Elder Care Abuse: How to Know and When to Act – Inside Elder Care…Elder abuse is something that occurs in the United States more frequently than many of us know. Learn the signs of elder abuse and how to take action to protect your loved one.

Top Ten New Technologies to Watch in Elder Care This can facilitate care transitions and allow physician orders to be received even before an elder arrives at the facility. Telemedicine/telehealth: Telemedicine and telehealth allow specialists to provide consultation through …

Top 5 Regrets of the Dying | Elder Care Home Health Blog…A Hospice worker in Ausralia relates the top five regrets of patients in their last weeks of life. Some are familiar, wishing they had worked less and others are inspiring, wishing they had chosen happiness more often.

Elder Care Advice: A Caregiver’s Guide to Slips & Falls…Elder Care Advice: A Caregiver’s Guide to Preventing Slips and Falls. January 11th, 2012. Preventing Elder Falls When you’re eighty years old, there’s no such thing as a simple slip anymore. Many elders (and their caregivers!) discover, much …

The truth about elder care | Progress | News and debate from the …The truth about elder care. Peter Watt. | Posted on9 January 2012. Web exclusive. Comments: 4. Care home. For decades successive governments have let down older people. And yes, that does include Labour governments. Because there is …

Geriatric care managers offer advocacy alternatives … – Del Mar Times While there are several groups that do their best to represent caregivers within the political arena, it is often more practical and efficient for individuals struggling with elder care responsibilities to solicit the help of professional …

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of eldercareabc blog carnival using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page

If you are in the same boat as me (struggling with an elderly person who refuses move), take a look at my blogs 1 through 8 titled, “Moving a Reluctant Parent.” As you read along, pay particular attention to my attitude and communication strategies that I have employed along the way. My journey with my Aunt who refuses to move is now over two years and counting, and what I knew would eventually happen, is now happening.

Over the years I have mentally collected clear cut evidence that Aunt Bernice would be better off living somewhere else. Ever since the day she and I started talking about her move, things are taken a turn for the worse; she is having difficulties negotiating two flights of stairs; she is experiencing injuries due to a senior-unfriendly environment; she is finding out that her sons are not as readily accessible to help her when she needs it; her elderly neighbors are dying and moving away; she is spending money she is financially strapped and having difficulty keeping up with her mortgage and major interior and exterior repairs; she is experiencing chronic health issues; she is not sleeping at night because she is consumed with worries; and she is physically exhausted trying to do the actual work of maintaining the interior and exterior of the house.

In spite of the evidence, my Aunt’s response to everything that is happening around her and to her is, “That’s life.”

And so I take a deep breath, and make yet another attempt to see this situation form my Aunt’s point of view.  What am I not seeing that Aunt Bernice is seeing? How is it that we can look at this situation from polar opposites and both be right?

Once again, the necessity for me to switch gears is essential if I want to have any kind of relationship with my Aunt. If I want to be right (whatever that is) and insist that she move now, I will lose her. If I want to learn something here and now and be a better person for it in the long run then I will take another deep breath, say a prayer, and begin to figure out how to take conversations with my Aunt in an entirely different (and more emotionally difficult) direction.

The act of moving is relatively simple process. Look around. Toss, give away, or keep. Pack boxes. Put stuff in a moving van or storage. Unpack. You’re done. Is this what my Aunt is resisting? Of course not. What’s at stake here is the necessity to my Aunt to face deep seated emotional issues head on as they relate to through independence to interdependence and the death of times gone by.

For the past several months I have purposefully not said one word moving. Instead, I have stayed in closer contact and have let her do all the talking.  If she brought up the subject of moving, then I chimed in. If not, I listened for clues as to what is going on in her world. As hard as it has been for me to keep my mouth shut, this has proven to be an excellent strategy. The trust (and love) level between us remains high.

Truth is, my Aunt is not going to move anywhere until and unless she has dealt with the realities of old age and her realistic ability to remain in her own home, living alone.  I’ve said this time and time again… my staying 100% respectful of her  decision-making process and keeping the trust level high is eventually going to get me the results I am looking for – a smooth move transition.

Linda Rodriguez presents Residents’ Rights and Common Rights Violations posted at Nursing Home Abuse, saying, “Nursing homes are places for people who either cannot take care of themselves or need help taking care of themselves. For whatever reason, this means to some that nursing home residents have limited rights; this is simply not the case.”

Mark Yatman presents Senior Health & Diet Foods

Caregivelist says Costs of senior care vary widely, based on the location of the care and the type of care.

Lauren Caster says Alzheimer’s Linked to High Trans Fat Consumption

That concludes this edition. Submit your blog article to the next edition of eldercareabc blog carnival using our
carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

But for our beloved seniors, getting exercise in the chill of winter, even without snow, is a bit more difficult.  It’s so vital for them to keep moving – for their body’s sake and their brain’s sake. As many are now writing, including Mayo Clinic in their article, Memory loss: 7 tips to improve your memory, “Physical activity increases blood flow to your whole body, including your brain. This may help keep your memory sharp.”    http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/memory-loss/HA00001/NSECTIONGROUP=2

Here are some simple ideas that might help you and your family:

Snow on the Sidewalks? Walk in the street with a partner. My senior mom normally walks one – two miles each day but snow definitely makes that more challenging. When I am home, the sidewalks are icy but we can go out together, walking very slowly in the street that was pre-salted and have little or no problem. It’s a quiet area so we are easily able to avoid most traffic.

Pick large stores for grocery shopping. You can both get your groceries and exercise at the same time.

