7 eldercare Twitter feeds to follow
Issues are coming up left and right for many middle-aged people. The nursing diagnosis for the human response of feeling overwhelmed about the stresses of caregiving is either risk of (or actual) caregiver role strain.
F.A. Davis nurse's care planning resource gives insight into how a nurse might parse the situation. This resource at the University of Wisconsin discusses the issue more in layman's terms.
One of the things I want to do here on the ZDNet Health blog is to explore online resources for dealing with health issues. Eldercare is a health issue that not only affects the senior set, but also their children, grandchildren, and society at large.
We are struggling, in the modern world, to find solutions for these challenges. Sharing information is one way to shine light into the dark corners of our lives.
To that end, I'm determined to start using Twitter as a health management tool. I'm a bit of a noob when it comes to Twitter. There! I've admitted it. But I'm forging ahead by starting and sharing a list of eldercare resources with you today. Here are seven Twitter feeds I like, that I think might help people with their senior moments.
The New Old Age, a New York Times blog about aging, health, finances and relationships between parents and the adult children caring for them, is one of my favorite resources on aging. Following their tweets will let you know when the latest article is up on the blog, and what it's called.
Sometimes this blog scares me. Sometimes it gives me hope. It always teaches me something. The reader comments section is one of the most useful features of the blog. It is relatively troll-free, and people really share from their hearts about what they face on a daily basis.
2. @AgingCare
AgingCare.com is a great repository of helpful articles. It is also an active community of people sharing information, asking and answering questions, and helping each other.
Following their tweets will inform you of new articles and topics being addressed and discussed.
Barbara Friesner is an elder care expert who helps families struggling with eldercare issues. She's an adjunct professor at Cornell University, and her feed links to a lot of interesting things. She is selling her services, for which I can't vouch because I haven't been a customer. However, some of her tweets are pretty informative.
For example, one tweet linked to her article about how folks in their eighties, who were influenced by the Great Depression, were actually born at the tail end of the Victorian Era, and were raised on Victorian values.
That's not something I'd previously considered. When I think about the contrast between those values and today's values, I understand more about how older citizens can find it difficult to relate to their younger relatives, discuss personal issues, and how they may hold certain expectations based on gender roles.
The American Geriatrics Society is a nonprofit that "aims to improve health, independence, and quality of life of all older people."
They don't just tweet about what they do, they share pertinent resources they find helpful. Following them will get you lots of food for thought.
Graceful Aging Video is an assisted living video network focused on providing video information and thought on senior living, aging, caregiving, and eldercare.
They tweet links to their videos, random thoughts about age-related issues, links to other articles they found helpful, and eldercare chat ideas (fun things to talk to the old folks at home about).
Senior Care Corner describes itself as "your source for insights and tips about caring for senior adults, whether you are doing so at home or remotely, or if your loved one resides in a nursing home or other residential facility."
Their Twitter feed isn't the most widely followed feed I've seen, but I hope that changes, because the things they link to are really thought-provoking and packed with good information.
Francine Russo wrote the book about sibling issues with regard to aging parents. Topics she explores include caregiving, dementia, end-of-life, mourning, inheritance, relationships, and more.
Russo tweets about whatever resources she finds for brothers and sisters navigating the troubled waters of elder care together.
Making a list
This article took me a lot longer than I thought it would to write, because every time I would find a Twitter feed to recommend, I'd get sidetracked clicking on all the useful data everyone was linking to.
I can recommend these feeds to you with one caution...you might get sucked in. But isn't that what Twitter's for?
I made a list (my first!) on Twitter to keep track of the cool eldercare feeds I find. You can follow my list on elder care. As I add more resources to the list it'll become more valuable. Oh, and you can follow me on Twitter as well. I'm at @DeniseAmrich.
What elder care related Twitter feeds are you following? Which ones do you think I should be adding to my list? Share in the TalkBacks below.