How to Help A Loved One Smoothly Transition into a Senior Living Facility

Being a caregiver for an aging relative or friend is tough. As time goes by, you may start to notice your aging loved one is having a hard time doing normal tasks at home. If your aging parent is unable to manage their home or is accident-pronezz`z, it may be time to consider moving them into a senior living facility. Approximately 1 million people live in senior living communities in the United States. 

Working with professionals is vital when trying to find the right senior living community for your loved one. Once the right community is chosen, your main goal needs to be helping your elderly loved one transition into their new living situation. Here are some of the things you can do to ensure a smooth transition into a senior living facility. 

Develop a Checklist Early On

After a senior living facility is chosen, you need to get to work. The longer you wait to get started with things like packing and organizing, the harder it will be to get this work done in a timely manner. Staying organized throughout this process is crucial when trying to avoid mistakes. Developing and actually using a checklist is a great way to avoid mistakes. 

This checklist will need to include a breakdown of what your elderly loved one needs in their new place of residence. For instance, if your aging loved one has a favorite soda or snack, you need to make sure they have plenty in their refrigerator and cupboards. By doing this, you can make an elderly person feel more at home. If your aging loved one is introduced to an environment that is completely unfamiliar, they will have a hard time adjusting. This is why having these creature comforts in place is so crucial. 

Find Out More About Community Activities

Taking your loved one’s mind off of the fact that they aren’t in their home anymore is important. One of the best ways to accomplish this is by encouraging your aging loved one to participate in the activities offered in their new community. Generally, senior living facilities will take their residents out for shopping trips and a number of other fun activities. Finding out more about the activities being offered in the community can help you create a list of suggestions for your loved one. 

Drop By To See Your Loved One Often

Moving into a senior living community can be stressful. Taking the time to stop in and visit your loved one on a regular basis is important. With these visits, you can take their mind off of the stress that comes with moving to a new home. This also allows you to spend quality time with the people you love. 

Looking For a Senior Living Community?

Are you on the hunt for a senior living facility? Instead of trying to find a senior living facility on your own, contact Like Family Home Care for assistance. 

Tips to Help a Senior Loved One Manage Parkinson’s Disease

It is estimated that approximately one million people in the United States are currently living with Parkinson’s disease. Another 50,000 are diagnosed with it each year. While this condition can affect people of any age, seniors are one of the most affected demographics.

Understanding the Basics of PD

Parkinson’s disease is a type of brain disorder that affects the transmission of messages being sent to your muscles. If you have a loved one with PD, it means damage has occurred to the part of their brain that produces dopamine, which is a chemical that helps the muscles move and work correctly. Scientists and doctors still do not fully understand the causes of PC.

Providing Support for a Loved One

Experts say that having a support system made up of friends and family members increases the odds of being able to manage this condition. If you make up part of a loved one’s support system, some tips will help you help them.

Diagnosis and Treatment

When your loved one is first diagnosed with PD, a treatment strategy must be developed. This usually requires multiple appointments with doctors and specialists. With your support, you can help ensure your loved one gets all their questions answered and understands what the doctor’s plan of action is. It is also necessary to help keep up with any additional appointments or making arrangements for in-home care if needed.

Encouragement and Support

The medical treatment regimen for PD includes many components. Additionally, your loved one diagnosed with PD may have other health conditions to contend with, too. You should try to provide ongoing support for your loved one to help ensure they remember their appointments, take their medications as prescribed, and follow any other recommendations made.

Help with Day-to-Day Life

As PD progresses, your loved one may require help with daily activities, staying active, and connected with friends and the community. You may also be called to help with grooming and personal care tasks, to make home safety adjustments, and to help with the insurance company or financial matters, along with long-term care planning.

Transportation

Some people with PD can keep driving for a while. However, if mental and physical changes or side effects caused by their medications cause them to be unsafe behind the wheel, you may be called to provide rides or even help your loved one access public transportation.

Emotional Support

When trying to deal with PD, it can take a significant toll on someone’s emotions and may cause anxiety or depression. PD can change their feelings and thinking, along with their ability to communicate. With support from you and others, it can help the individual cope.

If your senior loved one has recently been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease or has been dealing with it for years, providing help and support is one of the best things you can do to help ensure they maintain a high quality of life and in the future.

How To Make An Assisted Living Space Feel More Like Home?

