Learn when to think about petitioning for guardianship of an elderly parent.
In an ideal world, our family relationships would all be positive and helpful. We would manage transitional times cooperatively, smoothly, and with virtually no disagreement. As our parents grew older, it would be a seamless process to fulfill their needs today and their needs in the future. Read more
Close relationships and contentment are the keys to creating a joyful life for older adults.
It has taken nearly 80 years and a slew of scientific studies to come up with the result: a good genetic makeup and wealth really have little to do with our amount of joy. The Harvard Study of Adult Development launched in 1938, delving into the lives of high-profile participants such as Ben Bradlee and John F. Kennedy. Over the years, it is been expanded to add inner-city residents as well as offspring from the original Harvard elite, and the results were unexpected, to say the least. So, what are the keys to a joyful life for older adults?
It was established that the very best predictors of a happy and long life were not IQ, genetics, fame, finances, or social class but simply close relationships. Robert Waldinger, director of the research, a psychiatrist at Massachusetts General Hospital, and a professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, shares, “The people who were the most satisfied in their relationships at age 50 were the healthiest at age 80. Loneliness kills. It’s as powerful as smoking or alcoholism.”
Psychiatrist George Vaillant, who led the research study between 1972 – 2004, shared in his book Aging Well: Surprising Guideposts to a Happier Life from the Landmark Harvard Study of Adult Development, the contributing factors that forecast healthy aging:
The bottom line is, self-care is crucial to our level of joy – from the perspective of both physical and mental health. Devoting time and effort to making your relationships the very best they can be most certainly falls under that umbrella as well. In fact, subsequent scientific studies have revealed that the level of contentment men and women experience in their relationships is a much more accurate determinant of what their physical health is likely to be later in life than physical factors like cholesterol levels.
The research study also upended earlier thinking that our personalities are carved in stone by age 30. Many who encountered difficulties in their early adult years enjoyed happier later years, while others excelled early in life but ran into challenges in later years due to mental health issues and alcoholism.
The study is ongoing, looking into its third and fourth generations, as researchers believe there is still more to understand, such as just how to more effectively manage stress and whether a hard childhood can impact middle age and later years.
Let Responsive Home Care’s knowledgeable caregivers help instill joy in a senior’s life; contact us today! Our caregivers serve as warm and friendly companions to take part in exercise, conversations, and enjoyable activities together, fostering socialization and additional relational connections. You can reach us any time at 954-486-6440 to schedule a free in-home assessment to find out more information about our home care assistance in Plantation, FL and neighboring areas.
Simple changes can help improve the health and wellness for older adults.
Many individuals have left their New Year’s resolutions by the wayside by the end of January, but who says resolutions should only be made at the start of the year? There’s no time like the present to start a brand new habit or goal, especially when looking to improve the health and wellness as an older adult.
We have six recommendations you can implement today. Pick one to begin, or jump right into all of them to achieve the most benefit:
Responsive Home Care is here with personalized in-home care and companionship to help improve the health and wellness of older adults and to help seniors accomplish any other goals. From accompaniment to medical appointments and exercise classes to prepping and preparing healthy meals, all while giving socialization a much-needed boost, we are empowering seniors to live their best lives every day. Email or call 954-486-6440 for more information on how our caregivers in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and the surrounding areas can help a senior you love!
If it feels like a senior with Alzheimer’s has completely rewritten the rules on when and how to sleep, you are not dreaming—Alzheimer’s affects sleep. For reasons that are not yet fully understood, a number of people with dementia experience changes to their circadian rhythm, leading to sleepless nights and drowsy days.
The progression of the disease is one contributing factor. Damage to brain cells causes increased weakness, making everyday activities and tasks exhausting. Medication side effects from commonly-prescribed dementia treatments can further exacerbate the issue.
Why a Good Night’s Sleep Is Crucial for a Senior with Dementia
Decreased sleep quality in dementia may lead to an increase in restlessness and delusions and can result in serious safety concerns, including the potential for a senior to wander away and become injured or lost. Not just that, but a senior loved one who is sleepy during the day will also be less likely to engage in healthy activities, such as spending time outdoors and exercising.
