Senior Care and Self Neglect

Proper Nutrition for Senior

Everyone should know that appropriate nutrition plays a role in our health. This is also true for seniors and individuals who have serious diseases. Terrible physical health, depressive disorders and lonesomeness can also play a vital role in poor eating routine. Many seniors who experience these problems overlook their nutritional needs, and this can result in more severe medical conditions. They may tend to eat more sugary or high cholesterol foods that may lead to diabetes or hypertension.

The food we eat may determine the health of the senior. Thus, it is necessary to monitor the food they eat as part of the senior care program. As an example, it is essential for a person with diabetes to regulate how many sugary and starchy foods in his or her diet and for someone struggling with high blood pressure to cut out salt from their diet. It is of course difficult for a senior to monitor the food that he eats on their own. A physician or a nurse may guide the patient on what is healthy and what is not. Seniors must have good sources of nutrients to sustain their systems and for them to avoid diseases. The healthier they eat, the healthier they become.

The nurse can educate the individual and family the amount of carbohydrates in the food typically eaten by the patient; or the aide will shop for and prepare food with low sodium content, avoiding those that are high in sodium. Getting a proper meal on a daily basis often leads to better nutrition. It will also avoid unneeded hospitalization thus saving money by avoiding hospital bills and medicines.

Home Care Services for Seniors

When one of our loved ones reaches retirement age, concerns start to arise regarding their condition, like whenever they are alone in the house, they are starting to forget a lot of things or they already need assistance in doing basic chores. One option to be assured of their well-being is to have a senior home care service. Through this, you don’t have to fear for their safety whenever you are away from home, while allowing you to have time to see them when you return home. There are a lot of institutions that offer the home care services. But, it would be nice to choose the most committed to the highest quality of service they can provide. In choosing a service, you will need to check the record of the institution. You may ask friends or neighbors who know such senior care services.

The home care service must be able to provide respite care to the senior as well as companionship and someone to talk to. It is very necessary to keep the social activity of the senior; holding a conversation with them will keep their mind active. The service must also be able to assist with the diet and eating of the senior as well as check the expiration of the food they are eating. Keeping track of the daily activities of the senior is also part of their job. They must have a daily plan of their activities which might include the bathing, grocery, entertainment, visits to friends or hospital, as well as set schedule for trips on vacation.

Personal needs of the senior must also be assisted like eating, dressing, medication and mobility. Home maintenance may be included. Since it is the place where the senior will stay most of the time, it must be cleaned and be safe for the senior. Making a decision in choosing a caring service for your loved one is complicated. They must offer a wide variety of home care services; so that it may include activities and support that will be very appropriate your elderly loved one’s needs.

Senior Care and Overall Wellness

Gone are the days when senior care was specifically about dealing with medical needs. Instead, the present day modern senior living facilities take a much more natural strategy, servicing the senior’s body and mind. In addition, senior living is constantly on the go from the standard elderly care facility servicing very ill sufferers, to independent living communities housing active and vibrant elderly people. As a result, the industry has adapted to offer an extensive continuum of care that focuses on the resident’s overall health and fitness.

Following this pattern of senior, a recent blog on Senior Care Corner provided 8 tips for helping elderly people improve and sustain their memory. It points out that “the brain function of aging can begin when we are only 45 and that by age 80, average people have lost 40% of their memory.” Many of these recommendations replicated the idea underlining dimensions of health and fitness concept, elderly people need to be pushed and involved in a variety of activities. Some recommendations in the article are to:

Find ways to keep them active
Provide psychologically exciting activities
Engage them in social activities
Get your senior connected to family, friends and other networks

Most significantly, dimension of health and fitness play a crucial part in a resident’s evolving senior care plan. The powerful changes to various measurements may illustrate a minor decrease that may need to be analyzed by the medical employees and therefore may require appropriate changes to the care plan. Such simple changes in health and fitness and practical recognition of the same along with a proper good care plan, could save communities significant money (tied to demographics, improved ADL services, lawsuits, etc.). In summary, senior health is no longer about just offering the best medical care, but is about offering the best overall care.

What Senior Care can Bring to the Table

Perhaps you cannot think about the situation, but for a short time, just close your eyes and think about what it could be like to be looking after your partner, an individual whom you’ve spent almost all your life with and looking after his or her needs because their health is starting to decline. Over time, the psychological and physical exertion for this act of love can affect even the best of us. If your parent or guardian is offering senior care to their partner, know that it could be more than they can handle.

But when your dad, for example, had a stroke or cardiac arrest and the physicians informed your mom that he was going to need extra help getting around the house and looking after his own well being, she said that she would deal with him. Maybe she considers that it’s her responsibility, or she loves him so much that she would not even think twice about being the individual to provide that stage of proper care for him.

And while you may think that she has everything under control, that she is doing well, the psychological cost can be even greater than the actual one. Dealing with being a senior care service agency to a partner is one of those things that are often an unmentioned pressure. She will not say that it’s wearing her down and she will continue to do what she can to make sure that her spouse, the love of her life, has what he needs and that he is safe and healthy.

However, what happens if that degree of care means that her wellness is affected as well? The best thing that anyone can do when their partner needs some form of senior medical care services is to consider choosing a professional care company to assist. This does not mean that your mom would not be there for your dad, but rather that she will get some much needed help so that she can be there for him psychologically as well. Senior care can create all the distinction in the world for a partner who is looking after the love of their life.

When veterans are not able to sustain the fundamentals of self-care, it is regarded senior self-neglect. Some of these fundamentals in senior care include individual cleanliness and self care, hygiene, keeping their living atmosphere completely safe, appropriate handling of cash and bill paying and keeping family and social connections. When veterans are caught in the pattern of self-neglect, it makes them more susceptible to wellness problems. It also places them at risk for misuse by other people who may be thinking that this is someone who cannot make good choices about their cash or their valuables or themselves. It also makes it more difficult for the older to secure herself from damage.

The pattern of veteran seniors ignoring themselves is quite typical actually and safety service organizations can confirm that reviews of self-neglect are typical in all states. Do you think your veteran parent or guardian might be being affected by self-neglect? Here are some of the typical symptoms that senior self-neglect is present.

There is a deficiency of individual care
Grooming is poor
Clothes are unclean, ragged
Skin, finger nails and hair are unclean
Medication is refused
Non-adherence to a medication schedule
Not willing to agree to medical-related care

If you are worried that your mom or dad is being affected by one or several of the items detailed above, get them evaluated by a professional to subject out Alzheimer’s, dementia, depressive disorders, or another sickness. If self-neglect is the analysis, the physician or medical expert can provide you with some useful assistance. Your mom or dad could use the help of senior care facilities. An appropriate care provider coming in a few times a week or everyday could offer her just the boost she needs to get her lifestyle back to normal and looking after about her own well-being again. The appropriate care provider can provide her company and help her to find joy in life again.