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CAREGIVING IN AMERICA is a monthly magazine published by Minnesota publisher Kay Sauck, premiered in December 2009 to address the needs and concerns of the 50 million caregivers of family and friends. 

The magazine and website, www.CaregivingInAmerica.com, will draw on a stable of experts in health and aging and two organizations devoted to caregiver support: the Rosalynn Carter Institute for Caregiving and the Aging with Dignity organization.

The Green House nursing care center for seniors is a relatively new concept in "home-like" care for seniors requiring nursing care. Traditional nursing homes are based on a medical model. The Green House projects are based on a home model -- with a smaller, more homelike building with private space and shared community facilities.

Staffing is also different. Each project is based on 24/7 care, but the duties have shifted from highly specialized care to more family-like care provided by a core team, and supplemented with appropriate medical teams from outside.

Clinical Support Team

The clinical support team is comprised of a Medical Director, Director of Nursing, nurses, therapists, social workers, dietician, and activities coordinator to provide skilled care for the residents as required in the care plan. The Shahbazim are certified nursing assistants with additional Green House training) by developing close relationships with the elders, provide the Clinical Support Team with valuable information to assist in developing the care plan.

Licensed nurses are available to and responsible for clinical care in Green House homes on a 24-hour basis. If the nurse is not in the home and is needed, is available to the Shahbazim and elders via pager and other communication technologies. The Shahbaz

The Shahbaz (plural: Shahbazim) is a universal worker who provides personal care, meal planning and preparation, light housekeeping, and laundry for 7-10 elders. Shahbazim core training as Certified Nursing Assistants receive about 120 additional hours of specialized training to cover The Green House philosophy of care, person-directed care for persons with demenia, household operations, building self-managed work teams, policies and procedures for their project, communication skills, culinary training, safe food handling, and certification in first aid and CPR.

The Guide

The Green House Guide serves as coach and supervisor the the Shahbazim, and is responsible for the overall operations and quality of services in the home. The Guide may be responsible for more than one home, depending on the size of the community.

The Sage

The Green House Sage is a resident elder who acts as a coach or mentor, assists facilitating the development and continued growth of the self-managed work team and to serve as a trusted advisor to the Shahbazim. This is a volunteer position.

Extended Nursing Care Residents

Residents in the Green House are encouraged to participate in shared home activities such as cooking, self care and cleaning, as well as hobby activities and participation in the surrounding community.

Family

Family participation is encouraged and welcomed in The Green House home, from sharing meals to participating in activities and volunteering time and services to help their loved one decorate personal space. Well-behaved family pets are also welcome visitors!

Only projects accepted through the application process and developed in cooperation with The Green House Project team are authorized to provide long-term care services under the licenses service mark: THE GREEN HOUSE®.

A five year pilot project ending in 2010 is reaching its goal of 50 projects across the country. Check the website for locations in your region. These nursing care facilities are often developed by nonprofit groups, churches and even municipalities.

Data from a new Mayo Clinic (http://mayoclinic.edu) study suggest that dietary therapy using flaxseed can decrease hot flashes in postmenopausal women who do not take estrogen.

A hot flash is often described as a flush of intense warmth across much of the body that may be accompanied by sweating, reddening of the skin, or, occasionally, cold shivers. Hot flashes occur in varying frequency and duration, even during sleep, and often cause or accompany sleep deprivation, anxiety and irritability.

Although until recently hormone replacement therapy was the most commonly prescribed treatment for hot flashes, unwanted side effects have led to the search for nonhormonal solutions. Several effective nonhormonal drug therapies have been identified, but they are not always effective, and not all women can use them because of side effects. These limitations have led researchers to explore non-drug agents. They have studied a variety of herbal and dietary supplements in randomized, placebo-controlled trials, including vitamin E, black cohosh and soy, but none has shown to produce any significant reduction in frequency or severity of hot flashes.

