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Discover and debunk common cholesterol misconceptions to help guide senior caregivers in providing accurate information and support for elderly individuals.

If you’re caring for a family member who is suffering from COPD, you are no doubt familiar with all the symptoms such as coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath. As a caregiver and a loved one, your goal is no doubt to help the person have the best possible quality of life despite their living with COPD. While there is currently no cure for COPD available, it is treatable and there are things you can do to help.

In the United States of America, over 53 million people are caregivers for either an adult or children with chronic health conditions or disabilities. This figure accounts for one in five Americans, and will only continue to grow as the population of the country ages, and more numbers of older adults will require at least some assistance to maintain their quality of life.

In the digital age, scams are on the rise, and one vulnerable group particularly targeted by such deceitful schemes is the elderly. As family members and caregivers for our senior loved ones, it's our responsibility to shield them from these potential threats.

If you live hundreds, or possibly even thousands of miles away from your loved ones, you may find yourself wondering how you can best go about caring for your elderly parents when they need a little bit of extra care and support. While long distance caregiving certainly isn’t without its challenges and difficulties, many families are able to discover that it can all be accomplished with great amounts of success.

Many of us have a collection in one form or another. Perhaps we buy snowglobes or refrigerator magnets as souvenirs whenever we go on a trip. Maybe you collect jewelry or other items from a specific time period. You might have binders filled with years of baseball cards, or boxes with bagged and boarded comic books. But while compulsive hoarding may seem similar at first blush, it is a different animal than simply having a collection or two that have gotten out of control.

According to the CDC, roughly one out of every four adults acts as some form of caregiver to someone with a long term illness or disability, in an unpaid or informal capacity. It is projected that by the year 2030, there will be about 71 million adults in the United States aged 65 or older, which means that the need for caregivers can only increase from here.

Finding a caregiver for a loved one can be a daunting task. They’ll need to be reliable, trustworthy, competent, and compassionate. But how do you know what to look for? There are some key qualities that go towards making someone into an excellent caregiver.

As an adult child with parents in their elderly years, it can be incredibly rewarding and enriching to give back and spend time caring for them after all the years they spent caring for you as you grew up from a child to the adult you are now.

Most people on the planet don’t like being told what to do. For elderly people, who have lived their lives successfully and accumulated a lifetime of knowledge and experience, this tends to be even less so. Most seniors tend to bristle or get defensive when decisions are getting made on their behalf. But the problem is that it’s vital for adult children and other caregivers and loved ones to intercede on behalf of seniors should it be necessary for their care. Not all seniors will require that level of intervention, but many do. This is why it’s important to plan ahead, so you’re not stumbling unprepared through a difficult conversation when there’s no choice but to have it at that exact moment.  

Being a caregiver is a delicate balancing act at times, whether you’re caring for an elderly parent, another loved relative, or a spouse. On the one hand, you want the best for them and you want to help them to thrive and overcome challenges in the same way they have all their lives. But on the other hand, your loved one deserves a well-earned, restful twilight years, after a busy, active adult life, and you certainly don’t want to push them beyond their limits and capabilities. And it is just as likely that your loved one has thoughts and opinions about their care as well, and will wish to remain as independent as possible, as well as not wanting to feel like they’re being a burden to you. As a result, they may be hesitant to confront, or sometimes completely avoid, any of the hard stuff, or overextend themselves trying to take it on alone. Change is hard for everyone, especially the changes brought as a result of aging.

Aging can sometimes be a lot to deal with, and even the most independent seniors don’t truly do it one hundred percent alone. Every task, no matter how small it may seem, when taken together as a whole can become overwhelming and leave you feeling exhausted.

Ischemic strokes occur when an artery supplying the brain with blood becomes blocked, which naturally decreases or even completely stops blood flow, which causes a brain infarction. Approximately 80 percent of all strokes are of this type. As clotting problems become more frequent with age, it is of particular concern for those of us caring for seniors, or perhaps aging into that demographic ourselves.

If you’re working as a caregiver, oftentimes you have access to a senior that their friends, family, and other loved ones do not. Because of this, you may be able to spot things and warning signs that may be hidden or otherwise fly under the radar from them, allowing you to oftentimes be their first line of defense. Especially considering that as a caregiver, you will see them in some of their most vulnerable moments.

The new Senior Helpers Center of Excellence in Caregiving has opened in Scottsdale as a comprehensive training facility for certified caregivers and community members who assist the elderly.

As featured in McKnight's Senior Living,  The Center of Excellence in Caregiving in Mesa, AZ opened to the public on October 1, and serves as a comprehensive training facility where Senior Helpers-certified caregivers, family caregivers, and members of the community who assist the elderly can expand their skills and knowledge of administering specialized care that is designed to meet the needs and requirements of senior citizens at various stages.