MATURE MARKET HEADLINES POSTED 6/10/99
Seen Your Options in Senior Housing Lately?
Responding to the need of builders, architects, and engineers to learn more about housing for America's growing 55-plus population, the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and its National Council on Seniors Housing (NCOSH) have created a new Seniors Housing Show.
This annual show is the first and only event focusing exclusively on the active adult, independent living sector of the senior housing market. The event is scheduled for November 5-7, 1999 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, and will be co-located with the Remodelers' Show and the new Custom Builders' Show.
"One of the greatest housing growth markets is adults aged 55 and older," says Leslie Marks, Executive Director of NCOSH. "By the year 2000, there will be more than 60 million senior buyers in the United States. These seniors, who are healthier, more affluent and more active than ever before, will be the force behind the next building boom. Our show, unlike others in the senior housing industry that focus on the "care" side of the market, will provide builders with the information and resources they need to build for the active adult market."
At the Seniors Housing Show, attendees will discover how to tap into the growing demand for golf course and resort properties, independent living apartments, retirement communities and service-enriched housing. The event will feature 28 educational programs, as well as exhibits of innovative building products and professional services related to seniors housing. There will also be a special group of multi-family housing programs geared toward the seniors housing market.
Founded in 1942, NAHB is a trade association representing 197,000 member firms, primarily home builders and remodelers. NCOSH, a council of NAHB, provides seniors housing information, and represents NAHB within the seniors housing industry. For more information about the Seniors Housing Show, contact the NAHB at: 1-800-368-5242 ext 118, or the NCOSH at: 1-800-368-5242 ext 235.
See related articles in the AgeVenture archives.
Home Builders Nail Down Boomer Market
Smart Home Technology for Senior Living
Help With Homework Helps Home Work Well
Tax Law Windfall for Boomer Homeowners
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
BACK TO TOP
New One-Minute Heart Attack Test
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed a quick and simple test for heart attack that takes only one minute. This is expected to save thousands of lives a year in Hong Kong because it gives almost immediate indication to the doctor on whether the patient has had a heart attack, and helps the doctor decide what course of treatment to take.
With a HK$4.3 million subsidy from the Government's Department of Industry, a research group under Professor Reinhard Renneberg, Professor of Chemistry at HKUST developed an infarction test that takes only one minute. This was achieved with assistance from EY Laboratories, Inc as well as Professor John Sanderson of The Chinese University of Hong Kong who helped in the tests on several dozen patients at the Prince of Wales Hospital.
"If a person has a heart attack today and is lucky enough to receive immediate help and diagnosis, he can survive. If he has chest pains and calls for help, an ambulance will take him to the hospital where in the Emergency Unit he will have a small amount of blood drawn and tested. It will take as long as two hours before the hospital's laboratory can confirm whether, indeed, he has suffered from an infarction. To be on the safe side, during this long, long 120 minutes of waiting, the emergency doctor will begin expensive treatment (to avoid further blood clotting). In Germany, only half of all patients suffering from chest pain actually have had a heart attack," said Professor Renneberg.
"We use modern biotechnology to produce special proteins (antibodies) that can recognize a 'heart infarction marker' that shows up in the blood immediately after there has been an infarction," said Prof Renneberg. "The
first tests on our small and inexpensive instrument were very encouraging: we took a drop of blood and one minute later we could say: "There is no infarction; there is a small infarction; or, there is a huge infarction." Doctors can act immediately," he said.
Professor Renneberg believes that in the next year alone thousands of lives can be saved in Hong Kong. The test can even be used in an ambulance on the way to the hospital so treatment can begin the moment the patient arrives.
"We can also save considerable amounts of money," Prof Renneberg said. "Here is how: In Hong Kong, 36,000 people are admitted to hospital for heart problems every year. The average length of stay in hospital in Hong Kong is
8.6 days. An average per day cost for a hospital stay is $572. This means a
total of HK$177 million in costs for hospitalization for patients with chest
pain. We estimate that at minimum 20 percent of the patients admitted do not
actually have an infarction and could be safely sent home. HK$35 million could thus be saved each year in Hong Kong if a reliable rapid test is made
available. For the Chinese mainland this would mean 8 billion Renminbi
savings per year!"
"One small note on our progress so far: blood from fifty patients has been
checked with our test in a local hospital. We predicted the correct outcome in all fifty cases! Our accuracy is impeccable but we will need more time to
work on developing the test and more hospitals to help in testing the
instrument. We also need support from the Health Council and the Hospital
Authority to make this test a life-saver and money-saver," Professor Renneberg says.
See related articles in the AgeVenture archives.
Heart Health Requires Lifelong Effort
Health Clubs To Monitor Member Hearts
New Blood Test Predicts Heart Attack Risk
Biomedical Engineer Tames Cardiac Arrhythmia
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
BACK TO TOP
How to be a Power Patient at Next Doctor Visit
The next time you return home from your next visit to the doctor you could feel better or worse ... and it all depends on you. That's right. Good health care takes team work. Sure the doctor has to practice good medicine. But you have to know how to help your doctor by acting like a Power Patient, that is, someone who takes full advantage and full benefit of the doctor visit. The better team work between you and your doctor, the more value you get for your health care dollar. Interested in becoming a Power Patient? The June issue of New Choices: Living Better After 50 magazine tells you exactly how.
PREPARE FOR YOUR VISIT
Write down all your concerns beforehand. Make sure your list of concerns is prioritized in terms of urgency. In addition, write down anything related to your health that has happened since your last visit. Oh yeh, don't forget to take the list with you.
