Did I say great-granddaughter?!? Yes, the median age of Facebook is shifting rapidly as more and more seniors are joining the ranks of Facebook users. Recognizing their residents’ vital need to stay connected to family and friends to engage in healthy emotional and intellectual stimulation, many assisted living facilities are now offering courses on how to use Facebook. For many seniors, accessing Facebook has become an immensely important part of their day.
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Benefits of Facebook for Seniors

What are the potential benefits for seniors who want to use Facebook for social networking?
Well, staying connected with family and friends can be tremendously uplifting for seniors. Facebook is a great way to see photos, read status updates, and drop a quick note to family, friends, and acquaintances. Maintaining that personal connection is so important for seniors, and Facebook is an easy way to do that.

Any words of caution for seniors who use Facebook?
Like anything on the internet, using discretion while on Facebook is a must. Keeping the following in mind will help you navigate the massive Facebook network safely:

1. Carefully check out people who claim to be old friends or acquaintances and be sure that you really do know them before accepting their friend request. There are many scammers and hackers out their hoping to take advantage of seniors on Facebook trying to get personal information, even hacking into your account or sending you personal messages apparently from friends who desperately need you to wire money to help them out of a jam. To look at more of the top Facebook scams see allfacebook.com.

2. Be wise about how much personal information you display in your status updates or in personal messages. Revealing specific location, phone numbers, addresses, planned vacations, trips, and financial matters is not a good idea. Charlie from third grade might still be a nice guy, but you never know who else has changed in the last 50 years.

3. Be wary of special deals and promotions offered on Facebook, just like you would on any other website. Their ads are effectively targeted and personalized based on your demographic information.

4. Don’t insert any personal information in any games or quizes. Scammers will post quizes and require personal information like a telephone number in order to get quiz results.

5. Never download programs or applications claiming to be for Facebook unless you are sure you are still on the official Facebook page. Hackers will place redirect pages that look just the real thing in applications, games, or quizes. Check the address URL to make sure you are still on the official site.

Stay connected. Be safe.

And of course, if you need to elderly care housing or some other type of TX Assisted Living, we can help you with that. Enter your info in the tool above, and you’ll be on your way!

With this in mind, let’s look at senior dancing.

Dance Events for Seniors

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Today, I saw an announcement for seniors in the Chicago area. The honors society at a local high school is hosting a special dance especially for senior citizens. This is becoming more common lately. Most seniors remember the days of their own high school dances. This is a great opportunity to bring those days back in a fun, exciting way. And it’s a great way to get some exercise.

Even more common are dances at local senior community centers. (Check your local senior center for opportunities in your area.)

Dance Workouts for seniors

Seniors are rediscovering not only “prom style” dancing, but also other variations, like senior line dancing. Here is one site, Dancing For the Dream, that highlights line dancing for seniors, and encourages them to get involved, as it is a fun way to mingle and to get exercise. This particular group holds seminars all throughout the country. They teach workshops, have live music, and some great information.

Is line dancing not your thing? Lots of seniors won’t jive with the country music theme, which is understandable, but they still want to dance. Here is a site that features a wide variety of senior dance and workout videos. They are not all exclusively for seniors, but many are, and all feature workouts that are terrific for seniors–low impact workouts. Everything from Tai Chi to water workouts. Very helpful stuff!

Ballroom Dancing Still a Senior Favorite

Of course, many seniors cut their teeth on ballroom dancing many decades ago, and there is no substitute for a good Foxtrot. A good Waltz, or even a Rumba! How can they get their fix? Some dance groups travel to senior housing complexes to put on night time events for residents. This group, based out of Washington State will visit an assisted living center or retirement center and teach classes or put on music from eras of old. There are more and more of these popping up around the country.

The group’s rationale is the health of the senior. Dancing, they say, is a great way to relieve stress, lose weight, release endorphins, and increase your heart health. We agree with all these things. Of course, many exercises will help you accomplish those goals, but they are not all as fun as dancing is.

It is a common thing, by the way for modern senior housing facilities like nursing homes or assisted living facilities to have fun activities planned for their residents. If you need to find elderly care housing in your local city, search using the tool at the top of this page.

So where can you find help with your taxes? The AARP has set up centers where seniors can come by and get help all around the state, in every major metropolitan area. Pay close attention to the hours listed, and the specific addresses. We will not list every location here by any means, but we will list one or two from each major city.

