Princess Health and The Homeplace at Midway opens, with cottages for nursing, assisted living, memory care; first 'Green House' facility in Ky..Princessiccia

Princess Health and The Homeplace at Midway opens, with cottages for nursing, assisted living, memory care; first 'Green House' facility in Ky..Princessiccia

Alzheimer's disease assisted living dementia elderly long-term care memory loss nursing homes seniors

Gusty 14:45 Add Comment

By Kacie Kelly and Al Cross
University of Kentucky School of Journalism and Telecommunications

The Homeplace at Midway was formally opened Thursday, June 25, bringing to fruition a 16-year campaign for a nursing home in the Woodford County town of 1,700. For photos from its June 28 open house, click here.

Construction this spring (Christian Care Communities photo)

The Homeplace, which has four residential buildings that look like single-family homes, is more than a nursing home. Two of the buildings are for skilled nursing, but one is for assisted living and the other is for "memory care" or personal care of patients with dementia and other cognitive impairments.

�The Homeplace at Midway represents a new beginning for older adults in Kentucky and for communities across the commonwealth to embrace them as living treasures, not a burden or a challenge,� Dr. Keith Knapp, president and chief executive officer of Christian Care Communities, which built the Homeplace and will operate it, said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Assisted living cottage (Photo by Kacie Kelly)

�We are extremely grateful to the City of Midway, the Midway Nursing Home Task Force, Midway College, state and local government agencies, our capital campaign�s Leadership Council and all our friends and supporters who championed this new direction and envisioned with us a new day when older adults would receive the highest quality care and support, without feeling their lives are being disrupted or overtaken,� Knapp said. �We trust that it will inspire other senior living providers to move in a similar direction.�

The Homeplace is the first facility in Kentucky built with The Green House model, which includes home-like environments and strong relationships with caregivers, with the goal of meaningful lives for residents. Dr. William Thomas, creator of the model, told the crowd at the event, �The Homeplace, with its emphasis on home, shows how care can be made more loving, community centered and effective.�

One of the two skilled-care cottages (Photo by Kacie Kelly)

Patients have been moving in all month. The staff at The Homeplace is trained to use the �best friend approach,� Laurie Dorough, the facility's community-relations manager, said in an interview. Staff and volunteers are to treat residents as they would treat a best friend.

Knapp said at the ribbon-cutting, �Each resident will have a private bedroom and bath and share, just as people do in any home, the kitchen, living room, den and porch areas. It�s all designed to give residents the freedom to set their own daily routines and to live life to its fullest, while receiving the individual care they need � within each cottage.

The assisted-living cottage is larger than the others, to provide room for more activities and �the potential for spouses to live there,� said Laurie Dorough. �It�s kind of the first step out of independent living,� she said. The cottage has an open kitchen where residents can get involved with meal preparation or �come out and see what�s cooking.�

Skilled-care cottage bathroom lift system (Photo by Kacie Kelly)

The skilled-nursing cottages have bedrooms with medicine cupboards rather than medical carts, and a bathroom lift system (photo at right) that takes the resident straight to their own bathroom. The bedrooms are relatively small, an incentive for residents to spend more time in the communal living space.

The Homeplace campus, across Weisenberger Mill Road from Midway College, also includes an administrative cottage and the Lucy Simms Lloyd Gathering House for special gatherings, worship services and activities.

Between the cottages is the courtyard, with lighted walking paths from building to building, a gazebo, and space for outdoor activities. �Our hope is to maybe start a community garden,� said Dorough.

The long campaign for a nursing home, led by the Midway Nursing Home Task Force, began to see success in 2010 when Louisville-based Christian Care agreed to be the developer. Christian Care has facilities in 11 Kentucky cities, and a church-outreach program with more than 230 churches as partners.

The Homeplace will have a partnership with Midway College, which becomes Midway University July 1. �We are excited to work with Midway College to not only provide learning opportunities for students but also for the residents of The Homeplace,� said Tonya Cox, the facility's executive director.

The Homeplace will be offering internships and other learning opportunities for students. This partnership will also benefit residents, Cox said: �Our residents will also have the opportunity to attend events and classes to foster their lifelong learning.�

Cox said The Homeplace aims to provide �unique long-term care in a way that honors their preferences and desires to be home.� More information is on the facility's website. It will host an open house from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday, June 28.

Princess Health and Princess Health andTelemedicine can help delay Alzheimer's, especially in rural areas, where it starts sooner, Appalachian health conference is told.Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andTelemedicine can help delay Alzheimer's, especially in rural areas, where it starts sooner, Appalachian health conference is told.Princessiccia

Alzheimer's disease Appalachia dementia rural health rural-urban disparities telemedicine University of Kentucky

Gusty 14:07 Add Comment

By Melissa Landon
Kentucky Health News

Telemedicine is a strategy that can be used to help prevent and treat Alzheimer's disease, especially in rural areas, where the disease comes sooner in life, Dr. Gregory Jicha, clinical-core director of the University of Kentucky's Disease Center, said today at the fourth annual Appalachian Translational Research Network Summit in Lexington.

Dr. Gregory Jicha

While mortality rates for prostate cancer, breast cancer, heart disease and HIV are going down, the rates for Alzheimer's are going up, and by 2020, it is estimated that 5.6 million Americans could be affected by it. Rural areas have higher incidents of the condition, and the onset of dementia averages four years younger in rural areas than in urban areas, Jicha said.

