Healing the Sick - Best Practices

2011-12-03T23:11:00.001-08:00

If a drug existed that could improve your mood, help you lose weight, fight heart disease, increase energy levels AND improve your
blood pressure, would you take it? This wonder remedy exists not as a pill or in liquid form. Instead, it comes in a number of options that could fit your lifestyle. This wonder drug is exercise.

We all know that exercise is good for us, but we might struggle with ways to include exercise into our daily routines, especially when
time, mobility, or other valuable commodities are limited. Some simple ideas include a daily walk with a friend or relative, playing with grandchildren or even some light stretching in the morning.

View the below articles for more helpful tips on getting moving:

This first one comes from the Lance Armstrong Foundation, and talks about “Easy Chair Exercises” that anybody can do:

http://www.livestrong.com/article/104041-easy-chair-exercises-seniors/

Here is a link to the Senior Health guide produced by the National Institute of Health (NIH). Here you’ll find helpful articles and videos about exercise:

http://nihseniorhealth.gov/exerciseforolderadults/benefitsofexercise/01.html

This article comes from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and focuses on Strength Training for Older Adults.

http://www.cdc.gov/physicalactivity/growingstronger/index.html

These articles provide great methods and suggestions for exercising, but ultimately it comes down to you! Just think, a little activity is the cheapest and most effective tool for increasing your quality of life.

GPS Shoes, for Alzheimer's Patients

2011-10-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

GPS Shoes, for Alzheimer's Patients

These boots were really made for walking.

The first batch of 3,000 shoes with integrated GPS devices -- to help track down dementia-suffering seniors who wander off and get lost -- just shipped frommanufacturer GTX Corp. to the footwear firm Aetrex, two years after plans were announced to develop the product.

The company's first shoes -- dreamed up back in 2002 following the Elizabeth Smart case -- were intended to locate missing children. And safety is the driving force today behind the company's newest GPS-enabled shoe. The shoes will sell at around $300 a pair and buyers will be able to set up a monitoring service to locate "wandering" seniors suffering from Alzheimer's Disease.

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2011-10-24T15:35:00.000-07:00

My Mom said she didn't want us, her four children and husband, to tell her friends that she was on hospice care. She didn't want them worrying or fussing over her. We asked her what she would like us to do for her funeral. She said, "Don't go to any trouble, just bury my ashes under an Aspen tree in the mountains."

My Mom has always complained that she never gets things her way, she has to go along with what everybody else wants. Well, the fact that she was dying didn't change things.

We planned a potluck and invited all of her friends. Some members of the family are talented musicians, so we put the food and the songbooks out. And, then brought my mother into the room. "Surprise!!!!"

Her friends would sit down with her to chat and then move on to the food. All the while she was smiling and appreciating the music by making requests.

The next day, she couldn't stop talking about the party, "I was at my own wake," she laughed heartily. The hospice nurse came that day and heard all about it.

We had my mother's funeral a couple of weeks later. All the same people that were at the party were at the funeral. They all expressed how glad they were that they got to see my Mom while she was still alive.

We asked for donations of Aspen trees. We then planted them on some private property in the mountains and placed a handful of my Mom's ashes under each tree.

Now we go to the mountains and visit the Aspen grove that is planted there in honor of my mother, Ruth Brunskill Greiner.

Visiting with Fortune Cookies

2011-10-09T13:25:00.000-07:00

My Dad takes fortune cookies with him when he visits his friends in assisted living or at the hospital. They open two or three fortune cookies which gives them something to talk about right then and there. Then he leaves several fortune cookies with the person he's been to visit. He asks them to open one a day and think about the good fortune they've just been given.

Successful activities for someone with Alzheimer's or other dementias

2009-10-25T10:24:00.000-07:00

Successful activities for someone with Alzheimer's or other dementias

Keeping busy stimulates the brains of people with dementia while boosting a sense of usefulness and accomplishment. But they lose the ability to select satisfying activities and follow through on them -- so you need to initiate things to do. Too much idle time can make anyone feel lonely and unproductive, raising the risk of depression, agitation, and anger.

To make an activity a success for someone with Alzheimer's or other dementias.

Build on activities the person has always enjoyed. A bridge player may no longer be able to keep up, but she may enjoy holding cards and playing a simpler game, such as Old Maid or Solitaire. But introduce new ideas, too, to see what "clicks."

Aim for the "sweet spot" -- not too easy, not too hard. If an activity is too simplistic or childish (like coloring books for kids), the person might feel insulted or bored. If it requires remembering sequences or is otherwise above the person's cognitive level, it will frustrate and turn her off.

Take common changes of dementia into account. The attention span shortens. Changes in recent memory make it hard to follow activities with multiple steps or instructions (such as cooking). Less self-critical people with dementia may be more open to art. Musical ability tends to be very well retained.

