Does Your Surgeon Tweet?
In the short amount of time that our blog, Senior Help Forum, has been live (a little over a year and a half), I have seen incredible advancements in the tools that the healthcare industry is developing and offering to the general public. They are even embracing social media and mobile technology.
In January of 2009, Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit, Michigan became the first hospital to tweet a live surgery (@HenryFordNews).
The lead surgeon, Dr. Craig Rogers, and his chief resident, Dr. Raj Laungani tweeted updates throughout the surgery (CNN.com, February 17, 2009). According to CNN.com, “at the end, Rogers had the last tweet. ‘The robotic partial nephrectomy was a success. ‘Thank you for joining us today.’” The entire Twitter stream was then uploaded to YouTube. (By the time I wrote this post, it was no longer available on YouTube.)
Throughout 2009, several other hospitals around the country embraced Twitter and began tweeting, as well. On November 23, 2009, I followed a Hip resurfacing surgery on The Detroit Medical Center’s Twitter and Facebook feeds. It was fascinating!
I am now a regular follower on Twitter of the DMC and follow their Twitter surgeries. The DMC can be followed on Twitter at @DMC_Heals.
We would love to hear your thoughts on Tweeting in the operating room……
An Invaluable Return for Sharing Your Patient Data
A colleague of mine called this moving, moving video to my attention. Click here to view.
In the video, Jamie Heywood shares the story of how when his brother Stephen was diagnosed with ALS, he and Stephen began capturing data on a variety of topics related to his experience (e.g., medications, dosages, efficacy, impact on health, etc.) as a patient with ALS.
Out of this data capture, Jamie and his brother Ben Heywood, along with a friend, founded PatientsLikeMe and an “ingenious website where people share and track data on their illnesses — and they discovered that the collective data had enormous power to comfort, explain and predict.”
PatientsLikeMe is a privately funded company that aggregates its users health information and shares it with members of the PatientsLikeMe community.
The community is free of charge to its members.
Data is incredibly powerful, sharing data is exponentially more powerful!
A special “thank you” to Dean McRobie for sharing this moving video.
How to Put Your Old Eyeglasses to Good Use
When cleaning out my Dad’s desk drawers a few years back, I found several pairs of old eyeglasses. Most were still in great shape – - some a little “dated” but the lenses were in good condition.
I donated them to a couple of really good causes.
OneSight: OneSight is “a family of charitable vision care programs dedicated to improving vision through outreach, research and education. Since 1988, these charitable efforts have provided free vision care and eyewear to more than seven million people in need around the world and have granted millions of dollars towards optical research and education.”
The thing I like about this program is just how convenient it is to donate. I was able to drop my family’s old eyeglasses off at my local Pearle Vision store and they immediately gave me a receipt that I could use for a tax deduction purposes.
Donations are also accepted at any: LensCrafters, ILORI, Optical Shop of Aspen, Pearle Vision, Sears Optical, Target Optical or participating local practitioner. Find the donation location nearest you today!
The optometrist that I have been seeing at Pearl (formerly D.O.C.), personally distributes the glasses when he donates his time and professional services in third world countries.
The Lions: Over the years, my family has donated several pairs of glasses to our local Lions’ Clubs. A couple of years back, I dropped glasses off in a box supplied by the Lions in the lobby of a real estate office in Royal Oak, Michigan. My Uncle Chuck had been a long time member of the Lions so I felt particularly good about donating to their collection.
The Lions website says they currently have eleven recycling centers in the United States. Click here for the complete list of recycling centers.
Handicapped Parking Plates Tags by State (updated)
Caregivers often provide transportation to doctor’s offices, grocery stores, pharmacies and the like. When a parent has difficulty walking even short distances, a driver without a handicapped card, or tag, is often faced with dropping them off at the curb, parking the car and then running into the building in order to catch up. For these situations, handicapped parking privileges can be often granted to caregivers when transporting eligible persons.
