Checklist As You Visit Your Aging Parents Over the Holidays
by Dale Carter, www.transitionagingparents.com

Did you know that the holidays bring more than just delicious food and gathering with family?  The holidays bring a spike in admissions at nursing homes, assisted living facilities and calls to elder care agencies. I asked a nurse friend of mine, “Is this true” and she said, “It definitely is”. So, why?

Many of us live across the country from “aging in place” parents. A lot can happen in one year, in terms of your parent’s health and home. If you find yourself in a home that’s in disarray or facing someone who is in frail health, you may find yourself in a reactive mode, wanting to jump at a solution. You may want to immediately ask direct questions. But that will likely put the your parent on the defense. There’s a better way to approach the situation.

Before you leave to visit your aging parents, here is a simple checklist and suggestion on how to approach concerns with your parents.  And, by all means, if you face a deteriorating or emergency situation with your parent, take a step back (and some deep breaths)…and try to frame the situation with an empathetic and loving approach.

1. Look in the frig (is there outdated food in it?)

2. Drive their car (check the state of the tires, oil, antifreeze)

3. Take a peek at the mail (keep an eye out for unpaid bills)

4. Investigate the bathroom (check for cleanliness)

5. Take a note of how the pets are doing

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If you have questions about caregivers or elder care for your aging parents, call Andelcare, 888-788-3051. We provide quality and affordable elder care and assistance to seniors, veterans and the disabled in our community and can help your family decide what type care is best for your loved ones situation.

Positive Attitude Extends Life
by Nancy Shohet West

One day after taking my two children to visit an elderly neighbor, I asked them to imagine what it must be like to be his age.

“Frustrating,” said my son. “He can’t walk fast or ride a bike or do sports. So he’s probably not having much fun.”

“Lonely,” said my daughter. “He doesn’t have any children in his house.”

Well, it’s possible they were both right. But it’s also possible they were both wrong – or that even if they correctly identified the man’s circumstances – limited mobility, solitary household – they miscalculated his feelings about it.

Stanford University professor Laura Carstensen, founding director of the Stanford Center of Longevity, notes that for many adults, contentment and pleasure in life actually increase as they age.

The possible reasons for this are manifold. As my children surmised, elderly people face circumstances that may look to the rest of us like obstacles: increasing levels of physical disability, a decrease in energy, less human interaction than younger people often have in their lives. But as today’s population ages, many members are also reporting some surprising “up sides” to the experience. Some who attacked the career climb with a vengeance in their earlier adulthood are finally finding the time for hobbies, interests and intellectual enrichment. Seniors who opt to sell family homes and downsize often enjoy freedom from home maintenance and yard work. And while having close family for support would certainly be considered a benefit in most circumstances, older people find it enormously liberating to be done with all the anxieties and uncertainties that accompany parenting.

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Andelcare is the perfect solution for seniors and others who aren’t ready to leave their homes for an institutional setting or live with relatives. For more information, call 888-788-3051. Andelcare provides elder care in Seattle WA and the surrounding communities.

October is National Depression Education Awareness Month
by Lu Ann Presser, Dorothy Love Retirement Community

Major depression affects an estimated 19 million American adults every year. Nearly twice as many women as men suffer from depression. It affects the young and elderly alike and can go unnoticed, especially in our elderly who do not have caregivers providing elder care.

Symptoms of major depression interfere with the ability to work, sleep, eat, or enjoy pleasurable activities. It can occur at any age.

Low levels of the chemicals serotonin and norepinephrine are believed to attribute to depression. These substances are called neurotransmitters and they carry electrical signals from one nerve cell in the brain across spaces (called synapses) to other cells.

Life events may also be responsible for a person’s depressed mood, such as a death of a loved one, financial concerns, martial problems, and health issues.

In the past few years we have heard much about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). In the winter months we are exposed to less light. Research indicates that the absence of sunlight triggers a biochemical reaction that may cause loss of energy, fatigue and lethargy, decreased activity and sadness.

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

GPS Enabled Shoes For People With Alzheimer’s
Technology can be in your sole.
By Carolyn Rosenblatt, Contributor

A new, clunky shoe for tracking the wearer with a device implanted in the sole is now available.  It does seem like a good idea, but I have one problem with it.  It’s not the $300 price tag.

It’s the concept that  a person who can’t keep track of where he is, or a person who wanders would be left alone to do so because the shoes are supposed to make the elder safe.  Perhaps it is supposed to be a supplement to elder care caregiving, the idea that no one can watch an aging parent every second of the day and night.  OK.  But for those who have the inaccurate perception that an aging parent or other relative is fine if left alone, as long as we can track Mom or Dad on the smart phone, I have concern.

Technology is wonderful at helping us, but it can’t take our place.  With unsafe parents, we can’t have a “set it and forget it” mentality.

