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102 year old gran on Facebook

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 18:17:33 GMT

102 year old gran on Facebook

A British great granny has become the oldest person on Facebook.

102-year-old Ivy Bean decided it was time to get herself some online action when she heard about the site through staff at the care home where she lives.

Her carers helped Ivy set-up a profile and the former mill worker, from West Yorkshire, now uses it to keep in touch with friends and family.

Ivy told the Sun: "I heard about Facebook and wanted to know what it was about. I love being online and it beats writing with a pen."

"More and more people are on Facebook now. But at 102 I have a lot to put on about myself," she said.

"I've only got nine friends on the net at the moment but I'm hoping for lots more. I'm going to put some of my photos on my page."

Ivy lives at Hillside Manor in Bradford. Boss Pat Wright said: "Ivy loves going on Facebook. We're trying to keep all our residents independent by letting them use the computer."

The great gran also plans to try out a Nintendo Wii.

'My mother was back. The lights were on'

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 01:51:52 GMT

clipped by: Tri-City Psychology

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Psychologist Oliver James reveals how a revolutionary new way of treating dementia brings amazing benefits for patients and carers alike - and it all comes down to three simple rules

Paddy was suffering from advanced dementia. On his first day in his new nursing home, he found his way into the kitchen and picked up a knife. At that moment, the cook came in. She slammed the emergency buttons and he was immediately removed to a secure unit where he was heavily sedated. Within months he was dead.

Yet, Paddy's life with dementia could have turned out so differently if the staff had only known that he was not deluded and certainly not dangerous.

Anti-psychotic medication is the commonest treatment for dementias, such as Alzheimer's, but it is not only inappropriate, it can be fatal.

There is a desperate need for an alternative form of care.

All too often, the anti-psychotics are just used as chemical coshes to close down the distress - not their proper purpose

Blackpool not disabled friendly.

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 09:27:51 GMT

clipped by: notareargunner
clipper's remarks: The evidence is overwhelming. Carrying on from the woeful Labour regime, this soporific administration has done nothing for the disabled. When the National Servicemen told the Council that the organisation for their disabled members was inadequate, they were attacked.
Try getting an 18 stone former regular soldier onto a bur with his wheel chair. As often as not you cannot, because their is a pram already on the bus. The Disabilities Act requires the Transport Authorities to make available disabled spaces. Only Stagecoach in this area enforces the Law and requires young adults to fold away their carriages and sit their children on their laps. I would love to be able to do this with the 18 stone gentleman, but I cannot.
All the disabled ask for is their RIGHTS underwritten in Law. Unfortunately, it is not the young parent who is the pariah, but it is usually the elderly who have no conception of what it is like to be imprisoned in a wheel-chair, the problems that carers have

Clip Source: www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk

Blackpool Council 'chucks out' disabled daughters

Dawn Ashton, 40, who suffers from cerebral palsy, and Joanne Smith, 38, who has been diagnosed with spina bifida, spend two to three days a week at the facility on Whitegate Drive.

For around 20 years, Dawn and Joanne have enjoyed going to the day centre for lunch and to take part in craft and pottery sessions – giving their mothers a much needed break.

Tags: disabled, freindly, blackpool

Low wages for essentail jobs is unacceptable

Sat, 05 Jul 2008 17:19:11 GMT

clipped by: montypaul
clipper's remarks: Keeping essential job wages low (cleaners, carers, classroom assistants) is unfair and stifles social mobility

Clip Source: www.guardian.co.uk

Society can't do without cleaners, carers, caterers and classroom assistants. These are not "starter jobs", nor can they be filled for ever by migrants. Is it OK to pay below what Rowntree shows is minimum decency, so long as they are all proven to lack potential? Those jobs are fair only if people who do them have a respectfully decent salary that puts them at the heart and not the margins of society - and if the social ladder is short enough for children to move with ease. Consider this as low-paid public-sector workers strike against below-inflation rises, while prices surge.

Tags: uk, brown, labour, greed, minimum wage, meanness, education

Get Into Reading

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:53:33 GMT

clipped by: tidbit2
clipper's remarks: “Before I started this I can honestly say I'd only read the stuff on the back of sauce bottles.”
noe thats progress

Clip Source: www.getintoreading.org

Get Into Reading groups meet weekly in libraries and community centres, giving people who might not normally think of joining a reading group a chance to enjoy stories and poems together.

Our aim is to improve well-being, extend appreciation of literature and build community, targeting hard-to-reach people across Wirral.

In a typical week, Get Into Reading will work with recovering drug abusers, elderly people in day centres, young homeless men, full-time carers, isolated young mums, and people with mental health or other chronic illnesses referred to the project by health professionals.

