The problem with modern western medicine is the messianic deity that presides over it and whose word is gospel?

This singularly revered deity is called big Pharma and many seeming intelligent doctors apparently still able to accomplish entirely independent research and their own critical thinking, appear to be its devotees; particularly those specializing in extremely lucrative aged care?

None of these folk will know or care very much about approved EDTA based chelation therapy, which like all out of, [no longer quite grossly profitable,] patent medicine,` is disapproved of by their deity?

And a shame given how much frailty and osteoporosis figure in non optimized aged care?

You see, it seems EDTA based chelation therapy claws out calcium from hardened arteries, which apart from opening them up again? Reverses the decalcification of the bones, which as a matter of interest can apparently continue for up to three months after the cessation of the therapy?

Which given suppositories can be undertaken quite independently at home. Moreover, hyperbaric therapy able to be towed in a van by a nurse practitioner, doing (district nurse) rounds to minimise all and any outlays? And could easily be tasked with managing prescribed (preventative medicine) HRT and complimentary chelation therapy at the same time?

From where I sit, it's very much about improved quality of life not quantity!

Almost any well meaning moron can create a system that allows old folk, deprived of their marbles by the (highly profitable) medical management model in current vogue, to vegetate in front of a tele, playing interminable repeats of that riveting soap, days of our lives slipping through the hourglass?

However it takes an independant thinker able to still do their own critical thinking; to actually optimise affordable (not for profit) aged care, we can all live with; and the obvious pun was intentional.
Alan B.

Alan B, I don't know why you are going on about chelation therapy in a thread discussing aged care. Such therapies are only useful for people who have heavy metal poisoning, and even then can be dangerous. There is no scientific evidence that it is any good for any other conditions, just like most 'alternative therapies' promoted by quacks.

As for the Aged Care system in Australia, there will never be any improvement in the care for the elderly in nursing homes until the Government realizes that paying low wages for non-nursing trained care-staff with very little education is not working.

Many of these Aged Care Certificate 3 'trained' carers have been forced to do these courses because they can't find work anywhere else (especially in rural areas) and the Government thinks this is a good idea to take these chronic unemployed, or non-English speaking immigrants, or chronically mentally disabled people off the dole queue.

We are putting low paid, poorly educated people in charge of our vulnerable elderly sick people...often with only one trained nurse per hundred residents. This is a cost-cutting measure that puts our elderly at risk. The Government also wants the Care Providers to jump through hoops with massive amounts of documentation for 'the department' to pay anywhere near what it costs to keep these people in these residential care facilities.

There is no point ranting and raving at the Care Providers....they are only following the strict guidelines laid down by an ever cost -cutting government, who then expresses surprise when the care of the residents is compromised.

Suseonline,

It should be of deep concern to the recipients of aged care and to their families that gerontology is as you imply, the lowest interest for doctors and nurses of all of the specialties. And yes that affects the resources and expertise available, the research, the attention available to it from health professionals, administrators and eventually the policy makers, and the wages of course.

However before all of that can be addressed there needs to be a challenging and redefinition of what ageing is and means. It is rather obvious for instance that many people and some seniors themselves still regard 'old age' (whatever that is) as a time when one is restricted to siting on a park bench and dribbling one's way through time-occupying rituals. Either that or seniors forever touring.

Through volunteering I very rapidly learned that the 'past seventy' population are even more diverse in their abilities, capacities, possibilities and expectations than the largely youthful or middle aged people I worked with.

Another learning was that government is content to patronise the aged and deny them a say, relying instead on vested interests such as aged care entrepreneurs, NGOs and public bureaucrats to 'represent' the aged. Yet most 'aged' with few exceptions (and other ages have exceptions too) are alert, switched on and keen to express what they are learning as they age about 'old age' and how it is entirely different to what they ever imagined and were led to believe.

It rather reminds me of a regional health conference I was invited to some years ago. The CEO of the State Health Department and minister had enthused about how advanced their planning was that all of the stakeholders were there to have their say and that would feed in to policy. They were shocked when asked why there were no members of the public attending. Their response was that there was no need, the health bureaucrats, NGOs and developers already knew what the public needed. OK, so what consultations did they have with the public and what were the outcomes? Dead silence!

onthebeach

Yes we have to redefine aged care but the politicians and the market believe in what they are doing and instead of the solution you are seem as the problem.

This needs the families and community to get together to become effective customers, and an effective "civil society" with the capacity to insist on getting what we want. Some families at bad nursing homes are forming groups, organising, documenting failures and fighting back. But that is only a small beginning.

With a community that is confused and disinterested combined with intrinsic ageism its not an easy task.

Its one that we at Aged Care Crisis are trying to stimulate by suggesting the direction that we might take.

www.agedcarecrisis.com

The biggest money spinner of all time for big pharma, statins, which in a recent publicized double blind study, showed only those receiving the placebo avoided some level of cognitive impairment?

The second is inherent in chronic nerve pain management with opiates, which a recent Australian study; shows instead of quelling pain extends it.

And given a (aged care) practise of ever increasing medically managed doses, may even and unavoidably suppress the life force?

Now from where I sit, that's unmitigated quacky writ large?

A very large scale 30 million dollar double blind study into chelation therapy was commenced in 2003 in Canada and America, but was pulled for some inexplicable reason, months before the assembled results could be published?

Well America does own the most profitable and influential medicine based business model in the world? And even certified cardiologists and directors of very large medical facilities can be placed under career threatening pressure by folks with billions at risk as skin in the game?

I prefer medically supervised chelation therapy and all my marbles, over statins, which remains big pharma's biggest profit earner of all time?

Now Chelation therapy is not for everyone and needs to be supervised by a properly credentialed orthodox medical doctor!

And strangely there are many more of them, with private orthodox clinical practises in and around Brisbane than before the trial. All operated by registered doctors with more training and knowledge than an average aged care RN?

Not all that long ago a couple of doctors in the west were pilloried by conventional medicine for daring to believe; and set out to show, ulcers were caused by bacteria rather than stomach acid, which for big pharma was a very nice money spinning repeat business with life long customers.

And there and predictably the all knowing medical establishment rallied round with cries of quacky etc. And were forced to Zip it; but only when those same two researchers won a noble prize for medicine.
Alan B.

Onthebeach "should be of deep concern to the recipients of aged care and to their families that gerontology is as you imply, the lowest interest for doctors and nurses of all of the specialties."

Back to your old twisted tricks of trying to put words into my mouth again I see OTB?
You know well enough that wasn't what I was saying at all. I was a Clinical Aged Care Nurse for 10 years, working in a residential care facility, so I obviously liked working with the aged, as did the other dedicated nurses and doctors I worked with

Volunteering for fun times with the aged is not even in the same league as the work I did, of which neither you nor AlanB have any idea about. Obviously it isn't just this plain old RN who is against chelation therapy now is it AlanB? They stopped that trial because they were concerned about the adverse effects that the therapy was having on the trial recipients.

It seems to me that you should keep well away from all those professional mecical doctors, nurses and pharmacists, and all those drugs from 'big pharma' that you are so suspicious about, and just refuse all medical care from them as a matter of principle?
I am assuming you have never taken, or are taking, any medications prescribed for you by a doctor? Nor have you ever taken conventional painkillers? Because all those medications were brought to us by research through 'big pharma'....