Frequently Asked Questions for Aging Life Care Professionals
Aging Life Care Professionals are specialized caseworkers who focus on holistic geriatric care management. They can be an excellent resource for both family caregivers and isolated older adults, providing help and advocacy across a variety of disciplines. We spoke with Brenda Shorkend, an independent Aging Life Care Professional with over 25 years of experience, and got answers to five most frequently asked questions for Aging Life Care Professionals.
Meal Prepping for Aging Parents
Preparing a week’s worth of meals in advance may sound daunting, but if you are an adult child caregiving for aging parents, meal prepping gives you peace of mind that your loved ones will get enough nutrients.
5 Healthy Seasonal Recipes
“Get healthy” is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions. If this is your goal, how about achieving it by eating produce in season? Consuming seasonal foods not only means that your meals are going to be packed with flavors and nutrients, but it can also benefit your wallet.
5 Ways Seniors Can Beat the Post-Holiday Blues
The holidays are over. Sigh. After New Year’s Day, the letdown of the holiday season hits a low note for many of us, leaving us feeling lonely, depressed and just not up for socializing. How can we beat this post-holiday blues?
RightConversations Guide--How to Initiate The Conversation With Seniors
Right at Home developed RightConversations Guide to offer tips on discussing home care with senior loved ones and family.
Diagnosing Hearing Loss in Adults and Seniors
“People think hearing loss is an old-person thing,” says Maionchi, an audiologist. “But my average patient is in their mid- to late 50s."
How Can You Treat Arthritis With Aquatic Exercise?
People with arthritis tend to be less active due to pain and discomfort. But in warm water, the muscles are more relaxed and therefore more flexible for stretching and exercises.
During the Holidays, Watch for Clues Indicating Your Senior Loved One Might Need Help
Are you spending an extended amount of time with your loved ones during the holidays? If so, it may be an ideal time for your to be on the lookout for the well-being of an aging loved one. Here's what you should keep an eye on:
Join Our Free CEU Webinar "Aging In Place" on December 14!
Right at Home is hosting a free CEU webinar entitled "Aging in Place: The Preferences of Today's Aging Generation" in collaboration with the American Society on Aging (ASA). Join us for this one-hour program on December 14!
The Gift of Personal Touch – How Geriatric Massage Can Comfort Seniors
Geriatic massage not only improves aging health conditions, it also benefits seniors with limited social interaction. "The loving touch that goes along with therapeutic touch is immensely powerful," says Nicole Joy, a certified geriatric massage therapist.
We Need to Talk about Death and Celebrate Life
Grote Johnson’s father brought the family together. He told his children that he wanted to go out of this world in comfort and dignity. He had decided on hospice at that point. Being a registered nurse and having experience working at a home health and hospice agency in the past, Grote Johnson felt thankful for her father’s openness to have such a difficult conversation with his children, and for his unconventional way of educating his family on the topic.
Is it time to ask for help?
He is staring right at me but somehow things feel a little “off.” There is tension in his eyes as though he is struggling to remember who I am. He is at a loss for words to explain what is going on.
He is my father, my go-to person for everything—guidance, love, support and comfort.
Seniors Bullying Seniors
When people envision a bully, they think about a young kid or adolescent picking on someone smaller than them. What happens when an adult becomes the victim of bullying?
Hearing Loss Increases Risk for Dementia
Hearing loss affects more than 48 million Americans. The National Institutes of Health estimates that a third of U.S. adults age 65-74 and up to half of adults over age 75 have measurable hearing impairment.
“We Are Downsizing, But What About Our Stuff?”
“Moving is the third-most stressful life event that a person can experience, just behind death of a loved one and divorce,” says McMahon. “There is a very emotional and physical process to moving, and it helps to have someone get you through it.”
Scams Targeting Seniors
“Hi, Grandma. Hey, Grandpa. I’m in trouble, but please don’t tell anyone. Please. The cops arrested me and I didn’t do anything. I need $1,000 to post bail. I need you to send me money.”
