Tag: Senior Care Awareness

3 Reasons Families Fight about Senior Care

Caring for an aging parent, or elderly spouse presents tough challenges, particularly when a crisis hits and you are suddenly faced with the responsibilities of elder care. The absolute difficulty of the task, its high cost, as well as underlying family issues can bump to create a perfect storm of discontent. But when families put aside their differences and work together as a team for the best interest of their elderly loved one, they are often able to overcome this challenge.

Here are some reasons families fight about senior care:

Money Matters
Sometimes, special expenses ascend in regards to senior care that weren’t expected or planned. Other times, money just runs out. When this happens, families often fight about who should contribute, and how much they should contribute toward the costs for care.

Possible Solution:  A good way to resolve this is to have a family meeting with all members present, whether in person or by phone. All costs should be laid out in the open, and members should be honest about what they can contribute. The significant thing is not to judge or criticize.

Parent Resists Care
Sometimes the whole family is on board and decides that their parent needs care, but the parent resists any change, tooth and nail. It’s understandable; people loathe giving up any independence, and place it highly among those things in life they prize most highly.

Possible Solution: When you’re trying to encourage a parent to accept a move to a senior community, make it clear that you’re not trying to “put them away.” Help your parent know your concerns and that they come from love.

Power Struggles
Family members most of the time disagrees about the type of care needed for their loved one. Extreme differences also tend to come to the forefront when end of life issues are confronted.

Possible solution:  It’s vital to discuss the specific needs of your aging loved one, as well as their personal wishes. Then, your family can determine which option would provide the senior with quality care, comfort and happiness. During all discussions, it is essential to consider what each family member has to say, rather than acting out emotionally.

The most significant thing to remember with family relationships is that the only behavior you can truly control is your own. Understanding, patience, and forgiveness should be extended to siblings when a family is in crisis.

The Role Of A Senior Care Worker

In the health and social care industry, the senior care workers play an important role. Their main job is to ensure the dignity of their clients at all times. Their basic responsibility is to help the seniors in their everyday lives. Senior care is indeed a noble job because workers look after the elderly.

Elderly people nowadays are in need of professionals that can assist them properly. Many elder folks prefer to have an assistant to help them in their daily activities. They deserve to have a comfortable and pleasurable life during their senior stage.

Senior care workers often work in private homes to help the patients with their daily tasks, such as personal grooming and meal preparations. They should be strong and physically fit because they often help their patients get out of bed or lift and turn bed-ridden patients to prevent bedsores. They are not only helping their patients physically but also emotionally because most elderly people need to have a companion to talk with. Patients need feel that they are important and that there is someone willing to listen to their problems.

Senior care workers can also play recreational games with their patients, such as card and board games, in order to keep their patients mentally active and attentive. Even sitting with patients at the backyard while chatting with them can be very beneficial.

Senior care workers should be passionate and dedicated toward their jobs. Aside from that, it is also a physically and emotionally demanding job. But workers can still get satisfaction in caring for the seniors because it is gratifying to offer service to the elderly. It is true that it is not an easy task but many people are choosing this type of career because of their love to serve other people.

Senior Care Job: Preparing for an Interview

Before landing a job as a senior care giver, you will need to undergo an interview. Employers primarily want to determine if you are a perfect candidate for the position. So, how are you able to show that you are the right person for the job?

An interviewer will ask questions about your characteristics. They prefer someone who:

  • is responsible, trustworthy, reliable, empathetic and patient. Since seniors have limited capabilities the aforementioned characteristics are vital. Make sure you have these qualities.
  • is reputable, experienced, and knowledgeable. A good track record of past senior care services is a huge advantage during interviews. They might ask you about your previous client, former responsibilities, and the reason for leaving the position. Remember to put in good references too.
  • who has a positive attitude towards work. You will not be alone in performing senior care services, you will also work with a group of health care professionals. Having qualities that make you easy to work with and enjoyable is a plus factor. Expect questions about your personality and attitude, such as what are your weaknesses and strengths and what do you like and dislike about the job.

Also, prepare yourself with situational questions like what you will do when an emergency occurs, how you can show dignity and respect in life-ending situations, and how you handle difficult patients. If you are able to answer these questions satisfyingly, then you might be a good fit.

As the interview commences, ask the interviewer questions as well. You have the right to know what are the specific needs and personality of the patient, experiences of previous senior care givers with the said patient, schedule of tasks, and any special precautions to take with the elder.

Of course, after the interview, you will need to know if you push through with the job. Decide whether or not you want to work with your employer, the elder patient, working settings, and responsibilities you will perform.

 

Senior Care Health Insurance

Medical health insurance policies may help cover part of the expense of elder-care.  It is very important to know that to which a policyholder is eligible and it’s also essential to understand the restrictions of your respective insurance so you will not waste time pursuing benefits that they may never acquire.  For people doing extended planning, comprehending the limits of coverage is important to avoid misunderstandings about who covers the cost for care later on.

As “elder-care” is a wide term and one not utilized by most medical health insurance corporations, it is useful to consider insurance benefits in categories instead of the whole.

As the majority of senior Americans have Medicare as their main health care insurance coverage, it is helpful to be aware of its benefits and coverage. To start with, it needs to be said that Medicare is only going to pay money for medical care; it doesn’t cover the expense of personal care.  This means Medicare will not pay for assistance to help the elderly execute their activities of everyday living like bathing, grooming, eating and mobility.  Therefore with little exclusion, Medicare will not pay money for home-care or assisted living.  Medicare does cover elderly care, although not at 100% and only for a restricted time period.