For elders who wander and get lost, we have a responsibility that goes a lot farther than their shoes.  Wandering is part of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease for some, and it can be difficult to manage, even with elder care.  In assisted living, for example, as it differs from a skilled nursing facility, we can’t physically restrain residents, even for their own safety.  We allow them to wander within the confines of their unit in the facility, theoretically with staff keeping a watchful eye on where they wander.  Staff will gently guide them back to a safe place, should they go too far.

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For information about how Andelcare can help your family with Alzheimer’s elder care in Seattle WA, call 888-788-3051. We are dedicated to providing quality and affordable elder care to the elderly, veterans and disabled in our community.

How to Tell Your Kids About a Grandparent’s Alzheimer’s Disease
What children need to understand about Alzheimer’s
By Paula Spencer Scott

If you have a parent, other family member, or close friend who has Alzheimer’s disease or some other form of dementia, it affects not only you; it has an impact on your children, too. The time Grandma blanked on your son’s name? Those overheard long, worried phone conversations with your family about finding elder care for your aunt?

Kids notice more than we give them credit for. They may not understand exactly what’s wrong, or they might mishear “Alzheimer’s” as “old timer’s” disease, but they deserve being included in the situation in an age-appropriate way.

The following suggestions for filling in your kids come from Joyce Simard, a geriatric consultant in Land O’ Lakes, Florida, who self-published a children’s book called The Magic Tape Recorder: A Story About Growing Up and Growing Down. You can adapt these suggestions to the age of your children.

Explain Alzheimer’s in ways your children can understand

Alzheimer’s is a big word that may not mean much to kids, and “disease” can sound like something catching (which it isn’t). So simplify: “Grandma has a memory problem.” Or, “George has a disease that is sort of like if you had a tape recorder in your head, but the tape recorder is turned off. When he was younger, the tape recorder was on, so he remembers a lot of things from his past.”

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Andelcare provides premier elder care in Seattle, Bellevue and surrounding areas. For more information about how the caregivers at Andelcare can help your family care for a loved one, call 888-788-3051.We provide companionship, homemaking and personal elder care services for many seniors, veterans and disabled in our community.

Alzheimer’s Tests: Pros and Cons of the 6 Main Options
What to know about tests that can be used to help diagnose Alzheimer’s
By Paula Spencer Scott, Caring.com senior editor

First, the bad news: No single test can tell with certainty if someone has Alzheimer’s disease. If that surprises you, you’re not alone. Almost half of adults surveyed in five countries believed a reliable Alzheimer’s test exists, according to a 2011 survey by the Harvard School of Public Health and Alzheimer’s Europe.

Now the good news: Exciting research developments mean an Alzheimer’s diagnostic test is nearer than ever. That’s because probable signs of the disease now can be found in the brain and bloodstream up to ten years before symptoms become apparent (during what’s called the “preclinical” stage of Alzheimer’s disease). These new “biomarker” tests will be most helpful for identifying likely early cases and for helping to develop preventions and treatments.

For those concerned about current symptoms of dementia, however, doctors must rely on a clinical assessment. A clinical assessment to diagnose Alzheimer’s dementia usually involves several kinds of testing. That’s because, for now, diagnosing Alzheimer’s is still largely a process of elimination.

Tests can check for causes of dementia that aren’t Alzheimer’s, help identify other problems that can affect the brain, and monitor cognitive changes over time.

“It’s not always high tech, but it is in fact how we make the diagnosis,” says neuroscientist and physician Paul Aisen, director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Cooperative Study, a consortium of 80 academic institutions conducting Alzheimer’s clinical trials.

Here are the six main options:

1. Brief cognitive screening tests

Also called: Mental status testing, office-based cognitive assessment

What they do: Brief cognitive tests check for the presence of problematic thinking skills that might indicate mild cognitive impairment or a dementia such as Alzheimer’s.

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For information about how Andelcare can help you or your loved one with Elder Care in Seattle WA or the surrounding area, contact our caregivers at 888-788-3051. We specialize in helping the elderly, veterans and the disabled receive quality and affordable home care and assistance.

What Is Someone With Dementia Thinking?
By Paula Spencer Scott, Caring.com senior editor

Parents are known to gaze into their babies’ eyes and wonder, What’s going on in there? Those of us who are caring for loved ones who have Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia do the same thing.

I know, because I found myself wondering about my own dad’s self awareness just the other day. A recent stroke left him wheelchair-bound. This is a big change for someone who was in a bowling league ’til this spring, at 87. But the stroke also seemed to worsen his dementia. He’s living in a rehabilitation facility for now, and when I visit and find him lined up with other wheelchair-bound elders in the dementia unit, watching TV, I can’t help thinking that he’s doing exactly what he swore he never would: “sit around with a bunch of old people who don’t know any better.” Thing is, he doesn’t seem to mind it.