Person-Centered Cognitive Support
Millions of Americans live with cognitive change, a decline of mental functioning that can affect memory, reasoning, language and judgment. Cognitive change, outside of the natural aging process, stems from a number of causes including head injury, stroke and neurological conditions.
Lifelong Learning Opportunities for Older Adults and Retirees
It’s that time of year again: back to school. And while you might think that only applies to kids, there are actually a significant amount of older folks who choose to go back to school post-retirement. In fact, more so than prior generations, seniors are choosing to continue their educations later in life, proving that it’s never too late to learn something new.
Fall Vegetable and Herb Gardening
Put on your brimmed hat, gloves and clogs. Stretch your green thumb. The sizzling days of summer are fading to the refreshing temperatures of fall—the perfect time for planting cool-season vegetables and herbs. Artichokes, spinach, radishes, cilantro and parsley are favorite headliners of late-season gardens. Whether you are new to garden planting or know your way around compost and N-P-K ratios, we’ve got several tips and reminders for your fall gardening.
Bell’s Palsy vs. a Stroke
Bell’s palsy is a temporary paralysis of the face caused by inflammation, compression or trauma to the facial nerve. Typically, the disorder only affects one side of the face, and the resulting physical distortion occurs suddenly and peaks within 48 hours. Because of the facial paralysis and possible affected speech, Bell’s palsy may be confused with a stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA), but Bell’s palsy is not connected with either of these conditions.
Caregiver’s Qualities Ensure Long, Successful Career Helping Seniors
When Karen arrived for work one afternoon and was kicked out of the home of a memory care client in her care who didn’t seem to recognize her, she didn’t panic. Instead, Karen walked out the door and decided to improvise. She put her hair up in a ponytail and knocked on the door. Her client greeted her with a big smile and invited her to come in the house.
Aging in Place: How to Stay in Your Home in Later Life
These baby boom boys and girls are now aging individuals who almost all agree on one thing: living in their own home later in life. Nearly 90 percent of the nation’s aging baby boomers want to age in place.
Hosting a Healthy Senior-Friendly Passover
Debbie is a new grandmother who is looking forward to not only spending time with her granddaughter, but seeing her own mother interact with the newest family member. Four generations will be together this year. She explains, “Family is really core of the religion for me.”
California Family Makes Senior Nutrition a Mission
Educating people about nutritious food is the first step toward achieving health empowerment. The second step is actually making nutritious food available to them. Through their work with food, the Atwoods are potentially empowering an entire post-retirement community to take control of their health.
Alcohol and Female Boomer Health
If you are female and in your 50s and early 60s, you may want to raise a glass of wine to a study in the journal Menopause: moderate alcohol consumption may lower your risk of osteoporosis.
Challenges of Retiring on Social Security
If the thought of retiring and living solely on your Social Security benefits scares you, you may have reason to breathe a sigh of relief, or at least exhale enough to realize that it is possible to live a happy life in America on a senior’s fixed income.
Can Table Tennis Help Prevent Falls?
Table tennis is an activity that many elders participate in, regardless of physical ability. Aside from being enjoyable, playing table tennis can also help elders avoid falling. As a physical exercise, table tennis helps reduce the risk of falls.
Better Digestion After the Thanksgiving Feast
You swirl another ladle of gravy on the mashed potatoes and gulp down another helping of turkey. But before the pumpkin pie is cut, you start to feel that internal restlessness. What happens to your body’s digestion when you overeat?
Favorite Inventions of Your Generation
The airplane, phonograph, automobile and motion picture were just a few of the most notable inventions of years gone by. What would you list as your most-appreciated scientific invention of your generation? Here’s a few decades’ worth to get you started.
Socialization –– How It Benefits Caregivers and Care Receivers
Caregivers are frequently told how important it is for them to stay engaged socially, but I think we sometimes forget how beneficial it can also be for the care receiver.
