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.

It’s a known fact that most seniors want to stay living in their own home for as long as they can, but in some cases, safety is an issue. However, there are several things that family members can put in place to make a home safe for their older loved ones. Being at home is a comforting thing for most aging adults, but being safe at home is the ultimate factor of their good health.

1.    If mobility is an issue, the layout of the home may have to be altered. This may sound like a huge project, but it can be as simple as rearranging furniture and changing doorways to allow for easy and safe access.

2.    Bathrooms often need to be updated or remodeled to help seniors at home. Installing shower handles and grip bars on the walls of the bathroom will help make the room safer. There should also be an anti-slip mat or grips on the bottom of the tub or shower to help prevent falls.

3.    Increase lighting. Falls at home are the leading causes of injuries for seniors. By increasing the amount of light in the home, seniors will be able to see things better and reduce their chances of falling.

4.    Remove all rugs or carpets from stairs and make sure a hand rail is installed.

5.    In addition to the physical safety at home, seniors need to be concerned over emotional safety. If they feel they are being harassed or targeted, there are many crime prevention programs that can help. These programs will monitor the home from the outside and can even offer discounts on security systems.

Please call Home Instead Senior Care in Mississauga for a free in-home care assessment at 905- 276-2273.

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.

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.

Your Home Instead Senior Care in Mississauga possess a heartfelt desire to work with seniors in the Mississauga area including Streetsville, Clarkson, Port Credit & Applewood. It’s the reason why they were chosen to serve seniors and their families.

Welcome to Home Instead Senior Care – Serving Mississauga including Streetsville, Clarkson, Port Credit, Erin Mills, Meadowvale & Applewood.

If you’re looking for extraordinary in-home senior care and elder home companionship, you’ve come to the right place. Your local Mississauga Home Instead Senior Care office is your connection to compassionate, reliable one-on-one, non-medical assistance. We can provide everything you’d do for your loved one and more, so you’ll have confidence that your loved one is safe … whether you live several provinces away or just kilometers down the road, please call 905- 276-2273.

Our home care services are available around the clock, every day of the year and they include everything from companionship, meal preparation, light housekeeping, medication reminders, shopping and errands to continual care and Alzheimer’s care. With our extensive experience in elder care, we can help you find the right solution to assist your loved one in maintaining the best possible quality of life.

Here’s what a few of our happy clients say about us:

When we moved our aunt, who has dementia, from her retirement residence in one city to another to be closer to her family, it was a difficult adjustment for her. Fortunately, a dedicated team of HomeInstead caregivers provided her with continuing support for the many weeks it required for her to become comfortable in the new surroundings. Through memory challenges and mood swings, they were empathetic, caring and conscientious, providing her with patient companionship and reassurance. Home Instead of has been a real blessing to our family! Corinne & Dave

Dear Greg and all the staff of Home Instead Senior Care…..Our family will always be grateful for the wonderful help rendered to Mother in her home in the time of her declining health. Her doctor observed that he felt that she would not likely have lived as long or as well as she did without the care provided the Home Instead Caregivers. M.  Copeland

Jennifer was fabulous, and gave my dad and us a quality of life that we wouldn’t have been able to enjoy.  I wouldn’t have been able to be with him as I was if it were not for her….she truly cared for my dad and he really grew to love and trust her like none other. She gave him absolutely the best care, and he looked at her with hopeful eyes to make him as comfortable as possible. L. Ball

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.

Going home for the holidays often leaves family members shocked at the declining health or independence of a loved one. Warning signs can help make decisions that will keep your senior safe long after you’ve returned home.

To learn more about these signs, register for the FREE Home for the Holidays web conference.

The web conference 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. 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.

The web conference will be:

• Moderated by a Home Instead Senior Care® representative
• Hosted by the American Society on Aging (ASA)
• Co-sponsored by the National Family Caregivers Association (NFCA) and the National Alliance for Caregiving (NAC).

The hour-long web conference will be offered on two dates and times:

Tuesday, Nov. 15th—1 p.m. Eastern Time

Monday, Dec. 5th—8 p.m. Eastern Time

Get more information and pre-register for the November 15th web conference

Get more information and pre-register for the December 5th web conference

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.

Even with the best of intentions and planning, seniors who are without companionship and assistance at home may jeopardize their own good health or recovery from an illness or surgery.

Research by University of Maryland nutrition expert Dr. Nadine Sahyoun revealed that 80 percent of hospital-discharged older adults recruited for the study who qualified for home-delivered meals had food in their kitchens, but they were unable to shop or utilize that food for cooking.

Cooking is an art, it’s been said, and dining both at home and out makes all the effort worthwhile, not only for seniors but their loved ones as well.

Make eating a happy event, Dr. Sahyoun said. We focus too much on what people can’t eat and don’t give enough attention to what food represents to us. Food is at the core of our lives–it’s the smell, color, feel, texture and social context. All of this is what makes a meal enjoyable. We have to pay attention to those things, she added.

To keep their daily menus interesting, and healthy, seniors will want to mix up their food choices—particularly within each food group—every day.

We know that we really are what we eat, said Elisabetta Politi, dietician director at the Duke Diet and Fitness Center. But each senior’s diet plan is individual, she noted. If Dad has reached age 75 and has not developed heart disease or cancer, you need not recommend any different food intervention than what he is already doing. Dad has found a meal plan that works.

Perhaps a senior’s dietary plan leaves room for improvement. Research shows that change is best done gradually. Encourage seniors to look at how they’re doing and focus on one thing to change.

Watch Senior Nutrition and Mealtime Videos.

Try these tasty recipes when cooking for your senior loved one.

Check out these delectable and nutritious recipes from the Duke Diet and Fitness Center made with the 12 Staples that Seniors Shouldn’t Live Without.

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.

Since you moved hundreds of miles from home for a great job, your sister has assumed the care of your parents. But you feel left out. Every time you ask, she says not to worry, she has it covered. How do you react? There are few things worse than feeling left out. First, identify what you really want from this situation. Would more contact with your parents help?  Have you made an effort to reach out to your parents first? If they are capable of speaking to you, consider making regular contact by telephone – once a week, for instance – to touch base about what is going on in your life and theirs. If dementia or hearing problems get in the way, why not consider mailing something every week. If your mother likes to read newspaper clippings or your dad collects stamps, send them items regularly to show them that you are thinking of them. This will help you feel more involved.

Caring for a parent is a different issue. If you are not home very often, the day-to-day life events are not a part of your relationship with your parents or your sister. It may not be fair to impose your preferences on the sister who is meeting your parents’ regular needs. Perhaps your feelings of frustration have more to do with childhood rivalries. But it’s important to be honest with your
sister.

Speak openly with your sister about your feelings and let her know you want to be more involved in your parents’ lives. “I just feel so out of touch here. Would it be O.K. if I called you after Mom and Dad’s doctor appointments to find out how they are? Or, if you wouldn’t mind, could I talk with the doctor myself?” Also find out what your sister might need. You may be surprised when she actually tells you she could use an extra hand. Things you could offer to help with from a distance include ordering items your parents might need online and having these things shipped to your parents’ house, setting up automatic bill paying for your mom and dad, and helping your sister keep track of their appointments.

Among a group of siblings in Canada, on average, the primary caregiver in Canada includes both brother and sister, age 50 for an 81-year-old father.

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.