Inside the News

Caring for an aging population

     For decades, Americans have depended on nursing homes to care for them in old age. But as the population rapidly ages, more care is shifting from institutions to homes and senior residences, and more responsibility is shifting to families.

   It's a change of major proportions, and it's happening quietly with little national debate. Read my story in Sunday's  Buffalo News.

   Today, about 36 million people in the United States are 65 or older. That number is projected to grow to roughly 54 million over the next 12 years, with the oldest and frailest growing faster than any other age group.

   It's not clear where they will live, how they will pay for their care or who will take care of them.

   The United States lacks an overall policy for long-term care. In New York State, meanwhile, it's unknown if a handful of promising initiatives will meet future demands and if the state can adequately fund them.

   People prefer to age in their homes or in senior residences.

   But community-based alternatives remain underdeveloped, especially for those with low incomes. Moreover, there are projected shortages of geriatric specialists, nurses and other health care personnel.

-- Henry Davis

New technology expands horizons for the disabled

   People who are visually impaired, hearing impaired or who have a severe physical disability in the past could have difficulty communicating with others.

   People who are deaf had to rely on the assistance of others to place a phone call. Someone who is blind could find it time consuming to search for information and was limited by the holdings of the nearest Braille library. And someone who is non-verbal and limited in the use of his hands would have difficulty expressing himself to others.

   Today, the latest adaptive technology is helping people with disabilities communicate more readily and do so with a greater sense of independence.

   This assistive technology is opening social, educational and career opportunities for the disabled, experts said.

   Some of this technology is helping people with disabilities take full advantage of the computer and Internet revolutions.

   For example, someone who has limited use of her hands can control a mouse cursor through the movements of her head or, failing that, just her eyes.

   The Internet, and the digitization of information, has opened a vast new library of books that can be downloaded in audio format or onto a refreshable Braille display for the blind.

   And two deaf people who are most comfortable communicating through sign language can have a conversation over a pair of video phones.

   Though obstacles to access remain, advocates for the disabled are excited about the new opportunities that this assistive technology is creating.

   It's giving people who want a chance to go to college, to work, to participate more fully in society, the chance to do just that.

-- Stephen T. Watson

The soap and water solution

Having three children under age 2 in the house (a toddler and infant twins) means you do a lot of laundry.

And after one of the babies develops a MRSA infection and spends three days in the hospital -- with two surgeries to cut the abcess out of her tiny leg and hooked to an IV drip of antibiotics -- you do even more.

Now in our house, tubes of Clorox wipes are in almost every room. Baby bedding (for all three) is washed every day, as are the blankets they like to drag around and are not allowed to share. In fact, everything that can go in the washer does, after every single use.

Because fighting MRSA is like something out of a science fiction movie. The monster laughs off powerful antibiotics; in fact using some of them appears to encourage it to grow even stronger and more resistant.

But it doesn't like soap and water.

The house was clean before; now you could probably do surgery there. That's because we don't know where the infection came from: Did her mom pick it up having her C-section? Did Grandpa get it traveling on crowded airplanes for work? Did big brother bring it home from day care? People can carry it around (often in their noses!) without even knowing it.

The wonderful doctors at Women and Children's Hospital told us they see hundreds of cases of MRSA in children each year. For them, unfortunately, the baby's surgery was routine.

Cold and flu season is starting, and MRSA is out there. There's no better time to make sure kids know how to wash their hands.

-- Melinda Miller

The future of our health care

   New York State's move on Wednesday to name a new board of directors to oversee a combination of Erie County Medical Center and Kaleida Health is a significant step forward in a long and complicated process.

   Constituting a new board for both entities had been viewed as one of the most difficult steps in the state-mandated process, because of long-entrenched interests and both organizations' efforts to preserve as much of themselves as possible. As recently as last week, spokesmen from both hosptial organizations were sniping at each other over how to go about a merger -- and whether state action would be in the community's best interest.

   But now the state has acted, and one of the most difficult obstacles in the process has at least been initially addressed. In addition, it is significant to note that Dr. Richard F. Daines, the state health commissioner, said Wednesday that no one now disagrees with the idea of consolidation.

  There's a long way to go before the state's health facilities consolidation plan becomes fully implemented in Western New York, but Wednesday's action marks an important first step.

-- Robert J. McCarthy

Postpartum depression overwhelms some new mothers

     Most new mothers find that the joy of childbirth is also accompanied by strange feelings of sadness and irritability. The brief mood swings are known as the "baby blues."

     Although all the details in the suffocation death of Shauna Mahoney's 17-month-old son are not known, the case brings attention to an important medical issue … the women who go on to suffer more serious depression disorders.

     Postpartum depression, for instance, can overwhelm a woman with feelings of hopelessness, lack of energy, sleeplessness, loss of interest and discomfort around the baby. It's more common than people think … occurring in 10 percent to 22 percent of new moms.   In rare cases, a woman develops postpartum psychosis, losing contact with reality and becoming a danger to herself and her baby.

--Henry L. Davis