Tests on a breast cancer vaccine show some promising results. Researchers say it significantly reduced the risk of recurrence for women whose cancers are marked by a certain protein, which accounts for about 25 percent of breast cancer cases. The protein is found in one of the deadliest forms of the disease.
Mortality was reduced by about 50 percent among women with high expression of the protein, and 100 percent among women with low or medium expression. A biotech firm has licensed the vaccine and is planning additional studies.
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Too many patients, and not enough health care workers trained to deal with them -- that could be the case in a few years when baby boomers start flooding doctors’ offices, hospitals and nursing homes with a variety of age-related illnesses.
Dodie Lewis lives in Heartland of Hyattsville in Maryland – the same nursing home where her mother lived 13 years ago.
"You really have to have a heart to care for people, and I felt more confident leaving my mother here, knowing that there were still caregivers here when my grandmother was here,” said Paula Wade, Lewis’ daughter.
That’s unusual. There’s already high turnover and a shortage of health care workers for elderly people, with 78 million baby boomers on the way.
"We estimate that we will need 35,000 geriatricians in the United States in 2030. We currently have 7,000, and the number is declining,” said Professor Jack Rowe of Columbia University School of Public Health.
Everyone won’t need a specialist but, since the average person over 75 years of age has three chronic conditions, the Institute of Medicine says all health care workers need more training to keep them healthy.
“So people can stay independent, stay in their own homes, and stay out of very expensive hospitals and nursing homes,” said John Rother of AARP.
But attracting people to work with senior citizens isn’t easy. Direct care workers average under $10 an hour, and need little training in some states.
"Individuals who are nurse's aides or home health aides, working to take care of the elderly, are required to have fewer hours of training than a dog groomer or cross-walk aides,” said Rowe.
Relatives like Wade could be part of the solution. She’s one of millions of “informal caregivers” that IOM says should be trained to help professionals make these later years some of the best.
The IOM also says Congress needs to take a look at what Medicare pays to see how it might affect medical cares.