Tagged: elderly

Rhode Island has the nation’s highest concentration of individuals over the age of 85.  So, it should come as no surprise that we also have a lot of centenarians.  Some of them were honored today at the Governor’s Annual Centenarian Brunch. Rhode Island Public Radio's Flo Jonic was there.

News from the New England Journal of Medicine today finds that the cost of caring for people with dementia (including Alzheimer's) will more than double in the next couple of decades. That's because the nation's population is aging, and because the care can be expensive. Most of the estimated $215 billion dollars these diseases cost the economy can be chalked up to long term care.

Roger Williams Medical Center and Fatima Hospital have opened what they say are the state’s first emergency rooms designed to take better care of the elderly.

Hospital officials say it’s taken a year to renovate and retrofit both emergency rooms so that the physical environments are safer and more welcoming for seniors. Think non-skid floors, large print hospital forms, and portable devices to help the hard of hearing.

Senator Jack Reed wants to see Liberian refugees put on the path to US citizenship.  State officials will consider reinstating bus service in Tiverton.   These stories and more on the RIPR Morning News Podcast.