The desire to live an independent life is very strong in older adults. They want to lead a full and dignified life. Self-respect becomes more important for a person when he/she transitions into the older stage of life. As people grow old they need help to perform various tasks. One must assist them without hurting their self-respect or dignity.
This is the principal factor behind the development of the senior home care industry. It has been recognized as one of the most important part of the service industry. It has expanded to offer various services to improve the life of the old people by providing personalized in-home care.
When you look for in-home care provider it is important to investigate the care-giving agency. Make sure that the senior care provider is well trained, screened and is a responsible person. Before selecting a care provider it is important to ensure that he/she provides the care your loved one need.
Home care services come in various categories. There are three types of service mainly including:
• companion service
• personal care service
• home maker service
Companion Service:
In today’s frantic society most sons and daughter are “time poor”. We get little time to spend with our loved ones. In most of the cases the old people live alone at home which is very painful. To be able to talk to someone can really improve the quality of their life. This kind of service mainly focuses on offering companionship to the old person. Caregivers can either spend a few hours each day or a few days a week as per the requirement of your loved ones. The services they offer might include conversation, grocery shopping, running errands, respite for family members as well as medication reminders. If you choose this home care service your loved ones will enjoy freedom and comfort of being in familiar surrounding that they can’t get anywhere else.
Personal Care Service:
This is probably the most popular home care service. The service depends on the requirements of the individual. The caregiver fulfils various personal care needs. He/she helps your loved once to be active both mentally and physically. The services may include essential activities like eating, bathing, taking medicine and so on. The well-being of an old person highly depends on these activities. Personal care service is a great solution to people who need help for activities they can’t manage alone for physical limitations. Personal care service providers often work with family members to give support to your loved ones. If needed they also work with senior health care professionals to plan meal for special diet.
Homemaker Service:
Homemaker service can be called a combination of companion service and personal care service. It is a good alternative to nursing home care. If you avail this service your loved ones can get the medical assistance they need while enjoying the comfort of their home. But this service can be limited depending on your capacity to spend money as it is a little more expensive than companion or personal care service.
In-home care service is a great way of expressing your love and care for your dear ones.
Available Home Care Services
Volcanic eruption nearly ended all life on earth
A volcanic eruption nearly obliterated all life on earth 260 million years ago, new research has revealed.
The blast was on a scale that has never been seen by humans and happened even before dinosaurs came along when Earth teemed with creatures which are now extinct.
Lava and ash spewed up from beneath a shallow ocean that once covered Emeishan in southwestern China and rained down on primitive plants and animals across a single supercontinent known as Pangea - which later split into Africa, South America, Australia and Antarctica.
It unleashed around half a million cubic kilometres of lava, covering an area five times the size of Wales.
Scientists were able to pinpoint the exact timing of the eruption and directly link it to a mass extinction event because the lava appears now as a distinctive layer of igneous rock formed from magma sandwiched between sedimentary rock containing easily datable fossilised marine life.
Palaeontologist Professor Paul Wignall, of the University of Leeds, said: "When fast flowing, low viscosity magma meets shallow sea it's like throwing water into a chip pan there's spectacular explosion producing gigantic clouds of steam."
The injection of sulphur dioxide into the atmosphere - caused by the lava mixing with water - would have lead to massive cloud formation spreading around the world.
This cooled the planet and ultimately resulted in a torrent of acid rain. Scientists estimate from the fossil record that the environmental disaster happened at the start of the eruption.
Geologists generally agree a number of important events in Earth's history happened around this time including the break-up of Pangaea - the original super continent- and a likely change in planetary climate.
There was also a mass extinction of life on Earth when 96 percent of all ocean species and about 70 percent of all land species became extinct.
Giant explosive eruptions such as these may have impacted the planet's climate because large eruption columns could spread ash particles and toxic gasses into the upper atmosphere and around the globe.
Added Prof Wignall, whose findings are published in Science: "The abrupt extinction of marine life we can clearly see in the fossil record firmly links giant volcanic eruptions with global environmental catastrophe, a correlation that has often been controversial."
IT Companies firing employees
With their mis-calculated hedging strategies of the Rupee-Dollar exchange charge, most of the IT companies are not in a position to completely get the benefit of Rupee reduction. There has been news related to HP firing 24000 + employee over the next few years. News is also about Infy firing, Satyam firing, Wipro firing, TCS firing their employees. The Indian top IT companies however are maintaining the position that the firing or layoffs that they do may be related to the performance of these employees and not necessarily relate to the financial meltdown and its impact on their revenues.
