Keeping Seniors Safe: Know the Signs of Dehydration in the Elderly

While summer means pools, vacation, and tanning for most, it can also mean overheating and dehydration for others. Summer can be a dangerous season for all ages, but it can be especially dangerous, even fatal, for the elderly. One of the most common, yet deadly, concerns for seniors can be attributed to dehydration. Dehydration is the result of insufficient liquid in the body for proper functioning. Dehydration is a larger concern in the summer due to hot temperatures, which consequently leads to more sweating. If an adequate amount of water is not consumed to balance the water lost in perspiration, dehydration can set in.

In seniors, dehydration is much more common than younger people. The older you are, the less fluid that is contained in the body. Elder people have as much as 10% less liquid than that of a healthy adult. There are several symptoms and side-effects of dehydration that can be taken into consideration if you suspect it in an older family member or friend. Signs of dehydration include, but are not limited to: confusion, weakness, constipation, dizziness, fever, increased heart rate, weight loss, less urine, and disorientation. In more severe and progressed cases, one may experience sunken eyes, severe diarrhea, severe fever, and fainting spells. The sooner you suspect dehydration, the better. If these symptoms are visible and you suspect dehydration, it would probably be in your best interest to consult a doctor or other qualified physician. The sooner dehydration has been brought to one’s attention, the easier it is to manage and cure. If dehydration is permitted to progress in an older patient, there is a much higher chance of further medical complications including kidney failure, electrolyte imbalances, heart diseases, shock, coma, and even death.

Fortunately, dehydration is a preventable sickness that no one should fall to if the correct measures are taken. Be sure to drink plenty of water and other nutritious drinks that are high in electrolytes, sodium, and potassium. Even consuming foods that are high potassium are encouraged to be eaten, as these provide extra electrolytes for the body. In the summer, when dehydration becomes more of a concern, it is recommended to increase the amount of fluid intake even more. While the heat and sun can help lead to dehydration, it is also your own personal responsibility to make sure you and/or the people the around you maintaining healthy levels of liquid intake.

As your parents, friends, or other family grow older, it is a great idea to consider hiring home care or other professional help. If nursing homes are out of the question, it is certainly a good idea to find someone that can check on a loved older person daily. You yourself can provide daily checkups and visits to the household. If this is not an available option, there are definitely other people to turn. Professional home care is a service that is certainly on the rise now that more and more people from the “Baby Boomers” era are growing old and handicapped. While you may not need to hire someone for constant care, checkups are certainly a great idea and can help prevent accidents and other ailments, like dehydration. In order to prevent dehydration, have someone stop by daily to record weight and fluid intake. Daily monitoring can detect miscues in weight and BMI, which can lead to earlier detection of dehydration. Give the person providing the home care a schedule of fluid intakes at a given time interval. Dehydration is a preventable sickness, and should never have to threaten the lives of family, friends, and other elderly people.

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.

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.

continue reading

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.

continue reading here

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.

The Awkward Talk: Engage parents in planning for old age
By Angela Hill, The Oakland Tribune

It's the age-old question: When and how do we have "the talk?"

No, not that one, but the dialogue on the other side of the lifetime spectrum, often just as difficult and delicate – the one about an aging family member's driving abilities, housing transitions, costs of long-term care and even end-of-life instructions.

Most of us, on either side of the discussion, would rather chew on nails than delve into these subjects. Yet as more and more baby boomers step into senior citizen territory and life expectancies continue to increase, such issues loom large.

Even so, these talks don't always have to be harrowing. While each individual, each family, each situation is different, most in the field of geriatric care agree the process is easier the earlier you start – when all parties are fully engaged – and say you should approach loved ones with respect and compassion, appreciating an individual's need to retain independence.

read more

If you need help with answers to caregiving questions, call the caregivers at Andelcare. We help many individuals who wish to remain at home with home care. We are an in home care agency dedicated to providing quality and affordable home care in Seattle and the surrounding communities. Call 888-788-3051.

9 Investigates: The Soaring Costs Of Medicaid

WFTV investigated the soaring costs of Medicaid, and government watchdogs said one simple change could save hundreds of millions of dollars.

Michael Claudio has trouble remembering basic tasks after encephalitis damaged his brain. The state could have spent $5,000 a year for in-home care, or $65,000 a year to send him to a nursing home. State Medicaid managers chose the nursing home and would have sent taxpayers the bill.

"I went on a waiting list for over two years just for some kind of assistance," said Michael Claudio.

