Moving is always exciting to me. This isn’t because I enjoy the stressful process of apartment hunting and packing my life away into boxes like a real-life game of Tetris, because, let’s face...
Deathly serious: Time for more talking; odds not great without it
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Mar 21, 2017
For all the benefits that end-of-life care talks can bring, a new study indicates that even when such talks take place, patients’ preferences aren’t always understood or effectively communicated....
A pitch perfect performance
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Dec 15, 2015
In my high school’s theater department, the Wednesday night before a show officially opened was always reserved for a very special occasion: Senior Night. The audience, filled with people’s...
It’s time to take your medicine — seriously
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Apr 18, 2017
People not following their doctors’ medication orders contributes to an estimated 125,000 deaths and 10% of hospitalizations per year, along with somewhere between $100 billion and $289 billion in...
In it for the long term
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Feb 23, 2016
There was one positive highlight the day I started working as a cashier at a Culver’s restaurant long ago: meeting Betty. She had to at least be in her 80s. She was tiny and spunky, greeting us all...
Active-shooter tips from a survivor — how to respond ‘when seconds count’
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Jul 25, 2017
Betty Brunner was sitting down to an appointment at her hair stylist one morning and the next thing she knew, she was diving for the floor, trying to avoid a crazed gunman. Brunner miraculously escaped...
Your next resident could be a senior … in college
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Jan 05, 2016
Where you live in college plays a huge role in the overall college experience, a fact that I’m sure isn’t lost on 21-year-old Drake University student Haley Jenkins. On Friday, she moves into...
Hungry for a breakthrough
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Nov 24, 2015
Study findings that are applicable to people’s daily lives, like sleep and exercise, are good. Incorporating emotions or heart, as I’ve written about previously, works too. But the best way...
Meditation can help with back pain
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Mar 01, 2016
My first introduction to meditation was not in a peaceful, spa-like setting. There were no candles burning, and if there was any light music playing in the background I didn’t hear it.
Could end-of-life care be getting worse?
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Oct 11, 2017
With more providers and patients than ever focusing on palliative and hospice care, shouldn’t the quality improve at least a little bit? Not necessarily.