Senior Health & Caregiver Resource Library

Finding reliable health information takes effort. Learn how to evaluate sources before trusting online, social media, or book-based health claims.

• Ask who owns and funds the website — and why.
• Verify that content is reviewed by medical professionals.
• Check for publication dates and whether content is regularly updated.
• Discuss findings with your healthcare provider before acting.
• On social media, trace information back to its original source.
• For books, look for author credentials and expert review.

Maintaining a complete personal health record helps you and your care team make better decisions quickly.

• Full name, birth date, blood type, and emergency contacts.
• Dates of physical exams and key screenings.
• Results from lab work and diagnostic tests.
• Major illnesses and surgeries with dates.
• Current medications, supplements, and dosages.
• Known allergies and chronic conditions.
• Family medical history — parents, siblings, grandparents.

Health literacy is the information people need to make good decisions. Both personal and organizational health literacy matter for better outcomes.

• Personal literacy: your ability to understand health information.
• Organizational literacy: institutions supporting patients in understanding care.
• Affected by: medical terminology, literacy level, age, income, language, culture.
• Higher health literacy leads to better chronic disease management.
• Enables appropriate medication use and healthy lifestyle choices.

Your family health history reflects shared genetics, environment, and lifestyle — all of which affect your disease risk.

• Having a family member with a disease raises your risk, but does not guarantee you will get it.
• Build a family health tree using medical records and death certificates.
• Share your family history with your healthcare provider.
• Certain conditions — heart disease, diabetes, cancer — have strong hereditary components.
• Lifestyle choices can reduce risk even with a family history.

Medical ethics addresses the difficult decisions that arise in healthcare — from end-of-life care to patient privacy.

• End-of-life care decisions and advance directives.
• Patient rights to refuse treatment.
• Provider obligations to disclose information fully.
• Organ donation and patient consent.
• Privacy of medical records and access rights.
• Genetic and prenatal testing considerations.