Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Facing Down An Alzheimer's Diagnosis: 'The Beginning Is Like Purgatory'
The New York Times: Fraying At The Edges
It began with what she saw in the bathroom mirror. On a dull morning, Geri Taylor padded into the shiny bathroom of her Manhattan apartment. She casually checked her reflection in the mirror, doing her daily inventory. Immediately, she stiffened with fright. Huh? What? She didn’t recognize herself. ... But to not recognize her own face! To Ms. Taylor, this was the “drop-dead moment” when she had to accept a terrible truth. She wasn’t just seeing the twitches of aging but the early fumes of the disease. (N. R. Kleinfield, 5/1)
In other news, a new study finds that keeping the heart healthy as it ages benefits the brain, and nursing homes are beginning to offer customized menus —
NPR: What's Good For The Heart Is Good For The Brain
Hoping to keep your mental edge as you get older? Look after your heart, a recent analysis suggests, and your brain will benefit, too. A research team led by Hannah Gardener, an epidemiologist at the University of Miami, analyzed a subset of data from the Northern Manhattan Study, a large, ongoing study of risk factors for stroke among whites, blacks and Hispanics living in the Washington Heights neighborhood of New York City. (Neighmond, 5/2)
The Associated Press: Nursing Homes Starting To Offer More Individualized Menus
On a recent Thursday, the staff at Sunny Vista Living Center in Colorado Springs bustled in the kitchen. The phone rang with a last minute order as Chris Willard tended to a large pot of Thai-style soup with fresh ginger, vegetables and thin-sliced beef. It was a special meal for a woman of Asian descent who didn't like any of the dozen choices on the menu. ... Sunny Vista is part of a slow but growing trend among the nation's 15,600 nursing homes to abandon rigid menus and strict meal times in favor of a more individualized approach toward food. Advocates pushing for the change say it has taken more than three decades to get to this point. (5/2)
