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Elder Care in Gilbert AZ: Risk for Developing a UTI

Is Your Senior at Increased Risk for Developing a UTI?

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Urinary tract infections are some of the most common infections experienced by people of all ages, but maybe a particular risk for older adults.

As a family caregiver, it is important to identify the particular risk factors that your senior has so you can take steps to reduce these risks and protect your parent from such an infection, and potentially serious consequences that can result.

 

Some of the factors that may increase the risk for your senior to develop a urinary tract infection include:

  • Being a woman
  • Being older, as the risk for suffering a UTI increases with age
  • Diminished mobility such as after experiencing surgery or a procedure that requires extended bed rest
  • Urinary incontinence
  • Use of a catheter
  • Kidney stones
  • Enlargement of the prostate
  • Poor hygiene
  • Dehydration

 

If you are concerned that your aging parent is at increased risk for developing a UTI and want to help them to reduce this risk, starting home care can be a good idea.

A home care provider can be with your parent to help them manage their risk factors effectively and to detect if they may be struggling with a UTI. This can include encouraging them to stay well-hydrated, helping them eat a good diet, and providing support while bathing and managing incontinence. Talk to their doctor about other ways you can help protect your parent from a UTI so you are prepared to take these steps, but also to care for your senior should such an infection arise.

Being a family caregiver for an elderly adult can be one of the most meaningful decisions you ever make in your life. It can also be challenging, and even overwhelming. You may find that your senior’s needs are more extensive than you thought they would be, or that your schedule and personal limitations are more influential than you expected. Fortunately, this doesn’t mean you won’t be able to give your parent the care they need, or that they will be without this care. Starting home care for them can be a fantastic way to ensure your senior gets access to the care, support, and assistance they need on a daily basis, while also enabling you to participate in their care as much as you can. This eases your stress and promotes better health and well-being for both of you and your aging parent.

If you or an aging loved-one are considering Mesa in-home care or care in the surrounding areas, please contact the caring staff at Endeavor Home Care today. Call  (480) 535-6800.

https://www.cdc.gov/

https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/

Are Your Loved Ones Victims of Senior Bullying?

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Senior BullyingNowadays, everyone is talking about bullying and how to stop it. When we were children, bullies were everywhere and seemed to get away with everything; but we’re a zero-tolerance society now when it comes to bullying. However perhaps there’s some other, less apparent sort of bullying still occurring – that of trying to play the parent to our aging parents, thus overstepping some unwritten boundaries; in some cases, to the point of senior bullying. After all, even if our parents’ choices are different than ours, their choices should still be respected as much as is possible, with safety in mind.

Sometimes it can be hard to know where the line in the sand is between being a helpful care provider for parents and taking over for them in areas they can safely manage on their own. And added into the mix are often unresolved issues from childhood that can resurface – feelings of resentment and bitterness that may find their way into an adult’s caretaking decisions.

To illustrate, there are various areas of contention that often arise between senior parents and their grown children:

  • Medical related decision making
  • Planning for end of life
  • Recommended safety modifications
  • Knowing when to stop driving
  • Managing finances

These tips can help diffuse sticky decision-making situations more respectfully and effectively:

  • Try negotiating a safer alternative for a worry like driving, such as driving only in the daylight and only on short, local trips.
  • Start with small suggestions that may be more tolerable to seniors, such as adding no-slip strips to the bathtub, moving cords away from walkways or taping down rugs.
  • Try not to compromise safety, while also keeping a senior’s wishes in mind. Ask for the senior’s input without speaking down to him or her, and you’re more likely to work together for a successful outcome.
  • Put yourself in the older adult’s shoes. Consider what it would be like to be in a similar situation and how you would want to be treated if the tables were turned.
  • However, if there are safety or health concerns, do not hesitate to contact the senior’s physician or a social worker.

And keep in mind that typically, serious discussions such as these are often better received in the presence of a trusted healthcare professional or religious clergy member or through an objective third party. Want more tips to help make tough discussions with older adults go more smoothly, and avoid the possibility of senior bullying? Contact Endeavor Home Care’s Scottsdale home care experts at 480-535-6800 for trusted, professional assistance in keeping your older loved ones safe, while allowing them to remain as independent as possible where they’re most comfortable – at home.

