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Tag: In-Home Care in Summerlin NV

Keeping Mom Safe on the Fourth of July

Posted on by ltcep2023

One of our nation’s biggest holidays is right around the corner, opening the door for lots of fun celebrations around the country. The Fourth of July is a great time to celebrate with friends and family by having a barbecue or going out and watching the fireworks. Depending on local laws, some families even decide to light off their own small fireworks or at least wave around sparklers in the air as everyone sings “The Star Spangled Banner.”

With any large celebratory event, there also comes risks, especially if your loved one has limited mobility or cognitive functions. Those age-related conditions can take a celebratory holiday and create a stressful day or evening for your loved one that may lead to fear, anxiety, and even injury.

Let’s take a look at some ways you can keep your loved one safe this coming Fourth of July. Many of these tips may also help you with the coming holidays as well.

  • Make sure your loved one has a companion nearby. If you don’t live near your loved one, or cannot be nearby during some holidays, having an in-home care provider is a great resource for your loved one and a wonderful peace of mind for you. An in-home care team will ensure someone is there with your loved one at all times so if your loved one starts to feel uneasy, they will have someone to calm their fears as fireworks explode in the night or the kids down the block let off their 20th package of firecrackers.
  • Celebrate but on a smaller scale. If your loved one still wants to watch the fireworks but can no longer walk to the viewing area or brave those crowds, an in-home care provider may be able to help by setting up an area outside to watch the fireworks off in the distance. Together they may even find a place to drive to and sit in the car and watch the fireworks from afar, making the time to exit afterward a lot less stressful.
  • Many families love a good cookout on the Fourth of July. If your elderly loved one always hosted the family for grilling hot dogs and eating potato salad, don’t have her do it alone this year. Ask someone else to be in charge of the grill and ask family members to help bring the food (and clean up afterward!) so your loved one can enjoy having family over without over-extending herself. An in-home care team can be another great resource for helping her set up for the party as well.
  • Forbid all home fireworks. While many may seem safe, even a simple sparkler can cause burns and possibly lead to a small fire starting. If your loved one is gathering with family, let them know they need to keep their fireworks at home and not bring them with them. The risks are not worth the reward.

Your loved one deserves the chance to celebrate our nation’s birthday while also remaining safe and having fun. You might find a few things will need to be done differently to allow her to participate this year, but she can still have fun while staying safe during the holiday celebrations. Don’t forget to take plenty of photos to keep those memories alive for generations to come.

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

Exploring Some of the Challenges of The Aging Population

Posted on by Craig Bass
In-Home Care in Summerlin NV
In-Home Care in Summerlin NV

It’s always been your dad’s goal to stay in the family home. However, health issues like high blood pressure, cancer, heart disease, Parkinson’s, or arthritis are making it harder for him to complete the tasks that he needs to do. What are some of the challenges he may experience, and how can in-home care play a role in his future?

Forgetfulness

Forgetfulness is one of the more challenging issues. While your dad’s forgetfulness is strictly part of aging and not related to Alzheimer’s, it’s still frustrating as one of the things he struggles with is remembering to take his medications. If you’re not there to remind him, he often forgets a dose, which puts his health at risk.

Medication reminders are an important in-home care service. Not only will his caregiver remind him to take a pill, but he has guidance on how it’s meant to be taken. With water or with milk? On an empty stomach or with a meal? His caregiver is there to help him take his pills correctly.

Loss of Mobility

With a disease like Parkinson’s and some forms of arthritis, especially gout, your dad’s mobility may be greatly impacted. It may not be a consistent loss of mobility, especially with something like gout where it flares up from time to time, but it has to be addressed.

If your dad is having a harder time moving from one room to the next, stepping in and out of the shower, or going up and down stairs, he shouldn’t attempt it without someone there for support. He can have a family caregiver with him or arrange in-home care aides to spend time with him each week, but he needs someone to help keep him from falling.

Difficulty Cleaning His Home

Older adults admit that tasks like vacuuming and taking out the trash get harder, especially if upper body strength and mobility are worsening. If he has carpeted stairs, he may struggle to go up the stairs with a bulky vacuum. On each stair, he has to balance the vacuum while using the attachment to sweep the top and side of each stair.

