Senior Care Bellevue WA: Chair Exercises & Limited Mobility Fitness
TIPS FOR PEOPLE WITH INJURIES AND DISABILITIES

The benefits of exercise are not restricted to people who have full mobility. In fact, if injury, disability, illness, or weight problems have limited your mobility, it’s even more important to experience the mood-boosting effects of exercise. While there are many challenges that come with having mobility issues, by adopting a creative approach with help from senior care assistance, you can overcome your physical limitations and find enjoyable ways to exercise.

Limited mobility doesn’t mean you can’t exercise
When you exercise, your body releases endorphins that energize your mood, relieve stress, boost your self-esteem, and trigger an overall sense of well-being. If you’re a regular exerciser currently sidelined with an injury, you’ve probably noticed how inactivity has caused your mood and energy levels to sink. This is understandable: exercise has such a powerful effect on mood it can treat mild to moderate depression as effectively as antidepressant medication. However, an injury doesn’t mean your mental and emotional
health is doomed to decline. While some injuries respond best to total rest, most simply require you to reevaluate your exercise routine with help from senior care, your doctor or physical therapist.

If you have a disability, severe weight problem, chronic breathing condition, diabetes, arthritis, or other ongoing illness you may think that your health problems make it impossible for you to exercise effectively, if at all. Or perhaps you’ve become frail with age and are worried about falling or injuring yourself if you try to exercise. The truth is, regardless of your age, current physical condition, and whether you’ve exercised in the past or not, there are plenty of ways to overcome your mobility issues and reap the physical, mental,
and emotional rewards of exercise.

What types of exercise are possible with limited mobility?
It’s important to remember that any type of exercise will offer health benefits. Mobility issues inevitably make some types of exercise easier than others, but no matter your physical situation, you should aim to incorporate three different types of exercise into your routines:

• Cardiovascular exercises that raise your heart rate and increase your endurance. These can include walking, running, cycling, dancing, tennis, swimming, water aerobics, or “aquajogging”. Many people with mobility issues find exercising in water especially beneficial as it supports the body and reduces the risk of muscle or joint discomfort. Even if you’re confined to a chair or wheelchair, it’s still possible to perform cardiovascular exercise.
• Strength training exercises involve using weights or other resistance to build muscle and bone mass, improve balance, and prevent falls. If you have limited mobility in your legs, your focus will be on upper body strength training. Similarly, if you have a shoulder injury, for example, your focus will be more on strength training your legs and abs.
• Flexibility exercises help enhance your range of motion, prevent injury, and reduce pain and stiffness. These may include stretching exercises and yoga. Even if you have limited mobility in your legs, for example, you may still benefit from stretches and flexibility exercises to prevent or delay further muscle atrophy.

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Let Andelcare help your aging loved one with senior care at home. We provide many different levels of home care service to help your loved one stay comfortably at home!

Indoor Gardening and Senior Care in Bellevue WA
Whether Simple or Complex, Indoor Gardening Provides an Enjoyable Activity for the Aging
By Nancy Bobby

If you are caring for a senior, whether as the child of an aging parent or as the caregiver providing senior care services, you know the importance of having a variety of activities to share over the course of a day. Seniors, like everyone else, can suffer from boredom, and those who are not mobile, who have health problems are no different. In fact, it is these seniors, who can’t do as much for themselves, who often suffer from boredom the most. Simple indoor gardening is a fun and beneficial activity for your senior that is easy and inexpensive to do, and will provide hours of enjoyment long after the seeds are planted.

Plan the Indoor Garden to be an Enjoyable Activity for the Senior

When planning gardening activities for seniors, it is important to think about the physical ability of the elderly person. Whether he/she is wheelchair bound, or not especially mobile, has arthritis, visual problems, or even some dementia, this is still a great activity. Consider what the person is able to do, and then choose gardening projects that would be easy for them to participate in, and provide the assistance that they will need along the way.

You may also want to consider if the senior has been a gardener, and their interest and enjoyment in gardening. For an elderly person who has experience in planting, you can help them plan a more complicated indoor garden.

Simple Gardening Activities for Senior Citizens

For an elderly person that needs simple projects, don’t get overwhelmed with elaborate plantings. Choose small gardening projects that will be easy to plant and care for, and that won’t require complicated instructions.

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At Andelcare, we recognize that there are many reasons why a loved one may need senior 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 Bellevue and the surrounding area. Call 425-283-0408 for information!

