by trevor@addfuelfire.com | Aug 20, 2013 | Caregiving, Uncategorized
If you are one of the one million family caregivers in the state of Michigan, a summer getaway may not seem very realistic. Especially if heading out of town to enjoy one of Michigan’s lakes or beaches with your own children means leaving your elderly loved one home alone. Even if you did manage to get away for a few days, the worry over how they were managing on their own would likely keep you from relaxing and enjoying the trip. That is where respite care comes in. Respite can offer you a safe solution for your loved one and peace of mind for yourself.
What is Respite Care?
Respite is a short-term stay in an independent or assisted living community, such as one of the Heritage Senior Communities. It offers your aging loved one access to the same services and amenities that are available to permanent residents of the community. They enjoy the same healthy meals. Have the opportunity to participate in diverse life enrichment programs and activities. And the staff is close by to help your loved one with everything you typically do for them. From providing medication reminders to assistance with bathing and grooming, a respite stay for an aging parent offers peace of mind for family caregivers.
Most communities welcome respite visitors for lengths of stay ranging from a few days up to one month. Some families utilize respite several times a year to allow them time to travel or take care of personal business. Others use respite as a trial stay or “test run” to see how well an elderly loved one adjusts to a senior living community.
To help make a respite stay go more smoothly for your loved one, you might consider bringing them for a visit at the community before you head out of town. That gives staff the opportunity to get to know them and time to introduce them to other residents with similar interests. Most communities would welcome you to stay for lunch or for dinner.
How to Find Respite Care
If you live in Michigan and would like to learn more about respite care, we invite you to call the Heritage Senior community closest to you . Any one of our team members will be glad to help. If you live outside the state of Michigan, Respite Locator can help you find care in your area.
Are you a Michigan caregiver for an aging loved one?
Have you ever used respite? We’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
Photo Credit
by trevor@addfuelfire.com | Aug 7, 2013 | Caregiving, Healthy Aging, Uncategorized
As the number of adults over the age of 65 in Michigan continues to climb, the average age of drivers on our roads climbs too. Contrary to the stereotype we see in the media about older drivers, they are not creating the greatest risks on the road. Teenagers still lead the way in the number of accidents that harm other drivers. Instead, seniors are more likely to be a hazard to themselves. Older drivers in Michigan are no different.
According to the Institute for Highway Safety, older drivers are more likely to have an accident where they are injured. In 2009, almost 4,000 drivers 70 and older died in automobile accidents.
MIT AgeLab and The Hartford Center for Mature Market Excellence conducted a study that explored the relationship between physical fitness and older drivers. They discovered that exercise can play a key role in keeping older drivers safe behind the wheel. That is because physical activity can help improve range of motion and flexibility.
Surveyors examined three areas that older drivers identified as difficult:
- Turning their neck, shoulders and upper body to look behind them – the action you take when backing out of your driveway or a parking space at the mall.
- Bending down to slide behind the wheel of the car. Getting in and out of their car was often considered difficult for older adults in the study. We know that seniors are at greater risk from falls when entering and exiting a vehicle.
- Turning their head to look over their shoulder while driving. This makes it difficult to merge in traffic and change lanes on the highway.
Using that insight, researchers developed a series of exercises that worked on improving four key areas for older adults: overall strength, flexibility, range of motion and coordination. The eight exercises they recommend are no-impact and many can even be performed while seated.
After eight to ten weeks of participating in the exercise training program, older drivers reported:
- Greater ease in turning their head to back up and to check their blind spot.
- Better able to rotate their bodies to survey their driving environment.
- Stronger muscle tone and flexibility helped them get in and out of their car more easily.
Exercise for Mature Drivers is a free download from The Hartford Center for Mature Market Excellence and MIT AgeLab.
What do you think? Are you an older driver in Michigan?
Let us know what you think about these exercises after you try them!
Photo Credit
by trevor@addfuelfire.com | Jul 31, 2013 | Caregiving, Dear Donna, Uncategorized
Dear Donna:
My 91 year old mother suffers from advanced diabetes and rheumatoid arthritis. Both make it difficult for her to care for herself. But she insists on staying in her home in Holland, Michigan instead of moving to senior living. She has lived there for almost 60 years. The problem is that my brother just won’t help with her care. We both live equal distances from her, but he won’t even take her to doctor’s appointments. I love my mother and want to care for her. That isn’t the issue. But I have a busy job and two children still living at home. There just aren’t enough hours in my day to be her only caregiver! I am getting more and more resentful of my brother. I am afraid I will say something I really regret if he doesn’t start helping.
