How Older Adults Can Stay Active During Cold Weather

As the temperatures continue to drop outside, it’s tempting to stay inside, grab a blanket, and cozy up on the couch. However, getting out and staying active is critical, especially for seniors. Physical activity can decrease your risk for various diseases, including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia, and depression. Also, exposure to sunlight gives you some necessary Vitamin D thanks to sunlight, which can improve bone health. Today, we are sharing a few tips for you to stay active, even during the winter:

·       Take a walk.

There is a reason why walking has been considered one of the best exercises. It’s easy for everyone to do, you don’t need any expensive equipment, and it has many benefits that can’t be overlooked. Walking not only maintains a healthy weight, but it also strengthens your bones and muscles, prevents many conditions such as heart disease and type 2 diabetes, and improves coordination. Before you head out the door, check weather conditions and make sure your walking path is shoveled and clear of any ice. Also, let a few people know where you are going and how long you will be gone.

·       Take a class.

Even though we are social distancing, it’s possible to take an exercise class. These days, many exercise classes have gone online, where you receive instructions and guidelines inside of your home. It’s a great way to exercise without being exposed to any harsh weather conditions. Reach out to your local gyms and find out if they offer any classes for seniors.

·       Tend your garden.

If you love gardening, you can practice your favorite hobby in the cold weather. First, you can start by winterizing your garden. This can include getting rid of weeds, clip any dead parts of plants, plant bulbs that grow in early spring, and store any tender plants away for warmer weather. You may also want to look into crops that do well in the winter seasons. Contact your local gardening center for recommendations on which plants will do the best in your local region.

·       Do household chores.

Don’t wait for the spring to start spring cleaning. Doing household chores such as laundry, vacuuming, and polishing can be a great physical activity to do around the house. It gets you moving and helps you stay productive.

Even though it’s cold, it doesn’t mean that your physical activity should come to a stop. There are ways of getting up and moving around that keep you safe and helps you follow any COVID-19 restrictions. As an older adult, it’s important to stay active and get moving to be in your best health. If the senior in your life needs in-home care, contact us at Like Family Home Care today.

Three Ways Meal Prep is Efficient

One of our most needed services for seniors is meal preparation. But sometimes this kind of service is hard for families to figure out.

Can't mom or dad just open up a can of soup, or one of those frozen chicken pot pies that he or she loves so much? Maybe, but if we're going to make a decision either way, let's err on the side of comprehensive care. Let’s make sure that he or she is taken care of.

Here are three important things that meal prep services can do for your family.

Buying In Bulk

Obviously, one of the financial benefits of meal prep is that it's distributed and served by economies of scale.

Instead of somebody buying a loaf of bread, somebody is buying 12 loaves of bread and making them all into sandwiches. When this is done right, it cuts down on the overall cost of food. Of course, there's still the cost of delivery and all that, but there's less food waste and less time and energy involved in feeding a given number of people. So even though you may end up paying the same, you’re not winding up with a bunch of discarded food trash and wrappers in your loved one’s home from day to day – which can be nearly a full-time job in itself!

Safety

You don't always think about meal preparation as a safety issue – but when it comes to seniors, in so many ways, it is. First, you have the potential for knife accidents. As your family members get older, they may tend to have less dexterity, and that's something to consider. Then there are the burns and scalding injuries that come from trying to heat food. Meal prep is the service that eliminates those dangers for your aging family member.

Eyes On Your Senior

Is mom or dad hungry? Are they even eating?

If they're preparing their own meals, you might not really know. But meal prep ensures that there will be someone keeping an eye on a senior’s diet and how often they are eating. That additional monitoring and supervision can be important in some types of assisted living scenarios.

Let’s have a conversation on what will work for the senior citizen in your family. We know that this is not a one-size-fits-all type of field. So we can work with you to get the right solutions in place. Enjoy your family time in this holiday season!

Great Tips Designed To Make Traveling With a Senior Citizen Safe and Enjoyable

Over 115 million Americans will travel this holiday season. Dealing with traffic and unsafe driving conditions common during this time of year can be stressful. If you are traveling with a senior citizen, you will need to make sure they are comfortable during the trip. Failing to properly prepare for your road trip can be disastrous for everyone involved. 

