By Kay Kaylor
Special to The PREVIEW
At San Juan Basin Area Agency on Aging (SJBAAA), I am not only a part-time long-term care ombudsman, which is an advocate for residents at Pine Ridge, a 24-hour extended care home, and BeeHive, an assisted living residence. I also am a trained Senior Medicare Patrol and State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP) counselor and aging and disability specialist. Elder issues appear in my daily emails, and some will be included here.
Family and professional caregivers might find the following website useful for tips and discussion on care issues: agingcare.com. Check out the “Forum” for member feedback on submitted questions, or subscribe to the newsletter at the bottom of the page under “Join Now” (click on three bars at top left) to receive emails with “Daily Ask and Answer” questions from the public.
Aging brain
The National Institute on Aging announced evidence that a sample of people ages 79 to 99 still formed new brain cells, even those who had mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer’s. The new specialized cells, neurons, are designed to transmit information and were generated in the hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for learning, emotions and forming new memories. The researchers added that additional study is needed.
Other brain researchers have found that computers that learn and improve are effective in analyzing amyloid plaques, abnormal clumps of protein that accumulate in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. This could enable large-scale analysis to accelerate research on possible causes and progression of Alzheimer’s.
SJBAAA offers resources for people age 60 and older or on Medicare. For further information, please call me at 264-0501, ext. 1 or send an email to adrc@sjbaaa.org.
