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Tag: Senior Safety

What Is the Best Way to Help Seniors Cope with Trouble Driving?

Posted on by ltcep2023

For most seniors, driving is about way more than just getting from Point A to Point B whenever they want. It’s also about having freedom and independence, even when there are parts of their lives that are changing. When it starts to become obvious that seniors are having more trouble driving, it’s vital for family caregivers to start making plans. Solutions can be as easy as hiring home care assistance to help out with transportation.

Take Action Before Trouble Gets Big

The really important thing for family caregivers to remember is that they need to take action before the problem gets too big. Addressing driving issues proactively helps to prevent injury and damage. It also allows everyone involved to take the time to really explore alternative solutions in a way that is honest, open, and not rushed.

Watch for Changes in Behaviors

Behavioral changes can offer important indications of all sorts of possible issues, including increased driving difficulties. Signs like increased anxiety about driving, more hesitation about driving, trouble navigating familiar routes, and reluctance to drive at all are ones to pay close attention to. Damage to vehicles could indicate trouble with spatial awareness and hiding damage is another big clue.

Visit Healthcare Providers to Get More Information

Visiting healthcare providers early on in this process can help seniors and family caregivers to make the best decisions about how to proceed. Scheduling an appointment with medical providers allows everyone involved to talk about health conditions that could impact driving, like vision changes, cognitive decline, or side effects from medications. Healthcare providers can help families to put together a timeline for phasing out driving.

Make a Plan for Dealing with Driving Issues

After gathering as much information as possible, it’s time to make a plan. Some seniors may still be able to keep driving, especially under very specific circumstances. Family caregivers need to sit down with their aging family members and talk about what is feasible and safe to do going forward. Now is a great time to talk about solutions like having home care providers available to do the driving.

Foster Independence and Safety by Getting Help

Home care assistance can seem to some seniors at first as a way for them to lose even more independence. But in reality, caregivers offer support only as needed, which allows seniors to remain independent while also getting valuable help that they need. This makes life easier for seniors, but it also makes life safer overall. When seniors don’t have to worry about how they’re going to get places when they need to, that’s going to reduce a lot of stress.
Helping seniors to get past the problem of losing their ability to drive is a complicated process that needs to be handled delicately. Making these plans sooner rather than later is always the better idea and home care assistance can do a lot to ensure that seniors understand that they’re able to keep living their lives, just with a little help when necessary.

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

How to Keep Your Senior Driving Safely

Posted on by ltcep2023

Just because your loved one has reached a certain age, it doesn’t necessarily mean she needs to quit driving altogether. Many seniors can still drive but they may just need to be a little more vigilant about ensuring that they are driving safely. When it comes time for them to hang up the keys for good, a home care provider can be there to offer transportation for your parent.

Let’s look at some ways your aging loved one can help make sure he’s still able to drive safely around town.

  • Keep those eyes in good shape. If your loved one is driving, it’s more important than ever that he keep on top of his eyesight and get new glasses when needed. If the glaring sun is an issue, prescription sunglasses may be a must as well.
  • Keep tabs on hearing as well. Hearing may not always seem to be a necessary sense for driving, but it is very important. Your loved one needs to be able to hear when others honk at him in warning or hear an emergency vehicle coming up from behind in order to move to the side of the road.
  • Keep track of medication side effects. When a new prescription is filled, take the time to ask the doctor and pharmacist if the medication can be used while driving. You’ll want to know if causes sleepiness or a slow down in reflexes. If it’s a temporary medication and has those side effects, your loved one should look for help from his home care provider for rides while he’s taking the medication.
  • Keep the car in tip-top shape. Help your loved one drive more safely by ensuring his vehicle is in the best of shape. Look at the tires to ensure the treads are in good shape for traveling on wet or icy roads. Check the windshield wipers to make sure they’ll be able to keep the windshield clear during an unexpected downpour. And check that all of the exterior lights are working and providing good illumination of the road ahead of him and behind him.
  • Look at replacing his car. If your loved one needs a different car to help him drive better, you might want to consider a car that suits his needs better. Perhaps he needs to change from a standard shift to an automatic shift. Or you might want to look at a car that is easier to get in and out of.
  • Finally, remind your loved one about safe driving practices. Knowing that responses often slow down as a person ages, it’s more important than ever to not exceed the speed limit, give plenty of space between him and the car in front of him, and turn off all distractions while driving.

