Schedule - Thursday, April 8th, 2010

Rheumatoid Arthritis
A review on rheumatoid arthritis.  A discussion of the diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis including the differential between rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis and other inflammatory arthropathies as well as an overview of medical therapies including medications and non-drug treatments.

Michelle Ryan, MD

10 Things to Know About Parkinson's and Parkinson's
Medications in 2010
This talk will cover common symptoms [motor and non-motor] experienced by people with Parkinson’s and will discuss strategies to manage these symptoms. In addition, drug side effects will be discussed and strategies to overcome these will be explored.

Stephen Setter, Pharm.D., CDE, CGP, FASCP

Mastery of Aging Well
In partnership with AARP, OSU Extended Campus and OSU Extension Service have designed an online program consisting of five modules for anyone interested in healthy aging. Sharon Johnson, OSU Associate Professor in Family and Community Health and Dr. Gail Myers, retired college administrator, will explain how the modules work and provide practical, research-based solutions to many of the problems that we face as we age.

Sharon Johnson, MS
Gail Myers, PhD

Panel Discussion: Older Americans Act
Long-Term Services in the Community
Through the implementation of the 2009-2013 State Plan on Aging, the aging network will improve its capacity to provide services, information, outreach, education, and advocacy for older Oregonians and person living with disabilities.  This session will provide information on the specific objectives, strategies, and outcomes articulated for each of the following focus areas of the Plan:  Healthy Aging, Ensuring Alignment with the State Policy on Aging (ORS 410), Civic Engagement, Consumer Direction and Choice, and Elder Rights and Protection.

Elaine Young,
State Unit on Aging Manager
Linda Dreyer, MPH, MSW
Jennifer Mead, MPH

Why Love Heals
Can you imagine going to the doctor, and the doctor wrote you a prescription to do whatever brought you great joy?  That's what Dr. Shrock did with his cancer patients. And they loved it!  Attend this presentation and discover how this increases survival with chronic disease

Dean Shrock, PhD

B.  And Then There Were Four: A Grandmother Stands in for Parents  - 9:25 to 9:45 a.m.
The incidence of grandparents raising their grandchildren as primary caregivers has increased 30 percent since 2000. This film depicts such a situation as we see the daily life of a frail 77-year-old grandmother who is raising four grandsons aged 5-8. The children are from an interracial marriage and neither parent is involved in their care. They had been parceled out to foster homes and grandmother wanted to keep them together. How will she continue to care for them if her health fails and her resources dwindle?  (Filmakers Library)
 

Nurse Delegation
To meet the public's increasing need for accessible, affordable, quality health care, providers of health care must maximize the utilization of every health care worker and ensure appropriate delegation of responsibilities and tasks. Nurses, who are uniquely qualified for promoting the health of the whole person by virtue of their education and experience, must be actively involved in making health care policies and decisions; they must coordinate and supervise the delivery of nursing care, including the delegation of nursing tasks to others.

Gretchen Thompson, RN, CDDN, MSN

Insomnia and Nocturnal Pain in the Elderly
This presentation hopes to enhance the audience’s understanding of the nature of nocturnal pain and insomnia in the elderly patient. Discussion will focus on the various pharmacologic treatment options available.

Brian Egan, RPh

Futures in Healthy Aging
This session will help professional caregivers begin to form a health promotion program model for their residents.  In creating this model we will review generationally where our residents come from and how we can motivate them to adapt new healthier behaviors at any age.  We’ll explore gender attitudes towards health and wellness, and suggest some program strategies to get them engaged in various daily activities.

Mike Waters, MA

It Takes a Team:  Meeting the Needs of Older People
and Their Families
A geriatric care manager, an elder law attorney, and a financial planner utilize a team approach to address the specific needs of older people and their families. With proactive coordination of all areas, including legal, financial, medical, housing options, and end-of-life planning, there is less risk of abuse, exploitation, and crisis interventions. Pre-planning also provides the tools and the time for an older person’s wishes to be honored.

Ellen Waldman, MA,CMC
Larry Steiner, AAMS
Jason Broesder, JD

Exercise mats will be provided should you want to participate in the exercise portion of the talk.

Leigh Anne Jasheway-Bryant, M.P.H.
Don't Get Mad, Get Funny:
Using Humor to Manage Stress and Maintain Your Sanity

Join Leigh Anne Jasheway, M.P.H. (master of public health/mistress of public humor) for this hilariously informative session that will teach you how  to let go of stress by reconnecting with your innate desire to laugh in its face. Discover the latest research on the  physiological and emotional benefits of laughter, learn what makes rats and dogs laugh and why they do it too, and discover how men and women experience and respond to stress and humor differently. And most of all, laugh so hard you'll make up for lost time and get your new laughter program off to a great start.