As Alzheimer’s, a progressive disease, worsens, it robs the ability to have conscious awareness. What does that mean for caregivers?

In early/mid stages of Alzheimer’s:

• Most people are aware of initial cognitive changes in themselves (whether they say anything about it or not).
• Self awareness doesn’t disappear overnight. Research has shown that many people are relieved by a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s, rather than upset, because they finally have a logical explanation for something unnerving that’s dogged at them.

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

Coach Summitt’s Diagnosis Puts Spotlight on Early-Onset Alzheimer’s
Staywell Custom Communications

Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most dreaded afflictions of old age, but the announcement by celebrated women’s basketball coach Pat Summit of her Alzheimer’s diagnosis at age 59 has put a spotlight on the less common, but perhaps even more devastating, form of the disease.

About 500,000 people in the United States, or about 5 percent of those with Alzheimer’s, have early-onset Alzheimer’s, also called “young-onset” because it’s diagnosed before age 65, said Dr. Zoe Arvanitakis, a neurologist in the Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

Though rarer still, diagnoses among people in their 30s and 40s aren’t unheard of, she noted.

“In contrast to what many people think, Alzheimer’s disease does not only affect older persons. It can also affect persons in their middle adult ages,” Arvanitakis said.

Symptoms for early-onset Alzheimer’s are the same as for late-onset disease, experts said. Summit, coach of the University of Tennessee Lady Vols, told the Washington Post this week that she suspected her forgetfulness was a side effect of a rheumatoid arthritis drug, until Mayo Clinic doctors told her she was showing mild signs of the dementia.

Typically, early-onset Alzheimer’s progresses more quickly than late-onset Alzheimer’s, experts said.

Still, the time from which a person first has symptoms to the time they’ve lost so much of their mental abilities that they’re truly disabled varies widely from person to person, said Dr. Gary Kennedy, director of the division of geriatric psychiatry at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City.

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

Caregiver Stress Can Show in Body Language, Causing Negative Results All Around
by Carol Bradley Bursack, Editor-in-Chief

Our body language affects those we care for. If we are stressed and our movements show it, our care receiver is likely to feel that stress. That, in turn, can make the care receiver more stressed and cranky. We then can create a negative cycle. Ideally, caregivers will learn to work off stress away from the care receiver, so that he or she can present a calm and loving presence for his or her loved one.

Have you ever had a day where you realize, after the fact, that your movements were jerky, you were hurried with everything you did, your teeth were clenched, perhaps your breathing was shallow? If you haven’t, most caregivers would like to know your secret. A perfect caregiver would never let his or her stress be evident around the care receiver. However, we are imperfect human beings.

Coping with the needs of an elder or a spouse with dementia can be especially stressful; however, any long-term elder care is something that can take a physical, mental and emotional toll on nearly anyone.

When dementia is part of the picture

People with dementia, particularly advanced dementia, are often only able to comprehend the here and now. Therefore, the fact that this person may have asked the same question of the caregiver every five minutes for an hour is just a reflection that this is what is going on in the care receiver’s mind.

So, if your dad asks, “When’s Henry picking me up?” that’s just what your dad is thinking. He doesn’t remember asking you about it. He’s just pondering the fact that Henry is his old friend who he went to a men’s coffee group with during their work years. He can’t remember that not only is the group no longer meeting, but that most of the attendees, including Henry, are deceased.

The first time, today, your dad asks this question, you answer sweetly and with compassion, “Dad, I’m afraid Henry can’t make it today.” You’ve already made peace with the fact that you can’t go into why Henry can’t “make it”, since your dad can’t remember the reasons anyway.

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

Alzheimer’s Caregiving: How To Ask For Help
Alzheimer’s caregiving isn’t a one-person task — and friends and loved ones may be more willing to help than you’d think. Here’s help reaching out.
By Mayo Clinic staff

Alzheimer’s caregiving is a tough job, and it’s too much for one person to handle alone. No one is equipped to care for another person 24 hours a day, seven days a week. If you’re caring for a loved one who has Alzheimer’s disease, understand the stress you’re facing — and know how to ask for help.

What’s happening

At first, you may be able to meet your loved one’s needs yourself. This may last months or even years, depending on how quickly the disease progresses and your own mental and physical health. Eventually, however, your loved one will need more help with everyday tasks such as eating, bathing and toileting. And just as the physical demands of Alzheimer’s caregiving increase, so can the emotional toll.

Challenging dementia-related behaviors can strain the coping skills of even the most patient and understanding Alzheimer’s caregiver.

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Alzheimer’s home care counselors at Andelcare are available to talk with you and your family about care needs for your loved one, including, how to reduce caregiver stress while providing affordable and quality care. Andelcare is a home care agency providing Alzheimer’s Home Care in Seattle WA and surrounding communities.