Without help, Claudio's wife Linda kept serving as his full-time caregiver for as long as she could.

"My house is in foreclosure now, but I made a choice. He mattered more," said Linda Claudio.

The same situation happened to Carmen Martinez, who wanted a home health care aide to help with laundry and meals for her elderly father. Medicaid wouldn't pay for the help, but it would have payed up to 13 times more to send Martinez's father to an institution.

"The help I need, I don't have it," said Martinez.

An AARP survey showed that 84 percent of seniors prefer home care over a nursing home, and the group Florida Taxwatch said the state could save up to $397 million a year by switching more patients to in-home care.

The nursing home industry lobbied against it.

"I believe that some industries have a stronger voice when it comes to policy-making than maybe the average family has," said Mary Ellen Grant of Share The Care nursing home.

continue reading

For more information about home care for your loved one, contact the caregivers at Andelcare. We help many elderly, disabled and veteran loved ones with quality and affordable home care in Seattle and the surrounding communities. Call 888-788-3051.

Natural Chemical Found in Grapes May Protect Against Alzheimer's Disease

ScienceDaily (July 15, 2011) — Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that grape seed polyphenols — a natural antioxidant — may help prevent the development or delay the progression of Alzheimer's disease.

The research, led by Giulio Maria Pasinetti, MD, PhD, The Saunder Family Professor in Neurology, and Professor of Psychiatry and Geriatrics and Adult Development at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, was published online in the current issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.

This is the first study to evaluate the ability of grape-derived polyphenols to prevent the generation of a specific form of β-amyloid (Aβ) peptide, a substance in the brain long known to cause the neurotoxicity associated with Alzheimer disease. In partnership with a team at the University of Minnesota led by Karen Hsiao Ashe, MD, PhD, Dr. Pasinetti and his collaborators administered grape seed polyphenolic extracts to mice genetically determined to develop memory deficits and Aβ neurotoxins similar to those found in Alzheimer's disease. They found that the brain content of the Aβ*56, a specific form of Aβ previously implicated in the promotion of Alzheimer's disease memory loss, was substantially reduced after treatment.

keep reading here

At Andelcare, we recognize that there are many reasons why a loved one may need home care. From seniors with Alzheimer's Disease, to patients with disabilities, to caregivers needing respite care, we are here to provide quality and affordable home care in Seattle and the surrounding communities. Call us for information 888-788-3051!

Andelcare honored as fast-growing company

Innovation, outstanding employees, and dedication to customer care fuel the company’s growth

Newcastle, Wash. – On Thursday, July 21^st, at a ceremony held at the Golf Club at Newcastle, the Puget Sound Business Journal honored the Eastside Fastest-Growing Private Companies.  Of the 50 honored, Andelcare was number 25 on the list of fastest-growing companies.  Andelcare, based in Bellevue, Washington, is a provider of in-home care for the elderly, the disabled, and people recovering from surgery and hospitalization.  Services include companionship, homemaking, personal care, and nursing care advocacy and management.

Andelcare was additionally honored when its founder and CEO, Marla Beck, was asked to be a member of a four-person guest panel.  The panel responded to questions from Gordon Prouty, publisher of the PSBJ, and PSBJ reporter and columnist Patti Payne.  Speaking to the sold-out event, Beck shared insights about growing her business during economically challenging times.  Beck attributed her company’s growth to outstanding employees, continual innovation, and dedication to customer service and care.

The Puget Sound Region’s Eastside is the home to a dozen or so cities and is fertile ground for a variety of growing businesses ranging from high-technology and medical innovations to in-home care and business consultancies.  Collectively, the 50 honored companies had $1.4 billion in revenue and employ more than 6000.

###

Planning Ahead: Caregivers Need Encouragement
By JANET M. COLLITON

Sometimes people are doing better than they think and need to be reminded.

I considered this recently when meeting with a man who felt he was without options in providing caregiving for his mother.

The rest of the family was engaged elsewhere and ignoring the problems. His mother with her physical and mental conditions needed help. He was supposed to keep her for a short stay and it extended well beyond what he expected. There were other physical issues with people who depended on him.

In describing what happened, he paused, I think, not knowing where to go with this line of thought.

Leaning across the table, I said words something like this:

“You have been faced with difficult choices in an imperfect situation. You have made the best decisions you could for the time. You stepped up and took responsibility. The fact that you could not make it perfect does not take away from what you did. Everything you did was the best that you could do for the time.”

Then it was time to look at what we could do now recognizing realistically that he was unlikely to receive help from expected sources.