Dallas Area Tax Aide Sites

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FOREST GREEN LIBRARY
Address: 9015 FOREST LN
DALLAS, TX 75243-4114
Telephone: (214) 670-1335
Hours: Thursday only at 12:00PM-4:00PM
Walk-ins are welcome

METRO CREST SOCIAL SERVICES CENTER
Address: 1002 S BROADWAY ST
CARROLLTON, TX 75006-7214
Telephone: (972) 446-2100
Hours: Wed 12:00PM-5:00PM
Sat 9:00AM-12:00PM
Please call for an appointment

Houston Area Tax Aide Sites

MONTROSE LIBRARY
Address: 4100 MONTROSE BLVD
HOUSTON, TX 77006-4936
Telephone: (832) 393-1800
Site Schedule: Mon 2:00PM-6:00PM
Thu 2:00PM-6:00PM
Walk-ins are Welcome

HEIGHTS LIBRARY
Address: 1302 HEIGHTS BLVD
HOUSTON, TX 77008-4209
Telephone: (832) 393-1810
Site Schedule: Tue 12:00PM-4:00PM
Wed 12:30PM-4:30PM
Walk-ins are Welcome

San Antonio Area Tax Aide Sites

WONDERLAND MALL
Address: IH-410 AT FREDERICKSBURG RD
SAN ANTONIO, TX 78201-6530
Telephone: (210) 385-9833
Site Schedule: Wed 9:00AM-4:00PM
Walk-ins Welcome

BOB ROSS SENIOR CENTER
Address: 2219 BABCOCK RD
SAN ANTONIO, TX 78229-4412
Telephone: (210) 207-5300
Site Schedule: Tue 9:00AM-1:00PM
Thu 9:00AM-1:00PM
Fri 9:00AM-1:00PM
Appointment Required

Austin Area Tax Aide Site

SOUTH AUSTIN MULTI PURPOSE CTR
Address: 2508 DURWOOD ST
AUSTIN, TX 78704-5444
Telephone: (512) 972-6840
Site Schedule: Wed 12:00PM-4:00PM
Walk-ins Welcome

RUIZ LIBRARY
Address: 1600 GROVE BLVD
AUSTIN, TX 78741-3402
Telephone: (512) 974-7500
Site Schedule: Mon 12:00PM-4:00PM
Wed 12:00PM-4:00PM
Walk-ins Welcome

Fort Worth Area Tax Aide Sites

FORT WORTH CENTRAL LIBRARY
Address: 500 W 3RD ST
FORT WORTH, TX 76102-7305
Telephone: (817) 871-1133
Site Schedule: Wed 10:00AM-2:00PM
Sat 10:00AM-2:00PM
Appointment: Appointment Required

Shamblee Branch Library
Address: 1062 EVANS AVE
FORT WORTH, TX 76104-5135
Telephone: (817) 392-5580
Site Schedule: Mon 3:30PM-7:30PM
Appointment Required

El Paso Area Tax Aide Sites

HILOS DE PLATA SENIOR CENTER
Address: 4451 DELTA DR
EL PASO, TX 79905-4316
(915) 533-3207
Site Schedule: Tue 10:00AM-3:00PM
Walk-ins Welcome

Center Name: El Paso Memorial Park Senior Center
Address: 1800 BYRON ST
EL PASO, TX 79930-5104
Telephone: (915) 562-4260
Site Schedule: Mon 10:00AM-3:00PM
Wed 10:00AM-3:00PM
Walk-ins Welcome

Tyler Area Tax Aide Site

Tyler First Presbyterian Church
Address: 230 W RUSK ST
TYLER, TX 75701-165
(903) 581-1809
Site Schedule: Tue 8:30AM-4:30PM
Wed 8:30AM-12:30PM
Thu 8:30AM-4:30PM
Fri 8:30AM-12:30PM
Sat 10:30AM-2:30PM

University Christian Church
Address: 3500 OLD OMEN RD
TYLER, TX 75707-2110
(903) 581-1809
Wed 9:30AM-1:30PM
Walk-ins Welcome

Odessa Area Tax Aide Sites

Odessa Northside Senior Center
Address: 1225 ADAMS AVE
ODESSA, TX 79761-4116
(432) 337-5281
Thu 9:00AM-2:00PM
Appointment Required

Lubbock Area Tax Aide Sites

LUBBOCK SENIOR CITIZEN CENTER
Address: 2001 19TH ST
LUBBOCK, TX 79401-4605
(806) 687-6327
Site Schedule: Wed 9:00AM-3:00PM
Thu 9:00AM-3:00PM
Walk-ins welcome

If you need further help finding TX Assisted Living or other type of senior housing, enter the desired city and care level in the square at the very top of this page.

Let’s start with the most obvious criteria: medical help.

