Chickenpox may be a childhood disease, but it can recur in adults —much more virulently — as shingles. Both chickenpox and shingles are caused by the varicella-zoster virus, but the virus has very different effects in each case. While chickenpox results in an itchy, blistering rash, shingles first presents as pain, followed by a red rash after several days.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), one in three Americans will develop shingles. The risk increases with age: people over age 60 are at greater risk than younger people, and those over 80 have a 50% risk of developing the disease.
A weak immune system increases the risk of shingles. Antirejection medication after an organ transplant or steroid use, or undergoing radiation or chemotherapy increases the risk.
Not only are seniors far more likely to develop shingles, they are also more likely to have serious complications from it. The most common complication is postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), pain that lasts persists even after the rash disappears. PHN can last for years, and is often debilitating. Both the risk and the severity of PHN is greater the older the person is.
Other complications of shingles in seniors include pneumonia, hearing loss, facial paralysis, blindness, toxic shock syndrome, bacterial infection, and encephalitis, an inflammation of the brain.
Shingles is also associated with a significant increase in stroke and heart attack in the week following the occurrence.
Antiviral medications can reduce the severity of an attack of shingles, but prevention is the best medicine. The CDC recommends that healthy adults above the age of 50 get vaccinated against shingles. Most insurance plans, including Medicare Part D, cover at least part of the cost of the shingles vaccine. For those who cannot pay, GlaxoSmithKline, the manufacturer of Shingrix, the preferred shingles vaccine, offers financial assistance.
At the Regency Nursing and Rehabilitation Centers, we offer the very best of care in the most appropriate and patient-centered environment. This means always listening to our residents and patients and respecting their capabilities, while helping them to achieve maximum functionality and independence. And always maintaining the highest professional and quality standards in our staff and our facilities. Our 25 years of excellent care have led to us being awarded a Best Nursing Homes award by US News & World Today, a 5-Star rating by USA Today, and an A+ rating by the Better Business Bureau, among many other awards.
Contact us by clicking here to see which of our three facilities will best meet your needs or the needs of your loved one.
A 2015 report on Elder Financial Abuse estimates that financial abuse costs seniors $36 billion each year. Abuse can take the form of financial exploitation: when misleading language and, often, pressure tactics, are used to obtain a senior’s consent for payment for services or products. Seniors are also vulnerable to deceit or theft perpetrated by a caregiver, and to telephone and internet scams.
Shawna Reeves, Director of Elder Abuse Prevention at the Institute on Aging, states that, “Those of us working in the field have long known that the United States is in the throes of an elder financial abuse epidemic.”
The SeniorSafe Act, written by members of the Senate Special Committee on Aging, and passed last year, empowers financial institutions such as banks, credit unions, insurance companies, and investment houses to report suspicions of financial abuse of seniors to the authorities. Before the SeniorSafe Act, privacy laws constrained financial institutions from reporting suspected abuse. It also adjures these institutions to educate their staff to recognize what financial abuse of seniors looks like.
Employees at financial institutions are often the first to notice such signs of financial fraud as unusual patterns of cash withdrawal and unusual wire transfers, often to foreign countries.
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) has also instituted a rule that allows brokerage account holders to list a trusted person who can be contacted when financial abuse is suspected.
Twenty-five states and the District of Columbia already have laws in place requiring suspected abuse to be reported. The SeniorSafe Act does not require reporting, but it adds protections for seniors in states that do not have mandatory financial abuse reporting laws.
The Senate Special Committee on Aging publishes an annual resource book to help seniors protect themselves against fraud, and includes a list of the top ten scams reported to the Committee’s Fraud Hotline. This book should be required reading for seniors and those who love them.