Since then, looking back over the many adult children and husbands and wives who are caregivers for parents and spouses in difficult circumstances, I cannot help but wonder whether they ever receive anything like the recognition they deserve or if they ever even recognize it themselves.

One family described how it took two people to help their parent up the stairs at home and that took 45 minutes. Some time ago, a woman described her scare when her mother-in-law briefly leaned from the front porch. A woman injured herself while lifting her husband. Children sometimes give up jobs, employment opportunities or advancement to care for parents. In some cases wives or husbands cannot sleep while their spouse gets up repeatedly through the night, a result of dementia.

These are not unusual occurrences and are not resolved easily, not even with money and not even with paid companions. They can be made easier with advice and with more people helping. Professional help should be sought when needed.

continue reading

If you or someone you know needs help with home care in Seattle 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.

Living with Alzheimer's : When memory slips away, caregivers are challenged
Written by Mary Beth Hislop – Staff Writer/marybethh@latc.com  

Roger Strom didn’t think much about his wife’s forgetfulness – the times she forgot morning conversations about evening plans, the errands she didn’t remember during the day. But in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Jane had her hands full raising three young boys in Los Altos. Of course, it would be easy to forget a dinner party or to pick up the dry cleaning.

And then there were times Jane would struggle to find words and speak clearly. But the subtle changes in her behavior were so minute, Strom just got used to them.

“I didn’t question her short-term memory issues because she was perfectly healthy and young,” he said. “She was vitally involved in our life together making a home for our family. She was an awesome full-time mom.”

In 2006, Jane became trapped inside a locked stairwell while visiting the grand opening of Los Altos’ Whole Foods Market – but, not really.

“Eventually, a store employee helped her, but the stairwell wasn’t actually locked,” Strom said.

The following year, he noticed that Jane was increasingly withdrawn in social situations. A doctor’s visit and subsequent memory test elicited a diagnosis of depression with perhaps sleep apnea. A summer 2008 visit to Jane’s family in Wisconsin triggered worry among her sisters.

“‘What is going on with her?’” Strom said they asked. “They were intensely concerned. They strongly disbelieved the depression diagnosis.”

When Jane was more than an hour late after a designated time to meet him outside a shop in Boston in September, Strom became truly alarmed.

“My Jane came walking around the corner with the most scared look on her face. She had lost track of the time and (had) become disoriented,” he said. “I knew something was very wrong.”

continue reading from losaltosonline.com

Alzheimer’s caregivers 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 better, affordable care. Andelcare is a home care agency providing Alzheimer’s Home Care in Seattle WA  and the surrounding communities.

High-Tech Solutions to Aging-in-Place Dilemmas
By Nell Bernstein, Caring.com senior editor

Quick summary

Ninety-five percent of people 75 and older say they want to stay in their homes indefinitely. This desire for independence is perfectly natural, but for their children, it's also a recipe for worry — that they'll fall, forget to take their meds, or just need assistance. You can make your parents' home far safer and more comfortable by investing in some of the new devices aimed at elders who have made the choice to "age in place."

Solutions for safety worries

"Seniors can really get in trouble because they feel like they're losing their grip on independence," says Susan Ayers Walker of SmartSilvers Alliance. Ayers monitors technological advances aimed at helping seniors hold on to their independence as they age. These technologies also help the children of aging parents, who worry that Mom is going to fall down the stairs, leave the stove on, or forget to take her medication if no one is around to notice.

Here's a worry-by-worry guide to some innovations — several tested and recommended by Walker — that can make all the difference if you're concerned about your live-alone parents' safety or just their day-to-day ease of living.

1. YOUR WORRY: My parents won't be able to reach me in an emergency.

TECH SOLUTION: Big-button cell phone. According to the Pew Research Center, many seniors won't use a cell phone even in an emergency. They find them too complex, can't manage the tiny buttons, or can't read the screens. A big-button phone like the Jitterbug ($147), designed specifically for seniors, could give you and your parents peace of mind. It's an easy-open clamshell with extra-loud speakers, big backlit buttons, a bright screen with easy-to-read numbers, and a straightforward service contract (at an additional cost). The Jitterbug One-Touch takes simplicity a step further, with just three big, impossible-to-miss buttons — one for 911; one for the operator, who will connect your parent to anyone she wants to reach; and one preprogrammed to connect your parents to you or another family member. Such phones cost $10 to $80 per month for the service plan in addition to the cost of the phone.

read more

If you or someone you know needs help with homecare in Seattle, 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.