AwareGiver with David Happe

The Best Time For Rehabilitation After A Stroke Might Actually Be 2 To 3 Months Later People who have had a stroke appear to regain more hand and arm function if intensive rehabilitation starts two to three months after the injury to their brain. This audio story was provided to AwareGiver by NPR. A study of 72 stroke patients suggests this is a "critical period," when the brain has the greatest capacity to rewire, a team reports in this week's journal PNAS. The finding challenges the current practice of beginning rehabilitation as soon as possible after a stroke and suggests intensive rehabilitation should go on longer than most insurance coverage allows, says Elissa Newport, a co-author of the study and director of the Center for Brain Plasticity and Recovery at Georgetown University Medical Center. "Two to three months after a stroke is when people are at home," Newport notes. "That's not when most people are having their rehabilitation."
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Americans may be able to breathe a tentative sigh of relief soon, according to researchers studying the trajectory of the pandemic. The delta surge appears to be peaking nationally, and cases and deaths will likely decline steadily now through the spring without a significant winter surge, according to a new analysis shared with NPR by a consortium of researchers advising the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This audio story provided to AwareGiver by NPR.   For its latest update, which it will release Wednesday, the COVID-19 Scenario Modeling Hub combined nine different mathematical models from different research groups to get an outlook for the pandemic for the next six months. "Any of us who have been following this closely, given what happened with delta, are going to be really cautious about too much optimism," says Justin Lessler at the University of North Carolina, who helps run the hub. "But I do think that the trajectory is towards improvement for most of the country," he says. The modelers developed four potential scenarios, taking into account whether or not childhood vaccinations take off and whether a more infectious new variant should emerge. The most likely scenario, says Lessler, is that children do get vaccinated and no super-spreading variant emerges. In that case, the combo model forecasts that new infections would slowly, but fairly continuously, drop from about 140,000 today now to about 9,000 a day by March. Deaths from COVID-19 would fall from about 1,500 a day now to fewer than 100 a day by March 2022.
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Content provided to AwareGiver by NPR If you've been feeling blah recently, you're not alone. The good news is you can retrain your brain to feel happier. Here's how to shift your mood and restore your well-being. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/awaregiver/message

How A Hospital And A School District Teamed Up To Help Kids In Emotional Crisis provided by NPR https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/26/1000400903/n-y-hospital-schools-aim-to-improve-kids-access-to-mental-health-provider In 2019, the Rockville Centre school district in Long Island, N.Y., was shaken by a string of student deaths, including the suicides of a recent graduate and a current student. "When you get these losses, one after the other, you almost can't get traction on normalcy," says Noreen Leahy, an assistant superintendent at the school district. "You can't get traction on kids functioning on a day-to-day basis in a school setting." To Leahy, the student suicides were a symptom of a children's mental health crisis that had been brewing for years. She had observed a concerning uptick in depression, anxiety and suicidal ideation among students. Her school district had a team of mental health professionals, but Leahy says they couldn't provide the kind of long-term care many students needed. "Remember, psychologists and social workers and counselors in school districts are there to make sure kids are learning," says Leahy. "We're not hospital wards. We don't do psychotherapy. So it's very limited what we can do for these students." She says she saw an urgent need to connect students to mental health care quickly and easily, and the 2019 tragedy drove her to find a way to make that happen. Her vision ultimately led to the formation of a unique partnership between several Long Island Island school districts and the nearby children's hospital, Cohen Children's Medical Center, which is part of the Northwell Health system. That partnership provides prompt access to mental health care services for students and includes ongoing support for school staff for dealing with kids' mental health, creating a mental health safety net for children and families in the area that didn't exist before. The heart of it is a new behavioral health center focused on serving kids in the community, which the hospital opened in January 2020. Students are evaluated by the center's child psychiatrist and mental health counselor, who start and continue treatment till a child can be connected to long-term care in the community. Mental health experts point to this school-hospital partnership as an effective model — one that meets a growing and urgent need to help children get mental health treatment and avoid unnecessary hospitalization. "It's a real step forward," says Glenn Thomas, a clinical psychologist at Nationwide Children's hospital in Columbus, Ohio. "So many kids and families slip through the cracks because of a lack of resources." 'I just wish there was a place to send these kids' The concerning rise in mental health issues noticed by school administrators mirrors national trends. Roughly 1 in 5 U.S. children meet criteria for a mental health disorder, and the rate of suicide attempts among youth has risen over the past decade, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. continued here ...https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/26/1000400903/n-y-hospital-schools-aim-to-improve-kids-access-to-mental-health-provider --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/awaregiver/message