Whatever is the motive the IT companies firing the employee may send a bad signal and things may be bad for many IT professionals.
MICROSOFT SURFACE TOUCH SCREEN
Surface also features the capability to recognize physical objects that have identification tags similar to bar codes, i.e. imagine a customer simply sets a wine glass on the surface of a table, a restaurant could provide them with information about the wine they’re ordering, pictures of the vineyard it came from and suggested food pairings modified to that evening’s menu. The experience could become completely immersive, allowing the users to access information on the wine-growing region and even look at suggested hotels and plan a trip without leaving the table.
Surface computing at Microsoft is a result of a shared effort between the Microsoft Hardware and Microsoft Research teams, which were struck by the opportunity to create technology that would bridge the physical and virtual worlds.
Four features key attributes are listed below:
•Direct interaction: Users can actually “capture” digital information directly with hands, interacting with content by touch and sign, without the use of a mouse or keyboard.
•Multi-touch: Surface computing recognizes many points of contact all together, not just from one finger like a usual touch-screen, but dozens of items at once.
•Multi-user: The horizontal form factor makes it simple for several people to gather around surface computers together, providing a collaborative, face-to-face computing experience.
•Object recognition: Users can place physical objects on the surface to activate different types of digital responses, including the move of digital content.
AB 98 Update
Looks like AB 98, the mandatory maternity bill, is being shelved for the remainder of the year. I will be curious to see if it is resurrected in the future.
AB 23 Signed Into Law
California Assembly Bill 23 was signed into law today by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
AB 23 legalizes the continuation subsidy for Cal-COBRA beneficiaries, which is intended to mirror the federal COBRA subsidy.
According to my information, this subsidy is to be provided directly by the health insurance carriers and only the carriers are allowed to take the tax credit to offset the subsidy.
I will blog with more details in the next few days. AB 23 was created and signed into law because the state mini-COBRA law needed a correction to approve the subsidy.
California AB 98 & Individual/Family Health Plans
Happy Thursday! One more day to go then the weekend.
The California legislature is currently working on a new bill, AB 98, which, if passed and signed into law, will make a significant change to California individual health coverage.
The bill would require all individual & family health insurance plans in California, whether registered with the DMHC or the DOI, to contain mandatory maternity benefits. As I interpret the bill, any plan sold in 2010 would have to contain maternity benefits, and any plan sold prior to 2010 would be adjusted to include maternity at plan renewal.
Many Californians currently covered on individual & family plans have chosen plans without maternity benefits to save premium. Maternity benefits on a health plan are assumed at 100% utilization, meaning that all plans with maternity benefits are priced with the expectation that every subscriber will use the benefit. Those who do not need maternity coverage would lose the choice of purchasing a non-maternity health plan and the premium savings that go along with it.
I will update as this bill moves through the Assembly.
Mini-COBRA Expansion States
Hope everyone is having a great spring. Just wanted to update on the increase in mini-COBRA state continuation coverage programs going on currently.
Last month Viriginia added a state mini-COBRA program which went into effect in early April, 2009. I found out today that Pennsylvania is also finishing legislation to add a mini-COBRA program. Virginia's program runs 9 months to coincide with the subsidy. I expect Pennsylvania to go 9 or 18 months, again with the first 9 being subject to the subsidy.
For those who are not aware, a part of the ARRA legislation requires state mini-COBRA programs to provide the same 65% subsidy to qualified beneficiaries as the federal COBRA program.
In California, we have a program called "Cal-COBRA" which is the state mini-COBRA program with a special feature not found in other states.
Cal-COBRA applies to groups 2-19 employees which fall below the federal COBRA size. Additionally, Cal-COBRA contains an extension of coverage provision under AB 1401 which can apply to groups of any size, not just 2-19. This was signed into law by Gray Davis when he was still the governor. Under AB 1401, certain groups above 20 are eligible for an extra 18 months on Cal-COBRA after the first 18 months of federal COBRA. Generally, the groups must be fully insured (not self-insured/self-funded) and must be covered by a carrier domiciled in California. Plans outside of California, like self-funded plans, are exempt.
For more information on Cal-COBRA extension and AB 1401, visit this page on my site.
For more information on Cal-COBRA and California mini-COBRA, visit this page on my site.
Before I forget, Happy Cinco de Mayo!