If your loved one needs full time care because of a serious medical condition, they will almost certainly need nursing home care. At very least, they will need a caregiver at home to be with them all the time. But what about those seniors who are not battling with a disease? What about those who don’t need that level of oversight? What about those who just require a bit of help during the day? Fortunately, there is a way that the senior care community thinks through this issue. They consider how a senior can perform activities for daily living.

What are ADL’s?

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Activities for Daily Living are those things that any healthy person does constantly during the day and never has to think about. They are essential activities that a person needs to be able to perform in order to live alone. They include things like eating, bathing, going to the bathroom, getting dressed, and getting out of bed. A person who cannot do these things by himself or herself should not be living alone. Assisted Living staff is able to help with these activities.

There is one other set of criteria called “Instrumental Activities of Daily Living,” or IADL’s. These are more complex activities that a person needs to do to function fully in society, but not necessarily for survival. They include traveling, preparing meals, cleaning the house, taking medicine, balancing the checkbook, etc. Does a senior have to be able to do these things alone in order to live alone? No. Family or professional caregivers can often pick up some of the slack for these things.

If your loved one is unable to perform many of the activities on these lists, you might want to check into assisted living options in your area. Assisted Living facilities are designed to care for these very issues. A person does not need to be seriously ill to live in an assisted living facility. These communities are for exactly what they say: to assist a person with their living. Help with ADL’s and IADL’s are what set these facilities apart from retirement facilities (which usually give no help with basic ADL’s) and nursing homes (which help with virtually everything, assuming that the senior needs help with everything.)

To find elderly care or assisted living in your area, enter your city name and type of care desired above, and get access to lists of facilities all around the country.

Aside from those with chronic and serious medical issues, many seniors are able to stay at home, from a physical standpoint. What they need is some daily assistance. Many can’t get groceries, or can’t do housework. And many need daily help or reminders with taking medicines–things that can be accomplished with a visit from a nurse. These seniors often end up selling their house and moving into an assisted living facility because they see no other way. Assisted living can meet those needs and can put them in an environment where they can actually be part of a community.
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But there is a new, cutting edge idea that is spreading throughout the senior care community that could actually allow seniors in this position to stay home while having those needs met. Some call it “virtual senior communities,” others call them “senior villages,” but the idea is the same. What if groups of seniors who lived near one another could stay in their homes but form a sort of club? What if they figured out the types of resources that could meet their needs, and decided to hire people who could help meet all of those: home health care givers who could make rounds to their different houses every day; people to go buy and deliver groceries to their homes; drivers who could be on call to take the members to various appointments? And what if these seniors, living in the comfort of their own homes, organized social activities with one another in the process?

Here is one example in the Boston area. It is called Beacon Hill Village, and they offer services to seniors who live in their own homes. The communities who are experimenting with this idea have found good success. The “senior village” is able to accomplish much of what a retirement home or assisted living community would. Home health care is becoming increasingly flexible as senior franchises are spreading all over the country. That flexibility is opening up doors for this idea to be possible. As senior volunteer groups continue to pop up, and caregiving companies expand, it gets easier. And the social gathering part is the easiest of all.

Besides the obvious benefit of staying at home, there is another huge plus in this idea: the costs. It is far cheaper to be a part of one of these communities than to live full time in an assisted living home.

So can “senior villages” work anywhere? Probably not. Many seniors are just not capable of accomplishing the activities for daily living (getting out of bed, washing their bodies, changing their clothes, etc.) that are required for independence, and a once-a-day visit from a nurse or caregiver just will not be enough. But for those who can swing it, the idea will take off, especially in neighborhoods where there enough seniors to make the idea happen. However, the onus is going to be on seniors themselves to organize these communities. There is no company that comes in and does this, and that is exactly the point. So if a senior is willing to take leadership in the idea and get it going, it can meet the needs of many others in the community. I don’t expect these communities to take the place of assisted living any time soon, but now that the door is open, people will walk through it.

If you need to find other senior housing or TX Assisted Living, use the silver box at t he top of this page.

Plano, TX is home to more than two hundred thousand north Texans. It located just a short drive north of Dallas, but it provides plenty of excitement by itself. There are many attractions for a person looking for a place to retire, or for a senior wanting to move into a Plano elderly care facility. Here are a few of them:

• Visit the popular Municipal Art Galleries of Plano
• Take in a show at the Courtyard Theater in the Haggard Park Historical District
• Go to a festival like the Big Tex Cat Show, the Fall Home and Garden Show
• Check out a concert at Picnic in the Park
• Take a short drive to a park at Lavon Lake, and catch some bass
• Drive to the Dallas metroplex to take in a Mavericks game or one of the Dallas million other attractions!
• Enjoy the warmth of the weather and the north Texas culture!