Before you embark on your holiday trip, here are some things you need to do to ensure a safe experience. 

Encourage Your Elderly Loved One to Visit Their Doctor

Familiarizing yourself with the health conditions an elderly loved one has before going on a trip with them is a wise move. If you are familiar with their past health issues, you can alter parts of your trip to accommodate the senior citizen onboard. Talking to a senior citizen before the trip and encouraging them to go to their doctor for a checkup is a must. 

If a senior citizen visits their doctor before the trip, they can get a clean bill of health before getting in the car. This will also provides a senior citizen with an opportunity to get refills on their medicine. While going to an appointment with a doctor is time-consuming, it is definitely worth the effort. If your elderly loved one is getting help from an in-home care service, you need to speak with the nurse that visits their home. By speaking with this nurse, you can get information regarding their daily routine and important medical information that you may not be aware of. 

Take Time To Create a Travel Plan

The key component of a successful traveling experience is having an adequate plan in place. If you are traveling with a senior citizen, you need to plan for plenty of stops along the way. Trying to drive for hours on end without breaks can lead to a senior citizen developing cramps and aches. You also need to think about breaking up a long trip into a few days’ worth of driving. 

Stopping along the way and resting in a motel for a night allows a senior citizen to recuperate. When taking long trips, you need to split up the driving responsibilities among the adults in the car. This will help you avoid getting exhausted while traveling across America.  

Maintain a Prescription Schedule

Most senior citizens are on multiple medications at a time. Generally, these medications will have to be taken at a certain time of day. A medication may also require a person to eat food before consuming it. Getting the details of a senior’s prescription schedule is important when trying to keep them safe and healthy during the trip. Using technology like Google Calendars can help you create digital alerts on your phone to ensure you remember to remind your elderly loved one to take their medicine. 

We Provide In-Home Care

If your elderly loved one needs some help performing daily activities, contact Like Family Home Care to find out about the in-home care services we offer. 

Common Health Concerns for Older Women

Much of the women’s health research conducted today is focused on women during their reproductive years. Also, much of the aging-related research is strictly focused on older men. However, health issues occur in both men and women who are older, and it is essential to understand the risk factors facing women during their Golden Years. Keep reading to learn what these are. 

Bone Health 

It has been proven that women have thinner and smaller bones than men. As a woman’s hormones change after they go through menopause, which means the risk of osteoporosis increases. When this happens, it can cause fractures that rob a senior of their independence. It is estimated that up to 80% of people who have osteoporosis are women. 

Heart Health

Cardiologists have revealed that the risk factors, causes, and treatment for heart disease are different for women than men. This is another situation where hormonal issues and changes could increase the likelihood of heart-related problems. 

Also, many people do not realize that the symptoms of a heart attack differ in women and men. For example, while women may experience the common shortness of breath and chest pain, they are also more likely to deal with nausea and back pain symptoms. 

Brain Health

According to experts, senior women have a higher likelihood of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia types than men. This is because women tend to live longer than men, and the risk of these conditions increases as you age. Factors like a woman’s education, reproductive history, and even hormones (once again) also factor into the equation. Also, what makes the situation even more complex is that Alzheimer’s disease is more difficult to diagnose in women than men. 

Incontinence 

While men may experience incontinence issues, it is estimated that twice as many women will have this problem. It is most common in women who have gone through menopause. It may be due to the weakening of pelvic muscles, which is a common occurrence as you age, or the increased likelihood of UTIs (urinary tract infections). It could even be due to the ongoing effects of childbirth and pregnancy. 

Anxiety and Depression

Issues related to depression and anxiety are twice as likely in women than in men. Again, this is due in part to hormonal imbalances; however, there is not all. Other issues include changes in a woman’s circumstances, financial concerns, and health problems. 

Overcoming Common Health Concerns 

When it comes to overcoming these common health concerns, help may be required. If this is the case, using the services of in-home care can be invaluable. With these services, you can have someone help you prevent these conditions and manage any issues that you may already be dealing with. 

