Senior Independence
Incorporate These Safe Activities for Seniors During the COVID-19 Pandemic
There are some great activities for seniors that are safe throughout the pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted all of us to some extent, but for older adults, it’s been especially traumatic. With an increased risk of serious complications from the virus, combined with the need to isolate from family and friends, the lives of the seniors we love have been turned upside down practically overnight.
At Hired Hands Homecare, we remain committed to providing safe, reliable care for seniors that is focused on each person as a whole – meaning mental and emotional health are equally important to physical wellbeing. To that end, we take time to incorporate meaningful activities into each day, adjusted to the new social distancing recommendations while still bringing enjoyment and connection with others.
Our senior home care experts suggest the following … Read More »
Balancing Senior Safety with Freedom During the Pandemic
Senior safety is key to keep in mind while stay-at-home orders are lifted.
After months of quarantining, isolating, and distancing from loved ones, stay-at-home orders have been relaxed. But for seniors in particular, can it be safe to consider heading out?
Unfortunately, there is no cut-and-dry answer, and a number of criteria need to be considered to arrive at the best decision for every person, balancing senior safety with mental and emotional wellbeing. For example:
What health problems is the senior loved one encountering?
How challenging has it been for her or him to be isolated from loved ones?
Is the incidence rate of the virus subsiding or spiking within your town?
As a family caregiver, the best place to get started is sitting down and having a one-on-one conversation with the older adult. If your senior loved … Read More »
Advance Health Care Directives Provide Peace of Mind
Advance health care directives help individuals ensure their care wishes are met.
Life is unpredictable. And although an advance health care directive can be easy enough to put off, planning end-of-life choices now can help provide peace of mind that your standards and wishes about your health care will be listened to in the future. Additionally, it will ease the responsibility of decision-making on your family members.
Advance directives typically include these documents:
Living will. This written, legal document outlines the kinds of health care procedures and life-sustaining measures a patient would or would not like, such as mechanical breathing (respiration and ventilation), tube feeding or resuscitation.
Health care power of attorney (POA). The health care POA is a legal document that identifies an individual to make health care decisions on the patient’s behalf if the patient … Read More »
Questions You Need to Ask Your Aging Parents
Learn about your aging parents’ wishes by asking a few key questions.
We’re all familiar with Benjamin Franklin’s sage advice: “Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today.” This has special significance when it comes to our aging parents, and to finding the answers to a number of important (as well as engaging) questions: from the practical knowledge of what their wishes are for their remaining lifetime, to what their favorite hobbies were as a child – and anything in between.
It’s a good idea to let your parents know that you have some questions you’d like to ask, and then schedule a time that will be uninterrupted, inviting siblings or other family members to attend as appropriate. Then prepare your questions in advance, thinking through ideas such as:
Do you have a power of attorney? … Read More »
Senior Finances: The Emotional Issue of Money and Caregiving
Having a frank discussion about senior finances is important for long-term planning.
Family financial matters are oftentimes a taboo subject, and in addition, the root of many different controversies, heightened emotions, and misunderstandings. And for a number of today’s older adults, who maintain a “Depression era mentality” from many years of saving for a rainy day and learning to “waste not, want not,” it may be hard for them to grant access to finances to adult children, and to acknowledge the necessity to spend some of those personal finances on caregiving needs.
Talking with an aging parent about finances is most efficient when begun before the need arises, appreciating it might take numerous discussions before an understanding can be reached. These conversation starters can certainly help:
“Dad, at some point, we have to make some choices in regards to … Read More »
The 6 Best Coronavirus Resources for Seniors and Family Caregivers
Our team is here to provide the best resources for seniors and keep your family safe
Researching where to turn for the current, most dependable information about COVID-19, especially as it relates to older adults and people who take care of them, is extremely important – and can be difficult. Because of so many sources and differing opinions on this serious subject, we wanted to help make it more straightforward to locate what you need by building the following list of trusted Coronavirus resources for seniors and family caregivers.
COVID-19 Guidance for Seniors: The CDC’s COVID-19 Guidance for Older Adults web page includes a great deal of information, including help determining who is at higher risk, symptoms, how to protect yourself, a checklist for the household, stress and anxiety coping advice, and much more.
Coronavirus: What Seniors and People with … Read More »
Why You Should Seek Help from an Aging Life Care Professional
Make the best care choices with the help of Hired Hands Homecare and an aging life care professional.
We all desire the best for our loved ones – it’s only natural. Yet in some cases when families are involved in an older person’s care, feelings about what is best may clash. This can cause family members to fight with each other as opposed to working together. This is when it’s often a good idea to enlist the help of an outside person like a geriatric care manager (GCM), one who realizes what seniors need for long-term care and how to accomplish getting this care.
Options for Helping Older Parents Age at Home
Hired Hands Homecare is experienced in helping older parents live comfortably and safely when aging at home.
Ask most older people if they wish to age at home, even if they are struggling with aging-related issues, and the response is in most cases a resounding “yes!” Having to move away from their home, a place with so many memories, can be distressing, even if they admit that it’s getting more difficult to cope. Yet, wishing to continue to be at home and having the ability to stay at home, all alone, are two separate things. So what can you do? Even as a 24/7, around-the-clock family caregiver, you are not able to do it all by yourself. You need help and it could be that in-home care is the solution for aging at home.
4 Safer Alternatives to Sleep Medication for Seniors
Sleep medication for seniors can, in some cases, be dangerous.
What could be better than waking up well rested after a full night’s sleep, feeling energized and ready to face the day? For some seniors – as many as one in three – getting sufficient sleep is something that only happens in their dreams. And sadly, it’s a common assumption that lack of sleep is something we just need to accept in our later years – a misconception that Preeti Malani, M.D., chief health officer and professor of medicine at the University of Michigan wants to dispel. According to Dr. Malani, “If older adults believe that these changes are a normal, inevitable part of aging, they may not think of it as something to discuss with their doctor. And not discussing it can potentially lead to health issues not … Read More »
The Surprising Hazards Associated with Pill Organizers and Medication Management
Medication management using pill organizers isn’t as easy as you may think for seniors.
Older adults, on average, take as many as 15-18 different prescriptions each day, so it’s no surprise that so many seniors end up missing doses or taking incorrect doses of their medications. And there are serious health complications that can occur as a result of these medication errors. One solution is the pill organizer: such a basic idea to simply put the right medications into the right little boxes each day. However, there are surprising hazards of pill organizers that people don’t realize.
