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New studies have revealed surprising statistics regarding senior drivers’ use of potentially impairing medications behind the wheel, according to the Bellville Star.

The research, which comes from the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, has revealed that almost 50% of older adults reported using seven or more medications while remaining active drivers. What’s more is that many of these medications can potentially increase the risk of an accident, especially considering the fact that an estimated one-third of America’s major roads are in poor or mediocre condition as it is.

“There is a growing population of older drivers who use multiple medications and likely do not realize the impact these prescriptions may have on their driving,” said AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety’s executive director, Dr. David Yang. “This new research shows that the more medications an older driver takes, the more likely they are to use an inappropriate medication that can potentially cause driving impairment.”

Despite the fact that one-quarter of U.S. hospitals and health systems say they hope to decrease costs by 1% to 5% over the next five years (says a 2017 Kaufman Hall survey), getting into an accident can still have even more physical risks for senior drivers. In order to minimize the risk of a crash hurting your physical and financial well-being, it’s important to understand the most fundamental driving safety tips for older drivers:

Maintain Vehicle Properly

First, it’s vital for older drivers to stay up to date with basic auto maintenance tasks. It’s a good idea to work closely with an auto repair shop to ensure that you’re reminded when your vehicle needs something like an oil change, a filter change, or any number of basic upkeep tasks. Similarly, depending on your current physical health, don’t hesitate to go to gas stations that have an attendant available to pump gas for you, especially if the weather becomes snowy or otherwise hazardous. The global specialty gases market is forecast to surpass $14 billion by 2026, and you never know if this small step could prevent a potential injury, even if it’s not crash-related. Above all, find the right ways to keep your vehicle maintained while protecting your own physical wellbeing.

Read Labels Thoroughly

Though your doctor will likely discuss the effects that a new medication will have on your cognitive abilities, it’s essential to read the labels thoroughly with each new medicine, whether prescription or over-the-counter. You can also take your concerns up with the pharmacist at your local drug store.

Communicate With Your Doctor

Finally, for the most current and accurate advice regarding your driving safety on certain medications, simply consult your primary care physician. If you’re having trouble staying safe, your doctor can make any number of recommendations. CMS found that in 2015, retail spending for durable medical equipment (which includes contact lenses, eyeglasses, hearing aids, wheelchairs, mobility aids, and more) reached $48.5 billion, and these devices continue to be readily available to seniors to ensure safety and accessibility through all everyday tasks.

Ultimately, it’s vital for drivers of all ages to be aware of the potentially impairing effects that their medications can have on driving ability.

“Taking multiple medications affects all of us, but older drivers can be particularly vulnerable. Ask your doctor and pharmacist as many questions as necessary to ensure you understand why you need the medications prescribed to you, and how they can affect your driving,” said Jake Nelson, AAA director of traffic safety advocacy and research. “Don’t be afraid to question healthcare providers. It’s their job to help you. And the answers may just save your life.”

Everyone dreads getting into a car accident, but it’s unfortunately incredibly common. Over six million vehicle accidents occur every year in the United States, so there’s a decent likelihood that you may be involved in a car accident at some point in your life. When a car accident does occur, use this list to make sure you get through the experience as smoothly as possible.

Before You Leave Your Car

Before anything else, take a deep breath – it may sound cliche, but there is actually evidence that taking a moment before exiting your car can help you process the stress and trauma of a car accident. Of course, only stay in your vehicle if it is safe to do so. If there is any immediate damage within the car or staying inside the car is at all dangerous, leave the car as quickly and safely as possible. Make sure all passengers are safe and able to leave the vehicle if needed; if anyone is injured, call for emergency services immediately.

Immediately After The Accident

Once you’ve left your car, make sure you and anyone else outside the vehicle is staying safe away from other cars on the road. It’s likely passing vehicles will slow down to look, and drivers in these vehicles may not immediately see you. Make sure all parties involved are staying safe outside the vehicle.

Be sure to document any and all damage the car may have experienced, being careful to document damage that might not be as easily seen, such as damaged metal or parts under the hood. Be careful not to touch any metal that may have been damaged or overheating; iron ore typically melts at 2,750 degrees Fahrenheit, while steel typically has a melting point of 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit. Without touching anything that might harm you, document all parts of your car, and also be sure to get the contact and insurance information of any other driver involved. This information will be helpful in filing a report on the accident.

In The Days After

After the accident, your next steps are likely to vary depending on the severity and the damage incurred. If your car has been severely damaged by the accident or will need repair, make sure to contact a nearby dealership or auto shop for appropriate repairs and parts replacements. While the immediate reaction might be to go to an auto shop first, don’t rule out dealerships; dealerships across the United States wrote over 316 million repair orders in 2017.

If you or another passenger in your car has been injured seriously by the accident and has received medical care, consider contacting an attorney as well. Personal injury attorneys often help those who have been in a car accident and need additional compensation to pay for medical bills. In fact, motor vehicle accidents are the most common personal injury cases, making up 52% of all U.S. personal injury cases.

