The Spring Scammer

Spring has officially arrived today and along with the arrival of warmer weather, you can expect the onslaught of springtime scammers, especially if you are a senior. Seniors are in fact targeted disproportionately by scammers for several reasons. According to AARP, they control over 70% of the wealth in this country and are readily available since they’re retired and usually at home. Many are widows or widowers and not adverse to any friendly conversation. Seniors often have land line phones and generally don’t register with the “do not call” registry and this makes them easy targets for phone scams. Almost 3 billion dollars a year is lost by senior citizens as a result of scams!

The most common scam is the door-to-door sales pitch. Typically, someone shows up at the door offering a greatly discounted rate on services or products because they’re already working in the neighborhood and have leftover materials. Of course, this is a limited time offer and you have to act fast. The senior may be asked to pay up front. The problem is these salespeople move on and if there’s a problem with the work or if you don’t receive what they’ve sold you, you’re out of luck finding them. A variation on this scheme consists of what appears to be a utility worker claiming to be from the city or your utility company and claiming they need entry into the senior’s home or back yard to perform some sort of test or check some equipment. While the senior is occupied by the worker, an accomplice can easily ransack the house in search of valuables. Very often, the victim doesn’t know they’ve been robbed until days or weeks later when the scammers have long gone. If you are a senior or care for one, it’s important to take some preventive measures. Never allow a stranger entry into the home and be sure to demand identification from “city workers” along with a phone number you can use to verify what they’re claiming. If you’re caring for a parent or senior, stay informed about who they’re giving information to and caution them not to answer the door to strangers. It’s also a good idea to pull their free credit report to check if their identity has been stolen or their credit rating has been compromised by some illegal activity. Be safe and remember that if it sounds too good to be true, then it probably isn’t true. Do you have any other tips for dealing with scammers? Share below and visit us at http://www.trilliumhomecare.com

Caring For The Caregiver

According to a report by Emblem Health, there are close to sixty six million caregivers in the United States. That means almost one in every three people provides personal care to a loved one or family member. Typically a caregiver’s job includes helping with transportation, grocery shopping, preparing meals, helping with medication, and doing housework. Personal care often includes helping their loved one get dressed, helping with a bath or shower, or help with getting to and from the toilet. The burden of providing all this care usually falls to family members who also have jobs to go to, their own homes and families to take care of, and often their own personal health issues to deal with. The stresses of dealing with all of these responsibilities can in fact turn a caregiver into a patient in need of help. It’s important for caregivers to realize that they must care for themselves and take steps to maintain their own health and well being if they want to be effective in caring for their loved one.

The most effective things a caregiver can do to help their own well-being is first, to accept the fact that they are human and cannot fix everything and second, take a break. A caregiver is not a miracle worker and needs to be realistic about what can be accomplished. Taking a break from caregiving responsibilities relieves caregiver stress and improves the ability to provide care. A break can be something as simple as taking some time to read a book or take a walk or getting some extra scheduled down time. Scheduling down time can be a few hours off or even better, getting regularly scheduled respite care. The respite care may involve using adult day care services for your loved one or regularly scheduling a home health care aide to take care of some of the responsibilities. The bottom line is that its important that the caregiver attends to their own personal health and well being without feeling guilty about getting some much needed help. What steps have you taken to care for the caregiver? Share below and visit us at http://www.trilliumhomecare.com