The transition to an assisted living situation can be a difficult one for all parties involved. It is not just the individual moving out of their home that will suffer, but also the family members that very likely had some say in this decision. With the stress and tension involved, it is essential to remember that making an assisted living facility feel more like home is vital to the physical and mental well-being of the patient. We have compiled some tips for creating an assisted living space that feels more like home.

Bring Items From Home

Bringing items from home to an assisted living facility can help make people feel instantly comfortable. If it is a dresser, a favorite chair, or even a lamp, these items will bring memories and a feeling of comfort that is often lost when this transition occurs. If the assisted living facility allows it bringing a plant from home is also a great idea. Since a plant is a living thing that needs tending to, and it can make a real difference in the mindset of a person.

Art And Wall Décor

The walls of the assisted living room may be quite bare when you move in. Try and bring some artwork or photographs from home to hang on the walls. Take time to place these photos and artwork in locations where they can be seen often. For instance, sit in the bed and decide what you would like your view to be. Sit down at the table and think about what you want in front of you. Place the artwork and photos in a way to give you feelings of comfort and home. Although it is not technology artwork, looking into a digital photo frame that your family can send pictures to is a beautiful idea. The images will change often, and you can watch your loved ones grow and prosper. This is an excellent way for families to stay connected.

Furniture Placement

Think carefully about furniture placement. Sometimes you can simply turn the bed a different way, and it can create an entirely new sitting area. Having a small reading nook or crafting corner is a great way to make a room feel more like home.

Hobbies

There is no reason that hobbies can’t be continued after the transition to an assisted living facility. Do you love puzzles? Make sure that you have sufficient table space or a fold-out puzzle board to do the puzzle somewhere in the room. Do you enjoy nature? Leave space around the windows to bring a chair over and watch for birds. Is reading a favorite pastime? Make sure you have ample storage space for books and create a small library for yourself.

These tips will help make not only the transition but continued life in an assisted living facility that much more enjoyable. It’s the little things in a person’s day that can make this new way of life just that much more bearable. Sometimes something as simple as a favorite coffee mug or dish towel will bring back the feelings of security and home.

How to Help Your Elderly Parents Retain Their Independence

There are approximately 52 million people over the age of 65 living in the United States. Getting older is something most people look forward to. If you are the child of aging parents, one of your main concerns should be keeping them healthy and happy. The older your parents get, the harder it will be for them to do normal things without assistance. 

Physically demanding tasks like cleaning and yard work will need to either be handled by professionals or the children of an elderly person. Ideally, you want to alleviate the work your parents have to do without infantilizing them. Allowing the elderly to retain a sense of independence is important. Read below for some tips on how to help your aging parents retain their independence. 

Assess Whether They Need In-Home Care

Visiting your aging parents on a regular basis is a great way to assess how well they are doing. If it seems like your parents are having a hard time cooking, cleaning or performing other important tasks, it may be time to suggest in-home care. There are a number of businesses that specialize in providing senior citizens with the help they need. 

Instead of forcing this in-home help on your elderly loved ones, you need to find out how they feel about this subject. Having a heart-to-heart conversation with your parents is essential when trying to get a feel for what they want. Calmly explaining why you think they need in-home care is the first thing you need to do. Once you are done, take time to hear their feedback and work on a compromise. 

Check Out Community Resources Designed For Seniors

Going out of the house can become difficult for an aging person. The longer an elderly individual has to sit in a home alone, the higher the risk becomes of them getting depressed. Allowing your aging parents to get out and socialize with people their own age is a wise move. In most areas, there are senior citizen centers that cater solely to the elderly. 

These centers are a great way for your parents to mingle and take their mind off of stressful things in their life. Most senior citizen centers provide food, drinks, and games to their clientele. Finding a senior center that offers transportation for your parents can make this process easier on you. 

Modify Their Home For Comfort and Safety

If your aging parents insist on staying in their home, it is your job to make modifications to ensure they are safe. Things like handrails and ramps can help your parents get around easier. You also need to think about getting your parents an easy-to-use security system for their home. Getting a system with remote viewing can help you look in on your parents from your smartphone. 

Looking For Quality In-Home Care?

Does your elderly loved one need some extra help? If so, contact the professionals at Like Family Home Care to find out more about the in-home care services we offer.