-Melissa in Muskegon, Michigan
Dear Melissa:
You are a classic example of someone trying to survive the “sandwich”. A term we use to describe the generation sandwiched between aging parents’ needs and those of their own children. In your case, you have the added stress of a sibling who won’t help. In almost every family we work with across the state of Michigan, one child bears the primary responsibility of caregiving. Most of the time it is the adult daughter or daughter-in-law.
I have a few ideas for you to try:
- Ask your brother to meet you to talk about your mother. Have the meeting in a neutral place. Somewhere that you can talk without interruption.
- Prepare a list of activities you do for your mother and things you know need to be done but you haven’t had time to do. Even little things like picking up prescriptions should be on the list.
- Really give some thought beforehand to what he could do to help. Maybe lawn care or household repairs? What jobs will he be most likely to do on a routine basis?
- Sit down with your brother and share your concerns and your list with him in a respectful way. This may be difficult to do given how much resentment you are feeling towards him. Just remember, your goal is to get him to agree to help without forever damaging your relationship.
- Listen to what he has to say. You may find that fear is keeping him from helping your mother. Maybe you can arrange to meet at your mother’s house together to work on projects for her. Easing him in to caregiver responsibilities may give him time to adapt to the changes in your mother that have frightened him away.
- Try to divide up the task list and talk about dates and deadlines. Leaving the meeting with a definite plan will help.
- If all else fails, you have two options. You can hire a family mediator to help resolve your differences. Or you can accept that he won’t help and move on without him. That will be hard to do, but continuing to live with resentment will put your own health at risk.
Best of luck, Melissa! Please feel free to call one of the Heritage Senior Communities in Holland if you have any questions or need more advice on senior living.
Donna
by trevor@addfuelfire.com | Jul 8, 2013 | Caregiving, Dear Donna, Healthy Aging, Uncategorized
Dear Donna:
My father keeps falling. I live three hours away and have had to drop everything three times this month to race to his house after he had a fall. He says it is just a normal part of aging. I think there is more to it. What can we do? I will lose my job if this keeps up!
-Suzanne in Bay City, Michigan
Dear Suzanne:
The teams at Heritage Senior Communities hear stories similar to yours from families we work with across Michigan every day. We know the role of long-distance caregiver is a tough one. Especially if you work and have your own family.
And, you are right. While our senior population does experience more falls, they are not a typical part of the aging process.
There are a few things we can recommend you try to help keep your father safe at home:
- Consider having a physical or occupational therapist do an evaluation of his home environment. They can look at potential hazards that may be increasing his risk for falls. That includes throw rugs, places where grab bars should be installed, stairway safety, lighting and more.
- Has your father had a vision test lately? Many times poor vision and falls go hand in hand. It may be time for a new prescription for his glasses. Or he may be suffering from cataracts that are impairing his vision. It is best to have it checked out.
- Does your father take any prescription medications? The side effects of some medicines can cause an unsteady gait. Or it could be the interaction between two medications that is impacting his balance. Your father’s pharmacist is a good resource for helping you make this determination.
- Poor nutrition can also lead to falls. Is your father eating a well-balanced diet? If he no longer drives or suffers from a disease like Parkinson’s or arthritis, it may be difficult for him to prepare healthy meals. Your local Area Office on Aging will have recommendations on meal delivery programs that might help.
- Strength and flexibility are what help us maintain good posture and balance. If your father has a sedentary lifestyle, you might want to talk with his family physician about strength training and flexibility exercises. He might recommend chair yoga, Tai Chi or another form of no impact exercise to help him regain his strength and flexibility.
If you would like to assess his home on your own, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has a great Home Fall Prevention checklist that can help.
I hope these tips help, Suzanne! Best of luck to you and your father.
Donna
by trevor@addfuelfire.com | Jul 3, 2013 | Alzheimer's and Dementia, Caregiving, Healthy Aging, Uncategorized
Just like a good walking program or a water aerobics class can help you stay physically fit, brain aerobics can help enhance your mental fitness. So what can you do to give your brain a real workout?
The experts from the Heritage Senior Communities share a few ideas to help Michigan caregivers and their aging parents:
- Learn something new. Tackling anything that is different from your normal routine helps to stimulate your brain. Foreign language DVDs are a quick and easy way to get started. Artistic pursuits may also be a good fit for your aging loved one. Watercolor painting or photography are two skills you can learn on your own and improve as you go.