Getting Family On Board

Being a caregiver for an aging friend or relative can often be a time consuming and daunting job. At least forty two percent of family caregivers spend more than thirty hours a week providing care and seventy six percent of family caregivers say they don’t receive help from other family members. This can make an already tiring job even more stressful not to mention the natural resentment that builds when you feel your siblings are leaving you alone to handle everything. Family dynamics can often play a part in determining who the primary caregiver is. According to the National Association of Geriatric Case Managers, in 99.9% of families, only one sibling takes on the responsibilities of providing care and it’s usually based on geography….the closer you live to mom and dad, the more likely you’ll be the one filling the role of caregiver. Other factors include your work and family situations, your own finances, and your marital status. Very often the problem of getting help from uninvolved siblings can be traced to an issue with communication. Once you take on the role of caregiver, the natural progression of things results in you taking on more and more work as your loved one ages and their health declines. If you just go about your daily tasks and don’t let your siblings know of any changes in your loved one’s condition over time, your siblings may just assume everything is fine and you don’t need any help. So they don’t offer any. It’s best to have a family meeting early in your journey to caregiving….before you are burned out and resentful. It would allow you to openly discuss what the future may hold and would allow family members to identify what their contributions to caregiving would be. Different family members have different talents and different ideas of what “help” means. It would also allow siblings the chance to indicate if there are any personal issues no one is aware of that may limit how much they can help. It’s important to be specific when talking about what would be helpful to you — general pleas for help are just too vague. If you need someone to drive your loved one to appointments or help with the grocery shopping, be clear about it. Don’t assume anyone instinctively knows what needs to be done. It’s important to be honest and try to understand differing points of view while keeping lines of communication open with your siblings. If you get to the point where you aren’t communicating with each other, your loved one is the person who will end up suffering the most. If siblings remain unresponsive or unhelpful, despite your best efforts to communicate with them, consider other options for getting help. Check into getting some in-home services and arranging some respite care. If you allow yourself to get burned out, you won’t be able to help your loved one. How have you gotten siblings on board with caring for your loved one? Share below and visit us at http://www.trilliumhomecare.com

Cold Outside? Be Safe Inside

It seems like this winter is never going to end. Oddly enough, there seems to be no mention of Polar Vortexes on the weather forecasts. Maybe it’s just not newsworthy this year. We seem to get a fresh blast of frigid air every two or three days. With that in mind, we need to be especially vigilant about the problem of dealing with low temperatures while caring for a senior friend or relative. Most people know about the dangers of broken bones from slip and falls or the breathing problems older people can experience outside in the cold air. What we generally don’t think about is the hypothermia that can occur inside your own home.

Hypothermia is an unusually low body temperature which can result in illness or death. According to the National Institute on Aging, over 2.5 million seniors are especially vulnerable to hypothermia. As many as 25,000 of them die each year. According to the Center for Disease Control, when body temperature falls too low, it affects the brain and makes the victim of hypothermia unable to think clearly or move well. That means the affected senior doesn’t know what’s happening and isn’t therefore able to help themselves. When the body temperature drops to just a few degrees lower than the 98.6F that is normal, it can cause an irregular heartbeat leading to heart problems and death. Symptoms of hypothermia include shivering, confusion, fumbling hands, memory loss, slurred speech, and drowsiness.

Your loved one may be susceptible to hypothermia because older adults make less body heat due to a slow metabolism and less physical activity on their part. Their ability to feel a change in temperature decreases with age and some medicines they use can increase their risk of accidental hypothermia. These medications include drugs used to treat anxiety, depression, nausea, or heart problems. To make sure your loved one stays safe from hypothermia indoors, keep the thermostat between 68 and 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Make sure they wear several layers of loose clothing that will trap warm air between layers. Be sure they avoid alcohol and caffeine which can make them lose body heat. Place an easy-to-read thermometer in and indoor location so your loved one can check the temperature of the home often. Be especially careful that you check on your senior regularly since isolation can be life threatening in cold weather. Try to set up a regular call schedule so if a call-in is missed you’ll be alerted to a possible problem. Do you have any other tips for preventing hypothermia indoors? Share below and visit us at http://www.trilliumhomecare.com

Resistance to In-Home Care

If you’re caring for an aging parent or beloved senior, a time may come when you realistically decide that additional help from an agency is needed. The demands on your time and abilities are greater than you can meet but you still want your parent or senior to live comfortably and safely in their own home. The obvious choice is to get some help. So you make a list. How much help do they need? What kinds of services are needed and how often? After assessing your loved one’s needs, you start the selection process. You make sure the agency is reputable with trained and experienced staff. You verify that the staff has had background checks and is properly supervised. The agency develops a care plan with you and continuity of care is assured. If an employee calls in, a replacement is available and a management team member can be reached twenty four hours a day. You make your choice and start thinking about how great it would be to have a whole day to yourself. It sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?

