Abilities
The level at which certain actions and activities can be carried out.
Active Aging
A lifestyle of an older adult who makes a conscious effort to adapt to any deficits due to aging by keeping active physically, mentally, and socially.
Activities of daily living (ADLs)
Personal care activities necessary for everyday living, such as eating, bathing, grooming, dressing and using the toilet.
Adult day services
Programs that provide participants with opportunities to interact with others, usually in a community center or dedicated facility.
Advance directive (living will)
A document written when in “good” health that informs your family and health care providers of your wishes for extended medical treatment in times of emergency.
Agnosia
The loss of ability to recognize familiar things by sight, sound, touch, taste, or smell.
Alzheimer disease
A disease caused by lethal structural damage to the brain including tangles and plaques, with an abnormal beta-amyloid protein present in plaques. It is always progressive, irreversible, lethal(fatal), and can be diagnosed only by autopsy. This disease causes dementia. It is a “type of dementia” or a “dementing illness”
Ambulation
The act of walking about
Anti-agitation drugs
Broadly categorized type of drugs with strong sedating effects.
Anti-anxiety drug
Also called anxiolytics, this drug help manage a patient who has anxiety
Anti-psychotic drug
Also called neuroleptics, this type of drug is used to help manage behavioral problems for a patient with a serious mental disorder.
Antibiotics
A broad category of drugs used to address infections within patients.
Antidepressants
An anti-agitation drug to manage behavioral problems of a patient who suffers from depression.
Apathy
Lack of feeling and emotion, lack of response or desire to act.
Care manager
In medicine or public health,one who applies his/her knowledge to the benefit of a community or individual.
Case manager
One who handles patient with instance of disease with its attendant circumstances.
Caregiver
A person directly or indirectly responsible (long distance caregiving is common now) for some, most, or all of the care of another human being.
Chronic Condition
A disease or disorder that develops slowly and persists over a long period of time. Alzheimer disease is a chronic condition.
Cognitive
Pertaining to cognition, the process of being aware, knowing, thinking, learning and judging.
CT scan
Pictures of structures within the body created by a computer that takes the data from multiple X-ray images and turns them into pictures on a screen. CT stands for computerized tomography.
Declarative memory
Recalling newly learned information about people, places and things.
Dementia
A condition, usually chronic, of global impairment of cognition that occurs in the absence of clouded consciousness. In many cases, such as in Alzheimer’s disease, the condition is progressive.
Diagnosis
Identification of a disease or condition through scientific observation and assessment of symptoms using various procedures.
Disease
Any deviation of normal body function or structure which can be identified by specific symptoms or other characteristic.
Donepezil
A drug currently approved in preventing the development of Alzheimer’s in people diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment.
Dopamine
A drug currently approved in preventing the development of Alzheimer’s in people diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment.
Durable power of attorney Elder law attorney
A paid professional who helps ensure a loved one’s eliability for Medicaid and protect his
Fine Motor Skills
The ability to use muscles in the body in precise movements for example, using fingers, wrist , hand and arm to write or draw movements
Geriatrics
The branch of medicine concerned with the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease in older people and the problems specific to aging.
Guardian
A court supervised decision maker imposed involuntarily by the court.
Hallucination
A persistent sensory perception-something a person sees, hears, smells, or feels in the external world when nothing is really there.
Hemorrhage
Bleeding.
Hippocampus
An area buried deep in the forebrain that helps regulate emotion and memory.
Hospice
A facility or program designed to provide a caring environment for supplying the physical and emotional needs of the terminally ill.
Hypertonia
Increased muscle resistance to bending or stretching, causing stiffness and rigidity.
Ibuprofen
A non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drug used to relieve pain and fever
Incontinence
The loss of bowel and /or bladder due to physical problems or to an inability to perceive the body’s signals correctly. It is common in moderate and severe Alzheimer disease.
Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (IADL)
Necessary tasks of daily life (shopping, preparing meals, housecleaning, doing laundry, managing money, using transportation, using the telephone, taking medication) which are not as crucial to independent livings as ADLs. They also vary widely in methods of implementation (ways of doing them)
Income test
A means-tested cash assistance program that forms an important part of the safety net for the elderly, blind and disabled.
Indomethacin
A non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drug,analgesic, used especially in treating arthritis.
Inflammation
A basic way in which the body reacts to infection, irritation or other injury, the key feature being redness, warmth, swelling and pain. Inflammation is now recognized as a type of nonspecific immune response.
Internal medicine
A medical specialty dedicated to the diagnosis and medical treatment of adults.
Large Motor Skills
The ability to use muscles of the body in wide, expansive movements (for example using the muscles of the legs and arms to dance, walk, or lift)
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
A special radiology technique designed to image internal structures of the body using magnetism, radio waves, and a computer to produce the images of body structures.
MCI
A syndrome of memory impairment that does not significantly impact daily activities and is not accompanied by declines in overall cognitive function. Abbreviation for mild cognitive impairment.
Medicare Part A
Helps pay for care in a hospital or skilled nursing facility, home healthcare and hospice care.
Medicare Part B
Helps pay for doctors, outpatient hospital care and other medical services not requiring hospitalization.
Mild cognitive impairment
A syndrome of memory impairment, and diminished awareness or judgement.
Naproxen
An anti-inflammatory agent used in the treatment of rheumatoid conditions.
Neurologist
A doctor who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of the nervous system.
Outpatient
A patient who is not hospitalized overnight but who visits a hospital, clinic or facility for diagnosis or treatment.
Passive Aging
Inactivity (physically, mentally, or socially) due to an inability or lack of desire to adapt well to the normal aging process.
Pathological
Due to or involving disease
Perseveration
The tendency of persons with dementia to repeat the same actions, sounds, or words over and over It can be a severe behavioral problem, but therapeutic activities consisting of one or two simple steps use the tendency to perseverate to good advantage.
Sedating
To dose with sedatives.
Sedatives
Drugs that calm a patient down, easing agitation and permitting sleep. Sedatives generally work by modulating signals within the central nervous system