When You Address Senior Citizens, Is It OK to Use Endearing Terms?

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Senior CitizensSweetie, honey, dear – terms of endearment such as these may be appreciated when uttered by our spouse or when directed to our very young children, but how do senior citizens react to them? In a word, many are downright offended. And while health care professionals, restaurant staff, hair stylists and others may have the very best of intentions when attaching these labels to older adults, the underlying message is one of helplessness, frailty, and inferiority.

And just as irritating, or perhaps even more so, is speaking over senior citizens to address their family members instead, as if the seniors are unable to communicate competently.

There’s also a tendency – and again, it’s usually well meaning – to step in and take over tasks for the elderly, without realizing they are often more than capable of doing things for themselves. Seeing an older person maneuvering with a cane or walker, for example, often results in someone kindly offering assistance. However, according to Judy Jellison Graves, a cancer and polio survivor, “It’s annoying when people feel like I need help with something I have no problem doing myself.”

Coined “elderspeak” or “ageism ”, this type of behavior is even considered a form of bullying by Dr. Vicki Rosebrook, Executive Director of the Macklin Intergenerational Institute. “It’s talking down to them. We do it to children so well. And it’s natural for the sandwich generation, since they address children that way.”

Improving our view of the elderly is a national need, starting with the impressions we impart to the next generation. A recent study points to a highly negative reaction to growing older by children from preschool through grade school, who concluded that becoming elderly would be “awful.”

The lesson to be learned for all of us who interact with senior citizens? Replace coddling and stereotypes with simple, genuine respect. Endeavor In-Home Care, the leading provider of senior home care in Chandler, AZ and nearby areas,  is taking strides each day towards this end, by providing respectful senior care to enhance independence and quality of life, with a focus on always maintaining their dignity and individuality.

Our services always begin with the creation of a personalized care plan, taking into consideration each person’s needs, desires and interests, and that plan is modified ongoing as needs change. Contact us at (480) 535-6800 if you’d like to explore a partnership with us to help your senior loved one in Arizona.

Your Homecare Agency and You: Super Heroes

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The homecare agency depends upon your help and proper hearing and vision tests to keep your loved one happy and well.

You check in on your elderly loved on regularly, and you have arranged for  live-in care through a homecare agency. He loves the aide who fixes his meals, reads with him and takes him on outings and to appointments. You are confident he is taking his medications correctly and is well cared-for. Lately, though, you have noticed he seems confused when you take him out to eat or to other family get-togethers and you wonder if perhaps he needs a higher level of care. One question may give you the answer. Has your loved one had a vision and hearing evaluation recently? The homecare agency depends upon your help to keep your loved one happy and well. Together you are the superheroes that do what your loved one cannot do for himself.

Nearly half of all people 75 years old and over have some degree of Presbycusis, or age-related hearing loss. It is a gradual, progressive condition that affects both ears equally. The hearing loss may be more acute in crowds, and your loved one cannot communicate if he doesn’t hear the conversations. Hearing aids can greatly increase the hearing of most individuals, though they may have to be adjusted as the loss increases.  Vision, too, may change as we age. People over 65 are three times more likely than younger people to have impaired vision. Glaucoma, macular degeneration and cataracts are the greatest causes of vision loss in the elderly, and yet we sometimes forget to have our elderly loved ones examined regularly to make sure they are seeing and hearing well. The homecare agency depends upon your help to keep your loved one happy and well. If you believe your loved one cannot afford to get hearing aids or glasses, you can go to the website healthfinder.gov to find assistance programs.

Because we depend upon all our senses to keep us in touch with our environment, even minimal loss of vision and sight can disorient us. Hearing loss can affect balance and coordination, making  loved ones fearful of going outside. Studies show that losing those senses can also lead to cognitive difficulties, depression and anxiety.

So, the confusion your elderly loved one exhibits at family gatherings may be the result of poor hearing or sight. He may not be able to tell you what he is experiencing, and that is why regular examinations are important to your loved one’s quality of life. You have taken the step of getting live-in care to assure he is well cared for and has companionship; regular vision and hearing tests will assure you that he has the highest quality of life you can provide.

For more information on how you can help keep your loved one happy and healthy, contact us.