Every state offers either disabled parking cards, or plates, or both. While the requirements vary by state, they are very similar. While not in every case, it often requires a doctor’s letter.
To give you an idea of what they typically require, we’re posting Wisconsin’s basic requirements below:
- Cannot walk 200 feet or more without stopping to rest;
- Cannot walk without the use of, or assistance from, another person or brace, cane, crutch, prosthetic device, wheelchair or other assistance device;
- Is restricted by lung disease to the extent that forced expiratory volume for 1 second when measured by spirometry is less than one liter or the arterial oxygen tension is less than 60 mm/hg on room air at rest;
- Uses portable oxygen;
- Has a cardiac condition to the extent that functional limitations are classified in severity as class III or IV, according to standards accepted by the American Heart Association;
- Is severely limited in the ability to walk due to an arthritic, neurological or orthopedic condition;
We’ve included links to each state so you can check the specific requirements. The links either take you to an application form, which typically include the requirements, or to their department of transportation page which discusses the application requirements. Links to Acrobat documents are noted with ‘PDF’:
- Alabama (PDF)
- Alaska
- Arizona
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Connecticut
- Delaware
- Florida
- Georgia (PDF)
- Hawaii
- Idaho (PDF)
- Iowa
- Illinois
- Indiana (PDF)
- Kansas (PDF)
- Kentucky (PDF)
- Louisiana
- Maine (PDF)
- Maryland
- Massachusetts
- Michigan (PDF)
- Minnesota
- Mississippi (PDF)
- Missouri
- Montana (PDF)
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire (PDF)
- New Jersey
- New Mexico (PDF)
- New York
- North Carolina
- North Dakota (PDF)
- Ohio
- Oklahoma (PDF)
- Oregon (PDF)
- Pennsylvania
- Rhode Island
- South Carolina (PDF)
- South Dakota
- Tennessee (PDF)
- Texas (PDF)
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
- Washington State
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Wyoming
- District of Columbia
Hints for Auctioning off a Loved One’s Belongings
My friend Linda Wakefield recently lost her father. After his death, Linda was left with the task of cleaning out his home and finding new homes for he and her mother’s belongings. Her parents had collected a great deal of memorabilia throughout their married life so Linda chose to solicit the help of an auction house.
Even though Linda hired the auction house to handle the sale of many of her parents’ items, she was surprised to learn that there was still a great deal of work and responsibility associated with auctioning items off for sale.
She has several words of wisdom.
- Record information (heirlooms/stories/times/dates/locations) on your parents’ belongings when they are still well enough to share this information with you. It assists the auctioneer when listing and promoting the items.
- Be realistic about the value of used furniture (even if it is walnut or cherry, etc). Auctioneers will be upbeat and optimistic prior to the event. But, you should assume that the item will likely sell for very little money.
- A responsible party should attend the auction(s) to assess the honesty of the sale/ the follow-through/the detail.
- Take a buddy for distraction and moral support.
- Be prepared for the onslaught of emotions from others who purchase items out of sentimentality for your loved ones. Linda equates it to being almost like a mini funeral.
- Offer to help with tasks during the auction to help reduce excess fees. Linda explained that people will buy a box of items and take out the one thing they want and leave the rest. By Linda reorganizing items herself throughout the day, she was able to save herself some substantial administrative fees.
- Be prepared for the sense of loss you may feel in selling items of importance to your loved ones.
- Stay through the entire sale. Unless you want to pay a fee, you should arrange to collect/handle any unused items at the conclusion of the sale.
It is not unusual to have unsold items at the conclusion of an auction. Linda recommends that a representative be present at the end of the auction to clean up and to evaluate what should be kept in the family and what should be donated to others. Linda suggests:
- donating unsold household items to charities such as the Salvation Army in hopes of helping the less fortunate (collect a receipt for a tax deduction)
- donating items of special meaning directly to individuals or organizations that you know will appreciate them. For example, Linda donated walkers to the area rest home, religious books to her parents’ church, popular novels to the local library, etc.
