Category: Recovery

Most States Have Yet to Permanently Fund 988

BY CHRISTINA SAINT LOUIS: Complete Post through this link…


INCE THE National Suicide Prevention Lifeline transitioned a year ago to the three-digit crisis phone number 988, there has been a 33 percent increase in the number of calls, chats, and texts to the hotline.

But even with that early sign of success, the program’s financial future is shaky.

Over the past two years, the federal government has provided about $1 billion from the American Rescue Plan and Bipartisan Safer Communities acts to launch the number, designed as an alternative to 911 for those experiencing a mental health crisis. After that infusion runs out, it’s up to states to foot the bill for their call centers.

5 Schizophrenia Coping Skills I Couldn’t Live Without

By Ashley Nestler : Complete Post through this link…

Schizoaffective disorder — a disorder that is a combination of schizophrenia and, in my case, major depressive disorder (MDD) — is a big part of my life. I often find that my symptoms dictate what I am able to do and what I am not able to do in my daily life. Fortunately, I do have certain coping mechanisms that make the days easier and allow me to find some reprieve from my illness. My hope is that if you struggle with schizophrenia yourself, the following coping mechanisms might give you some absolution from your illness as well.

1. Cuddling With My Emotional Support Animal, Fat Louie the Cat…

2. Putty…

3. Warming Pad…

4. A Cold Bowl of Water…

5. Television and Music…

Can a Nursing Home Force a Resident’s Family and Friends to Pay the Bill?

From justiceinaging: Complete Post through this link…

Can a nursing home force me to pay the bill for a family member or friend?

Usually not, although there are some exceptions. Many nursing homes try illegal strategies to frighten family members or friends into paying the bill. Don’t be intimidated. Read the question-and-answer discussion below, and consult with a local attorney.

Can a nursing home make me liable through the resident’s admission agreement?

Again, usually not. Federal law prohibits a nursing home from asking or requiring a third party to be a financial guarantor — in other words, a financially liable co-signer. If a resident is not mentally competent to sign an agreement, the nursing home can require the resident’s representative to sign the agreement on the resident’s behalf, but only to make the resident financially responsible. Find the relevant federal law at section 483.15(a)(3) of Title 42 of the Code of Federal Regulations.

Does it matter if the admission agreement says that the family member or friend has “volunteered” to become financially responsible?

No, using the word “volunteer” does not allow the nursing home to avoid federal law. Federal law prohibits a nursing home from requiring or requesting a financial guarantee.

How do nursing homes try to get around the law?

Beware of terms like “responsible party” in nursing home admission agreements. The agreement might try to define a “responsible party” as someone who is financially responsible, instead of just someone who wants to be available to help the resident and (as necessary) make decisions for the resident.

Some of these agreements state that the person signing on behalf of the resident agrees to handle the resident’s money in a certain way, such as paying the nursing home bill first before any of the resident’s other bills are paid or to take certain actions regarding potential Medicaid applications. These types of agreements can be dangerous for representatives to sign because, if the resident owes money, nursing homes sometimes sue representatives personally for failing to comply with specific obligations in the agreement.

Can a nursing home win a lawsuit against me for breach of contract if I signed a responsible party clause?

As explained above, federal law prohibits a nursing home from holding a responsible party personally liable for a resident’s bill. Also, general legal principles say that a representative is not liable for the debts of the person being represented.

That being said, courts sometimes rule in nursing homes’ favor on types of claims based on (for example) the representative’s failure to use the resident’s money to pay the bill or apply for Medicaid, as promised in the agreement. Often this type of ruling for a nursing home happens in egregious situations where the representative used the resident’s money for the representative’s benefit, rather than paying the nursing home. Sometimes, however, courts order representatives to pay the nursing home personally for the resident’s bill even if they have done nothing wrong. It is key to have an attorney advise you of your rights if you are sued for someone else’s nursing home bills.

How the wheelchair opened up the world to millions of people

BYERIN BLAKEMORE: Complete Post through this link…

Wheelchairs have existed since the invention of the wheel. But technological advances have revolutionized the way that people use them.

