Caregivers

Learn how to better manage the daily ups and downs of diabetes care in this article.

Checking glucose levels, monitoring blood pressure and monitoring food intake—these are just a few of the daily activities known all too well by diabetics.

Effective diabetes care requires consistent, ongoing care management—realizing that ignoring diabetes can result in serious health complications such as heart disease, high blood pressure and even diabetic coma. Thankfully, there are steps diabetics can take to alleviate the stress of diabetes care and remain hopeful and healthy.

 Most importantly, identify barriers to care. Barriers to diabetes care management can include:

Requiring additional information and education on proper diabetic care
Avoiding circumstances that might disrupt the diabetes care schedule
Overcoming excuses related to getting more exercise
Eating habits that could be driven by emotions instead of actual hunger
Depression or other emotional problems

 Accept … Read More »

Learn which symptoms to routinely check for when managing diabetes.

Let’s get serious and take a hard look at the statistics: as many as 29 million Americans are currently diagnosed with diabetes—over 9 percent of the entire population.

Diabetes is more rampant in the United States than ever before, and providing care for a loved one impacted by diabetes symptoms is an everyday event. While each person’s experience with the disease is unique, there are certain diabetes symptoms that can crop up with little to no warning, requiring that diabetics and their care providers alike be on the lookout each and every day.

Following are just a few important examples from the American Diabetes Association of diabetes symptoms to watch for on a routine basis:

Overwhelming fatigue

Blurred vision

Cuts and/or bruises that are slow to heal

Reduced weight – even when … Read More »

Learn how to strike a balance between safety and independence for senior parents.

It’s a disagreement that develops for a number of families: senior parents adamantly like to age in place in their own homes, while their relatives are worried about their safety. And there’s a debate to be made in both scenarios. Seniors, especially those who live alone, confront many different risks: falls that could bring about serious injury, challenges in preserving way of life to which they’ve become accustomed as aging advances, even a susceptibility to fraud artists. Yet independence for senior parents is vital to self-worth, regardless of age.

Defining a balance that suits the requirements of both sides may very well be difficult, but there are several important factors to bear in mind that will help.

Let go of ageism. While there is certainly credibility to worries … Read More »

Greetings! Join us today, Oct. 24 from 9am – 3pm at the Marin Senior Information Fair.  There’ll be tons of great information for and about Seniors.  Get your Flu vaccine, and make sure you stop by the Hired Hands Homecare booth to say hello to Blake and Kirsten.  We’d love to answer any questions you may have about how we can help families and their senior loved ones!

Hired Hands Homecare is proud to celebrate 25 years of participation in the Marin Senior Information Fair, and supporting the seniors and families of Marin County.

For more information about the Marin Senior Info Fair, please visit https://marinseniorfair.org.

Review these essential tips when caring for senior parents.

Now that your mom is no longer able to drive, and is starting to move around a bit more slowly, you and your siblings have decided to split her care needs amongst yourselves. One of you will have to take her to the doctor’s office, grocery store and beauty shop. Another person needs to help with her household chores and laundry. And of course, the yard and flower beds need to be maintained. But there are additional crucial aspects to caring for parents that need to be addressed as well, yet often go unnoticed until there’s a problem.

The following list of to-dos to keep in mind when organizing a plan of care for your aging parents is a great place to start:

File all important personal documents like financial information on … Read More »

Learn tips to better get along with siblings when sharing the care for senior parents.

As kids, we were taught to share our toys and also our parents’ attention. Not surprisingly, the feelings associated with those memories can carry with us well into our adult years. As wonderful as it is to have brothers and sisters, there are also times when it leads to increased stress levels, such as when caring for aging parents. While loving each other and considering your siblings’ feelings were impressed upon us at an early age, a lingering sense of sibling rivalry can remain an obstacle when making tough decisions and making an effort to fairly share caregiving needs for our aging parents.

Gregory French, president-elect of the National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys, explains, “What a family member considers ‘fair’ is very much dictated … Read More »

Learn how to best respond to challenging Alzheimer’s behaviors.

Alzheimer’s disease often presents complex issues for both the person diagnosed and his or her loved ones. As the disease progresses, challenging Alzheimer’s behaviors often manifest, as seniors increasingly express their needs through actions instead of language, and these behaviors can often be inappropriate in nature. For instance, seniors with more advanced Alzheimer’s disease may display the following:

Agitation and aggression
Inappropriate sexual behavior such as:

Taking off clothing or touching themselves in public
Using obscene language
Accusations that a spouse is having an affair

Hallucinations
Depression

Behaviors such as these can be embarrassing and troubling for Alzheimer’s caregivers, but they can also be extremely confusing and frustrating for the person with Alzheimer’s, who most likely cannot understand why the behavior is inappropriate or upsetting to others.

As an Alzheimer’s caregiver, it’s essential to keep in mind that any … Read More »

Learn ways to ease stress when providing Alzheimer’s care for a loved one.

Some of the busiest people working today are providing Alzheimer’s care for a senior loved one, but that’s not all. Although Alzheimer’s caregivers have their hands full with that role alone, many also work long hours at full-time jobs, shuttle the kids to school and other activities, run errands and take care of the home, and prepare dinner for the family on top of their caregiving duties. When do they have time to just relax? When providing Alzheimer’s care, it can often feel like your day never ends, and stress and poor sleep can wear down your body as well as your mind. Caregiver burnout is a real and serious condition that can result in, among other things, physical health problems, depression, feelings of being isolated, … Read More »

Greetings!

Today, we wanted to take a minute to shed light on an urgent matter that directly affects ALL Caregivers throughout California.

Governor Brown now has Assembly Bill 2455 on his desk, and it is not clear whether he will sign the Bill, or veto it like he has previously. If signed into law, AB 2455 would require the State to send ALL Registered CAREGIVERS’ PERSONAL CONTACT INFORMATION to unions. That is right, the State will distribute private information, including cel numbers, allowing unknown people to contact our Caregivers at any time. This is a huge blatant attack on privacy rights. There are no other industries that have such requirements, because it is such a huge breach in legal privacy typically given to all employees. Why Caregivers?

What can you do??? The most important thing to do TODAY is to CALL … Read More »