Rather than risk a fall, someone should take over the tasks your dad has the hardest time completing. Things like vacuuming, trash and recycling, dishes, sweeping, and laundry are all chores covered with in-home care. His caregiver can also change his sheets so that he doesn’t have to try to lift the corner of the mattress to ensure the sheet fits correctly.

Isolation and Loneliness

If your dad lives alone, he may feel lonely, especially if no one stops by to see him each week. If he isn’t supposed to drive anymore and lives outside of a city, he is going to feel isolated, too. Make sure someone is available to drive him to stores, his appointments, and community or senior center events.

Your dad should feel challenged to maintain his independence. When he needs a helping hand, make sure he has an in-home care aide ready to help. He can live alone but have some help with difficult tasks like vacuuming, laundry, and meal preparation. He won’t feel lonely or isolated with in-home care for transportation and company.

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

How to Improve Heart Health as a Senior

Posted on by Craig Bass
In-Home Care in Summerlin NV
In-Home Care in Summerlin NV

As your body ages, the chance of developing cardiovascular disease goes up. This means a senior really needs to focus on overall heart health, and having in-home care keeps them on the right path with healthy habits. When seniors start giving up on things like diet and exercise because they can no longer do what they used to, it’s time to think about hiring help like in-home care professionals. They may be able to help your senior focus on boosting heart health and manage pre-existing conditions through a healthy lifestyle. Here are some ways your senior can boost heart health quickly and efficiently.

Understand Heart Healthy Activities

Exercising regularly is still recommended as a means of maintaining and improving cardiovascular health. However, even with in-home care help, a senior should always consult a doctor before trying a new health routine. If they’re not used to being super active, it can have a negative impact if they push their bodies too hard. Always ask a professional what exercises a senior should do before doing it. Once a professional doctor is consulted, an in-home care specialist can help a senior stick to a specific routine for optimal heart health. Exercise doesn’t mean running marathons or lifting healthy weights, but it can be something simple like a brisk walk every day or stretching with yoga each morning. Find something your senior loves to do with a doctor’s approval and add it to their daily routine.

Quit Bad Habits Like Smoking

You’ve heard it before, smoking is bad for you. Not only is it terrible for your lungs, but it also impacts how strong your heart is too. This is something that can be easier to talk about than actually do. Ask a doctor for help and try finding other habits to replace smoking with. A senior may want to smoke when they feel hungry, stressed, sad, or another emotion they can’t quite place. If that’s the case, they may need to talk about what has them in a bad mood. Be an opening ear and help them de-stress without turning to a smoking session.

Encourage Them to be a Healthy Weight

Fad diets don’t work, and they’re not always the healthiest for a senior. If your senior is focused on weight loss or weight gain, help them focus on eating a well-rounded diet. Focus on eating green vegetables, lean proteins, and some fruits throughout the day. The less processed a diet is, the better it is for a senior’s entire body. Eating right won’t just help a seniors heart; it will help their brain and full body too.

Understand the Numbers

When you start looking into health, you will notice there are a lot of numbers and counts. A senior should get their vitamin levels checked, blood pressure, and even cholesterol checked. Some of the time, in-home care can help monitor specific numbers, but a senior should also get blood work done to watch these numbers too. If something is too low or too high, it can impact heart health, and it’s your job to help a senior understand these numbers and what they can do to fix them.

Source
https://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/heart-over-50/heart-health-aging

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

Caring for a Loved One with a Frontotemporal Disorder

Posted on by Craig Bass
In-Home Care in Summerlin NV
In-Home Care in Summerlin NV

People that have a frontotemporal disorder often have a range of symptoms. This can include difficulty walking, trouble communicating, emotional issues, and unusual behaviors. Family caregivers are often faced with having to deal with day-to-day care, along with handling the medical needs of their elderly loved one. They are also in charge of managing social and family relationships for their elderly loved one, too. In-home care can help lessen the burden for family caregivers who are overwhelmed.

If you are caring for your elderly loved one who has this disorder, there is some care information that you might want to know.

Recognize the Illness

One of the things that you need to do is to recognize the illness instead of just the behaviors. By recognizing what is going on and not taking things so personally, that can help a great deal in the way that everything is affecting you.

