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Aging Resources

The information on this Web site is presented for educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for informed medical advice or training. Do not use this information to diagnose or treat a mental health problem without consulting a qualified health or mental health care provider.

This Web site provides links to other sites not owned or controlled by OLESEM that we think might be useful or of interest to you. The Web has an abundance of sites with information on wellness and mental health issues. Some sites are informative and based on good authority, others are merely entertaining. While we have been careful to research each site in hopes of providing you credible and accurate information, OLESEM does not endorse or guarantee references or a site listed and is not responsible for the content or privacy practices used by other site owners.

However, none of these sites is a satisfactory substitute for professional help. When people face serious personal problems that defy easy solutions, it usually is time to seek the services of qualified professionals. With that limitation in mind, the following Web sites may be of interest:

• AgingSolutions
  Advice, comprehensive checklists, and links to key resources ...designed to make it easier for caregivers to quickly find the information they need ... and avoid missing things that are important in the care for their loved one. Providing care for our aging parents or elder spouse can often be very frustrating, with new surprises almost every day. Whether you care for aging parents in your home, or manage elder care plans from a distance, most of us don't know where to go for reliable answers ... or even what questions to ask. Here's help .
• Area Agency on Aging (AOA) Eldercare Locator
  The Eldercare Locator is a nationwide toll free service that provides older adults and their caregivers information about local services for seniors without charge. The U.S. Administration on Aging provides this service available online so that consumers can easily link to the information and referral (I&R) services of their state and area agencies on aging. These I&R programs can help you identify appropriate services in the area where you or your family member resides.
• A/PACT
  Aging Parents and Adult Children Together (A/PACT) is a series of 10 articles in booklet form produced by the Federal Trade Commission, in partnership with AARP and made available on the feddesk.com web site. The series will introduce you to elder care issues you may confront and help you help aging loved ones investigate options and make decisions that can help maximize their independence, comfort and quality of life..
• Assisted Living Federation of America
  ALFA represents over 7,000 for-profit and not-for-profit providers of assisted living, continuing care retirement communities, independent living and other forms of housing and services. Founded in 1990 to advance the assisted living industry and enhance the quality of life for the approximately one million consumers it serves, ALFA broadened its membership in 1999 to embrace the full range of housing and care providers who share ALFA's consumer-focused philosophy of care.
• Alzheimer's Association
  is the largest national voluntary health organization supporting Alzheimer research and care. On this site, you'll find information about the disease, their programs and services, and advocacy efforts.
• American Association of Retired Persons
  AARP is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to addressing the needs and interests of persons 50 and older. Through information and education, advocacy and service, AARP seeks to enhance the quality of life for all by promoting independence, dignity and purpose.
• Caregiving
  This site offers information, support and information about care giving. Directs you to local support groups and provides other interesting information.
• Careguide
  CareGuide is a Web site featuring a full range of services, articles and resources for elder care. Visitors can explore the site via the Resource Guide below, or find content by taking our elder situation assessment.
• Children of Aging Parents
  is a nonprofit, charitable organization whose mission is to assist the nation's nearly 54 million caregivers of the elderly or chronically ill with reliable information, referrals and support, and to heighten public awareness that the health of the family caregivers is essential to ensure quality care of the nation's growing elderly population.
• Doctors Guide - Arthritis information
  Offers the latest medical news and information for patients or friends/parents of patients diagnosed with arthritis.
• Elder Law and Aging
  Offers sites addressing legal issues affecting the elderly.
• ElderWeb
  This site provides thousands of reviewed links addressing long term care information, a searchable database of organizations, and an expanding library of articles and reports, news, and events addressing eldercare. This site is designed to be a research site for both professionals and family members looking for information on eldercare and long term care, and includes links to information on legal, financial, medical, and housing issues, as well as policy, research, and statistics. ElderWeb has been used extensively by journalists and students doing research, and by professionals looking for Internet resources, as well as by family members looking for help for their elderly relatives.
• Five Wishes Document