Unfortunately, your greatest challenge may still be ahead. Often, the person needing help can be resistant if not openly hostile to the idea of getting some outside help. Your parent or loved one may not even recognize they need help or may resent what appears to be an intrusion into their private lives. For many seniors change is difficult to handle. They’ve been leading their lives in what for them has become a comfortable routine. As they age, friends pass away, the body develops all kinds of aches and pains and they can no longer keep up with what was once their younger more active lifestyle. The last thing they want to do is make more changes or adjustments to their lives by letting someone new and unfamiliar in. To them it may even suggest a certain loss of control or independence.

The most important thing you can do to deal with your loved one’s resistance to in-home care is to keep them involved in the decision making process and the conversation about their care. Ask them about their thoughts and preferences and keep your plans and explanations simple and clear. Enlist the help of family and friends and try to describe the benefits of care in a positive way. You may need to point out that outside help will also make your life easier and give you time to enjoy just being with them. Point out that the primary goal is to have them remain in their own home for as long as possible. Pick your battles. Suggest a trial run so they can see first hand the benefits of getting help. If these measures don’t work, you may need to enlist the aid of their doctor or a social worker but whatever you do, don’t give up. Have you had to deal with resistance to in-home care? Share your thoughts below and visit us at http://www.trilliumhomecare.com

Home for the Holidays

For adult children, going home for the holidays is usually a time filled with family togetherness and remembrances of past times. It’s a chance to reconnect with parents and other family members. It’s also a great opportunity to observe first hand how your parents are doing both physically and mentally and also assess if they need any help. Don’t be shy about checking on them — in fact, be nosey. Look in the refrigerator to see if any of the food is expired and check if the pantry is well stocked with nutritious foods or if there are containers of half eaten fast foods. How’s the housekeeping? Is it at its usual level of cleanliness or is there more visible clutter? Notice if there are piled up dishes or garbage that isn’t being taken out. Trust your gut feelings. Does it look like your parents need a housekeeper? If they’re still driving, get a quick look at the car. Are there any unexplained dents or scratches? Have they ever gotten lost while on their way to a familiar location? Check the medicine cabinet and medication dispenser if they have one. Are medications being taken as prescribed? Ask your parent what their medication schedule is. Verify that they know what it is and check if it actually matches what medications are there. Take a close look at your loved one. Are they well groomed and wearing clean clothes? Do they seem like their usual selves or are they more confused, less energetic, or even depressed? Observe how your loved one moves around. Is it hard for them to get up from a chair or do they seem to wince in pain as they make their way across the room? Take note of how they communicate with you. Are they able to maintain a conversation or do they need you to fill in the names of people or things when they talk to you. These are all red flags that something may be going on and that they may now need some assistance. Take this opportunity to make arrangements with you family members and siblings to have a frank discussion about your loved one’s future. Your family members may note more changes they noticed themselves. Get together after the holiday and share concerns and discuss what your options are and how you can best help your loved ones whether it involves making modification to the home or getting outside help. Don’t miss this opportunity to be proactive versus waiting for a crisis to occur. Share your thoughts below and visit us at http://www.trilliumhomecare.com

Seniors and Falls

According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), in seniors over the age of 65, falls are to be blamed most often for non-fatal injuries and hospital admissions. Even worse, two thirds of senior accidental deaths result from injuries sustained from a fall. In hard numbers, that’s almost 20,000 deaths and more than two million emergency room visits at a medical cost of over $28 billion dollars a year. Of fall related injuries, hip fractures are the most common and have the most long term effects with only a quarter of seniors who suffer a hip fracture making a full recovery. Almost half of these seniors will lose their ability to walk and 40% of them will require care in a nursing home. This is definitely a major concern for our rapidly increasing senior population that needs to be addressed.

