Carolyn Rosenblatt

Many adult children want their aging parent to move closer and be in assisted living. Beware of the pitfalls and find a right fit with your elder's personality.

Concerned for your aged 80+ aging parent, you call regularly. Mom sounds good on the phone and offers no complaints.

Thanksgiving can be great or sometimes conflicts arise. Consider a few tips to help you keep it more peaceful.

Millions of Americans are caring for an aging or disabled loved one at home. You do what you must to honor your loved one. But what about YOU?

This is particularly true for elders, many of whom live alone, and need the companionship their pet very much. Sometimes the aging pet and its aging owner face particular risks. They're both getting old at the same time. For this piece I'll focus on dogs, as I'm a dog lover over my lifetime.

Imagine how it is for our elders, perhaps with memory loss, or in other ways baffled by multiple voice prompts or lack of explanations. What can we do to help them when we see this?

Here's the truth: The Alzheimer's Foundation, a worldwide nonprofit organization, does ongoing research on Alzheimer's disease and related dementias. They tell us that approximately 7M people in the U.S. have this disease or another kind of dementia. Don't you imagine that if there were a cure or even a pill to help prevent dementia, this well established organization would know about it? The truth is, we don't have a quick-fix pill that will prevent, slow or cure dementia. The promoted products in ads on TV make unfounded, non scientific claims about memory loss.

In surveys of our aging people, there is more fear expressed about getting dementia than being diagnosed with cancer.

California Advocates for Nursing Home Reform is a nonprofit that works tirelessly to address problems in long term care homes.

From my 10 years of nursing experience, much of it with elders, I observed a lot of problems, particularly the effect of failure to plan. From 27 years of legal practice, including litigation and trial work, I understand a bit about how the law works. I also see the consequences of failure to plan for legal matters. With both of those in my awareness, I still am sometimes shocked by what potential clients tell me.