In relation to medical equipment, healthcare supplies and medicines, Medicare offers benefits in each of such areas provided the items are medically important, determined by a physician and are among the list of approved items.

With regards to assisting people to age in place, Medicare will not pay for home improvements.  However, Medicare offers a distinctive program in some spots through which all of a participating senior’s healthcare requirements are covered.  These programs are usually well liked by individuals who are lucky enough to get to live in an area of the country where this sort of insurance is provided.

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.

Senior Care and Taking Care of Yourself

Being the senior care provider to a parent might not seem like an important problem for some, but once you start to visit with your loved one, care for them and deal with many of the everyday issues that they face, it can become overwhelming at times. Stress is a common element of senior care, for both family members as well as paid professionals. That’s why it is significant to take care of yourself if you are involved in providing senior care. Below are a few tips to mull over that can help you reduce stress and also offer the highest level of care to the elderly individual.

  • Set a schedule. If you don’t have a set schedule for when you will visit to check on the elderly patient, then you could easily find yourself visiting more and more, without realizing it until you’re giving up a considerable part of your own life. Set a timetable and keep to it. If things change, if the senior’s demands or requirements change, then you can revert to the schedule again, but set a schedule first.
  • Have ‘Me’ time. Too often, family members give up a considerable portion of their life to care for their loved one. They end up putting their own interests on the back burner and this can cause more considerable issues for themselves and the quality of care. So make sure that you allocate time for yourself every week.
  • Learn to unwind. When caring for a parent in need, you may end up worrying more about them when you’re not there with them. While you are certainly doing a good thing by taking care of them, unless they live with you, you can’t be with them every minute of the day. Learn to let go and relieve constant worry. You can do this through meditation, yoga, prayer and other forms of self-help and healing.
  • Find senior care referral services. When you know where to find qualified senior care services, it will help in the event that you’re feeling beleaguered. Hiring a knowledgeable professional is one of the best ways to help care for yourself while providing senior care.

Senior Care and the Role of Lawmakers

Underfunded elderly care facility has been a major task to the senior care and state recently and will continue to be resolved in the future, many law makers and medical experts estimate. During the last session of the Minnesota Legislature, elderly care facility regulation was implemented, creating a 5 percent across-the-board increase. That activity by the Legislature showed the first increase in financing in the past five years. Nursing home employees have had their income freezing since 2008 and will now be seeing a rise in income come September 1, 2013. Rep. Jim Abeler, R-Anoka, said, of the $83 million it will cost for four years, $74 million was reprocessed out of the senior care facility market.

“Workers will see an increase, but it will come out of the other elderly care facility cash that was reprocessed,” Abeler said. “It’s like taking your wallet out of your right pocket and putting it into your left pocket and saying, ‘I’ve got some cash now,’” Abeler said. “The program is hungry for cash and we cannot give the people a good increase because of the demands about minimum salary,” Abeler continued. Abeler, last session, served as the ranking Republican on the Health and Human Services Finance Committee. He chaired the committee the two past years with Republicans being in authority control.

Gayle Kvenvold, president and CEO of Aging Services of Minnesota, said needs of assisted living facilities have not been effectively resolved by the Legislature and by others. The activity by the Legislature “was a step in the right direction and we are thankful for it, but our job is not done,” Kvenvold said. On the average, the distinction between what it costs to manage a senior is a deficiency of $28 per day, Kvenvold said. She said it will take more than one legal session to make up that difference. Aging Services of Minnesota is the state’s biggest organization of getting senior care services companies. Its account involves more than 1,000 participant companies such as 700-plus company participant sites. In cooperation with its members, the organization works with more than 50,000 care suppliers throughout the state and provides more than 100,000 elderly people each year in configurations across the continuum from their house to assemble real estate to assisted living to senior care facilities. Patti Cullen, president and CEO of Care Providers of Minnesota, said the legal activity in 2013 showed a significant improvement and is a “good start.”

Senior Care and Self Neglect

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.

Senior Care Awareness

June is a lot more than Father’s Day for older people. June is also the month senior care suppliers have to be able to encourage their ageing male family members to take the time to concentrate on their wellness and well-being. National Men’s Health Month is a nationwide observation that celebrates that and encourages them and or their family members to be conscious of their wellness risks and get educated on the ways that they could take better care of themselves throughout their lives.

If you provide senior care for your ageing father or grandfather, you are likely already conscious of the threats associated with ageing men. Offering care is essential, but would you have dedicated yourself to providing care to an ageing man, you encounter challenges in situations different from those of wellness care suppliers for women. Often, ageing men are more resistant to care and are likely to ignore indications of potentially serious wellness issues. This makes it a critical responsibility of any care provider for an ageing man to not only be vigilant of their loved one’s wellness, but also supportive in that man’s pursuit of ongoing wellness and well-being.

National Men’s Health Month is all about teaching men that focusing on their wellness is essential for them to be the best that they can be. This is about showing men how they can manage themselves and therefore manage their loved ones better. Aging men face a variety of prospective wellness issues, but many of them are either not conscious of the signs of these issues, or are reluctant to look for them. There are many ways that you can make this a meaningful National Men’s Health Month. Take the time to enjoy quality activities with the important men in your life, schedule screenings and checkups and make the commitment to adopt healthier lifestyle choices together. Contact the senior care agency in your area to find out where community activities are being held so you can get involved. If there are no activities planned, get together with some important men in your life and hold your own event.