When her father became ill just before Christmas last year, Dr. Socorrito Baez-Page faced an increasingly common conundrum. Her aging parents wanted to stay in their town house, but her mother couldn’t handle the caregiving alone.

So Dr. Baez-Page, a general practitioner in Alexandria, Va., moved her parents into her home, converting the dining room and TV nook on the main floor into a bedroom. But the four steps down to the bathroom in the split-level home have proved hazardous. Nobody is happy. “My mother is embarrassed to have to use the commode by her bed at night,” said Dr. Baez-Page. And space for everybody is tight.

The solution? Though many families are often forced to consider nursing homes under these circumstances, the Page family found another option. They ordered a MEDCottage — a prefabricated 12-by-24-foot bedroom-bathroom-kitchenette unit that can be set up as a free-standing structure in their backyard. It’s more than a miniature house — it’s decked out with high-tech monitoring and safety features that rival those of many nursing homes. The floors, for instance: “It’s got special rubber floors, so even if you fall, you’ll be safe,” noted Dr. Baez-Page’s husband, Dr. David Page. Indeed, according to Kenneth Dupin, a minister and the founder of N2Care, the Virginia company that worked with the Virginia Tech College of Engineering to design the MEDCottage, you can drop an egg from 18 inches onto the special flooring without breaking it.

The Australians, who began building simple backyard homes for the elderly in the ’70s, call them granny flats. In the United States, these self-contained units have earned another nickname: granny pods. This month, the Pages will become the first family in the country to take delivery of a high-tech MEDCottage. The cottage is laid out as an open-plan apartment with a kitchen area (equipped with a microwave, small refrigerator and washer-dryer combo), a bed area and a bathroom large enough in which to maneuver a wheelchair. The utilities and plumbing connect to the primary residence.

But the granny pod also brims with high-tech touches. In order to make midnight bathroom visits safer, for instance, a runway mat stretching from the bed to the toilet lights up automatically when you step on it. It turns itself off after 10 minutes. Tracks along the ceiling accommodate a lift or a trapeze hook. Residents who have balance issues can grab onto a hook to provide stability as they move around the cottage. The lift helps those with more serious mobility challenges.   “One of the primary reasons people have to go to nursing homes is that caregivers can’t lift them anymore and get them out of bed and keep them mobile,” Mr. Dupin said. If the cottage resident does fall, she will be visible on a camera system hooked up to the caregiver’s computer in the main house. It’s not exactly Big Brother: The cameras sweep an area 12 inches above the floor, so normally all they transmit are images of feet and ankles.

For those needing more elaborate medical monitoring, the MEDCottage is equipped with a system that tracks blood pressure, glucose, heart rate and blood gases (changes in blood levels of oxygen or carbon dioxide can signal heart failure and other serious conditions), sharing that information with family and physicians. If the resident fails to take medication from a dispenser on time, the system — speaking aloud — reminds the patient and sends a text message to the caregiver.

Zoning rules can create barriers. “Local zoning varies by county, and it’s not necessarily easy to set these pods up,” said Rodney Harrell, housing policy specialist at the AARP Public Policy Institute. Currently about half of the states allow these accessory dwellings for a family member, according to Mr. Dupin. (Several additional states, including New York, are considering legislation explicitly permitting granny pods.) But setting one up is especially easy in Virginia. A state law passed in 2010 permits temporary medical dwellings on a resident’s property, as long as a physician verifies that the patient needs assistance with at least two daily functions — like bathing, eating and dressing — and the unit is removed when there is no longer a need for it (so the pods don’t turn into rental properties).

The cottage costs about $85,000 new; Mr. Dupin’s distributors will buy it back for about $38,000 after 24 months of use. “If you compare it to nursing home costs, which can run $6,000 to $8,000 per month in Virginia, even higher in New York, that’s cheap,” said Mr. Dupin. Of course, unlike nursing homes, granny pods don’t come equipped with 24-hour professional care and three meals a day. Hiring a health care aide may become necessary. But a growing number of elderly people — 88 percent of those over 65 — say they want to live in their own homes, in their own communities, as they age, according to a 2010 AARP survey. The government is catching on to this trend, and to the potential savings. According to Lynn Feinberg, a caregiving specialist at the AARP Public Policy Institute, a provision of the Affordable Care Act going into effect this year will pay for health care delivered in the home instead of in the doctor’s office.

