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Contact us today: (800) 718-5658 | Email Us
Let me begin this article with the well-known The Wizard of Oz quote: “There’s no place like home.” In all my years of working with seniors, I’ve only met a handful who were adamant about being put in a skilled nursing facility (and their primary reason was that they didn’t want to be a burden …
by Brian Carrigan 
History has amply displayed one incontrovertible fact – everyone dies. Given our human condition, the big question some of us would like to know is, “When is it going to happen?” Another big question is, “What is a good death?” I feel comfortable saying I have a unique, “hands-on” perspective on this often-avoided topic. Derived …
by Brian Carrigan 
Over the course of our lives, it is likely there will be moments when we are “fed up to here” with family members, co-workers, even friends – basically, anything that resembles a human being. It is less likely that we’re anything less than enamored with our pets (although the occasional in-home “accident” or wandering episode …
by Brian Carrigan 
Chronic illnesses, especially in senior citizens, can be frustrating and even traumatic events for both patients and their caregivers. As a disease progresses, there is often a seemingly endless scope to the physical hardships, the cost of treatments and the sometimes invasive attempts to cure the illness. Worse still are the considerable emotional costs for …
by Brian Carrigan 
In the normal course of life, most of us go through occasional periods of isolation and loneliness. For the elderly, these “lonely patches” tend to be more frequent and more pronounced and can lead to emotional strain and even acute depression. Author Richard Leider reports that transitions (career change, divorce, retirement, moving, losing a loved …
by Brian Carrigan 
Even for the healthiest and most sharp-minded of seniors, the deluge of paperwork required to capitalize on senior entitlements is enough to make one’s head spin. There is a great bit of fine print and no shortage of potential pitfalls. This is true for enrolling in Medicare supplemental policies, taking full advantage of VA benefits, …
by Brian Carrigan 
It’s an honest question to ponder: If a parent or sibling suffers from a particular medical condition, does that mean you are predisposed to “catch” the same illness? The honest answer is: Genetics is a complicated beast – it can either work for or against you. Most of us on average inherit 35,000 unique genes …
by Brian Carrigan 
Who among us doesn’t worry that our minds will give out before our bodies do? Personally, it’s one of my biggest fears. And clinical evidence suggests this concern isn’t merely paranoia. For most of us, our bodies will outpace our mental facilities. At the extreme end of the spectrum is Alzheimer’s disease, the most common …
by Brian Carrigan 
A sobering fact of life is that many of us at some point may need an organ transplant. If you are among the pool of people needing such a procedure, you are not alone. In the U.S., 85,000 men, women and children are awaiting organ transplants. Organ transplants are far more common than many people …
by Brian Carrigan 
Although the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays are a time of great joy and fellowship, many folks (even the most chaos-tolerant among us) will admit to facing at least some stress, whether the source is gift selection, kitchen duty or trying to keep the peace in a fractious family. And if you’re the primary caregiver for …
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