| Law Lords leave elderly out in cold
Families with relatives in care suffered a blow this week when the House of Lords ruled that human rights legislation did not protect the elderly or vulnerable placed by local authorities in private care homes from eviction or neglect. It is believed that as many as 300,000 residents of private care homes are funded by local authorities, and more than one in 10 homes are in the hands of the private or voluntary sector. But whereas residents who are in state-run homes are protected by human rights legislation, those in private care homes are not, even if their care is funded by their local authority. .
New high-tech caregiving devices aim to help Canadians care for ...
TORONTO (CP) - They aren't being regarded as a replacement for human caregivers yet, but researchers hope a number of high-tech devices with the ability to speak, instruct, and even tell a joke will become an invaluable tool in helping Canadian caregivers look after their aging family members. "There is a real need for technology that can assist in caring for others," said William D'Souza, the Ontario-based creator of Mon Ami, an assisted living device which can operate anything electronic in a home. It can also be programmed to give reminders about medication and appointments, read books and play music. "We looked everywhere and could find nothing that was comprehensively able to assist people in their day to day tasks, " said D'Souza, who was displaying the multilingual device at a caregiving, disability, aging and technology conference in Toronto.
Oregon does good job of caring for elderly
Sometimes we Oregonians don't give ourselves credit. Sometimes we ignore the good job we're doing. An example is how Oregon helps low-income elderly and disabled people stay in their homes instead of moving them to higher-cost nursing homes. Consider this: When a Nashville newspaper looked for states that were doing a better job than Tennessee of caring for poor elderly and disabled people, it picked Oregon for a model. Each state has about 28,000 low-income elderly and disabled people on Medicaid, The Tennessean explained. In Tennessee in 2005, nearly 99 percent were in nursing homes -- the highest rate in the country. In contrast, 22 percent of Oregon's elderly and disabled Medicaid clients were in nursing homes. The rest got care at home or in alternative facilities such as adult foster homes.
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