Not only did a recent study suggest that antibiotics are overused for people with advanced dementia, it also reveals the importance to the senior living industry of having clear directions for end-life care. The Harvard-affiliated Hebrew Senior Life Institute for Aging Research in Boston conducted the study, an overview of which appeared in the Associated Press on Feb. 25. More than 200 people with advanced dementias were followed for 18 months or until their deaths. The study addresses ethical questions regarding when to withhold treatment and let people die in a time of the proliferation of drug-resistant superbugs. In doing so, it implicitly drives home the importance to the senior living industry of instituting policies for having unambiguous end-life care instructions from family members for their loved ones with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

“If and when a Democrat takes the White House, expect to see the Employee Free Choice Act, which would allow employees to form unions when a majority signed cards authorizing union representation,” says Kansas City Star workplace reporter Diane Stafford.

While this workplace prediction is just one of many by Stafford for 2008, it probably poses the most concern to operators of seniors housing and the long term care industry. The proposed Employee Free Choice Act, also called “card check,” would make it possible for work places to become unionized if a majority of employees sign union authorization cards, not requiring the secret ballot elections that have been in place for almost sixty years. The proposed act would also have stronger penalties on companies that illegally coerce employees to prevent them from joining a union.

“Since the Taft-Hartley Act of the 1940s, the right to unionize has been under secret ballot election,” says Maribeth Bersani, senior vice president of public policy for the Assisted Living Federation of America. “With this so-called Employee Free Choice Act, formation would come from employees filling out a card. This could easily create an environment where a lot of pressure could be exerted to force someone to join a union.”

Under the proposed act, some employers say they also are concerned that employees will be illegally coerced into forming and joining a union. Pro-union forces have long said that current laws make it easy for employers to illegally coerce employees to prevent them from forming and joining unions.

“We don’t see the issue as company versus union,” Bersani says. “We see this as an employee issue and feel the employee should have the right to the secret ballot.”

To read more of Diane Stafford’s workplace trends and predictions for 2008, visit: http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/419187.html

While some people may not wish to discuss issues such as long term care options and living wills during the holidays, the Tucson-based National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys (NAELA) says there a post-holiday surge of seniors and family members seeking advice on just those topics.

“As opposed to when a family might come together because of a crisis, holiday gatherings actually offer a good time to discuss important issues for the future,” says Ann Krauss, communications director for NAELA. “Things like power of attorney, health care and living options, catastrophic illness, long term care insurance and estate planning, these are all things families should and do discuss when everyone is together and in good spirits. The elder law industry sees a surge in inquires shortly after the start of the new year.”

As the holidays often provide the occasion for families to come together after a long separation, this is the time when elderly members’ frailty, health issues and beginnings of dementia may first become apparent. Family members can begin to take the initiative and start the process to address changes ahead. In addition to traditional legal services, the elder law industry provides counsel on helping seniors and their adult children sort through the options to find solutions to housing challenges. This segment of elder law services has doubled in volume is the last six to seven years.

“Most people want to stay at home as long as possible, and there are more ways now to

do that, but at some point it often becomes an insurmountable burden on family caregivers,” says Donna Bashaw, president of NAELA. “They often come to us for help.”

For more information on elder law, visit www.naela.org.