Elderly Health Story Archives - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

WVU Researchers Seek Participants For Telehealth Study

A study will measure the effectiveness of telehealth as a means for patients to remain at home while managing their care.

Researchers at West Virginia University (WVU) are enrolling participants in an extended telehealth pilot program.

The project is a collaboration of the WVU Health Affairs Institute and West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources, Bureau for Medical Services.

The program is an expansion of previous telehealth pilot work and will provide telehealth care to beneficiaries of Home and Community-Based Services.

Participants will have the opportunity to receive six months of telehealth services in their homes for free.

“With our telehealth program, one component of it is remote patient monitoring, monitoring of vital signs,” Associate Professor in WVU’s School of Public Health, Steven Davis, said. “They’re transmitted remotely.”

Participants will also receive a call from a nurse a couple of times a month to discuss their well-being.

Davis said telehealth can be a positive addition to existing health care.

“We would rather coordinate with their primary care providers to catch things early on so that they’re going to a lower level of care versus more costly care,” he said.

People living in West Virginia often need to go back to the hospital or are not able to live at home due to a variety of physical and mental health issues, according to Davis.

Telehealth can assist in monitoring these conditions closely to prevent unnecessary hospital visits or delays needing 24-hour care outside of the home.

To be eligible to participate, individuals must be a Medicaid Aged and Disabled Waiver, Intellectual/Developmental Disabilities Waiver, or Traumatic Brain Injury Waiver member.

Individuals interested in participating in the Extended Telehealth Pilot should complete a short interest form available on the Health Affairs Institute website at healthaffairsinstitute.org.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.

Marshall Seeks Participants In Art And Aging Study

Researchers at Marshall University are seeking participants 55 and older to examine the effect of visual art activities on the well-being of aging adults.

There are reports of the health benefits that come from participating in art activities and this study aims to examine that.

Sandra Reed, a professor of art at Marshall University, will oversee Marshall art alumni as they teach the art workshops.

“We hope we will gather hard data that demonstrates what so many individuals state. That they feel energized by having something creative in their hands that they’re focusing on, and not thinking about everything else in their life that they might, you know, frequently worry about,” Reed said.

The team will host two informational sessions for interested individuals to learn more about this health study. The first will be held at 9:30 a.m. on June 14 at the Barboursville Senior Center and the second at 10 a.m. on June 15 at the Ceredo Senior Wellness Center.

The first art workshop series will begin in July with two additional series to follow.

In addition to Reed, physician faculty from the Marshall University Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine Cynthia Pinson, M.D., Martha Sommers, M.D., Masa Toyama, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology at Marshall University and principal investigator on the study and Asma Nayyar, M.D., are collaborating on this study.

For more information about these schedules, visit the project’s website. To participate, e-mail ArtAndAging@marshall.edu or call Toyama (Principal Investigator) at 304-696-2777 or Reed (Professor of Art) at 304-696-5671.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting with support from Charleston Area Medical Center and Marshall Health.

Who’ll Care For West Virginia's Growing Elder Generation?

We’re an aging nation.

Today 16 percent of Americans are over age 65. In the next few decades that will double as the youngest Baby Boomers move into old age, but in West Virginia, that future is now. It’s the third oldest state in the nation and more than 20 percent of its residents are over age 65. At the same time, West Virginia’s birth rate is low because young people are leaving. That generational imbalance will increase in coming years.

The numbers show a growing crisis. More seniors want to stay in their homes and the industry has shifted from a nursing home model to one focused on aging in place. That’s led to an explosion in home-based support and care services, but now those companies struggle to find the workers they need to provide services for the growing elderly population.

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation and the West Virginia Humanities Council.

Subscribe to Us & Them on Apple Podcasts, NPR One, RadioPublic, Spotify, Stitcher and beyond. You also can listen to Us & Them on WVPB Radio — tune in tonight, June 24, at 8 p.m., or listen to the encore presentation on the following Saturday at 3 p.m.

Phyllis Nichols lives in a Section 8 housing facility in Charleston, West Virginia, that’s designated for elderly and persons with disabilities. Several times a week, she receives a visit from a specialized caregiver, who helps her ‘age in place.’

Rev. Jim Lewis waits for a medical exam.

