Home Care Solutions: How to Fight Loneliness in the Elderly
It’s an unfortunate fact: sentiments of loneliness and isolation can lead to serious consequences for senior health. Let’s face it, none of us relish the thought of aging without a spouse or family member at our side…or without friends to help us laugh at the ridiculous parts of growing old while supporting us through more difficult times. Still, that is precisely what many North American seniors face – as the baby boomer generation moves beyond the over-65 threshold, it grows, yet many of our aging loved ones are still feeling alone in the crowd.
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Slips, Trips, and Falls and the Elderly: A Home Safety Checklist
As we all know, it is not uncommon for our beloved elderly to experience accidents in the home…and while it may seem that we are, at times, helpless as these scenarios play out, what’s important is learning how we can go about minimizing their injuries. First, it must be understood that dangers around the average home cause thousands of unintentional deaths per year – and falls are the cause of the most common fatal and nonfatal injuries among older adults.
Consider that, according to the Centers for Disease Control:
• Some 2.3 million nonfatal fall injuries among older adults in 2010 were treated in emergency departments, with more than 662,000 of these patients hospitalized.
• The direct medical costs of falls, as adjusted for inflation, was $30 billion in 2010.
• Between 20 and 30-percent of falls among adults age 65 and older result in hip fractures, head lacerations and head trauma – injuries that normally lead to making living on their own more difficult.
• More than one-third of adults 65 and older fall each year…and fewer than half of them talk about falling with their health care provider.
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Jacksonville In Home Care for Seniors: A Family Guide
If your parent or family member has begun to lose cognitive function and struggles with simple tasks, you might find it difficult to accept that circumstances have changed. You don’t want to put mom or dad into a nursing home. You’d rather keep them home as long as possible, but forgetfulness and wandering are becoming common. Perhaps, your loved one has days when getting dressed is impossible or you don’t have time in your own busy schedule to help them care for a pet.
Whether your loved one needs after-surgery care, homemaking and health aide services or already needs a hospice nurse, knowing what to do next can be a challenge. There are so many choices. Luckily, Jacksonville, Florida has many options for families wanting to give their senior member the best care. A nursing home is not the only option. Other choices include assisted living programs, continuing care groups and in home care agencies.
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ADLs: The Activities of Daily Living & Why You Need to Know for In-Home Care
We often take the tasks that we perform throughout the day for granted when we are still young and healthy. However, as we age, we start struggling with what used to be simple and seemingly automated tasks. This can be especially problematic when living alone.
Called activities of daily living, these are the vital tasks that you must perform in order to get through the day. These tasks are so essential they are used by the insurance company to determine whether you qualify for some long-term coverages. These functions run right from what you do from the time you wake up to the time you go to sleep, from personal hygiene to putting your clothes into the washing machine.
There are two types of activities of daily living that can be conducted on a regular basis. These include basic activities of daily living and instrumental activities of daily living.
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Surprising Early Signs of Glaucoma
As people age, they start experiencing various conditions their loved ones should be aware of. One of these conditions is glaucoma, which is a non-curable and irreversible condition that affects the eyes. The condition affects the sight of the victim and can lead to blindness. The onset of symptoms also affects the people around the victim, especially if they have no prior experience with the condition and are unaware of the early signs of glaucoma.
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