Participants were asked questions that the researchers translated into a hot flash score -- a combined measure of frequency and severity. The frequency of hot flashes decreased 50 percent over six weeks, and the overall hot flash score decreased an average 57 percent for the women who completed the trial. Participants also reported improvements in mood, joint or muscle pain, chills and sweating; which significantly improved their health-related quality of life.

"We are quite pleased with the improvements noted by these women in their quality of life," says Dr. Pruthi. "Not only does flaxseed seem to alleviate hot flashes, but it appears to have overall health and psychological benefits as well."

Dr. Pruthi's team chose to research flaxseed because it is a phytoestrogen (plant-based estrogen source). Flaxseed contains lignans and omega-3 fatty acids. Lignans are antioxidants with weak estrogen-emulating characteristics, and have some anti-cancer effects. Flaxseed also appears to have anti-estrogen properties and has been shown in some recent research trials to decrease breast cancer risk. The researchers hypothesized that patients taking flaxseed might gain some relief for hot flashes.

This pilot trial was designed to determine the effectiveness of flaxseed in alleviating hot flashes and identify possible side effects. Dr. Pruthi cautions that the results are preliminary and taking flaxseed may not give relief to every woman suffering hot flashes.

The 29 participants in Mayo's clinical trial were women with bothersome hot flashes who did not want to take estrogen because of a perceived increased risk of breast cancer.

The findings from the pilot study are published in the summer 2007 issue of the Journal of the Society for Integrative Oncology.

Sandhya Pruthi, M.D., (http://mayoresearch.mayo.edu/mayo/research/staff/pruthi_s.cfm) Mayo Clinic breast health (http://cancercenter.mayo.edu/) specialist and the study's primary investigator.

Other Mayo Clinic researchers included Charles Loprinzi, M.D.; Susan Thompson; Paul Novotny; Debra Barton, Ph.D.; Lisa Kottschade; Angelina Tan; and Jeff Sloan, Ph.D. The flaxseed study was supported in part by the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

For more information on clinical trials available at Mayo Clinic, please visit http://clinicaltrials.mayo.edu.

The Green House Project is a radically new and innovative approach to long-term, skilled nursing care.

Caring for our seniors, our parents, aunts, uncles and neighbors weighs heavily on our society. While medical breakthroughs extend the years of life, social breakthroughs have been sparse to make those years meaningful and fruitful...and affordable for our loved ones. The Green House Project offers a model and hope. Here are details about this new concept in skilled nursing home care that can be applied to a wide variety of cooperative living arrangements for seniors.

Green House Homes for Skilled Nursing Care

Green House® homes are residences for 6 to 10 elders who require skilled nursing care and want to live a rich life. They are a radical departure from traditional skilled nursing homes and assisted living facilities, altering size, design, and organization to create a warm community. Their innovative architecture and services offer privacy, autonomy, support, enjoyment and a place to call home. Green House® homes are developed and operated by long-term care organizations in partnership with The Green House Project and NCB Capital Impact.

Read the details about this model for senior living and nursing care.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has launched a new Web page containing product information on certain skin-applied insect repellents. EPA's goal is to provide the public with information on registered insect repellents and their effectiveness claims in a clear, consistent, and user-friendly format.

"EPA's release of information on the effectiveness of insect repellents will help American consumers select the right product for their needs and protect themselves and their children from potentially devastating diseases spread by mosquitoes and ticks, such as West Nile virus and Lyme disease," said Steve Owens, assistant administrator for EPA's Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances. "This Web-based dissemination of information supports Administrator Jackson's goals of transparency and public access and protecting children's health."

The new Web page contains two tables listing insect repellent products that are registered by the agency: those that control mosquitoes and ticks, and those that only control mosquitoes. The Web page compiles publicly available information on protection times based on product effectiveness data reviewed by EPA, and presents it in a format that makes it easy for consumers to make informed risk management decisions to protect their health and that of their families and children. The Web page also contains information on vector-borne diseases such as West Nile virus and Lyme disease, and the importance of personal protection measures.

The Web page can be accessed at http://www.epa.gov/pesticides/health/mosquitoes/insectrp.htm