Knowing the most common issues for women is the best way to minimize health problems and ensure you remain healthy and happy throughout your Golden Years. Learn more about home health to see how it may be beneficial.

Three Ways That Accurate Evaluation Leads to Targeted Care

At Like Family Home Care, we believe in treating everyone like family (hence the name ☺). Our care model goes beyond just providing a boilerplate service to families.

With that in mind, let's talk about some of the important parts of intake in this industry, and making sure you have the right services set up for elderly family members.

Neurological Evaluations Are Critically Important

When you meet someone who is in the process of transitioning to becoming a facility resident or part of an assisted living community, you have to ask the right questions about neurological function.

You don't just shake someone's hand and tick a box – someone has to be responsible to really understand the way that the individual's mind is working. For example, is some memory loss or general “spacy-ness” a sign of regular senility, or more involved dementia? Are there flags for Alzheimer's or other staged neurological problems?

The answers to these questions are going to impact someone's care in very fundamental ways, so it's important to get them answered upfront.

Mobility Evaluations Are Also Fundamental

When you're talking about the kind of day to day care that elderly individuals need, much of it comes back to mobility. Are they independent to a particular level? Is the individual able to move his or her body the way that he or she needs to during a given day?

Again, with the right answers in play, we can support that person correctly. Maybe he or she only needs occasional assistance – but the right kinds of monitoring and observation have to be in place to keep your loved one safe!

We're dedicated to that.

Environment, Comfort, and Personality

This one's a little more abstract.

Simply put, everyone comes to assisted living or facility living from a different place. It has to do with their personalities, preferences, and previous lifestyles.

Why does documenting this make a difference? Because you don't want to be trying to pound a square peg into a round hole, or making everyone conform to the same kind of thinking. Some facilities suffer from this kind of approach because people don't feel heard and valued.

By doing a little more work on intake and observation, we can better understand the individual's needs and preferences, in order to provide better-targeted care. Reach out to us with any questions about assistance in AZ – we’re here for you!

3 Ways Seniors Can Enjoy Summer Safely

Summer is a great season to enjoy the warm weather, outdoors, and time with family. Yet, with the COVID-19, many seniors spending their summers a little differently. Spending time in the sun is still essential for your health – mentally and physically. So, as temperatures start to rise, keep in mind a few of our precautionary tips to stay safe during the summer months:

1)      Drink water.

In the summer, staying hydrated is vital, because you need to replace the water you lose when you sweat. It's especially more challenging for water to remain in our bodies as we get older, so drink roughly 8 glasses of water a day and keep a full bottle of water with you when you are outside. If you don't enjoy water, add a little flavor such as citrus fruit. Also, remember that you can also get water from different fruits and vegetables, such as cucumbers, watermelon, or strawberries.

2)      Get protection from the sun.

When you spend any time in the outdoors, be aware that you need to protect yourself from the sun. Wear sunscreen with at least SPF 15, if not higher. Also, wear a hat and sunglasses while you are out in the sun to protect your eyes and face from direct rays. Dress in loose, light-colored clothing, ideally in cotton or even in quick-drying material usually made for exercising.

3)      Stay active.

Exercising in the summer is just as important as any other time of year. Just exercising 30 minutes a day can help you stay fit and reduce the risk of falls and injuries. With COVID-19, exercise may not be as easy, especially with gyms closed and many exercise classes going virtual. Despite this, you can still get exercise each day by taking a walk or visiting an outdoor track in your area. Be safe in the hot weather by exercising in the early morning or late at night, when the sun isn't as hot. Also, don't stay out too long and stay hydrated.

When it comes to hot weather, you can never be too cautious. Taking precautionary measures can mean seniors can enjoy sunny weather and stay safe. No matter how they enjoy the sun, remind the senior in your life to keep social distancing in mind at all times, and wear a mask when outside and around others.

Three Things To Think About With Senior Meal Prep

What do your elderly family members eat?

This is not a small detail – in our industry, it's a huge and very important question. People answer it in all kinds of ways, and it has an immediate bearing on how we care for our residents.