  An Aging with Dignity resource. The Five Wishes document helps you express how you want to be treated if you are seriously ill and unable to speak for yourself. It is unique among all other living will and health agent forms because it looks to all of a person's needs: medical, personal, emotional and spiritual. Five Wishes also encourages discussing your wishes with your family and physician. Five Wishes lets your family and doctors know:
  1. Which person you want to make health care decisions for you when you can't make them.
  2. The kind of medical treatment you want or don't want.
  3. How comfortable you want to be.
  4. How you want people to treat you.
  5. What you want your loved ones to know.
  The document is valid in all but 15 states (click to review) . The 15 that Five Wishes is not legally valid in, either require a specific state form or that the person completing an advance directive be read a mandatory notice or "warning." Residents of these states can still use Five Wishes to put their wishes in writing and communicate their wishes with their family and physician. Most health care professionals understand they have a duty to listen to the wishes of their patients no matter how they are expressed.
• Geriatric Care Managers
  GCM is a non-profit, professional organization of practitioners whose goal is the advancement of dignified care for the elderly and their families. With more than 1,500 members, GCM is committed to maximizing the independence and autonomy of elders while striving to ensure that the highest quality and most cost-effective health and human services are used when and where appropriate. A geriatric care manager (PGCM) is a professional, such as a social worker, counselor, nurse, or gerontologist who specializes in assisting older people and their families to attain the highest quality of life given their circumstances. A GCM can; conduct care planning assessments to identify problems, and provide solutions; screen, arrange and monitor in-home help or other services; review financial, legal, or medical issues and offer referrals to geriatric specialists to avoid future problems while conserving financial resources; provide crisis intervention; act as a liaison to families at a distance, overseeing care and quickly alerting families to problems; assist with moving an older person to or from a retirement complex, assisted care home, or nursing home; provide consumer education and advocacy; offer counseling and support. Some PGCMs also provide family or individual therapy, finance management, and conservatorship or guardianship assistance and/or caregiving services. PGCMs have extensive knowledge about the costs, quality, and availability of resources in their community. One call to a PGCM will connect you to the appropriate services.
• Granddriver
  While most older drivers may be good drivers, the physical changes associated with aging can ultimately affect our ability to drive safely. That's why the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators and its partners in the District of Columbia, Maryland and Virginia, have created "GrandDriver", a pilot program that provides information about aging and driving.
• HHS - Administration on Aging
  This site provides you access to information about the agency, its mission, budget, and organizational structure. In addition you can learn more about the Older Americans Act, the federal legislation establishing the AoA and authorizing a range of programs that offer services and opportunities for older Americans and their caregivers.
• Medical Alert Services: Provide medical monitoring service to provide 24/7 monitoring and family peace of mind. The user wears either a necklace or a wrist band with a panic button attached. If the user needs assistance they can press the button, which alerts the medical monitoring vendor who has the capacity to alert a previously designated person, or depending upon the circumstances 911. Below are several vendors that offer such services. The Office of Law Enforcement does not endorse these companies and encourages users to fully research vendors and other medical alert vendors to determine reliability and to make cost comparisons.
• Alarms
• American Senior Safety Agency
• LifeFone
• Lifeline
• Medicare
  This site offers information about Medicare Eligibility, Enrollment, and Premiums. It also directs you to other sites such as nursing homes, prescription drug assistance plans, a Participating Provider Directory and other sites of interest. This is a nice site to visit if you are in need of understanding Medicare and looking for resources.
• The National Council on the Aging (Benefits CheckUP)
  Benefits CheckUp helps thousands of people every day to find programs for seniors that may pay for some of their costs of prescription drugs, health care, utilities, and other essential items or services. View this site to fill out their simple questionnaire to find programs that can assist you or your loved ones..
• New LifeStyles
  New LifeStyles offers information and referral services on senior residences and care options. This information is available, free to all that need it. New LifeStyles referrals are to service providers who advertise with their company. They put out a listing publication for various cities in the USA. To see if they have one in your city or to get free copies for yourself or your office you may request it online.
• The Resource Directory for Older People
  This directory offers listing of services available throughout the country, from social services to legal services.