Understanding
Senior Care

To Grandmother's House You Go! Are You Ready For Winter Driving?

From our Care Blog

Driving during the winter months can be treacherous. Cold weather, ice, snow, and limited daylight hours can make a simple trip across town a long and exhausting journey. You need to be prepared. Here are some helpful tips to help you get your car ready for winter travel: Make your own or purchase a pre-made car weather safety kit. This kit should include: first-aid kit, jumper (booster) cables, tow ropes, cat litter (or something to gain traction under your tires if stuck somewhere slippery), a windshield scraper, candle, and matches. Check your tires well before the winter season begins. Be...

Learn More about To Grandmother's House You Go! Are You Ready For Winter Driving?

Living with Alzheimer’s and Dementia

From our Care Blog

November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month. If a family member has been diagnosed with dementia, it can come as a shock and create anxiety within the family as to what will happen next. For many adults and seniors diagnosed with this disease, they want to remain independent and in their own homes for as long as possible. To achieve this goal, there will need to be some changes to enable people with dementia to remain independent for longer or make it easier for others to give support.* Avoid falls: Falls are a common and potentially serious problem affecting older...

Learn More about Living with Alzheimer’s and Dementia

Great American Smokeout®

From our Care Blog

If you are a smoker or you know, live, or care for someone that is, November 19th is a day you’ll want to lose the habit and become victorious over tobacco. The American Cancer Society Great American Smokeout® is November 19th and it’s your chance to triumph over this addiction. About 42 million Americans still smoke cigarettes, and tobacco use remains the single largest preventable cause of disease and premature death in the United States. As of 2014, there were also 12.4 million cigar smokers in the US, and over 2.3 million who smoke tobacco in pipes — other dangerous...

Learn More about Great American Smokeout®

National Family Caregivers Month

From our Care Blog

There are hundreds of thousand families in the United States that are currently the primary caregiver to aging parents, adult children with disabilities, family members of wounded soldiers, or adult children caring for parents with Alzheimer’s disease. We know caring for a parent, family member or loved one day in and day out takes its toll on the caregiver. It’s a tough job and sometimes caregivers need a break and should take time for themselves to rejuvenate their own body, mind, and soul. November is National Family Caregivers Month and throughout the month we will be honoring and celebrating the...

Learn More about National Family Caregivers Month

Avoid Spreading Flu Germs

From our Care Blog

Flu season is here (darn it). The single best way to avoid the flu is to get an annual flu vaccine and then hide in your home until flu season is over. Okay, that isn’t very practical. The flu is spread mainly from person to person in droplets that fly out when you cough or sneeze. These tiny drops from a sick person move through the air and land on the mouths or noses of others nearby. Germs are also passed along when you touch these droplets from someone else on a surface like a desk and then touch your...

Learn More about Avoid Spreading Flu Germs

What Do You Want Your Epitaph To Say?

From our Care Blog

Although I don’t like to think about death very often, I recently attended a 60-th birthday party where they “eulogized” the birthday girl. It was all done in fun, but it got me to thinking: what do I want to be remembered for? There are people who are very organized and plan their passing down to the minutest detail, including how they want their funeral, the “wake” afterwards, and even what they want their tombstone or grave marker to say. This is probably a good idea, because it makes it easier for the adult son or daughter not to have...

Learn More about What Do You Want Your Epitaph To Say?

Organization: Write Things Down

From our Care Blog

Life gets busy and we are inundated with a ton of noise coming from our cell phones, emails, text messages, videos, TV and more. When things get hectic, we can tend to get forgetful. A simple but powerful habit to get into your daily routine is to write things down. Why is it so important you ask? Time has a way of changing our memory: Writing things down as they happen or right after they happen will help you to memorialize the facts. Every time we remember something, we recreate what happened and each time we do this things change....

Learn More about Organization: Write Things Down

Safety: Falls are Preventable

From our Care Blog

Falls are the leading cause of injury-related death for adults age 65 and older, according to Injury Facts 2015, the statistical report on unintentional injuries created by the National Safety Council.  According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention: ? One in three older adults fall each year. About 2.5 million nonfatal falls were treated in emergency departments in 2013. Of those, 734,000 people were admitted to the hospital. That year, 25,500 older adults died from unintentional falls More than 250,000 hip fractures are reported every year, and 95% of those are from falls. The good news. Falls are preventable...

Learn More about Safety: Falls are Preventable

Aging: Live Well & Happy

From our Care Blog

There’s no avoiding it. We’re all getting older. That doesn’t mean we have to feel like we’re getting older. There are many things you can do to impact the process of aging so that you will age well and be happy. Here are a few of our favorites. Keep Your Cool. It is said that some levels of stress can be good for us. “If you never have to react to anything demanding, the mechanisms in your brain that help you deal with taxing situations will atrophy,” says Luigi Ferrucci, MD, PhD., scientific director of the National Institute on Aging....

Learn More about Aging: Live Well & Happy

Know the 10 Signs of Alzheimer's. Early Detection Matters

From our Care Blog

Learn More about Know the 10 Signs of Alzheimer's. Early Detection Matters