Your loved one may need to make some adjustments so that he can still enjoy the road, but aging doesn’t mean he needs to completely give the wheel to someone else.

If you are considering 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.

Signs Of Heat Stroke Seniors Shouldn’t Ignore

Posted on by Craig Bass
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.

How Does Elder Care Identify and Address Fall Risks for Seniors?

Posted on by Craig Bass
Elder Care in Henderson NV
Elder Care in Henderson NV

Aging adults are at unfortunately high risk of experiencing falls at home. Once a senior does fall, they are twice as likely to experience another fall. And if that person avoided serious injury the first time around, they may not be as lucky the next time a fall occurs. That’s why having as much help as possible, including from elder care providers, is an excellent way for family caregivers to help reduce fall risks for the seniors they love.

Elder Care Providers Get to Know Their Clients

When caregivers start working with aging adults, they get to know their clients and their needs very quickly. Individual health issues, ailments, and requirements are a huge part of finding the right solutions for any given situation. Home care providers genuinely care about the people they are helping and they want to make sure that they understand the challenges that aging adults are facing.

Assessing the Environment

Another big factor when identifying and addressing fall risks involves the environment itself. Is the lighting adequate? Are there grab bars wherever necessary? Loose flooring, home modifications, and other factors are all important to consider and caregivers do so as they assess what might be contributing to safety issues.

Caregivers Make Recommendations

After gathering information, home care providers might make recommendations to seniors and to family members. These recommendations are based on observations and experience helping other aging adults to be safe at home and avoid falls as much as possible. Some of the recommendations might require more effort than others, like adding a ramp in place of stairs. But others, like making it easier for seniors to access mobility aids, are simpler to implement quickly.

Help Seniors Follow Doctors’ Orders

It isn’t always easy to follow doctors’ orders, especially when those orders are frustrating. That means that lots of seniors make choices that aren’t necessarily the right ones, especially if they do want to avoid a fall. Elder care professionals are there to remind seniors about the various small things they can do, like exercising and eating regularly, to stay healthy and to avoid a fall.

Keep Family Caregivers Informed

Family caregivers are often overwhelmed by everything that goes into caregiving. With the help of elder care providers, caregivers are able to have a better idea what their senior’s needs are, especially around fall prevention. This can be a huge help when it comes to putting plans in place to help aging adults to avoid falls and the injuries that can result from a fall at home.

Falls and the injuries that falls can cause are preventable for seniors, but it’s a lot easier to do when there is experienced assistance available. Identifying risk factors and safety concerns is the first step in developing a plan and elder care providers can help family caregivers to do just that. Ultimately, all of this works toward helping aging adults to be more confident, independent, and safe at home, which is what everyone involved wants.

Reference
https://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/guide/fall-prevention-strategies

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

Is It Time for Your Senior to Stop Driving?

Posted on by Craig Bass
Home Care in Henderson NV
Home Care in Henderson NV

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?

Ask an Expert’s Opinion

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.

Be Honest

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.

Bring in Support

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.

Make Sure She’s Able to Still Go Out

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.

Holiday Shopping Safety Tips For Seniors

Posted on by Craig Bass

Holiday shopping is here. It can be a lot of fun for seniors to get out and shop. Some seniors really enjoy holiday shopping and seeing all the special holiday displays and lights. But, seniors should be especially careful when they are holiday shopping. Seniors are often targets for thieves. And they have a higher risk of falling when the stores are crowded and bustling. Seniors and their loved ones can use these tips to keep seniors safe while they are out doing their holiday shopping:

Get Support from Senior Home Care

Senior home care is a good idea for seniors for a lot of reasons, but during the holidays it can a great resource for seniors. With senior home care seniors don’t have to run their holiday errands alone. They will have help from a senior care provider who can do things like help them arrange for rides, go shopping with them to help them manage their money and carry their bags, and make sure that seniors don’t get jostled or knocked over in crowded stores. Many seniors are much more confident when they have senior home care.

