Dozing in a big lift chair, propped up by pillows in the living room of her modest home here, Bertha G. Milliard greeted the nurse who had come to check her condition and review the medications she takes for chronic pain, heart failure, stroke and dementia…[Full Article Here]

Always at the forefront of the news, here is a piece on the current health care issue:

The holidays may be starting to crowd your to-do list, but one thing you shouldn’t let get buried under the tinsel is your health insurance coverage.

Open enrollment period, the annual window when people get to update their health insurance choices, is winding down. The opportunity to change coverage under some employer- and union-sponsored plans has already passed, but many will continue to accept updates for a few more weeks. Medicare participants have until the end of the year to choose or make changes to their Medicare Advantage plans and prescription drug coverage…[Read the Full Article Here]

Many people think hospice care is just about dying. Hospice care is more than that. Hospice brings comfort and support to people facing a life-limiting illness. It also reaches out to provide support for the family and friends who love and care for them.

Hospice care honors life’s final journey, leaving a legacy of compassion and caring.

Hospice brings comfort, dignity and peace to help people live every moment of life to the fullest, leaving loved ones with memories they can treasure…[Full Article Here]

As health care reform proposals continue to strive for choice, quality of care, and reduction of healthcare costs, hospice advocates have an opening to shout out, “This is what hospice is all about!” Choice, quality of care, quality of life, and reduction of healthcare costs are all consistent with the realities of hospice.

When facing a life-limiting condition, there comes a point when the patient and family must decide to pursue attempting to cure an illness, even when a cure is unlikely, or to choose a better quality of life achieved with hospice care and symptom management through the final stages of life…[Full Article Here]

A leading Senate Democrat said Monday his party is determined to push through a health care overhaul bill with or without Republican support because the “system is broken.”

“We prefer to go at it with Republicans if we can reach compromises in some areas,” said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. “But we’re not going to not pass a bill.”

Schumer dueled with Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison on a network morning news show in the wake of a key Senate vote Saturday night that advanced a 10-year, $959 billion health bill to full debate. Hutchison argued that “you’re going to put taxes and mandates on business” that would be a drag on an economy still struggling to recover from recession…[Full Article Here]

More than 400 Connecticut residents, health care reform advocates, and clergy attended an evening prayer vigil that began at Senator Joe Lieberman’s Alma Mater, Stamford High School. The vigil transformed into a candlelight march to the senator’s condo building, where participants sang “This Little Light of Mine.” Unexpected drama came at the conclusion of the event as clergy–including rabbis, pastors, reverends, and imams–attempted to deliver a communal letter calling for Lieberman to support health care reform. They were met with police, who blocked access to the building while neighbors stood on their balconies watching the procession. Building resident Shirley Binin, who had walked with the crowd, stepped up and received the box of prayers and walked into the building while vigil participants chanted, “We will be back.”..[Full Article Here]

Though President Obama pledged health care legislation would bring down the cost of health care “while strengthening the financial health of Medicare,” the chief actuary for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid issued an official analysis that found the House bill breaks both pledges.

A fresh analysis of the House health care reform plan has sounded a warning about the impact proposed Medicare cuts would have on seniors and could spell trouble for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s effort to pull a unified Senate bill to the floor by the end of the week…[Full Article Here]

Heightened efforts by the Drug Enforcement Administration to crack down on narcotics abuse are producing a troubling side effect by denying some hospice and elderly patients needed pain medication, according to two Senate Democrats and a coalition of pharmacists and geriatric experts.

Read more: http://www.kansas.com/news/nation-world/story/1031994.html#ixzz0VWzfcHW0

Check out the Robotic Surgery being performed at Seton Hospital:

In its broadest definition, home health care describes a wide range of necessary medical, nursing, therapeutic, social, and supportive care services that are delivered in the home and community to people from infancy to old age and at all stages of life between birth and death.

Most people prefer the comfort and security of their own homes for recovery and rehabilitation after an illness or injury. In recent years, home care has gained heightened emphasis because it offers highly skilled, reliable, affordable care in the friendly setting of one’s home. In addition, the middle-aged children of elderly parents are increasingly dependent upon home care agencies to provide safe and reliable health and supportive services to their parents.