Community Blog

How to Find a Home Care Helper for Your Aging Parent

The key to choosing the ideal home care agency is knowing the amount of care needed by your mother or father. There are primarily two categories of in-home care: custodial care and professional care. Custodial care includes help with shopping, housekeeping, preparing meals, and also personal care like dressing, feeding and bathing. Skilled care, on...

Home Safety for Seniors - Proactive Tips to Keep Seniors Safe at Home

A newborn’s homecoming is often preceded by a frenzy of childproofing. However, caregivers often do not see to seniorproofing the home until after a scare or injury occurs. Or they are not sure how to go about making the home a safe environment for aging loved ones, especially those who need care for disease or...

Visiting Elderly Parents - Checklist to Track Their Health and Well-Being

Elementary, My Dear WatsonAt some time, you will find yourself wanting to keep abreast of changes in your elderly parents’ health and well-being. This will require a bit of subtle sleuthing and a lot of observation on your part. You might feel a bit like Sneaky Pete, but it’s for your folks’ good. The good...

Seniors at Highest Risk of Hospitilization-Related Delirium

Approximately seven million Americans, many of them seniors, develop delirium during hospital stays annually. Although Delirium has no age restriction, those 65 or older are at the highest risk. Delirium can cause lack of focus, delusions, and frightening hallucinations. These symptoms frequently are misdiagnosed and treated as Dementia, which results in incorrect treatment and, in...

How to Deal with Denial About Seniors Needing Help

Family Caregivers vs. DenialWhen family members refuse to face the fact that their aging loved one needs help, they can create anger, stress, and frustration for family caregivers. Whether it’s a mental or physical need, or both, it’s crucial that their seniors get the care they need. Denial is often the coping mechanism used to...

How to Have an End-of-Life Conversation with Seniors

No one wants to think about their aging loved one’s end-of-life. Many view bringing up the subject as tacky or disrespectful. Some equate it with appearing greedy or trying to edge out other family from the decision-making process. Others even see it as bad luck. But planning ahead for seniors’ final time on earth is...

Getting Family to Assist with Aging Parents

It can be difficult to ask for help with aging parents. Caregivers are often overwhelmed by the amount of work required of them and are not specific when asking for help. Others are seen as the “right” sibling for the job. (i.e. Mother needs help. Therefore, her daughter, rather than her son, is seen as...

Caring for Someone with Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s Disease is a condition that doesn’t just affect one individual but the entire family including those tasked with caregiving. Aside from the pain the individual is going through, his/her family has to deal with the grief and difficulty of watching someone they love suffer and decline. As a home care expert, your responsibility is...

Dementia and Alzheimer's Myths and Facts

To be a good caregiver, knowing the difference between dementia and Alzheimer’s myths and facts is necessary. Because there is still a lot we don’t understand about them, it is not surprising that myths and misinformation have spread, and you need to be aware of them. Myth: Herbal Supplements Can Cure Alzheimer’sFact: There are a...