And, for a busy family caregiver who also needs rest, it is typically quite a challenge to meet all of the person’s care needs during the day and throughout the night as well.
Ways to Help
Try these strategies for a senior whose sleep patterns are disrupted:
You may want to encourage a senior to try sleeping on their side rather than the back or stomach as well. Recent reports revealed a possible link between side sleeping and much more effective clearing of brain waste, such as excess beta-amyloid. Note that this study was conducted on laboratory animals, and it’s unclear yet whether the results carry over to humans.
Responsive Home Care is available to help as well, with overnight caregivers who are awake and alert, looking after the older adult’s needs throughout the night, so you can get the rest you need. Our care team members are fully trained and experienced in creative, patient approaches to meeting the unique care needs of those with Alzheimer’s disease. Give us a call at 954-486-6440 to learn more about our specialized Fort Lauderdale elderly care offered throughout the greater metropolitan area.
If someone were providing care services for you, how would you want that caregiver/care receiver relationship to look? What qualities would shift that degree of care from ordinary to extraordinary?
Taking care of an older loved one at home is a noble and selfless commitment. It’s never a responsibility that should be taken lightly, or taken on halfheartedly. These tips make it possible to become not just a fantastic caregiver, but a care champion who empowers an older adult to thrive.
Foster independence. No one wants to feel as if they’re no longer self-sufficient, or that someone is coming in and taking over. Encourage and motivate the senior to do what they are able to do safely and comfortably on their own, providing whatever support is necessary along the way.
Practice empathy. It’s a helpful exercise to routinely put yourself in the senior’s shoes and consider how you would like to be treated if roles were reversed. This may mean setting your own personal feelings aside to better understand those of the other person.
Be creative. Think outside of the box for ideas to brighten every day. For instance, declare Mondays to be “Milkshake Mondays,” experimenting with making and sampling new flavors together. If the senior loves dogs, invite a pet therapist over or spend an afternoon at the local humane society. Have a movie marathon day featuring all of the senior’s favorite films. The ideas are limitless!
Let Responsive Home Care’s trained and experienced care experts assist with additional ideas and help with care needs in the home. Call us at (954) 486-6440 to request a free in-home consultation.
Life, especially but not just during the pandemic, can be filled with uncertainty. For seniors who are feeling less in command of particular facets of life, such as losing physical or cognitive functioning, concentrating on what can be controlled is empowering.
A great place to start is by establishing a regular routine, personalized to a senior’s particular interests and needs. Keep in mind that the senior’s routine is certainly not meant to be a strict regimen to be adhered to, but merely the basis for structure and predictability. With the older adult’s direction and input, decide on a preferred framework for every day. A sample daily routine may look like this:
Daily routines are helpful for older adults and their caregivers alike, in many different ways:
Our care team is skilled at creating customized care plans and schedules in order to make each day the very best it can be for older adults and those who love them through a full range of in-home support services, including:
Call us any time at (954) 486-6440 for more information and to request a free in-home consultation.
Watch what occurs at your next family get together when a new mom places her infant in someone’s arms. The individual is likely to transition instantly into baby mode: a high-pitched, sing-song voice, exaggerated facial expressions, and overly-simplified speech. Of course, this is quite normal and actually beneficial to a baby’s growing brain.
Hopefully, however, when that baby’s great-grandfather enters the room, loved ones refrain from reacting similarly and are better at respecting their elders. Yet it happens so frequently, and can be so damaging to the elderly, that there is a term to describe it: elderspeak.
A recent research study by Susan Kemper, a professor specializing in gerontology at the University of Kansas, matched elderly listeners with younger speakers. In spite of the seniors’ instructions just to listen without interrupting while the younger people spoke to them – thus leaving no suggestion to the speakers that they were having any challenges understanding what was being said – in a great majority of cases, the speakers resorted to elderspeak.
It’s worthwhile to note as well that older adults regularly refrain from using elderspeak with each other. Studies have shown that for a great many older adults, elderspeak conveys superiority and a cold attitude.