Eugene Barker looks after the needs of Saunders Cleage. Fifteen years ago, Cleage had a stroke and ever since, Barker has been his full-time caregiver.

Trey Kay visits Rev. Jim Lewis at his new residence in a retirement community.

Hearing Loss in the Elderly May Contribute to Depression

Age-related hearing loss is associated with conditions such as cognitive impairment and dementia. A new study has found it may have one more association — depression.

More than 5000 Hispanic participants over the age of 50 were tested for hearing loss and screened for depression.

Researchers found that the greater the hearing loss in the elderly, the more likely they were to be depressed.

Participants with mild hearing loss were more than twice as likely to have depressive symptoms than those with normal hearing. And individuals with severe hearing loss were more than four times as likely. About half of adults over the age of 75 have trouble hearing, according to the National Institutes of Health. The authors said treating hearing loss might head off late-life depression and call for better diagnosis and treatment of hearing loss, but also note further research is needed.

The study was recently published in the journal of the American Medical Association Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Marshall Health and Charleston Area Medical Center.

Why Another of West Virginia's Geriatricians is Leaving the State

Last year we ran a story about the shortage of geriatricians in West Virginia. In it, we featured Todd Goldberg, the only full-time geriatrician in Charleston and head of the West Virginia University geriatrics fellowship program.

Since that story ran, WVU decided to end their fellowship program after it failed to attract applicant for a fourth year in a row. Now, Goldberg has decided to leave West Virginia citing a personal reason – the need to care for his own aging parents in Pennsylvania. Health reporter Kara Lofton recently sat down with Goldberg at Edgewood Retirement Community in Charleston to talk about his decision to leave and what one fewer geriatrician in an aging state means for the future of elder-care in West Virginia.

Appalachia Health News is a project of West Virginia Public Broadcasting, with support from the Benedum Foundation, Charleston Area Medical Center and WVU Medicine.

Researcher Shows Elderly Struggle During Power Outages

A professor of geriatrics at the Marshall University School of Medicine recently published an article that shows the elderly struggle when the power is out.

Dr. Shirley M. Neitch is a professor of geriatrics in the department of internal medicine at the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine. She, along with a team of researchers, just published an article on the effects of prolonged power outages on the health care of elderly patients. The study was published last month in the peer-reviewed journal Clinical Geriatrics. Neitch said although the premise seems obvious, many times elderly and especially bedridden elderly aren’t ready for the outages.

“If you ask specific questions, do you have a week’s worth of your medications, would you evacuate if you were told to do so, would you know where to go if asked to evacuate? You find out it’s not 100%, they are not really ready,” Neitch said.

And she said that’s the scary part for those providing care to geriatric patients.

The study highlighted two cases following the 2012 derecho that left millions of people without electricity for days across much of the mid-Atlantic United States. The excessive high humidity and sweating led to an increase in moisture on the patients’ skin. Without power it was difficult for caregivers to keep them clean and dry because of the lack of air conditioning and heated water. Both patients later died and their situations during the power outage were believed to have played a role.

Neitch and her team of researchers say their studies show the need for continuous power service for bedridden patients and overall awareness of opportunities for elderly when outages occur. Neitch said most power companies offer a high-priority restoration status, but documentation must be completed with the assistance of health care providers. She says even then, depending on the situation, having a high-priority restoration status is not a guarantee that the power will be back on anytime soon. Neitch says more elderly need to make use of the 211 Call Center System and the Vulnerable Needs Registry. The 211 system will allow the elderly and their caregivers to locate services that are needed. Neitch said it comes down to a need for better coordination of services.

"There is no need to reinvent wheels," Neitch said.

“My hope for the larger community is that people that are doing some really good and really hard work out there trying to make us all better prepared for this can start talking to each other because there is no need to reinvent wheels,” Neitch said.

The Vulnerable Needs Registry, available in 9 WV counties, requires a survey be completed for the patient, and makes sure there is a record of what the patient needs when an emergency occurs. Neitch said she just hopes this brings more attention to something that is near and dear to the hearts of many. As part of the study Neitch and her team produced a Patient Tip Sheet as well.

The study notes that the Vulnerable Needs Registry is only available in Cabell, Boone, Jackson, Lincoln, Logan, Mason, Mingo, Putnam and Wayne counties, unlike the 211 Call Center System, which is available nationwide.