- selling valuable items on eBay
- restoring furniture that did not sell for your own future use
Note: if the sale is held at a location outside of your home, you may be assessed for a dumpster (sometimes called a “tipping” fee) and incur additional labor costs if the staff of the auction house is left to discard your unsold items.
According to Linda, as difficult as it is to auction off items of a loved one, ”it is also helpful and cathartic to see your organization/work and all the stuff go to interested parties.”
Two Great Sites For Sharing Info on the Condition of a Loved One
On August 31, 2009, I posted information on a website called CarePages. CarePages is a fantastic resource for:
- patients and their families to keep loved ones up to date on a patient’s progress
- loved ones to send a patient messages of encouragement
This morning, Richard Liechty, a co-worker, shared a similar site with me called CaringBridge. In recent months, he has been staying abreast on the conditions of a couple of loved ones via CaringBridge.
According to their website, CaringBridge was started in 1997 when “founder Sona Mehring’s close friend suffered a life-threatening pregnancy. To keep family and friends informed about the critical situation, Sona and friends created a website.
Baby Brighid was born almost three months premature. With her mother in critical condition, the one-pound preemie was quickly rushed to the Newborn Intensive Care Unit at Children’s Hospital in St. Paul Minnesota. The family posted daily news about mom and Brighid on the website. An accompanying online guestbook enabled visitors to send the family messages of love and encouragement. Sadly, Brighid’s story does not have a happy ending. After a nine-day struggle against tremendous odds, she died in surgery.
The website allowed the family to convey the saddest of news without the painful burden of several emotional phone calls. The parents also had a place to post a final message to honor Brighid and their supportive online community.
Brighid’s death prompted an outpouring of loving messages to the family. They immediately understood that other patients dealing with the birth of a premature baby, childhood cancer or other critical illness would benefit from the same web resources.
And CaringBridge was born.”
A special “thank you” to Richard Liechty for sharing his experience with CaringBridge.com with me. Richard can be followed on Twitter @RichardLiechty.
iPhone App Saves Life in Haiti
On July 7, 2009, we posted an article on the benefits of the American Heart Association’s iPhone Application. At the time we knew that it was just a matter of time before we heard about it saving lives.
Well, an incredibly heartwarming story has come out of all of the heartbreak in Haiti. According to a NBC News Today Show online article, an American Dad was working for a mission organization in Haity “making a film about the impact of poverty on the people of Haiti. He and a colleague… had just returned to the Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince” when the earthquake hit.
The online article explains that “thanks to the iPhone first-aid app he’d downloaded, he knew how to fashion a bandage and tourniquet for his leg and to stop the bleeding from his head wound. The app also warned him not to fall asleep if he felt he was going into shock, so he set his cell phone’s alarm clock to go off every 20 minutes. And then for 65 hours, he waited for whatever fate had in store for him.”
An AdAge article today reports that the American Heart Association has reaped the benefits of this amazing story. Sales of their app have skyrocketed in recent days.
How to Plan for a Disaster with Someone Who Has Dementia
Caregivers often have their hands full with their day-to-day responsibilities. Planning for a tornado, hurricane, wildfire, earthquake, flood or other natural disaster often isn’t on the radar. Happily The Hartford has developed a 44-page guide, called The Calm Before the Storm to help a caregiver to someone with Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, or some other form of dementia. The document was prepared by the MIT AgeLab and The Hartford Advance 50 Team which is an in-house team at Hartford that studies issues on aging.
The brochure does a pretty thorough walk through the steps that you need to take to prepare you and your loved one for a natural disaster. The major parts include:
- The Calm Before the Storm
- When to Start Planning? Long Before Disaster Strikes!
- Start with Conversations
- Then, Take Action
- A Disaster Is Imminent – What Should You Do?
