{"id":564,"date":"2015-12-01T16:53:46","date_gmt":"2015-12-01T16:53:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/?p=564"},"modified":"2026-02-02T15:02:35","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T15:02:35","slug":"plan-now-for-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/2015\/12\/01\/plan-now-for-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Plan Now For Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Can

Can anyone really plan for this?<\/p><\/div>\n

On these 60-degree November days where coats are optional, it\u2019s easy to deny what\u2019s ahead of us. My winter clothes are packed away, my kids don\u2019t have snow pants, and my eternal search for perfect black boots has yet to begin. But, whether we like to think about it or not, winter is coming.<\/p>\n

Last winter was a long one for all of us, but for most of our clients, it was worse. We had snow by Thanksgiving and in January and February, we were walloped with snow almost every weekend. Clients missed necessary doctor appointments and skipped essential therapies. They stopped socializing and hunkered down\u2014from January until May.<\/p>\n

Fall has been kind to us, but winter won\u2019t likely be. And if you\u2019re older or ill, it will likely be worse. But with the gift of time we\u2019ve been given this year, we can take steps now to make this winter better.<\/p>\n

Make a plan now for how you\u2019ll continue therapies and make it to doctor visits even in inclement weather. Will your physical therapist or physician come to you? Can you hire a car service or home care company to drive you there? Don\u2019t wait until the first snowstorm to ask the question of your doctor, \u201cWhat if it snows?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ensure you or your loved one has set up shoveling and plowing services before the first storm. Confirm these services, and make sure the plow companies know there\u2019s someone ill or aging inside the house. Last winter, our caregivers arrived at many of our clients\u2019 homes to find the entrances impassable. My husband drove around dropping off caregivers and shoveling out homes. Most of these homes thought they had a plow service in place when winter started. They didn\u2019t (or the plow couldn\u2019t get to them for several days)\u2014not good when someone\u2019s health is in the balance.<\/p>\n

Put the rock salt and shovel in a prominent place now rather than digging through the garage after it\u2019s snowed.<\/p>\n

Make your house a better place to be. Install an automatic thermostat so you don\u2019t wake up cold. Put lights on a timer so they come on at 4 p.m. The older we are, the more light we need\u2014even though many of us tend to use lights less with age. People with Alzheimer\u2019s often need even more light. Don\u2019t allow one day of walking around in the dark. Start that habit now\u2014not after you fall or it\u2019s February and you\u2019re depressed from living in the dark for three months.<\/p>\n

Get involved in a group or find an inside activity that makes you happy and makes you socialize. Now is the time to check out the local senior center and what it has to offer\u2014not after you\u2019re snowed in. Motivation decreases and excuses increase as the weather gets worse. Have a plan for how you\u2019ll get to these places even in the snow.<\/p>\n

Make plans to look forward to\u2014a big visit from the grandkids, a weekend away, a trip somewhere. I think booking a warm trip and looking forward to it is almost as important as actually taking it.<\/p>\n

Find sunlight. Find the places in your house where sunlight streams in. Open those blinds, set up a temporary window seat, make sitting there a habit. I believe feeling the sun\u2019s warmth is a year-round pathway to happiness and health.<\/p>\n

No matter how much snow we get or how old we are, winter will likely feel cold here in New England. But with some planning and foresight, it doesn\u2019t have to be as long, isolating, and depressing as it was for so many who were ill and aging last year.<\/p>\n

Molly Rowe owns FirstLight Home Care with her husband, Steve Rowe, and lives in Swampscott with their two sons. FirstLight provides non-medical in-home care to adults in Swampscott, Marblehead, Nahant, Lynn, Salem, Peabody, Danvers, Beverly, and Lynnfield. For more information and help caring for your loved ones in the comfort of their own homes, please visit FirstLight\u2019s website at <\/em>www.salem.firstlighthomecare.com<\/em><\/a> or contact Molly at <\/em>781-691-5755\/mrowe@firstlighthomecare.com<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On these 60-degree November days where coats are optional, it\u2019s easy to deny what\u2019s ahead of us. My winter clothes are packed away, my kids don\u2019t have snow pants, and my eternal search for perfect black boots has yet to begin. But, whether we like to think about it or…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[22,8,23],"class_list":["post-564","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-caring-for-aging-parents","tag-aging","tag-seniors","tag-winter"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=564"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/564\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=564"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=564"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.firstlighthomecare.com\/home-healthcare-salem\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=564"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}