Seniors ETC - In-home senior, parent, companion care, hospice support in Colorado

1. Time to winterize your home. Make appointments for tree trimming, gutter cleaning, lawn and garden care, sprinkler system repair and blow out, snow removal, etc An in-home caregiver can help your loved one make the appointments, and be there as people show up to perform the work.

2. Organize the closets. Put summer items into storage, and bring out the winter items. An in-home care giver can help your loved one clean and organize the home, and talk about the memories along the way.

3. Make appointments for yearly checkups, and get flu vaccinations, shingles vaccinations, etc. Elderly may need several visits with the doctors to get it all in. An in-home care specialist can get her there to every appointment, and organize the appointments as necessary.

4. The holidays are coming. An in-home caregiver can set up holiday arrangements, bring your loved one to lunches and get togethers, and help shop for holiday presents and functions.

5. School’s in session. If you’re busy getting the kids to school events, soccer games, and birthday sleepovers, an in-home caregiver can help you manage your parents activities and daily habits. From fixing light meals, to organizing daily medication, stop worrying about the status of your parents.

6. Time out. Are you spending 24 hours of the day worrying and caring for your loved one? It’s time for you to take time out for yourself. Even just a couple hours a week can give you the break you need. An in-home caregiver will give you peace of mind while you’re away.

7. Keep the memories. As we move into the holidays, memories of the past come flooding in. An in-home caregiver can help your loved one set up for the holidays, create scrapbooks with old photos and keepsakes, and maybe organize a lunch or two with old friends.

Staying happy and healthy is important for the both of you. Giving yourself just a few extra hours a week can give you both a new outlook on life. What are you waiting for? Contact an in-home caregiver today.

How do you know when your loved one is ready for in home health care? How do you choose someone you can trust and is reliable?

Wh ether you are forced into a decision quickly because of surgery or a fall, or you’ve spent months wondering what your next step should be, choosing an in home care provider is a difficult task.

Eldercare has a great resource that provides a list of 20 questions to think about as you are hiring an in home care provider. Questions like:

• How long has the agency been serving this community? and
• How closely do supervisors oversee care to ensure quality?

may seem obvious.

Check through the entire list and use it as a guideline when meeting your potentials.

Once you make your selection, it also provides you with a list of things to tell the health care worker. Even little things can make a caregivers job a lot easier. You may know your loved one’s likes and dislikes; the caregiver doesn’t. Having key pieces of information can save both your loved one and the caregiver frustration.

photo source juliaf

The hardest thing about getting help is admitting you need it.

If your loved one is doing more than she should, and you constantly worry about her, maybe it’s time to get some help.

Caregivers are there as much for you as for your parent or loved one. It’s hard to put your mind at ease while working or with other family activities when you’re worried.

Consider hiring small activities to begin the adjustment.

If she has trouble driving, yet still drives to the grocery store every Thursday, have a friend drive her and take her out to lunch in the process. It will be a fun day for both.

If she has trouble fixing meals and cleaning up afterwards, consider making fun, nutritious meals together that she can easily put into the microwave.

If she loves to head outdoors for walks but has trouble getting back home, find her a walking buddy.

And if you can’t be there or are too far away, it’s easy to hire a caregiver you can trust. 

Ease her in caregiving by having her rely on one or two at the beginning. She’ll be more open to other help as time goes by.

If you don’t live with your elderly parents, one of your many concerns may be their eating habits. Are they getting good quality meals every day?

In some cases, your parents may still enjoy cooking, but they have lost the ability to get to the grocery store on a regular basis. Many stores offer delivery services, and will bring groceries to your parents on a regular basis. Try Safeway, Albertsons,  and even Amazon offers delivery services.

If they don’t enjoy cooking, make-and-take kitchens are available that allow you to make a variety of dinners and bring them home to freeze. Then it’s as simple as taking them out of the freezer and popping them into the oven. Try My Girlfriends Kitchen and Let’s Dish

If you’re still worried whether they are eating properly, it may be time to ensure your parents are eating. Hire an in-home caregiver. They can do the grocery shopping, make the meals, and provide company while your parent eats.

A final option is Meals on Wheels, which brings a properly balanced meal directly to your parents home. Find your local organization .

Let’s talk about a problem that often is not discussed—your child’s or grandchild’s vulnerability to identity theft. This crime can often go unnoticed until your child applies for their first credit card, a school loan, or a job. Sadly, many times this crime is perpetrated by a family member.

I was told this awful story. A 19-year-old male went to apply for his first credit card, shortly after becoming married. He was denied credit. When he ordered a credit report he was shocked to discover that his mother, who had left the family when he was 10 and been estranged, had used his Social Security number to open credit accounts which were all in default. He was left with the long process of trying to clear his name.

Approximately 6 weeks following the birth of a child, from information provided in the hospital at birth, your child will receive their Social Security card in the mail.  If this information can be stolen, credit can be opened in the name of a child. Unknown to many is the fact that credit issuers & credit reporting agencies may not have a way to verify the age of an applicant and information provided is taken at face value.

Here are some reminders for parents and grandparents:

• Never carry the Social Security number of a child in a purse/wallet;
• When registering a child for school, ask if providing a SS# is optional and what would happen if you don’t provide it;
• Teach your children to never give out personal information over the phone, on any Internet site, or to any organization;
• If you need to show a Social Security card for a child to participate in sports, provide the card then return it to a safe place. If a photocopy is needed, show the original card and place the photocopy in a sealed envelope. Write your name in colored ink across the flap of the envelope so when it is returned you can tell if it has ever been opened;
• Suppress the credit of your child (Information Sheet—Addendum)

Newborns receive a Social Security number weeks following their birth.  Social Security Numbers are the key to obtaining credit.  The three major credit reporting agencies do not know us by name but rather by our Social Security numbers.  Consequently, should ID thieves fraudulently obtain your child’s Social Security number, they can open credit in a child’s name.  Unfortunately this information is usually not discovered until the child applies for credit the first time or applies for a job for the first time.