Bath, England, wasn’t just the hotbed of romance and gossip depicted in Jane Austen novels—it was a place of freedom for people with limited mobility who sought the healing waters of its Roman baths.

These tourists often arrived in an “invalid” or “Merlin’s chair”—a predecessor of the wheelchair. These revolutionary vehicles freed them to participate in the city’s famous social life, usually with the help of servants who pushed them from place to place.

But though they offered unprecedented mobility, these wicker-and-wood chairs were seen as a sign of invalidism and dependence—and couldn’t have been more different from the modern wheelchairs that offer even more ways to move. How did wheelchairs go from clunky to user-friendly? Thank wheelchair users themselves.

‘Merlin chairs’ and other early wheelchairs

Wheeled seats have existed since the invention of the wheel, but it took centuries for the devices to gain traction with the masses. At first, people with mobility issues were pushed in wheelbarrow-like devices or wheeled furniture pushed by medical attendants or servants. When Philip II of Spain, who suffered from gout and arthritis, commissioned a wheeled chair in the late 16th century, it was known as an “invalid’s chair.”

Anywhere else, it would be assault. Yet schools can still hit kids.

By the Editorial Board: Complete Post through this link…

While the use of corporal punishment in schools is a widely condemned practice, officials in more than 15states can still strike a child for misbehavior.

In 2021, a 4-year-old was allegedly hit and then restrained and beaten a second time for talking during nap time in Louisiana. And in Mississippi, an 8-year-old found herself in a hospital bed with a fractured finger after enduring a beating for talking in class in 2018.

Violence is not an acceptable form of discipline. It is not only ineffective, but counterproductive, too. Research shows children who are physically disciplined become more aggressive and antisocial, and experience more mental health problems.

Digital puzzle games could be good for memory in older adults, study shows

From University of York: Complete Post through this link…

Older adults who play digital puzzle games have the same memory abilities as people in their 20s, a new study has shown.

The study, from the University of York, also found that adults aged 60 and over who play digital puzzle games had a greater ability to ignore irrelevant distractions, but older adults who played strategy games did not show the same improvements in memory or concentration. It is known that as humans age, their mental abilities tend to decrease, particularly the ability to remember a number of things at a single time – known as working memory.  Working memory is thought to peak between the ages of 20 and 30 before slowly declining as a person gets older.

Previous research, however, has shown that the way we hold information in the brain changes as we get older, and so the York team looked at whether the impacts of particular types of mental stimulation, such as gaming, also had altered effects depending on age.

How to defuse catastrophic thoughts

by Lucia Tecuta: Complete Post through this link…

Do you often fear the worst is going to happen? Use these therapeutic techniques to think more rationally and calmly.

You are getting into your car one morning, about to embark on a long drive, and you hear on the radio that there’s heavy traffic along your route. Suddenly, you’re preoccupied by the thought that you are going to get into a terrible car crash.

At work, you’re about to give a presentation to your colleagues. As they quiet down and you prepare to speak, thoughts about how you’re likely to go completely blank, fumble or stutter – and how awful that would feel – start to bubble up in your head.

After a week in which your significant other has been keeping to themselves more than usual, paying you little attention, you start to think: Is there something wrong with our relationship? Our relationship must be ending… This is a disaster… In this situation, as in the others, the negative thoughts might be accompanied by physical sensations such as sweating, a racing heartbeat, feeling light-headed and dizzy, or feeling a pit in the stomach.What do these scenarios have in common? They all illustrate a widespread way of thinking that we can call ‘thinking the worst’. These are just a few possible examples; there are countless other situations in which this sort of thinking could appear. Can you recognise it in some of your own, real-life experiences?

We all engage in thinking the worst now and then, especially when going through a particularly stressful time.

