Choosing a Form of Care for Your Loved Ones

Just this month, another California assisted living facility in under fire for neglecting patients during a transitional period of relocation. All of this, after a mid-October suspension of license upon the discovery that medication was being improperly distributed, employees were not being given background checks, and the lack of training being provided to employees. Given the lack of facility hygiene and amidst suspicions of elder abuse, three employee caregivers serving the home without pay called police to report gross neglect.

This story is far from the first of its kind—unfortunately, it repeats itself every month, week, day across the United States. Overwhelmed by the generally sudden prospect of caring for an elderly family member who may be suffering from a varying degree of memory loss, more and more individuals are turning to care facilities. If the prospect of seeing your loved one suffer at the hands of an ill-equipped facility makes you weary but the idea of independently caring for your loved one is too much to bare, take note—there are resources available to ensure that your family member is safe, loved, and well cared for.

Seek Help

Before you make care arrangements for your family member, make sure you consult a Senior Care Advisor. These people will often work for care facilities (in home, apartment communities, independently contracted nurses, etc) but are a good resource for choosing the facility that is right for you. Often, referral agencies will be able to put you in touch with someone who can help. You can also contact the Society of Certified Senior Advisors, a professional network of advisors who may assist you.

Read Reviews

Fortunately, sites like Care Compare allow you to view user-submitted reviews for all homes or services in  their network of care professionals. This is a great way to evaluate a particular facility—if there’s a problem, someone is very likely to have written about it. Because these reviews come from individuals and families,  they’re generally unbiased and informative.

Take a Tour

Luckily, most reputable facilities will allow you to tour them as many times as you like, be they assisted living facilities or office buildings that dispatch in-home care professionals. If they refuse, this is a major red flag—seek facilities who are open, willing to work with you, and committed to finding answers for all of your questions. In these cases, rely on your instincts. If a facility or company doesn’t pass the smell test, it may not be the right fit for you.

Read

Finally, get as much information as you can from the resource at your immediate fingertips—the internet. Many individuals are blogging about their experiences with senior care, good and bad. These kinds of personal accounts of caregiving can help you make a choice that is right for you and your loved one.

Elder abuse is not the norm, but it is certainly something to be aware of as you prepare to make potentially difficult decisions regarding those you love. By being aware and informed, you ensure care that meets your needs and offers plenty of loving support for your loved one.

Madison Hill lives in Seattle where she’s still figuring out the finer points of Alzheimer’s care. When she’s not renting rowboats, you can find her sipping Starbucks and enjoying a book of poetry.

Can Referral to Home Health Care reduce ER visits?

According to Nurses.com, the CDC issued a new report on ER visits by people 65 and older, stating that 511 people per 1,000 in that age group visited an ER during the two-year period spanning 2009-10. Among people 85 and older, 832 per 1,000 visited an ER during the study period.

The numbers of ER visits by nursing home residents also rose (29.2% of patients ages 65-74, compared with 54.3% of patients 85 and older). Of those patients, 32.4% of patients 65-74 were admitted.

According to the CDC report, ER rates are expected to climb to almost 20% by 2030.
“Given their growing proportion of the population, older individuals will comprise an increasing share of emergency department patients in the coming years,” the authors wrote in a National Center for Health Statistics data brief. “This is important because of the ED’s role in treating acute illness and injury in older adults and providing a pathway to these patients for hospital admission.”

One way to help reduce ER visits is to have a trained health aide in the home to monitor patients so that a health condition doesn’t worsen to the point where hospitalization is required.   Many ER visits are attributed to home falls and improper medication dosing – both largely preventable with a home aide.

New study finds that Risk of stroke can be reduced through Vitamin B Supplements

A study by Zhengzhou University in China, as  reported in HealthDay News, found that  

taking vitamin B supplements may help reduce the risk of stroke by as much as 7 percent.  Although vitamin B supplements reduced the risk of stroke, it did not appear to reduce the severity of strokes or the risk of death from stroke.

 

Taking Vitamin B supplements has its fans and foes, with some studies concluding that taking vitamin B supplements may actually increase the risk of stroke.

 

Data from the study, published in the journal Neurology, found that “the ability of vitamin B to reduce stroke risk may be influenced by a number of other factors, such as the body's absorption rate, the amount of folic acid or vitamin B12 concentration in the blood, and whether a person has kidney disease or high blood pressure.”

 

It is advisable to discuss taking any vitamin supplements with your healthcare provider before starting a vitamin regimen.

