05.29.08
Posted in Alzheimer's Disease, Assisted Living, Assisted Living Facilities, Assisted Living Referral Service, Assisted Living Safety, Caregiver, Depression, Dimentia, Elder Care, Elderly Care, Home Health Care, Nursing home, Nursing home alternative, Senior Citizen, Taking Care of a Loved One, Texas Elderly Care Services, care at home, dementia, forgetting to take medication at 6:05 pm by admin
Do your mother and/or father need to be moved from home to an assisted living? Do they need to be moved from an assisted living to a nursing home? Or are they at a facility that you are not happy with? Moving your parents can be the best thing that you can do for them, but it can also be the worst thing.
Moving is a dramatic change for an elderly person, especially one with Alzheimer’s disease. A move from home to a nursing home may be the best option but look into getting care at home. Moving can confuse and depress an elderly person. If your mother or father is able to, let him or her be a part of the decision.
When an elderly person is familiar with a facility or the staff at one assisted living or nursing home it’s usually best to keep him there. An elderly person is more likely to willingly receive care and feel comfortable with care attendants and nurses that he or she knows as opposed to a stranger. Also when elderly people are familiar with a facility, such as knowing where the dining room, medicine, activities, and their apartment is, they are usually emotionally stable longer than if they are moved from facility to facility and getting disoriented and confused.
However, when you see your loved one needing more care than what the facility gives, you need to act quickly. There are nurses that come to where your parent is and give care to him. Some facilities have care packages that start at minimal care (such as reminders to come to meals and take medicine) and maximum care packages (such as bathing, transferring from bed to wheelchair and feeding). If the facility that your loved one is does not offer more care and getting a nurse to come and care for him or her is not an option you should not leave him or her there, moving would be a must in that situation.
If your parents are at a facility and you are not happy with the care that they are receiving, talk to the management about your complaints. They may not be aware that your parent is being neglected. Also talk with the care staff and let them know that you care about your parents and want the best care for them. Politely tell the care staff your complaints (i.e. moms hair needs to be brushed, I noticed dad lost his dentures). Visit your parents often. Keep the care staff accountable by making visits at different times of the day or maybe spend a night there if possible. If the quality of care still does not improve make a complaint to DADS (Department of Aging and Disabilities Services) and move your parents to a more quality facility.
Most importantly make sure your parent is taken good care of and is happy.
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02.28.08
Posted in Alzheimer's Disease, Assisted Living, Caregiver, Depression, Elder Care, Elderly Care, Home Health Care, Nursing home, Senior Citizen, Taking Care of a Loved One, Texas Elderly Care Services, arthritis, dementia at 10:45 am by admin
This morning the sunrise looked like sunshine was gently stroked with a paintbrush onto the pale blue and pink sky. There’s something therapeutic about sunshine. I believe that it helps calm and uplift a person to a degree. When a baby is born the doctor tells the mother to sun bathe the baby by bringing the infant in direct sunlight for a few minutes to half an hour. Everyone, not just babies, could use some sunlight. The elderly however aren’t able to get out much and maybe don’t have a good view out the window. Not getting sunlight may be a factor of depression. Statistics have shown that there are more suicides in places that don’t get much sunlight such as Alaska’s winters. So if your loved one is battling depressing from alzheimer’s or has been cooped up for too long take them out for a walk and a picnic. Your loved one will enjoy your company as well as the fresh air and sunshine.
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02.23.08
Posted in Assisted Living, Assisted Living Facilities, Assisted Living Safety, Caregiver, Depression, Elder Care, Elderly Care, Home Health Care, Nursing home, Nursing home alternative, Taking Care of a Loved One, Texas Elderly Care Services, Uncategorized, medication at 4:05 pm by admin
Staff members, even when there is a good ratio of staff and residents, can get overwhelmed with their jobs. If you are a care worker communicate with your coworkers and employer any concerns you might have with your job. Also encourage other care workers that work along side of you. It’s not a one man show. Communication doesn’t just mean complaints or demands. Comunicate with your coworkers when there is a shift change. When you come in to work ask if there are any new duties (i.e. Mr. Williams doctor prescribed him some new medication that he needs to be reminded of before he goes to bed, or Ms. Johnson had a fall and needs her dinner brought to her room). When leaving your shift make sure you don’t leave a job half done and make the next shift aware of any changes. Always look into someone’s eyes when he/she is speaking and repeat back what has been communicated so that it is understood. If we would communicate, work together and everyone do their part there would be a lower turn over in care staff.
If a fellow care worker calls in sick do not become angry and wonder if he/she is faking but at the same time voice to your employer that you can’t always “pick up the slack”. There should be a call-in care worker for such cases. There is no reason that you should have to continue to work double shifts. There may be emergency cases that you will have to work a double shift. On the other hand if you are sick you should give as much notice as possible to your employer. Do not come to work as a care attendant/CNA sick. You cannot be caring for the elderly that have low immune systems when you are contageous.
Be honest and encouraging to your co-workers.
“his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man’s work.”
-I Corinthians 3:13
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10.17.07
Posted in Depression at 11:25 am by admin
Care workers who work at assisted living facilities and elder care and memory care facilities have the highest rate of depression in comparison to all other jobs in a recent study. Among a care workers duties is to change diapers, serve the elderly food, get them in and out of bed, give them showers, and perform hazardous medical duties with limited support and information. Women were considered more likely to have a major bout of depression then men, and younger workers were more likely to have a higher rate of depression then their older coworkers.
Just about 11 percent of personal care workers had reported depression lasting two weeks or longer.
During these depression episodes there is loss of pleasure and interest in general. Quite often there is also problems with sleep, eating, energy, concentration and self-image.
This is a reliable government survey that tracked elder care workers from 2004 - 2006. The agency that performed the study was the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, which registers lifetime and past-year depression bouts.
Depression leads to $30 billion to $44 billion in lost productivity annually and should be a major consideration when deciding how to treat and compensate elder care workers. The study was recently released at http://oas.samhsa.gov.
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