2February2012
Posted by Shirley Cohen under: Senior News.
The chill, windy, rainy and overcast days of January reminds us of how much fun cooking and eating delicious home-made foods with people you care about is. When you take a bite of a cooked concoction made with natural ingredients, whether it’s a soup or a stew that’s been simmering on the stove, you can’t help but feel nurtured and content. That’s why we always keep a sharp eye out for caregivers who love to cook and are good at it.
I personally believe there is a big difference between good, clean, natural food and processed foods that have a ton of unfamiliar and unpronounceable chemicals in them. I would even venture to say that processed foods have negative effects on the body, and it would behoove people to try to eliminate as many unfamiliar ingredients in their diets as they can in order to support their health and the health of the people who eat the foods they make. I do admit that I’m a big subscriber to the theory of nutrition which asserts that, food is medicine. (See article, Eat Your Medicine: Food as Pharmacology, by Dr. Mark Hyman, which appeared in our October, 2011 issue and is linked here.)
Now with 60% of Americans describing themselves as overweight, and with so many of us who are diabetic and have other serious health issues, it might be a good time to consider making some changes, starting with slowing down on the consumption of fast and processed foods. Why not dedicate these long, chilly nights to cooking a delicious and aromatic pot of something tasty and nutritious? Lack of time is not a good excuse anymore for not cooking because vegetables, meats and poultry, these days, come already cut up and ready to use. And if you’re looking for recipes, you can find them in a minute on your smart phone or by calling up a friend or relative who loves to cook.
So start cooking and baking–your friends and family members will love it. It’ll also save you a lot of money, you’ll have fun, you’ll eat more nutritionally, and you’ll have great leftovers for lunch the next day. To that end, please check out our monthly newsletter for excellent suggestions from our in house chef, we know you’ll love cooking them. Eat, drink and be healthy!
Shirley Cohen
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Shirley Cohen is the Executive Director of Home Sweet Home Care, a full-service home care aide agency serving the San Francisco Bay Area since 1990.
3January2012
Posted by Shirley Cohen under: Senior News.
Here’s a fresh idea from a recent Wall Street Journal about managing your New Year’s resolutions. Instead of making them yourself this year and then breaking them, within a month or two, as so many of us tend to do, why not invite a trusted spouse, relative or friend (someone who knows what you want and need) to make them for you and then help you stick to them–that way you can get an objective perspective and some real support with helping you make some positive changes. Of course, the person you select should also agree to let you help them set a couple of good resolutions for them too, and help you make the personal changes that you both agree would be a good thing for you to do.
Enlisting the help of friends and family members to accomplish your goals will undoubtedly strengthen your resolve to make positive changes. Check out the article for more input about this great idea. Managing your New Year’s Resolutions
13December2011
Posted by Shirley Cohen under: Choosing In Home Caregivers; Senior News.
A caregiver doesn’t always recognize when they are in over their heads, and often get to a breaking point. After a prolonged period of time, caregiving can become too difficult to endure any longer. Short-term the caregiver can handle it. Long-term, help is needed. Outside help at this point is needed.
A typical pattern with an overloaded caregiver may unfold as follows:
- 1 to 18 months – the caregiver is confident, has everything under control and is coping well. Other friends and family are lending support.
- 20 to 36 months – the caregiver may be taking medication to sleep and control mood swings. Outside help dwindles away and except for trips to the store or doctor, the caregiver has severed most social contacts. The caregiver feels alone and helpless.
- 38 to 50 months – Besides needing tranquilizers or antidepressants, the caregiver’s physical health is beginning to deteriorate. Lack of focus and sheer fatigue cloud judgment and the caregiver is often unable to make rational decisions or ask for help.
It is often at this stage that family or friends intercede and find other solutions for care. This may include respite care, hiring home health aides or putting the disabled loved one in a facility. Without intervention, the caregiver may become a candidate for long term care as well.
With the holiday season upon us, caregivers feel even more stress — with planning, shopping and participating in holiday activities. This is a perfect time for family and friends to step up and provide some respite time and caregiving help. Whether it is provided personally or arranged as a gift of services to be provided by a professional respite company or home care provider, it is a welcome gift.
An article in “Today’s Caregiver” states:
“Nearly one in four caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias provide 40 hours a week or more of care. Seventy-one percent sustain this commitment for more than a year, and 32 percent do so for five years or more. One of the best gifts you can give someone caring for Alzheimer’s is something that relieves the stress or provides a bit of respite for the caregiver.
The Gift of time: Cost-effective and truly meaningful gifts are self-made coupons for cleaning the house, preparing a meal, moving lawn/shoveling driveway, respite times that allow the caregiver time off to focus on what he/she needs.”
It is also important to note that hiring professional care provider services can provide valuable ongoing support to an overloaded caregiver. A financial planner, care funding specialist or a reverse mortgage specialist may find the funds to pay for professional help to keep a loved one at home. A care manager can guide the family and the caregiver through the maze of long term care issues. The care manager has been there many times — the family is experiencing it for the first time.
An elder law attorney can help iron out legal problems. And an elder mediator can help solve disputes between family members. There are also cash benefits for Veterans, who served during a period of war, that pay for home care or assisted living.
If you are the one providing daily care for a loved one, you owe it to yourself to seek help.
Take care of yourself and your needsm, both physically and mentally. Seek out professional help that will ease your burden and look for community service organizations that offer respite help.
The National Care Planning Council’s website www.longtermcarelink.net contains hundreds of articles with tips and advice for caregivers and their families. Take a few minutes to find the help you need and enjoy this holiday season.
Shirley Cohen
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Shirley Cohen is the Executive Director of Home Sweet Home Care, a full-service home care aide agency serving the San Francisco Bay Area since 1990.
2December2011
Posted by Shirley Cohen under: Senior Health; Senior News.
An article published in this week’s J Weekly of Northern California highlights a little known but worrisome fact: Fewer and fewer doctors are going into Gerontology because it is one of the lowest-paying specialties in the medical field. Unless we figure out how to incentivize medical students to become Geriatricians, aging boomers can plan on experiencing critical shortages of elder care doctor specialists in the next 20 years, just when they’ll need them most.
Matt Sedensky’s AP story about this problem (click here for article) gives us a great glimpse into the importance of having doctors who are specially-trained to understand and respond to a wide range of medical needs of seniors. “Geriatricians have expertise in areas that general internists don’t, including the changes in cognitive ability, mood, gait, balance, and continence, as well as the effects of drugs on older individuals,” he writes, and “are best equipped to respond when an older patient has multiple medical problems.”
So if you don’t want to throw yourself or your grandparents under the bus, take an interest in this issue and see what improvements you can effect by your votes and other choices and decisions you may have the opportunity to make, relative to this matter, as time goes on.
We hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend and are ready to jump into the lovely, holiday hustle and bustle of December. And to our beloved senior friends, enjoy the holidays but please take good care of yourselves because, as we now know, good Geriatricians are few and far between.
Shirley Cohen
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Shirley Cohen is the Executive Director of Home Sweet Home Care, a full-service home care aide agency serving the San Francisco Bay Area since 1990.