If you can afford them, granny pods have advantages: “Older adults have their own living space and privacy, which has the potential to reduce much of the stress associated with caring for aging parents,” said Bernard A. Steinman, senior research associate at the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts. Still, the setup may not work for everybody. “Some families may have dynamics and/or history that make the option undesirable, or the level of care needed by the older adult may exceed what the family is able to provide,” Dr. Steinman said. But for Dr. Baez-Page, the convenience of having her mother close but still living independently is especially important. Her father has died, and her mother will be living alone in the granny pod. “The MEDCottage will be six feet away from our kitchen windows,” she said, adding that she will be able to get to her mother in seconds.

I am so honored to receive “The Small Business Person of the Year Award”. I’m being honored for creating a successful business that helps people care for the ones they love. It’s wonderful to be recognized as a business leader but especially in the home care industry where we have become successful by following our core values of professionalism, consistency, integrity, compassion and quality. I could not do this alone and that’s why you see most of my administrative staff at the award Gala at the Museum of Flight in the photo. It was a night I will never forget.

Excerpt from SBA official press release: The U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) 2012 Washington State Small Business Person of the Year is Marla Beck, founder and president of Andelcare. Founded in 2003, in just nine years Beck has taken Andelcare from being a startup to a multimillion dollar company employing more than 100.

Andelcare provides companionship, homemaking, personal care, nursing services, hospice care, nurse advocacy, and care management. Andelcare makes it possible for the elderly, the disabled, and adults recovering from surgery and disease to maintain as much independence as possible while continuing to live with dignity in the comfort of their own homes.

From amongst her peers, the SBA has chosen Beck as an exemplary representative of the small business community. “Beck is a business owner who has exhibited staying power. She continues to increase sales and create new jobs,” said Calvin Goings, Assistant Associate Administrator. “As an innovator of products and services, Beck is continually expanding her marketplace. She has demonstrated an outstanding ability to respond to adversity and the struggling economy while, at the same time, continues to contribute to her local community.”

“The SBA knows small business is America’s most powerful engine of opportunity and economic growth and, through our annual awards program, we recognize outstanding small business leaders. Marla Beck is outstanding example of a smart and innovative business leader,” states Nancy Porzio, Seattle SBA District Director.

You can read more about the award and my journey here in the media we have been receiving:

 http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/sba-honors-nations-top-small-businesses-142458395.html

https://news.wsu.edu/pages/publications.asp?Action=Detail&PublicationID=31503&TypeID=1

http://www.prweb.com/releases/2012/3/prweb9332333.html

http://www.bellevuereporter.com/business/145983325.html

May 13th is Mother’s Day and in honor of mothers everywhere I’m giving you some ideas for gifts. We have an article that I thought was very interesting on “granny pods”. It’s a creative way to make room for your parents or grandparents without having to remodel your home. You just need some space in your yard.

Another idea is to preserve the love you have for your mother in the form of a photograph. Photographs are powerful and I use my own mother as Andelcare’s “cover girl”. I have been admiring the sensitive and beautiful work of Nancy Medwell. She creates portraits of healing with mothers and daughters and I have included an example of her work. She can provide a treasured photograph that celebrates your relationship with your loved ones. You can view more of her work at www.nancymedwell.com. We have her coffee table book “Eternal Moments” in our lobby and it would make a great Mother’s Day gift too. 

Drum roll please…. We have more good news and apologize that our newsletter is longer than usual, but…..

The Alzheimer’s Generation: What We’ve Learned in 30 Years
Rita Altman, R.N

In the early 1980s, most people with Alzheimer’s disease would have simply been labeled as “senile.” Spouses and adult children would take on the responsibility of providing care until it was time for a nursing home, where they received care in an institutional setting.

Since then, there have been remarkable strides forward in the diagnosis, understanding and care for those with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of memory loss. Reflecting on the progress we’ve made in the last 30 years helps us to prioritize new advances in the decades ahead.

Diagnosis, Treatment and Education

Every 69 seconds, someone develops Alzheimer’s disease and one out of every eight seniors over the age of 65 has the disease. Yet 30 years ago, no one knew its name. If you search the New York Times archives from 1850 through 1977 for “Alzheimer’s disease,” only one story refers to the disease, although it was first diagnosed back in 1907.

The Alzheimer’s Association, whose resources are invaluable to so many today, was not even founded until 1980, and it was not until 1982 that Ronald Reagan declared an official “Alzheimer’s Awareness” week. Many people regarded the symptoms of confusion and memory loss as just a reality of getting older. The result was that little attention was given to treatment, diagnosis, and more importantly, elder care and caregivers.

