Dementia care and elder care advocates in Canada and around the world will tell you their input with respect to improving care for seniors is largely ignored. This is one of the main reasons neglect and abuse continue in many long-term care facilities. It’s also one of the reasons thousands of older adults died during… Continue reading dire state of ltc in ontario and across canada is not news
It’s February 4, 2020. Six years after the fact. Six years — almost to the day — after the Director of “Care” at the #DementiaJail in which Mom resided stood up in court and lied about the way my mother was being treated under her supervision. Now, I’m preparing a complaint to lodge against the… Continue reading i called it the “seroquel shuffle”
This Stephen Colbert bit is about the opioid crisis. But it could equally be about the polypharmacy crisis in older adults. Or the antipsychotic and psychotropic crisis in long-term care facilities. It’s all one and the same issue. #BIGpharma #bigMONEY ~~~~~~~~~~ Drug money. Food for thought. tragically wrong and hilariously funny: john oliver tells the… Continue reading big pharma, big money, big crime
“It enrages, sickens and saddens me when I see Alzheimer’s Disease International promoting Eli Lilly and Janssen R&D/Johnson & Johnson,” I rant in an email to a fellow dementia care advocate/activist on the other side of the world. Half a planet separates us, but my gut tells me we’re on the same page. My gut… Continue reading PR: should alzheimer’s advocates be doing it for #BIGpharma?
Six days earlier, Mom had told me she was comfortable with her chin to her chest and her eyes unable to shift their gaze from the floor. Three days earlier, she had said she was comfortable with her head tilted back, eyes permanently fixed on the ceiling. But on August 15, 2016, Mom was uncomfortable,… Continue reading the dystonia did us in: august 15, 2016
Three days before, Mom had been curled up in the shape of a question mark, like an aged female Quasimodo in a wheelchair. But on August 12, 2016, it was the opposite: her head was drawn back until the front of her neck was stretched taut. Over the previous two years, once she had become confined… Continue reading like puppets on a string: august 12, 2016
“Hello Punkie,” Mom greeted me using my nickname before I had chance to say hello. This was out of the ordinary. Usually, I didn’t say anything when I first arrived, to give her a chance to process, and then I would say “Hi Mom,” or “Hi Patti,” to initiate a conversation. This time she beat… Continue reading ow ow ow & mom’s dying of thirst: august 3, 2016
July 17, 2018: One month from today, August 17, 2018, will be the second anniversary of Mom’s death. I’m looking back at our last weeks together with joy, sadness, anger, gratitude and bittersweet grief. I intend to share some of my feelings, observations and experiences of that time two years ago over the next four… Continue reading “good pleasure” #lastmonthwithmymom 16/07/16
July 13, 2016, was a scorcher. And when I went to visit Mom in the afternoon, the heat made the stench of the dressing on her leg even more disgusting than it otherwise might have been. I gagged. I had contacted the dressing supplier months before and had been told this type of dressing should… Continue reading i still smell the stench
On July 10, 2018, the Quebec Council for the Protection of Patients and co-plaintiff Daniel Pilote (who is a long-term care resident in Quebec), filed an application for a class-action lawsuit that targets care facilities (CHSLDs) in Quebec, Canada (more here). Larochelle Avocats, the lawyers taking the case forward, list 19 potential breaches of the Quebec… Continue reading 19 ltc human rights abuses i hope quebec will have to pay for
My Alzheimer's Story 