Category Archives: Health

Advance Directives for Dementia – new frontier

One of the greatest fears many have is progressive dementia. The common advance directives including the POLST form don’t effectively address these fears. A few years ago, End of Life Washington developed a fairly complicated Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Mental Health … Continue reading

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Medic 1 History – a unique Seattle story

Medic One began with a basic need and focused vision. The Seattle visionaries who founded the Medic One program in the late 1960’s believed that bringing an advanced life support system right into the home of a heart attack victim … Continue reading

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Sleep 101 – expert advice

Ed Note: If you missed the talk, I hope you view this. It is one of the best overviews of sleep that I’ve ever heard. We all sleep, but why don’t many of us sleep better. Watch this and learn … Continue reading

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Seattle revives controversial business tax to combat homelessness

Ed note: Obviously money is needed, but does the city have a comprehensive long term plan to deal with the homeless situation beyond housing. Is there to be more funding for mental health, addiction, social work, health care, family counselling, … Continue reading

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Nature vs nuture –

Why aren’t identical twins identical? Their genes are the same – basically like having the hardware of a computer. These genes can change their expression, much like software can change the way your computer works – or doesn’t work. Various life … Continue reading

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Sleep well – Skyline presentation this Friday April 20th at 4PM

“He would lie in the bed and finally, with daylight, he would go to sleep. After all, he said to himself, it is probably only insomnia. Many must have it.” ― Ernest Hemingway, A Clean Well Lighted Place We’re fortunate this Friday at … Continue reading

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How, or how not, to choose your health care proxy

Ed note: This video clip is from Ellyn Goodman’s the conversation project. Click here to learn more about conversations and choices.

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Alternate help with prescriptions

Sent in by Katherine Graubard: Washington residents need help paying for prescription drugs. The Health Care Authority (HCA) offers a state-sponsored program to provide savings to all people living in Washington. Click here for information.

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Age-Wise local activities

AgeWise King County has very useful newsletter about activities and presentations that are going on in our community. Click on any of the list if interested. Chair’s Corner: Refreshing News About the Aging Network Public Health: Increasing the Number of … Continue reading

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New Medicare cards are coming soon – things to know

Sent in by Barb Williams New Medicare cards are coming starting in April  The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will start mailing redesigned Medicare cards to beneficiaries in Washington state after June 2018. The new card contains a … Continue reading

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The Slow Medicine Movement

What it you’re over 75 and seeing a doctor when a question about starting a statin comes up. She might note that your cholesterol is elevated. But is there a real benefit to starting a statin as a preventative?  The evidence … Continue reading

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Drugmakers want to overturn new law that lowers costs for beneficiaries

From http://www.agingkingcounty.org/ “Per our partners at the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4), next week we will know more about how the omnibus funding bill for FY2018 might impact aging programs and services.  As Congress continues to push up … Continue reading

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Lost for decades, the Alcoholics Anonymous original manuscript will be auctioned for millions

From the Washington Post: “The Alcoholics Anonymous book has stats most authors only dream of: more than 30 million copies sold. Translated into 67 languages. In 2012, the Library of Congress ranked it No. 10 in its top 25 “Books that Shaped America.” But … Continue reading

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Ezekiel Emanuel – “Are hospitals becoming obsolete?”

Ed Note: Ezekiel Emanuel (brother of Rahm), an academic Oncologist and Ethicist, writes in the NYT that our use of hospitals is declining.This may be so but costs seem to be ever rising as hospitals consolidate into mega-merges as is … Continue reading

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The industrialization of hospital care

Ed Note: The article below rang true to me. Our hospitals are where we are cared for by strangers in that our family physician seldom, if ever, visits. If we are readmitted, there’s a second group of strangers. None know … Continue reading

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Health Fair in Bellevue Saturday March 3rd

On Saturday March 3rd there will be a health fair for active seniors. Talks will include such things as vision, tremors, atrial fib and back pain. Also, there will be workshops on medications to avoid to prevents falls, tips for cooking … Continue reading

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New Shingles Vaccine Available

The new Shingles vaccine called Shingrix is now available in multiple pharmacies including Bartells. It is strongly recommended for us by the CDC. If you’ve known someone with complications of the Shingles, you’ll easily be convinced that the new vaccine … Continue reading

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Do microbes play an important role in Alzheimer’s?

Huge sums of money are being spent on developing drugs to prevent, delay or treat Alzheimer’s. The ones so far have very little if any benefit. So could this disease be linked to an infectious source? It took a long … Continue reading

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Rejection of the President’s 2019 budget proposal

Summary from AgingKingCounty: “The American Society on Aging (ASA) leadership firmly rejected President Trump’s 2019 budget proposal today, denouncing the bleak vision of the future envisioned by a budget that would mean even further erosion in standards of living for … Continue reading

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Fall prevention when on BP medications

Recently, you may have received an important message about the risk of falls and fractures  when adding new anti-hypertension medications. It importantly stresses the risk of falls and fractures in the first two weeks after adding additional anti-hypertensive therapy: see Antihypertension … Continue reading

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The end of sleep?

If we live to be 90, we may well have slept for 30 years. We really don’t know why we have to sleep, but we do know that sleep deprivation can cause all kinds of problems. Coffee and amphetamines can … Continue reading

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Would you encourage a kid to play football? Mike Ditka wouldn’t.

The Super Bowl today was a great game, no doubt about it. But 25 years from now, we might see this violent sport remembered as interesting but sad – an historical cultural oddity. “Mike Ditka, the head coach of the … Continue reading

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How (not) to talk to someone with advanced cancer

Kate Bowler is an assistant professor at Duke Divinity School, the author of “Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved.” She has been “terminal” (what does that mean any more?) with stage IV cancer but  her life … Continue reading

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“Doomsday Machine” by Daniel Ellsberg

Daniel Ellsberg narrowly escaped life imprisonment as a consequence of copying and leaking McNamara’s secret analysis of our long and failed efforts in Vietnam (as dramatized in “The Post” showing in theaters now). At 86, he’s still an activist – this time … Continue reading

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Is your CPAP on the shelf?

CPAP for moderate to severe sleep apnea can be life saving. You may need some help and coaching to make it work well. The biggest problem is the interface – how to connect the machine to your nose or mouth. … Continue reading

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