Travel for Seniors
Traveling can be a very hectic and challenging thing for anybody. Arranging transportation and getting out the door can be hectic enough, coupled with packing and remembering all the essentials. In the rush of getting out the door, it can be easy to forget the obvious. This article provides helpful tips on preparing for a vacation in a thorough and safe manner.
This includes a medical check up before a trip, staying in contact with someone at home, and to avoid travelling alone if possible. These are all things that may not apply to everyone, but are definitely good things to be aware of, to consider. It is also a very good idea to ensure that your phone has your doctor and insurance’s numbers in it.
The expression “better safe than sorry” definitely comes to mind.
AlzCare – Quality Alzheimer’s treatment in Texas, New Braunfels, Victoria, Waco, and San Marcos
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Nonverbal Communication
There are varying statistics about what percentage of communication is body language, but they almost all agree that body language dominates over words. This includes posture, gestures, expressions, and eye movement. People send and interpret these signals mostly subconsciously. This is also true for Alzheimer’s patients. Patience and an open mind is essential in caregiving. If something is ineffective, try another method. Walk around the walls, there are many ways of approaching a problem.
Pulling from his own experience with caregiving, Bob Demarco writes on the importance on nonverbal communication. In his own experience, using positive language and tone, coupled with consciously using positive and inviting body language can make a world of difference. Demarco even suggests using as few words as possible, and making more of an effort with body language. Demarco also explains how time is different for those afflicted with Alzheimer’s. Alzheimer’s patients react more slowly to stimuli, it is vital that this be remembered when attempting to convey a message.
Palm open signifies a few things nonverbally. The obvious -- take my hand. The less obvious but powerful nonverbal communication -- I am receptive to you, I like you. That is right. When a person is talking to you and they open their palms out toward you -- they like you, they are receptive to you.
Point counterpoint. When a person turns their palms out they like you. Lets compare this to when a person folds their arms across their chest, what does this tell you?
It tells you they are not receptive to what you are saying, they don't like what you are saying, and it is making them uptight. The exact opposite of the offering of the palm, the crossed arms mean they are closing you off. Back to mom, the open palm, and offer of my hand.
When I offer the palm of my hand and stand there silent and waiting it sometimes seems like I might be standing there for a very long time. In situations like this, time takes on a different dimension. So standing there for 20 to 30 seconds, holding your palm out might seem like an eternity.
If you are not aware of this "time dimension" it is easy to get stressed or to start reacting with your mouth. Persons with Alzheimer's react to stimuli slowly, in this case the offering of the palm.
Read More at Alzheimer’s Reading Room
Alzcare in New Braunfels. Caring treatment for Alzheimer’s patients in Texas in comfortable, home settings.
| | | | | Caregivers: The Forgotten?
Alzheimer’s is not something that is easy for people to understand, for those who experience and for those who care for the afflicted. It is even harder to understand for those who are not frequently exposed to it. This is an article written for those who know caregivers, related or not. Or perhaps for those with relatives or friends with dementia. Praise is often given for a caregiver’s work, but they need so much more than that.
Often, caregivers find themselves isolated from friends and family. This is not healthy. Caregivers statistically have a much higher risk of developing dementia themselves, and of developing depression. The message here is an encouraging one, these effects are not necessarily inevitable, they can be prevented. The friends and family of caregivers can do more than express appreciation, they can provide a listening ear, or offer respite for someone who likely is in need of both.
Read More at Traditions Assisted Living
AlzCare provides caring treatment for Alzheimer’s patients in Texas.
| | | | | On Falling
As many as one in three elderly will experience an accident involving a fall. The injuries that can result from this are very serious. A fall in the home is most common, and can be life threatening. A bad fall can change a elderly person’s life. With it being such a common issue, there are many pointers out there for avoiding these dangerous all all too common accidents. This article identifies the most frequent areas inside a home where falls occur, and provides ideas for minor renovations that will help improve safety in the home. There are many things that can help protect a loved one from a potential fall, many of them include clutter consciousness. By better understanding the circumstances and trends that occur in relation to falls, it can be better avoided. Includes; keeping track of pets, wearing properly fitted shoes, and arranging furniture for a clear path between rooms.
Read More at Sodalis Elder Living
AlzCare – Quality Alzheimer’s treatment in Texas, New Braunfels, Victoria, Waco, and San Marcos
| | | | | Fading Angel
Not all of us have the luxury of caregiving being a process. Many times, we find ourselves thrust into difficult and unfamiliar situations when it comes to Dementia. A caregiver is often something you become, something you learn with time and experience. A lot of times the job may not be what we thought we wanted, and a lot of times it can turn out to be a very positive, very meaningful thing. It is good to remember this. Steve Slon has written a very touching true story about Sande Donahue’s transition into full time Alzheimer’s caregiver for her Mother. Sande’s Father had been taking care of her Mother for the first eight years of her diagnosis, he asked Sande to take over. Sande ended up caring for her Mother’s final seven years of life.
She writes about her learning process and adjustments, and the joy and heartache that comes with caregiving. Her book is titled “Fading Angel: A chronicle of love”, and in it she writes about her Mother’s life. Sande was quoted as saying that what was overwhelming and hard at first turned out to be one of the richest experiences of her life. At the close, Slon observes the toll that caregiving can take on people and families. He asks about what the future looks like for medicine, for life extension of Alzheimer’s patients, and what this means.
Sure enough, a few weeks later, her dad arrived at Sande’s home in the Chicago suburbs with his wife in tow. He stayed a week, then went back to his Florida condo, alone.
“I was blindsided,“ admits Sande. For one thing, her laconic dad had never discussed the day-to-day experience of living with an Alzheimer’s patient. But, Sande, now 67, doubts he could have equipped her for the challenges that lay ahead even if he’d given her full written instructions. “I don’t think anybody is ever prepared,“ she says.
Within a few days, Sande got her first taste of how difficult life would be when her mother wandered off alone. A frantic countywide search ultimately turned up her mother safe and sound at the local mall. Still, it was an awakening. Over time, Sande adjusted. She became an expert in Alzheimer’s Disease in a way that only people who live with a patient day in and day out can be.
She invented a kind of occupational therapy that cleverly focused on the vestiges of memory that her mother still possessed. Long ago her mother had been a bookkeeper. So Sande would give her mom an accounting ledger and stacks of cancelled checks and invite her to “do the books.“ This and other activities would pleasantly fill up the long slow hours of the patient’s day.
AlzCare provides caring treatment for Alzheimer’s patients in Texas. We have offices in San Antonio, Waco, Victoria, New Braunfels, and San Marcus.
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