Dementia Care: How to Know When Help is Needed

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dementia careIf you have a loved one who has been diagnosed with dementia it can be difficult to determine if it is still safe for them to live independently. Often family members worry but the loved one insists everything is fine and help is not needed. News stories of dementia patients wandering away from home and requiring a search and rescue effort increase concern for family members. No one wants their loved one to become a missing dementia patient. How do you determine when dementia care is required to keep your loved one safe?

First, you should be aware that it is possible to provide dementia care in home. In other words, it is not necessary to move your loved one to an assisted living facility especially at the early stages of dementia. If your loved one strongly desires to stay in their own home it can be achieved. In addition, you do not have to provide the care yourself. It can be exhausting and overwhelming caring for a dementia patient especially if you do not have the appropriate training.

To determine if your loved one needs dementia care you should ask yourself the following questions:

How do they spend their time during the day?

* Are they still able to successfully shop and cook for themselves?

* Are they consuming nutritious foods? Do they need help eating?

* Are they able to keep their house clean or are dishes and laundry piling up?

* Do they keep up with paying bills on time?

* Have there been any instances in which the water was left running or the stove left on?

* Are they able to adequately maintain their personal hygiene?

* Do they tend to wander?

* Do they wear inappropriate clothes for the weather or wear the same clothes for days?

* Do they take their medication as prescribed or do they have trouble keeping track of what to take when?

If any of the above questions were answered in a way that makes you realize your loved one is no longer capable of living independently contact us at Endeavor Home Care. We offer home care services that include errands, light housekeeping, meal preparation, grocery shopping, medication reminders, transportation for doctor appointments, and companion care in Arizona cities including Tuscon, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Gilbert, Chandler and more.

Elder Care in Gilbert, AZ: Keeping Seniors Safe from Financial Elder Abuse

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Financial elder abuse occurs when a person uses illegal or deceptive methods to gain control of a senior citizen’s assets. Sometimes the method is straight forward – stealing money outright or forging the senior’s signature on a check, car title, or deed. Other times, abusers use more subtle methods – convincing the senior to give them credit card information in order to claim a non-existent prize, for instance, or soliciting donations for a fraudulent charity.

Someone a Senior Knows

The perpetrator of financial elder abuse may be someone the senior knows and loves, such as a child or grandchild. In these cases, the abuser is usually in great need of money – often to feed an addiction – and believes that he or she is somehow entitled to the senior’s money and other assets. The family member who abuses may make statements like, “She didn’t take care of me right when I was a kid, so she owes me something now.”

A Stranger Who Becomes a Friend

Other abusers start out as strangers but quickly work their way into the senior citizen’s life as a friend, a love interest, or even a caregiver. Once they have attained a position that gives them access to the senior’s valuables and bank accounts, the exploitation begins.

Scams via Phone and Mail

Another type of financial abuser perpetrates telephone scams, coaxing seniors into pouring their money into worthless investments or spending thousands of dollars on merchandise that is little more than junk. These abusers tend to prey upon seniors who are slightly confused and don’t always understand the consequences of their financial decisions.

Elder Care Protection

Protecting your loved one from all forms of abuse is important in elder care. Sadly, though, you may not discover that your loved one has been financially abused until his or her assets have vanished. This is especially true if your loved one still handles his or her own finances.

Hire a Reputable Home Care Agency

One option that can help stop financial abuse and promote good elder care is to hire a pre-screened caregiver from a reputable agency that provides in-home services to seniors. The caregiver who visits several times per week is in a perfect position to notice suspicious activity – increased check-writing to family members or unfamiliar charities, phone calls or visits from new “friends,” or an increase in the number of deliveries made to the home.

When you hire the caregiver, discuss your concerns about financial abuse with the agency and the caregiver. Make it clear that you want to be informed of any signs the caregiver sees of any type of abuse. Becoming aware of a possible problem early on can allow you to protect your loved one from being financially exploited.

When researching options for elder care agencies in Gilbert AZ, call us at (480) 535-6800. Home care counselors at Endeavor Home Care are available to talk with you about your elder care needs including how to reduce caregiver stress while providing better, affordable care. We are an elder care agency providing home care in Gilbert, AZ.