An accident that results in a permanent disabling injury or the birth of a special needs child can force people to assume a lifelong care giving role. As the number of people with severe disabilities, debilitating chronic diseases and terminal illnesses grows, concern about their care has focused primarily on long-term care facilities, nursing homes, home health aides and hospices. Relatively little official attention has been paid to those who provide the overwhelming amount of services for people, both young and old, who are unable to care for themselves.
Various surveys have found that 20 million to 50 million family members in the United States provide care that was traditionally performed by nurses and social workers. Family caregivers supply about 80 percent of the care for ill or disabled relatives, and the need for their services will only rise as the population ages and modern medicine improves its ability to prolong lives.
Financial burdens can also complicate matters, especially when the family caregiver is forced to quit a job or cut back on outside work for pay. About a third of family caregivers lose most or all of their savings as a result of care giving, studies have shown. Family caregivers provide an estimated $237 billion in unpaid services a year.
Most family caregivers have no training for the physically and emotionally demanding tasks they undertake. And many are struggling themselves with age-related disabilities and chronic ailments. Others are members of the so-called “sandwich generation” who must juggle care giving with paying jobs and the needs of their own family.
It is important family members and caregivers know their options for help. The Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) has five programs that offer services to eligible persons in the home:
Home Health provides in-home skilled nursing services and associated personal care from qualified nurses and home health aides.
Home Help provides unskilled personal services such as meal preparation, assistance with eating, grooming, laundry, shopping and moving about the home.
PDS provides assistance in purchasing durable medical equipment and home modifications not otherwise covered by Medicaid.
MI Choice Program provides services such as personal care, transportation, private duty nursing, meal preparation and routine household care to allow an individual to remain in his or her home.
PACE provides comprehensive medical and long-term care services to program enrollees who are 55 years of age or older.
Additional services:
Hospices offer end-of-life care, usually provided in the home. In some cases care may also be provided in a residential facility such as a nursing home. Support is provided for the family through counseling, and for the individual with skilled nursing services, pain management and personal care.
Nursing homes are residences that provide housing, meals, rehabilitative care, skilled nursing services and protective supervision for post--acute and long-term care needs.
Other resources that may help:
MMAP is the Michigan Medicare and Medicaid Assistance Program that offers free counseling and education on Medicare and Medicaid benefits. You can contact MMAP toll-free at 1-800-803-7174.
MISeniors.net is Michigan’s Office of Services to the Aging website. The website lists support services for the elderly, housing options, information on nutrition and health care providers: www.MISeniors.net.
The Department of Human Services- DHS is a State of Michigan agency that provides information on independent living, senior services, adult community placement and medical services. To locate county DHS offices, call 517-373-2035, or select ‘County Offices’ from its website at www.michigan.gov/dhs.
Eligibility for long-term care services is determined by assessing your medical needs and functional abilities, and looking at financial criteria. MI Choice Program, PACE and nursing homes use Michigan’s Medicaid Nursing Facility Level of Care Determination to identify eligibility.
Financial eligibility is determined by your local Department of Human Services (DHS) office. If you are determined eligible for services, you will be informed of program options. If you are determined ineligible, you will be informed of other services in your community that may help you, and your right to appeal a determination of ineligibility. Contact your local Area Agency on Aging or community service organization for more information about all program options.
If you or a loved one has been injured to due to the negligence of a nursing home or long-term care facility, protect your rights. Contact one of our experienced Michigan personal injury attorneys immediately for a free confidential consultation today.
Monday, December 15, 2008
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Small Melamine Amounts in Baby Formula Safe?
Public health groups, consumer advocates and members of Congress blasted the Food and Drug Administration on November 26, 2008 for failing to act after discovering trace amounts of the industrial chemical melamine in baby formula sold in the United States.
The FDA began testing infant formula in September and has so far analyzed 74 of the 87 products it has collected. None of the samples contained both melamine and a related compound, cyanuric acid. After reviewing the samples and animal studies, the agency decided that either melamine or cyanuric acid alone is safe formula at 1 part per million or less. Melamine can cause kidney and bladder stones and, in worst cases, kidney failure and death. If melamine and cyanuric acid combine, they can form round yellow crystals that can also damage kidneys and destroy renal function.
