Literature Review

NAVC announces Pet Peace of Mind as the 2024 NAVC gives Marquee Award recipient

UnitedHealth Group posts $5.5B profit in fourth quarterBecker's Payer Issues, by Jakob Emerson; 1/12/24UnitedHealth Group recorded double-digit growth in revenue year over year across its core lines of business at UnitedHealthcare and Optum, according to the company's fourth quarter earnings report released Jan. 12. UnitedHealth Group total revenues in 2023 were $371.6 billion, up 14.6% year over year. In the fourth quarter, revenues were $94.4 billion. For 2024, the company projects revenues of $400 billion.Notable mention: Andrew Witty, CEO.

Bayard Rustin: Why MLK's right-hand man was nearly written out of historyHistory.com, by Thaddeus Morgan; 1/2/24Bayard Rustin was an indispensable force behind the civil rights movement, and openly gay. ... To the hundreds of thousands who were bused to Washington for the [August 28, 1963] March [on Washington for Jobs and Freedom], Rustin was synonymous with the movement. After all, he was the march’s chief organizer.Editor's Note: Learn more by viewing Rustin, the biographical drama film released via Netflix on November 3, 2023.

Sutter Health announces its first-ever Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer; Dana Beckton to drive diversity, equity and inclusion strategy and initiativesGlobeNewsire; 11/29/23... Beckton will lead the diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) strategy for the California-based integrated health system, while serving as a key member of Sutter’s Executive Leadership Team. She will work directly with Sutter Health President and CEO Warner Thomas and interim Chief Human Resources Officer Gail Lerch to drive DEI programming and initiatives.   

Dr. Richard Besdine, a professor of medicine and health services, policy and practice, and Terrie “Fox” Wetle, a professor of health services, policy and practice, were honored in 2023 by HopeHealth with the Human Dignity Award. The nonprofit organization, a teaching affiliate of the Warren Alpert Medical School, recognized Besdine and Wetle for their dedication to the essence of hospice, which is to provide comfort, compassion and dignity to patients, and hope and healing to their families.

Speaking out: Hello and goodbyeThe Bismarck Tribune, by Amanda Godfread; 1/11/24As I said hello to 2024, though, I had the difficult honor of saying goodbye at two funerals. One for a dear friend’s father who passed away unexpectedly and another for my great aunt, who was 94 and in hospice when she died. Two very different lives that led to the same kind of commemoration by friends and family to remember, to say goodbye, and to figure out how to move forward.

Maine governor dedicates $2.5 million to support elderly population through innovative programBNN, by Saboor Bayat; 1/9/24In an unprecedented move, Governor Janet Mills is allocating $2.5 million of federal funding from the American Rescue Plan Act to bolster support for Maine’s aging population. Aiming to enhance the lives of older adults and their caregivers, this initiative pioneers the establishment of community-based navigator roles for a more efficient connection to essential resources.

Agrace partners with nonprofit SAGE to meet needs of LGBT community eldersIn Business - Greater Madison; 1/8/24... At least 80% of the nonprofit’s staff have completed annual cultural competence training about the needs and concerns of the LGBT community. SAGE, the country’s oldest and largest nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBT older adults, reports that discrimination, harassment, and violence often lead LGBT elders to become ill at an earlier age than their straight peers. Agrace has partnered with SAGE to provide services including hospice, supportive (palliative) care, adult day care, grief support, and nonmedical senior care and serve elders across southern Wisconsin.

It’s unbelievable how retired congresswoman’s son found her months before deathRolling Out, by Darryl Maxie; 1/8/24Though she was 89 years old, trailblazing politician Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) should not have died on Dec. 31.  ... [She was] the first nurse ever elected to Congress. ... Johnson’s family plans to sue Baylor Scott & White Health, claiming negligent post-surgery care at the hospital’s rehabilitation center led to the death of the woman known as EBJ, who represented the Dallas area in Congress for 30 years.

Pets can improve health outcomes for older adults living at home, overseas study findsMcKnights Home Care, by Adam Healy; 1/3/24Pet ownership may be linked to slower cognitive decline among adults aging in place, according to a recent study conducted in England. “Older adults living alone are at high risk for developing dementia,” the researchers wrote in the study published by JAMA Network Open. “Pet ownership might completely offset the association of living alone with faster rates of decline in verbal memory and verbal fluency among older adults.”Editor's Note: What happens when the senior adult becomes to ill to take care of their pet? Explore one  program, Banfield's "Peace of Mind: Keeping Pets and People Together During Hospice Care."

My father, the giant: His life's work was caring for the people he lovedThe Atlantic, by Ross Andersen; 1/3/24Yesterday afternoon, my dad, Erik Dybkaer Andersen, lay sleeping at home in his hospice bed when a calm settled over his body and he drew his last breath. He was 78. For more than a year, we had known that cancer would take him; only the hour was uncertain. But it is still a shock to find him missing from his bedroom, from his family, from the world. It is too early to measure, much less put into writing, all that he meant to us. For now, I want only to read his life into the record, and to get across his essence, above all as a caretaker of those he loved.Editor's Note: Access to the full article requires a free trial or subscription to The Atlantic.

Financial hardship drives unhappiness in people living with dementia, study findsMcKnights Long-Term Care News, by Kristen Fischer; 1/4/24A new study is uncovering just how tough it can be financially to live with dementia. The report, published Dec. 29 in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, found that nearly 56% of people with dementia face financial hardships. Those financial challenges are linked with worse reported satisfaction with life and healthcare. ... The study examined data from 534 participants with dementia who shared details on satisfaction with their lives and their healthcare. The researchers compared that data to information from questionnaires from 576 people who were newly diagnosed with cancer and receiving treatment.

Kingston man arrested for allegedly threatening bedridden fatherBNN, by Salman Akhtar; 1/2/2431-year-old Tyler Jason Vasquez, a resident of Kingston, was apprehended by the local law enforcement following a disturbing incident involving his ailing father. The event, captured by a Ring doorbell camera at their home on New Hurbane Street, had Vasquez allegedly threatening his bedridden father with a firearm. The security camera had been installed by Vasquez’s sister to keep an eye on their father, who is under home hospice care.