Home is where we can truly relax and be ourselves, and that’s just part of why so many older individuals make the choice to remain at home throughout aging. But in many cases wheelchairs will become a part of life when seniors or those with certain disabilities experience decreased mobility. This can be especially challenging when it comes to ensuring the home is safe. Thankfully, a few home modifications for…
Finding Work-Life Balance for Family Caregivers
Regardless of whether or not you love your job, the workplace can, at times, be stressful. Now consider how stressful it can be for those who have a second full-time job taking care of an older or disabled family member. For many family caregivers, balancing caregiving and a career can be virtually impossible, along with taking care of a home and family, and caring for an older loved one, which…
Family Caregiver Tips: Practicing Self Care
We plan for our careers. We plan to purchase a home. We plan for a family. However, life often has other plans and throws unanticipated curveballs. Taking care of an aging parent is often not a role most people plan for, and many are unaware of the financial burden, the amount of time required to provide that care, and the emotional toll it can take. Luckily, there are a few…
Holiday Safety for Seniors – Avoiding Emergency Room Visits
Although of course we’d love to visualize enjoying a Norman Rockwell-worthy holiday gathering, with all of our family members spending quality time together and Mom’s traditional holiday feast, the reality for numerous family gatherings instead can consist of something unanticipated: an E/R visit. In fact, research shows that E/R visits for seniors rise about 10 – 20% over the holiday season. That’s why it’s so important to take holiday safety…
Enriching Activities for Seniors that Promote Purpose and Self-Worth
Perform an online search for the term “activities for seniors” and you’ll likely find a number of games, crafts, memory-stimulating puzzles, and of course, the requisite bingo. What you won’t find, unless you really search much longer, are the purposeful, philanthropic activities that bring meaning and enrichment to our lives. And yet, if you ask aging adults what they would most want to do, the majority of them will not…
Increasing Senior Self-Confidence Through Meaningful Activities
“Here, let me help you with that.” “Take it easy and don’t overdo it!” “You just sit down and rest; I’ll take care of that.” How many times have we made statements just like these to senior loved ones, with the very best of intentions, of course? We want to do whatever possible in an effort to help our older loved ones, to keep them safe and to take care…
Long Distance Caregiving: How to Prepare to Help Aging Parents From Far Away
Living far away from senior loved ones can make the need for help at home easier to overlook. As a matter of fact, many adult children of older parents never even realize that Mom and Dad need assistance until they come home for a visit or spend a longer period of time together during the course of the holiday season. If you are a family caregiver who lives far apart…
The Sandwich Generation and Making Caregiving Manageable
Are your senior parents in need of care? At the same time are you attempting to meet the needs of children and family at home? If so, you are a member of the sandwich generation – a demographic of men and women, usually in their 30s or 40s, who are now responsible for raising their own children while simultaneously providing care for their senior parents. The to-do lists of this…
Home Modifications to Help Seniors Impacted by Reduced or Low Vision
Among all of our senses, our vision is probably the one for which we’re most grateful. So much of our life’s experiences are a result of the things we notice in the world around us. Our sight also safeguards us from a variety of risks. Reduced or low vision can make it more problematic to avoid the dangers and barriers we come across, both within and outside of the home.
Post-Holiday Let-Down: Tips to Combat Loneliness in the Elderly
The holidays can be filled with a whirlwind of busyness for the seniors we love, with family get-togethers, holiday parties, faith-based events and services, and deciding on the best gifts for the ones they love. Yet after the ornaments are packed away and families have resumed the daily busyness of life, many seniors encounter a typical but little-discussed concern: post-holiday loneliness.