Treating Language Issues

If your elderly loved one has this type of disorder, they are going to experience language problems. When this happens, it is important that you, other family caregivers, and in-home care providers speak clearly and slowly. You should also use simple sentences, ask for clarification if something needs to be repeated, and wait for a response. You should not push your elderly loved one to answer you quicker as that can cause more frustration on both ends.

Manage Movement Issues

FTD causes issues with movement, too. This can affect your elderly loved one’s swallowing, walking, and balancing. You may need to hire in-home care providers to help them get around. You can also get your elderly loved one occupational and physical therapy.

Find the Best Treatments

If you are a family caregiver for someone with frontotemporal disorder, it would be a good idea to look into the best treatments for them. That way, you have more information when you get ready to speak with their doctor. You will also be able to better understand which treatments your elderly loved one is getting if you do the research on the treatment options.

Get Yourself Support

Another thing that you should do if your elderly loved one has FTD is to get yourself support. It can be extremely difficult having to deal with everything you are facing with your elderly loved one. You may feel scared, overwhelmed, alone, and irritated. These are just a few of the many different things that family caregivers often feel when their loved one has FTD. If you join a support group, however, that can help to reduce some of these negative feelings.

How In-Home Care Can Help

This is some of the most important care information for those with a frontotemporal disorder. If your elderly loved one has FTD, be sure to work on researching their condition. You should also talk to their doctor and consider in-home care providers to help with their care. If you do these things, along with following all the other tips mentioned here today, you can provide the best care possible for your elderly loved one.

Sources
https://www.nia.nih.gov/health/providing-care-person-frontotemporal-disorder

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

How In-Home Care Can Help Your Senior with ALS

Posted on by Craig Bass
In-Home Care in Summerlin NV
In-Home Care in Summerlin NV

If your senior loved one has been diagnosed with ALS, enlisting the help of in-home care sooner than later is a great first step in your care plan. ALS is a progressive disease. As time goes by your senior loved one may experience symptoms like slurred speech, difficulty breathing, and problems with balance. They also may suffer from muscle weakness, especially in the limbs, which can make doing certain tasks difficult. In-home care  providers often have experience helping people with ALS so that they can safely get around the home and do the things they want to do. Some of the ways that in-home care will help your senior loved one include:

Fall Prevention

Fall prevention is important for anyone with ALS who his experiencing muscle weakness that could cause them to fall. A caregiver at home can help your senior loved one prevent falls by making sure that all the walkways and paths in the house are clear and dry at all times. By keeping the house tidy, removing clutter, and moving furniture when necessary a home care provider can make your senior loved one’s home easier to navigate. Even if your loved one needs to use a walker or a wheelchair a home care provider can help keep their home free of obstacles and safe to move around in.

Cooking And Meals

When your senior loved one has muscle weakness in their hands and arms cooking can be a challenge. Simple things like lifting a plate of food or a pot with water in it can be a real challenge. And if they drop food or dishes cleaning up the mess can be a separate challenge. But a home care provider can make sure that your senior loved one is getting the nutritious meals that they need to stay healthy. In-home care can cook meals, chop vegetables, make sauces, and prep snacks that your senior loved one can easily eat on their own. They can also do all the cleanup and wash the dishes.

Personal Care

Personal care tasks like washing up, washing hair, showering, brushing teeth, or showering can be difficult for seniors who have ALS. So can putting on clothes and shoes, buttoning up pants or shirts, and putting on sweaters or jackets. But in-home care includes personal care that will make your senior loved one feel better and help them stay healthy at home. In-home care can help your seniors feel good about themselves without the awkwardness of having to ask you or your siblings for help.

Household Chores

Staying safe at home means having a clean and safe home to live in. But seniors with ALS often don’t have the strength in their hands and feet to do household tasks. In-home care can help out by completing tasks like dusting, vacuuming, doing the laundry, mopping, and other chores. Your senior loved one deserves to have a clean and safe home and a care giver can help keep your senior loved one’s home that way.

Sources:
https://www.cherishedagency.com/blog/support-als-diagnosis
https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/amyotrophic-lateral-sclerosis-als
https://www.hss.edu/condition-list_amyotrophic-lateral-sclerosis.asp

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