Activities for Seniors With Dementia
By The CareGiver Partnership

One of the biggest challenges for caregivers who are providing senior care for a loved one with dementia is coming up with activities for the person in their care.

Research has shown that providing activities can help a senior with dementia keep and use what cognitive function they still have and slow down the progression of the disease.

The good news is that there are tips that can help you come up with meaningful activities. Here are some senior care activities for seniors with dementia:

Consider the interest of the person

It can be difficult to just come up with activities for the loved one in your care. However, if you start by thinking about what activities the senior in your care has enjoyed that may give you a place to start. Keep in mind that you will need to consider how severe the dementia is before you settle on an activity but knowing what they have enjoyed in the past can be a good place to start. For example-If someone loved to garden, cook, sew, or do needlework you can offer an activity that is based on not only what they loved but their current cognitive skill. While you may have to simplify what you do (for example planting seeds instead of pruning), it can still put them in touch with activities that they have enjoyed in the past.

Set up routines

One of the most devastating effects of dementia is the fact that many people who get it begin to feel like they have lost their purpose. You can help the elderly loved one in your care by making them feel more useful and needed. You can do this by setting up activities that you and your loved one can do together. Keep in mind that these tasks do not have to be elaborate or outside of the norm. Simply by taking out the garbage, washing dishes, or folding the laundry you can help the senior in your care feel that they have purpose. Keep in mind that with any type of task that you offer you will need to make sure that it matches the senior’s present cognitive abilities.

Read on for more senior care activities and help keep your loved one healthy, happy and involved.

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If you are looking into senior care for your loved one with dementia, contact the caregivers at Andelcare. We are a home care agency providing senior care in Bellevue WA and the surrounding communities. Call 425-283-0408.

No one wants to think about having to leave their home for assisted living or a move to their childrens’ home due to aging and safety. Home senior care from Andelcare is the answer! Receiving care in the home makes life easier and less stressful on our loved ones. Enjoy this article from money.usnews.com and contact Andelcare if you need help with home senior care for your retired loved one.

How to Help Retirees Stay in Their Homes
by Philip Moeller  http://money.usnews.com

Helping people stay in their homes as they age has been a formal, if poorly understood, goal of U.S. aging policy for some time. Experts say it’s far cheaper than housing seniors in nursing homes and other institutions. And public surveys find that it’s also the overwhelming preference of 9 out of 10 seniors.

As much as we want to age in our own homes, however, the network of government, volunteer, and family caregiving resources needed to support older Americans with home senior care is able to meet only a fraction of the elder population’s needs. And with soaring numbers of older Americans, coupled with stressed government and philanthropic budgets, the scale of unmet needs is likely to rise sharply.

America’s resources for home-based seniors are coordinated chiefly by the U.S. Administration on Aging (AoA), which is part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Support services are defined and delivered through a network of state
offices, some 630 local areas on aging districts, and thousands of connected local government and volunteer programs.

Still, according to a recent report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), there is no definitive picture of the home-based services America’s seniors are receiving or of their unmet needs.

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If you or a loved one needs help with senior care in Bellevue WA or the surrounding area, contact Andelcare at 888-788-3051. We provide quality and affordable senior care to the seniors, veterans and disabled in our community.

8 ways for seniors to watch for Medicare fraud

By Donna Gehrke-White Sun Sentinel

Seniors:  You can be on the front lines helping protect Uncle Sam from Medicare fraud.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is asking you to guard against fraud. South Florida has recently been a hotbed for Medicare corruption, including a recent $25 million kickback scheme that implicated 54 doctors, nurses, operators and recruiters.

The agency gives the following eight ways you can protect Medicare and your benefits.

Record the dates on a calendar when you have doctor’s appointments or receive health care services.

Save receipts and statements. You can get a free Personal Health Care Journal from your local Senior Medicare Patrol program. To locate the Senior Medicare Patrol program in your state, call 1-877-808-2468 or go to the program locator at www.smpresource.org.

Review your Original Medicare claims once they have been processed, by visiting www.MyMedicare.gov or call 1-800-MEDICARE (1-800-633-4227). If you are in a Medicare Advantage Plan (HMO or PPO) or Medicare Prescription Drug Plan, you may call your plan for more information about a claim. Contact the local Senior Medicare Patrol program if you identify errors or suspect fraud. The Patrol can also help you make a report to Medicare.

Do not use another person’s Medicare card, and don’t allow anyone else to use your Medicare card to access benefits or for any other reason.