Preventive measures can be taken once you can identify the major risk factors for falls. Medical issues such as poor vision, heart disease, arthritis, dementia, and diabetic neuropathy can cause mobility and sensory problems that can lead to falls. General inactivity on the part of the senior also leads to muscle weakness and inflexibility and increases fall risks also. Certain behaviors, such as alcohol use and interactions of medications pose a fall risk. Perhaps the most controllable risk is the senior’s environment. This includes hazards in the home and improperly sized walkers and canes.

By reducing these risk factors, falls among seniors can be significantly reduced. Several studies have show that an exercise program such as Tai Chi combined with strength training exercises increases mobility and flexibility while increasing muscle strength. Basically, moving more allows you to not only move more but also to do so with increased safety. Having medications reviewed by the senior’s doctor and pharmacist can identify possible side effects and problematic interactions. If necessary, alternative medications may be prescribed. Taking vitamin D3 supplements has been shown to reduce the risk of sustaining a fracture among women. A comprehensive vision exam can detect the presence of glaucoma, macular degeneration, and other vision issues that can increase the risk of falls. The senior’s home can be modified by adding stair railing, increasing lighting, eliminating clutter, and removing scatter rugs. Adding grab bars in the tub/shower area provide stability for getting in and out of the tub. A combination of these strategies can reduce fall risks on many levels and go a long way toward allowing a senior to remain safely at home. Please share your thoughts below and visit us at http://www.trilliumhomecare.com

Risky Senior Driving

In our culture, getting your driver’s license at 16 is a rite of passage that most teens look forward to. It’s a symbol of independence and represents the freedom to go places and do things. It becomes a major key to social activities, shopping, and even getting a job. This is true throughout our entire adult lives and especially true for aging seniors. That’s why seniors are so reluctant to give up their car keys, even if they suspect they should.

Although there is no specific age at which seniors need to stop driving, statistics by the Hartford Insurance Corporation show that in seniors over the age of 75 there’s a much greater risk of being in a car accident with every mile driven. The risk is about the same as for new drivers between the ages of 16 and 24. This increase in accidents is due primarily to the aging drivers’ decrease in senses, multiple chronic health conditions, and increased medication consumption. There are warning signs to look for that will let you know your loved one needs to give up the keys or to at least decrease the amount of driving they do. It’s a good idea to take a ride with them and see for yourself how they’re doing. Do they drift into other lanes or straddle two lanes? Do they drive particularly slowly or unduly fast for the road conditions? Do they fail to use their turn signal or do they leave it on without changing lanes? Do they ignore or miss traffic signs or traffic signals? Do they make sudden lane changes? Does your senior get disoriented easily, even when in familiar places? Have there been any “warnings” by the police? Are there any unexplained dents or scrapes on the car?

If you see any of these warning signs, it’s time to have that dreaded conversation about giving up the keys or at the very least minimize the amount of driving your senior does. Until that time when your loved one gives up their keys there are things they can do to help minimize the risks. Encourage them to limit their driving time to the daytime and not during rush hours. Get them to drive only during good weather and optimal road conditions. Make the trips short and use the most direct but safe routes. Keep the radio turned off and minimize the number of passengers in order to reduce distractions. Basically, apply the same strategies with your senior driver that you would apply to a novice teenaged driver. It’s also a good idea to have the pharmacist review your senior’s medications to determine if they can affect their driving. Making these gradual changes may allow your senior to ease into giving up driving. Surrendering the car keys is a major life change. It makes good sense to reduce the risks well before a major crisis mandates an immediate change. Please share your thoughts and experiences below. Visit us at www.trilliumhomecare.com

The Road To Caregiving

According to the US Department of Labor, over half of America’s workforce is involved in some way with caring for an aging parent or relative. Up to eighty percent of this help is unpaid and according to AARP, the average caregiver provides personal care and does household maintenance chores for at least twelve hours per week. The road to becoming a caregiver for a loved one is often winding with a son or daughter occasionally “helping out”. Your parents slowly age and adaptations are made to accommodate gradual changes in their abilities. Perhaps you offer to help with their banking or write out the bills. If they need groceries you offer to drive them to the store or pick up a few things for them yourself. Maybe you go to the doctor with them to make sure they clearly understand what the doctor has to say. At this point, you don’t view yourself as a “caregiver”. You’re just being a helpful child.

