Tips for visiting a loved one who’s being cared for at home this holiday season
Are you visiting someone being cared for by member of your family during this holiday season? Don’t be a jerk. Here’s some etiquette for your visit. First things first: I can promise you the person(s) providing care is trying their very best. I can promise you, they are making themselves sick, they feel guilty, they […]
The Unseen Plight of Caregivers
Most caregivers provide support with activities of daily living, such as bathing, walking, standing, using the toilet, dressing, cooking, eating and other household chores. The caregiver also provide care for a broad range of issues – chronic, disabling or terminal illness, physical or mental illness and decline – and often as the caregiver and the person being cared for age the care required intensifies. From more simple daily tasks, caregivers may also need to assist with more complicated and complex medical care such as giving injections, or facilitating tube feedings, and care for catheters or colostomies. All of this caregiving taxes the caregiver’s mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health. We’re going to talk about “Caregiver Syndrome” today and explain how it impacts those around us with some eye-opening statistics and insights from experts.
Are our families ready to care for our aging population?
An overwhelming majority, three-quarters, of respondents think that it is a natural duty of children to care for their parents as they age. (Although only 58% of those who are aged 65+ believe their children have a duty to care for them.) Almost as many people who stated they believed it was a child’s duty to take care of their parents – 71% – reported they wanted to die at home. (It is assumed from the natural decline of old age.)
Are we ready for the gray wave?
In 2014, fifteen percent of the United States population consisted of Americans aged 65 or older. Every single day 10,000 people turn 65 in this country. The oldest boomer alive this year is 77. By 2030, every single Baby Boomer will be aged 65. People who reach 65 could be expected to live another 18.4 years on average.
National Bath Safety Month and Seniors
It may not be sexy, but National Bath Safety Month is a timely reminder to consider what you need to be able to age safely in your home. Ask me how to help with an Aging Well Plan.
Longterm Care, Part 2: Assisted Living
I’m wrapping up my birthday month growing old and aging series with the second part of my three-part series on longterm care options for the aging and elderly in society. Today we look at Assisted Living. Assisted Living Facilities (ALF) are growing in popularity with about 1/2 a million aging adults choosing this option in […]
Longterm Care, Part 1: Aging in Place
It’s what most of us wish for: to age in place in our homes. But the reality is that staying in our home or in the home of a family-member is unrealistic without around the clock care and that care is unattainable for most of us. According to HealthyAging.org, more than 80% of people will need assistance with some Activities of Daily Living (ADL) as they age. These activities include hygiene, such as bathing, oral health, as well as dressing, eating, mobility and maintaining continence – being able to get to a bathroom, get off and on a toilet safely and cleaning one’s self after using the toilet.
Aging and Healthcare: A worsening crisis
The elderly and aging in our community deserve to access the care they need to continue to pursue their individual happiness and participate in the lifestyles, hobbies and activities they value until the end on their lives. Our institutions throughout society must shift the way we do things to remove barriers in healthcare for our aging populations. Doing so will improve the lives of us all.
Ageism in Healthcare
We should consider it a blessing if we are able to grow old before we die. There is no shame in being old and continuing to live on this earth and to share the resources, richness, and rights of a living being in our communities. Neglecting our elder population and putting them away out of sight will not stop us from getting old or dying any more than talking about aging and death will cause them. If we can begin to address our fear of death, the terror of or mortality, we can come to love our lives, ourselves, our bodies and everyone else’s, too.
Ageism. The last acceptable bias?
I’m back again today to talk about getting older and aging for my birthday month series. Today’s topic is ageism. Combatting ageism is such an important priority in society that it is one of the main pillars of the World Health Organization’s Decade of Healthy Ageing. Despite the diversity that people add to our society […]
