Home Care: 4 Steps for Helping Your Senior Improve Her Diet

Posted in Home Care, Malnutrition |

January 6, 2022

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Home Care: If you’ve been wondering how you can help your elderly family member to eat better more consistently, you’re not alone.

That’s a big concern for a lot of family caregivers because it directly relates to keeping your senior as healthy as possible. It can take a little bit of trial and error to find the system that works best for your senior, but a combination of these ideas can be really helpful for you and your home care provider.

 

Home Care: Senior Malnutrition

Home Care: Senior Malnutrition

 

Set up Reminders in a Variety of Ways

It can be really easy for your senior to forget to eat. That sounds silly, but if she’s not following routines that help her to hit all the health marks, it’s really easy to do. Also, seniors often have a tough time eating alone or cooking for just one person. Those are all factors to consider. Offering reminders about eating and offering to share meals with her can be a huge help.

 

Help Her to Stock Up

Another factor that contributes to an unhealthy diet can be that it’s tough to keep healthier foods on hand. Often they’re foods that are more difficult to prepare and they can have a shorter shelf life. When you or elder care providers are helping your senior to stock up on healthy foods, that’s half the battle. Preparing the foods is another part of the process altogether.

 

Make Some Freezer Meals

You might also consider making meals that your senior can freeze and then reheat when she’s ready to eat. By freezing single-serving containers of healthy meals, your elderly family member is able to have just as much convenience as offered by prepackaged frozen foods. The big benefit besides convenience is also that you’re able to control what’s in the meals.

 

Hire Home Care Providers

Bringing in caregivers can be an excellent way to support your senior in so many of her needs as they change. Home care providers can offer companionship, help with household tasks and personal care tasks, and assist with cooking healthy meals. They can also be part of helping to remind your senior to eat as often as she should be eating.

All of these steps and others that fit your senior’s needs can be part of the process of helping her to eat healthy foods more often. The pieces all fit together and help to ensure that your senior is able to stay as healthy and as strong as possible.

If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Home Care in Elba, AL, please contact the caring staff at Wiregrass HomeCare today. Call us at 334-539-5900.

 

Home Care Services: Why Are IADLs Important to Use as a Guide to Home Care Services?

Posted in Home Care, Home Care Services |

September 30, 2021

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Home Care Services: You’ve heard of ADLs being an excellent guideline for determining if your parents need home care.

Have you considered the benefit of looking at IADLs, too? IADLs, or instrumental activities of daily living, are more complex skills that delve beyond walking around, using a toilet, or eating your meal. But, they are essential to your ability to live independently. You need to use these in decision-making. The chances are that your parents are fine on their own, but they just need that small helping hand to get through their week. Many of the Home Care Services that caregivers offer can help with these seven IADL categories.

 

Home Care Services in Headland AL: IADLs

Home Care Services in Headland AL: IADLs

 

#1 – Communication

Scheduling appointments or meetings over the phone or online is something your parents should be able to do, yet they’re not always able to. If they have a hard time hearing someone on the phone, seeing the buttons to dial, or figuring out how to book an appointment online, these are IADLs that caregivers can help them complete.

#2 – Housework

Housework doesn’t challenge everyone, but if your mom or dad develops painful arthritis, it may impact their ability to vacuum the stairs. Climbing a ladder to change a bulb or remove dust webs is dangerous when your ankles or knees ache. Changing sheets, washing dishes, and wiping down surfaces are other tasks that can become harder to manage.

#3 – Managing Medications

Many older adults take at least one prescription medication. Remembering to take them isn’t always easy. Ordering and picking up refills can also become a problem.

#4 – Paying Bills

Paying bills and ensuring there is enough money in an account to cover the bill is something else older adults can find difficult. Filling out a check, using the internet to pay a bill online, and checking balances are all aspects of financial management your parents may need help completing.

#5 – Preparing Meals

Can your mom and dad still cook meals? Do they rely on takeout and frozen foods regularly? Meal preparation services are worth considering if they can’t cook meals on their own.

#6 – Shopping

Do they shop for groceries independently or rely on you to read labels and check expiration dates? If they have a hard time creating a shopping list, avoiding extraneous purchases, or counting money at the register, caregivers are essential.

#7 – Transportation

Finally, it may be time to arrange to let someone else do the driving. If your mom and dad struggle with headlight glare, to stay in their lane, or to check their blind spot, it’s time to address having help with transportation.

Use an IADL checklist to determine what home care services are ideal for your parents. When you know, you’ll be able to discuss these services with a home care services specialist and get prices.

 

If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Home Care Services in Headland, AL, please contact the caring staff at Wiregrass HomeCare today. Call us at 334-539-5900.

Elderly Care: Four Ways Your Parents Benefit From Elderly Care

Posted in Elderly Care, Home Care |

June 30, 2021

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Elderly Care: If you hear the term “elderly care,” what comes to mind?

Someone who cleans and cooks for your parents? That’s part of it, but it’s just a small part. Check out these ways elderly care providers can help your mom and dad retain independence while they age at home.

