Seniors & elders living at home in Phoenix are concerned about aging and considered to be senile and weak. When seniors lose independence, they feel vulnerable to the aging process. It’s like they’re admiting defeat and crossed into old age.
unfortunately, seniors are often forced to give up activities they enjoy due to declining capabilities, and can no longer live independently without assistance.
What might be helpful through the aging process is encourage them not to look at it negatively. Instead help you aging parent embrace it. In order to decrease the burden they face, they should not hesitate to request help from their friends and family or turn to a professional caregiver to help them to maintain the lifestyle they enjoy.
The best way to help them ask for help:
1. Talk with them. Acknowledge that they are no longer able to do things as before.
2. Listen to them as they express feelings of regret or fears of losing independence.
3. Assure mom and dad that you are there for them no matter what.
4. Express how you can help them remain independent.
5. Tell them you love them and they can count on you for help.
A holiday visit is a time of celebration and festivities, but can also be stressful when adding elder care to the mix. You might be wondering about mom’s physical or mental prowess, if she can still take care of herself. If you’re visiting mom over the holidays, and have only four days to coordinate her care, here’s
a list of things to do during the visit:
- Get the whole family involved. Teenagers and younger children can help with activities such as dusting, vacuuming, or even playing board games during the visit. This leaves ample time for you, the adult, to concentrate on more time-consuming responsibilities as yard work, checking up on bills, grocery shopping,
as well as coordinating home care for your aging mom.
- There are services available such as Meals on Wheels, and local pensioner’s groups that can help your mom with daily tasks.
-If you have siblings, have them ease the burden by also contributing financially for visiting nurses, home delivery,or house cleaning for example.
-You may also want to enlist the help of neighbors. If they are willing, ask if they can keep an eye out on your mom from time to time.
Living the power of gratitude can be life-changing, and change your perspective about life. These three books offer tools and techniques for embracing the transformative power of appreciation, expressing gratitude to those around us, and recognizing every moment as a blessing.
The Power of Appreciation
The Power of Appreciation, written by clinical psychologist, Dr. Jeannine Lemare Calaba and therapist, Dr. Noelle Nelson points out the rewards of conscious, proactive appreciation.
The authors believe that appreciation is an energy that can be harnessed and used to transform daily life — by improving relationships, work, health, finances, and more. “Appreciation takes discernment, forbearance, and just plain guts,” they write. “The good news is, it’s doable, because everyone — without exception — is capable of appreciating, of finding value, of being grateful.”
Based on a five-step approach to developing an appreciative mindset, this handbook for living healthier and happier also includes tips for overcoming resistance and roadblocks, color graphics illustrating the scientific impact of appreciation on the brain, research supporting the positive effects of appreciation.
If you are visiting a senior citizen this holiday season, you might ask the your senior loved one to let you know about any hobby they enjoy. They might enjoy reading and can tell you about a book or an article that they just read. What are their favorite magazines? You might consider taking a trip to the library looking for a book to check out and later read together.
If your senior has a pet cat or dog, ask them how the pet’s name came about. Ask them to tell you about the joys a pet brought into their life. What are some of the entertaining aspects of the pet? What does the pete do to make your elder loved one laugh?
Start a conversation about some of the high tech tools that you use and how the products have increased or decrease your personal productivity. Ask your senior what technilogical device they enjoy using the most and which they do not like. It might be a cell phone or a computer that you can ask questions about.
Go to the Internet and do research together. Seniors and elders are fascinated what can be found there.
Holidays are festive times, but for those with senior citizens to care for they can also be a challenge.
Few people these days have time to fully recreate the work-intensive holidays of the past. However, even adult children with busy lives can make the holidays festive for their elderly loved ones in a variety of ways.
If there’s a family group involved, put your heads together and try to ascertain early on what senior parents not only want to do, but are also able to do. By then dividing the activities among family members, no one person has to shoulder the whole responsibility.
In some cases your senior loved ones will be in their own homes or visiting yours, but for some families the holidays mean visiting seniors in a nursing home.
Of course you’ll want to bring a bit of the season with you. Decorating is often a wonderful way to involve children in the visit and leaves something behind to be enjoyed afterward. Many facilities encourage door decorations at the resident’s room, and flat wall decorations work well if space is limited inside.
