September 2022 - Golden Heart Summerlin

Simple Ways to Make Sure Your Mom’s Daily Routine Stays On Track

Posted on September 30, 2022 by Craig Bass

Home Care in Henderson NV

As she gets older, your mom has a harder time keeping up with the things she’s supposed to do each day. What steps can you take to make sure her daily routine is completed in a timely manner?

Create a Whiteboard Schedule

Using a permanent marker, complete a whiteboard schedule with checkboxes. Write down the time something needs to be completed and put a box next to it. As your mom or a family caregiver completes the chores on her list, that person can check them off with a dry erase marker. At the end of the day, erase the checks and start over again the next morning.

Set Up Reminders on Smart Devices

Some of the tasks your mom needs to do are easy for her to do on her own as long as she has a reminder. Use smart devices like her Alexa or Google speaker to issue the reminders she needs.

Your mom takes her pills every morning at 10 a.m. You could set an alarm to go off every day at that time. Her smart speaker tells her it’s time to take her pills. When she’s completed the task, she can tell her speaker to stop that reminder or timer.

Share Schedules With Close Friends and Family Members

Build a daily, weekly, and monthly calendar of the things your mom needs to do, appointments she has to keep, or household chores that need to get done. Once it’s completed, share it with close family and family friends.

When they visit, they’ll know if there is something they could do to help out. If your sister plans to stop by Friday afternoon and sees that’s the day your mom likes to grocery shop, she could take her. It helps you out and gives visitors insight into everything that’s going on with your mom throughout the week.

Arrange Unexpected Activities to Ensure They Don’t Conflict With Key Tasks

From time to time, you will have sudden, unplanned events, visits, or activities arise. When possible, arrange them so that they don’t conflict with key tasks.

For example, you know your mom must take her heart medications each morning with breakfast. Those pills usually lower your mom’s energy levels. Try to avoid having visitors or appointments during those low-energy hours. Aim for afternoon visits or appointments instead.

Schedule Services With a Local Home Care Agency

Would it help to have a helper keeping track of your mom’s ADLs and IADLs? Arrange to have professional caregivers helping your mom with the things she needs to complete each day.

Hire home care aides to help your mom manage her daily to-do list. While it’s fine for some tasks to get skipped every now and then, she has some daily activities that are essential to her well-being. Home care aides can ensure those items are completed each day.

Source
https://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/news/20100401/daily-routines-help-seniors-sleep-better

If you are considering home care in Henderson, NV, for an aging loved one, please contact the caring staff at Golden Heart Senior Care of Summerlin. 702-800-4616.

5 Emotional Benefits of Companion Care at Home

Posted on September 23, 2022 by Craig Bass

Companion Care at Home in Henderson NV

If your elderly family member is generally okay with living on her own and keeping up with her needs, you may think that there’s no reason for her to have home care assistance. But if she’s spending a lot of that time alone, your senior may have emotional needs that aren’t being met by her current living situation. Bringing in companion care at home can make a difference in your elderly family member’s emotional health, so it’s an important option to consider.

Independence and Dignity

Your senior might be concerned that having help from companion care at home automatically means that she’s losing her independence. None of that has to be the case, however. Your elderly family member should quickly find that caregivers only offer the help that she actually needs and that they do so without making her feel bad about herself or her situation. Preserving both her dignity and her independence is crucial.

Friendly Companionship

There might be a big age difference between your senior and any caregivers who spend time with her, but that does not mean that they won’t develop a friendship that is just as real as any other friendship. Companion care at home can help your senior to discover new hobbies that she enjoys or spend time with her as she enjoys favorite activities. All while offering companionship.

A Comforting Presence

Comfort can be incredibly important for your aging adult, whether she realizes it or not. Having someone there with her can help your elderly family member to feel more at ease about a great many situations. This is particularly true if she’s not necessarily at risk of having a health issue flare up but feels nervous about what might happen.

Confidence that Keeps Growing

It can be difficult to maintain confidence as aging adults grow older. Your elderly family member may worry that small difficulties can be enough to mean that she needs to leave her home. The benefit of all types of home care is that having just the help that she needs reminds your senior that she can be confident in her own capabilities. That’s huge for her self-esteem in the long run.

Peace of Mind for You and Other Family Members

Wondering how your senior is really doing is never a good feeling. You don’t have to wonder when she has companion care at home there with her, however. They can help you to understand what your senior’s needs truly are and where her biggest challenges lie. That information can help you to make other decisions regarding her care plan.

Spending time with people who genuinely want to make sure that she is doing well is important for your elderly family member’s mental and emotional well-being. Conversation and engaging in friendly activities help to keep your elderly family member mentally stimulated and ensure that there is someone there for her if she does happen to need any assistance. You’ll all feel better knowing that your senior has some friends who stop in to check how she is doing.

If you are considering companion care at home in Henderson, NV, for an aging loved one, please contact the caring staff at Golden Heart Senior Care of Summerlin. 702-800-4616.

Employee of the Month – September 2022

Posted on September 20, 2022 by Craig Bass

Please join us in welcoming Kayla A. as Golden Heart’s September 2022 Employee of the Month.

Kayla is an AMAZING caregiver and a pleasure to work with. She always greets you with a big smile when you meet her.

Kayla is from Grand Rapids, Michigan, and is married to a wonderful man named John. She also has a beautiful daughter.

