Almost everyone has attended a family reunion. But what about hosting a family get-together to share important health information? It’s a novel idea that could help families get up-to-date on aging parent’s critical medical information.

A family health history makes sense because:

• Family members share genes,

• Behaviors,

• Lifestyles,

• Environments, which all together may affect their risk of developing health problems.

Most people have a family health history of common chronic diseases (e.g., cancer, heart disease, or diabetes) and other health conditions (e.g., high blood pressure and high cholesterol). A person with a close relative affected by a chronic disease may have a higher risk of developing that disease than a person who does not have an affected relative.

The Surgeon General’s My Family Health Portrait tool could help families collect and organize family health history information they can easily share with their doctor. This information can help a doctor caring for other family members decide which tests and screenings are recommended to assess risks.

Our local Mississauga Home Instead CAREGivers can help keep seniors healthy in spite of their family tree. For more information on our services call 905- 276-2273.

Home Care Mississauga helping older adults and elderly live independently and safely at home. Please call 905- 276-2273.

There are only a few days left to enter the I Will Remember for You contest. All entries must be submitted by Tuesday, January 31st, by 11:59pm EST.

Capturing and preserving memories for a family member with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias can happen in a number of ways. It might entail turning on a favorite 1940s big band hit, spreading photos out on the coffee table, intentionally creating a list of questions to ask, and sitting down in the living room together to record the thoughts your loved one shares. Or, reminiscing might occur more spontaneously during a family gathering—make sure you have a notepad or video camera handy!

To accommodate your family member’s cognitive ability level and make sharing memories in any situation a positive, meaningful experience, keep the following considerations in mind:

Do involve other family members; Don’t put the person with Alzheimer’s on the spot.

Do share your own thoughts as they relate to the memories your loved one shares; Don’t monopolize the conversation.

Do ask specific, personal questions; Don’t interrogate.

Do focus on general memories and emotions; Don’t focus on exact facts and details.

For more Alzheimer’s Conversation Tips

The goal is to give your family member with dementia the opportunity to share cherished memories with the people he or she loves. You don’t need to record a precise journalistic account of the person’s life.

Activities to capture and preserve memories with your family member living with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias should focus on what that person can and wants to remember. You can help to minimize frustration by paying attention to your loved one’s limitations and adapting opportunities for reminiscing accordingly.

Story Starters for a Winning Entry

How has Alzheimer’s impacted you?

How do you and your family cope with Alzheimer’s?

Why are memories important to your family?

Why do you deserve to win this family reunion?

Enter to win at Help for Alzheimer’s Families

Home Care Mississauga helping older adults and elderly live independently and safely at home. Please call 905- 276-2273.

Canadian adults who find themselves providing care to an aging parent, can become overwhelmed. Having children of your own and caring for aging parents, is very stressful. Here are some things to consider when feeling overwhelmed with the care responsibilities.

1. A recent survey has revealed that 69% of Canadians between the ages of 43 and 63 have a living parent and one third of these people are providing care to them.
2. While having multiple responsibilities may seem overwhelming, there are ways for caregivers to effectively manage their responsibilities. Identifying how others can help with care and assigning different responsibilities to other family members can be helpful.
3. Social service support is also available. This will help the caregiver and will allow them to have more time to spend with their own children while still ensuring the well being of the aging parent.
4. When the caregiving is done in your own home, things can get overwhelming, however, having other family members in the home can be beneficial because they can also help with the care, even the children can be involved in caring for Grandma.

Please Call Home Instead Senior Care in Mississauga, if you need extra elder care help at home. Call 905-276.2273.

Home Care Mississauga helping older adults and elderly live independently and safely at home. Please call 905- 276-2273.

Rehabilitation After Stroke

Some people do not need rehabilitation after a stroke because the stroke was mild or they have fully recovered. Others may be too disabled to participate. However, many patients can be helped by rehabilitation. Hospital staff will help the patient and family decide about rehabilitation and choose the right services or program.

There are several kinds of rehabilitation programs:

Home Instead Senior Care can provide supplemental CAREGiver services that help stroke patients recover quickly. Our CAREGivers can assist patients in the following programs located in Mississauga ON. We can be reached at 905- 276-2273.

