In today’s society, it is common for extended families to be separated from loved ones by long distances. At some point in your loved one’s life they will become unable to properly care for themselves. In that instance, you are faced with the challenge of long-distance caregiving.
Many seniors in the newest generation lead relatively active lives. They attend social functions and events in their community and would prefer to remain as involved in their activities as long as possible. Seniors do best with care provided in their homes.
If you are involved in the care of a loved one coping with Alzheimer’s or dementia, you may wonder how you can help them to remember their past. Caring for a loved one coping with Alzheimer’s disease can get complicated at times.
“You don’t stop laughing because you grow old. You grow old because you stop laughing.” –Michael Pritchard. It has been shown that it is possible to help your senior loved one stay young at heart with daily laughter. Laughing goes a long way in making a senior loved one feel vibrant and connected to life. Laughter helps them to feel better about themselves, those around them, and to share their blessings with others.
Some elderly begin to see their health and physical abilities fade with age. With a decrease inability to accomplish activities of daily living may affect your loved one’s confidence. They may feel their next step will be a dramatic move to a nursing home or assisted living facility. With personal care services your loved one need not worry about such a huge transition.
A healthy meal is a great way to jump start or round off the day. Fueling our bodies with nutrients and hydrating often is the key to healthy living. Add a delicious meal to a table surrounded by friends and family and it’s a social event. If we make time to spend with those we love the most, we are bound to feel it in our hearts and the mood-boost will last throughout the week.
When a loved one is diagnosed with dementia or other related disease, you may feel helpless as to how to help. Most seniors would choose to live out the reminder of their years independently in the comforts of their own home for as long as physically and financially possible. If you are chosen as the person your loved one counts on to make their senior care decisions, it is important to weigh the fact they would want to stay in their familiar environment.
As we age, it becomes more important to watch what we eat. Empty calories become more useless and cleaner eating is so much better for us. We all have fond memories of home-cooked meals that our grandparents and parents made for us while we were growing up. The meals were usually comfort foods like buttery mashed potatoes with gravy, meatloaf, and macaroni loaded with cheese. While these foods are okay to have every once in a while, they aren’t best for maintaining a healthy lifestyle if eaten on a regular basis.
Many families struggle with a decision to move their elderly loved one to a nursing home or assisted living facility. In home assisted living means that your loved one will not have to leave everything they cherish and love behind. There is no need for a life altering move to an assisted living home to receive the same high quality level of care. In home assisted living care is a positive option for those who wish to remain as active as they can in their community.
Chances are you received some sweets from a sweetheart or another loved one for Valentine’s Day. While savoring a sugary treat from time to time isn’t terrible, it’s important to keep your heart’s health in mind while snacking. Certain foods such as walnuts, chickpeas, and fruits have been medically proven to decrease your chance of heart disease. But don’t worry! Your taste buds can still enjoy a delicious and nutritious snack! There are plenty of ways to incorporate healthy foods into your favorite treats.
Valentine’s Day is coming up and is the perfect time to express your love for someone you cherish; the entire month is ideal for focusing on the physical health of our hearts. February is known as American Heart Month and is a great time to take note of healthy and not-so-healthy habits that we may need to change to reduce the risk of heart disease. Heart disease is the main cause of death for men and women in the United States. A common sign of heart failure includes chest pain with tightening which can feel very intense. Adults over the age of 65 should be made aware of other signs of heart failure as well.
Dementia and Alzheimer’s are serious illnesses that require a lot of help from a person’s friends and family to manage. The baby boomer generation of our population is now the fastest growing group in the United States. As people live longer, dementia is increasingly likely to affect us directly or indirectly at some point in our lives. It is important to not only respect our loved one’s wishes to remain independent in their homes for as long as possible, but to also provide the type of care they need to live successfully.
Dementia and Alzheimer’s are serious illnesses that require much help from a person’s friends and family to manage. The baby boomer generation of our population is now the fastest growing group in the United States. As people live longer, dementia is increasingly likely to affect us directly or indirectly at some point in our lives. It is important to not only respect our loved one’s wishes to remain independent in their homes for as long as possible, but to also provide the type of care they need to successfully thrive.
The cold winds are blowing; snow is likely falling where you are. Temperatures are dipping below records in some places and the furnace is constantly running to heat our homes. There’s no turning back; it’s definitely the middle of an ice-cold winter! Senior slips in the snow can be particularly dangerous this time of year. Your elderly loved one may not realize just how slick the sidewalks may be and a fall could cause a lot of damage to their body. Many elders will suffer a bone fracture of some kind or another, especially in their hips, ankles, shoulders and wrist. Unfortunately, a fracture like this can be critically life changing.
The winter is in full swing now, with some of the United States being hammered with snow already, and more still on the way. Snow can be a fun and exciting thing, especially for our younger family members. The chance to ride a sled down a huge mountain or create a snowman is an exciting event that can only be done when snow is on the ground. However, as we grow older we see the darker side of winter; shorter days, having to shovel snow, scraping ice off our windshields and dangerous driving are all things that we can all agree aren’t as fun as making snow angels.