By personalizing meal prep and helping families with groceries and more, we really bring efficient helping hands to the process of making sure a family member is cared for the right way.

Not Eating Much

A lot of people lose at least some of their appetite as they grow older. You may see this with your mother or father or aunts and uncles as they age. They'll simply stop eating those big three square meals a day.

They may skip breakfast, or lunch, or dinner.

It's natural to be freaked out by this if you're younger and still shoveling down the amount of calories that you need to get through the day. But your senior’s metabolism is different. It can be appropriate for them to substitute a small snack for a meal. The key is to look at it from a scientific nutritional viewpoint, to figure out if it's just a usual loss of appetite or something else.

Only Eating A Few Things

From a practical standpoint, it can be great if your senior family member only eats a few things. With that said, cheese sandwiches are not the “staff of life” or a good diet on their own.

The key is to strike a happy medium. Making sure seniors are getting key nutrition doesn't mean you have to force-feed them all kinds of vegetables and meats and other perishable foods. Supplements can help – with the right qualified medical input, of course. So can good centralized meal planning.

Vegetarianism, Veganism and Allergies

Different people have different needs. A surprising number of our seniors need a gluten-free diet because of gluten intolerance. Many of them are allergic to shellfish or peanuts or something else. Some are vegetarian, either for health reasons or others. Some are vegan.

Now, let's talk about what all three of these issues have in common. The commonality is that when you simply talk to a family and put together a concise, effective plan, you eliminate so much of that work where people go scurrying around to supermarkets and health food stores for groceries.

If you have a designated point person to get all of the necessary food items on site, or even better, a good purchasing program (some of these food stores will deliver), you don't have to have everybody's son or daughter or niece or nephew running around the neighborhood in their cars trying to get a package of mushrooms or meatless nuggets or noodles or something else to feed the elderly facility resident who is not able to drive because of their advanced age. All of this is about solving practical problems in a good logistical way, and when you do it the right way, everybody breathes an enormous collective sigh of relief!

How to Help A Loved One Smoothly Transition into a Senior Living Facility

Being a caregiver for an aging relative or friend is tough. As time goes by, you may start to notice your aging loved one is having a hard time doing normal tasks at home. If your aging parent is unable to manage their home or is accident-pronezz`z, it may be time to consider moving them into a senior living facility. Approximately 1 million people live in senior living communities in the United States. 

Working with professionals is vital when trying to find the right senior living community for your loved one. Once the right community is chosen, your main goal needs to be helping your elderly loved one transition into their new living situation. Here are some of the things you can do to ensure a smooth transition into a senior living facility. 

Develop a Checklist Early On

After a senior living facility is chosen, you need to get to work. The longer you wait to get started with things like packing and organizing, the harder it will be to get this work done in a timely manner. Staying organized throughout this process is crucial when trying to avoid mistakes. Developing and actually using a checklist is a great way to avoid mistakes. 

This checklist will need to include a breakdown of what your elderly loved one needs in their new place of residence. For instance, if your aging loved one has a favorite soda or snack, you need to make sure they have plenty in their refrigerator and cupboards. By doing this, you can make an elderly person feel more at home. If your aging loved one is introduced to an environment that is completely unfamiliar, they will have a hard time adjusting. This is why having these creature comforts in place is so crucial. 

Find Out More About Community Activities

Taking your loved one’s mind off of the fact that they aren’t in their home anymore is important. One of the best ways to accomplish this is by encouraging your aging loved one to participate in the activities offered in their new community. Generally, senior living facilities will take their residents out for shopping trips and a number of other fun activities. Finding out more about the activities being offered in the community can help you create a list of suggestions for your loved one. 

Drop By To See Your Loved One Often

Moving into a senior living community can be stressful. Taking the time to stop in and visit your loved one on a regular basis is important. With these visits, you can take their mind off of the stress that comes with moving to a new home. This also allows you to spend quality time with the people you love. 

Looking For a Senior Living Community?

Are you on the hunt for a senior living facility? Instead of trying to find a senior living facility on your own, contact Like Family Home Care for assistance.