Ways to Help a Spouse Who is Developing Dementia

When a spouse begins to develop the symptoms of dementia, it can be difficult to juggle everything that changes around your home. Suddenly things aren't as easy to manage as they were in the past. Your loved one's memories and behaviors are changing, and it can be more difficult to interact with them. There are services that can help your family as you deal with this issue, however, and there are ways that you can assist your partner. 

You can help your partner in the following ways: 

Learn New Communication Skills

If your spouse has been diagnosed with dementia, you may notice that they don't communicate with you the same way that they used to. They may forget things, repeat themselves, or seem more irritable than they did previously. It's important that you understand that these are symptoms, not an effort to be mean to you or to annoy you. It's also important that you work with your partner's team of professionals to discuss communication skills that may help them keep their symptoms under control. For example, you may need to avoid talking about specific topics in the evening, when they are more forgetful. You may need new methods of remembering household tasks, having conversations, and celebrating special occasions. You can learn all of these skills, with assistance.

Arrange for Support for Yourself

Caring for a loved one with dementia isn't easy. Caregiver burnout is a very real issue, and many individuals that care for their partners full time find themselves overwhelmed. If you'll be taking care of your loved one, it's important that you arrange for support for yourself, as well. Consider joining a support group, signing up for therapy, and making appointments to get out of the house regularly with friends or family members. This type of social support is vitally important as you act as a caregiver to your partner. 

Consider Outsourcing Some Tasks

As you care for your loved one, you may realize that there are simply too many tasks for you to handle. If you find yourself in this situation, it may be time to consider hiring someone to assist you as you run the household. Hiring a home healthcare provider to help with tasks specific to your partner's care may free you up to enjoy more time relaxing with them. Alternatively, you could hire someone to help with daily living tasks such as light housekeeping. Either way, the extra assistance can go a long way towards helping things feel more manageable. 

If your partner is suffering from dementia, it may be time to reach out for assistance. Contact the skilled professionals at Like Family Home Care. We'll provide you with a list of services we offer and discuss the options that may work best for your individual situation.

Care-ful Solutions for Home Living

All across the country, every day, families are first astounded, and then enraged, by the prices they have to pay for convalescent care in some retirement communities.

Yes, the family has many options – but many of them will completely swallow up even a significant estate that someone has built carefully over the course of their life. With that in mind, many families are looking for qualified home care as an excellent alternative. Staying in a home or staying out of price-gouging corporate community contracts is a great thing, if your elderly family member is well cared for. However, that can be a big if!

At Like Family Home Care, that's what we do (the name says it all, right?). We excel in treating your elderly family members like they’re part of ours – and we’re proud of not just the quality of care, but the relationships that we build with seniors as they age.

Personal Care

Personal care is such an important component of long-term care that it makes sense to focus on this topic first. Many elderly people have mobility or cognitive problems as they age. They may be able to do some things to take care of themselves, but not others.

At Like Family Home Care, we make toileting, showering and other personal daily routines easy with staff who understand that this is a job deeply involving personal relationships. It's incredibly important to have partners and employees who will come into a home and do those services well, understanding the sensitivity and care that has to go along with them.

Meal Preparation

Everyone needs to eat, and that's another big component of what you pay for in a comprehensive assisted living contract.

Family Home Care helps to personalize and customize your family member’s options, so that he or she can get fed without overpaying for a corporate cafeteria contract. Instead of being served like you would in a hospital, the individuals who are under our care can choose their menus and get meal preparation options that suit them!

Transportation

Here's another very important part of the logistics of caring for a family member that has some families frazzled and frustrated – how do you get him or her from point A to point B?

Once again, comprehensive contracts have transportation built-in. But we approach it from a completely independent service model, to make sure that everything works in the best way for our clients. Rather than bringing a cookie-cutter approach, we take time to understand your family member’s transportation needs and how to utilize available resources like public transit systems and other stakeholders to deliver the best care for the best price.

Call us and ask about how to get creative in setting up your aging family members for long-term comfort and confidence.

4 Tips for Preventing Caregiver Burnout

As family members grow older, relatives are often faced with the choice of sending their loved ones to a managed care facility or try to care for them at home. There are many benefits to allowing older adults to receive care at home. The environment is more natural to the senior, and there's less disruption to their everyday life. At Like Family Home Care, we specialize in supporting older adults who remain at home by providing a wide variety of services. Our services can help family caregivers who are often at risk of experiencing burnout. Here are four tips you can use to help prevent caregiver burnout.

