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.

Older adults are particularly vulnerable to food poisoning because many of them have weakened immune systems – are particularly vulnerable. Assisting seniors at home is a good way to ensure an older adult is eating safely.

Dr. James L. Smith, a microbiologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, wanted to find out if and why seniors are more at risk for food-borne illness. Dr. Smith reviewed food-borne outbreaks at nursing homes, and compared the immune and digestive systems of seniors and younger individuals. Here is what he found:

Dr. Smith found that as we age, inflammation of the lining of the stomach increases and a decrease in stomach acid occurs. Because the stomach plays an important role in limiting the number of bacteria that enter the small intestine, a decrease or loss of stomach acidity increases the likelihood of infection if a pathogen is ingested with food or water.

Older adult’s lifestyles and diets make them more vulnerable. Malnutrition, for instance, leads to increased incidence of infections, including those that result from food-borne bacteria.

There are many reasons why malnutrition occurs in seniors including a decrease in the pleasure of eating. Medication, digestive disorders, chronic illnesses, physical disabilities or depression may result in a loss of appetite. Good nutrition is an important factor in maintaining a healthy immune system.

Helping seniors buy nutritious food, maintain it properly and cook it safely also are valuable lifestyle factors. Perhaps your elderly loved one needs assistance. If so, consider discussing with your aging loved one the option of hiring in-home companionship.

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.

Sharing isn’t always easy for brothers and sisters who grew up under the same roof. Divvying up the wealth of toys, bedrooms or vehicles may have been a challenge at your house, and sharing the daily household chores could have led to family conflict as well.

A research study conducted for the Home Instead Senior Care, sharing the care of elderly parents can be as much of an obstacle for adult siblings. In 43% of U.S. families and 41% of Canadian families, one sibling has the responsibility for providing most or all of the care for Mom or Dad, according to a survey of family caregivers. In only 2% of families in the U.S. and 3% in Canada did the siblings split the caregiving responsibility equally.

“Senior caregiving can either bring families together or cause brother and sister conflict,” says sibling relationships expert Ingrid Connidis, Ph.D., from the University of Western Ontario. “In some cases it can do both. These issues can be very emotional.” Connidis has partnered with Home Instead Senior Care to develop the 50-50 RuleSM public education program to help siblings deal with the many issues of caring for a parent. Following are tips on how siblings can better share the care.

1. Talk and listen. Parents care a lot about maintaining independence, often to the point that they also forfeit getting more support. That’s why it’s important to communicate, preferably before your family is in the throes of caregiving.

2. Research options. When you and your siblings have identified the types of services, interventions or care options that your aging parent needs, look for organizations and resources that can help. Discuss with your siblings who in the family will handle this job.

3. Plan ahead. If your mother wants to stay at home and “age in place” consider whether someone in the family will be supplementing that care or if you will divide those duties among siblings.

4. Be flexible. Rather than insisting that all of the caregiving tasks be divided equally, consider a division of labor that takes into account each family member’s interests and skills, as well as their availability.

5. Be honest. If you have become the primary caregiver and it’s getting to be too much, make sure your siblings know that you need help. Discuss specific tasks that your brother or sister can help you with such as grocery shopping or placing online orders. If you are a long-distance sibling, check in often with the primary caregiver to see how it’s going.

Get the complete Guide – Sharing the Care.

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.

Medication warning labels don’t always tell the full story. In fact, your mom or dad could encounter all sorts of medication-related problems aside from those listed on the bottle; problems that can kill. The potential risks may involve anything from overdosing to not taking enough medication. Conditions such as eye sight and hearing issues may worsen these problems.

This issue recently hit home for Rob Albers, a pharmacist of 35 years. When his father, John, mistook a blood thinner for a blood pressure pill, John overdosed for three weeks on the wrong medication. The accident left him paralyzed from the waist down and resulted in a move to a care facility.

The senior Albers also suffers from macular degeneration, a common senior condition that can damage eyesight. This condition makes organizing pills and reading prescription labels even more challenging.

In addition to taking too much or too little of the right medications, seniors like your parents can encounter other medication-related problems such as untreated or unrecognized conditions, improper drug use, drug reactions or drug interactions.

That’s where a new resource can help. The Home Instead Senior Care^® network worked with Humana Points of Caregiving^® to develop an information management tool that includes a place for information about your parents’ medications. The tool also features the pharmacist, one of the first lines of defense for family caregivers when it comes to questions about medications.

This toolkit is just one of several resources in the Answering the Call^SM program, designed to help you be better prepared for that emergency call that your loved one needs assistance. To learn more about the Caring for Your Parents: Senior Emergency Kit^SM, visit www.SeniorEmergencyKit.com or call your local Home Instead Senior Care office to request a copy.

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.

As seniors age, their social life may slow down. Reasons for this varies like losing a spouse or if they suffer from physical conditions or illness. Yet it’s important for older adults to remain active because it increases good health and well-being.  Family caregivers can play a vital role when encouraging their loves ones to find ways that keep them physically active.

Here are a few suggestions of what family members can do in helping an aging relative be more active:

Assist in planting a garden – gardening is one of the most popular activities for seniors. Know that getting outdoors, especially in the heat may not be prudent, for your older senior. Instead, think about bringing the garden indoors like using a simple pot or window gardening. This is very attractive and will brighten their day.

Planning a trip or taking a family vacation can be fun for the entire family. Your aging parent or grandparent will enjoy spending time away with the whole family. Prepare early because you may need the support if an older adult is traveling with you.

Encourage your loved one to reconnect with old friends via Skype or meeting a friend for a lunch and movie.

Attending social functions at the local senior citizen centre is a great place for your loved one to be active. Most communities sponsor adult classes like yoga, fitness, stretching, even Pilates at the senior centre.

Home Instead CAREGivers help do all of the things you would to help your aging relatives get ready for a trip, plant an indoor garden or transport them to the nearest senior center. Give us a call!

Source: Care for Yourself while Caring for your Aging Loved One

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.