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 7, 2014 | Healthy Aging, Uncategorized
As the population across the state of Michigan ages, there are more grandparents alive today than ever before. In fact the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that by the year 20130, one in every five people in this country will be over the age of 65. For the first time in history, people over the age of 65 will outnumber children under age five.
Grandparents Play Key Roles in Grandchildren’s Lives
This shift in demographics means more and more families are enjoying intergenerational connections and relationships. Where in past generations children often lost their grandparents in their earliest years, today’s younger generation often has both grandparents and great-grandparents to enjoy. That allows grandparents to play more pivotal roles in their grandchildren’s lives.
Intergenerational Activities to Use to Celebrate Grandparents
Grandparents Day is an officially-recognized national holiday celebrated on the first Sunday after Labor Day. Celebrating grandparents and “grand friends” can help to further build bonds.
If you are trying to come up with ideas to help your parents and your children enjoy National Grandparent’s Day together, we have a few suggestions to help you get started. These are organizations dedicated to helping build stronger families ties across the generations.
- The Legacy Project has a site full of activities grandparents and grandchildren of all ages can enjoy together. Projects range from scrapbooks to handprint flowers and butterflies.
- American Grandparents Association is another resource devoted to celebrating the generations. They have activities and projects your family can enjoy all year long.
- Ways to Celebrate Grandparents on Grandparents Day is a quick read with some easy-to-do suggestions for activities including creating a family tree.
- Activity Village also has helpful resources for Grandparents Day. Their site includes printables, coloring pages, and crafting ideas.
- The Holiday Zone is another site with printables, poems, puzzles, songs, plays and more.
Do you have any ideas to share for celebrating the family elders?
We’d love to hear them in the Comments below!
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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 28, 2014 | Healthy Aging, Uncategorized
If gardening has been a pastime for many years, you’ve likely reaped the health benefits it offers. Improvement in the pain of arthritis, reduced stress, and increased flexibility are just a few. Unfortunately, gardening can become a little more challenging as the years go by. Aging sometimes puts older adults at greater risk for a fall or for a heat-related illness. If you or a Michigan senior you love enjoys gardening but is struggling to do the things they used to, these tips and tools may be of help.
Here are a few tips to make it easier to keep your garden growing without jeopardizing your health:
- The warm up. Gardening is hard work. Bending, lifting, and pulling weeds is a real physical work out. Be sure you take time to warm up your muscles and joints before heading out in to the garden.
- Raised flower beds. Safely getting up and down from the ground to plant flowers and pull weeds is often a struggle for older gardeners. One solution can be to have raised beds built in the yard. Height can be adapted to what feels easiest for you or the senior gardener you love.
- Time out chairs. Strategically placing benches, garden stools and chairs throughout the yard can allow you to take frequent, quick rests. That is important in avoiding both a heat illness and a fall.
- Use a wagon. Wheel barrows are a lot of work when you get older. They often require gardeners to lift the load they are trying to transport to get the wheels rolling. Instead of a wheel barrow, consider buying a wagon with large wheels. It puts less stress on your neck and back.
- Adapted garden tools. The Arthritis Foundation has a list of Handy Garden Tools that earn high marks for their ease-of-use. The list includes long-handled garden tools, water caddies and more.
- Paint the handles. If you live with a vision impairment, one tip that can make gardening easier is to paint the handles of all of your garden tools a neon or vivid color. It will make it easier to find where you laid them in the grass.
Finally, remember to use good judgment to stay safe in the summer heat. That includes gardening in the early morning or evening hours and avoiding the mid-day sun. Also be sure to wear sunscreen and a hat, and keep a bottle of water with you.
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by trevor@addfuelfire.com | Jul 20, 2014 | Caregiving, Healthy Aging, Uncategorized
July is often referred to as “the dog days of summer” in many towns and cities across the state of Michigan. When the mercury soars, seniors can be at greater risk for developing a heat related illness. In some cases, those conditions can be life-threatening. If you are planning an outdoor event this summer or if the aging loved one you help provide care for enjoys the outdoors, you should be proactive in keeping them safe. Here are a few tips we think can help.
Summer Sun Safety Tips for Seniors
- Layer on the sunscreen. Two common mistakes people make are putting too little sunscreen on before heading outdoors and then failing to reapply it throughout the day. This is even more important as we age and our skin becomes more fragile. Keep your senior loved ones stocked up with sunscreen and remind them to use it. A rule of thumb dermatologists share is that you should apply the equivalent of one shot glass full of sunscreen every two hours.
- Review your loved ones medication list. Some of the medicines commonly prescribed for seniors make them more sensitive to the sun. This Sun Sensitive Medications list from WebMD can help you determine if one of your aging loved one’s are a potential problem. Being aware of their risk can help them prevent a variety of illnesses including sun poisoning and heat stroke.
- Encourage hydration. Make sure your senior loved one knows to drink 8 to 10 glasses of water each day during the summer heat. Some foods can also help improve hydration. They include melons, cucumber, and leafy greens.
- Knowing the warning signs of heat related illnesses. Early intervention is critical to getting help when someone experiences heat exhaustion or heat stroke. Remember that heat related illnesses may occur quicker in older adults than they do in younger people. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has a tip sheet that can help you learn the warning signs in seniors.
We hope these help you and your aging loved one stay safe in the summer sun this year!
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by trevor@addfuelfire.com | Jul 1, 2014 | Caregiving, Healthy Aging, Uncategorized
We’ve shared information and safety tips on senior citizens and driving before in our blog. In Exercises for Older Drivers in Michigan, we talked about a few fitness programs designed specifically to help improve flexibility in older drivers. Today we thought it would help if we shared some of the equipment and tools you can use to help modify a senior loved one’s car to make driving a little easier for them.
Equipment to Support Older Drivers
Here is a list of driving aids that can help keep your aging driver safer getting in and out of the car, as well as once they hit the highway.
- Swivel Seat Cushion. Seniors experience the greatest percentage of driving related falls as they are entering and exiting their car. These cushions are placed on the driver’s seat and swivel a full 360 degrees. It makes it easier and safer for an older driver to get behind the wheel.
- Support Handles. These are another type of aid that makes getting in and out of the car a little safer. They attach to the car’s door frame so a senior or an individual with a disability can use it to pull themselves out or hold on to as they are sliding in to their seat.
- Seat Belt Handles. Arthritis and other degenerative diseases can make reaching over the shoulder to grab a seat belt painful. These handles give the senior an additional four to six inches of reach. That makes it easier to pull the seat belt closed.
- Mirror Adaptors. There are a variety of products that adapt the car’s mirrors to make them easier for seniors to see. One type of product is a panoramic mirror that clips on to the rear view mirror and widens the view. Another mirror product is one that attaches to side view mirrors so older adults can see if anyone is in their blind spot.
- Foot Pedal Extenders. This helpful aid extends the length of the vehicle’s pedals. It makes it easier for older adults to reach the pedals while also keeping them from having to sit too close to the wheel. Most of these products that are currently on the market range offer an additional one to four inches of extension and have a non-skid surface.
If you know of a senior driving safety tool that we’ve missed, please feel free to share it in the comments area below!
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