Making the Most of Memory: How It Works, Why It Fails, and How to Use What's Left?
This session will look at how to ease caregiver and patient stress, improve communication, and help to maintain emotional bonds between individuals with Alzheimer's and their family members through understanding how memory works and how to make the most of what is left.

Interculturalizing Eldercare: Building Intercultural Competence
In the contemporary eldercare arena clients and patients may confront cultural barriers, in addition to aging and medical challenges.  Often, the interaction between caregiver and patient is the vital link to wellness, a link that requires intercultural competence. We each may know a great deal about various cultures, but still be puzzled or frustrated when we actually meet someone from that group and have to accomplish a task together. Intercultural competence requires the capacity to interact appropriately and effectively with clients, patients and colleagues from other culture groups, and is based on a mindset and skill-set that are interculturally sensitive. This presentation will discuss core concepts and skills for building intercultural competence in the context of eldercare.

Janet Bennett, PhD

Art Therapy Defined, Explained and Expanded for Work with Older Adults
Creativity, recently a hot-topic in brain health, is inherent in our biology.  So why the resistance?  The creative process of making art and expressing oneself visually is powerful and healthful. This hands-on presentation will help you understand the benefits of engaging creatively with your residents, loved one, or yourself.  We will talk about using art making, one’s personal skills and strengths to process life review tasks: legacy, meaning, achievement, and happiness.  Examples of client art will be presented.

Sharon Evers, MA, ATR

Healthy Air - Healthy Homes: Identifying and Understanding Indoor Air Quality Hazards to Reduce Exposure
Many older adults spend up to 90 percent of their time indoors, often at home. Participants will receive the latest research and resources to educate them on the importance of healthy air and assist them in reducing exposure to allergen and asthma triggers. This workshop will cover the common indoor air quality hazards (such as VOCs, tobacco smoke, animal dander, dust mites, cockroaches, mold, dust, and pollen) along with routes of exposure, associated health symptoms, and methods for control.

Naomi Hirsch, EdM
Sandra Uesugi, M.S.

Balance and Fall Prevention for the Aging Population
One of the leading causes of injury and disability in the aging adult is falls.  Physical therapists are the leading experts in the evaluation and treatment of balance disorders and fall prevention.  In this presentation, we will provide you with the basic knowledge and screening tools for determining referral to physical therapy and in what setting.  You will also come away with some basic exercises and examples of physical therapy interventions for people with balance disorders.  Note: This session is interactive, we recommend comfortable clothing.

Angela Lewis PT, DPT, ATC
Rhonda Hynes PT

Swallowing and Aging
Swallowing is complex and highly coordinated process that is often taken for granted until dysfunction occurs. This presentation will use radiographic images and video to detail the physiology of a normal swallow, common signs and symptoms of swallowing difficulty (dysphagia) that occur with normal aging, and types of dysphagia associated with age-related illness and disease (stroke, Parkinson’s disease, dementia). Diagnostic and treatment options will be discussed.

Shawn Johnson, M.A., CCC-SLP

What's New with Older Workers
The recession has created a monumental economic rift in the lives of Baby Boomers planning ahead for retirement. With Oregon’s high unemployment rate and older workers finding it harder to get back to work after leaving the workforce for caregiving or due to a layoff, what will the implications means for employers and society? We’ll look at how employment trends among workers and employers are changing the economic landscape.

Joyce DeMonnin, MPH

Colorectal Cancer Screening
Colorectal cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States. This session will look at how to prevent this disease and the recent trends in the use and quality of colorectal cancer screening.  We will also discuss what factors influence the use of colorectal cancer screening and the follow up.

Surin Vasdev, MD

Cardiovascular Disease in the Elderly:
Profiles of Prevention and Management
Cardiovascular disease is generally due to a combination of several risk factors, and this session will discuss the prevention and management of the disease.  

Matthew Lindberg, MD

Nutritional Risk Reduction for Alzheimer's Disease and Cognitive Decline in Older Adults: What is the Evidence?
The epidemiologic and mechanistic data implicating nutritional risk factors in cognitive decline in the elderly will be reviewed. This will be followed by review of the clinical trial data directly examining whether modification of these risk factors improves clinical outcomes.

Joseph Quinn, MD