Greater Phoenix Nursing Home Alternative & Central Phoenix Nursing Home Alternative helps elders and seniors in Phoenix remain at home safely and independently. Call us today at 623-583-5868, 602.265.8228 or 480-991-3959.

Home Improvements to keep seniors safe - Home Hazards in Phoenix

• Another way you can protect yourself and your clients is by eliminating hazards in the home. Accidents and injuries are often caused by wet floors, stairway obstructions, and faulty handrails.
• Stay off a freshly mopped floor until it is dry and remind the senior to do the same. If you are mopping a passageway, clean one side at a time to allow safe access through the area.
• Also, make sure that you clean up any spills immediately. Mop and dry the area before walking on the floor.
• Keep the hallways and stairs clear of objects. Never set anything down in a passageway. Even a small piece of paper could become a dangerous slipping or tripping hazard for both you and the senior.
   
  Check the lighting in the stairway and halls.
• I know it has been said to every caregiver that has gone through our training and orientation, when anything in the home needs improvement, make sure you contact the Home Instead office.

If you feel your elderly client’s home could use a safety check up, sign up for our free special offer this week, it will give you peace of mind and ensure safety for both you and the senior that you are responsible for.

Debbie Seplow Speaks to You about Home Instead Senior Care in Greater Phoenix.

View our video on YouTube!  -  Home Care in Phoenix 

Greater Phoenix Nursing Home Alternative & Central Phoenix Nursing Home Alternative helps elders and seniors in Phoenix remain at home safely and independently. Call us today at 623-583-5868, 602.265.8228 or 480-991-3959.

Safety in your elder’s Phoenix home - Help with mobility. Here’s our tips for keeping your elder safe at home in Phoenix. Most seniors and elders choose to age in place at home.

Showers - Showers are safer for elders and recommended for all seniors. They are safer than bathtubs. Benches in the tub can increase safety to help them get in and out. A non-skid mat on the shower floor and beside the shower help provide firm footing. Grab bars can also provide firm, solid support. Under no circumstances should towel racks or improperly installed grab bars be used as bathtub aids.

Wheelchairs - When helping a senior in and out of a wheelchair, make sure that the wheels are locked. Stand in front of them, feet apart, knees slightly bent. Make sure the senior’s feet are flat on the floor. Have them slide to edge of chair and place a hand on your arm, then help them raise up. One of their knees should be between your legs. Let them do the majority of the work, you are there to stabilize them.

Stairs - When a senior walks downstairs, make sure you walk in front of them. It will keep them from falling down the stairs. When they walk up the stairs, walk behind them. It will put you in a position to help stabilize them if they lose balance.

If a fall occurs, avoid the impulse to catch them. Guide them to the ground, protecting their head. Don’t forget to always protect yourself too. You and your health are important!

Greater Phoenix Nursing Home Alternative & Central Phoenix Nursing Home Alternative helps elders and seniors in Phoenix remain at home safely and independently. Call us today at 623-583-5868, 602.265.8228 or 480-991-3959.
 
There are so many things to process when a senior learns of an emergency in their community. Many seniors have trouble prioritizing and putting things in perspective. It is hard for them to concentrate on the daily things in life, sometimes it is reassuring to do mundane tasks. Often our elders feel out of control and insecure at times of crisis.

Elders and seniors living with dementia in Phoenix might not understand what is going on around them. However, they do pick up emotions, or they might have a partial understanding which may lead them to greater confusion, and their needs might be overlooked. Although this is understandable, it can increase the problems for the caregiver. Your loved one might be more anxious, less willing to do things, more difficult to distract and have sleep disturbance.

There are a number of ways you might be successful in reducing agitation. First of all, do not watch TV incessantly. If at all possible and depending on the level of the dementia, it would be good to avoid having the person with dementia see the TV coverage of the event all together, including radio and newspaper coverage. Everyone should, in fact, limit the number of hours spent watching a disaster. 

Finally, it is important to take care of yourself. Do not watch too much TV. Gather whatever friends and family you have around you, allow yourself to feel nurtured and connected with others as much as possible. We all feel fragile and insecure in the face of a disaster and we need to find reassurance and connectedness.

At the preventive level, it is always good to have a disaster plan at your house. Is there back up for someone to care for your loved one in case you can’t make it home? Can someone pick him/her up from adult day care? Do you have an extra week of meds stored away in case you couldn’t get to the pharmacy in an emergency? Do you keep water supplies and canned foods somewhere accessible? We need to always be prepared for that which we can’t control and can’t predict.