New Device Taps Brain Signals To Help Stroke Patients from NPR https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/06/13/1005556094/new-device-taps-brain-signals-to-help-stroke-patients-regain-hand-function The Food And Drug Administration has authorized a device called IpsiHand, which uses signals from the uninjured side of a patient's brain to help rewire circuits controlling the hand, wrist and arm. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/awaregiver/message

Developing story.  Here's the audio from a breaking news conference where Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announces an increase in Alzheimer's funding.  Thank you Governor Ron DeSantis!   Gov. Ron DeSantis hosted a news conference Monday morning 6/21/21 at an assisted living facility in Jacksonville to highlight funding for Alzheimer’s and dementia care and treatment in the state’s budget. Governor Ron DeSantis spoke from The Windsor at San Pablo in Jacksonville Monday morning, highlighting the efforts made towards the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/awaregiver/message

A new kind of COVID-19 vaccine could be available as soon as this summer. - from NPR It's what's known as a protein subunit vaccine. It works somewhat differently from the current crop of vaccines authorized for use in the U.S. but is based on a well-understood technology and doesn't require special refrigeration. In general, vaccines work by showing people's immune systems something that looks like the virus but really isn't. Consider it an advance warning; if the real virus ever turns up, the immune system is ready to try to squelch it. In the case of the coronavirus, that "something" is one of the proteins in the virus — the spike protein. The vaccines made by Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer contain genetic instructions for the spike protein, and it's up to the cells in our bodies to make the protein itself. The first protein subunit COVID-19 vaccine to become available will likely come from the biotech company, Novavax. In contrast to the three vaccines already authorized in the U.S., it contains the spike protein itself — no need to make it, it's already made — along with an adjuvant that enhances the immune system's response, to make the vaccine even more protective. Protein subunit vaccines made this way have been around for a while. There are vaccines on the market for hepatitis B and pertussis based on this technology. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/06/06/1003328413/new-type-of-covid-vaccine-could-debut-soon --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/awaregiver/message

Unpaid Caregivers Were Already Struggling. It's Only Gotten Worse During The Pandemic from NPR To see a written copy of the article in this episode, visit https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/06/17/1007579073/unpaid-caregivers-were-already-struggling-its-only-gotten-worse-during-the-pande --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/awaregiver/message

This list was provided by the Family Caregiver Alliance (https://www.caregiver.org/resource/emergency-preparedness-checklist-caregivers/#) Emergency Preparedness Checklist for Caregivers Floods, earthquakes, tornados, snowstorms . . . wherever you live, there likely exists the potential for a variety of natural disasters that can create an emergency situation. When you’re caring for a loved one, it’s times like these that you’ll be thankful for having prepared for such a situation. Please use this checklist to organize your emergency preparations. It should be used in conjunction with the Where to Find My Important Papers checklist. Do I know the most important disaster issues for the area where I live (earthquakes, floods,etc)? Do I know how I should respond to a disaster that might strike with little or no warning? Do I know the recommended evacuation route if there were an evacuation order? What are my transportation  options? Where is the nearest shelter? Do I know where the shut off valves to my home are? Do I know how to shut them off?  If special tools are needed, do I have them? Do I know where they are? Do I have an emergency contact person who lives out of the area?  Do my relatives or close friends know who this person is? Do I know my neighbors in case we need to help each other in an emergency? If I’m receiving home health services, have I discussed emergency procedures with the provider? If I have special needs, do I have a plan for dealing with them in an emergency? ( Mobility, medical equipment, incontinence supplies, others) If I live in a senior community, am I familiar with its emergency planning and procedures? Home Supplies Checklist

• Drinking water (3-6 day supply)
• Food (3-6 day supply, requires no cooking, high energy)
• Flashlight (check batteries regularly)
• Portable radio (check batteries regularly)
• First aid kit
• Spare batteries
• Manual can opener
• Light sticks
• Waterproof matches
• Medications
• Medications list
• Cell phone
• Cash
• Emergency medical form
• Personal hygiene items
• Backup prescription glasses
• Extra clothes
• Rain slicker
• Walking shoes
• Blankets
• Water bottles
• Dust masks
• Other  ____________________________________

This list was provided by the Family Caregiver Alliance (https://www.caregiver.org/resource/emergency-preparedness-checklist-caregivers/#) --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/awaregiver/message

The US Food and Drug Administration on Monday approved the use of the experimental drug aducanumab for early phases of Alzheimer's disease  The FDA approved aducanumab, also known as Aduhelm, using its "accelerated approval" program, which allows for the earlier approval of a drug for a serious or life-threatening illness even though more study into the drug's benefits may be needed. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/awaregiver/message