What type of Plano Elderly Care Do You Need?

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The world of elderly care has changed considerably in recent years. Elderly care used to be synonymous with nursing homes. But that is far from the truth today. Now, we have a wide scale of elderly care homes available to seniors, from full time nursing facilities to assisted living communities to hands-off independent living communities, and everything in between.

So, how do you know what type you need? Just consider a few basic questions.

1) Does your loved one have a major medical problem that requires constant oversight? Than you definitely need skilled nursing care. But if not…

2) Does your loved one require help doing things that the rest of us do by ourselves? I’m talking about basic Activities for Daily Living? Do they need a hand putting on their clothes in the morning, or bathing, or moving in and out of their bed? If so, don’t think “nursing home” right away. Rather, think assisted living. Plano Assisted Living homes are designed for those types of seniors exactly: people who aren’t necessarily in bad shape from a medical standpoint, but who need help with daily life. Who cannot live alone. These are communities that generally offer help with any of those activities, plus things like housework, transportation, and cooking. Most of them offer three meals a day in the common dining room, and they encourage interaction through social events throughout the week. In short, you can be independent without being alone.

3) If your loved one does not need help with basic activities, and wants independence, then a retirement community or a continuing care facility would be great. Independent living is a standard retirement community where seniors have help nearby if they need it, and they are secure. A continuing care community goes one step further and allows the senior to transfer their living situation to a place with more care if the time comes when they need it. This allows the medical community to adapt to the needs of the senior as the senior’s life changes.

Plano elderly care has plenty of senior care facilities no matter what kind of care you are looking for. To find the housing that fits your needs, put your information in the box at the top of the screen and start searching for retirement or assisted living homes in your area today!

Earlier this month, researchers released a small report suggesting a blood test for Alzheimer’s could be coming very soon. If confirmed in the general public, this could eventually open the doors to letting doctors and patients get a head start on treating the disease before it fully sets in.
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The study analyzed the blood from a group of senior citizens. Some were healthy. Some had Parkinsons. And some had Alzheimer’s. The test was pretty technical, of course, but in essense here’s what they did. They took blood samples from each of the patients and screened the samples with synthetic molecules peptoids. Peptoids are able to bond with human antibodies. These particular peptoids were three times more likely to bond with the antibodies in the blood of the Alzheimer’s patients than in the other’s blood. That is a weak explanation, obviously, but here is a link to the story. It explains it much better than I can.

For now, the study is not going to rock the Alzheimer’s world. But early detection in any disease can open the door to tons of new possibilities. Researchers and pharmaceutical companies love the studies, because someone who is diagnosed early is able and possibly more willing to volunteer for breakthrough research projects and drug trials. Right now, this is a difficult thing to do, because the disease takes hold so quickly, and most patients are too advanced in the disease to be able to offer much help.

So what difference does it make for Alzheimer’s patients? Right now, not much. It just suggests that there really can be future breakthroughs in fighting this terrible disease. With so many doctors and researchers on the scent, and with the possibility of early detection, we will one day be able to fight this disease. And we will find a way to beat it.

For more information on elderly care, and to find senior care or assisted living facilities in your area, put your info at the top of this page to find listings in your area.

But there is an obvious, inherent limitation in senior housing: there are only seniors. And while yes, there are advantages of not having wild kids that make lots of noise in the complex, many residents will actually miss the mixing of generations. Variety is the spice of life, after all!
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With this in mind, some complexes are starting to mix it up in some fairly innovative ways. For example, one senior housing complex has joined forces with the University of Minnesota’s medical school. They have allowed some U of M med students to lease apartments inside the senior housing complex. The goal is to get the students to rub shoulders with a demographic that they normally might not understand, but that they will be treating with all kinds of medicines and therapies before long. The results have been fun and promising. A couple of fourth year students confess that they are really getting to know people in their unity, and they are starting to understand their world. As future doctors, this will give them a huge leg up when dealing with geriatric patients.

This experiment has been positive for the residents as well. And it’s easy to see how this formula can catch on in other facilities around the country.

Why is this a good fit? Besides the obvious benefit that comes from hanging out with people from other generations, university students who are enrolled in serious studies are likely to be good neighbors: busy, quiet, and responsible. And since they don’t have oodles of extra time on their hands, they are likely to take advantage of events like corporate meals when they are offered.

Obviously, this is not a perfect formula, but this Minnesota arrangement… they might be on to something. Seniors can use a little change of scenery. And students can use the friendship and mentoring of the older generation. You see? Everybody wins.

