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

One of Minnesota’s largest senior living companies, Ecumen, recently released a study unequivocally showing that baby boomers want to remain in their own homes as they age. The Age Wave Study was conducted to gain better insight into boomer’s views on aging, technology, independence and housing. Those polled ranged in age from 42-60. Of the 564 surveyed, 89% stated that they wanted to live in their own home; none said they wished to reside in a nursing home.

Among the other significant findings, most polled stated that they support state funding for a research center to develop digital technology that will let them remain independent longer. A majority also support increased tax credits for LTC insurance, tax increases to help offset the cost of health insurance, and a state-sponsored pilot program similar to the Vermont Model, which allows beneficiaries to pay a relative or friend who provides care in one’s home.

To read the full study, visit http://www.ecumen.org/boomerreport.html