Greater Phoenix Nursing Home Alternative & Central Phoenix Nursing Home Alternative helps elders and seniors in Phoenix remain at home safely and independently. Call us today at 602.588.7725 or 602.265.8228.

Bladder Health in Phoenix - Dealing with incontinence

Do you know someone who suffers from incontinence? It is actually more of a common problem than you would think. With the United States Institute of Health naming incontinence the second leading public health initiative behind osteoporosis, it is becoming an issue that many of will face if we already haven’t.  Over 200 million people worldwide suffer from incontinence.

It’s important to understand the most common forms of incontinence to know how to deal with it. There are 5 types of incontinence:

1. Stress Incontinence- Stress incontinence occurs mostly in women, and while it is called “stress incontinence”, it is not caused by emotional stress or worry.

2. Urge Incontinence- The most common type of incontinence for both men and women is this kind. Individuals with this type have a strong urge to urinate and are often unable to control it before reaching the bathroom.

3. Mixed Incontinence-  A combination of both “stress” and “urge” symptoms.

4. Overflow Incontinence- When the bladder is so full that it frequently leaks urine.

5. Functional Incontinence- This occurs when someone has a healthy bladder but has trouble reaching the bathroom in time due to physical and mental limitations.

While incontinence is a sensitive issue, if you research the facts, you could feel more comfortable with it.  Being informed is the best way to approach the issue and help you or your loved one to not feel alone.

Greater Phoenix Nursing Home Alternative & Central Phoenix Nursing Home Alternative helps elders and seniors in Phoenix remain at home safely and independently. Call us today at 602.588.7725 or 602.265.8228.

With older Americans one of the fastest-growing age groups using the Internet, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Web site is designed especially for seniors. The site features short, easy-to-understand segments of information that can be accessed in different formats including large-print type sizes, open-captioned videos and an audio version.  So, if your clients use the Internet, this is useful information to pass along to them.

Consumers can now log onto http://nihseniorhealth.gov/highbloodcholesterol/toc.html for important information on blood cholesterol levels, the newest offering on the Web site. It provides answers to questions such as: “What’s the difference between LDL and HDL?”; “Which one is the ‘good’ cholesterol?”; “What are triglycerides?”; “What do the numbers mean?” and “How is high blood cholesterol treated?”

The site links to MedlinePlus, the National Library of Medicine’s (NLM’s) more detailed site for consumer information. NIHSeniorHealth is a joint effort of the National Institute on Aging and NLM, and the site is based on the latest research on cognition and aging.

For a complete list of NIHSeniorHealth topics, go to http://nihseniorhealth.gov/listoftopics.html. These currently include arthritis; balance problems; depression; exercise for older adults; hearing loss; and talking with the doctor. Additional topics coming soon to the site include Parkinson’s disease; leukemia; kidney failure; and eating well for older adults.

Greater Phoenix Nursing Home Alternative & Central Phoenix Nursing Home Alternative helps elders and seniors in Phoenix remain at home safely and independently. Call us today at 602.588.7725 or 602.265.8228.

When the sun goes down, seniors’ fears often take center stage in Phoenix

During the day, dementia regularly sends the 86-year-old woman into states of confusion.  But at night, her situation worsens considerably.  In the dark, she is terrified and often doesn’t know where she is or whom she’s with.  Across the city, another woman about the same age also fears nights.  It’s then that she wonders who might know she’s alone and if they’ll break into her house and rob her.

Whether the causes are physical or psychological, or related to diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias, night time can be a frightening time for seniors, especially those who are living alone.  Many of these problems that occur with seniors at night are rooted in the physical changes that take place as the result of aging.  And those issues are often connected to sleep disorders.

In a 2005 Gallup poll of 1,000 adults over the age of 50, less than half of those surveyed (32 percent) reported getting a good night’s sleep all seven days of the week.  This Gallup study revealed a number of factors to explain sleep problems including that of worry, according to Dr. Harrison Bloom, senior associate and director of the Clinical Education Consultation Service of the International Longevity Center – USA in New York City.  Bloom, a geriatrician, is interested in efforts to help seniors and healthcare providers identify solutions to sleep-related disorders in older individuals.

“The seniors that we serve often face challenges at night that can disturb their sleep as well as their peace of mind,” said Bill Cantrell, owner of the Home Instead Senior Care office serving Central Phoenix. “That’s why our CAREGivers are regularly called upon to provide overnight care for seniors – to assist them with the anxiety that can set in at night.”  CAREGivers help with various non-medical tasks such as companionship and are available daily from a few hours to 24 hours.