Protect your Medicare Number. Do not give it out, except to your doctor or other Medicare providers.

Never give your Medicare number in exchange for a special offer.

Report suspected instances of fraud by calling 1-800-MEDICARE. When using the automated telephone system, have your Medicare card with you and clearly speak or enter your Medicare number and letters. At the main menu, say Claims or Billing and then follow the menu prompts.

Learn more about Medicare fraud and ways to protect against it by visiting www.stopmedicarefraud.gov.

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

Fear of Antidepressants Keep Many From Disclosing Depression
Staywell Custom Communications

With October being National Depression Education Awareness Month, we wanted to share some more information. Depression is a serious condition and shouldn’t be ignored. The following article gives some statistics and general information and is a great read for caregivers providing senior care.

(HealthDay News) — For a nation that seems ready to pop a pill for any ill, a new study suggests that the opposite seems true for some people with symptoms of depression, whose concerns about the side effects of antidepressants were the top reason they wouldn’t disclose warning signs to their doctors.

A phone survey of more than 1,000 adults who had previously participated in the California Behavioral Risk Factor Survey System, which probed depression-related beliefs, showed that 43 percent reported one or more reasons for not talking to their primary care physician about their depression. Nearly a quarter of them worried that their doctor would recommend antidepressants — the most frequently cited reason for withholding the information.

Other stated barriers to sharing depressive symptoms included the belief that it’s not a primary care physician’s job to deal with emotional issues (16 percent) and concerns about medical record confidentiality (15 percent). At least 10 percent said they were fearful of being referred to a counselor or psychiatrist and of being labeled a psychiatric patient.

“When patients are diagnosed with depression, they can go into a state of shock emotionally and view it as some kind of indictment of personality or character,” said Dr. Norman Sussman, a professor of psychiatry at New York University Langone Medical Center, who was not involved in the study. “People would almost prefer to get a serious medical diagnosis than be told they have a psychiatric disorder.”

The study is published in the September/October 2011 issue of the Annals of Family Medicine, and was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Mental Health.

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For information about how Andelcare can help you and your family with senior care in Bellevue WA, call 888-788-3051. Andelcare provides premier senior care in Bellevue, Seattle and surrounding areas.

High-tech Ways to Care For the Elderly
By Barbara Mahany, Chicago Tribune

Senior Care Bellevue WA – Used to be, the phone or good neighbors were the best bets for keeping tabs on someone you love who’s elderly and living alone – especially if you lived too far to buzz over every day.

Now, a host of technological devices and Internet-based solutions are crowding the senior care landscape, making it more convenient, and less worrisome, to know that all is well with an aging relative or friend.

We talked to gerontology nurses and gerontologists to get the lowdown on what’s smart, what’s dignified, and what’s best avoided. Far more important than all the high-tech is the simple act of talking about it to make sure any high-tech monitoring is seen not as an invasion of privacy but rather a means of allowing a person to more safely live alone.

“Sometimes in our eagerness for safety, that whole aspect of a person’s autonomy – and dignity – is being trampled,” says nursing professor Margaret Bull, who specializes in elder care issues at Marquette University in Milwaukee.

“As much as possible, match what’s in that person’s comfort zone,” advises Dena Schulman-Green, a gerontologist at Yale University’s College of Nursing, who often opts for low-tech elder care solutions but certainly not always. “Some older adults are very into technology, and using such devices makes them feel part of the modern world and less of a burden to their kids.”

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If you or someone you know needs help with senior care in Bellevue 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.

Don’t Skip This Year’s Flu Shot: CDC
Staywell Custom Communications

(HealthDay News) — The 2011-12 flu vaccine protects against seasonal flu and H1N1, just like last year’s, but that doesn’t mean it’s OK to skip your yearly flu shot, researchers from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warn.

“All people aged 6 months and older should be vaccinated,” said Dr. Carolyn Bridges, an associate director for adult immunization at the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

Protection wanes over the course of a year, so “even people who got a flu vaccine last year should get one again to make sure they are optimally protected,” she said.

The new recommendations are published in the Aug. 18 issue of the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The fact that the vaccines are identical does change things slightly for children aged 6 months to 8 years. In general, children in this age range should get two doses of the flu shot administered at least four weeks apart, but they will only need one dose of the 2011-2012 vaccine if they received at least one dose in 2010-2011.

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If you or someone you know needs help with senior care in Bellevue 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.