The university's Telemedicine Cognition Clinic offers appointments that involve video interaction with patients and caregivers in remote areas. In rural areas in general, telemedicine can be particularly helpful for patients who live great distances from the nearest specialist. "I cannot drive to Paducah and fill an entire clinic every week," Jicha said. But he explained that he can "travel" to a different city every hour and provide care to patients. "Telemedicine really is the wave of the future," he said. 

During telemedicine appointments, medical experts can talk about the patients' history, administer cognitive tests, and even observe patients walking or performing tasks to diagnose them. The goal of the program is to provide high level care and cognitive evaluations in rural areas by partnering with primary care physicians and clinics in rural areas, Jicha said.

Another important aspect of the growing program is education, both for patients and for physicians. Alzheimer's disease has no sure, but some risk factors associated with it�such as hypertension, alcohol use and depression�are treatable. If rural residents had better access to specialists who can detect the early symptoms of the disease, its onset could be delayed.

The conference was a forum for hundreds of research efforts. Among the topics discussed during the conference were the connection between physical fitness and academic performance in children, and environmental enrichment to promote healthy aging brains.

Todd Gress, a professor at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va., presented a study about a pilot test of a text-message reminder system to advance diabetes awareness, compliance, and education�particularly in remote areas where cell phone service might be unreliable.

The advancing telemedicine strategy and these other research agendas should serve as a reminder that gifted researchers are searching for ways to improve rural health.

Such conferences "represent the best of what's happening out there in the world of universities and the world of communities," UK Provost Christine Rirodan told one session. She said the Appalachian gathering "represents the passion of people who are dedicated to solving these problems" in the region, "which require a great deal of collaboration to solve. . . . They're not small problems."

Princess Health and Princess Health andNew research argues that Alzheimer's disease should rank as third most common cause of death in the U.S..Princessiccia

Princess Health and Princess Health andNew research argues that Alzheimer's disease should rank as third most common cause of death in the U.S..Princessiccia

Alzheimer's disease Centers for Disease Control dementia research

Gusty 14:55 Add Comment

Alzheimer's disease may contribute to almost as many deaths in the U.S. as heart disease or cancer, says a recent study published in Neurology.

Alzheimer's is listed as the nation's sixth leading cause of death, far behind the leading causes of death, heart disease and cancer, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the study says it should rank third.

Because death certificates provide the information used for these statistics, the overall picture of what causes death is often not told, especially in the elderly. This creates a system of under-reporting the complete reason for the death, lead author of the study Bryan D. James of Rush University Medical Center in Chicago said in Newswise, a research-reporting service.

�The estimates generated by our analysis suggest that deaths from Alzheimer�s disease far exceed the numbers reported by the CDC and those listed on death certificates,�James said.

The study supports contentions of the Alzheimer's Association, which estimates that the disease causes about a third of the deaths in Kentucky. In 2010, 8 percent of Kentuckians age 65 and older, or 80,000, had Alzheimer's, with a projected number of 97,000 in 2025.

The study did annual testing for dementia on 2,566 people ages 65 and older. It found that 559 participants without dementia at the start of the study developed Alzheimer�s. Within eight years of the study, 1,090 participants died. Those diagnosed with Alzheimer's between ages 75 to 84 had a death rate more than four times higher after the diagnosis and people 85 and older nearly three times higher than the whole.

Researchers concluded that More than one-third of all deaths in those 75 and older were caused by Alzheimer's, and that an estimated 503,400 Americans over age 75 in 2010 died from it. That's five to six times higher than the 83,494 number reported by the CDC. That would move the disease from the sixth leading cause of death and to the third; chronic lung disease, stroke and accidents now rank third, fourth and fifth.

Princess Health and National effort to combat Alzheimer's disease begins; as research continues, there are preventive steps you can take.Princessiccia

Princess Health and National effort to combat Alzheimer's disease begins; as research continues, there are preventive steps you can take.Princessiccia

Alzheimer's disease dementia elderly mental health physical inactivity research

Gusty 07:27 Add Comment

Country singer Glen Campbell, who has Alzheimer's disease,
stands with wife Kim during a national conference Tuesday.
Associated Press photo by Charles Dharapak.

With numbers expected to jump to 16 million Americans by 2050, research is being conducted in earnest to find a way to ward off Alzheimer's disease.

One plan of attack is testing therapies before people show symptoms of memory loss, since the disease starts attacking the brain at least 10 years before memory problems appear. An international study will see if an experimental drug can halt the disease in "people who appear healthy but are genetically destined to get a type of Alzheimer's that runs in the family," reports Lauran Neergaard for The Associated Press. In another study, researchers will see if a nasal spray that shoots insulin to the brain can help patients with early memory problems.

Part of the challenge in combatting the disease is researchers are still not sure what causes it. "The chief suspects are a sticky gunk called bata-amyloid, which makes up the disease's hallmark brain plaques, and tangles of a protein named tau that clogs up dying brain cells. One theory: "Amyloid may kick off the disease while tau speeds up the brain destruction," Neergaard reports.

Given the expected increase in the number of people with Alzheimer's, the Obama administration has adopted a national strategy to fight the disease, part of which is a website that is a "one-stop shop for families" to offer information about dementia and links to community resources. Today, there are 5.4 Americans with Alzheimer's or related dementias.

There are steps people can take to protect their brains from the disease, including intellectual and social stimulation to help build "cognitive reserve." Doing crossword puzzles, for example, can help. So can physical activity. "Any time your heart is healthier, your brain is healthier," said Dr. Elizabeth head of the University of Kentucky. Diet is another consideration, since foods that are heart healthy are brain healthy, including omega-3 fatty acids found in fish. (Read more)