Take Frequent Breaks

It can be emotionally and physically tiring for seniors to be shopping during the holidays. Seniors should take frequent shopping breaks to get some water and a snack and sit down and rest before doing more shopping. Pacing themselves will help seniors lower their risk of becoming tired or disoriented and falling while they are shopping. It’s a good idea for seniors to have someone with them while they shop who can encourage them to take breaks and get them water or a snack.

Go Early In The Morning

Seniors are usually at their best mentally and physically in the morning, and the shops will be less crowded in the morning too. That’s why seniors should plan to start their holiday shopping early, when the mall opens, so that they can shop when the mall is the least busy. Parking will easier for seniors that drive or who are having someone drive them to the mall. And there will be a much lower risk of seniors getting bumped or knocked over by crowds of shoppers early in the day.

Minimize Stops

Shopping at stores that offer gifts for different ages and interests is a great way to save time and steps. Malls and department stores are great places to find gifts for all ages and keep your senior parent from walking too much. Senior home care can help your senior navigate through a large department store and check off their list as they go.

Source
https://www.webmd.com/osteoporosis/guide/fall-prevention-strategies

If you are considering senior home care in Las Vegas, 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 by Craig Bass
24-Hour Home Care in Henderson NV
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.

6 Tips for Caring for Your Senior in Extreme Heat

Posted on by Craig Bass
Home care in Las Vegas NV
Home care in Las Vegas NV

Summer is wonderful, except when the heat gets to be unbearable. If that’s what your senior is experiencing, you might want to try some of these ideas for cooling her down a bit. Overheating is the earliest sign that heat-related illnesses are on the way, so doing everything that you can to keep your senior as cool as possible is vital.

Talk with Your Senior’s Doctor

Set aside some time to talk with your elderly family member’s doctor about her individual risk factors around heat. This can help you to understand how your senior’s health is affected by hot weather. It also can help you to put together a plan for managing unexpected reactions to heat.

Prioritize Hydration

Hydration is your elderly family member’s best tool against heat. Ideally, she needs to sip water all day long instead of chugging it at once. Spreading out her water intake throughout the day helps to ensure that as she sweats and urinates, her water stockpiles are being consistently replenished. It might be helpful to ask your senior’s doctor how much water she should be drinking each day.

Look at Medication Side Effects

Some medications have some side effects related to hot weather and that might be a big problem for your elderly family member. If it’s been a while since you read the patient leaflets for her medications, you might have forgotten about some of those side effects. Either flip through those leaflets or talk with your senior’s pharmacist about how her medications may be affected by hot weather.

Time Activities Carefully

It’s vital that your elderly family member isn’t trying to do too much in the hottest parts of the day. By timing her activities carefully, you can help her to avoid overheating. Home care providers can help your elderly family member to stay on target with routines that allow her to rest during the hotter times of the day.

Keep Curtains Closed During the Day

Closing windows and curtains can do a lot more to keep your senior’s home cool than she might realize. Even a couple of degrees can make a big difference in how she feels. Home care professionals can help your elderly family member to keep up with little details like this that can help her to stay cooler.

Offer Cool Showers or Baths Before Bed

Before bed, your elderly family member might feel too hot from the day. Taking a cool shower or bath before bed can help to lower her body temperature and make it easier to sleep. If you’re not able to be there with her, home care providers can assist your elderly family member with safely cooling down before she heads to bed.

The dog days of summer might stick around for a lot longer than most people want them to be there, but there are things your senior can try that can help her to stay cooler. Try some of these ideas and see if they help her to be more comfortable.

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

5 Ways Home Care Assistance Can Benefit Your Senior in Summer

Posted on by Craig Bass
Home Care Assistance in Henderson NV
Home Care Assistance in Henderson NV

Hot weather is a huge problem for everyone during long summer days, but it is especially dangerous for the elderly. Bringing in home care assistance for your elderly family member can help her to stay cool and safe, even as the temperatures climb this summer. There are a lot of different ways that caregivers can make your senior’s life more comfortable, and the ideas in this list are just a few of them.

