đđť The Golden Heart team gathered for a spook-tacular Halloween luncheon filled with fang-tastic fun! From ghoulish grins to ghostly goodies, we devoured treats, shared tricks, and had a frightfully good time. đ¸ď¸đ¤ #GoldenHeartGhouls #SpookySeasonFun #HalloweenLuncheon #TeamSpirit
After a spooktacular showdown of creativity and spirit, we are thrilled to announce the winner of the 1st Annual Golden Heart Senior Care Pumpkin Decoration Contest! With an impressive 80 entries that showcased some truly gourd-geous talent, it was no easy feat for our judges.
But without further ado, the crown (and the pumpkin) goes to⌠Donnie Johnson, 8 years old from Henderson, his mom is a nurse đĽłđ
Donnie’s pumpkin was a dazzling display of artistry and originality, standing out among a sea of carved creativity. Weâre still trying to figure out how he managed to make a pumpkin look so dapper!
A huge round of applause to all our talented participantsâeach entry was a testament to the spirit of fun and community. Your pumpkins brought joy and laughter to all!
Stay tuned for more exciting events, and congrats again to Donnie for being our pumpkin king! đđ§Ą
Happy Halloween, everyone! đâ¨
Being a family caregiver isnât something that comes easily for most people. There are lots of tasks to juggle and often lots of different responsibilities, too. It can be a lonely job, but it is also one that is rewarding. If family caregivers arenât taking time away periodically, itâs all too easy to burn out. Home care services can step in and offer respite, but family caregivers need to actually take the time away.
Caregiving might start out with a few responsibilities here and there, but depending on how quickly life changes for the aging adults theyâre caring for, family caregivers often find themselves in over their heads quickly. Sometimes life changes overnight, like when a senior family member has a health emergency or accident. If family caregivers arenât prepared to take care of themselves, they can face some big problems.
Being a family caregiver canât be the only thing in someoneâs life. They often have other responsibilities, ranging from work and family to other obligations, like children or caring for multiple seniors. Thereâs a lot to keep in balance and thatâs tough to do alone. Family caregivers need support, and home care assistance is a logical next step.
Respite care is a type of care that allows family caregivers to take a break from caregiving duties. Thereâs someone else there, usually an experienced home care provider, who can handle whatever might happen. Family caregivers leave for a few hours, rest, recharge, and take care of themselves as much as possible. When they come back, theyâre better prepared to keep going.
One big question many family caregivers have is what they should do with respite time. The truth is that respite time doesnât have rules. Itâs time for family caregivers to spend however they need to spend it. Ideally, they would engage in activities that offer them relief and relaxation. Spending time with friends, pursuing hobbies, and even sleeping are all some ideas. But the most important part is that family caregivers do take time away and allow elder care providers to step in for them.
Respite providers are experienced caregivers in their own right. They know what itâs like to take care of seniors who need extra help and theyâre able to offer whatever help seniors might need. Their assistance is flexible, so they can help out whenever necessary. And when family caregivers are away, they have peace of mind knowing that their seniors arenât alone and have assistance.
Family caregivers need to be able to take breaks, even if itâs just once in a while. Letting home care providers take over for them now and again helps to ensure that family caregivers arenât burning themselves out or pushing themselves too hard. Taking breaks reduces their stress levels and helps them to be better caregivers to the people they love and want to help.
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.
An AARP survey of people 50 or older found that 77% want to age in their current home. Your dad is one of them. He made it clear that he doesn’t want to move.
How do you balance his wishes with your peace of mind? You want him to be safe and healthy as he ages, but he’s not very good at remembering to take his medications, eat a balanced diet, or go for daily walks. Have you considered the value of home care?
With a caregiver helping out, your dad’s home is cleaned each week. His caregiver can vacuum his carpets, dust, take out the trash, and do the laundry. Once a week, his caregiver can change his sheets and towels and make the bed with clean sheets. New towels are hung for him.