 

Elderly Care in Eufaula AL

Elderly Care in Eufaula AL

 

Organization

Your parents have a hard time putting things where they go. You’ve cleaned their house and gotten it organized, but your parents don’t like using a stool and can’t reach some of the shelves where smaller appliances are stored.

When they need something, they pull it out and leave it lying around. The vacuum is out in the middle of the hall. While walking through at night, your mom stubs her toe and trips. With a caregiver’s help, items go back where they belong. Plus, the caregiver can handle chores like vacuuming and getting the toaster or waffle maker to make breakfast.

Late Night Loneliness

What if an older adult is a night owl? Home care aides are often willing to work a late shift. Your dad isn’t tired until 11 p.m., but he hates being alone. You leave after making his dinner, and he’s not happy. He wants someone around at night until he’s sleepy.

That’s part of companionship services. He’ll have a caregiver with him for socialization. His caregiver can put on a movie and watch it with him or get some board games out to play. When he’s ready for bed, the caregiver can remind him to take medications and tidy up before leaving.

Safe Transportation

Your mom’s reaction times are significantly slower than they used to be. Her doctor’s advised it’s a good time to give up driving. She’s not happy, but she’ll be okay if she has someone to drive her around.

While you and your brother are at work, you can hire caregivers to drive your mom to stores, restaurants, friends’ houses, and medical offices. The elderly care provider can take your mom to her appointments, eliminating your need to take off multiple days from work for your mom’s dental and doctor’s visits.

Reading the Fine Print

Your mom and dad can’t read fine print without magnifying glasses. It’s becoming a problem at home as they struggle to read the instructions on medicine bottles. In a store, they cannot read the ingredient list on packaged foods.

Have you considered hiring caregivers to bring them to stores? Their caregiver can go over the nutrition facts with them and ensure they’re picking foods that match their dietary needs. At home, the caregiver can read the instructions on medicine bottles.

What do you do next? Start by calling or filling out a form to get more information on elderly care. An elderly care expert will walk you through the prices for home care, available services, and tips for keeping your parent independent while aging at home.

 

If you or an aging loved-one are considering hiring Elderly Care in Eufaula, AL, please contact the caring staff at Wiregrass HomeCare today. Call us at 334-539-5900.

The After-Holiday Checklist: Evaluating the Needs of Aging Parents

Posted in Needs Assessment |

January 2, 2017

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As families gather during the holidays, the time spent with aging parents can be revealing. Talking by phone is not quite the same as having the opportunity to observe aging parents or loved ones in their own surroundings. We are able to see our parents planning for meals, managing the daily schedule and housekeeping, assisting others, having conversation, and driving. It is during these times that we are often reminded that age has a way of creeping up on us, making both the adult children and aging loved ones unaware of the subtle changes taking place.

Before too much time passes, think about these five areas to evaluate if your parents or loved ones need extra help with everyday tasks:

1. Memory Issues
Repeating questions, mail piling up, forgetting appointments, unable to join in conversations (sit passively), or make untimely/illogical comments.
2. Personal Mobility
Grasping for rails, shuffling through the house/yard, seeming wobbly, unable to open jars, or bend down to retrieve an item.
3. Personal Care
Difficulty bathing, noticeable decline in hygiene, difficulty laundering clothes, or lack of care for feet and hands. Difficulty exercising independently (for example, walking outside).
4. Meal Preparation
Difficulty grocery shopping (especially lifting/carrying bags), following a schedule and lists, refrigerator and cabinets not well stocked, difficulty handling pots and pans, or unclean dishes/silverware in the cabinets.
5. Driving Ability
Not using turn signals, not routinely checking blind spots, unable to accelerate to full speed, missing exits/entrances, and not seeing stop signs in time for a safe stop. Experience “pedal confusion”.

If you notice an obvious decline in any of these five areas, it may be time for a conversation about how to continue living at home — safely. The conversation can be positive, focusing on ways to decrease risks and increase independence, freedom, and physical health. Give the gift of aging well at home!

If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring professional senior care
in the Wiregrass area, call and talk with Wiregrass HomeCare at (334) 539-5900.

Comparing the Cost of Home Care for Seniors

Posted in Costs of Senior Care |

January 2, 2017

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What if you could decrease the risks of living at home in the latter years of life, increase independence and freedom, provide the dignity of aging at home to your loved one and save money?

In-home care offers that solution.

In-home care is more budget-friendly than institutionalized care. According to the Genworth 2015 Cost of Care Survey, in-home care was less than half the cost of nursing home care with a private room (see the graph below).

In-home care improves health outcomes for seniors. Studies have shown hospital admissions and doctor visits often decrease.

The physical and mental well-being of most care recipients is greatly improved. In-home care helps prevent falls, keep medications on track, provide well-balanced meals, and maintain personal hygiene. All of this in addition to companionship and real-time reporting of information that may assist doctors and family in managing the treatment of seniors.

If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring professional senior care
in the Wiregrass area, call and talk with Wiregrass HomeCare at (334) 539-5900.