Hospital programs – These programs can be provided by special rehabilitation hospitals or by rehabilitation units in acute care hospitals. Complete rehabilitation services are available. The patient stays in the hospital during rehabilitation. An organized team of specially trained professionals provides the therapy. Hospital programs are usually more intense than other programs and require more effort from the patient.

Nursing facility (nursing home) programs – As in hospital programs, the person stays at the facility during rehabilitation. Nursing facility programs are very different from each other, so it is important to get specific information about each one. Some provide a complete range of rehabilitation services; others provide only limited services.

Outpatient programs – Allow a patient who lives at home to get a full range of services by visiting a hospital outpatient department, outpatient rehabilitation facility, or day hospital program.

Home-based programs – The patient can live at home and receive rehabilitation services from visiting professionals. An important advantage of home programs is that patients learn skills in the same place where they will use them.

Learn more about Choosing Best Stroke Program.

***If you are seeking home care services for loved ones who have had a slight stroke call 905- 276-2273.

Get Your Free Stroke Information Guide.

Home Care Mississauga helping older adults and elderly live independently and safely at home. Please call 905- 276-2273.

Family caregiving can be stressful under any circumstances. But certain situations are hot-button triggers. These events can make the life of caregiving siblings more difficult and lead to family conflict. The 50-50 Rule program, developed by the Home Instead Senior Care® network, can help address these hot-button topics.

This guide is designed to help adult siblings and their aging parents deal with those sensitive situations that arise among brothers and sisters as their parents age and need assistance. The 50/50 Rule Guide for Family Caregivers.

1. Illness: A senior loved one who becomes ill or faces declining health can leave a family facing all sorts of potentially difficult issues.

2. Money: Money matters often complicate life for seniors as well as their adult children.

3. Inheritance: While some families contend with a lack of funds to provide care for their loved ones, others have the temptation of a family inheritance influencing their decisions.

4. Distance: While absence may make the heart grow fonder, it certainly doesn’t make life easier for a long-distance family caregiver.

5. Stress: Life is stressful and family caregiving oftentimes makes it more so. Adult caregivers who have started a new job, are raising children or caring for their own spouse can soon become overwhelmed when elderly family members need help. Often the primary family caregiver wants or needs more help from siblings, but isn’t getting it.

Home Care Mississauga helping older adults and elderly live independently and safely at home. Home Instead Senior Care in Mississauga knows the stress that our public home care system is under and we can provide the professional care that our aging seniors need. Please call 905- 276-2273.

Falls are the most common cause of injuries among people older than 65. Nearly half occur at home. They are one of the leading causes of preventable injury. Among senior citizens, a fall typically leads to an emergency-room visit, hospitalization, admission to a long-term care home and, ultimately, a downward spiral to death. The following story is a cautionary tale for the boomer generation.

Attend our FREE Home Safety Webinar for Mississauga Family Caregivers.

The Public Health Agency of Canada estimates one in three people older than 65 will fall at least once a year, a rate that increases to one in two for people over the age of 80. This means about 1.3 million Canadian seniors will fall this year. In 2006, almost half of all injury-related deaths among seniors in Canada were caused by falls.

Toronto Rehab Director of Research, Geoff Fernie, explains the different virtual labs that deal with research on how people fall.  Toronto Star Watch the fall video click here.

The morning newspaper usually lay on the stone stoop of Jean Campbell’s bungalow, nestled in the tall trees of Lawrence Park. But on this frigid February day in 2000, it landed below the two short steps on the flagstone walkway.

Impeccably dressed in a knee-length skirt and freshly pressed blouse, she stepped briskly down the stairs in her slippers. She didn’t see the patch of black ice and pitched forward onto the cold walkway. Instinctively, her arms shot out — but Campbell was 84 years of age, and her arms could not cushion her landing.

Snap. Snap. Both wrists broke.

But in that moment, everything began to change. It was the first in a series of falls that would chip away at the energetic woman’s health and confidence.

