Senior In Home Care San Diego CA – Are You Prepared to Care for Aging Parents?

Senior in-home care, san diego, ca -

Are You Prepared to Care for Aging Parents?

By Nancy Mann Jackson

Step 1 of the three steps you can take to be ready to help with your parents’ care:

1. Start the conversation.

Talking with your parents or other relatives about their health-care preferences may be uncomfortable, but waiting until they need care is too late. “Families need to talk before they need answers,” says Patricia Maisano, CEO and founder of IKOR USA, which provides advocacy services for seniors. “Before crises, there are many more choices in everything. When you wait until a crisis arises, those choices diminish significantly.” During a crisis, siblings could disagree about medical care, finances and living situations, Maisano says. And if a parent is incapacitated, his or her own preferences are unlikely to be heard or followed.

In general, Huber says, a good time to begin talking about parents’ health care is when parents are in their 70s and children are in their 40s. He and his brother, both in their 40s, recently sat down with their parents and went through Home Instead’s free Senior Emergency Kit, which offers a checklist of basic information that adult children should know about their parents, such as physicians’ names, medications and doses, allergies, and how to access advance health-care directives.

Starting these conversations can be difficult. “If children initiate the discussion, they should explain to the parent that they want to make sure they are aware of the parent’s wishes, and that they will best be able to see to those wishes if the lines of communication remain open,” Maisano says.

CaregiverStress.com offers a number of resources to get these “40/70″ conversations started, including techniques for diffusing the emotions involved in such discussions.

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Jessica Perez
Office Manager

Home Instead Senior Care
Secure Care Inc.
9665 Granite Ridge Dr. Ste. 205
San Diego, CA 92123 USA
P: 858.277.3722
F: 858.277.6737
homeinsteadsd@aol.com
www.homeinstead.com/158
Each Home Instead Senior Care Franchise
is independently owned and operated.

Senior In Home Care, San Diego, CA – Are You Prepared to Care for Aging Parents?

Senior in-home care, san diego, ca -

Are You Prepared to Care for Aging Parents?

By Nancy Mann Jackson

Fewer than half of baby boomers are knowledgeable about their parents’ medical histories, and 49 percent are unable to name any of the medications their parents take every day, according to a new study by the Boomer Project, a behavior-tracking and research firm. In an emergency, such information could be vital to ensuring proper care.

In addition to knowing your parents’ medical histories and current medications, there are other things you should do to be prepared to help them in a health crisis. “We see families all the time who are thrust into emergency situations and are unprepared to handle their parents’ health issues,” says Jeff Huber, president and chief operating officer of Home Instead, which offers home health care and senior companionship. “The time to prepare is when things are calm.”

Here are three steps you can take to be ready to help with your parents’ care: They will be covered in future posts.

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Share how you are dealing with your parent’s alzeheimer’s or dementia.

Get your FREE Guide to Senior Inhome Care at www.seniorcarechoicessd.com

NEED a CAREGiver^SM

Compassionate CAREGivers are ready to help seniors live independently at home.
Inquire about service today!

Become a CAREGiver^SM

Seeking employment? Have what it takes to help seniors lead rewarding lives?
Inquire about being a CAREGiver

Jessica Perez
Office Manager

Home Instead Senior Care
Secure Care Inc.
9665 Granite Ridge Dr. Ste. 205
San Diego, CA 92123 USA
P: 858.277.3722
F: 858.277.6737
homeinsteadsd@aol.com
www.homeinstead.com/158
Each Home Instead Senior Care Franchise
is independently owned and operated.

Senior In Home Care, San Diego, CA – FREE webinar for Alzheimer’s Caregiver

Senior in-home care, san diego, ca -

Caring for Someone with Alzheimer’s – Family Caregiver Webinar

Wednesday, June 27, 2012 | 10:00 AM Pacific / 11:00 AM Mountain / 12:00 PM Central / 1:00 PM Eastern. Register Now.

Caring for a senior loved one can bring a sense of fulfillment, but usually not without a few challenges as well. To help you feel a little more confident and equipped in your role as a family caregiver, the Home Instead Senior Care^® network is launching the 2012 Family Caregiver Support Web Seminar Series, featuring free monthly seminars for family caregivers on a variety of essential caregiving topics.

The web seminars, hosted in cooperation with the American Society on Aging (ASA), provide tips, information and advice from the perspective of professionals who are well-versed in issues facing families caring for aging loved ones.

Please note, these Family Caregiver Webinars are not eligible for CEU credits. The CEU credit offering is only available for the webinars featured in the Professional Family Caregiver series.

