Blogs, Websites and Newsletters
http://www.comfortdying.com/index.htm. Pat McNees’ Dying, Surviving and Aging With Grace offers comprehensive resources and links about illness, death and dying, loss, grief and positive aging — as she says, not necessarily in that order. McNees is also author of the book Dying: A Book of Comfort.
CoverAGE newsletter: Aging 2.0, an organization whose mission is to accelerate innovation to improve the lives of older adults, publishes this online newsletter about global technology and design innovations.
David’s Cancer Videoblog: The late David B. Oliver and his wife Debbie Oliver chronicle David’s experiences, life lessons and philosophy as his cancer progressed
End of Life Decisions: A hospice chaplain, Hank Dunn offers eminently practical advice and compassionate commentary on making difficult choices through the end of life.
End-of-Life Nursing Education (ELNEC) Project trains nurses nationally and internationally in different areas of palliative care. Those nurses then go out and train their staff. ELNEC is a collaboration between a team at City of Hope and AACN.
GeriPal: A Geriatrics and Palliative Care Blog: A forum for discussion, recent news and research, and freethinking commentary.
Get Palliative Care: The Center to Advance Palliative Care’s blog at Get Palliative Care provides excellent guidance, resources and links for consumers with advanced serious illness. The blog sheds light on people’s stories and how palliative care has helped them.
Health AGEnda: The John Hartford Foundation apprises readers about its philanthropic work in aging health issues and innovations.
Medical Futility: Attorney and law professor Thaddeus Pope tracks judicial, legislative, policy and academic developments concerning medical futility and the limits on individual autonomy at the end of life.
KevinMD: An internal medicine physician, Kevin Pho founded and edits this blog, where more than 2,000 primary care doctors, surgeons, specialist physicians, nurses, medical students, policy experts and patients have shared insights and commentary.
Medicare Rights Center: This national nonprofit consumer service organization publishes very useful information about Medicare news as well as a twice-monthly e-newsletter, “Dear Marci,” which answers consumers’ questions about Medicare coverage.
MentalHealthForSeniors.com is a website dedicated to providing information on physical and mental fitness.
Mesothelioma Guide–All about hospice benefits for people struggling with mesothelioma here.
Mesothelioma Symptoms: This site offers free resources and services for veterans dealing with the cost and treatment of mesothelioma.
My Demented Mom: Kathy Ritchie’s often harrowing account of her mother’s frontotemporal dementia. Ritchie calls it a site for young adult caregivers struggling and coping with “the long goodbye.”
Nursing@Georgetown, the online MSN program from the School of Nursing & Health Studies at Georgetown, created “Communicating End-of-Life Care Wishes With Clinicians and Family,” a guide to help individuals with terminal conditions navigate and effectively communicate difficult end-of-life decisions to their family and clinicians. It includes a list of questions patients can ask physicians about end-of-life decisions and a PDF worksheet on values history.
OK to Die: Monica Williams-Murphy, MD, is an emergency room physician whose mission is to help people plan ahead, make their peace and understand that it is OK to die naturally and make educated choices so they can die peacefully and comfortably.
Order of the Good Death: Droll, bemused yet with great heart, Caitlin Doughty, a mortician, talks all things death-related in her blog and videos. She is great company.
Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog: This blog tracks notable articles relevant to palliative care from a variety of journals but also includes reviewing media coverage of hospice and palliative care issues.
Pulse – Voices from the Heart of Medicine: An online narrative medicine publication, Pulse publishes a personal story of illness and healing, told by and for health care professionals and non-professionals alike, every Friday. It also publishes art and poetry.
Sunrise Rounds: Health & Medicine Through the Eyes of a Medical Oncologist: Often eloquent, always informative and thought-provoking, James C. Salwitz writes movingly about advanced serious illness, caregiving, the health care system and end-of-life issues.
The Recovery Village, which has facilities in several states, helps elders with alcohol and drug problems, including opioids. Their blog keeps up with latest news on this front too. https://www.therecoveryvillage.com/resources/elderly-resources/
Overview of the Landscape of Advanced Illness and Long Term Care
About advanced illness:
http://www.thectac.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/Advanced-Illness-Key-Statistics-12-22-2012.pdf
About long-term care: From the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention:
Click to access long_term_care_services_2013.pdf
Hospice statistics: NHPCO Facts & Figures: Hospice Care in America:
Palliative care statistics: http://www.capc.org, http://www.getpalliativecare.org
About Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia:
http://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers/publication/alzheimers-disease-fact-sheet
http://www.nia.nih.gov/alzheimers
http://www.alz.org/we_can_help_24_7_helpline.asp
https://www.hov.org/dementia-program
https://www.hov.org/educational-videos
Links to Organizations
Alzheimer’s Association, New York Chapter:
American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine:
Center to Advance Palliative Care:
Center for Elder Care and Advanced Illness:
Coalition to Transform Advanced Care:
Elder Care Workforce Alliance:
Hospice and Palliative Nurses Association:
National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization:
PACE (Program of All-Inclusive Care for the Elderly):
Patient Quality of Life Coalition:
PCORI (Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute):
SAGE (Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders):
WELLNESS
Gentle Yoga For Seniors: These videos, from the website http://www.sixtyandme.com, offer gentle exercises for both beginners and experienced yoga devotees.
Last Comforts 