Questions to Guide the Assisted Living Decision

Submitted by administrator on Sun, 05/06/2012 - 5:52pm

Graceland Assisted Living Garden Ridge Texas

The decision to make a move into assisted living is enormous. Seniors and their family members struggle to decide the best living situations when age begins to limit a person's abilities to care for themselves at home.  The decision to leave one's home and transition into assisted living is actually more a series of decisions than simply one big one.

When the realization hits that it is no longer feasible for someone to live by themselves at home, it can be more easily managed by thinking carefully through variables and issues as one makes the best plan possible.  There are resources in the community to help provide guidance through this process.  While it may seem overwhelming at first, it is an important thing to remember when faced with this kind of decision is that inaction is not a solution.  A good first step is to accept the reality that a change will have to be made, and then begin to explore the options that are available.

One of the biggest questions families ask is How can I make the move easier on my loved one?

Spend the first day, move-in day, with them. Set a realistic expectation about how much time you will be able to spend with them afterward. Help them get to know others in their assisted living community by engaging in structured activities. Take another resident along when you take your parent out for a visit, shopping, or for a meal.

Get them as involved in the decision, and in the move, as they can possibly be:

Aging: Alone, In place, how long?

Submitted by administrator on Thu, 05/03/2012 - 12:48pm

Sodalis Cuero

By 2020 there will be more Americans over 65 than under 15.  By 2030, the number of people over 65 will have increased two times, and the number of people over 80 will have nearly tripled.  No doubt about it, American is definitely a graying society.  One of the aging issues that we aren't discussing all that much is the issue of senior housing.  Where are seniors currently living?  What can we expect to change for seniors as the number of seniors increase?  How will the difficult financial downturn of the last few years be experienced in relation to these issues?

Very few seniors express a desire to move into assisted living as they age. Most Americans have an image of themselves as aging in their own homes.  Our society has even invented a term to describe this; "aging in place."  Currently, quite a few American seniors are managing to "age in place," but we're discovering that doing so for most means doing so alone.  

One-third of older Americans live by themselves.   Only 10% of seniors live alone due to the death of a spouse.  Since 1990, divorce rates for those over 65 have doubled.  According to a Bowling Green State Unversity study, nearly one-third of single seniors never married to begin with.  While this may sound sad, researchers say that most older singles are alone, but not lonesome.  Due to better health and better financial resources than in the past, they are able to very active socially.  

Resveratol and Anti-Aging Research

Submitted by administrator on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 12:12pm

Graceland Assisted Living San Antonio Texas

For some time, we've been hearing about the benefits of moderate intake of red wine.  David Sinclair is a professor of genetics at Harvard University Medical School in Massachusetts and is the lead author of a recent study on the benefits of resveratrol, a compound found in red wine.  Dr Sinclair and his colleagues have now confirmed that this ingredient indeed is beneficial.  Offering proof that it can counteract the harmful effects of aging and potentially increase life span.  Resveratol in studies has been show to increase healthy life span by limiting cancer and heart disease.  The research team believes that this finding and others could lead to the development of an anti-aging pill in the near future.

Now, scientists for the first time have created a mouse model that could lead to the development of an anti-aging drug.  

"Work from our lab, and now some companies, is aimed at finding medicines and developing medicines that could use the body's natural defenses against disease," says David Sinclair, a professor of genetics at Harvard University Medical School in Massachusetts and senior author of the latest study showing the health benefits of resveratrol in mice, "and, hopefully, one day have medicines that could delay multiple diseases and hopefully slow down aging."

Human trials involving resveratol are currently being conducted.  The hope is that the within five years, the concept of an anti-aging drug will no longer be just a concept, but a reality.  

Read more here

Alzheimer's: Managing Sleep Problems

Submitted by administrator on Mon, 04/30/2012 - 8:31am

Alzheimer's Care San Antonio Texas

Trouble sleeping?  Chances are that if you have Alzheimer's or if you care for someone with Alzheimer's, Disease you do.  As we age, many older people have trouble getting a good night's sleep, and those with Alzheimer's face even greater challenges as they try to get enough sleep.  Understanding what contributes to sleep issues is the first step to trying to correct sleep disturbances.

There are many things that create sleep disturbances.  Depression, sleep apnea, and physical discomfort are common culprits that interfere with sleep.  With Alzheimer's patients, however, there is an added de-regulation of the sleep cycle that makes for even more challenges.  Nighttime becomes a time of restless sleeplessness.  Days become periods of sleepiness.  As Alzheimer's progresses,  normal lengthy periods of sleep may become a thing of the past, replaced by napping sessions that are spread out through the day and night.  

 

Sleep disturbances can take a toll on both you and your loved one. To promote better sleep:

Dementia Care: New Film- Alive Inside

Submitted by administrator on Tue, 04/10/2012 - 4:05pm

Dementia Care San Antonio Texas

We've known for a while that music has an uncanny way to touch us.  To reach deeply into us.  To help us express things that are sometimes difficult to put into words.  To even take us back in time.  Sometimes music can be a means of opening a door to parts of us that we've forgotten.