You may be able to suppress the credit of your children until they reach the age of 18 (the age where children are considered legally capable of enforcing a contract).  Suppressing their credit will block access to your child’s credit report and can be an effective means of preventing some forms of Identity Theft.

To suppress the credit of a child, send a request in writing by Certified Mail, with ‘Return Receipt,’ to each of the three major consumer credit reporting agencies:

Include the following in your request:

• State that you are writing on behalf of your child, as the legal guardian, list the child’s Social Security number and include a photocopy of your government issued ID;
• Provide your child’s full name, with middle initial and generation,
            such as Jr.;
• Enclose a copy of the child’s Birth Certificate;
• Ask for credit suppression until the child’s 18TH birthday.

Four to six weeks after your request, obtain one copy of your child’s credit report on www.annualcreditreport.com  to ensure that the credit has been suppressed.

Source: District Attorney Scott Storey, Office of Jefferson/Gilpin Counties, Colorado

What do you give your Mother for Mother’s Day when she’s experiencing Alzheimer’s or dementia?

Look for things she enjoys doing now, and for things that have been a big part of her life.

Give simple gifts that she can enjoy easily and work with her current abilities. If she enjoys music, how about a favorite CD. If she enjoys comedies, why not a DVD of her favorite comedian? You can get numerous TV shows on DVD, both current and from years past. I Love Lucy reruns may bring on a smile any day.

It’s not always about the gift. Maybe a day out together would be just as memorable. If she enjoys gardening, a walk through a local park on a nice day is fun for the both of you. Make a day of it and bring her out for a favorite lunch.

Spend a day creating memories, old and new. Scrapbooking is a wonderful activity that allows your Mom to reminisce about the times she remembers, and allows her to create a memory for the both of you. It may be important to her to share some of her memories with you - this is a great activity for anytime you have a few hours to share. 

For moms in later stages, consider things that will help her day to day. Memory phones, videos, books and activities, clothing - anything to make a caregivers job a little easier. A great place to go to find a variety of products is the Alzheimer’s Store.   How about a FiddleTwiddle?

In America, we have long assumed our foods are safe. So when it makes front page news that there is contamination, such as salmonella poisoning, we all sit up and take note.

Salmonella is usually associated with bacteria in raw meat, poultry or dairy products. But your fruits and vegetables can also carry the bacteria. And if you’ve ever had food poisoning, you know its not fun. Especially for the seniors in our care. In fact it can even be life threatening if a person is weak or already suffering from other ailments.

Chances are you wash fruits and vegetables that you eat whole, like berries, tomatoes and lettuce. But what about fruits and vegetables with thick skins, like cantaloupe, watermelon or pineapple?

We often look at them as "safe" foods because of the skin. But if they do carry bacteria, it can be passed inside to the fruit as your knife touches the skin, and passes through to the middle. The easiest way to ensure your safety is to wash all fruits and vegetables thoroughly before you cut into it. 

Whether you are taking care of a parent or loved one, or have an in home care giver come into your loved one’s home, there are certain things you should have readily available at all times as the caregiver.

Use this checklist to create an information sheet and have it readily available. Tuck one into your loved one’s purse or wallet. Hang one on their refrigerator for easy access. Keep one with you as well.

• Health Insurance Plan Number
• Medicare Number
• Medicaid Number
• Doctors’ names, specialties, addresses and phone numbers
• Health care providers names, specialties, addresses and phone numbers
• In Home health care providers’ names, specialties, addresses and phone numbers
• Current medications, including name of drug, dosage, and how often taken

You may also wish to keep a second checklist available for you and immediate family members.

• Location of important documents, including living will, will, power of attorney, birth certificate, divorce decree, property deeds and safe deposit boxes.
• Sources of income, including where it’s coming from and how much
• Bank accounts
• Investments, including CDs, stocks, bonds, mutal funds, IRAs
• Insurance policies
• Funeral and Burial information
• Social security numbers

Studies continually show that seniors thrive far more when living in their own homes with their comfortable surroundings than when they are placed in assisted living or nursing homes. 

With 4.2 million Americans currently over the age of 85, and the number expecting to grow to 5.9 million by 2014, the need for in home care is definitely growing. The exploding need for long term care is changing the way we look at health care, and especially long term care. And in some cases, has policy experts worried over the quality of businesses being started in this industry.

While many of us are used to looking into the quality of day care facilities for our children, it’s equally important that you spend the time looking at the quality of the services offered by the care giving facility for your elderly loved one. In many ways the senior population is just as vulnerable as children, often not being able to speak for themselves.

To make sure you have a reputable caregiving service provider, do your due diligence. Ask for references. Look towards the community to see how active they are. Do your research. Just by typing the company into Google and doing a few searches you can often discover a world of information.

According to the Evercare Study of Caregivers in Decline, a report put out by Evercare and the National Alliance for Caregiving, caregivers in general find their own health issues in a downward spiral because of the pressure associated with caregiving.

The study found that 15% of the respondents stated their health has gotten a lot worse because of providing care, 44% say it has gotten moderately worse, and 41% stated their health is a little worse as a result of their caregiving.

Despite their health problems, caregiving responsiblities do not subside. In fact for many caregivers, the time allocated to caregiving continues to increase. And most have no choice but to continue in the caregiving role.

The most common health complaints are:

energy and sleep 87%

stress and/or panic attacks 70%

pain, aching 60%

depression 52%

headaches 41%

weight gain/loss 38%