As his caregiver is cleaning his home, surfaces like counters and sinks are cleaned and sanitized. That lowers the risk of foodborne illnesses and the spread of viruses that could make your dad sick.
As your dad’s health changes, it’s normal for him to start needing to take medications. If his doctor determines he needs medication for high blood pressure, he can’t forget to take his pills each day. What if he does?
With a home care aide, your dad has someone to remind him when to take his pills. He also has someone to offer the guidance he needs on how to take them. He might have medications he has to take with milk, water, or a meal. His caregiver can also help him recognize the best time to order refills.
With your dad’s caregiver around each week, he’ll have at least one home-cooked meal, but you could make the arrangements to have someone cook meals for him every day. He’ll talk to his caregiver about the things he wants to eat, and they can shop for missing ingredients together.
With home care services, your dad has a caregiver joining him each week. He won’t be as lonely or feel isolated when someone stops by as scheduled. It gives him something to look forward to.
When his caregiver is there, he has company for his daily walks. Your dad’s caregiver can accompany him to stores and when running errands. He won’t have to drive, which is often one of the things older adults hate giving up as they worry about becoming isolated.
Don’t let your dad struggle to complete his daily tasks. With home care aides there to remind him, cook his meals, and clean his home, he is safe and healthy. Call a home care agency to learn more about the prices and services in his area.
Sources:
https://www.aarp.org/home-family/your-home/info-2021/home-and-community-preferences-survey.html
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.
Cognitive changes can be scary for the person experiencing them and for the family caregivers who want the best for their family members. One solution that can be really helpful is to bring in home care providers as soon as possible. These caregivers are experienced in helping aging adults have the best possible quality of life, no matter what challenges theyâre facing.
Memory aids are incredibly helpful for people who are having more difficulty with changes to how their brains are functioning. These are tools like calendars, big clocks, reminder notes, and more. Alarms can help seniors to stay on target with their daily schedules and routines, for instance. Itâs often difficult for aging adults who have memory problems to remember to use these aids. Home care providers are able to help seniors to have updated tools consistently.
For seniors who are having trouble with brain health, cognitive stimulation is even more important than it is for other people. Cognitive stimulation can include activities like puzzles and games, but it also includes conversations with other people. Senior care providers can help aging adults to have the stimulation that they need all day, and in ways that are truly supportive for them.
Safety is always crucial when it comes to aging adults. For seniors with cognitive challenges, safety might mean attention to even more details. Home care providers are there to help seniors to have the help that they need, like assistance with daily tasks. But theyâre also watching for safety concerns that could cause bigger problems, like tripping hazards. When seniors are experiencing brain illnesses, wandering might even be a concern. Senior care providers are aware of how to address those problems.
Home care providers spend a lot of time with the people receiving care. That means that theyâre also there to offer companionship and conversation to seniors during the day. This is tremendously helpful for seniors who might be isolating themselves a little bit more because of the cognitive challenges theyâre having.
Seniors who are having cognitive trouble need to pay even closer attention to nutrition. Keeping the brain healthy involves eating a healthy diet that supports what their brains and bodies need. But meal preparation may be more than seniors can handle at this stage, so it helps to have elder care providers to handle those tasks for them. Caregivers can also help seniors to stay on target with mealtimes.
Personal care tasks, like bathing and changing clothes, can become a bigger problem when seniors are experiencing cognitive challenges. Sometimes seniors even become afraid to bathe, which becomes another potential health issue over time. Home care providers are able to step in and assist with these tasks, while also preserving dignity for the person receiving care.
Home care providers make a variety of daily tasks easier for seniors who are facing cognitive challenges. That help ensures that seniors are able to continue to age in place as independently as they can. It also helps family caregivers to experience more peace of mind about their elderly family memberâs future.
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.
In 20 years, the number of drivers aged 65 or older increased by 68%. In 2020, almost 200,000 older drivers were involved in crashes that required a trip to the hospital. Changes in vision, mental function, and flexibility can all increase the risk of a crash.