- Can You Stay – or Should You Go?
- Getting Out of Harm’s Way
- Your Time Away
- The Return Home
- Planning Makes a Difference
- Checklists
- Resource
The checklist section alone is worth the trip. Check it out.
Finding Meaning in Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Memory Loss
It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day challenges of caregiving and lose sight of the important things in life. This is true for just about anyone, anytime, but particularly true when working through the challenges of a progressive disease like Alzheimer’s, or Parkinson’s.
Much is said about caregivers and their need for respite time away. But what if you could make your time as a caregiver more rewarding, more fulfilling…something that you looked forward to.
No one is saying that caregiving will ever be easy, but being able to look beyond the difficulties and seeing the beauty in people despite what afflicts them is exactly what Phillip Toledano and Judith Fox have done.
Phillip Toledano’s Days with My Father is an amazing site that received a lot of recognition earlier this year and will be a book by the same name that will be out June of 2010. It’s hard to look at the site and not be moved. Toledano is clearly a talented photographer and has two other gorgeous photo books in print: Phonesex and Bankrupt which remarkably wasn’t done recently, but in 2004.
I heard Judith Fox interviewed on Fresh Air the other day and was taken by her energy and compassion. Judith married her husband just three years before he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. 
As Fresh Air puts it, “In an attempt to remove the sense of isolation that so many feel, Fox attempted to capture images of the soul of the man she still loves.” Ultimately she was encouraged to publish a book with her photographs. There’s a five-minute video that talks about the thinking that went into the photos and the book called, I Still Do: Loving and Living With Alzheimer’s.
An Easier Way to Capture Information in Critical Appointments….
Anything that won’t sell, I don’t want to invent. Its sale is proof of utility, and utility is success. — Thomas A. Edison
I am currently singing the praises of the Livescribe Pulse Smartpen. I have been using it for a couple of weeks now. It ranks right up there with my iPhone, mino HD Flip videocamera, and TechSmith’s Morae software …. in making my life simpler; yet, significantly more productive.
This pen is a fantastic tool for any caregiver! My experience with the smartpen has been nothing short of exceptional! If you aren’t familiar with it, you really ought to take a few minutes to check it out online. You can see a full demo of its capabilities at www.livescribe.com.
Key features of the pen include but are not limited to the following:
- Capturing what is written in a Livescribe specific journal via an infrared camera
- Capturing audio via a speaker
- Allowing users to upload their notes to a desktop application via a usb cradle
- Giving users the ability to review their notes and the corresponding audio post-session
- Providing users with a friendly approach to sharing session notes (pdf) and/or the corresponding audio publicly or privately
- Providing uploading capabilities for users to share their session with their Facebook friends
Better Caregiving
Physicians’ Appointments. It allows me, with the preapproval of my Mom’s physicians (critical point), to record appointments with specialists that my mother sees for some chronic health issues. As her caretaker and legal guardian, these visits can be stressful and prior to now I was always worried that we might not have caught everything the doctor had to say – compromising her care in some way.
Radio Programs. At lunch today, I heard a great program on Sirius radio about happiness. I took notes in my Livescribe notebook and was then able to load the audio onto my computer when I returned to the office so that I can hear the program again, at a later time. I would love to share it with my Mom later to help her when she struggles with the frustrations of her compromised health.
Misc. I am hoping to also use it for: recording meetings with her attorneys, assisted living caregivers, physical therapists, etc. For more details on how I have used the pen in my work life, visit my blog post at www.threeminds.com.
So far, my only regret is that I didn’t purchase the 4GB version.
I can’t wait to see what they come up with for future versions….
Notes: I would like to send a special “thanks” to David Berney who familiarized me with the Smartpen at Forrester’s Consumer Forum. You can follow him on Twitter @dberney.
To protect the privacy of others I get preapproval of anyone that might be heard on the audio prior to beginning any taping session.