Keeping Older Adults Independent

5 Simple Things to Make Your Parents Home More Age in Place Friendly Be Proactive in 64 Minutes and for Under $64 Millions of Americans will be traveling this holiday season to visit family.  Many of us will be returning to our childhood home where our parents continue to live.  Our parents want to remain in their home and the longer we can keep them there, the better it is for their mental and physical health .  I put together a short list that anyone can do in an hour and it costs under $64 total. These 5 things are meant for everyday people who do not have power tools.  You can do all these 5 with a short order from Target.  Item numbers are below. 1) Throw Rugs = tripping hazard If you see a throw rug, remove it.  If your parents insist on keeping the throw rug, you can use this grip tape to secure the throw rug down on all edges. $6.99 https://www.target.com/p/rug-tape-grip-neutral-mohawk-home/-/A-11029310#lnk=sametab 2)  Falls happen in bathrooms...

Family Caregiver Fatigue is on the Rise What Can I Do To Help a Parent Caring for Another Parent I recently wrote about the negative impact caregiving can have on family caregivers, particularly in minority populations.  Caring for someone else takes an emotional and physical toll on your body , much of this is overlooked for the 1 in 3 adults in the United States that provide informal care.  Healthcare workers, caregivers and informal family caregivers all share the love for providing that much needed care that can be very rewarding but also trigger a variety of emotions at times.  It is normal to feel sad, angry, frustrated and sometimes demoralized in this line of work.  There are couple simple ways you can help a family member that is going through this as a family caregiver.     Make Yourself Available  When a parent is caring for another parent (they are called the family caregiver), it is often hard to get involved as you hear b...

  Daily Check-ins on Seniors Help Improve Their Health Adult children are balancing three main pillars of their life constantly, where each one by itself can consume the majority of a day.  Career, family and social life are the ever-shifting pillars that require attention each day. However, each of these pillars of our lives has subcategories within them that are difficult to manage routinely.  For example, raising a new family with children consumes a majority of the adult child's life now, often sacrificing social life to make up for the insufficient amount of time in a day to get kids to sports activities.  Within the family pillar also lies our parents or older adult family members that increasingly need our help with time.  We as adult children often let this portion slip from our priorities, forgetting to check-in on seniors, not because we are bad people but because often times with young children in our new family, we prioritize the young members over...

  How to Select Elder Care 101 A Guide to Selecting Home Care in Arlington County and Fairfax County Understanding The Stage of Care You May Need There are three types of home care, or sometimes referred to as elder care, offered in Northern Virginia and they go from a fully independent older adult to one that is bed ridden. I am outlining in the first section the stages below and some guidance to understand where the needs for your parent may be.  In the second section, I outline the options for early stage care also known as companion care. Companion Care : This is the stage where the older adult is fully capable of coming and going as they please.  Families are concerned that the older adult may be alone for too long but there is no concern of them not returning and they can cook for themselves, eat by themselves and in most cases they still drive.  This is the earliest stage of care and typically for older adults who live alone, this is the first form of care an ...