If you need help finding retirement homes, assisted living, or other types of senior housing, type the name of your city and click the type of care you need. In a moment, you gain access to a list of elderly care housing from Bend, Oregon assisted living to Washington DC Retirement homes.

Naturally, they turn to the most common form of senior care: home care. This does not necessarily have to come from a nurse. Many seniors need help with daily activities that the rest of us take for granted (basic activities like getting dressed in the morning, and moving from a sitting position to a standing one), but they are not in need of a full time registered nurse. Others need medical professionals to help deal with illnesses on a daily basis, but they want that to happen at home. In either case, they need help. Some families to become the caretakers themselves, and others hire someone. Among those who choose to hire a caretaker, many people are now working with home health care agencies.
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Home health agencies are popping up all over the country. Many are franchises, and some of them are growing at phenomenal rates, as more and more people are catching on to the concept.

Take Addus Healthcare, for instance. Addus has a network of offices all around the country. Addus hires nurses, therapists, and caregivers to care for clients in a given region. Those clients can include individual seniors who need help. But the client hires Addus, and Addus hires the caregiver.

So, what is the advantage to choosing an agency like Addus versus hiring somebody yourself? Well, there could be many reasons.

Firstly, these agencies usually require full background checks and references for all their employees. So their people are generally safe hires. If you go it alone, you may not get to do all of that yourself. Secondly, if you are paying someone, you have to deal with a whole host of issues as you become an employer. You have to be extra sensitive that you are in accordance with a host of state laws. And when your employee needs time off, you have to struggle to find someone who will fill in for him or her.

That’s not to say there aren’t some advantages to doing it yourself. Certainly, there are perks there as well. As the boss, you can have full control over who is working with your loved one on any given day. And you might be able to pay less in the process.

But overall, there is a reason that home health agencies are doing so well: they work. That means that clients (families like yours and mine) appreciate their work. So it makes sense to check them out. Do a quick search for “home health care” and your city to find caregivers in your area. And if you need Assisted Living in your area, put the appropriate information in the fields at the very top of this page.

Odessa, Texas is quintessential West Texas. It is home to a lot of history, and to almost one hundred thousand residents. Ten percent of these are senior citizens over the age of sixty-five. That means that elderly care services are not hard to find in this city.

Odessa was formed as a Railway town in the late 1800′s. The Pacific Railway came right through west Texas, and Odessa was born. Later, the city became a popular cattle shipping center. But when oil was found in the 1920′s, it really took off. To this day, Odessa is surrounded by oil pumps–some still chugging away after decades of work.

Today, young and old residents of Odessa enjoy attractions such as the Water Wonderland, and the Monahans Sandhill State Park. There are a plethora of shopping centers such as Music City Shopping Center, Town and Country Shopping Center, and the Great Oil Basin Shopping Center.

Seniors in Odessa might especially enjoy museums such as the Ellen Noel Art Museum, the Presidential Museum, or the Parker House Museum. And, maybe best of all, they can reach the Midland International Airport to pick up family in just a few minutes.
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Understanding Assisted Living

West Texas seniors can find senior housing facilities that meet their specific needs, from full time nursing and rehabilitation care to assisted living care to retirement communities. Here are a few specific options:

If they don’t have a lot of needs, but want a safe, comfortable place to retire, they can find a place like Lincoln Towers Retirement. At Lincoln, you can get a lovely private sweet of your own, and have access to a relaxed, comfortable lifestyle. There are three delicious meals per day. You can also have access to all sorts of social outings, and have the transportation to take you there. Lincoln Towers will allow you to live independently but with support if you need help with anything.

But say you can’t exactly live on your own, but you don’t need to be watched over twenty-four-seven, either. What do you do then? This is where Odessa Assisted Living can help out. One facility to consider is the Emeritus at Sherwood Plaza. At Emeritus, you not only get a private residence in a community with three meals a day and social opportunities, you also get assistance with daily activities, sometimes called ADL’s. Specifically, seniors can get help with bathing or dressing or transferring… every day things that most of us take for granted, but that some seniors cannot do alone.

For other seniors, unfortunately assistance with ADL’s is not going to be enough because of continuing ailments. These seniors usually require full time nursing or rehabilitation care, and regular assisted living homes are not able to provide that. Fortunately Odessa area nursing homes such as Seabury Center NCU. Seabury Center is a high rated nursing center that houses 97 patients and accepts both Medicare and Medicaid.

There are other types of Odessa Assisted Living, such as memory care for Alzheimer’s patients, residential care homes for those who want Assisted Living in a smaller environment, and adult day care for caregivers who need a break. If you need to find one of these or other TX Assisted Living options, submit your information at the top of this page and you’ll be on your way to finding the Odessa Assisted Living care you need!