“Before I started this I can honestly say I'd only read the stuff on the back of sauce bottles.”

- Get Into Reading group member, Birkenhead

Fun, friendly and food for thought: the Woodchurch library 'Book at Breakfast' Get Into Reading group

Boy Dies Of Dry Drowning

Sun, 08 Jun 2008 00:26:28 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad
clipper's remarks: "Dr Daniel Rauch, pediatrician at New York University Langone Medical Center, who spoke to Meredith Vieira on the TODAY show, said there are three important signs that parents and carers should look out for: difficulty breathing, extreme tiredness, and changes in behaviour. All three symptoms result from the brain not getting enough oxygen because of water in the lungs."

Clip Source: www.medicalnewstoday.com

Boy Dies Of Dry Drowning After Leaving Pool And Walking Home

Johnny Jackson, a 10-year-old American boy from South Carolina, died at home on Sunday from "dry drowning" more than an hour after going swimming and walking home with his mother. The sad event highlights a little known danger that parents and child carers should be aware of, that drowning can kill hours after being submersed in water.

"I've never known a child could walk around, talk, speak and their lungs be filled with water."

Johnny must have got some water in his lungs while he was swimming in his local pool at Goose Greek, South Carolina. He didn't show any signs of respiratory distress, but he had an accident in the pool and "soiled himself", said the TODAY report. He then walked home with his mother and sister.

His mother said she bathed him and he told her he felt sleepy. When she went to check on him later she saw his face was covered in a "spongy white material". He was rushed to hospital but it was too late.

Britain's ageing population

Thu, 29 May 2008 15:26:23 GMT

clipped by: Socratoad

Clip Source: www.telegraph.co.uk

Britain's ageing population 'as big a threat as climate change'

Ivan Lewis, the health minister, claimed elderly care would become "the new child care" for families in the 21st century as they are forced to cope with looking after their parents long after they have retired.

And he said doctors must start to treat dementia as seriously as they do cancer and heart disease, with a million Britons expect to suffer from the debilitating condition within a generation.

His comments come just days after the respected King's Fund think-tank said the cost of caring for people with mental illness will double to £47 billion within 20 years.

By then, one in four adults in Britain will be pensioners, increasing the burden on the benefits system and health care as well as their families and carers.

I just want to protect him

Wed, 14 May 2008 13:46:36 GMT

clipped by: Tri-City Psychology

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

Experts from the Nuffield Council on Bioethics are calling for a debate over the ethical dilemmas those caring for dementia patients face.

What are the difficult decisions that carers like Denise Lintern face?

It is well-known that people with Alzheimer's disease - the most common form of dementia - develop an independent streak during the mid-stages of the condition.

This will lead them to wander away from their carers, potentially putting themselves in danger.

Stanley Lintern is no different.

The 65-year-old was diagnosed with Alzheimer's 13 years ago, just after taking early retirement from his post as an chartered engineer with the NHS.

As the disease developed, his wife Denise became concerned about the way he would take off.

It got to the stage where Mrs Lintern used to lock the gate in the garden or keep the doors in their bungalow locked

"To many people it may seem unfair, but when you are caring for someone with Alzheimer's you are faced with these decisions each day.

Tags: alzheimer's, dementia

Adopted children: Sometimes you can't mend them

Thu, 24 Apr 2008 15:36:30 GMT

clipped by: Tri-City Psychology

Clip Source: women.timesonline.co.uk

Modern parenting lore has it that if you are kind and loving to children, if you listen and explain and give them time, all will be well. We are all psychologically attuned these days and communication is the key.

But what if you pour all this love into a child and meet only resistance? This is the experience of a significant number of parents who adopt traumatised children,

Melanie Allen hopes that by telling her story in a book, The Trouble with Alex, she can alert professional carers to the need to give more support to damaged children who are adopted

It was some years before Melanie found a reference to attachment disorder, and realised that this explained Alex's behaviour.

It was five years before the Allens told social services that they could no longer cope. By this time their marriage had fallen apart

The Trouble with Alex, by Melanie Allen, Simon & Schuster, £12.99

Carers in Britain

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 12:24:56 GMT

clipped by: valann 47

Clip Source: uk.reuters.com

Woman wins landmark legal opinion on disabled care

The mother of a disabled son won the latest round in a legal battle on Thursday that could improve work conditions for millions of carers in Britain.

Sharon Coleman says she was forced to resign as a legal secretary at a London law firm in 2005 after not being given the same flexibility as other staff with non-disabled children

She says she was called "lazy" when she needed to take time off to care for her son and was threatened with disciplinary action.

Her case for constructive dismissal was referred to the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg by the Employment Tribunal in London, which asked for a ruling on the protection offered by equality laws.

