paying for parents to stay at home

Senior Care: Keeping an elderly parent with dementia active

paying for parents to stay at homeIt’s important to keep an elderly parent with dementia active to benefit their overall health and well-being. This being the case, it’s the duty of the caregivers to put in the effort to find activities that are stimulating. Perhaps the biggest challenge is finding things to do that are fun for both you and your parent with dementia.

AgingCare.com shares some general guidelines on how to best approach this:

Creating meaningful activities

  • Design activities that safely involve your parent’s interests. For example, if they enjoy games, have a regular game night. The severity of the dementia can make the difficultly and length of these activities vary.
  • If your parent lacks the physical or cognitive capability, make the necessary adjustments to allow them to participate in their favorite activities. Maybe taking them out to bingo is no longer an option, but playing bingo or other games in the home is.
  • Make activities meaningful is important — this contributes to your parent’s overall health, even if they don’t necessarily remember every moment of the experience.

Keeping up with old routines

  • People are creatures of habit — and routines are important for people with dementia as it gives them a sense of purpose. Activities that make your parent feel needed and useful can add greatly to their overall happiness. Allowing them to keep up with old routines like cooking and cleaning — even to a small degree — helps them hold on to their sense of independence.

Exercise

  • Taking your parent with dementia on daily walks or other forms of light activity, as AgingCare.com states, can reduce agitation and wandering, which can be triggered by lack of exercise.

Social interaction

  • Just the same as people are creatures of habit, so to are they pack animals. This is why social interaction fills a basic need within us all. Sadly, dementia leads far too many people to lives of isolation. Involving your parent in everyday tasks, like going to the store, will be something they enjoy and appreciate time and again.

Physicians Choice Private Duty can help

Physicians Choice Private Duty — currently serving Omaha, Eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa provides seniors and their families a complete understanding of the options available for those with dementia and related conditions like Alzheimer’s.

All Physicians Choice Private Duty services are directed by registered nurses or social workers with no long-term contracts.

Contact us today with your senior care needs.

“Physicians Choice Private Duty solves the problems families face in finding home health care providers they can trust. Providers who will focus on strategies that keep parents in their homes. To learn more about our health care services, visit https://private-duty.pchhc.com/services/.

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Elderly care: Planning ahead for longterm care

home-care-service-aged-care-family-health-careEven if your parents are still in good health in their latter years, it’s still wise to plan for their future longterm care needs. By planning now, you, your siblings and your parents will know exactly what to do and what is expected of each person individually when health complications do arise.

When to plan

Occasions when all or most of the family gathers is a prime time to start planning for your parents’ longterm care. Whether it’s a birthday, holiday or summer vacation, the more family involved in the process from the beginning, the less complicated things will be when care needs become greater.

How to plan

When everyone is in one place, assign roles. This is especially important for siblings or other family that live far away from the parents. Family who live close by with regular contact will be able to better recognize sudden and subtle changes in the health of elderly loved ones and can keep the entire family updated on day-to-day happenings.

Assigning roles also helps avoid potential conflicts between siblings and other family members. For example, instead of becoming embittered by possible inheritance sibling rivalry, one sibling can be in charge of financial and legal matters while another is in charge of the more hands-on day-to-day help.

Related: The importance of long-term care planning (via Creighton Law Offices)

Recognize that longterm care can be expensive

Planning ahead for longterm care can also be very expensive, so being prepared financially is crucial. Here’re some tips from longtermcare.gov on what should to be addressed:

  • Services available from your family and in your community
  • Special conditions (such as age or income) that may apply for receiving services
  • Costs of services
  • Public or private payment options available to you

Physicians Choice Private Duty can help

Physicians Choice Private Duty ”currently serving Omaha, Eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa” provides seniors and their families a complete understanding of the options available for those needing longterm care, whether in-home or in a nursing facility. When it’s needed, our professional staff can help properly implement the necessary lifestyle changes that will ensure the best quality of life for your aging loved ones.

All Physicians Choice Private Duty services are directed by registered nurses or social workers with no long-term contracts.

Contact us today.

“Physicians Choice Private Duty solves the challenges families face in caring for aging parents, with a focus on strategies that keep them in their homes. To learn more about our solutions, visit us today..”

Elderly care: Medicare not always the solution

Elderly care: Medicare not always the solution

	 Elderly care: Medicare not always the solutionMedicare = Mediocre

Medicare, like most entitlement programs, only provides minimal services. Other government-sponsored programs, like Food Stamps and Social Security, provide basic support without the intent of covering the entire solution. There are no government entitlement programs that provide all serves that are needed. They were created to provide basic needs to vulnerable populations.

