Here in Pennsylvania, the ADVANCE staff is experiencing--for the third time this winter--a snow day. Huge flakes are falling, the roads are slick, and most of us are working from home. We have the option of settling in with a laptop, a notebook and a cup of coffee to take care of a day's work, without having to risk traveling in this weather. But ...

  A news item about a mouse-on-resident attack in an Australian nursing home is hitting the U.S. media. Tales of mice chewing off residents' ears are, we can only hope, extremely rare, but certainly stir up a lot of attention and fear. Do you think the U.S. long-term care community should respond to this news report on a national level? ...

Fall-induced traumatic brain injuries caused almost 8,000 deaths and 56,000 hospitalizations in 2005 among Americans 65 and older, reports the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the June issue of the Journal of Safety Research. In 2005, TBIs were responsible for 50 percent of unintentional fall deaths and 8 percent of nonfatal ...

Acting under his authority in the Public Health Service Act, HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt today declared a public health emergency in the flood-stricken states of Iowa and Indiana. The action gives CMS Medicare beneficiaries and their health care providers greater flexibility in meeting emergency health needs, according to an HHS news ...

Norovirus, often called the ''stomach flu,'' often shows its face this time of year. Most people realize it's highly contagious but, for the first time, U.S. health officials report it can be spread from contact on computer keyboards and computer mice. With several people sharing computers in long-term care facilities, and the push towards ...