Sometimes, an older adult needs to stop driving for safety reasons. Dementia, severe arthritis, medication side effects, and vision loss are all reasons your mom may need to let someone else drive. When it’s time to take away your mom’s keys, what is the best approach?
Before you even discuss your mom’s need to hand over the keys, ask your mom’s doctors for their insight. Her eye doctor will know if her vision is likely to impair her safety while driving. If she has dementia, her doctor will tell you when it’s time for her to stop driving.
If arthritis is keeping her from being able to turn far enough to check her blind spots, she might be able to work with a physical therapist and regain some flexibility and keep driving. Or, she may be ready to let you and other family members handle the driving.
You can ask the DMV to request your mom go in for another driving test. While it’s not a legal requirement, if you feel your mom’s driving is unsafe, some states allow you to discreetly let the DMV know and they’ll assess her skills. That removes you as being the villain trying to take away her keys. The blame now lies on someone else.
If it’s time for her to stop driving, you need to be honest with your mom. She won’t be happy. But, it’s important for her safety and for the safety of others. She has to have seen stores of older drivers accidentally driving into buildings or causing serious traffic accidents. That’s why it’s important to give up the keys when her ability to drive is impacted.
You might want to have your mom’s trusted friends or religious officials join in on the conversation regarding her safety. She might not want to hear it from you, but she can’t ignore a friend’s or pastor’s advice.
You don’t have to be the only person advocating for your mom to stop driving. Have your siblings join you, but make sure you’re not ganging up on her. Give her space if she’s becoming angry.
You might be pleasantly surprised that she doesn’t care. She just wants assurance that she can still leave her home, run errands, and not be isolated.
Home care advisors can help you schedule the services your mom needs the most. With home care aides assisting with transportation, your mom doesn’t have to feel stuck at home or isolated.
Sources:
https://www.cdc.gov/transportationsafety/older_adult_drivers/index.html
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
June is Menâs Health Month and now is the time to talk to your senior father about how he can stay healthy as he gets older. Senior men tend to minimize their health risks and conditions which can leave them open to developing more serious problems as they get older. One way that you can try to get your senior dad to focus on his health is to hire home care for your dad. Home care will help him make some healthy lifestyle changes that will improve his health now and in the future like:
Convincing a senior man to quit smoking can be a real challenge, especially if heâs been smoking for decades. The excuse that most senior men give for why they wonât quit is that it doesnât matter at their point in their lives anyway. But it does matter. Within weeks of quitting smoking the lungs will start to repair themselves and create healthy cells. It is never too late to quit smoking. If your senior loved one needs help to quit make an appointment with their doctor. The doctor may be able to prescribe medication that will help your senior loved one quit smoking.
Exercise has been compared to the fountain of youth when it comes to aging. Senior men should be getting at least 30 minutes of exercise at least five days each week. It doesnât have to be strenuous exercise but going for a walk, riding a bike, playing tennis, or playing golf are all excellent ways for senior men to be active. If your dad isnât someone that likes to exercise you should help him find an activity that he likes to do so that he will want to be more active. The more active he is the healthier he will be as he gets older.
Alcohol in moderation is fine, but men have a tendency to overdo it when it comes to alcohol. Having a beer after dinner watching TV is not problem but drinking in excess or drinking every day could start to impact his health. If your dad enjoys a drink you should talk with him about how much alcohol is healthy and how much alcohol isnât. If your senior dad can limit his alcohol consumption to just once and awhile or if he drinks only small amounts at one time it can help him avoid some serious health problems in the future.
Men are less likely to see the doctor regularly and that can significantly hurt their chances of staying healthy. Catching age-related illnesses early can make a big difference in how long your father lives and what his quality of life is like. Get your dad started seeing his primary care doctor on a regular basis and getting regular cancer screenings so that if he does develop any serious health problems the doctor can start treating the problem as quickly as possible.
It is natural to forget things from time to time. It’s why people keep reminders on their phones and sticky notes on their refrigerators. Memory loss may become more common as people age, but it is often normal. So, how can aging adults tell if they are experiencing dementia symptoms? And how do they know when it’s time to seek medical attention?
