by trevor@addfuelfire.com | Sep 24, 2014 | Alzheimer's and Dementia, Caregiving, Uncategorized
Dear Donna:
My 82-year old father is in the middle stage of Alzheimer’s disease. Lately, he has become a little more difficult to manage. He is especially difficult to handle when I have to take him to the doctor. Fortunately, he goes to a geriatrician who is very understanding of and knowledgeable about Alzheimer’s disease.
In past years I have always taken my dad with me to the pharmacy flu shot clinic for his yearly vaccine. I’m on the fence this year about whether he should have a flu shot or not. He goes to an adult day center a few days a week and they are offering it there, but I’m just not sure he really needs it. He had a flu shot at the end of flu season last year, and I’m trying to decide if it’s worth the struggle it will likely be to get him to cooperate this year.
Gretchen in Grand Haven, Michigan
Dear Gretchen:
I’m sure you know that these behaviors are not uncommon for those living with Alzheimer’s disease. Family caregivers often feel understandably embarrassed when they are trying to cope with a senior loved one’s behavior in public. Having a primary care physician who specializes in gerontology like your fathers can really help.
As far as flu shots, I recommend you talk with your father’s physician for the final word but I think she or he will likely advise you that your father should receive the vaccine. Even though he had it later in last year’s flu season, he will need a new vaccine to protect him from this year’s strains of the flu. He is probably at greater risk for complications of flu and will likely be at higher risk for contracting the virus if he goes to an adult day center a few days a week. It might be beneficial to have him get the flu shot at his geriatrician’s office instead of the adult day center if you think they are better equipped to handle his behaviors.
Finally, you might be interested in this story we shared with readers during last year’s flu season. Flu Shot Questions from Alzheimer’s Caregivers in Michigan addressed some of the questions we commonly receive about the flu from family members who have a loved one with Alzheimer’s disease.
I hope this information helps, Gretchen!
Donna
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by trevor@addfuelfire.com | Sep 16, 2014 | Caregiving, Healthy Aging, Uncategorized
In our hustle and bustle world it is sometimes easy to only look forward in life. We are so busy worrying about our “To-Do List” for the day that we forget how important it is to preserve our family history. This week, we thought we would share a few ideas to help adult children in Michigan work with family elders to record their family’s legacy. This can also be a great project to involve grandchildren in, especially those with strong technology skills.
Interviewing Family Elders
One way to document your roots is to video interview the eldest members of the family. Here are a few tips to make that easier:
- Many cameras and smart phones have video features. Have someone with a steady hand document a variety of family members asking their elders questions about their childhood and the family’s roots.
- Avoid asking yes or no questions. Open-ended questions usually elicit the best responses. Your senior loved ones may be a little more anxious at first, but after a few questions they will likely open up and forget about the camera.
- Try to involve of variety of family members to both ask and answer questions.
- Be sure to save each interview as it is recorded so you don’t risk losing it if the project takes a while to complete.
Here are some sample questions to ask during family interviews:
- What’s your earliest childhood memory?
- Where did you live when you were born? What was your home like?
- How did your parents meet?
- Where did your father work?
- Did your mother work?
- What chores did you have around the house?
- How did your family celebrate holidays when you were a child?
- Who was your childhood best friend?
- How did you meet your spouse? Who introduced you?
- How did you learn to drive?
- What was your first job? How did you spend your first paycheck?
- Where did you get married? What was the wedding like?
- What was your school like?
- Did you get to play sports or be involved in after school activities?
- What were your favorite school subjects?
- Who were your friends?
- What was your favorite job and why?
- Who are some of your heroes?
- Do you remember the day President Kennedy was shot?
- What days in history do you remember the most?
- How old were you when you got your first television?
- Were you an Elvis fan? How about The Beatles?
Finally, ask senior loved ones what they want future generations of the family to know. Is there any one thing they think is really important?