A spokeswoman for the Equality and Human Rights Commission said the case would have "huge implications" for carers.

Tags: carers, workforce

How To Travel Forever and Live Rent Free

Sun, 20 Jan 2008 18:19:17 GMT

clipped by: rj3sp

Clip Source: www.vagabondish.com

Vagabondish: The Travelzine for Today’s Vagabond

Sunday Edition / January 20, 2008

8 Tools to Help You Travel Forever and Live Rent Free

Here are eight handy resources to help you get started on your long term travel adventure:

Caretaker’s Gazette

(http://www.caretaker.org)

This is what TIME Magazine had to say about the Caretaker’s Gazette.

Flocke the Polar Bear

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 23:37:34 GMT

clipped by: Amisk

Clip Source: www.nuernberg.de

The name is official now: Nuremberg's polar bear baby will keep the name its carers in Nuremberg Zoo have used for their charge right from the beginning: "Flocke" (snow flake).

World's only blue-eyed koala

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 01:22:42 GMT

clipped by: CarnivalBorn

Clip Source: www.news.com.au

HE gets his name from Ol' Blue Eyes himself - and no wonder given Frankie is the world's only blue-eyed koala.

His piercing eyes have dumbfounded animal carers who were so worried they tested his vision.

Staff at his Dreamworld home on the Gold Coast found that apart from some reduced pigmentation, Frankie, named after Frank Sinatra, has perfect vision.

Dreamworld supervisor Michelle Barnes said she doubted her own eyes when she first saw Frankie.

While Frankie, now nine months old, was the centre of media attention yesterday, it will be a couple of months before he faces the public. Those eyes are impressive but his nose is his most important feature with its keen sense of smell.

Tags: australia, koala, animals, blue eyes

Labor and Brough roughed up by carers

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 11:20:36 GMT

clipped by: tabsey
clipper's remarks: No policies, just a little handout to shut up the carers and their disabled family members. The situation is the result of a non caring government over the past decade.

Clip Source: www.theage.com.au

FAMILY and Community Services Minister Mal Brough was jeered at a forum for carers of the disabled in Melbourne yesterday after he said carers "choose" to look after their disabled family members.

The forum, hosted by the Association for Carers of Children with a Disability, had heard an emotional account from a woman who cares for both her husband and two children with serious disabilities.

Mr Brough began his response by saying he was sympathetic to people who "choose to do what you do". He attempted to correct himself but was angrily jeered by the audience with one member of the crowd yelling out, "We don't choose, we have to."

Labor MP Annette Ellis, a carer herself, representing shadow minister Jan McLucas, was asked by an audience member when Labor would produce its policy. "I don't know," Ms Ellison replied.

Tags: politics, carers

Baby hedgehogs rescued after premature birth

Wed, 05 Sep 2007 22:20:33 GMT

clipped by: mvonallmen

Clip Source: believe-or-not.blogspot.com

Baby hedgehogs rescued after they are born too early

These tiny newborn hedgehogs are proving a handful for carers at a rescue centre - after the mild weather triggered a string of early orphaned arrivals.

All seven are being cared for by Andrew Ward, 26, who is general manager of the rescue centre near Newton Abbot.

He and his staff are currently feeding them with goat's milk every two hours throughout the day and night.

"I do the feeding during the night so I need a lot of coffee," he said. "But they are gaining strength quickly and doing well."

The three smallest orphans at Prickly Ball are just 72 hours old. They were found huddled in a pile of blankets by a homeowner clearing out his garage in Dartmouth.

Tags: hedgehogs, rescue, pictures, animals

Clipmarks | Carers Clips

102 year old gran on Facebook

'My mother was back. The lights were on'

Blackpool not disabled friendly.

Blackpool Council 'chucks out' disabled daughters

Low wages for essentail jobs is unacceptable

Get Into Reading

“Before I started this I can honestly say I'd only read the stuff on the back of sauce bottles.”

- Get Into Reading group member, Birkenhead

Boy Dies Of Dry Drowning

Boy Dies Of Dry Drowning After Leaving Pool And Walking Home

Britain's ageing population

Britain's ageing population 'as big a threat as climate change'

I just want to protect him

Adopted children: Sometimes you can't mend them

Carers in Britain

Woman wins landmark legal opinion on disabled care

How To Travel Forever and Live Rent Free

8 Tools to Help You Travel Forever and Live Rent Free

Caretaker’s Gazette

Woofing

House Carers

Organic Volunteers

Couch Surfing

Global Freeloaders

Servas

Hospitality Club

Flocke the Polar Bear

World's only blue-eyed koala

Labor and Brough roughed up by carers

Baby hedgehogs rescued after premature birth