“A fall can be the beginning of the end, which it was for my mother,” says her daughter, Anne Stephens, a nurse who has dedicated much of her 20-year career to geriatrics and fall prevention. “Every fall made it worse and she got frailer and frailer.”

At least one senior in Ontario visits an emergency department every 10 minutes because of a fall; every 30 minutes at least one is admitted to hospital, according to a 2007 report by the Ontario Injury Prevention Resource Centre.

If the problem of falls isn’t addressed it will get worse. Seniors are our fastest-growing population: By 2031 they will represent 24 per cent of the population and cost $4.4 billion for injuries related to falls.

Attend our FREE Home Safety Webinar for Mississauga Family Caregivers.

Read the full story on The Star.

Home Care Mississauga helping older adults and elderly live independently and safely at home. Home Instead Senior Care in Mississauga knows the stress that our public home care system is under and we can provide the professional care that our aging seniors need. Please call 905- 276-2273.

The holidays are a good time for family caregivers returning to Mississauga to tune into the signs that an older family member may need extra help to remain safe at home.

To learn more about those signs, register for the free Home for the Holidays web conference, moderated by a representative from the Home Instead Senior Care network.

The hour-long web conference will be available in Canada, and offered on Monday, Dec. 5, at 8 p.m. Eastern Time. To register, go to Family Education at Caregiverstress.com.

“It’s easy for busy family caregivers to overlook the subtle signs that a senior loved one needs assistance,” said Greg Bechard, owner of the Home Instead Senior Care office in Mississauga. “But during the holidays, when many return to their childhood homes, the difference between your last visit and now can highlight those red flags.”

The web conference will be moderated by Director of Strategic Alliances Mary Alexander of Home Instead, Inc., the franchisor of the Home Instead Senior Care network. Alexander is a family caregiver and a Certified Senior Advisor (CSA).

“Signs of potential trouble can be evident in a senior’s home – such as spoiled food in the refrigerator and piles of unpaid bills – or personal indicators such as episodes of confusion or dirty and unkempt clothing,” Bechard said.

Countering senior resistance to assistance can be a challenge. President and CEO of the National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA), Suzanne Mintz adds, “Family caregivers must recognize that their parents are adults and – unless there are cognitive or emotional problems – they can make their own decisions. We do not and should not become our parents’ parents. We must remember we will always be their children.”

The web conference will feature information about countering senior resistance to assistance as well as resources that can help family caregivers and senior care professionals.  To register, go to Family Education at Caregiverstress.com.

Home Care Mississauga helping older adults and elderly live independently and safely at home. Home Instead Senior Care in Mississauga knows the stress that our public home care system is under and we can provide the professional care that our aging seniors need. Please call 905- 276-2273.

Every family has a story. Gathering together to share and preserve that story helps to keep the memories alive, especially for families touched by Alzheimer’s disease. Tell us your story for a chance to win a family reunion!

Submit a story in either written or video format about your experience with a family member living with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia. Essays and videos need to:

• Share how Alzheimer’s has impacted your life
• Talk about the role that memories and remembering have played in your family, especially with regard to your family member who now has or had Alzheimer’s
• Share with us specific stories or examples of how you and your family members cope or coped with challenges of Alzheimer’s disease
• Tell us why you deserve to win this family reunion

While not required, feel free to also submit a photograph along with your written essay or include it in your video as demonstrated in the sample entry below. So, Enter Now!

Criteria for judging include the overall level of engagement with your entry from family and friends and how compelling of a story you tell. Written essays and video submissions will receive equal consideration. All entries must be submitted by January 31, 2012 at 11:59 p.m. EDT in order to qualify for the family reunion giveaway.

See contest terms and conditions for complete entry details.

Home Care Mississauga helping older adults and elderly live independently and safely at home. Home Instead Senior Care in Mississauga knows the stress that our public home care system is under and we can provide the professional care that our aging seniors need. Please call 905- 276-2273.

New research, shedding light on eating habits, shows Canadian Seniors like taking part in family meals. Sadly, oftentimes our seniors are eating alone. This research, conducted for the Home Instead Senior Care network, showed that lack of the shared family experience, including companionship, is the biggest mealtime challenge for seniors.

