February is Women's Heart Health Month. Test your blood pressure IQ with the American Heart Association's High Blood Pressure Quiz.

Family caregivers are invaluable resources, not only for their family members in need, but the U.S. Health Care and Long-Term Services and Supports (LTSS) as well. This article from AARP outlines just how valuable their contributions are.

Valentine's Day has many of us thinking about the people we love. Don't forget to also do something special this month for the loved seniors in your life. An unexpected phone call, card or special outing can mean the world to a senior who might feel lonely this time of the year. February is also Women's Heart Health Month. Have you checked your blood pressure lately and are you eating a diet low in sodium and fats? It's never too late to start a healthier diet and exercise regimen to protect your heart.

In the spirit of education and cooperation, we hope you will find the following articles in this month's Aunt Ann's Home Care newsletter informative and beneficial.

What is it like to walk a mile in an older senior's shoes? The Age Gain Now Empathy System (AGNES) can help you find out. AGNES is a suit developed by MIT's AgeLab researchers that is used to demonstrate the potentially diminished motor skills, vision, flexibility, and strength of a person in his or her mid-70s. Used in retail, public transportation, and workplace environments, AGNES is helping people gain a better understanding of and empathy for the physical limitations that older adults face.

As age demographics continue to shift toward an older population, the AGNES aging suit can help developers understand just how difficult certain tasks of daily living can be for older adults, and create products that will help make life easier and engaging for people of every age. Click here to read more about this revolutionary suit and to watch the video.

Click here for a detailed look at the AGNES suit.

Researchers at The University of Texas may have found an important key to finding drugs to treat or potentially cure Parkinson's disease - worms. The roundworms are genetically modified to have a dopamine deficiency similar to that in Parkinson's. Because roundworms and humans share a similar genetic structure to their dopaminergic systems, researchers can study the effectiveness certain drugs have on the worms' movements and conclude they could have similar results in humans with Parkinson's disease.

This breakthrough model is cheaper and faster than the typical testing, and researchers believe that they may be able to test roughly 1,000 drugs a year using worms. For more information on the Parkinsonian worms, read this article from the University of Texas.