If you get into a car accident, make sure to follow these steps in order to handle the situation quickly, calmly, and efficiently. With these tips, you’ll be back on the road safely in no time. And remember: even slowing down by .6 miles per hour could help reduce the rate of car accidents.

Whenever Google changes its search engine algorithm, which happens roughly 500 to 600 times a year, digital marketers and business owners tend to go into a bit of a panic over the harm it could cause to their search rankings. But in this case, Google’s newest algorithm development could actually protect you. A collaboration with Harvard University researchers resulted in a machine learned model that will reportedly flag the restaurants that are most likely to give you food poisoning.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, approximately one in six Americans becomes ill every year due to the consumption of contaminated foods or beverages. Although many consumers are overly concerned with the possible hazards of romaine lettuce or their flawed holiday turkey preparations, the reality is that eating out is just as (if not more) dangerous than dining at home. And considering that 34% of Americans visit a casual dining restaurant once per week, the danger may be more pronounced than you’d think.

This newest algorithm development could allow you to completely bypass those dangers, however. It can apparently identify lapses in food safety in near real time, thanks to an ability to identify user search queries for phrases like “diarrhea” and “stomach cramps.” Those search queries are then cross-referenced with saved location data history from smartphones to identify potential eateries that were visited by those users in the recent past.

When the algorithm was tested in Chicago and Las Vegas, any correlations that were discovered between search terms and restaurant visits prompted official health inspections. Health inspectors were also sent to restaurants that garnered customer complaints; inspectors weren’t told which establishments were identified through the algorithm to remove bias. After researchers compared the rate of unsafe restaurant detection from routine inspections in the two cities with the rate of detection offered by the algorithm in those places, what they found was pretty astounding: while routine inspections yielded a 22.7% rate of detection, the algorithm offered a 52.3% rate of detection.

An even more illuminating aspect of the study was that the algorithm found that, 38% of the time, the potential cause of food poisoning could not be attributed to the restaurant an individual had visited most recently. In other words, the most obvious culprit of food poisoning may not actually be to blame in reality.

Study co-author and Google research scientist Evgeniy Gabrilovich explained: “In this study, we have just scratched the surface of what is possible in the realm of machine-learned epidemiology… Today, we can use online data to make epidemiological observations in near real-time, with the potential for significantly improving public health in a timely and cost-efficient manner.”

The CDC reports that of the 48 million people who contract food poisoning every year, 128,000 of them are hospitalized. And although 75% of urgent care patients rated the quality of their treatment as good or excellent in 2016, most people would prefer to not have to seek out medical attention (emergency or otherwise) for foodborne illness at all. With any luck, using Google’s new algorithm as a supplemental measure to other preventative methods could help prevent this possibility for many Americans.

When staging a home, overall composition matters. Potential buyers don’t come into a home looking at walls, cabinets, or windows alone; they take a tour to see the house as a whole.

However, when staging a home, paying attention to specific elements is a must. In particular, paying attention to the floors in every room can help tie together the overall look of the house, motivating buyers to make higher offers more quickly.

If you’re trying to sell a property, don’t forget to improve the appearance of floors. Here are just a few home-staging tips to impress buyers with beautiful flooring:

Clean Hardwood Floors ’til They Shine

While flooring trends come and go, hardwood flooring will always be very popular among buyers, and for good reason. Woods in all tones bring a warm natural beauty to a space, and hardwood is incredibly durable. With proper care, wood elements can last for hundreds of years without rot or wear.

The trick, however, lies in properly cleaning and maintaining hardwood floors. Take a dust mop or vacuum and do your best to remove dry particles, like dirt and pet hair. Then, go to town with a liquid cleaner designed to deep-clean and polish wood floors. Finally, look for small scratches that might mar the beauty of the wood. Take a brown crayon and rub the scratch until the gap is filled, then buff away access wax. With a little elbow grease, even old hardwood floors can gleam!

Use Rugs to Your Advantage

Hardwood floors are beautiful, but they should be protected and broken up visually with well-placed area rugs. To truly tie together a space, a rug needs to be the right color, the right size, and placed in the correct position.

To choose the best rug, first measure the space. Remember that rugs should be at least 12 to 14 inches away from the perimeter wall. Generally, larger rugs make a space feel larger, so try to lean towards the biggest size the space can afford.

Next, consider where the rug will be placed. Any couches or chairs should at least have their front legs resting on the rug. Coffee tables should fit entirely on or off the rug. When placed properly, rugs tie together groupings of furniture, which is especially important in homes with open floor plans.

Finally, make sure that a rug’s colors, texture, and pattern work with the surrounding room. Try contrasting the hue of the rug with the hue of the furniture, but matching the color family. For example, a dark blue rug will make light blue or green furniture pop. Additionally, avoid choosing fluffy rugs for high-traffic areas, since the threads will likely wear more quickly, and stains from spills will be difficult to clean.

While clean floors can impress potential buyers, good care of hardwood and carefully chosen area rugs can take your home staging to the next level. With a little creativity, your property will sell in no time!