That wasn’t the case at the Palisades on the Glen, as residents gathered together for the Home County Fair on September 28th. Executive Chef, Paul Tremain, demonstrated a cooking demo and residents brought in favourite home cooked/baked recipes for tasting to order to celebrate cooking with or for a senior family member or loved one. Winners received gift certificates. Residents also had a chance to listen-in on an informative presentation on what The City of Mississauga has to offer for older adults and a presentation from Home Instead about craving companionship.

Here is a list of warning indicators showing a senior is in trouble – Craving Companionship program:

1. Who wants to eat alone? Not only are seniors at more risk of poor nutrition, loneliness can lead to depression, which could make problems worse.  Try to make sure your older loved one has companionship at home or in a congregate meal site.

2. Nearly 71 percent of seniors take three or more different medications a day. Talk to your senior’s health care team about how medications might be impacting your older adult’s appetite.

3. Nearly half of seniors who live alone consume few fruits, vegetables or milk products, this research revealed. Talk with your older loved one about their favorite recipes – or yours – that incorporate healthy products.

4. Older adults struggle with health conditions and some don’t feel like eating as a result. Discovering favorite recipes from the recipe box and making mealtime a social event may help.

5. 25 percent of seniors who live alone encounter issues getting to a grocery store. Your local Area Agency on Aging office has staff to help and your local Home Instead Senior Care office in Mississauga can arrange for a CAREGiver.

6. Check out expiration dates of food. Check the freezer for outdated frozen items or foods that have not been packaged appropriately.  Help by packaging food in small portions and labeling in big letters with the date.

7. Help your senior put together a grocery list, reminding them of all the wonderful foods they used to cook for you.

8. When visiting a senior, check out things like skin tone – it should be healthy looking and well-hydrated – as well as any weight fluctuations. Suggestion: A visit to the doctor can help ensure your senior is healthy.

9. Prepare by stocking back-up food, water and high-nutrition products such as Ensure® in case a trip to the store isn’t possible.

10. Isolation is one of the biggest threats to an older adult. If you can’t be there, develop a schedule of friends and neighbors who can help. Or call us at 905- 276-2273 to enlist our services.

Please visit www.palisadesontheglen.com

Home Care Mississauga helping older adults and elderly live independently and safely at home. Home Instead Senior Care in Mississauga knows the stress that our public home care system is under and we can provide the professional care that our aging seniors need. Please call 905- 276-2273.

FREE Home for the Holidays web conference

You’re excited to be going home for the holidays where Mom always has the house decked out and Dad makes his famous eggnog and tells stories about past celebrations. But your parents are getting older now. Maybe it’s time to tune into other things, like the signs they could need more help maintaining that big house. Or indicators they might benefit from grocery assistance.

That’s why you will want to register for the Home for the Holidays webinar. The webinar, moderated by a representative from the Home Instead Senior Care^® network, will help you recognize the warning signs that indicate your senior loved one might need additional help for things such as loss of appetite, unwanted weight fluctuations, spoiled food in the fridge or clutter.

The event is being hosted by the American Society on Aging (ASA), and co-sponsored by the National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA) and the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC).

Register and learn more about the webinar that will be offered at two different times: Nov. 15 at 1 p.m. ET, or Dec. 5 at 8 p.m. ET. Senior care experts will be on hand to provide valuable information about the warning indicators that an older adult may need extra help and what you can do for support.

Whether you’re a long-distance caregiver or just live down the street, the holidays are a good time to assess the situation with Mom and Dad, and help them come up with a solution if necessary.

Remember, your local Home Instead Senior Care office in Mississauga is here to help when you have an aging-related issue or question, not just during the holidays but throughout the year. If you would like more information about Home for the Holidays, or have any comments or questions, please call us at 905- 276-2273.

Home Care Mississauga helping older adults and elderly live independently and safely at home. Home Instead Senior Care in Mississauga knows the stress that our public home care system is under and we can provide the professional care that our aging seniors need. Please call 905- 276-2273.