 

Richard Ueberfluss is a Physical Therapist and owner of Assisting Hands Home Care

www.assistinghands.com/naperville

The Importance of Hydration in Preserving Joints and Preventing Falls

Proper hydration is one of the most essential aspects of maintaining good functionality of the joints and organs in the body. Many of the body’s essential nutrients are delivered through water. Some of our joints, such as the knees have no blood supply and rely solely on nutrients from water to maintain proper function. In the elderly, hydration is especially important because at their age their joints are already rather worn down.

 

The joints are supplied with nutrients through a substance called synovial fluid. This fluid fills the space between the bones and provides the cartilage tissue and joint with food. Synovial fluid is around 80% water which means that your joints do not receive a healthy flow of nutrients when you are dehydrated. Furthermore, this fluid enables cartilage to stay strong and healthy enough to provide smooth, strong cushioning between your bones and keep them from rubbing against one another. Overtime, the lack of hydration will lead to starving, unhealthy joints and ultimately lead to more rigid bones and/or afflictions like arthritis and osteoporosis.

 

Along with preserving your joints, water provides nutrients to your vital organs such as the brain. Dehydration by as little as 2-3% of your body weight can lead to serious light headedness, loss of balance, and fatigue. Many elderly experience troubles with balance or joints when they are older due to inadequate hydration over long-term periods in their life.

 

The amount of water one should intake varies from person to person and largely depends on your level of activity. Six to eight glasses a day has long been considered a good standard to shoot for but for those who are active it is recommended that you get substantially more.  According to the Food and Nutrition Board at the Institute of Medicine, a healthy woman should get over 11 cups or 91 oz of water a day whereas a healthy man should get nearly 16 cups or 125 oz. of water a day, from all food and beverages. Certain foods carry more water than others. The best way to monitor your hydration is by paying attention to the color of your urine. Regardless of what you eat or how active you are, clear colored urine means you are properly hydrated whereas darker, gold urine means you are dehydrated.

 

Cheryl Swanson is a writer and former geriatric caregiver who enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience with seniors everywhere. She writes for the rolling walker supplier Just Walkers.

Helping Elders Address Incontinence to Prevent a Worse Condition from Developing

The importance of addressing incontinence immediately when it arises cannot be overstated. Around 20 million people in the United States alone suffer from incontinence, nearly 75% of which are women. Childbirth can very easily weaken the pelvic floor muscles enough to where urinary incontinence becomes a problem immediately after pregnancy. Given the personal and rather embarrassing nature of the symptom it is the most under reported symptom for women and the elderly.

 

Our elders are proud and don’t want to burden others with embarrassing problems but the fact is both urinary and fecal incontinence can be early symptoms of serious conditions. Bladder cancer, prostate cancer, Parkinson’s, diabetes, and a number of STDs can all cause one to experience troubles with incontinence in their early stages. Even if the symptoms are not related to something more dangerous, incontinence symptoms can cause unwanted troubles of their own if not treated properly.

 

An all too common approach people tend to take when they find they are susceptible to accidents is to eat and drink less. When you drink less liquid the urine becomes more concentrated and less filtered, causing it to flow more yellow/gold. This less filtered urine actually irritates the bladder more and will cause one to still have to make frequent trips to the restroom even though they are not urinating much at a time.  Frequent urgent visits to the restroom can be a contributor to falls. Dramatically cutting off your food intake is unhealthy for all too many reasons and should never be considered an option.

 

Instead of cutting back on how much is eaten/drank, help them be smarter about what they put in their body. Talk to the elder about their diet. Encourage them to start only eating 3 times a day and only drinking natural fruit juices or water. These liquids are tremendously less irritable to the bladder and will help them get a better handle on urinary incontinence while still staying hydrated. Fecal incontinence is usually a side effect of another disease/disorder. In a lot of these cases a good way to handle it is to eat 3 solid meals a day with plenty of fiber. Urge the elder to eat at least 10 grams of fiber at each meal through a combination of whole grains, fruit, and vegetables. This should prompt bowel movement within a reasonable amount of time after the meal and enable them to set up a bathroom schedule that will make incontinence troubles less inconvenient.

 

Regardless of how well an elder says they have incontinence under control it is always best to be cautious. Make sure they consult a doctor and rule out any worse conditions developing. Wearing incontinence briefs, having a bed pan handy, and having a healthy diet will help them manage the symptoms better and not have to live with the anxiety and fear that another incident could happen at any time.

 

Guest contributor, Martha June Whitman is a geriatric health writer who enjoys sharing her knowledge and experience form her years as a caregiver. She writes for National Incontinence, a supplier of depends diapers and tena briefs.