Literature Review

Death is a natural part of life, but our society struggles to support those who are grieving. Iowa Public Radio (IPR); host Charity Nebbe; 11/14/24 After a profound loss, the instinct is often to try and ease the pain for those who are grieving, but grief counselor Lynette Jordan says the pain of grief needs to be felt. This hour, host Charity Nebbe speaks with Jordan as well as mother and son Brianna and Grayson Wills about how they developed an open dialogue of grief in the seven years since the death of Grayson's twin brother, Calder. She also speaks with CL Lepley, who through experiencing many difficult losses since age five has become an expert in supporting those who are grieving. Guests:

In 2023, the majority of home health aides and personal care aides were women U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - TED: The Economics Daily; 11/13/24 In honor of National Home Care and Hospice Month, we are highlighting data about two of the most common occupations that provide care to people with illnesses or disabilities in a home or community-based setting—home health aides and personal care aides. In 2023, women accounted for 87 percent of all home health aides and 80 percent of personal care aides. Workers in these two occupations assist people with activities of daily living (such as feeding or bathing), though home health aides generally focus more on their patients’ health and safety, while personal care aides often assist with other tasks (such as errands and housekeeping). Across all occupations, 47 percent of workers were women. Home health aides and personal care aides were more likely to be Black or African American (30 percent and 25 percent, respectively) than were workers overall (13 percent). Forty-two percent of home health aides and 27 percent of personal care aides were foreign born, higher than the average of 19 percent for workers overall. ... [Click on the title's link to continue reading.]

New Health Equity Guide from Center to Advance Palliative Care provides a roadmap to transform care for black patients with serious illness Cision PRWeb; by Center to Advance Palliative Care; 11/13/24 Having medical concerns dismissed, not being believed when reporting pain, and facing multiple barriers to care are just three of the experiences reported to Center to Advance Palliative Care (CAPC) in a focus group of Black patients with serious illness. In fact, when Black people in the United States are living with a serious illness like cancer, heart failure, or dementia, they experience disproportionately high suffering compared to white patients—often due to poor pain management, low-quality communication from their care teams, and high family caregiver burden. To address these inequities, CAPC has released a new, comprehensive guide, Advancing Equity for Black Patients with Serious Illness, to equip palliative care leaders and health equity change agents with practical tools to implement meaningful change. Drawn from research, examples of health equity initiatives from across the country, and the wisdom of health equity leaders, the guide provides a practical roadmap for transforming care for Black patients, and their families and caregivers.

Educating patients and clinicians on end-of-life care and discussions CancerNetwork - home of the journal Oncology; by Kelley A. Rone, DNP, RN, AGNP-c CancerNetwork® sat down with Kelley A. Rone, DNP, RN, AGNP-c, to discuss the importance of speaking compassionately and ensuring patient awareness when leading end-of-life discussions among those with gastrointestinal (GI) cancers. The discussion also focused on combating burnout in the clinic, using opioids to help manage pain and other symptoms, and educating all members of a multidisciplinary team on initiating end-of-life conversations with their patients. ... As part of leading these end-of-life conversations, Rone emphasized the necessity of addressing the discomfort patients tend to feel when talking about the fact that they may die from their cancer. ... When working with other members of a multidisciplinary care team, Rone illustrated the challenge of having physicians understand that their treatments may fail in younger patients and helping other oncologists become more experienced in speaking about death with patients. ...

Location of pediatric deaths in the US JAMA Network - JAMA Pediatrics; by Sarah H. Cross, PhD, MSW, MPH; Khaliah A. Johnson, MD; Maura A. Savage, MSW; Dio Kavalieratos, PhD; 11/11/24Historically, most seriously ill children in the US have died in hospitals despite a presumed preference for home death. Among the general population, home and hospice facility deaths have increased in the past 2 decades, whereas hospital and nursing facility deaths have decreased; however, recent patterns in location of pediatric deaths are unknown.

Veterans and Alzheimer's: 6 lifestyle tips for staving off the disease NOLA.com, New Orleans, Louisiana; by Dana Territo; 11/11/24 Are veterans more prone to Alzheimer’s disease? According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, veterans are more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease and other dementias than the general public, and the number of veterans with Alzheimer's is expected to grow. For instance, in 2021, an estimated 457,391 veterans had Alzheimer’s disease, and that number is projected to increase by 8.4% to more than 488,000 by 2033. Age is the biggest risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease as a whole, and veterans are more likely to have health conditions that further increase that risk, including high cholesterol, traumatic brain injury, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Additionally, homelessness contributes to that risk as homeless veterans are more likely to have an Alzheimer’s diagnosis than those who are stably housed.

Local veteran continues to serve by visiting hospice veterans Lundington Daily News, Lundington, MI; by Shanna Avery; 11/9/24 With love of service to their country, some veterans continue to find ways to serve and make a difference, and Ludington veteran Dick Gregaitis does just that when he visits other veterans as they approach the end of their lives. Gregaitis has been volunteering with Hospice of Michigan in the local area for eight years, where he visits veteran patients. Gregaitis served in the U.S. Navy from Aug. 1962 to 1965, then the U.S. Air Force until he retired in 1986 as senior master sergeant. Gregaitis said he has been around this area, and met his wife of 55 years at Round Lake. He traveled all over while in the military. It is through his own experiences, he shares a bond with other veterans. “To me, it is a way to give back to the community,” he said. “A lot of veterans don’t get people stopping by or talking. They like someone there that knows about the military. I even designed a badge that says, ‘military outreach.’ It is a win/win. I like to do it and I have the time to do it, and they like someone to say hi to.”