Simply put, elderspeak can be considered belittling and patronizing. It conveys beliefs of inferiority and incompetency to older adults, instead of the admiration and respect they deserve. While typically well-meaning and meant to convey endearment, it frequently has the reverse effect.
At Responsive Home Care, we place a great emphasis on respectful interactions with each and every senior in our care. Contact us at (954) 486-6440 for an in-home consultation to learn how we can help promote independence for older adults with personalized in-home support.
One of the most common caregiver struggles is caregiver dread.
What are your first thoughts as soon as you wake up in the morning? Are you looking forward to what your day holds, or would you prefer to crawl back under the covers and remain there? If you are feeling more dread than delight as you think through your caregiving tasks for the day, you are not the only one. In fact, caregiver dread is one of the most common caregiver struggles we help families with each and every day.
Distinctly different from anxiety, depression, and even burnout, caregiver dread is a heavy, exhausted feeling of duty. It stems from feelings of overcommitment as well as the need to escape from obligations. While feasible to muscle through and carry out needed tasks in spite of these feelings, there are methods to conquer them instead – and restore the joy that comes from making life better for someone you love. To begin with, try these techniques:
Remind yourself that the work you are doing in caring for your senior loved one is extremely important. Yet also keep in mind that no one can do it all, and in order to provide the very best care for the senior and for yourself, frequent breaks from care tasks are essential.
Connect with our experts in elder care in Fort Lauderdale and nearby areas at (954) 486-6440 to arrange for regular respite care services and release the stress of caregiving dread. We’re here for as much or as little assistance as you need to help you enjoy quality time together with a family member and also to rediscover joy in your own life as well.
Employers may now have a different perspective on those taking care of elderly parents post-pandemic.
If there is a single positive after-effect regarding the pandemic, it is the appreciation generated for the plight of family caregivers. Managing work and home life is without question a tremendous challenge for those taking care of elderly parents. As Lindsay Jurist-Rosner, CEO of Wellthy, explains, “Caregiving went from a silent struggle to being in the spotlight overnight.”
Businesses were suddenly thrown into the fire of navigating a world of balancing the safety of staff along with the need to uphold productivity. Here is what we discovered – and what we can expect in the future:
Let Responsive Home Care, who offers the best respite care in Weston, FL and the surrounding areas, further help nurture a better work-life balance with our dependable respite care services. Regular, ongoing respite care is key to the general wellness of family caregivers. Our skilled and compassionate home care team is on hand to help with anything from only a few hours every week up to and including 24/7 care. Call us at (954) 486-6440 to request a no cost in-home assessment to find out more.
Are humidifiers good for COPD? We’ve got the answers you need!
For seniors with lung conditions, maintaining the ideal air quality in the house is vital for managing COPD symptoms. Air that is too dry, for instance, may cause or exacerbate health issues; for example:
Yet air that is too humid can cause mold and mildew to develop, which can cause a number of health problems along with causing damage to the house.
So, are humidifiers good for treating COPD symptoms in older adults?
Humidifiers, when used correctly, can help maintain the perfect degree of moisture in the air (between 30 – 50%), and especially for anyone with a chronic lung disease, can foster eased breathing, reduced irritation of nasal passages, and also the ability to more efficiently expel phlegm in coughing.
Furthermore, using a humidifier during the night can ease snoring and congestion, help minimize the amount of any allergens, viruses and bacteria in the air, even relieve a dry scalp. Again, use caution to be sure the level of humidity does not exceed the ideal range, which could bring about disrupted sleep patterns.
There are different types of humidifiers available:
Check with a doctor about the advantages of a humidifier in your loved one’s specific circumstances, and which kind is preferred.
Responsive Home Care, the top-rated provider of home care in Deerfield Beach, FL and surrounding areas, is here to assist individuals with chronic health problems like COPD, or simply just the challenges inherent in normal aging, through a variety of home care services. Contact us at 954-486-6440 to see how we can help you breathe easier with reliable in-home support.
Responsive Home Care is the ideal solution to achieve a healthier life balance – both for family caregivers and the older adults in their care.