While a definitive cure for Alzheimer’s is still elusive, there are five FDA-approved drug treatments that help relieve the symptoms of the disease. These have all been developed in the past few decades and there are numerous new therapies in the research pipeline.

Care Settings

Prior to the 1970s, resources and services for people with memory loss were virtually non-existent, and care was given either at home or in nursing homes. Fortunately, a major shift occurred in the 1980s when the institutionalized medical model of care provided in nursing homes transitioned to the resident-centered social model provided in assisted living communities and in home elder care agencies.

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To find out how Andelcare can help your loved one stay at home with Elder Care in Bellevue WA, call us today at 888-788-3051. We are an elder care agency providing quality and affordable care for our seniors, veterans and the disabled in our community.

Caregivers In Need of Some Care
By Michelle Singletary

WASHINGTON – America is facing a crisis that will make the federal budget deficit look like a simple bank overdraft fee.

If we don’t figure out how to provide financial support to the millions of family members taking care of seniors with chronic conditions or disabilities, we will have caregivers so overwhelmed that they will be forced to stop helping their elderly relatives. That cost of care will then transfer to the government, and this would mean astronomically higher health care costs or more people being placed in nursing homes, according to a new report from AARP’s Public Policy Institute.

In 2009, about 42.1 million family caregivers provided assistance to an adult with limitations in daily activities such as going to the bathroom, preparing meals or making it to a doctor’s appointment. The AARP report estimates the economic value of family caregiving at $450 billion in 2009, based on those 42.1 million caregivers age 18 or older providing an average of 18.4 hours of care per week at an average value of $11.16 per hour.

Just imagine if much of this voluntary care were gone.

Historically, providing care to the elderly wasn’t such a dire public policy issue.

People didn’t live as long as they do now. But what happens when the need for long-term care goes on for years or decades?

The long-term care needs of many of our elderly are straining families, just as family structures have changed and during one of the worst economies in decades.

There are more women in the workforce, making it harder for them to provide care.

Almost two-thirds of family caregivers are female. More than eight in 10 care for a relative or friend age 50 or older.

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The caregivers at Andelcare are available to talk with you and your family about all of your live-in home care needs. Andelcare is a home care agency providing quality and affordable home care in Seattle and the surrounding areas. Call 888-788-3051 for more information.
 

Medications May Be Damaged By Storage Mistakes
By WALECIA KONRAD

What does extreme heat do to medications? I found out while we were sweating out the recent heat wave in a lake cabin in New Hampshire and my 10-year-old son’s allergies kicked up.

I gave him a dose of over-the-counter medicine that usually brings quick relief. But this time the drug had no effect. The same thing happened the next day, and the next.

When I returned home, I asked a pharmacist about it. Was my son becoming immune to this particular medicine? Were his allergies getting worse?

The pharmacist asked where I had stored his pills as the temperatures soared. On the bathroom shelf in the cabin, I said. And on the sweltering six-hour drive to the lake? The medicine was in my suitcase in the trunk of the car.

And that’s when I learned this: No drug should be exposed to temperatures higher than 86 degrees. Some days the bathroom at our vacation house and certainly the trunk of the car were well above that mark.

Extreme temperatures can have a big effect on both prescription and over-the-counter drugs.
Pharmaceutical manufacturers recommend most of their products be stored at a controlled room temperature of 68 to 77 degrees, said Skye McKennon, clinical assistant professor at the University of Washington School of Pharmacy. In truth, that is the range in which manufacturers guarantee product integrity. Anywhere from 58 to 86 degrees is still fine, she said.

“During heat waves and cold spells, storage locations can go above or below those ranges, causing medicines to physically change, lose potency or even threaten your health,” McKennon said.

For patients with such chronic illnesses as diabetes or heart disease, a damaged dose of a crucial medicine, like insulin or nitroglycerin, can be life-threatening. But even common medicines can break down with potentially harmful effects, and you can’t always tell by looking at the pill or liquid that a problem has occurred, said Janet Engle, a pharmacist and past president of the American Pharmacists Association.

read more from the seattletimes.nwsource.com

Andelcare caregivers are available to answer all of your home care questions. We are an elder care agency providing live in home care in Seattle WA and the surrounding areas. Call us at 888-788-3051.

Home Care Seattle WA: How to Help Someone With Dementia Make Restaurant Choices

By Paula Spencer Scott, Caring.com senior editor

Does the person you’re caring for hesitate or seem perplexed by a long menu?

