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Signs Of Heat Stroke Seniors Shouldn’t Ignore

Home Care Assistance in Summerlin NV
Home Care Assistance in Summerlin NV

According to the National Institute of Health, seniors have a higher risk than other age groups of developing heat stroke or heat-related illnesses. Seniors often have poor circulation and other conditions that make it more difficult for the body to regulate temperature. Most seniors are dehydrated too, which can increase the impact of heat on the body. And with summers getting hotter every year around the country, heat stroke and heat-related illnesses are something that seniors should be very concerned about. With home care assistance, seniors will have the help they need to avoid heat stroke. But your senior parent and their care provider should know these signs of heat stroke in seniors:

Dizziness or Confusion

Seniors can experience dizziness and confusion caused by many things, including medications. But if a senior is acting normally and doesn’t have any dizziness or confusion and they suddenly are dizzy or they are confused about where they may having a heat related illness. Seniors who have heat stroke or heat exhaustion may also slur their words or seem unable to put a coherent sentence together. Any rapid changes in mood or mental state should be cause for alarm.

Not Sweating or Profusely Sweating

If your senior parent is sweating a little on a hot day that’s normal. But if they are not sweating at all and their skin is dry even though the temperatures are extremely hot that’s not normal. It’s also not normal if they are sweating buckets and can’t seem to cool down even if they are in the shade or have an ice pack. Extreme sweating or not sweating at all both could indicate that seniors are experiencing a heat related emergency.

Extremely Warm Or Red Skin

Seniors will also sometimes get flushed skin that is extremely warm to the touch during a heat stroke. Typically, it’s a senior’s face that becomes extremely red and flushed and may even swell. But it can also be their arms or legs that get very red and swell. It might seem like they just have a sunburn but anytime seniors have very red skin that’s also very warm they should get an emergency exam to make sure they’re not suffering from heat stroke or another heat related illness.

Fast Weak Pulse

Seniors who are experiencing a heat stroke or heat exhaustion often have a thready and weak pulse that is very fast. If your senior parent has home care assistance the home care assistance provider should check your senior parent’s heart rate carefully during any kind of summer activity to make sure that your senior parent isn’t experiencing a heart attack or other serious medical event. Even if they are just suffering from a heat related illness they need to be seen by a doctor who can start bringing their temperature down. If your senior is overly warm apply ice packs, make sure they get into the shade, and bring them into a place with strong air conditioning to wait for emergency medical help.

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

Can You Really Help Your Senior to Maintain Her Independence?

Home Care Assistance in Summerlin NV
Home Care Assistance in Summerlin NV

What does independence mean for your aging adult? That might be a question that you and she need to sit down and answer together. As your elderly family member grows older, she may fear that she’s losing more of her independence every day. This fear can cause her to become hyper-independent, making decisions that can lead to dangerous situations for her. But can you really help your elderly family member to maintain her independence?

Answer Safety Questions First

Anything that compromises your elderly family member’s safety is automatically a threat to her independence. Working with home care assistance can help your elderly family member to ensure that she’s addressing safety concerns before they become emergencies. Knowing that your senior has help available for safety issues helps you to feel more secure as well.

Increase Physical Activity

If your elderly family member is finding that she’s moving less and less than she used to, she may want to talk with her doctor about how much physical activity is okay for her. By becoming more active, your elderly family member increases her strength, her endurance, and her ability to remain as independent as she can. The key to sticking with any movement plan involves finding a physical activity that your senior enjoys doing so that she wants to keep going.

Keep Your Senior Socially Engaged

Social engagement is another key component of keeping your senior as independent as possible. As she grows older, it may be more difficult for her to stay as socially active as she used to be. Finding ways to make that easier for your senior to do on her own terms is essential. Elder care professionals can offer hands-on help while also making socializing easier and offering companionship themselves.

Help Her to Keep Her Brain Active

Finding ways to keep your senior’s brain firing also helps to preserve her independence. You can accomplish this goal in any number of different ways ranging from taking classes to reading more, playing games with friends, and staying social. Whatever keeps your elderly family member’s brain engaged is good for her, so find ways to incorporate more of those things into her daily life as much as possible.

Establish Routines That Support Your Senior’s Needs

Everyone has routines, even when they don’t realize they do. Your elderly family member may need to pay more conscious attention to routines as she grows older. Doing so is going to help her to hit all of her goals and targets, which is an important part of maintaining her independence. Home care assistance can be a crucial part of establishing and sticking with routines for your senior.

Remember that independence does not have to mean that your senior always does everything completely by herself. No one is completely independent, and that is true for your elderly family member, too. Having the help that she needs, when she needs it, is one of the biggest ways to help her to keep her independence for as long as possible.

Source
https://www.webmd.com/palliative-care/news/20220413/americans-over-50-want-to-age-in-place-at-home-but-many-arent-prepared-poll

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

Home Care Assistance Supports Seniors During Breast Cancer Treatments

Home Care Assistance in Summerlin NV
Home Care Assistance in Summerlin NV

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Here are a few facts you should know about this common type of cancer. First, the highest number of new cases is found in the 65 to 69 age group. Second, the highest number of total breast cancer cases is highest in people between the ages of 70 and 74.

Your mom has been diagnosed with breast cancer and is about to undergo treatments. Most breast cancer patients undergo a biopsy first and then the common treatment plan is the surgical removal of the cancerous mass, chemotherapy, and radiation.

If this is the treatment plan for your mom, she’s going to require a lot of support at her appointments and at home. What arrangements should your family make to ensure she has the help she needs?

