One year ago, I never would have believed this Thanksgiving would be spent with my father in an assisted living residence (where he lives, not me) and that after just four months it would feel so much like home.

But Thanksgiving 2008 is here, and I get to spend another holiday with him, which feels like a really lucky break, since he is nearly 96 and has had a number of health problems this past year. He’s still quite sharp, a pleasure to be with, appreciative of my company and the chance to talk about his life.

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Though the expo floor doors remained closed to the public, exhibitors continued to come and go, making sure their booths were in order for the expo’s Monday noon opening.

AHCA 2008 Expo Hall

Of particular interest to convention attendees will be ACHA/NCAL TV:

ACHA/NCAL TV

According to Rick Miller, Chair of the American Health Care Association: “For the first time this year, we have AHCA/NCAL TV which will be broadcasting highlights from the conference around the Convention Center and in your hotel rooms.” For those attending the show, AHCA/NCAL TV is available on channel 28. In addition to this, readers of Basic American Comfort.com should also be sure to visit http://www.ahcancaltv.com, which is being heavily promoted at the show.

One AHCA/NCAL booth feature which looks promising is the preview of the “LTC Trend Tracker”:

Based on a preview from the kiosk, the LTC Trend Tracker should allow AHCA/NCAL members to track market trends, examine key metrics, compare facilities, identify business opportunities, spot future training needs, and enhance facility operations. For those attending, it might be worth the trip over to booth #509.

As we did a month ago, we urge you to visit the AHCA/NCAL Convention 2008 web site. Education session information and hand-outs will be available online.

Naturally, we would be remiss if we didn’t encourage you to visit Graham-Field Health Products, Inc. at booth #137. As the publisher of Basic American Comfort.com, the expo floor is one of the great opportunities to showcase exactly how we embrace the human side of long-term care in our beds and furniture. Stop by and speak with us, and lend your voice to Basic American Comfort!

From the Intel Channel on YouTube.com:

Research At Intel Day occurred on June 11th at The Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California. This event was put on to showcase the latest and greatest research from Intel. In this video, Intel Researcher Ken Lafond talks about Technology For Long-Term Care. This project applies technology to make it easier to manage the care for the elderly.

Here is the video in which Ken demonstrates how this technology works:

Mary Hein, along with a group of community members, wants to build several “pod-type nursing homes” for people with dementia where residents eat home-cooked meals at a dining room table and have their own room and bathroom.

Residents would see the same staff members every day and feel more comfortable and less confused in the home-like environment.

“They have enough going through their brains that they don’t need more confusion,” said Hein, executive director of Alzheimer’s Wyoming. She remembers visiting a friend in a nursing home, and the friend couldn’t find her way back to her room because of the long hallways.

“Here, they would walk out of their rooms into the common room. They would just sit down at the table,” Hein said.

The “pods” in Casper will be similar to the Green Houses being built in Sheridan but named differently due to copyright regulations.

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Allison Rupp is a Star-Tribune staff writer.  Contact health reporter Allison Rupp at (307) 266-0534 or allison.rupp@trib.com.