Let's see what Bush does with the bill...sign it into law or veto?

From Ferguson's US House of Representatives Webpage

Congressman Mike Ferguson - New Jersey's 7th Congressional District FERGUSON'S CAREGIVER BILL WINS FINAL CONGRESSIONAL APPROVAL ... other services to an estimated 50 million families – including 900000 New Jersey residents ...

Family Caregiver Support

Here is a pretty good article from the National Conference of State Legislatures that gives a lot of information.

Included within are stats on the age of the population that is 60+, along with different types of programs and:

• what they offer
• what they are funded by
• eligibility requirements

At the bottom of the page are contacts for the Division of Aging and Community Services, and the National Association of State Units on Aging.

Family Caregiver Support- New Jersey: Funded by: National Family Caregiver Support Program under Older Americans Act Title III E; administered by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior ...

NJ Respite Caregiver Resrouces

Here is a pretty good article from the New Brunswick Home News Tribune that discusses NJ respite programs to assist caregivers in getting a little free time for themselves. Mentioned within are a woman, and her mother that are using a respite program offered by a local church in Old Bridge, NJ.

They also mention the statewide respite program administered through counties, an Alzheimer's adult day services program (along with state requirements), and options for people in Middlesex County.

It also discusses federal legislation written by NJ Rep Mike Ferguson R-7th Dist that provides $289 million over 5 years for states to develop expanded respite services.

Here are some links and numbers related to the article:

Statewide Respite Care Program (through NJEASE): (877) 222-3737; http://www.state.nj.us/health/senior/respite.shtml

Caregiver NJ Resource Web site: http://www.state.nj.us/caregivernj/index.shtml

Middlesex County Department on Aging: (732) 745-3295; http://co.middlesex.nj.us/aging/index.asp

Take A Break
New Brunswick Home News Tribune - New Brunswick,NJ,USA
Interfaith Network's program is one of a growing number of options to help New Jersey families caring for parents carve out some time for themselves and ...