As time goes by and your “helping out” becomes a necessity, it will dawn on you that you are in fact a caregiver. You realize one day that if you stop doing all those helpful things, your loved one won’t be able to function on their own. You now feel obligated to do all these things or to make arrangements so that they do get done. Your loved one’s daily functioning is now your personal responsibility. Welcome to the world of caregiving. You will soon realize what a demanding job this is particularly because you’ll also be juggling a job, family, and personal issues of your own. If your parent or loved one suffers a medical crisis, your level of providing care will rise dramatically. Although your desire may be to tackle this job totally on your own, doing that will surely result in stress, exhaustion, and even physical illness. No matter how much you love someone, where will you find all the hours in the day that you and your loved one need? Be careful not to allow yourself to reach the point of total exhaustion. If you use up all your time and energy to be a caregiver, you will no doubt be robbing you and your loved one of quality time that could otherwise be spent with each other. Be aware there will come a time when it makes sense to get some help. Be wary of taking on so much that you lose sight of your well meant goal of providing the best of care which your loved one both needs and deserves. The road to caregiving is long and full of potholes. Don’t let yourself get run over. Please share your thoughts and experiences below. Visit us at http://www.trilliumhomecare.com

Older Adults and Medications – Part I

When you are younger and in need of medication for an illness or injury, things are pretty simple. You go to the doctor, get a diagnosis, fill your prescription, and a few days later you’re feeling better. If you get a headache or pull a muscle at the gym, you pick up some over-the-counter analgesics and in a bit you’re back to your busy life good as new. It never occurs to you to monitor what you’re taking because you’re not taking a lot of medications with a lot of frequency. That changes as you reach your senior years. As you get older, it’s typical to be dealing with more than one chronic condition resulting in taking multiple medications which are very often prescribed in multiple doses. In fact, the average older person takes at least four prescription medications and at least two over-the-counter drugs on a regular basis. Seniors over 65 are responsible for the purchase of 30% of all prescription drugs and over 40% of all over-the-counter drugs. You can see where this is going. As you get older or someone you care for enters their senior years, it becomes increasingly important to manage medications.

Seniors are particularly vulnerable to problems with medications for a variety of reasons. The more medications are taken, the greater the odds are that they may have an interaction that could be dangerous if not unpleasant. It’s not uncommon for a senior to simply stop taking a medication because of its side effects. Between 40% and 75% of seniors stop taking their medications at the right dosage and the right schedule. This issue is compounded by the fact that older adults are more sensitive to drugs because of their now slower metabolisms and organ functions, thus keeping drugs in their system for longer periods of time. Physical problems such as poor vision or a weak grip due to arthritis can result in dosing errors. Cognitive and memory issues can prevent the older adult from following the doctor’s orders and since so many seniors live alone there’s no one to assist them with nor monitor their use of drugs. Simply forgetting is a major reason medication doses are skipped by the elderly. With an increased number of chronic conditions the typical older adult sees a number of different physicians — the endocrinologist for their thyroid, the cardiologist for their heart problems, and so on. Multiple doctors equal multiple medications that can conflict with each other. You can see why studies have shown that any combination of these factors causes 30% of hospital admissions of older adults. It’s apparent that being able to manage an older adult’s medications is critical to their well being and even their ability to remain independently in their own home. Next time we’ll talk about which medications to be especially cautious about and what action you can take to help keep your senior safe with their medication. Visit us at www.trilliumhomecare.com