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by trevor@addfuelfire.com | Sep 2, 2014 | Caregiving, Healthy Aging, Uncategorized
By now we’ve all read about the therapeutic value a furry friend can bring to older adults and those living with chronic illnesses. Organizations like ReCHAI have demonstrated just how much pets can do to help reduce stress, promote mobility and reduce loneliness in older adults.
So what kinds of pet should you consider for the Michigan senior you love?
Here are a few ideas:
- Dogs can help your loved one get up and moving. They promote mobility and also help to improve social interaction. After a few laps around the neighborhood, a dog will likely have made a few new friends. Studies have shown have a dog to care for and walk can also help decrease blood pressure and rates of depression. While a puppy might be a little too high energy for an older adult, your local shelter will likely have more middle-aged dogs looking for a good home.
- Cats are ideal companions for older adults who live in apartments or condos with more limited space. They typically need less care and can adapt to a smaller environment.
- Birds aren’t always thought of as pets for seniors. If you visit an assisted living community or a dementia care residence, however, you may find yourself reconsidering that idea. Many have aviaries for residents to interact with every day. Watching and listening to birds has been found to reduce for seniors and those living with dementia.
- Fish can also be great pets for helping to reduce anxiety. Just kicking back and watching fish swim around can be very relaxing. They are also low maintenance and less expensive to feed and maintain than other types of pets.
Choosing the Right Pet for a Senior
There are a few additional things to consider in your search for a pet for a Michigan senior loved one. They include:
- Be sure to take in to account all of the costs of a pet from food expenses to veterinary care and grooming.
- How much care a pet requires is an important consideration. Can your aging loved one safely walk a dog in the ice and snow?
- Depending upon where your senior loved one lives, space and association restrictions need to be consider.
Finally, consider talking with a veterinarian in your area to see what suggestions they have. They likely see older adults and their pets every day and can offer advice.
Related Stories:
Dogs for Depression: How Pets Benefit Older Adults
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by trevor@addfuelfire.com | Aug 18, 2014 | Alzheimer's and Dementia, Caregiving, Uncategorized
When a senior loved one has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, families are often confronted with the difficult task of moving them to a memory care assisted living community. After they learn more about these specialty programs, most families understand their senior loved one will be better off in such an environment. Memory care programs offer safety, security and the support seniors with Alzheimer’s disease need to maintain their abilities. But the very idea of helping their loved one make the transition from home to a senior living community often creates high anxiety for family caregivers. If you and your family are facing this transition, these tips can help.
Helping a Senior Loved One Make a Successful Move to Memory Care Assisted Living
- Bring their favorite belongings. Familiar possessions help decrease the anxiety most people feel when moving to a new home. This is doubly so for seniors living with Alzheimer’s disease. Before your loved one actually makes the move, develop a plan for recreating their home environment. It should include favorite belongings such as their comfy chair, the blanket they use while watching TV, and family photos. The items that indicate this is “home” will help make it easier for them to settle in.
- Plan to move on their schedule. If at all possible, arrange for the actual move to take place during their best time of day. As a caregiver, you likely know when that is. If they are at their worst in the early evening, plan to arrive at the assisted living early in the day. That will give you time to get them comfortably settled before their anxiety and agitation peak.
- Create a reminiscence board. Before the move takes place, make photo copies of your loved one and the people and life events that are important to them. Glue them all on a foam poster board. Label everything on the board. It will be something they can keep in their room and will also help staff identify who all of the family members are. The history presented on the board will make it easier for staff to find things to talk about with your loved one and to get to know them quicker.
- The power of music. Many people living with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia benefit from music therapy. It has been shown to decrease stress and anxiety. It might help to bring a small CD player and some of their favorite music on CDs when they move. Talk with the staff to see if they can use it when your loved one is anxious.
We hope these tips help make your senior loved one’s move more manageable. If you are a Michigan caregiver who has been through this process with a senior you love, please share any advice you can offer in the comments below.