Please pre-register for any Family Caregiver Webinar by the deadline of 9 PM PST the day before! for the following 2012 Senior Care Web Series. Please click each “Register Now” link for more details of each webinar and to sign up.

Recorded webinars will be available for viewing following the live sessions. It may take up to two weeks following the session for the archived version to be posted.

 

Learn more about the dementia care services available from Home Instead Senior Care.

Leave a Comment

Share how you are dealing with your parent’s alzeheimer’s or dementia.

Get your FREE Guide to Senior Inhome Care at www.seniorcarechoicessd.com

NEED a CAREGiver^SM

Compassionate CAREGivers are ready to help seniors live independently at home.
Inquire about service today!

Become a CAREGiver^SM

Seeking employment? Have what it takes to help seniors lead rewarding lives?
Inquire about being a CAREGiver

 

 

 

Jessica Perez
Office Manager

Home Instead Senior Care
Secure Care Inc.
9665 Granite Ridge Dr. Ste. 205
San Diego, CA 92123 USA
P: 858.277.3722
F: 858.277.6737
homeinsteadsd@aol.com
www.homeinstead.com/158
Each Home Instead Senior Care Franchise
is independently owned and operated.

Senior In Home Care, San Diego, CA – Coping with Alzheimer’s

Senior in-home care, san diego, ca -

How can I make time for my own health?

I used to go to yoga five times a week. Now my mom pleads with me to stay home. She doesn’t want to be alone and she worries about me when I’m gone. I know she can manage just fine for a couple of hours. How can I make time for me and my own health when her demands are so great?

To run the marathon, you need to take care of yourself. Your commitment to yoga is a great way to do so! Most agree that yoga will keep your body strong and flexible while it helps you be calmer and more patient around your mom. I definitely encourage you to stick to your practice.

Sharing your enthusiasm for yoga with your mom might help her worry less. See if any senior centers in your area offer chair yoga, and invite her to come along for a session or two. Trying a few safe movements might help her see why you value your classes. If she likes it, make it a regular date!

When it’s time for your own class, keep it simple. Don’t give a lot of information about your exit. You’re an adult; you don’t need to explain your every move. Say, “I’ve got to run out for a bit—I’ll see you at 6,” and leave. Making a quick exit gets you out before your mom can build her argument against your going.

It’s true that some people with dementia really shadow their loved ones and don’t want them to leave. If this is your mom, it may be time to get your mother into a day program, or hire a caregiver so your mom can socialize while you get a break. Either way, please don’t feel guilty. To take care of your mom, you need to take care of yourself.

When you’re running through your yoga “sun salutations,” know that you’re doing the very best you can for your mom AND yourself. Enjoy!

Learn more about the dementia care services available from Home Instead Senior Care.

Leave a Comment

Share how you are dealing with your parent’s alzeheimer’s or dementia.

Get your FREE Guide to Senior Inhome Care at www.seniorcarechoicessd.com

NEED a CAREGiver^SM

Compassionate CAREGivers are ready to help seniors live independently at home.
Inquire about service today!

Become a CAREGiver^SM

Seeking employment? Have what it takes to help seniors lead rewarding lives?
Inquire about being a CAREGiver

Jessica Perez
Office Manager

Home Instead Senior Care
Secure Care Inc.
9665 Granite Ridge Dr. Ste. 205
San Diego, CA 92123 USA
P: 858.277.3722
F: 858.277.6737
homeinsteadsd@aol.com
www.homeinstead.com/158
Each Home Instead Senior Care Franchise
is independently owned and operated.

Senior In Home Care, San Diego, CA – Alzeheimer’s Caregiver Stories

Senior in-home care, san diego, ca -

Thoughts and stories from caregivers dealing with alzheimers

Posted by Susan

I am having a hard time still dealing with the anger about our situation. Life as we knew it is completely gone. We have lost a car,a comfortable home,an income,a way of life that we were accustomed to and the thought that I will never get to retire and enjoy life with my husband as we planned on doing. He is only 61 and has been diagnosed with frontal lobe cognitive dementia. I had a hard time convincing the first Neurologist that he was a changed man. I had been with him for 38 years and could see the changes…We were going to go away for our 35th anniversary and wish we had as this year we will celebrate our 40th…………We have been together for 42 years however. I am a RN and deal with people every day with their dementia loved ones but still having a hard time wrapping my head around that life as I knew it is gone…..

Please leave a comment and share your story.

Get your FREE Guide to Senior Inhome Care at www.seniorcarechoicessd.com

NEED a CAREGiver^SM

Compassionate CAREGivers are ready to help seniors live independently at home.
Inquire about service today!