In more technical terms, this kind of thinking involves what the psychologist Albert Ellis and later the psychiatrist Aaron Beck called catastrophising: that is, imagining the worst-case scenario, jumping to the conclusion that the most catastrophic outcome is surely the one that is most likely to happen or is already happening. A closely related term, awfulising, is commonly used by therapists who practise Ellis’s rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT). While catastrophising refers to unrealistically assuming the worst-case scenario, awfulising refers to believing that a possible negative event is absolutely awful or terrible.

CSHCS Expanding Eligibility to Age 26 Frequently Asked Questions

From MDHHS: Complete Post through this link…

Q: When will the eligibility expansion go into effect?

A: Eligibility expansion is approved to begin October 1, 2023. However, we anticipate that it will take up to six months to make the necessary computer system updates for this expansion. Whenever possible, CSHCS enrollment will be backdated to 10/01/2023 for anyone determined to be eligible as of 10/01/2023.

2. Q: Will eligibility for all conditions be expanded to age 26?

A: Yes, eligibility for all CSHCS covered conditions will be expanded to age 26.

3. Q: Will CSHCS benefits such as Transportation/Lodging assistance and Insurance Premium Payment be available for clients up to age 26?

A: Yes, these benefits are available for clients up to age 26 meeting the eligibility criteria for these benefits. Not all CSHCS clients are eligible for these benefits.

4. Q: Will members who aged out at 21 prior to October 1, 2023, be reenrolled?

A: Clients that have a current medical report on file, and have not reached their financial review date, will be automatically re-enrolled. Coverage will begin 10/01/2023. Clients that do not have a current medical report on file and are beyond their financial review date, will need to submit additional documentation and will not be automatically re-enrolled.

And more…

Less Burdensome PTSD Therapy Proves Viable

by Kristen Monaco: Complete Post through this link…

A shorter type of exposure therapy worked just as well as a more involved one for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), according to a non-inferiority trial involving military veterans.

Written exposure therapy, given over five to seven sessions, was non-inferior to eight to 15 sessions of prolonged exposure therapy for reducing PTSD symptoms, as measured by the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-5 (CAPS-5), reported researchers led by Denise Sloan, PhD, of the National Center for PTSD and VA Boston Health Care System.

While both programs seemed equally effective for treating PTSD, patients were significantly more likely to stick with written exposure therapy, with premature dropout rates of only 12.5% versus 35.6% in the prolonged exposure group, likely owing to the fewer but also shorter sessions (45 to 60 minutes rather than 90 minutes), according to the researchers.

‘Silent killer’ sepsis is linked to one in THREE deaths in US hospitals

By EMILY JOSHU: Complete Post through this link…

A new program will help address the growing threat of sepsis, a life-threatening infection that causes one in three hospital deaths in the US, health officials announced Thursday. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have launched a new effort dubbed the Hospital Sepsis Program Core Elements, meant to prevent sepsis and sepsis deaths by providing hospitals with teams and resources.

Dr Mandy Cohen, director of the CDC, said: ‘Sepsis is taking too many lives.’

‘Rapid diagnosis and immediate appropriate treatment, including antibiotics, are essential to saving lives, yet the challenges of awareness about and recognition of sepsis are enormous.’

Sepsis is a medical emergency health experts call a ‘silent killer.’ It’s caused by the body’s extreme reaction to an infection. Sepsis occurs when chemicals released in the bloodstream to fight an infection cause inflammation throughout the body. This triggers a chain reaction, causing organs to fail. Infections that lead to sepsis most commonly start in the lungs, urinary tract, skin, or gastrointestinal tract, but almost any infection can lead to sepsis. The complication has been linked to one in three hospital deaths, according to the CDC.  Symptoms can closely resemble the flu and include a very high or low body temperature, sweating, extreme pain, clammy skin, dizziness, nausea, high heart rate, slurred speech, and confusion.

Sepsis can progress to septic shock, which is characterized by a severe drop in blood pressure. Signs of septic shock, according to the Mayo Clinic, include not being able to stand up, extreme fatigue or not being able to stay awake, and a major change in mental status. The CDC recommends seeking help immediately if you have signs of sepsis. If left untreated, sepsis and septic shock are fatal.