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by trevor@addfuelfire.com | Aug 12, 2014 | Caregiving, Uncategorized
If you’ve been noticing that meditation seems to have gone mainstream over the past few years, you are right. Corporate CEOs, professional athletes, physicians, and television personalities are all confessing to using meditation to help improve their performance by reducing stress. It is being touted as the best stress buster out there. For Michigan caregivers, there is ample reason to learn more about meditation. In fact, a study from UCLA released earlier this year showed meditation is better for helping calm caregivers than even a relaxation CD. It can also help to keep the blues –another common struggle for caregivers – away.
Equally important is what meditation did to help increase telomerase activity and cellular aging. It sounds a bit technical but the short version is that telomerase is an enzyme commonly associated with stress-related health risks and diseases. The more telomerase activity is present, the longer the immune cells last. The study showed that the group practicing meditation had a 43% improvement in telomerase activity, while a relaxation group that had just 3.7%.
The Caregiver Meditation Study at UCLA
The study consisted of:
- 49 family caregivers between the ages 45 and 91
- 36 were adult children and 13 were spouses
- The group was divided in two
- The meditation group learned a 12-minute Kirtan Kriya yoga practice
- The relaxation group listened to instrumental music on a CD in a quiet place
- Each group practiced either meditation or relaxation listening at the same time every day for eight weeks
The results of the project showed 65% of the meditation group had a 50% improvement on a depression scale versus just 31% for the relaxation CD group. 52% of the meditation group also had a 50% improvement in mental health and cognitive function compared with to 19% for the relaxation CD group.
Places for Caregivers to Learn Meditation Online
One of the challenges for busy caregivers is not having enough hours in the day to attend a meditation class. Fortunately, there are many sites where caregivers to learn how to meditate online at a time that is best for them. A few of those sites include:
The bottom line is that caregiving creates stress. Finding ways to manage it is important to keeping caregivers healthy. Meditation is proving to be one way to accomplish that.
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by trevor@addfuelfire.com | Aug 4, 2014 | Caregiving, Dear Donna, Uncategorized
Dear Donna:
My 88-year old mother lives near Grand Haven, Michigan. I live with my family in Saline, Michigan. In the past six months she has ended up in the emergency department of the hospital seven different times for problems ranging from falls to mismanaging her medication. It is difficult to get to her quickly when I live so far away. These frequent emergencies are causing real problems for me at work. My boss was sympathetic at first, but it has happened too many times. I’m concerned I could lose my job over this. With two kids in college, we can’t afford for me to be without it.
One of my colleagues suggested I look at nursing homes for my mother, but our HR Director told me she recently moved her father to assisted living after he was falling repeatedly at home. She said they have been able to help him significantly reduce the number of falls he has and his overall health has improved.
My question for you is can an assisted living community really help reduce trips to the ER?
Jamie in Saline, Michigan
Dear Jamie:
Your situation is one that is common among for the sandwich generation. It is a tough spot to be in! To answer your question, “yes” assisted living can help support the activities of daily living and provide a safer, more secure environment.
In your mother’s case, the two things you mentioned were a history of falls and problems managing her medications. Those are two areas an assisted living partner can help you better manage.
First, let’s talk about medication management. It is one of the number one reasons adult children explore senior living for an aging parent. At home, it is easy to miss a dosage or to accidentally take double doses of a medication. Assisted living communities have medication management programs in place. They will ensure your mother takes the right dose at the right time.
Next we move on to the issue of falls. Seniors can experience a fall for many reasons or for a combination of reasons. Mismanaging and forgetting to take important medications like blood pressure is one. Poor nutrition that leads to decreased muscle mass and weakness is another. The physical layout of older homes isn’t always a good fit for seniors. Poorly lit hallways, too many stairs, uneven floors, and bathrooms without grab bars are just a few of the problems that can contribute to falls. Residents in an assisted living community benefit from having well-balanced meals, in-house, age-appropriate exercise programs, and an environment designed to support safety.
I hope this information helps, Jamie! Please call the Heritage Senior Community closest to you or your mother if you have any more questions!
Donna
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