Our facial expressions reveal so much to people around us, and when you are experiencing an abnormal degree of stress, well-meaning friends will certainly notice it, perhaps encouraging you to essentially, “Cheer up, buttercup!” In reality, of course, it requires a lot more than a few words to turn our mood around and to help us overcome caregiver stress.
Recent research supports the idea of positive thinking as a method to decrease levels of depression and anxiety which occur when we are flooded with stress – something essential for busy family caregivers to take to heart to reduce the possibility for burnout.
Judith Moskowitz, lead psychologist in the research project who subsequently created a course to overcome the unpredictable manner of emotions so frequent in individuals providing care for a senior loved one, says, “We’re not saying don’t be sad or upset about what’s going on. But we know people can experience positive emotions alongside that negative emotion, and that positive emotion can help them cope better.”
The primary techniques in her program include the following:
• Keep a journal of things for which you’re grateful – including the small things.
• Identify at least one uplifting event every single day.
• Talk about this occurrence with your family on social networks.
• Establish one new goal every day, and keep track of your progress in achieving it.
• Identify one of your talents and contemplate how you’re making use of that skill.
• Undertake one daily simple act of kindness for another.
• Think about a negative event, and then discover a way to view it in a positive light.
• Practice focused breathing and mindfulness to bring back a sense of calm.
For those of you providing care for a loved one with dementia, the need to concentrate on positives can be much more vital to overall wellbeing. Family caregivers who participated in a recent five-week study where the effectiveness of these coping skills was evaluated documented a decrease in depression scores of 16%, and a decrease in anxiety of 14%.
In addition to the strategies above, it is necessary for family caregivers to stop isolating themselves and trying to manage their caregiving duties solo, which can very quickly bring on caregiver burnout along with other significant health problems. Partnering with an established Sunrise elderly care, like Responsive Home Care, is the ideal solution to help in achieving a healthier life balance – both for family caregivers and the older adults in their care.
Life is indeed stressful, but we are ready to help! Contact Responsive Home Care, the leader in home health care in Pembroke Pines, and let us help you overcome caregiver stress so that you can concentrate on self-care and good quality time with those you love.
At Responsive Home Care, we’re always available to help seniors through medical appointments and procedures in a variety of ways.
On any particular day, a physician usually has close to 20 patients to see – in addition to calls, paperwork, and other administrative duties. It leaves precious little time spent with each person, which is why it is essential to take advantage of that time and ensure you clearly understand the outcome of doctor visits for seniors.
At Responsive Home Care, our caregivers provide accompaniment for seniors to medical appointments, and suggest the following strategy:
• Don’t be reluctant to ask questions. With such a time crunch, your physician may tend to communicate information to you quickly, that’s why it’s up to you to hit the pause button to make sure you fully comprehend everything that is being said and to speak up with any questions you may have, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant it may seem they are.
• And, strategize in advance for those questions. It can be tricky to absorb everything being shared with you in the couple of minutes spent together with the doctor. Preparing a list of problems ahead of time will help ensure nothing slips through the cracks. Several questions to consider include:
• Take excellent notes. Bring along paper and a pen, or utilize the notes section of your smartphone or tablet, and jot down responses to your questions along with additional information the doctor provides. It may be helpful to have a dependable family member or professional caregiver from Responsive Home Care with you during the appointment to make sure all things are understood.
• Include other medical experts. Bear in mind that although the information provided by the physician is important, other individuals within the senior’s medical team could possibly offer valuable insight as well: nurses, pharmacists, physician assistants, dieticians, physical therapists, etc. Check in with these professionals for additional assistance with carrying out the doctor’s guidelines if warranted.
At Responsive Home Care, a top senior care company Ft. Lauderdale and the surrounding areas trust, we’re always available to assist seniors through medical appointments and procedures in a variety of ways, as well as to help carry out doctors’ recommendations after returning home. We’re able to provide accompaniment to appointments, medication reminders, preparation of meals that are in adherence with any prescribed dietary plan, and many other tasks to ensure optimum health for seniors. Contact us online or call our care team at 954-486-6440 for more information about how to make the most of doctor visits for seniors!
2949 W. Cypress Creek Road
Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309
Phone: 954-486-6440
Toll Free: 888-544-6440
Fax: 954-486-6449
