Copyright: Steve Forman, Producers Web
Knowing that the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease doubles every five years after age 65, let’s do everything we can as LTCI professionals to make sure America is insured before tragedy strikes.
Your intrepid reporter recently had the occasion to set up a doctor’s appointment outside of normal business hours, on a Saturday afternoon. I pulled into the parking lot of the building and was met immediately by a flannel-clad fellow standing beside his red pickup truck. In one hand he held a cigarette, in the other the reins to two adorable chihuahuas. Before I entered the building, I stopped to pet the shivering dogs and struck up a light conversation with the guy.
It turns out he’s trying to get them to gobble their medicine out of the bowls set on the pavement. I share that I’m having the same problem with a cat of ours. I say goodbye and run up the stairs into the building, where I’m forced to wait in a common area until my appointment begins.
In one corner of the foyer sits a professional-looking woman — clipboard in hand, briefcase at her side — steadily and calmly posing questions to a woman in her 50s who looks a bit bewildered. As soon as I hear a question or two about “orientation to time and place,” my hair stands up, and I recognize what I’m witnessing.
Could this be the legendary Minnesota Cognitive Acuity Screen, reported to accurately identify cognitive functioning in over 98 percent of cases? Surely no one expected to be disturbed in this little-used lobby on a Saturday afternoon. Quiet as a page-turn, I slip into a chair as far away as I can, embarrassed to be there, but fascinated just the same. For obvious reasons, insurance carriers are loathe to reveal the exact content of the tests to producers, for fear we will coach our applicants.
