As a growing segment of the U.S. population ages, the state of nursing homes has come under increased scrutiny. Often, such facilities are considered the last resort for the country's estimated 1.5 million senior citizens. And as demographics suggest that these numbers will balloon over the coming decades, more people are looking at ways to improve the quality and diversity of elder care options.

A practitioner of geriatric medicine for more than 30 years, Dr. Jerald Winakur recently wrote a commentary about caring for a growing elderly population in the journal Health Affairs. But he wrote from a dual perspective: not only as a health professional, but also as the son of an 86-year-old man suffering from dementia. Winakur teaches at the Center for Medical Humanities and Ethics at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. He is also the founding director of the Skilled Nursing Unit at Methodist Hospital. His fiction, essays and poetry have appeared in numerous periodicals and literary magazines.

Poetry and Alzheimer's Disease In New Mexico, poet Gary "Mex" Glazner has found that poetry can sometimes have a beneficial effect for people struggling with Alzheimer's disease. Reporter Paul Ingles accompanied Glazner on a recent visit to the Sierra Vista Assisted Living Center in Santa Fe.