Aging with Grace Partner Earns VA Accreditation to Assist Veterans

Aging with Grace is pleased to announce that cofounder & COO Rita Files has achieved the status of a Department of Veteran Affairs accredited representative with the National Veterans Organization of America. With this professional achievement Ms. Files will be able to prepare and present VA claims before the Department of Veterans Affairs, thus providing more hands on guidance for Veterans and their families seeking to apply for the Non-Service Connected Pension (commonly referred to as Aid & Attendance". Please join all of us at Aging with Grace in congratulating Rita for her hard work and dedication in educating elderly veterans and their families about this little known underutilized benefit that provides additional monthly income to supplement low income veterans and those with high monthly medical expenses. To learn more about Aging with Grace Veteran Benefits and Long Term Care Planning visit www.agingwithgrace.net.



Proud to serve those who served

Setting boundries with our parents

The Other Talk by Shelley Webb, RN & founder of The Eldercare Support Group

We often hear about “having the talk” with our parents and when we do, it usually has to do with our parents needing help and finding a way to help them without overstepping their boundaries. But I believe there is another “big talk” that happens after a parent moves into your home or you move into their home to help them. I think this one may be even MORE difficult…at least, it was for me. This talk has to do with establishing OUR boundaries. Read more...

Advice for Adult Orphans

by Frances Shani Parker
More and more of my friends are becoming adult orphans. Many have one or no parents alive. Others are caregivers who will possibly become orphans in the near future. These suggestions can help adult orphans coping with life’s new reality:

Obama’s Respite Care Plan: Part of the Problem, Not a Solution - Kaiser Health News

Obama’s Respite Care Plan: Part of the Problem, Not a Solution - Kaiser Health News

President Barack Obama wants to increase funding for a government program intended to make it easier for family caregivers to get respite care. Read more...

Study finds drop in age-related hearing problems - washingtonpost.com

Sweet news for baby boomers: Despite all those warnings that loud rock music would damage their ears, their generation appears to have better hearing than their parents did. So go ahead, crank up the Lynyrd Skynyrd...

When Caring for Aging Parents Brings Back Sibling Tensions

When Caring for Aging Parents Brings Back Sibling Tensions

When my mother's health was failing, I was the "bad" sister who lived far away and wasn't involved. My sister helped my parents. She never asked me to do anything, and I didn't volunteer. Read more...

Johnson & Johnson, Omnicare, Risperdal and What It Means to You

By: Laura Bramly

I just about fell off my chair Saturday morning when I read in the New York Times about Johnson & Johnson giving kickbacks to geriatric pharmacists to encourage doctors to prescribe Risperdal for their patients with dementia. I knew that there were issues with "Big Pharma," but I could not imagine, or did not want to imagine, that the issues were so blatant, with so much "chutzpa" on the part of the pharmaceutical companies that they would actually give kickbacks for prescriptions.

According to the complaint brought against Johnson & Johnson by two ex-employees of Omnicare, "Johnson & Johnson, based in New Brunswick, N.J., and two of its subsidiaries, Ortho-McNeil-Janssen Pharmaceuticals and Johnson & Johnson Health Care Systems, paid tens of millions of dollars to induce Omnicare to buy and recommend Risperdal for elderly patients as well as the drug maker’s prescription pain relievers Duragesic and Ultram, and the antibiotic Levaquin."

Some explanation is in order for us laypeople, so let's pull this statement apart. Read more...