Difficulty making choices is common in early- and mid-stage dementia. What was once simple has become more challenging due to a combination of memory loss, loss of judgment and the ability to process options, and fear of saying something wrong.

Some ways to help:

    Don’t mistake respectfulness for helping. It might seem kind to wait patiently while your companion orders, but this can actually heighten his or her anxiety and confusion. 

   Instead, gently preempt a choice by stepping in with a suggestion: “Look, today’s special is your favorite: salmon.” Or, “I’m having salmon. You, too?”

    Alternately, narrow the many options on the menu to just two: “Which sounds better to you: salmon or chicken?”

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For more information about how the caregivers at Andelcare can help your family with your home care needs, call 888-788-3051. We are a home care agency providing quality and affordable live in home care in Seattle and the surrounding areas.

Family Caregivers Part I: “I Feel Good That I’m Able To Help”
Written by Melissa Galvez

What will happen to Mom when she can’t care for herself? Every year, millions of Americans join the ranks of family caregivers to look after an aging parent, spouse or other relative.

They take on several unpaid jobs they never applied for — chauffeur, financial adviser, personal care attendant, nurse. They spend hours in relatives’ homes and at doctors’ offices. Caregivers often report real satisfaction in knowing that Dad is eating right or that Grandma has her medicine. But they also report high levels of stress, financial difficulties and health problems.

In this special series from News21, five families describe the worries and rewards of long-term care.

Silvia Ortiz, Houston, Texas
Silvia Ortiz spends her days ensuring that her mother has eaten properly and that her father has taken a walk. Ortiz lives in Houston’s Greater Fifth Ward, down the street from her parents, Maria Guadalupe Perez, 68, and Gregorio Perez, 67.  Her mother has diabetes, arthritis and depression; her father has had knee surgery and heart problems.

The Perez family works with a case manager from the senior program at Neighborhood Centers Inc. Ortiz, who’s 41, has held a paying job for just three years, choosing instead to focus on her children — now all attending or graduated from college — and her parents.

Though she is relatively young for the role, Ortiz is hardly alone. Estimates of the number of caregivers in America vary widely, but AARP has calculated that at any point in time, 42.1 million Americans provide care for an adult with “limitations in daily activities.” That care can include anything from driving and paying bills to helping someone out of bed or to the bathroom.

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For more information about receiving care for your loved one at home. Contact the caregivers at Andelcare. We can help your family with all of your care needs. We are a home care agency providing quality and affordable live in home care in Seattle WA and the surrounding communities. Call 888-788-3051.

Plumber Understands Aging In Place Modifications

(WiredPRNews.com) As you grow older, your body and abilities change along with your social needs. Having a plan for moving from your senior to elderly years can facilitate greater control, quality of life, and independence. Local area plumbers are learning how they can help you set this plan in motion through aging in place services.

Simply put, aging in place is electing to live in the place of one’s choosing as they age while having necessary support services available as personal needs change over time. With home health care services on the rise, many elderly and other people of need are finding comfort in choosing to stay at home instead of move into a retirement facility or other type of care center. Home health care affords individuals the convenience of having nurse care on site.

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For more information about how the caregivers at Andelcare can help your family with your home care needs, call 888-788-3051. We are a home care agency providing quality and affordable live in home care in Seattle WA and the surrounding communities.

5 Must-Do Rules for Preventing Medication Mistakes
How to protect yourself in advance from drug interactions
By Melanie Haiken, Caring.com senior editor

If 1.5 million serious medication mistakes happen every year, and 100,000 people die from them, how do you make sure you and your loved ones aren't among the casualties? Take these five steps to make sure medication mistakes don't happen to you.

1. Be prepared.

Make a list of prescription drugs, nonprescription drugs, and any supplements such as vitamins, minerals, or herbs that you and your family members are taking. Keep a copy in your wallet, and update it regularly.

2. Have regular medication reviews.

At least once a year, have your general practitioner or primary doctor review your list of medications to make sure there are no dangerous combinations, incorrect dosages, or medications inappropriate for your age and circumstances.

Remember, as time goes by, your body changes, and a medication that was perfectly fine five years ago may not be healthy — or even necessary — today.

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If you or someone you know needs help with elder care in Bellevue WA or the surrounding area, contact the caregivers at Andelcare. We provide quality and affordable in-home care for many disabled and elderly loved ones in our community. Call us at 888-788-3051 for more information.