Why It’s Important for Seniors to Maintain Friendships. Having a healthy social life and strong friendships aren’t just important in a person’s younger years, but it’s just as important in the later years as well.
Between adult children having their own lives, living alone, or widowed, it’s very important for seniors to maintain friendships because of the positive impact it has on their everyday lives. 10 Ways to Fall Proof Your Elderly Parent’s Living Space. Aging at home is the most ideal place to live and grow older but is it safe?
As we get older our vision and mobility weaken, negatively impacting balance and coordination. A decline in health can put an elderly individual at high risk of slips and falls resulting in injuries. The home that once made a senior feel comfortable and safe is now a danger zone if left ignored. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: One in four Americans aged 65+ falls each year.Every 11 seconds, an older adult is treated in the emergency room for a fall; every 19 minutes, an older person dies from a fall.Falls are the leading cause of fatal injury and the most common cause of nonfatal trauma-related hospital admissions among older adults.Falls result in more than 2.8 million injuries treated in emergency departments annually, including over 800,000 hospitalizations and more than 27,000 deaths.In 2015, the total cost of fall injuries was $50 billion.
Aging Parents: 6 Signs You Should Not Ignore. The majority of the aging population wants to hold on to their independence as long as possible often hiding health problems and hesitating to ask for any help from their children or family members.
If you are an adult child or family member with an aging parent or loved one, here are six signs you should not ignore because your elderly parent may need professional care. Dirty and unkempt .If your parent or loved one has always maintained their hygiene, grooming, and overall appearance but recently looks disheveled, then this is a red flag that there is something wrong. There can be several reasons why your aging parent or loved one decreased their self-care; reasons can be: decrease of mobility, memory decline, or mental health issues. The only way to find out why they no longer take care of themselves is to communicate your concerns to them and their primary doctor. You Don’t Need to Live in The Same State to Help Care for Your Parents. Is Moving Your Parent into Your Home the Right Choice? Your parents raised you to become an independent, self-sufficient, and responsible individual, so when you moved out to go to college or get your own place, it was a memorable day for everyone.
Now fast forward to the present, and tables have turned, and you are now contemplating whether or not to move your aging parent into your home. What do you do? Signs It’s Time to Give the Caregiving Responsibility of Your Parent to Someone Else. If you were raised by loving, caring, and attentive parents you will most likely be filled with gratitude as an adult and would want to repay them back once they reach their senior years.
This type of repayment isn’t necessarily financial, but repayment using your time, attention, and care. Many adult children will find themselves switching roles with their parents where the adult child is now taking care of the elderly parent while the elderly parent relies on their child. The switching of roles may come easy for some adult children, but for others, it may be just too much to handle. Here are some signs that you should seek outside help with the care of your senior aged parent: Putting a strain on your finances. How to Help Your Elderly Parent Cope After They Lose Their Spouse. Losing a partner or spouse is never easy, especially if two people have been together for decades.
An Overview of Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Nobody thinks about the possibility of losing their eyesight, but it’s an unfortunate reality that most of us will have to accept at some point.
The older we get, the higher our risk is for eye problems, such as age-related macular degeneration. To help you develop a better understanding, we at Safe and Secure Transition Home Care, a licensed provider of home care services in Northern Virginia, have come up with this brief overview of things to know about AMD. Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is an eye disease that may get worse over time. It happens when the small central portion of your retina, called the macula, wears down. According to NHS, it’s the leading cause of severe, permanent vision loss in people over age 60. Although currently there are no cures for AMD, there are several risk factors. These are: GeneticsSmokingObesityToo much sun exposureHOW WE CAN HELP. 5 Things NOT to Say to Your Elderly Parent. Growing older changes a lot of things, and it’s not only physical.
If you have an elderly loved one, there are certain things you should refrain from saying to avoid hurting or offending their feelings. Yes, they are older and can’t do everything they used to, but they are still the same person underneath it all. Having compassion towards your elderly loved ones will help keep them in high-spirits, decreasing their risks of depression. The Most Common Causes of Vision Loss for Seniors. February is Low Vision Awareness Month, and we at Safe and Secure Transition Home Care share with you the common causes of vision loss for seniors to give you a better understanding of its risk and treatment options.
As a home care provider, plenty of the patients we assist are living with vision problems. The most common conditions among all our patients are: Age-related macular degeneration (AMD)GlaucomaCataractsDetached retinaRISK FACTORS AND TREATMENT Several risk factors increase a person’s chances of developing eye problems. These include age, lifestyle, habits, family history, previous eye injuries, and pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol. The Importance of Meal Preparation for Seniors. Senior hunger is on a steady rise in the United States and it is expected to grow if ignored.
For many it has less to do with finances but more to do with being able to drive to the grocery store and prepare their own meals. Mobility, vision loss, and deteriorating health directly impacts the elderly and their ability to go grocery shopping and prepping their own food. Seniors who still shop and cook for themselves even if they are suffering a decline in health are putting themselves in danger. How to Deal with Elderly Parents Who Dismiss Your Feelings. Not Wanting to Be Your Parent’s Caregiver Isn’t Being Selfish - It’s Selfcare. Not everyone is built to be a caregiver, and it is not necessarily a good or bad thing.
The truth of the matter is, not everyone has the same patience, nurturing skills, experience, or time to tend to another person’s needs. Aging at Home Doesn’t Mean Being Stuck at Home Everyday. Just because your elderly parent is aging at home doesn’t mean they should be stuck at home day in and day out. In some cases, an elderly loved one’s mobility or health impacts their ability to be active as they once were, but they still need to get out of the house a couple to a few hours a week for both their physical and mental health. If your elderly parent has a senior home caregiver, you can give their professional caregiver a list of places where your elderly parent can go to while you are at work for a specified amount of time. Here are a few suggestions that are senior appropriate and takes their elderly health into consideration: Museums A museum is an ideal place to take an elderly parent especially during weekday mornings and afternoons when most people are at work or at school so it’s less crowded.
Museums also have senior citizen discounts, so it makes it a very budget friendly outing. Caregivers Are Worth the Money. Many people are hesitant to hire a caregiver to take care of their elderly loved ones or for themselves because the biggest issue is the cost. Questions that arise when contemplating the hire of a caregiver are: How are we going to pay?
How much will it cost? How to Help Your Elderly Loved One Age at Home Safely. When choosing between a nursing home or senior home care, many will choose home care as they prefer the comfort of their own home. 6 Ways to Prepare For Your Golden Years. One minute we are young and fearless then the next we are older with careers and families. Before you know it, our Golden Years have arrived. Some may embrace these years with open arms while others may dread them. Either way, the Golden Years are some of the most important times of our lives and with proper preparation and planning they can be some of the most enjoyable.