Because of this basic premise, Medicare dictates what a participant receives in many areas. For example, Medicare decides how long a person can stay in the hospital after a particular health event and whether or not additional rehabilitation is warranted. If additional rehabilitation is needed, Medicare dictates where the rehab takes place — at home or in a facility, what type of therapy is indicated and how long a person can participate in therapy. Again, providing the basic amount of services — not what may be in the best interest of the particular patient.

Oftentimes, seniors believe that the services covered by Medicare are all they need, but in reality it is all that is authorized by the funding source. Many people benefit greatly from additional therapy and help in the home as they recuperate from surgery or other health crisis. Most of the time, this additional assistance is paid for privately and increases the chances of the patient becoming stronger and more independent over time.

Medicare is a very important part of any senior’s health care, but shouldn’t be viewed as the only solution.

By continuing in-home assistance (i.e. bath aides, home health care and physical therapy) privately, the patient is able to grow stronger and is often able to regain function and maintain it more effectively than those who stop receiving these services once Medicare decides to stop paying for them.

Physicians’ Choice Private Duty Assisted Living has a staff dedicated to maintaining a person’s independence and enabling them to stay in their home for as long as they are safe. By providing in-home services, they are able to create a safe environment and assist them in remaining in their home.

Medicare is a very important part of any senior’s health care, but shouldn’t be viewed as the only solution. By looking at all the options and continuing therapy and in-home care until independence is reached should remain the ultimate goal. It is vital that, with your help, your aging parent takes charge of their own health and designs their own plan.

Physicians’ Choice Private Duty Assisted Living is just a phone call away – 402-331-2273. We want to work with you to regain your strength and independence.

“Physicians’ Choice Private Duty Assisted Living solves the challenges families face in caring for aging parents, with a focus on strategies that keep them in their homes. To learn more about our solutions, visit http://www.private-duty.pchhc.com.

How can I help my elderly parent with COPD

How can I help my elderly parent with COPD?

How can I help my elderly parent with COPDMillions of elderly people suffer from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), which is characterized by persistent, limited airflow, apt to inflammatory reactions to noxious particles and gases present in the airways and lungs. Sadly, COPD is a progressive disease with no cure, one that can only be slowed down by treatments and changes in lifestyle.

What causes COPD?

The most common cause of COPD is inhaled cigarette smoke. Still, other noxious particles like “smoke from biomass fuels and occupational dusts and chemicals can also contribute to the chronic inflammation encountered with COPD,” according to Aging Well Magazine. The chronic inflammatory response can cause emphysema due to damage done to parenchymal tissue. Eventually, normal repair and defense mechanisms are compromised, resulting in small airway fibrosis, according to Aging Well. Eventually, pathological changes occur, making it harder to take air in as well as get it out.

What are the symptoms of COPD?

As mentioned before, inhaling smoke or other noxious particles can cause COPD. Here’s a list of common symptoms from the National Heart Blood and Lung Institute:

  • Constant coughing/”smoker’s cough”
  • Excess sputum (mucus from coughing) production
  • Feeling unable to breathe
  • Unable to take a deep breath
  • Wheezing

In severe cases of COPD, shortness of breath and the other above symptoms can make the simplest of tasks — walking, bathing, dressing and even eating — extremely difficult.

How is COPD treated?

While COPD can’t be cured, the aim of treatment is relieving symptoms, slowing the progress of the disease as well as preventing and treating complications and improving overall health (this includes staying as active as possible).

Lifestyle changes go hand-in-hand with treating COPD, including the following:

  • Quitting smoking
  • Avoiding secondhand smoke
  • Keeping home as dust free as possible
  • Avoiding the use of products with strong chemical odors
  • Avoiding the use of fragrant sprays and lotions
  • Using a humidifier (especially if living in a dry climate)
  • Keeping necessities nearby, especially those with less mobility due to COPD

Related: The COPD Caregiver Guide (via Caring Today)

If the correct changes are made, a person can live a relatively normal life for several years to come. Still, other diseases and illnesses — from flu to pneumonia to cancer — can greatly enhance the risk of death poised from COPD.

Physicians Choice Private Duty can help

Physicians Choice Private Duty ”currently serving Omaha, Eastern Nebraska and Western Iowa” provides seniors and their families a complete understanding of the options available for those with COPD. Our professional staff can help properly implement the necessary lifestyle changes that will ensure the best quality of life for your aging loved one.

All Physicians Choice Private Duty services are directed by registered nurses or social workers with no long-term contracts.

Contact us today.

“Physicians Choice Private Duty solves the challenges families face in caring for aging parents, with a focus on strategies that keep them in their homes. To learn more about our solutions, visit us today..