Keeping Track of Your Senior’s Hydration

Drinking plenty of water during the hotter months of the year can make a tremendous difference in how your senior is feeling. Remembering to do so on a regular basis can be a problem, though. Home care assistance can help your elderly family member to remember to keep sipping on cool water or other hydrating beverages throughout the day. Dehydration can be life-threatening for your senior, so taking steps to avoid it is crucial.

Helping Her to Rest When it’s Hot Out

Overexerting herself when it is already hot out can be disastrous for your senior. That’s even more true if she is battling health issues that make it difficult for her to be active at all. Elder care providers are able to handle tasks that are becoming too much for your senior, helping her to conserve her energy and rest so that she can stay cool during the day.

Ensuring She’s Eating Healthy Foods that Suit the Weather

It’s pretty universal that most people don’t enjoy eating heavy, hot foods during the summer. But keeping up with meal preparation at all, especially healthier foods, can be a little more difficult than your senior might expect it to be. Not eating isn’t an option, so it’s important to have caregivers available who can remind your senior to eat meals and snacks that are comfortable in the hot weather but also full of nutrition.

Helping Your Senior to Dress for the Weather

Lots of seniors find that they have a different sense of temperature as they age. Or memory issues can cause difficulties for your elderly family member, causing her to forget that it’s summer instead of winter. Home care assistance can help your senior to wear clothing that is appropriate for the weather, helping her to stay cool instead of possibly contributing to overheating.

Keeping Your Senior Company

Your elderly family member might not feel like doing a lot when it’s hot out, and that’s not unusual at all. Home care assistance will spend time with your elderly family member, reading, watching her favorite movies, or simply talking. While they’re with your aging family member, they’re focused on ensuring that she’s comfortable and that she’s also safe. That’s a huge relief for you when you’re not able to check in on her personally as much as you might want to be able to.

Staying safe in hot weather is essential for aging adults. The more help that you can offer your elderly family member during the hottest months of the year, the better and safer for her.

Source
https://www.webmd.com/women/features/surviving-summer

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.

Nighttime Fall Prevention for Senior Citizens

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

You may already know that senior citizens have a higher risk of falling than younger adults. However, did you know that many senior citizens have a higher risk of falling during the nighttime hours than during the daytime? There are many different reasons for this. However, there are also many ways that you and home care providers can work together to help with nighttime fall prevention for your elderly loved one.

Proper Bedding Placement

One of the reasons why senior citizens often fall during the night is because they trip over their bedding. For example, if your elderly loved one needs to get up to use the bathroom at night, they might trip over the edge of their blanket and fall in their bedroom. This could lead to a serious injury. It is important that your elderly loved one’s bedding isn’t stuck under their mattress, so their legs or feet don’t get stuck in the blanket when they try to get up. It is also important they don’t have any blankets on the floor, as well. You or home care providers can go into your elderly loved one’s bedroom each night, before they go to bed, to ensure the blankets are where they should be.

Good Lighting

Another way that you or an elder care provider can help to prevent nighttime falls for your elderly loved one is by ensuring there is good lighting in their bedroom and house. Improper or low lighting can prevent your elderly loved one from seeing where they are walking during the night. If they can’t see well, it could cause them to trip on carpeting, cords, or other things that are in the walkway. You or home care providers can check often to ensure each light in the house has working bulbs that are bright enough for your elderly loved one to see.

Better Flooring

If you are trying to help prevent nighttime falls for your elderly loved one, you should check on the flooring in their house. For example, if they have a lot of runners, lifted carpets, or loose rugs, these could all be fall hazards. It is crucial that someone ensures these are properly stapled or taped down to help prevent falls. If there are any loose rugs, you could also replace those with slip-resistant rugs.

Conclusion

These are some of the nighttime fall prevention tips for senior citizens. As a family caregiver, hopefully, you can work with home care providers to help take care of these things in your elderly loved one’s home. By doing so, you can significantly reduce the risk of them falling at night.

Sources
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/healthy-aging/in-depth/fall-prevention/art-20047358

If you are considering 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.