Lab-grown diamonds made by Washington Diamonds (not memorial diamonds)
Credit: Wikimedia Commons, Washington Diamonds Corporation

For families navigating grief and end-of-life preparations, the idea of transforming a loved one’s cremation ashes into a jewel as precious as a diamond can be a source of comfort. Diamonds are valuable, tangible keepsakes that can symbolize connection and memory.

Over the past two decades, companies have claimed to specialize in “cremation diamonds,” or lab-grown diamonds, advertised as being crafted from the carbon remaining in human ashes.   Continue reading →

Increased infections, hospitalizations and overuse of medications in nursing homes are often attributed to lack of staff to provide quality care.

In the spring of 2022, President Biden announced new federal reforms to improve substandard care plaguing nursing homes across the nation. Their hope is to improve care for more than 1.4 million Medicare and Medicaid recipients, who currently reside in nursing homes throughout the country. Minimum staffing ratios, increased accountability, and public transparency are top priority. But these increased measures may not be enough to ensure residents receive adequate care. Industry leaders contend that the federal plan does not address what is truly to blame. Continued fallout from Covid-19, high staff turnover rates and a lack of funds to increase employee ratios are what they attribute to the cause of poor care.  Continue reading →