- Try Neurobics. Have you heard of Neurobics before? It is when you try doing tasks and chores with your non-dominate hand. So if you are right-handed try brushing your teeth and combing your hair with your left hand one day a week. Or try teaching yourself to write with your right hand if you are a leftie. It is a great way to stretch your mind!
- 3. Play some Games. You may have already heard this but it is worth repeating. Many Alzheimer’s experts believe games and puzzles can help delay the progression of the disease. Playing board games with the grandchildren one night a week or a few rounds of cards at the senior center allow you to socialize while exercising your brain. There are also many educational websites devoted to brain fitness including Brain Metrix (http://www.brainmetrix.com/) and Senior Brains (http://www.seniorbrains.com/).
- 4. Dig out of your rut. Routinely doing the same things the same way day after day puts your brain on autopilot. It receives very little stimulation when it isn’t challenged with anything new and different. So dig out of that rut you may be in! Turn left instead of right on your way to church, and create a new route you use a few Sundays a month. Find a new walking path or reverse the one you currently take. Think about ways you can do tasks and chores a little differently as you go about your daily routine.
- 5. Read a good book. Reading is another easy way to keep your mind fit. It can be a good book or just the local newspaper you read each day. You could also subscribe to a few of your favorite magazines and read them on your iPad. All of the new information you take in provides a good workout for your grey matter.
- 6. Keep up with current events. If you spend any time in a Heritage Senior Living community in Michigan or Indiana you know this is a popular pastime for older adults. Keeping up with world events and debating the issues are great brain booster activities. You could help organize a group at your local senior center or even participate in a forum online.
Do you have any suggestions for readers to help boost brain power?
We would love to have you share them in the comment section below!
by trevor@addfuelfire.com | Jul 1, 2013 | Caregiving, Healthy Aging, Uncategorized
Summer vacation has finally arrived for children across the state of Michigan! And that means kids have more time to spend with their grandparents.
As the family historians, grandparents have many stories to share. Finding ways to document those stories isn’t as difficult or expensive as it used to me. Largely thanks to technology.
Here are a few activities the life enrichment teams from Heritage Senior Communities across the state of Michigan thought might help your family build memories.
- Create a video diary. This can be a simple way to chronicle grandparents’ lives. It can be done with something as easy to use as the video camera on an iPhone or an inexpensive Flip Camera. Your children can come up with a list of questions to ask their grandparents beforehand. Ones that will get them talking about their lives. Then you can schedule a time for the “interview”. Consider having a friend do the taping so both you and your children can be in the video with their grandparents.
- Design a digital scrapbook. Technology has made this so easy to do! You can start by pulling out the box of old photos that almost every family has stored somewhere. Go through the photos with your children and your parents. It is a great way to reminisce and for your children to learn more about their family history. Take notes about the photos that seem most meaningful. Then you can scan the photos and use a digital software program to create the book. You can use the notes you’ve taken to tell the story behind each photo.
- Author a Family Cookbook. Is there anyone out there who doesn’t think their grandmother is the best cook ever? This would be a great project to could include the extended family in, too. Have everyone share their favorite family recipes –including the grandparents—and put them all together in a cookbook. It doesn’t have to cost a lot. There are family cookbook programs that start as low as $25.
- Create a Family Tree. Start this fun project by outlining your family history on craft paper or large poster board. Some suggested information to include on each family member would be their full name, date and location of their birth, and date they were married. Once you have that completed, you can decide how elaborate you want the tree to be. You could create an almost life-sized tree on craft paper with each branch of the family represented. You could scan old photos and print them out to glue to the tree. Or you could use a site like Ancestry.com to create a digital family tree.
- Build an Old-Fashioned Scrapbook. Not everything has to involve technology! In fact, this is one low tech activity that most kids never get tired of doing. Your parents and your children might enjoy creating a scrapbook full of family photos, treasures, souvenirs, and handwritten descriptions. Local craft stores such as Michaels and Hobby Lobby have a variety of papers, binders, fancy scissors, stickers and stamps that you can use.
We hope these suggestions help your family get started on a project of your own this summer. Your parents and your kids will enjoy the time they spend making their treasure together. And, equally as important, they will create a keepsake to one day share with their own children.
Has your family created any digital scrapbooks or cookbooks?
We’d love to hear your ideas in the Comment section below!
