The American Medical Directors Association (AMDA) Foundation, the non-profit research and education arm of AMDA, invites you to meet two dogs that have a key role in caring for long term care facility residents. Come meet Sophie and Tessa and hear from their owner, a facility medical director, and other physicians about the power of pets in their ...

How much can a small touch really mean to a person? A recent article in The New York Times suggests that little touches mean a lot, and that high fives and reassuring pats on the back can even lower stress and increase happiness. The article focuses mainly on the positive effect of supportive touches in sports like basketball ...

A recent pilot study has found that regular use of ''exergames''--video games, like Nintendo Wii, that combine entertainment with exercise--can improve symptoms of subsyndromal depression (SSD) in seniors.   SSD is much more common than major depression in seniors, and is associated with substantial suffering, functional ...

If your residents are not complying with their metformin medication schedule, it could be the smell, which has been described as similar to dead fish. Many diabetics report nausea when taking the commonly prescribed drug, but doctors have not associated it with the odor. Read more here.

When seniors face loss--three funerals in as many months, for instance--younger people, including caregivers, might assume that death is a reality that people of a certain age must come to accept. But the elderly feel grief as much as anyone else. In The New York Times blog ''The New Old Age,'' Barbara Moscowicz, ...

 A University of Missouri researcher is developing a tiny sensor, known as an acoustic resonant sensor, that is smaller than a human hair and could test bodily fluids for a variety of diseases, including breast and prostate cancers. Read more here: http://www.seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Features/2010/20100217-HomeDetectionKit.htm.  

As a person who loses keys, purses, my wallet and possibly even a child or two, I will definitely need this high-tech medication reminder: http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/02/pills.medication.compliance/index.html?hpt=C2.  

Late last month, Island Nursing and Rehab Center, Holtsville, N.Y., implemented a Musically Designed Program for residents with dementia. The program was funded by a grant from a generous family member. Conducted by a therapeutic recreation specialist with a background in music, the program includes a variety of activities featuring ...

Researchers have found that the brain is capable of creating new connections and neurons all throughout life, debunking the common claim that older people withdraw from the world because they cannot learn anything new, according to a column by David Brooks in The New York Times. Additional studies have found that people become more outgoing, ...

 The recruitment period of the Phase 2 Advancing Excellence in America's Nursing Homes Campaign ended at midnight January 31, 2010. The Campaign signed up. 5,860 nursing homes, including 1,132 new participants and 4,728 re-enrollees (now charter members of the Campaign), are now members of the Phase 2 Campaign, reports Carol Benner, ScM. ...