The beginning of a New Year is a chance to start many things fresh for ourselves. New Year’s Resolutions allow us to enact some new goals with a fresh start. These resolutions can range from wanting to change our body, to wanting to get a big promotion, to something like wanting to live a happier life. These resolutions are important to allow us constantly growing and evolving. This is especially true as we begin a new decade and we can begin fresh on many new things, like major life goals. There’s never been a better time for getting on track to achieving some major career progress or beginning your steps towards landing a nice new home for you and your family. However all of this requires us to reflect on what we achieved not only in the last year, but also the last decade and the challenges we faced as we achieved those, or perhaps even the resolutions we were not as successful.
The winter holidays are all about creating wonderful memories together with your family. Due to busy work schedules and distance it is the only time of the year where entire families are together and create happy memories together. It is especially important to create happy memories with the eldest members of our family. Unfortunately, if a loved one has been recently diagnosed with Alzheimer’s you may be struggling to cope with how to care for them. Alzheimer’s is a very scary disease for many to confront as the person you loved appears to forget who you even are. It is an extremely stressful situation for family of Alzheimer’s patients to handle.
Christmas season is finally upon us and it is time to celebrate by spending quality time with family and friends; sharing not only gifts and delicious meals together but also creating important memories, especially with our older family members. Family reunions often happen around Christmas time due to busy work schedules and other life events which make Christmas the most important holiday of the year. Sadly like all great things Christmas has to eventually pass and quickly life returns to normalcy during the winter months. Your elderly loved ones, however, may be facing daily struggles during the winter season. It’s easy to help them out with daily tasks when you’ve traveled to visit them, or finally have time off from your job, you can’t always be there for them. The daily tasks, sadly, never stop for our loved ones and they will continue to pile up. Tasks as simple as cleaning the home can be a herculean task for senior citizens, often times very dangerous.
This is the gift-giving season; a time filled with joy and goodwill. This is the time of year when most families get together and spend time with one another. There’s usually laughter and good food to be shared and many look forward to the memories that are sure to be made. This time of year is a great time to think of those who might find getting around to these festivities a bit difficult to do on their own. If you have an elderly loved one who would love to be more active in their community and get out and about more often, this is the time of year to give the gift of help.
During the upcoming holidays you may learn that your elderly loved one is not able to perform the many daily household tasks and chores are falling behind. In home senior care includes light housekeeping, homemaking, vacuuming, and other duties that may become more difficult for your loved one to attend to on a daily basis. In home elderly care from Senior Helpers of Florence makes it possible for your loved one to remain independent in their beloved and cherished home. There is no need to move them to an institutionalized setting such as a nursing home or assisted living facility to receive the same high-quality level of care they can get in their own home.
Nothing says the holidays like driving through a neighborhood of homes shining with brightly colored lights, decked out in garlands and wreaths. Inevitably, one house always goes all-out with inflatables: snowmen, angels, snow globes, stars, and more. It’s December, and as the immortal lyrics of The Christmas Song says, we’re all just kids from 1 to 92. So for seniors, the question to ask is this: How can you make sure decorating for the holidays remains a fun way to transform your home without adding stress?
The holidays are especially important for a senior loved one to receive in home care. Not only does the elderly person feel like less of a burden on their family, but their family can have peace of mind knowing someone is caring for them during the hectic time of the holiday season. Dependable and highly trained caregivers can give you and your family a much needed break from caregiving, peace of mind that someone is there, and give your loved one much deserved indpendence. This holiday season, give your loved one the gift of receiving senior care in the privacy and comforts of their home.
Our nation has celebrated freedom for centuries now, and a lot is owed to our military and its members. Veterans Day is celebrated every year on November 11th. This is a special day to celebrate our nation’s veterans who have sacrificed so much to keep America free. Veterans Day is a wonderful reason to acknowledge your veteran loved one’s service and give them a sense of support and validation.
It is amazing how quickly the year has passed; it’s already November. On the eleventh, we will celebrate our nation’s armed forces on Veteran’s Day. This is the day to pay tribute and honor those who have sacrificed their time with their families and their lives to protect our great country. While it should be a daily practice to thank a veteran, it is especially important on this national holiday. Simply saying “thank you” is a small gesture that surely is appreciated. Post a message on a social networking site to thank our veterans. You never know who may come across that post and just needed to hear those words.
With the major fall holidays beginning at the end of October, it is time to think of some easy fall decoration ideas that you can do at home with your senior loved one. If you live near a farm or local pumpkin patch, take a look around for some beautiful, large gourds that can be easily turned into unique vases for tabletop flowers. A small, swan shaped gourd could be used as a hanging vase by cutting a hole near the neck and hollow out enough space for fall flowers like mums, black-eyed Susans and other favorites.