Many take the contribution that older adults make to our society for granted. We don’t always recognize just how much our elder war veterans have done for our country. While retirement may seem like a permanent vacation, we often forget that some people struggle to make ends meet; paying for a constant influx of medical bills, funding their stay at long-term care homes or caregiving assistance.
Living on a fixed income is not easy, so this holiday season, it’s time to give thanks to our seniors for all they do. Since many seniors may not have a nearby family network, many organizations reach out and say ‘thanks’ by way of a holiday meal.
Nursing homes, community centers, local restaurants, and various other establishments open their doors to older adults and offer free Thanksgiving meals that are reminiscent of those cooked in their own ovens during holidays passed. Those who are fortunate enough to have close families and friends, may be taken into their homes; according to a poll on About.com Senior Living, the greatest number of seniors will be feasting at their children’s homes. No matter where you are, or what your story is, it’s time to give thanks to your elders.
Study Finds Diabetes and High Blood Pressure Reduce Lifespan for Alzheimer’s Patients
People with Alzheimer’s disease who also have diabetes or high blood pressure may die sooner than people without such disorders, according to a study published in Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The study involved 323 people who had no memory problems when first tested, but later developed dementia. Researchers found that after an Alzheimer’s diagnosis was made, people with diabetes were twice as likely to die sooner that those without diabetes who had Alzheimer’s disease. People with Alzheimer’s disease and high blood pressure were two-and-a-half times more likely to die sooner than those with normal blood pressure.
“Studies show that the average lifespan of a person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s can be anywhere from three to nine years. For that person and their caregiver, every minute counts. Here we have two controllable factors that may drastically affect how long that person can survive,” said study author Yaakov Stern, Ph.D., professor at the Taub Institute for Research on Alzheimer’s Disease and the Aging Brain and director of the Cognitive Neuroscience Division of Gertrude H. Sergievsky Center at Columbia University Medical Center in New York.
The holidays can be a time that resurrect past memories for seniors and can be a source of stress. As a result, it is especially important that senior family members be included in holiday activities; however, loved ones need to remember that holiday entertainment for seniors needs to be approached in a different manner.
In order to encourage fond memories, maintain past holiday traditions and do enjoyable activities together; play games that encourage mental stimulation, like scrabble; or complete holiday art projects and crafts. Remember not to overwhelm their social schedule, to keep stress levels low and encourage time for rest and relaxation.
Being surrounded by family members can be beneficial, however, keep numbers of visitors low, especially if they are being brought into the senior’s household. You can also help alleviate some of the holiday stress by purchasing and helping them fill out their greeting cards; taking them shopping for gifts or having them provide you with a list to do it for them; and by helping with the planning and preparation of meals or parties.
For seniors, holidays can be exciting and memorable times, but when engaging them in this year’s entertainment, encourage them to take it easy and enjoy!
Art: An Enjoyable Activity that Helps Alleviate Senior Loneliness
Many seniors face a great deal of changes in their lives as they get older. Some have lost their spouses or other loved ones; others have been forced to leave their own homes; many have to give up activities they once enjoyed due to the limitations of declining mobility.
Art has proven benefits in helping seniors overcome the trials and tribulations that come with aging, and get a new lease on life. For many seniors who have not been crafty earlier in their lives, it is the chance to learn something new. That in itself can have its rewards, but seniors are also able to express themselves in a new way.
Art has therapeutic properties which allows them to release some of the psychological pain that often comes with drastic life changes in a productive way, as well as the physical and mental benefits from using motor skills and mental concentration. An article published in the Lakewood Ranch Herald, features three women living in a local long-term care facility, who profess that art has changed their lives in ways that no other activity ever could; they are able to express their souls and finally feel alive again.
If you’re one of the many family members helping elder loved ones living in nursing homes, consider the following ideas that could help bring joy to your seniors who are living in these facilities. Remember that you are the only outside contact that many of your aging relatives in care communities see each day.
1. Play a musical instrument.
2. Write letters for them.
3. Read letters to them.
4. Bring pets (if the facility allows).
5. Help with arts and crafts.
6. Make transparencies to hang in or on a window.
7. Share your vacation pictures. Bring in family photo albums.