Join a Gym – There are many excellent gyms available with treadmills and other equipment. If you check with your medical insurance, you might be pleasantly surprised to discover you get a discount at some.

Walk in water – Call the various gyms, YMCAs, and physical therapy offices and ask if any offer a heated pool that is open to the public for lap swims OR lap walks. We prefer the water temperature to be 90 degrees and above. If you don’t mind 80 degrees and above, you’ll probably have more choices.

Mini Exercise Bike – A senior friend has advanced Parkinsons Disease and Alzheimers Disease. Walking is very difficult for him. But he has a mini pedal exerciser bike that he is able to pedal away on while watching TV, which helps to keep his body a bit more limber. This is especially good for him, dealing with Alzheimers Disease, as studies such as the one listed at the NIH website have shown that, “Exercise training increases fitness, physical function, cognitive function, and positive behavior in people with dementia and related cognitive impairments.” http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15468033

Take the Stairs – My senior mom used to walk up and down the stairs in the house to get regular exercise. She’s a bit less steady now, so she leaves that to me and trust me, it does help!

Walk Inside – When I am gone, and she wants some extra exercise, my senior mom will go walk around and around in the garage if it is warm enough or walk through the house from room to room. I’ve even been known to do this when the weather stays bad long enough. We either listen to a good book on tape or iPod, or chat away on the telephone. That way, we get good company and less boredom.

However your senior parents (and you) get the exercise, it’s well worth it – for body and mind. So look for positive and creative ways to encourage them to walk with you in person or on the phone. You’ll both be glad you did.

Kaye Swain is a member of the Sandwich Generation dealing with the issues of caring for the elderly parents and relatives in her family while also babysitting grandchildren. She enjoys writing on those topics at SandwichINK, in order to provide other multigenerational caregivers with useful information, resources and encouragement.

Relatively few specialist services exist for younger people with dementia. Depending on where one resides, a person may be referred to a psychiatrist, a geriatrician, a neurologist and/or various combinations of health professionals. Additionally, specialist groups like the Alzheimer’s Association campaign for better services and provide support and advice for young men and women with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.

Undoubtedly, the newly diagnosed are pioneers and traveling in unknown territory. Singer, Glen Campbell, championship coach, Pat Summitt, author, Michael Ellenbogen and millions of others need our help and they need it now. Today, there is no cure and no known way to slow its progression. Worse yet, the disease can easily bankrupt our health system if we do not get involved and act now.

How we can be helpful at this time is to get educated; learning what we can and supporting research efforts is a good start.  Also, look to politicians to amend the Social Security Act to provide for Medicare coverage of comprehensive Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia diagnosis and services in order to improve care and outcomes for Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease.

September is World Dementia Awareness Month. From 2012, national Alzheimer associations, people with dementia and advocates across the world will join together by raising awareness of dementia in their own country throughout September. A range of activities will take place in all regions of the world, with events such as Memory Walks, awareness-raising concerts, enjoyable events for people with dementia and their caregivers, and informative sessions both for the general public and for health care professionals. World Dementia Awareness Month developed, due to popular demand, out of World Alzheimer’s Day, which takes place every year on 21 September.

Happy New Year’s!  May 2012 be a wonderful year for each of you!

Steve and Sandy Joyce and the EldercareABC, Inc. Team

We already know that family caregiving is ANYTHING but easy. Add the holiday season to the responsibilities of caring for aging parents, spouses and loved ones and you have a recipe for becoming totally unwrapped.

Make this season different. Give yourself a gift of YOU and promise yourself moments of peace and quiet. Getting away from eldercare and family caregiving for fifteen minutes at a time will take the edge off emotionally charged relationships and situations.

My book, The Complete Eldercare Planner offers many more ideas about ways to take care of you no matter what time of year it is. To get started right now, the following give-yourself-a-break ideas can take 15-minutes or less so… there are no excuses. Just do it.

• Set aside quiet time to read. Being immersed in a compelling story is a great way to escape without leaving home. If you’re like me, you may not have the time or the inclination to know what to read. That’s when I look to my friend, Leslie’s book list on Amazon. She is an avid reader and posts her book suggestions on Amazon. Check out Leslie’s list, Books that Women Will Love.

• Take an herbal bath. Look no further than Aveeno Positively Nourishing Body Washto calm your nerves. This product is less than $10 a bottle and can be purchased at your local drug store and retail outlets. Even though the label says use as a body wash, I pour it into a tub of steamy hot running water. The smell is amazing and your skin will feel velvety soft, Need I say more?

• Take an aromatherapy break. Spray your pillow with an aromatic mist; then lie down and close your eyes. In times of stress, a few deep breaths while inhaling a soothing essential oil may produce an almost immediate sense of calm. Studies have shown that aromatherapy may help with insomnia, anxiety, and stress. Make your own or buy ready-made. Click here for Instructions on making your own.

• Treat your feet. I can’t say enough about pedicures. When I am sitting in that chair my problems melt away. If you have the time and the money to spend on this luxury, then stop reading this blog, get out of the house and head to the local nail salon. For the next best thing, find yourself a large clean bucket or basin and fill it with very warm water (almost hot). Add a few orange and lemon slices. If you have sea salt and rosemary on hand, add a good tablespoon of each. Adding a few drops of Vitamin E oil is icing on the cake. Soak for 15 minutes and use parts of the course sea salt to scrub some dead skin off your heels.

I’d love to hear from you after you try a few of these ideas. And if you have more ideas to share… please share. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to you and yours.