5 Exercises That Are Vital To Your Independence
The key to preserving mobility in old age? You have got to move! Here are 5 core and glutes exercises that are vital to your independence.
5 Things We Learned From Reagan’s Alzheimer’s and Thatcher’s Dementia
In what is considered his farewell address to the American people, former President Ronald Reagan penned a November 5, 1994, letter announcing his recently diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease, the irreversible neurological condition that is the most frequent form of dementia.
Moving Keeps You Mobile
Decreased mobility due to aging is not irreversible, even though studies show that people typically lose 8 percent or more muscle mass every decade after age 40. Muscle mass gives you strength and is associated with mobility. For some older adults, it is also vital to their independence.
Special Exercise for Life and Fitness (SELF)
As a trained exercise physiologist, Dr. Berg used to give lectures on diabetes around Omaha, Nebraska. Eventually, he decided to bring people in and show them what to do to meet their needs, instead of just talking about it. The "SELF" program was born as a result.
3 Indicators That It Might Be Time to Bring In Outside Help
You don’t always have to wait until an emergency happens to get help, though. Here are three indicators that it might be time to bring in some help.
4 “Sugar Strategies” for People With Diabetes to Enjoy Desserts
Every year, Americans celebrate National Dessert Day (October 14) by sampling a full menu of sweets. Do you know which American age group is most likely to pick up their dessert fork or to dip a spoon in some dessert decadence?
Centenarian Devoted Career to Civil Service
“People waste their later years because they feel defeated by age, or by health,” says Ladimer. “But there are still ways they can create change. It’s never too late for change.”
Too Much Television Is Bad for You
A study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association finds that Americans who watch at least three hours of television a day double their risk of dying prematurely compared to people who watch TV an hour or less a day.
Finding the Right Pill Organizer
While pill organizers can help avoid medication errors, there must be a good fit between the user and the pill organizer, otherwise, the benefits of using a pill organizer will be lost, and may actually impair one’s health.
How Family Mediation Can Help You Manage the Aging Process
As our parents age, it is time for the family to unite to create a working plan that considers the needs and concerns of the entire family. Family members need to have these difficult conversations in a real way to ensure that their aging parents are safe and that family relationships survive. Elder/family mediation is a successful tool that gives families a way to effectively manage the aging process that confronts us all.
3 Tips to Successful Travel With Grandchildren
Spending time with grandkids isn’t just about making sure they have a good time. It’s an opportunity to teach them how to treat other people. If we act like a doormat, we teach them that it is OK to be rude and inconsiderate.
Home Care Can Help Reduce Fall Risk in Seniors
These and other stories are in the September edition of the Caring Right at Home e-newsletter, providing information, advice and support for adult caregiving.
Home Remedies for Aches and Pains of Aging
A 2012 National Health Interview Study found that 11.2 percent of adults report having daily pain.
Senior Women and Arthritic Thumb
Arthritis is a condition that wears down and destroys a joint in the body. Degenerative wear-and-tear arthritis known as osteoarthritis is the type of arthritis that most commonly affects the thumb.
Are Men’s Brains Smaller Than Women’s?
A Mayo Clinic study of 1,246 men and women between ages 30 and 95—with normal cognitive function—shows that the brain’s memory region, the hippocampus, shrinks more for men than women, especially past age 60.
Retirees Pursuing Second Careers
Retirement is taking on a new meaning for the baby boomer generation. Many of them see retirement as an opportunity to launch a second career, as opposed to engaging in leisure activities. Many boomers, more than any other generation, seek a second career in retirement out of curiosity or financial necessity...
How a Cancer Diagnosis Inspired New Dreams
Donn Kramer recently retired after spending over four decades as a Goodyear executive. Kramer realized that improving his golf game is yet to become his sole purpose in life, so he spoke with his financial planner about the possibility of transitioning into a new career.