Resources
- Administration on Aging – http://www.aoa.gov
- Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality – http://www.ahrq.gov
- Department of Veterans – http://www.va.gov
- National Cancer Institute – http://www.cancer.gov/
- National Center for Health Statistics – http://www.cdc.gov/nchs
- National Institute on Aging – http://www.nih.gov/nia
- National Institute of Health – http://www.nih.gov/
- Senate Special Committee on Aging – http://aging.senate.gov/
- Social Security – http://www.ssa.gov
- AARP – http://www.aarp.com
- Alliance for Aging – http://www.agingresearch.org
- Alzheimer’s Association – http://alz.org
- Families USA – http://www.familiesusa.org/
- MedicaireRx Connection – http://www.maprx.info/
- National Council on Aging – http://www.ncoa.org/
- National Health Council – http://www.nationalhealthcouncil.org/
- National Women’s Health Network – http://www.nwhn.org/
- Society for Public Health Education – http://www.sophe.org
- Visiting Nurse Association of America – http://www.vnaa.org
- Official U.S. Government Site for People with Medicare – http://www.medicare.gov
- Friends of Residents in Long-Term Care – http://www.FORLTC.org
- American Cancer Society – http://www.cancer.org
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases – http://www.niddk.nih.gov
- National Association for Home Care & Hospice – http://www.nahc.org
- Arthritis Foundation – http://www.arthritis.org
- The National Association of Area Agencies on Aging (n4a) – http://www.n4a.org
Government Sites
- Medicare.gov. An all-purpose site with interactive tools for planning and paying for long-term care and choosing among drug plans. Includes searchable inspection results, good and bad, for the all the nation’s skilled nursing facilities.
- http://www.nih.gov/ . A collaboration of the National Institutes of Health and the National Library of Medicine that provides authoritative information on all diseases and disorders of old age. Each section is available in both large-type and audio versions.
- www.aoa.gov U.S. Administration on Aging. Brief fact sheets on aging and links to outside resources for an assortment of caregiving issues, including financial planning, residential options, in-home services, case management and the law.
- http://www.alzheimers.net/ – A tool to help determine benefit eligibility for a variety of government programs.
Alzheimer’s Sites
- Medicare.gov. a resource site for people who are suffering from the disease. The website also offers information to caregivers and the families.The website offers a wide assortment of information related to Alzheimer’s including forums, blogs and preventative care
Caregiving
- http://www.caregiver.org Family Caregiver Alliance. Offers tips on a wide range of topics, including how to hire help, hold a family meeting, balance work and caregiving, find important papers, and decide whether parents should move in with an adult child.
- http://www.caregiving.org/ National Alliance for Caregiving. Reviews of more than 1,000 books, videos, Web sites and links.
- http://www.nfcacares.org/ National Family Caregivers Association. Provides statistics, research and policy reports, tip sheets, first-person accounts, a newsletter and an exhaustive resource list.
Legal and Financial
- www.benefitscheckup.org Benefits Checkup. A search tool developed by the National Council on Aging to determine eligibility for 1,300 benefit programs that help pay for medications, health care, utilities and so forth.
- Reverse.org. A consumer’s guide to reverse mortgages from a non-profit with no ties to the industry. Links to the AARP’s calculator for choosing such policies.
End of Life
- The National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization. An excellent search tool for finding a hospice, as well as guides on issues related to palliative care, including Medicare coverage and techniques for communicating end-of-life wishes.
- Caring Connections. Contains of the consumer information from NHPCO and has state-by-state advance directive forms.
Advocacy
- AARP – political position papers, member discounts, demographic research, online versions of its bulletin, and magazine and consumer advice.
- Center for Medicare Advocacy – detailed information about what Medicare covers, and how to enroll and, if necessary, appeal denial of claims.
- Medicare Rights Center – a similar tutorial on how this government health care program for the elderly works. A link to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s “Medicare 101” and a hotline for questions and complaints.