Assisted Living Directory Blog

I stumbled upon a really entertaining and informative site today – the Delta Dick Show – and I have had a few exchanges with Delta Dick and he is a really nice guy. His site talks about just about anything and everything from politics (local and national), senior and elderly issues, and also integrates quite a nice dose of humor throughout his site. He is an American who seems to really care about which direction things are headed. You can also get a nice dose of Polka from his website! It was really a pleasure “meeting” him and I wish him the best success to him, his show, and his website.

I was also very touched by his tribute to his cat Barney.

Lawrence Place, an assisted living facility in Russellville, Alabama, has been ordered to close by a Franklin County circuit judge. Lawrence place has been on center stage lately since the Dept. of Public Health found serious inspection concerns and problems including resident abuse and also mismanagement of medication. Lawrence Place only scored a 38 out of 100 on the inspection.

The existing residents are being moved to other facilities or nursing homes.

It is highly advisable and important for anyone looking into assisted living facilities to ask for a copy of recent health inspection reports. These should be made available to the public and should be a good first indicator of how well the facility is managed.

I found a great site today that is an Information Blog developed by developed and created by internet expert, author, keynote speaker, and consultant Marcus P. Zillman, M.S., A.M.H.A. for monitoring elder resources and sites on the Internet. The site is elderresources.info.

Elder Resources is a “Subject Tracer Information Blog” which is designed to bring together the latest resources and sources on an ongoing basis from the internet for elder resources which are listed on his site.

Providing eldercare and long term care for family members is one of the
most costly, yet least understood, health care challenges in the United
States. Today there are an estimated 52 million informal and family
caregivers who provide care to someone aged 20+ who is ill or disabled.
Within this, 34 million adults (16% of population) provide care to
adults 50+ years at an estimated expense that totals $300 billion
annually.

If you or someone you know are dealing with or have dealt with decisions
about long-term care for loved ones you know the importance of having
the best information possible. You probably also know the struggle to
find that information. www.AGIS.com wants to help make that struggle
easier and give you a community that can help support and inform.

Visit www.agis.com to find a comprehensive collection of information and
community features all designed to give caregivers a fully functional
resource for caring for aging parents, friends or family members. The
site includes long term care resources, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia
information, legal and financial preparation tips, checklists,
suggestions for new caregivers and much more.

I was amazed to read today in an article from a central Florida news station (article: http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2008/2/6/possible_copper_thieves.html) about an assisted living facility having it’s fire protection system raided by thieves for the copper wiring. “That means firefighters won’t have access to water if a fire breaks out there. Officials said 10 residents of the Thornton Gardens Luxury Assisted Living Facility were without water for their fire suppression system” the article said.

The article doesn’t overtly say why the copper wiring might have been a target, but anyone who has been paying attention to the news lately knows that drug abusers steal copper wiring or parts from anywhere they can because the resale value of it is very high right now. These users, in turn, use the money to fuel their habit.

The consequences of disabling a fire protection system, especially at an assisted living home, could be deadly.

This article just goes to show that everyone, in some way or another, can fall victim to the drug problem that plagues our county.