Owning a home comes with a startling number of responsibilities. Though many of them are related to renovation (more than four out of five homeowners are upgrading their bathrooms) or appliance repair, Canadian residents have become concerned over basement flooding. While there are a multitude of causes that attribute to wet basements, a new bill has been proposed for those who find themselves looking at the average $43,000 dollar cost: sue fossil fuel firms who have been contributing to the climate change that caused the flooding in the first place.

Canada Pushes For Climate Change Compensation

Peter Tabuns, an Ontario member of provincial parliament, suggested Bill 37 as a response to those whose properties are at such a high risk of flood that the owners cannot buy overland flood at a reasonable price.

“When thousands of people’s basements fill up with sewage for the third time in a row after a major storm has overwhelmed the sewer system, who is going to pay,” he asked. “When people who are already struggling to pay their bills are hauling out waterlogged couches and other furniture to put on the front lawn, who is going to pay to help replace that furniture?”

Bill 37 is not only limited to private homeowners: it would let governments, companies, and individuals alike sue gas and coal companies in Ontario for several types of damages, including “economic loss or physical loss of property, infrastructure, structures, resources, or other assets” as well as the cost of insurance to begin with. It is based on the same legislation currently in place that allows those suffering from illnesses as a result of smoking cigarettes to sue tobacco companies.

The Realities In America

Though it is unclear whether or not this bill will be passed, one thing is for sure: Americans will not have such a cushion when it comes to their own basement flooding. Instead, we will do as we always have — pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and get to work protecting ourselves against the inevitable.

If you’re looking to safeguard your home from the risk of flooding, there are two main things you should focus on: the cause and the coating. Surprisingly, clogged gutters are the number one source of flooded basements, so you should spend a good amount of time examining the state of yours to ensure they’re functioning as they should, and are funneling water away from your home. Installing covered gutters are one of the best ways to protect your home in the future (not to mention the time cut on spring cleaning).

When it comes to a waterproof coating, you have a few options to choose from. If you’re looking for a complete sealant (which we recommend) you’ll find two primary options: epoxy and polyaspartic. Though epoxy is easier to apply (especially in a DIY sense), they take between six and eight hours to fully cure and require multiple coats — this means you won’t have access to your basement for a few days.

Polyaspartic coatings, on the other hand, usually harden within five minutes and provide a solid, waterproof seal, although that quick cure means a professional is needed for installation. They’re also, as a result of their strength and the need for a professional application, generally more expensive than epoxy coatings. Ultimately, the choice comes down to your personal needs and desires. America may not have the ability to go after multi-billion dollar companies as a result of their personal flooding, but — as always — we’ll find a way forward.

For the first time in almost a decade, the number of U.S. children without health insurance is on the rise. The year 2017 saw an increase in uninsured children from 4.7% to 5%, and while the exact numerical increase may be relatively small, experts are concerned about the possible implications.

Coverage By The Numbers

While the overall population hasn’t seen a significant drop in insured people, remaining firmly at 8.8% uninsured, there are currently 276,000 more children without health insurance this year. This suggests an alarming overall trend that could set the precedent for future years. It is highly unusual to see rates of coverage drop during periods of economic growth, and as this is the first drop in insurance rates in the past decade, experts seem to have reason to worry.

In addition to an increase in uninsured children, out-of-pocket spending has accelerated for the past three years across all types of health insurance, including for employer-sponsored coverage. The ultimate end result is fewer people having health insurance, and higher insurance costs for those who do.

General Public Uninformed On Insurance Options

One of the many reasons that the state of health coverage in the United States seems to be worsening could be due to a general lack of education on health insurance options. For example, most Americans do not know crucial information about health insurance, such as the fact that 100 percent of medical and long-term care insurance premiums are deductible from gross income to arrive at adjusted gross income. The current administration and President Trump have slashed funding dramatically for programs that would educate Americans on health insurance options and assistance available for those unable to afford health insurance, resulting in a less educated general populace.

Lack Of Coverage Means Less Care

With fewer children covered by health insurance, more families are forgoing important preventative care measures that could make the difference for children’s overall health and safety. These crucial preventative care measures are essential to protecting not just children, but the health of the general public.

In 2017, an estimated 19.5 million children under one year old worldwide did not receive DTP3 vaccines, reflecting a harmful trend of forgoing vaccination. Many of these children did not receive vaccinations as a result of lack of health coverage that would make payments difficult. This contributes to an already dangerous and harmful trend of children not receiving appropriate vaccinations, putting those who are not able to be vaccinated at risk.

Additionally, if this trend of lack of coverage continues in combination with increasing out-of-pocket costs, many adults will also not seek out preventative care they need. This is especially important in adult populations, where different health risks arise. Certain preventative screenings, such as mammograms for the second most commonly diagnosed cancer among women, breast cancer, can prevent serious and expensive conditions. However, if people are forced to pay exorbitant out-of-pocket prices, it is unlikely these screenings will occur.

Overall, the decrease in insured rates for American children does not bode well for the state of American health. With 2019 just on the horizon, it remains to be seen whether this trend will continue into the new year, and what that might mean for Americans’ health insurance everywhere.