Home Instead Senior Care created and designed the 40/70 Talk with Parents. Please use it as a helpful guideline to start a conversation with your parent about tough issues. Sign up - on the left under Special Offers to receive our free Conversation Starters Guide.

View our Video on 40/70 Talk: Starting Conversations About Care For An Elder

In the research of seeking advice on family meetings when addressing our aging parents home care & critical life’s decisions, we like some families would rather chew nails than have select members give advice or opinion on how parents should live out their lives. Even though we come from the same blood line, each one of us are so different. It’s like comparing a woman to a man. We share different attitudes, perspectives, life experiences and joys, and fears.

• Start with immediate family then add extended family and friends for subsequent meetings if this would be helpful. Include the elder person in the meeting if at all possible.

• Make sure you can hear each other – literally, reduce background noise, check to see what has been heard through review, summary, etc.

• Consider large print or recorded material if resources or other written materials need to be reviewed together.

• Have ground rules such as agreeing to talk with the whole group together rather than member to member outside the meeting, can call time out if necessary, be polite and respectful of each other, no walking out.

• Stay focused on the purpose: “helping the parent maintain independent living as long as possible” or “developing a plan of care” or “planning for facility based care,” “home care” etc. Don’t wander into past hurts or past promises. It is a new day with new questions to consider. Eldercare is a process that changes over time and new plans and decisions come up.

• Respect each other’s opinions and listen to each other, especially to the elder person. Different opinions can be respected.

• Create an agenda and use it to stay on task.

• Identify someone to take notes and share them with everyone. Ensure that your elder can read the copy he/she is given. This can be used later to remind people of their agreements, responsibilities, and commitments.

• Consider a neutral 3rd party or professional to facilitate the meeting.

Greater Phoenix Assisted Living Alternative & Central Phoenix Assisted Living Alternative helps elders and seniors live safely at home. Call 623.583.5868, 602.265.8228 or 480.991.3959 for Home Care and Independence.

Food Network star, Rachael Ray says cooking for Seniors and older adults should be spiced up.. not boring!

What about you Phoenix Seniors?  How do you like your food? Tell us! Please share some of your favorite recipes below in our comment section.

Rachael Ray, host of “30-Minute Meals”, teaches us that making bland food flavors for seniors’ is  unnecessary and undesirable. She tells us, “there’s no excuse for making food dull, lifeless and boring, seniors want good flavor. Cook to impress; cook to be excited, or, at the very least, cook to share.”

Ray says that while adult children often assume their senior loved ones need bland food for their digestive health, foods from these older adults’ earlier years actually can offer many important benefits.

“Food helps seniors reconnect with the past,” Ray said.  “As its nostalgia factor ties all of us to where we’re from, it can be a wonderful tool for seniors who have trouble with short-term memory loss, dementia and other illnesses that remove them from the world.”

Food also allows seniors to “travel” via no more than a trip to the grocery store.  Whether your senior is from Russia, Germany, France, Ireland - wherever - serving food native to those places can take them back to things that help make them feel good, whole, happy and excited about living.

Ray, who was raised in a multi-generational Sicilian restaurant family, said she was lucky to share food with many generations.  “There’s something really intimate about many generations sharing delicious food together,” she said.

Greater Phoenix Assisted Living Alternative & Central Phoenix Assisted Living Alternative helps elders and seniors live safely at home. Call 623.583.5868, 602.265.8228 or 480.991.3959 for Home Care and Independence.

The National Do Not Call Registry is a great way to safeguard seniors in Phoenix from unwanted telemarketing calls. While most telemarketers are from legitimate companies offering real services, seniors face a very tangible risk from talking to telemarketers; they might be won over by the callers charms and make unwanted purchases that can drain their finances.

Registering a senior from Phoenix for the National Do Not Call Registry is quite simple; it can be completed online or by phone by providing a home phone number or cell phone number. Once a phone number has been placed on the Do Not Call list, it requires approximately 30 days to take effect. If a senior continues to receive calls from telemarketers once their name and phone number has been placed on the registry, a complaint can be filed with the Federal Trade Commission. Some telemarketers are exempt from the Do Not Call list, including those from companies that an elderly person already does business with; for example, the financial institution where they have accounts.

Speak to the older adults in your life about registering for the National Do Not Call Registry to save them from hassles and protect them from exploitation.

Sources:
1.    Federal Trade Commission
2.    DoNotCall

Greater Phoenix Assisted Living Alternative & Central Phoenix Assisted Living Alternative helps elders and seniors in Phoenix remain at home safely and independently. Call us today at 623-583-5868, 602.265.8228 or 480-991-3959.

While you may have noticed changes in your cognitive processes, receiving a diagnosis that you have dementia may turn your world upside down. While it may seem like your whole life will become consumed by the grief that comes with the diagnosis, dementia is something that you can manage to cope with so it doesn’t’ take over your life. You need to be aware that dementia may be caused by a variety of different ailments including depression, excessive drinking, stroke and sometimes can be a temporary condition.  Dementia therefore does not always precede Alzheimers and the two are not the same disease.