Help Her Around the Home

Your mom may not have the energy needed to properly clean her home. A home care assistance provider could make her bed, change and wash her sheets and towels, and run a vacuum. Her caregiver can water her plants, get the mail, and wipe down counters and other hard surfaces to clean up stains and kill germs.

She might struggle to cook meals that appeal to her. If she’s dealing with nausea, she might find only certain foods are palatable. Having someone else available to cook meals and bring beverages to her is helpful.

Provide Companionship

Your mom may be comforted to know someone is in the house and can help. If your mom is feeling particularly ill, it can be comforting to know that there is someone there to talk to or to alert her doctor if she seems to be dehydrated or too weak to function.

Arrange Transportation

Your mom needs someone to drive her to appointments. Until she knows how she’ll feel after chemo or radiation treatments, she shouldn’t drive on her own. Make sure you or another family member has the day off to be with her. If she wants moral support in the medical office, be there for her.

She’ll also need someone to drive her to the pharmacy to pick up any medications she needs. She might want to have someone with her when buying groceries and home goods or when running errands

If you can’t take enough time off work to drive her to all of her appointments and help her run errands, make sure you arrange to have others free to drive her. If other family members also have limited time in their schedule, arrange transportation with home care aides.

What home care assistance services will most help your mom during treatments? It’s important to talk to an advisor to make sure you’re not overlooking anything that you haven’t thought of. Call today.

Sources:
https://gis.cdc.gov/Cancer/USCS/#/Demographics/

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

Is Your Elderly Loved One Losing Sleep?

Home Care Assistance in Summerlin NV
Home Care Assistance in Summerlin NV

Has your elderly loved one been losing sleep? Maybe you have gone over to their house in the morning only to find that they are still asleep later than they normally would be. It could be that your elderly loved one is yawning through lunch or when talking to you on the phone. If they are losing sleep, it is best to find out why, so you can help them to do something about it.

Experienced a Loss

Has your elderly loved one recently experienced a loss? Many of us have, but for the elderly, it often hits them a bit differently. They know they don’t have a lot of years left to live and the more people they lose, the harder it can become, especially if the people they are losing are close to them. If your elderly loved one has experienced a loss, the grieving process may be keeping them up at night. If this is the case, it may be a good idea to have home care assistance spend the night at their house. That way, they have someone to talk to before bed and they don’t feel so alone.

Worrisome Nights

Another reason why your elderly loved one may be losing sleep is that they are worrying well into the night. The worries are a common reason that senior citizens can’t sleep. Think about it – when you can’t sleep are you worried about bills, family members, personal issues, or anything in particular or do you worry about just everything in general? This is likely the same for your elderly loved one, too. The things they worry about could be running through their mind at night and keeping them awake. If this is the case, it might be a good idea to have someone at their house who they can talk to before bed to get these worries off their mind.

Procrastination

Does your elderly loved one seem to wait until late in the evening to get things done? Maybe it is the dishes, vacuuming, making phone calls, watching their favorite television shows, or anything else really. If they are procrastinating during the day, they may be staying up too late trying to get things done. In addition, if they are trying to go to bed without things being finished for the day, they may be lying in bed thinking about everything they should be doing instead. If this is the case, it may be good to have someone around during the day time to help remind your elderly loved one to get things done. Home care providers can do this for your elderly loved one.

Conclusion

Has your elderly loved one been losing sleep? If so, it may be best to hire home care assistance to help them get better sleep. These providers can help them to stop procrastinating, get thoughts off their mind, and just feel more relaxed before bed.

Sources
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5689397/

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

Four Myths About Aging That You Must Ignore

Home Care Assistance in Summerlin NV
Home Care Assistance in Summerlin NV

As you get older, you start to hear things or even believe things about getting older that may not be true. Here are the four myths about aging that you have to ignore.

Sleep is Less Important

Sleep is just as important as it was when you were a child. Your mom and dad should try to get at least seven hours of sleep each night. Eight is better. To improve the odds for a good night’s sleep, they should stop drinking water a couple of hours before bed. That helps them avoid middle-of-the-night bathroom trips.

Your mom and dad need to avoid a heavy meal right before bedtime. Your parents should also create a bedtime routine that doesn’t vary. Talk to them about going upstairs, reading a book for an hour, and then turning on a fan for white noise.

Your Diet Doesn’t Matter

Diet is even more important as you age. For artery and muscle health, your parents need to avoid excess sodium and eat enough protein. They must avoid saturated fats and added sugars. They need to make sure they’re eating plenty of fruits and vegetables, legumes, and low-fat dairy that’s high in calcium.

Arthritis Limits Your Mobility

Arthritis is prevalent as you age. It’s hard to avoid it. Your toe and ankle joints, knee joints, and hip joints have handled your weight for decades. Understandably, they’d start to wear out and become painful.

When you have arthritis, mobility may seem counterproductive. It’s painful to walk around, so you shouldn’t. The truth is that you need to stay mobile. It’s what keeps the joints limber and reduces pain. If your parents want to avoid intense arthritis pain, daily activities and exercise are crucial.

Home Care Services Are Just for People Who Are Very Ill or Infirm

Are you among the number of people who associate home care as being something for an aging adult who is very ill or immobile? Home care can help people in those situations, but there’s far more to it. It’s about helping someone remain independent in their home for as long as possible. It’s a helping hand.

Relying on others for help doesn’t mean you’ve lost your independence. Reinforce that with your parents as often as you can. If they need help with daily activities, home care is the perfect solution.

With the help of caregivers, your parents don’t struggle with tasks like housekeeping or meal preparation. They have someone to help out, enabling them to maintain their independence as they age at home. Call a home care agency to learn more.

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