June 1, 2011 |

Community

Fee reprieve

Janet Rodriguez (left), administrator at Wingate Healthcare, Needham, Mass., and winner of Long-Term Living’s second 60th anniversary diamond giveaway, pictured with Editor-in-Chief Patricia Sheehan at the 2011 American College of Health Care Administrators Convocation and Exposition in New Orleans.

Cinephiles rejoice: Nursing homes and assisted living facilities no longer have to pay licensing fees to show videos to residents. The American Health Care Association, the National Center for Assisted Living and LeadingAge (formerly AAHSA) reached an agreement with the Motion Picture Licensing Corporation to exempt these facilities, although communities with independent living units, apartments or other similarly defined living quarters must acquire a license based on the number of independent apartments in the community. Also, if you have a closed circuit television system (such as an in-house channel) and play videos, expect to obtain a license. But for some providers, this is certainly a star-studded announcement.

Doing away with hypertension

The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association have teamed up to release the first consensus document aimed at helping clinicians manage or reduce the risk of hypertension in older adults. Among the recommendations: encouragement of lifestyle changes such as physical activity, salt restriction, weight control, smoking cessation and avoiding excessive alcohol intake. To read more and link to the document, visit

www.iadvanceseniorcare.com/BloodPressureGuidance.

Tweet of the month From @NCCDP: For Activity Professionals: free huge resource, Library of Congress pictures & posters for reminiscing www.loc.gov/pictures/index/subjects/