She began her caregiver career more than 10 years ago, started in a nursing home working with seniors. Kayla enjoys being a caregiver because it’s very rewarding to to make a difference in the life of her clients.

We want to congratulate Kayla in becoming the September 2022 Golden Heart Employee of the Month!

Five Ways to Help a Highly Independent Senior Thrive with Arthritis

Posted on September 16, 2022 by Craig Bass

Senior Home Care in Henderson NV

Everybody needs help from time to time, but sometimes aging adults don’t feel comfortable accepting assistance. If your elderly family member is both highly independent and is dealing with arthritis, she may be struggling more than she lets on to you. Having help from senior home care providers reduces the struggling and keeps your elderly family member as independent as she wants to be.

Work with Her Doctor to Formulate a Care Plan

It’s really important to understand as much as possible about your senior’s arthritis and how it impacts her life. Working with her doctor can help you both to find out as much as you can about what’s happening now and what might happen down the road. There might be therapies and tools that your senior can put into place now that will help her as her arthritis continues to change.

See if Assistive Tools Help

Some people with arthritis don’t realize that there are lots and lots of tools that can help them to manage daily life. Tools that assist with buttoning and zipping clothing, opening jars, and turning keys all protect your senior’s ability to keep up with her daily life. Sometimes, though, your senior may need more help than that. Senior home care professionals are experts in helping people with all sorts of challenges continue to live their best lives.

Make Sure She’s as Safe as Possible

Safety is always important when it comes to your elderly family member and arthritis can hinder her ability to be as safe as you might want her to be. Home care providers can watch for potential issues, like slippery rugs or other tripping hazards, and work to prevent possible issues for your elderly family member. They can also alert you to bigger issues that might pose problems, like not having handrails in the shower or tub that your senior can use to steady herself.

Get Extra Help from Senior Home Care

Above all, senior home care is able to take on a variety of tasks that might have become too difficult for your elderly family member to manage on her own. When your senior has help on a regular basis, she is better able to spend time and energy on what she is able to do easily. Then she’s not struggling through her day and ending up frustrated and upset, which is a huge waste of energy.

Keep Tabs on the Situation

Over time, your elderly family member’s situation is likely to continue to change. By keeping up with what is happening, you’re able to start anticipating what your elderly family member might need. This is another area in which senior home care can be a huge help. They’re able to use their experience to share information that helps you to stay ahead of your senior’s biggest needs.

Having help doesn’t mean that your elderly family member can’t still be independent. What it does mean is that your senior doesn’t have to struggle to do the things that she used to do so easily.

If you are considering senior home care in Henderson, NV, for an aging loved one, please contact the caring staff at Golden Heart Senior Care of Summerlin. 702-800-4616.

Do You Know What to Do if Your Senior Falls?

Posted on September 9, 2022 by Craig Bass

24-Hour Home Care in Henderson NV

Hearing that your elderly family member has experienced a fall is terrifying. Do you know what you need to do afterward to support her? This information can help you to make the right choices following a fall, including enlisting the help of 24-hour home care during recovery and beyond.

Falls and Aging Adults

When a senior falls, she’s unfortunately highly likely to experience a serious injury because of that fall. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that over three million aging adults are treated for falls in the ER every year. The CDC also reports that older adults who fall once are twice as likely to have another fall, and that second fall may be far more serious than the first.

Determine if She’s Injured and Alert Her Doctor

If your elderly family member does experience a fall, take a few moments to thoroughly evaluate the situation. Check for obvious injuries and try to let her get up by herself. That isn’t to be cruel, either. Letting her get up by herself allows you both to see if she’s injured more seriously than you realize. You need to get her doctor involved in the situation, just to verify that she’s truly not injured.

Look for a Cause Behind the Fall

Understanding what caused your senior’s fall is crucial, because you need to do everything you can to prevent another one. Was your senior dizzy or experiencing other health issues? Did she trip? Or was the room too dark for her to see where she was going? Get to the bottom of the situation so that you can figure out what you can do for prevention.

Do a Thorough Safety Sweep

One way to get more information is to do a thorough safety sweep of your senior’s home. This means assessing what home modifications her house needs, including grab bars, and making a list of what isn’t as safe as it could be. You may need to do this a few times to make sure you don’t miss something.

Put Solutions in Place to Prevent Future Falls

After you put together a list of safety changes your senior’s home needs, it’s time to implement them. Install those grab bars, remove loose carpeting on stairways, and increase lighting throughout the house. If having more assistance is what your elderly family member needs, sooner is far better than later.

Consider 24-hour Home Care Services

Senior care professionals understand how vital it is to keep your senior as safe as possible at home. 24-hour home care can assist your elderly family member with mobility issues, overnight concerns, and ensuring that she’s eating healthy meals consistently throughout the day. All of these tasks can help your senior to avoid another fall, while also ensuring that she’s safe and that her quality of life is as high as possible.

Helping your elderly family member to avoid a fall is a huge part of her overall care plan. As your elderly family member’s situation continues to change, update her plan to ensure that you’re accounting for all of the possibilities when it comes to preventing falls.

Source
https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/prevent-falls-and-fractures

If you are considering 24-hour home care in Henderson, NV, for an aging loved one, please contact the caring staff at Golden Heart Senior Care of Summerlin. 702-800-4616.

Month: September 2022