BE HONEST WITH YOUR DOCTOR
Some people find it difficult to talk to their doctors about what causes them most distress, such as impotence or incontinence, or even problems that put them in danger, such as physical abuse. Remember, it's no big deal. In most cases, you aren't telling the doctor anything he hasn't heard before. Often, your symptoms may be related to the side-effects of medication you are taking. Simple to fix.
ASK ABOUT ANY NEW MEDICATIONS YOUR DOCTOR PRESCRIBES
When your doctor hands you the prescription, make sure you know the name of the medicine and why it is being prescribed. Ask how, when, and for how long you should take the drug. In addition, pharmacies are now equipped to provide you with medication checklists offering all the drug do's and don'ts.
BRING ALONG A PENCIL AND PAPER SO YOU CAN TAKE NOTES
This will add your memory later when you try to recall the recommendations and advise of your physician.
DON'T BE AFRAID TO VOICE YOUR OPINION
If you see your doctor about back pain, you may think that an X-ray will be done of your back. If your doctor doesn't order one, you're likely to leave the office feeling frustrated or dissatisfied. So ask, "Why don't you want to do an X-ray?" That way the doctor can explain his reasons, and you'll leave satisfied.
SUM UP THE VISIT IN YOUR OWN WORDS
Before leaving the office, say, "So today you recommended that I do this, or that". This recap of the visit lets the doctor know you are both on "the same wave-length". In other words, you and your doctor understand each other and agree on the course of action to be taken after you leave the office. Any confusion, says New Choices, about your condition, treatment, or medication, can be cleared up right on the spot.
See related articles in the AgeVenture archives.
Doc's Bedside Manner Top Patient Concern
Pharmacists Monitor Patient Blood Pressure
Patients Want Docs to Share Any Bad News
Strengthening Doctor-Patient Relationships
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
BACK TO TOP
Low Cholesterol Linked to Depression and Anxiety
Healthy young women with naturally low cholesterol levels are likely to face
greater risks of poor psychological health than women with moderate to high cholesterol levels, new research done at the Duke University Medical Center
indicates. Most previous studies have been done exclusively with men.
Edward C. Suarez, PhD, who conducted the research, found that 39 percent of
the women with naturally occurring low cholesterol levels in his study scored high to very high on a depression scale, and 35 percent of them scored similarly high on a scale measuring anxiety. This compares with 19 percent for depression and 21 percent for anxiety among the women with higher cholesterol levels (above 4.14 mmol/l or 160 mg/dl).
The study, reported in the June issue of Psychosomatic Medicine, also looked at the relation of low density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations and found them to be significantly linked with depression and anxiety. "The findings add important information in helping us to understand biological aspects of depression and anxiety. Furthermore, the findings may be relevant to observations of increased non-illness-related deaths (suicide and other traumatic deaths) among persons with naturally occurring low cholesterol levels," says Suarez.
In the general population, only a relatively small number of people, approximately 10-15 percent of persons living in the United States, have low levels of total cholesterol, Suarez points out. "This study does not address the question of whether lipid lowering is associated with the onset of depressive mood and anxiety states," cautioned Dr. Suarez. "The only conclusions that can be drawn from these data are that healthy individuals prone to depressive moods and anxiety exhibit low concentrations of lipids and lipoproteins."
The study was supported by funding from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood
Institute of the National Institutes of Health.
See related articles in the AgeVenture archives.
Cholesterol Drug Lowers Heart Disease Risk
Elders' High Cholesterol Gets Low Priority
Depression May Lower Sex Hormone Levels
Psychiatrists Look Into Next Century's Depression
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
BACK TO TOP
ACLI Makes Case for Long Term Care Insurance
As the nation's 70 million baby boomers age, the elderly population in America will double by 2030. The increase in people needing long term care, along with rising nursing home costs, are expected to drive the United States into a long term care funding crisis, says the American Council of Life Insurance (ACLI). Long term care insurance, says ACLI, is an easy way for people to protect themselves against wiping out their savings if they should need long term care services.
Health insurance plans generally do not pay for long term care services, and Medicare provides primarily short-term, skilled nursing home care following hospitalization. Medicaid, on the other hand, currently pays 40% of the nation's nursing home bills. In order to qualify for Medicaid, beneficiaries must deplete most of their assets. As a result, these days most consumers pay their own long term care costs.
A year in a nursing home costs about $40,000 today. By 2030, when the youngest baby boomers turn 65 and the oldest turn 85, a year in the same nursing home is estimated to cost more than $190,000 ($97,000 in today's dollars). Because the costs of financing long term care through personal savings is prohibitive, ACLI recommends long term care insurance as an integral part of retirement planning.
The cost-benefits of long term care insurance are quite apparent, says ACLI. For example, a 60 year old would pay $890 a year for a two-year policy, or $22,500 in premiums by age 85. If the same 60 year old were to pay out-of-pocket for two years of long term care twenty-five years later, the cost would total $235,000.
See related articles in the AgeVenture archives.
Weiss Guy Solves Long Term Care Insurance Puzzle
Long Term Care Insurance Short on Consistency
Tax Credit May Trigger LTC Insurance Boom
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
BACK TO TOP
Click here to view more Headlines
AgeVenture News Service, 21946 Pine Trace, Boca Raton, FL 33428 USA
Dr. David Demko, Editor
E-mail:newsdesk@demko.com
the media may use these headlines free-of-charge