Home care is trained to help seniors with daily reminders and living on their own. Many seniors want to age in place, but it can be difficult to forget things. Although this is a sign of dementia, forgetting things is also just part of aging. When it becomes an everyday thing or becomes dangerous for a senior, they should seek medical attention.
You can use some signs to tell if it is average forgetfulness or dementia. They may seem the same, but they are not. When a senior has dementia, home care can help take the pressure off of the senior. It is important to have professional help from your parents when you are too busy taking care of your own family. Here are some signs that a senior may forget, and others may indicate dementia.
There are a few things that are normal for seniors to experience as they age.
Absentmindedness is similar in that it relates to the focus of your brain. For example, you may forget an appointment simply because you were not preoccupied with the thought of it. This could be a good thing, because it indicates that the brain is clearing out old memories to make room for new ones.
People suffering from depression are sometimes misdiagnosed as having dementia symptoms. According to the institute, one reason for this could be that a person suffering from depression may be preoccupied with the source of their sadness and anxiety. Constantly worrying about or obsessing over a recent tragedy can cause forgetfulness about other subjects.
One of the only ways to get diagnosed with dementia is by seeing a doctor regularly. There are also stages of dementia, and seniors may not be diagnosed properly. Here are some potential signs of dementia.
Dementia symptoms extend beyond simply forgetting where an object is or when an appointment was scheduled. Symptoms include forgetting the names of close friends and loved ones and an inability to recall certain words. When an elderly person exhibits these symptoms of extreme forgetfulness, it’s a good idea to make an appointment with a doctor.
A senior in the middle stages of this disease may experience increased aggressive behavior, paranoia, or impulsiveness. This is frequently the most challenging aspect of the disease for caregivers. According to the association, it is normal for senior caregivers to be stressed out by these symptoms.
Another common dementia symptom is the tendency to become disoriented in new situations. When an older adult with dementia moves to a new location, the unfamiliar stimuli may cause anxiety. When seniors with dementia are disoriented, they may appear lost to onlookers and become easily irritated with their home care providers.
Source
https://alzheimer.ca/en/about-dementia/do-i-have-dementia/differences-between-normal-aging-dementia
Your elderly family member might develop dysphagia, or difficulty swallowing, for a variety of reasons. Whatâs really important in managing dysphagia is ensuring that your senior is able to eat in order to get the nutrition that she needs. This might mean looking at food and meals a little bit differently since liquids need to be thicker and solid foods might be too difficult.
Vegetables and fruits lend themselves well to purees, which can be thick enough for your senior to eat easily. Cooked beans, spinach, broccoli, and squashes are all full of vitamins and other nutrients that your elderly family member needs. When cooked, theyâre also very easy to puree into a thick soup. Fruits are easy to turn into a fruit soup or to add to a smoothie or shake.
When calories need to count, donât overlook healthy fats. Avocados, nut butters, and Greek yogurt are excellent choices. These foods have plenty of protein and fiber, but theyâre also high in the types of fats that your senior needs in order to stay healthy. Theyâre also filling and can help your elderly family member to avoid losing too much weight.
One of the biggest staples of your seniorâs new diet might be smoothies and shakes. While commercial nutritional shakes are plentiful on the market, theyâre not always a great idea. They tend to contain a lot of sugar and possibly other ingredients that arenât a good choice for your senior. Homemade shakes can include plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables and you can customize them every day for your seniorâs tastes.
Itâs really important to consider your seniorâs overall health and not just getting more calories into her however you can. That can be one goal, but her other health issues may mean that certain foods just arenât a good idea no matter how theyâre prepared. Talk to your seniorâs doctor about what she should be eating and what alternatives might work best for her.
This new way of eating in order to keep your senior nourished while she deals with dysphagia can be complicated for both of you. It can help to have home care providers there to help your senior with meal preparation and even with eating if that has become a challenge, too.