Make Time for Relationships

One of the most common causes of caregiver burnout is isolation. Many caregivers devote all of their time to helping their older relatives. However, without taking the time for social interactions, it can adversely affect the mental health of the caregiver. It’s vital to take the time to enjoy social interactions with friends. Go see a movie or grab a few close friends for a coffee or lunch. By spending time with friends that positively affect your mood, it’s possible to head off the social isolation that can lead to caregiver burnout.

Maintain Your Own Health

When worrying about the health of older relatives, it’s not uncommon for caregivers to neglect their own health. Caregivers let their own medical appointments slip because they’re busy overseeing someone else’s medical treatments. However, allowing your health to slip can make things harder for everyone else in the future. Your family member needs you to stay as healthy as possible. This requires you to go to regular checkups, get cancer screenings, as well as mental health updates. If you don’t think you have enough time for these personal health concerns, get help from services such as Like Home Family Care. Our team of experts can ensure your older relatives receive proper are while you take care of your own health.

Give Yourself a Break

Carrying for an older relative can be a full-time job. And like any full-time position, it's essential to take breaks. If you have friends and family members who are nearby, you can ask them to fill in for you for a few hours. You can use the break to take a walk, watch a movie, or go out to dinner. If you don't have that option, you can use services such as Like Family Home Care to handle some of the daily responsibilities so caregivers can have a little more time for their own needs. Period breaks are essential for protecting the mental health of at-home family caregivers.

Know the Signs of Caregiver Burnout

One of the keys to preventing caregiver burnout is learning how to identify the symptoms. Burnout is something that develops over time. By learning to recognize early symptoms before they grow into more significant problems, caregivers can make sure they get the help and the breaks they need. The AARP identified several signs of caregiver burnout. These include anger or frustration toward the person you're caring for; increased anxiety, depression, an exhaustion that makes it tough to complete your daily tasks, increased health problems, irritability and moodiness, sleeplessness, and social withdrawal from friends and activities that the caregiver used to enjoy. If you start seeing these symptoms in caregivers, relatives can offer to help with some responsibilities. You can also have a service such as Like Family Home Care take over on some days, so the caregiver has more time to relax.

If you’re looking for at-home care for older relatives in Arizona, Like Family Home Care can help. Send us a message online to discuss the services you need for older relatives receiving at-home care.

Home Care Vs. Assisted Living: Which is the Right Option For You?

There are over 47 million senior citizens currently living in the United States. Each of these senior citizens has unique needs when it comes to the care they need and the environment they thrive in. As a person ages, they will need to start getting help with a few tasks.

If you are the child of an aging parent or have an aging loved one you care about, finding the right care options for them is imperative. Home care and assisted living are just two of the most popular options seniors use when in need of some extra help. These two options are very different, which is why you need to find out about them both. Here is some important information you need regarding home care and assisted living.

Home Care is Great For Seniors Who Want to Age in Place

For most people, their home is a refuge from the world and their personal oasis. As a person gets older, they will need to think long and hard about where they want to spend their golden years. If a person wants to stay in the home they have lived and raised a family in, hiring a home care agency is probably the best course of action.

In most cases, the home care option is reserved for seniors with mild medical issues who can still function on their own. The best part about hiring a home care company is their ability to help seniors with activities of daily living. This includes things like shopping, preparing meals and cleaning.

Not only will a home care agency help with these important tasks, they can also provide companionship to a senior. With all of the different home care providers on the market, choosing the best one is no easy task. Before you make a decision regarding which agency to use, be sure to check their credentials and reputation. The time and energy invested in this research will pay off when you are able to hire the best possible home care agency for your senior loved on.

Assisted Living Facilities Provide Extra Help to Seniors

When trying to decide whether or not the senior in your life needs home care or to move into an assisted living facility, consider their health. Often times, seniors who have serious health conditions that prohibit them from living alone safely will move into assisted living communities. Generally, these facilities will provide a home-like atmosphere to tenants.

They also have fun activities, a staff of nurses and delicious food offerings. If your senior loved one requires around the clock care, there is really no substitute for the convenience of an assisted living facility. While these facilities may be a bit costly, they are worth it considering the quality care a senior will receive.

Working With Experienced Home Care Professionals

Are you a senior citizen in need of quality home care services? If so, contact the team at Like Family Home Care for more information on the services they provide.