When you first learn you have dementia, take the opportunity to arm yourself with the knowledge you need to better understand the disease and how you can cope with it. Join a Phoenix support group for senior dementia or Alzheimer’s sufferers if you feel that would be beneficial, read up on dementia online, and talk to your doctor about what to expect. Get your affairs in order, from your finances to a living will and talk to your family about your wishes for the future as the dementia progresses. Since routine tasks may become more challenging with dementia, to reduce stress, choose activities that are less demanding; including career-based responsibilities and even hobbies. Don’t get yourself down if you can’t do things like you used to; instead focus on the contributions that you’re making to your family and your community.

Seniors with dementia will also boost their spirits by maintaining as much independence as possible. Living independently at home with assistance from a Phoenix professional or family caregiver will help you to maintain the lifestyle you’re accustomed to.

Sources:
1.    Alzheimer’s Society UK
2.    DementiaGuide

Greater Phoenix Assisted Living Alternative & Central Phoenix Assisted Living Alternative helps elders and seniors in Phoenix remain at home safely and independently. Call us today at 623-583-5868, 602.265.8228 or 480-991-3959.

We all get older, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to watch the effects that aging has upon our body and minds. Nor is it easy for loved ones to accept particularly drastic changes that are occurring with a senior loved one. To help you cope with the aging you or an elderly relative is experiencing, consider the following tips:

Accepting Your Aging:
1.    Determine why you are anxious about aging – if it relates to unaccomplished goals, find a way to reach them. Also remember to set goals that suit your lifestyle, as an older adult today.
2.    Acknowledge your achievements – instead of looking at the things you are unable to do as a senior, acknowledge the accomplishments you have made with your family, in your community and in your life.
3.    Embrace aging resources – read books and get online to understand the aging process and how you can accept it.
4.    Maintain your health – don’t succumb to the challenges of aging; eat well, exercise and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
5.    Break the routine – at any age, you can embrace new experiences. Travel to a new place or choose a new hobby to keep up the variety.

Accepting Senior Aging:
1.    Communicate effectively – if a senior struggles with their memory, avoid harping on them if they’ve forgotten something. If you’re really concerned, discuss it with a doctor.
2.    Look at their positive traits – instead of focusing on the perceived decline of aging, focus on the senior’s beauty, wisdom and accomplishments.

Sources:
1.    Ehow
2.    Eldercare ABC Blog

Images: totallycebu.com

Greater Phoenix Assisted Living Alternative & Central Phoenix Assisted Living Alternative helps elders and seniors in Phoenix remain at home safely and independently. Call us today at 623-583-5868, 602.265.8228 or 480-991-3959.

As adults, we see the slow progression into older adulthood that our parents and other relatives undergo, and while that doesn’t necessarily diminish the grief we feel as their independence is compromised, they struggle with illness, and face their mortality; it does increase our knowledge and awareness. A senior’s young grandchildren, on the other hand, may lack awareness regarding the aging process their grandparent has undergone, so when a serious illness or even death occurs, they may be caught off guard.

While parents and grandparents may feel the need to protect grandchildren, arming them with information and encouraging them to communicate about aging and the struggles faced by their grandparents, will better prepare them emotionally should a medical emergency or death occur. As the grandparent faces issues with aging explain, in terms and detail appropriate to the child’s age, what aging issues the grandparent is facing and allow them to ask questions and talk about how they feel. If the grandparent passes away, remember to keep positive memories in the child’s life to help with the grief process; have them share fond memories of being with their grandparent, have them draw pictures to represent their feelings; while still remembering that everyone deals with grief in their own way. Just because a grandchild is young doesn’t mean that they won’t become angry, depressed, or resentful due to the loss of their beloved grandparent; but do enlist professional help if the grandchild seems to be struggling to appropriately cope with the loss.

Sources:
1. Associated Content
2. AARP

Image Source: pro.corbis.com

Greater Phoenix Assisted Living Alternative & Central Phoenix Assisted Living Alternative helps elders and seniors in Phoenix remain at home safely and independently. Call us today at 623-583-5868, 602.265.8228 or 480-991-3959.

Gadgets for seniors have come a long way, and today’s elderly technologies benefit the lives of older adults by improving their safety and making day-to-day tasks easier for them. A number of new elderly equipment devices were unveiled at the 2009 Consumer Electronic Show in January.

Many of the electronics seem designed with the independently living senior in mind; devices like motion detectors and sensors can be installed in seniors’ homes in order to alert family members about falls and other in-home emergencies; other senior electronics like Clarity’s C900 mobile phone has a panic button that automatically dials 5 emergency contact numbers when triggered.

Other innovative technologies for seniors help them with Activities of Daily Living; smart pill dispensers remind seniors when to take their prescription medications and ensure that they take the prescribed amount; and robotic vacuum cleaners take away the strain of housekeeping by automatically cleaning up floor surfaces within a senior’s home. Seniors can also receive around-the-clock health monitoring with technological devices that monitor vital signs and alert family or medical practitioners when the status of their health changes. The Vital Jacket by Biodevices is a new fashionable senior gadget which is designed to monitor vital signs without bulky equipment, and while it is not yet available on the market, it hopes to improve medical care in homes and hospitals around the world.

Sources:
1.    InventorSpot.com Beth Hodgson
2.    Business Week
3.    Tender Hearts

Greater Phoenix Assisted Living Alternative & Central Phoenix Assisted Living Alternative helps elders and seniors in Phoenix remain at home safely and independently. Call us today at 623-583-5868, 602.265.8228 or 480-991-3959.