Become a CAREGiver^SM

Seeking employment? Have what it takes to help seniors lead rewarding lives?
Inquire about being a CAREGiver

Jessica Perez
Office Manager

Home Instead Senior Care
Secure Care Inc.
9665 Granite Ridge Dr. Ste. 205
San Diego, CA 92123 USA
P: 858.277.3722
F: 858.277.6737
homeinsteadsd@aol.com
www.homeinstead.com/158
Each Home Instead Senior Care Franchise
is independently owned and operated.

Senior In Home Care, San Diego, CA – Why Seniors Become Frail

Senior in-home care, san diego, ca -

Frailty Facts and Research

In a women’s study released in 2009, researchers at Columbia and Johns Hopkins Universities discovered the important role activity plays in the fight against frailty and shed new light on what causes the condition.

Researchers found that frailty is the result of a systems failure in older adults, rather than a specific problem, disease or even chronological age. Data from women ages 70-79 led researchers to discover that half of those fragile seniors had three or more systems at abnormal levels, compared with 25 percent of the pre-frail and 16 percent of the non-frail population. Physiological factors that were assessed included anemia, inflammation and fine motor skills.

Treatments, including medications and hormone replacement, are unlikely to prevent elder frailty unless they are designed to improve multiple systems, says Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH, the study’s author and DeLamar Professor of Public Health at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. “This may explain the importance of approaches such as remaining physically active as we get older, since activity improves many aspects of biology and overall health.”

What is Age-Related Frailty?

Family members as well as professionals are playing a role in helping researchers define frailty, according to Stephanie Studenski, M.D., M.P.H., who serves as director of clinical research for the University of Pittsburgh Institute on Aging.

One study conducted in 2004 asked health care providers and family caregivers what they see when they think of frailty. The goal was to develop a measure for geriatric clinical research to represent the geriatric clinician’s opinion about change in physical frailty. “I think the thing that was most striking to me was that many family members we talked with perceived that an older person is getting more or less frail based on social and psychological factors rather than physical factors,” Studenski said. “Doctors, meanwhile, focused on the physical evidence.”

“Part of it, for family members, was a sense of engagement that included spirit, mood and attitude. Those were factors that family members weighed more heavily than health care providers. What I determined from that study,” said Dr. Studenski, “is that we must be very careful defining frailty only in physical terms.”

Explore these pages to learn more

• Warning Signs for Seniors
• Fears About Aging
• Activities for the Mind, Body & Soul

Need ideas for activities and other tools? Visit our Resources page.

Visit the Home Instead Senior Care YouTube Channel to learn more about senior concerns.

Get your FREE Guide to Senior Inhome Care at www.seniorcarechoicessd.com

NEED a CAREGiver^SM

Compassionate CAREGivers are ready to help seniors live independently at home.
Inquire about service today!

Become a CAREGiver^SM

Seeking employment? Have what it takes to help seniors lead rewarding lives?
Inquire about being a CAREGiver

Jessica Perez
Office Manager

Home Instead Senior Care
Secure Care Inc.
9665 Granite Ridge Dr. Ste. 205
San Diego, CA 92123 USA
P: 858.277.3722
F: 858.277.6737
homeinsteadsd@aol.com
www.homeinstead.com/158
Each Home Instead Senior Care Franchise
is independently owned and operated.

Senior In Home Care, San Diego, CA – Alzeheimer’s Resources

Senior in-home care, san diego, ca -

Alzheimer’s Resources

Help for Alzheimer’s Families features a variety of resources to support family caregivers of seniors with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias. Included is information about techniques for coping with Alzheimer’s and dementias, the importance of preserving family memories and information about a no-cost e-learning course for Alzheimer’s family caregivers. The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America and Alzheimer’s Foundation for Caregiving in Canada unite organizations dedicated to aiding individuals with Alzheimer’s or other dementias, their caregivers and families. These two foundations offer a number of educational programs and resources to help families care for their loved one with Alzheimer’s. The Alzheimer’s Association works on a global, national and local level to enhance care and support for all those affected by Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Find a local chapter in your area for information about the resources available in your community.

Get your FREE Guide to Senior Inhome Care at www.seniorcarechoicessd.com

NEED a CAREGiver^SM

Compassionate CAREGivers are ready to help seniors live independently at home.
Inquire about service today!

Become a CAREGiver^SM

Seeking employment? Have what it takes to help seniors lead rewarding lives?
Inquire about being a CAREGiver

Jessica Perez
Office Manager

Home Instead Senior Care
Secure Care Inc.
9665 Granite Ridge Dr. Ste. 205
San Diego, CA 92123 USA
P: 858.277.3722
F: 858.277.6737
homeinsteadsd@aol.com
www.homeinstead.com/158
Each Home Instead Senior Care Franchise
is independently owned and operated.