Producer and director Michael Rossato-Bennett has created a documentary film that is certain to be touching and full of hope.  His film, "Alive Inside" will have it's world premier at the Rubin Museum in New York City.  The film will be screened  Wednesday, April 18th through Saturday, April 21st.  Please see the museum's website for more information to take advantage of the opportunity to see the film in person.

The film was commissioned by the The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation and follows the stories of nursing care patients who are touched and enlivened by the music of their youth.

Most of us will not make the premier, but you can get a preview of the film below:

 

Dementia Care: South Koreans Preparing for Aging Population

Submitted by administrator on Tue, 04/10/2012 - 3:31pm

Dementia Care San Antonio Texas

By the year 2015, one-third of the population of South Korea will be over the age of 65.  South Korea has the distinction of being the most rapidly aging society in the world.  In America, as the Baby Boomers reach their older years, we are beginning to realize that America as a nation is also aging.  

The American media has been filled with stories about the rise in the incidents of Alzheimer's Disease and dementia.  We finally seem to  be realizing the seriousness of what has been labeled the coming "tsunami" of dementia and Alzheimer's diagnoses.  We are working to educate, to raise funds, and to coduct research in the hopes of finding successful treatments and/or cures.   

The South Koreans are working in similar manner to prepare for the rise in dementia related illnesses in their society.  But they are actually doing more to prepare than we are.  They are also working very hard to sensitize and actually change how their culture looks upon and addresses these illnesses and they are working to prepare their society to become caregivers.

 

How can we do a better job of preparing our society to be caregivers?

Share Knowledge: Videos to Educate about Alzheimer's Disease

Submitted by administrator on Wed, 03/21/2012 - 3:27pm

Alzheimer's Care San Antonio Texas

The Alzheimer's Association is such an oustanding resource for Alzheimer's patients, caregivers, and the entire community. They provide a wealth of resources and support that can help make managing the Alzheimer's experience bearable.

Here are two videos from the Alzheimer's Association that are invaluable and need to be shared. The first video presents Facts and Figures on Alzheimer's Disease for 2012.  The second video addresses the issues of how Alzheimer's effects the workplace.

 

 

Please take the time to share these videos with others in your social networking community. Spreading knowledge about Alzheimer's is essential to increasing support for patients and caregivers AND creating the power to continue to fight for advances in research and funding.

Is Your Parent Ready for Assisted Living?

Submitted by administrator on Wed, 03/21/2012 - 2:27pm

Graceland Assisted Living San Antonio Texas

Making a transition to assisted living from living independently is full of challenges. Sometimes, elders struggle as they make the decision to leave their homes and admit that they need help with day to day responsibilities and matters of caring for themselves.  Other times, adult children may be the ones who struggle to face the reality that their parents can no longer manage to care for themselves at home.

 

Is Your Parent Ready for Assisted Living? Ask Yourself These Questions:
It’s easy to overlook signs of decline in older adults, so ask yourself the following questions to help you determine if your parent is ready for assisted living:

  • Is your parent telling you that he is eating, but you’re seeing food go bad in the refrigerator?
  • Is your parent covering up bruises from falling that he or she doesn’t want you to see
  • Have you seen your parent wearing the same clothes when you go to visit?

    Read more here

Philosophy of Old Age Video: George Carlin

Submitted by administrator on Thu, 03/15/2012 - 2:03pm

Graceland Assisted Living San Antonio Texas

Geroge Carlin was primarily known for his humor, often on the edge of propriety. But George was also a "thinking person" and the following video provides a glimpse at some of the wisdom of the man. Enjoy the humor and wisdom shared in this video Philosophy for Old Age.

All of us, caregiver, senior adult and child share the comon experience of aging.  Carlin presents us with some important things to consider as we live.

 

Benefits to Being a Caregiver?

Submitted by administrator on Thu, 03/15/2012 - 1:39pm

Dementia Care San Antonio Texas

Everywhere you turn, media sources constantly remind us that being a caregiver is an extremely difficult job. Advice for caregivers abounds and networks of support and information geared toward them continue to grow. 

While a great many people seem to be talking about the stress and needs of caregivers, Dr Lisa Friedman, an epidemiologist at Boston University, stumbled across some surprising news about the effects of caregiving on caregivers.

 

But over several years of studying the differences between caregivers and non-caregivers in four locations (Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Minneapolis and Portland, Ore.), Dr. Fredman and her colleagues found that while caregivers were indeed more stressed, they still had lower mortality rates than non-caregivers over eight years of follow-up.

In another study of about 900 women drawn from the same four-site sample, even those classified as high-intensity caregivers — because they performed more functions for their dependent relatives — maintained stronger physical performance than non-caregivers. On tests like walking pace, grip strength and the speed with which they could rise from a chair, the high-intensity group declined less than lower-intensity caregivers or non-caregivers over two years.

Amazing... Doing good, by being a caregiver, can actualy provide some health benefits.

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