How to Tell Your Kids About a Grandparent’s Alzheimer’s Disease What children need to understand about Alzheimer’s By Paula Spencer Scott If you have a parent, other family member, or close friend who has Alzheimer’s disease or some other form of dementia, it affects not only you; it has an impact on your children, too. The time Grandma blanked on your son’s name? Those overheard long, worried phone conversations with your family about your aunt? Kids notice more than we give them credit for. They may not understand exactly what’s wrong, or they might mishear “Alzheimer’s” as “old timer’s” disease, but they deserve being included in the situation in an age-appropriate way. The following suggestions for filling in your kids come from Joyce Simard, a geriatric consultant in Land O’…
Posted in Alzheimer's Disease, Blog, Home Care Chicago IL |
September 21 is World Alzheimer’s Day: Faces of Dementia Today, in countries around the world, awareness is being raised about Alzheimer’s Disease and the plight of those afflicted with it. These awareness events range from forums to wine-tasting fundraisers, but in each country, local activists are coming together in order to emphasize the importance of elder care and the high cost of this debilitating disease. Many of these events are sponsored by members of Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) http://www.alz.co.uk/. ADI is an international organization that encourages education and empowers Alzheimer associations to offer support to local caregivers. The organization is based in London and each year sponsors two main events through its member organizations: the annual, international conference on Alzheimer’s, and World Alzheimer’s Day. By choosing one day to honor…
Posted in Alzheimer's Disease, Blog, Elder Care in Lombard IL |
A plan of care is a daily record of the care and treatment a person needs on a daily basis. The plan helps you and anyone who assists you with caregiving tasks.
Posted in Alzheimer's Disease, Blog, Home Care Chicago |
Sisters and brothers are finding new ways to circumvent old conflicts as they take on one of the toughest roles intheir lives: caregiver. When Rene Talavera’s father, Jesus Talavera, 69, was hospitalized for kidney and heart failure last fall, the 45-year-old Chicago resident and his four siblings were catapulted into an uncomfortable new phase of life: caregiving.
Posted in Alzheimer's Disease, Blog, Home Care Chicago |
Home care services cover a wide range of needs, from homemaking and companionship to meal preparation and medication reminders. They may also include personal care services, or those that help with the activities of daily living, including home care services like bathing, dressing, and grooming. To promote a safe and functional lifestyle, a caregiver can help you brush your teeth, secure the buttons on your shirt, or stand-by while you bathe to make sure you do not fall.
Posted in Alzheimer's Disease, Home Care Chicago |
Chicago Home Helpers Owner Mike Doepke, CSA – Provides Much Needed Information for Families Struggling with Alzheimer’s Disease
Posted in Alzheimer's Disease, Blog, Home Care Chicago |
Home Care encompasses a broad array of health and social services that are delivered directly to a patient at his or her home. Services are available for people in need of assistance with the essential activities of daily living (ADLs) such as eating, bathing, dressing, and carrying out basic household duties, as well as for recovering, disabled, and chronically or terminally ill people who require medical or therapeutic treatment.
Posted in Alzheimer's Disease, Home Care Chicago |
If you have an elderly family member living with you, it is most important that you keep the house safe. The requirements are not very similar to what you will watch for when dealing with a baby, so do not apply the same rules here. Elderly people have many other problems which you must be mindful of, and provide for them in accordingly.
Posted in Alzheimer's Disease, Home Care Chicago |
When Elderly Spouses Care For Each Other at Home Something Has to Give “In sickness and in health, until death do us part,” are words used in traditional marital vows. The harsh realities of caring at home for a spouse or domestic partner in old age can be physically, emotionally, and financially devastating. It is difficult for aging spouses who must face and assist with their partner’s incontinence, declining health, mental confusion, uncertainty of care circumstances and medical prognosis. Some partners make a promise to self and/or partner that they will do the honors or perceive that they have a responsibility to do the caregiving at home honors – for the duration. Nothing is further from the truth, however. A marital or domestic relationship does not mean that an aging…
Posted in Alzheimer's Disease, Home Care Chicago |
If an elderly relative starts to need help to get through the day, families who want to avoid institutions often face two choices: hire a home-care aide or become one yourself. Both these options allow the older person to remain at home where he or she may be most comfortable, experts say, but each has its own pitfalls.
Families who choose outside help must decide what level of care their loved one requires and whether they want to go through an agency or hire a caregiver privately. And people who join the ranks of the 65 million unpaid family caregivers in the U.S. can face health-draining burnout if they don’t budget for respite care for themselves.
Posted in Alzheimer's Disease, Home Care Chicago |