Sioux City’s first Caregiver Olympics celebrates home care KCAU Sioux City; by Alyssa Tatsch; 11/7/24 November is National Care at Home Month, and to celebrate, several local healthcare organizations came together to participate in Sioux City’s first Caregiver Olympics. “I was watching the Olympics this summer and I was thinking of something fun to do with our caregiving team,” Visiting Angels owner and director Kristen Hammerstrom said. “Then I was at a meeting with some of the other [home care organizations] and I floated the idea to them and they said ‘that would be awesome.’” In honor of National Hospice and Palliative Care month, nine Sioux City caregiving teams went head-to-head competing in a relay race with specialized in-home care tasks. ... “As much as it is difficult to be a caregiver, it is also difficult for these employees too to help and take care of families, so this is just our light heartfelt fun moment to help people,” Hospice of Siouxland marketing & fund director Kim Wilson said. Despite the friendly competitive atmosphere, all nine teams shared one common goal. “While we might be competitors, at the end of the day our main goal is to care for patients and make sure that our patients and their loved ones are taken care of. That is our main goal,” Wilson said.

Most heart failure patients miss out on guideline-recommended palliative care Cardiovascular Business; by Dave Fornell; 11/6/24 Over the past decade, the American Heart Association (AHA) and European Society of Cardiology have recommended integrating palliative care into heart failure management. Despite these recommendations, the use of palliative care for heart failure remains low in the United States. Racial and geographic variations in access and use of palliative care are also pronounced, highlighting health disparities. These were the findings of a recent study in the Journal of the American Heart Association. Researchers at Saint Louis University led the study and said only one in eight patients with heart failure in the United States receive palliative care consultations within five years of diagnosis. Their study highlights the alarmingly low uptake of palliative care among adults with heart failure in the U.S., especially compared to patients with cancers that have the same mortality rates. The study also pointed out significant racial and geographic disparities. Black patients were 15% less likely to receive palliative care compared to their white counterparts. They said this disparity is particularly concerning given the higher cardiovascular risk and mortality rates in the Black population.

Virtual nursing results at 8 systems: 24 stats to know Becker's Clinical Leadership; by Paige Twenter; 11/4/24 Faced with a shortage of nurses, a rise in high-acuity cases and an increase in labor spend, hospitals and health systems have turned to virtual nursing programs for solutions. Here are 24 statistics tied to virtual nursing models, according to Becker's reporting:

It takes more than love to care for a loved one Tri-Cities Area Journal of Business; guest column by Jason Erskine, AARP; 11/5/24 Chances are, if you aren’t a family caregiver, you know someone who is. Every day, more than 820,000 Washingtonians help their parents, spouses, siblings, grandparents, neighbors and other loved ones to live independently at home – where they want to be. November is National Family Caregivers Month, a time to highlight the important work these folks do. But simply thanking them isn’t enough. ... AARP and United Way have teamed up to connect caregivers with trained, compassionate people in your community who can help you find AARP caregiving resources and more. It’s called 211, it’s a free service, and you can talk to specialists who can help you find local resources for caring for your loved one … and for yourself too. ... AARP Washington is here to help with information and resources to support and connect caregivers. Go to: aarp.org/caregiverswa.

Physician explores family's end-of-life journey in new podcast: "There were so many places that we ran into unexpected obstacles" MedPage Today; by Rachael Robertson; 11/4/24 As host of the TED Health podcastopens in a new tab or window, Shoshana Ungerleider, MD, is no stranger to podcasting. But now, the internist turned the mic on herself to explore death and mortality through the lens of her own experience losing her father to pancreatic cancer. Her eight-episode show is called "Before We Go" and is available on all podcast platforms (Spotify, Apple) with new episodes each week through early December. ... Ungerleider: My father died from pancreatic cancer in the spring of 2023. In my experience as an internist and as someone who is an expert on end-of-life through my work with End Well, there were so many things that kind of shocked me along the way. Despite the fact that I had the knowledge, the expertise, and the resources to provide him with a good end-of-life experience, there were so many places that we ran into unexpected obstacles. I wanted to share my story, really, with the goal of helping other people who might be facing the same kind of journey, and how to find the balance between being a doctor and being a daughter.  ...

More Minnesotans face ‘pharmacy deserts’ with chain drugstore closures The Minnesota Star Tribune; by Dee DePass; 11/2/24 KB Brown’s phone hasn’t stopped ringing since Walgreens shut its W. Broadway store last year, leaving one pharmacy to serve 67,000 residents in the north Minneapolis area where he lives and runs his graphics design business. With Walgreens gone — and CVS shutting four other area stores — Brown, at least three times a week, transports employees, relatives and older neighbors to pharmacies in Robbinsdale or other suburbs so they can get their medications. ... North Minneapolis joins a growing number of “pharmacy deserts” rapidly dotting the state and nation as small and large pharmacies close up shop, leaving people with few options to quickly access prescription medicines. ... CVS, which closed 600 U.S. stores between 2021 and 2023, said it would close 300 more this year as leases end. On Oct. 15, Walgreens announced a plan to close 1,200 unprofitable stores, starting with 500 in 2025.