Melamine was found In Good Start Supreme Infant Formula with Iron made by Nestle, and cyanuric acid was detected in Enfamil Lipil with Iron infant formula powder made by Mead Johnson. A spokesman for Nestle did not respond to repeated calls and e-mails for comment. Gail Wood, a spokeswoman for Mead Johnson, said the company does not think that cyanuric acid poses a health threat to infants. “Cyanuric acid is approved by the FDA to sanitize processing equipment,” she said. “The risks of not sanitizing equipment are far greater than ultra trace amounts of residual cyanuric acid found in formula.
Agency scientists have maintained they could not set a safe level of melamine exposure for babies because they do not understand the effects of long-term exposure on a baby’s developing kidneys. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that infant formula is a baby’s sole source of food for many months. Premature infants absorb an especially large dose of the chemical, compared with full-term babies.
The FDA spokeswoman said no illnesses have been linked to melamine consumption in the United States. Chinese manufacturers deliberately added the chemical to watered-down formula to make it appear to contain higher levels of protein. More than 50,000 Asian infants were hospitalized, and at least four died.
Critics said the FDA’s reassurance about products carry less weight after the recent controversy over bisphenol-A, a chemical found in plastic baby bottles, dinnerware and the linings of food cans. The FDA dismissed a growing body of scientific evidence that has linked BPA to health problems even as worried consumers stopped buying BPA-containing products. Instead, the FDA relied on two industry-funded studies that concluded the BPA did not pose a health risk. Last month, the agency’s science advisory board said the agency should no longer maintain that BPA is safe.
Your child’s safety is one of our law firm’s main concerns. If you or a loved one is injured due to consumption of a dangerous product, contact our experienced Michigan layers immediately.
The FDA began testing infant formula in September and has so far analyzed 74 of the 87 products it has collected. None of the samples contained both melamine and a related compound, cyanuric acid. After reviewing the samples and animal studies, the agency decided that either melamine or cyanuric acid alone is safe formula at 1 part per million or less. Melamine can cause kidney and bladder stones and, in worst cases, kidney failure and death. If melamine and cyanuric acid combine, they can form round yellow crystals that can also damage kidneys and destroy renal function.
Melamine was found In Good Start Supreme Infant Formula with Iron made by Nestle, and cyanuric acid was detected in Enfamil Lipil with Iron infant formula powder made by Mead Johnson. A spokesman for Nestle did not respond to repeated calls and e-mails for comment. Gail Wood, a spokeswoman for Mead Johnson, said the company does not think that cyanuric acid poses a health threat to infants. “Cyanuric acid is approved by the FDA to sanitize processing equipment,” she said. “The risks of not sanitizing equipment are far greater than ultra trace amounts of residual cyanuric acid found in formula.
Agency scientists have maintained they could not set a safe level of melamine exposure for babies because they do not understand the effects of long-term exposure on a baby’s developing kidneys. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that infant formula is a baby’s sole source of food for many months. Premature infants absorb an especially large dose of the chemical, compared with full-term babies.
The FDA spokeswoman said no illnesses have been linked to melamine consumption in the United States. Chinese manufacturers deliberately added the chemical to watered-down formula to make it appear to contain higher levels of protein. More than 50,000 Asian infants were hospitalized, and at least four died.
Critics said the FDA’s reassurance about products carry less weight after the recent controversy over bisphenol-A, a chemical found in plastic baby bottles, dinnerware and the linings of food cans. The FDA dismissed a growing body of scientific evidence that has linked BPA to health problems even as worried consumers stopped buying BPA-containing products. Instead, the FDA relied on two industry-funded studies that concluded the BPA did not pose a health risk. Last month, the agency’s science advisory board said the agency should no longer maintain that BPA is safe.
Your child’s safety is one of our law firm’s main concerns. If you or a loved one is injured due to consumption of a dangerous product, contact our experienced Michigan layers immediately.
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