By Susan B. Geffen

I do not know how I am going to promise people that I can keep them at home anymore. The possibility of being able to do this for a human being impassions me every day. 

I feel immense pride when I can accomplish this for my clients. 

Unfortunately, the in-home care industry has taken a beating this year from lawmakers. There are significant changes to the labor laws and regulations in California which will go into effect on January 1, 2014. 

The most significant change arises from The California Domestic Worker Bill of Rights, Assembly Bill 241. This bill mandates that overtime will be assessed for every hour an attendant works over 9 hours.

Presently, a wage order prevents domestic employees from receiving overtime pay. According to its proponents, AB 241 recognizes that the domestic workers who care for California's families should have the same basic labor protection that other workers enjoy: overtime pay for overtime worked. 

Now that has changed, to the detriment of millions of elderly people who wish to remain in their homes. 

READ the rest of this important article. Click Here

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ALZHEIMER'S CORNER

Early Onset Alzheimer's. Michael's story in the first person

On Sunday, I had the rare gift of speaking with a remarkable man, Michael Ellenbogen. He's brilliant! He is passionate! And, he was recently diagnosed with young onset Alzheimer's. He spoke with my husband and I for about an hour. When we were done speaking, I felt honored to have met him and committed to share his fight for a cure and greater understanding about Alzheimer's and its victims. It also left me feeling very emotional, as Michael is such a sweet man, and he is more passionate about his cause than anyone I have met in recent memory. 

Michael has decided to write about his very personal ordeal and allowed me to share it with my readers. His first person point of view is remarkable and undeniable, as he discusses how "the disease" affects him, his wife, his job, and the many important issues that society needs to address in regards to human dignity. 

I am going to include him in my newsletters so that we may all learn from him, and support his quest to make a difference for humanity. 

His story starts here: 

Imagine, if you will, waking up one morning and going about your daily business: you have had breakfast and are about to leave for work, but you can't remember where you left your keys. Common enough, you say; we have all done that at some time or other. Your wife hands you your keys and off you go.

Life carries on as normal for a few weeks, then one day, while at work you have to call a colleague, but you have inexplicably forgotten his extension number; an extension number you have called numerous times a day for the past 10 years. You feel silly but put it down to being tired. You work hard and hold a high profile position in a financial institution so it is understandable that you will have memory lapses now and again. As with the key incident, you laugh it off.

Over the next few months things start to get worse. You are forgetting people's names even though you have worked with them for many years, you are making stupid mistakes at work, you are forgetting to go to meetings, you are finding it really difficult to do the simplest of tasks, you continually forget where you parked the car.

Again, you are told by friends and colleagues and doctors that it is due to stress; that you need to slow down, maybe take time off, etc. But you know there is something wrong, you know that it is more than stress.

So you start keeping a record as best you can, and you pester your doctor for answers. One day you get the answer. An answer no one expected.

An answer that will change your life and your family's life forever.

"You have Young Onset Alzheimer's Disease." Read More

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Join my Alzheimer's Support and Training Program in the South Bay on Tuesday, November 12, 6:30 pm to 8:00 pm at my conference room in Redondo Beach. Additional sessions will be once per month. 819 N. Harbor Drive, #228, Redondo Beach, just north of Cheesecake Factory in the Spectrum building. 

If you would like to attend, there is a nominal fee of just $25 per session to cover basic costs. (If you have trouble affording this fee, let me know so we can figure out something. I want you to come.) Space is limited so be sure to reserve your spot by emailing me at susan@susanbgeffen.com. 

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Quik Info Link: 

Dental Care for Alzheimer's and dementia patients

I came across this important video and want to share it with you. Click Here 

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