Respite Care

Screaming, crying, and other extreme emotions of Alzheimer’s can unnerve even the most seasoned family caregiver.

Of the many and varied challenging behaviors someone with Alzheimer’s may experience and display, perhaps the most heartbreaking is uncontrollable screaming and/or crying. Seeing a person you love in an inconsolable state of mind, and being completely unsure how to help or to understand what’s causing these extreme emotions of Alzheimer’s, is both painful and frustrating. How can you help a loved one with dementia feel calmer?

To begin with, realize that crying and yelling in dementia can occur as the result of:

Pain
Fear
Boredom
Sadness
Agitation
Frustration
Delusions, delirium, or hallucinations
Sundowning
An uncomfortable environment
Or a number of other factors

For the short-term, try these strategies to help:

Stay calm yourself, speaking to the senior in a soft, soothing tone of voice.
Try to uncover what’s causing the outburst. Maintaining a … Read More »

When you can’t live up to your aging parents’ expectations, these tips can help.

In an ideal world, we could manage to perfectly compartmentalize our caregiving duties, staying with a routine that met your aging parents’ expectations, while allowing enough time to take care of our assortment of other responsibilities. But needless to say, life doesn’t follow our desired script, and conflicting needs are frequent when caring for an aging parent. Many older adults resist the need for help, while others may come to depend too heavily on an adult child, leading to unfulfilled expectations and ultimately disappointment for both parties.

Hired Hands Homecare’s aging care professionals provide the following tips to help clarify expectations and communicate successfully:

Focus on empathy. As opposed to pulling away from an older loved one whose expectations seem unrealistic, stop and empathize. Think … Read More »

Agitation in Alzheimer’s is common but can be eased with these tips.

Agitation in Alzheimer’s is one of the more difficult effects a senior may experience, and it can be incredibly hard for family members to manage. The key is in taking steps to handle agitation before it’s felt and expressed by the senior, which involves keeping track of what has brought about these feelings in the past, and creating a home environment in which those triggers are removed or minimized. These strategies can help:

Designate an area of retreat. When life begins to get stressful, having a specially created area for a senior loved one to go to de-stress can work wonders in restoring calm. This could be a separate room, or merely a comfortable corner with several soothing activities easily available, quiet music, a calming scent to … Read More »

Get a grip on senior finances and plan for future needs today with these tips.

The good news is we’re now living longer than ever before, with upwards of one in three older adults living until age 90 and beyond. The bad news, however, is that retirement planning for today’s seniors often didn’t take into consideration such longevity, leading to a strain on senior finances in later years.

So, what happens if your parents outlive their financial resources? As part of the sandwich generation, making their own retirement plans while still covering expenses for your own children, you may find yourself in need of supporting your aging parents as well. As a matter of fact, a recent survey by AgeUp shows that:

Nearly three out of four participants believe that at least one of their parents will live longer … Read More »

Protect the seniors you love from financial elder abuse with these tips.

When asked whether they thought they might be at risk for financial elder abuse or fraud, the overwhelming majority of surveyed older adults – 81%, in fact – were confident that they would never fall for a scam. We all want to believe we’re too savvy and smart to be taken advantage of; but the reality is, many scammers are even smarter and savvier. 

And though we might assume that financial fraud mostly occurs at the hands of strangers, the truth is that as many as two out of three of all financial crimes are committed by people the victim knows and trusts. 

The good news is, there are several steps that seniors and their loved ones can take to protect themselves:

Register with EverSafe (or a … Read More »

Senior couple in kitchen paying bills, looking frustrated

Even though the ultimate goal is always to improve safety and health for seniors they love, family caregivers, regrettably, frequently end up diminishing their very own in the process. In fact, an astonishing 94% of caregivers in a study carried out by Ohio State University revealed musculoskeletal pain in a minimum of one part of their body – and 66% noted this pain influencing their quality of life. 

And know that a “family caregiver” can describe anyone in the family who helps another individual with day to day activities. As reported by the Family Caregiver Alliance, this suggests 34 million Americans are at risk of becoming hurt through the care they provide. 

At Hired Hands Homecare, we know firsthand the amount of lifting, bending, and weight-bearing necessary in satisfying the … Read More »

Make hygiene care for someone with Alzheimer’s more comfortable with these tips.

Of the numerous challenges related to caregiving, the Alzheimer’s Association indicates that the most prevalent challenge is hygiene care for someone with Alzheimer’s, for various reasons:

Decreased sense of vision and smell
Comfort found in familiarity (i.e., desiring to wear exactly the same clothes repeatedly)
The challenges of bathing, compounded by cognitive impairment and confusion
Fear of falling, the noises and feelings associated with the water, and more

Cajoling, arguing, and logical thinking are hardly ever practical strategies with those impacted by Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia. Rather, attempt these innovative techniques if your loved one resists hygiene care:

Arrange the bathroom in advance so that the room will likely be comfortable and you will not have to juggle collecting supplies along with assisting your senior loved one. Warm the … Read More »

Make sure you’re not crossing the line from motivating to bullying with these caregiving tips.

As a family caregiver, you obviously encounter an array of feelings throughout the day: shared laughter over a joke with your senior loved one; worry due to a health concern; and certainly, from time to time, irritation. We want only the best for those we love, and if a senior loved one is resistant to doing an activity we realize is beneficial, it could be tough to identify the most appropriate response. 

The key is to try to offer motivation and support, while remaining cautious not to ever cross the line into bullying your senior loved one. These caregiving tips are good to remember:

There’s no one-size-fits-all. An approach that has worked on a single occasion may perhaps be entirely ineffective in another. In … Read More »

Rediscover joy and watch caregiver stress melt away with this one simple tip.

Our facial expressions divulge so much to those around us, and when you’re feeling an unusual level of caregiver stress, well-meaning family members will certainly recognize it, possibly encouraging you to essentially, “Cheer up, buttercup!” In reality, of course, it takes a whole lot more than a couple of words to turn our mood around.

Nonetheless, recent research does support the concept of positive thinking as a method to minimize levels of depression and anxiety which might develop when we’re bombarded with stress – something critical for busy family caregivers to take to heart to decrease the possibility for burnout.

Judith Moskowitz, head psychologist in the research project who consequently established a program to combat the downward spiral of emotions so typical in individuals providing … Read More »

Paranoia in seniors with dementia can be challenging, but these tips can help.

“I’m telling you, there’s a dog in my closet! I hear it growling all night long. We’ve got to track down its owner!”

Listening to a senior loved one express concerns like this that you know to be untrue is distressing – however, not unheard of. Your first instinct may well be to try and rationalize with the person with a response such as, “Nonsense! There is no way a dog could have gotten into the closet!” However, for various reasons, this could be the least effective technique to handle unreasonable thoughts and paranoia in seniors.

Instead, we at Hired Hands Homecare propose the following tactics which will help bring back a sense of calm and wellbeing:

First, schedule an appointment with the senior’s physician. It … Read More »