Take glitches in stride. Don't be a stickler for things being done the "right" way or according to rules. If it bothers you that dishes are rinsed improperly, for example, redo them yourself later without comment. The main consideration should be how the activity makes the person feel: involved, purposeful, successful.

Look patient, act patient, be patient. Impatience or anger tends to make the person with dementia anxious or balky. Don't give orders and make suggestions. Watch your body language, too: She'll be more tuned in than you might think to a knitted brow and heavy sighs. What helps: encouraging comments and realistic praise (without talking down or using an exaggerated voice), saying thanks where appropriate.

Don't challenge or argue. Avoid asking "Why" when something goes awry. People with dementia likely don't know why they did something peculiar (like store a paint set in the refrigerator). Gently suggest an alternative: "I don't think the paint should get cold, so let's store it here on the desk." Rational arguments are useless because the person's emotions are stronger than her logic.

Make activities routine. If an activity is a hit, do it every day or two. Or do the same thing, slightly modified: folding towels one day, sheets the next. Pursue categories of activities at about the same time every day (physical or outdoor in the morning, quiet handiwork after lunch) to add comforting structure to the day.

Great physical activities to try with someone suffering from Alzheimer's or other dementias

Household work

Rinsing and drying dishes or loading a dishwasher.
Folding laundry.
Matching socks.
Dusting.
Vacuuming.
Watering plants.
Arranging flowers.
Peeling potatoes or apples, snapping beans, shelling peas, husking corn.
Washing vegetables, kneading bread, making salad, stirring pots.
Decorating cookies, cupcakes, cakes.
Simple mending, such as replacing buttons.
Polishing silver, polishing shoes.
Washing windows (but not on a stepstool or ladder).
Setting the table. Try providing items one at a time: first all the plates, then all the forks, then the knives, etc.
Organizing books (by size, alphabetically, by color).
Organizing a messy drawer.
Clipping coupons (whether you actually use them or not).
Bringing in the mail or newspapers.
Sorting and rolling coins.

Outdoor activities

Limit activities to a confined area, or provide a watchful eye if the person is prone to wandering.

Tending a garden: weeding, hoeing, watering, monitoring. (Indoor variations, such as an herb garden, orchids, or a terrarium, also provide sensory stimulation.)
Raking leaves or sweeping a porch.
Picking up sticks.
Watering the lawn.
Planting bulbs.
Taking a walk (with a companion).
Feeding birds, ducks, fish (or watching a bird feeder placed outside a window).

Recreational activities

Playing card games, especially old favorites or simple games like War. Consider large-print cards.
Playing board games, such as checkers or Chinese checkers.
Working word-search puzzles. Look for large-print versions of books.
Flipping through scrapbooks or photo albums.
Identifying people in old photos. (Write down what you learn!)
Reading books and magazines; look for those heavy on images (coffee-table books and magazines on design, travel, photography).
Working jigsaw puzzles. You may need to experiment to find some that challenge without frustrating. On the bright side, you'll be able to use a successful one repeatedly.
Playing catch with a softball or beanbag.
Spending time with animals. Visit a neighbor's dog or arrange to have a child bring one over every day. Visit a pet store. Provide a fish tank or goldfish bowl.
Going out for ice cream cones. Not having to sit down, as you would at a restaurant, may be less stressful.
Following an exercise video. Check YouTube.com for that favorite of '60s and '70s housewives, Jack LaLanne, an icon ahead of his time who may be familiar to the person you're caring for.
Listening to old radio shows (check your local library or alzstore.com).
Playing dance music and dancing.
Watching a digital picture frame with rotating images of family members. Set it so pictures change slowly. Ask open-ended questions about the pictures as you watch.
Reading old comics. Look for books that are collections of classics from the person's era, like Peanuts, Family Circus, Little Nemo.
Looking through a personal-memories box. Include such items as military pins, baby clothes, postcards, pictures of old houses, costume jewelry, and other tactile icons that have meaning to the person.
Caring for a doll. In late-stage dementia, people often find comfort in "taking care of" a baby doll or simply cuddling and stroking a stuffed animal.

Visiting a Senior? Keep the flu germs at bay

2009-10-19T12:48:00.000-07:00

(ARA)
Schools with only a third of the students sitting in chairs, offices sending out notices to employees asking anyone with a fever or cough to please stay home, and hand sanitizer stations popping up everywhere; the signs are very visible this year that flu season has arrived.

Seasonal and H1N1 flu viruses are making big headlines. And while everyone has the potential to catch either variety, senior citizens tend to suffer more from the complications of flu.

Seniors are more vulnerable because they spend time with grandchildren, get out and explore new activities and visit with friends and family. The CDC recommends everyone over the age of 50 get a yearly flu vaccine because the flu can be more serious and even deadly for seniors. About 36,000 people die from flu complications annually, and of those deaths, 90 percent are age 65 or older.

In addition to getting both the seasonal flu vaccine and the H1N1 vaccine, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends the following steps to help protect your health:

* If you are sick with flu-like symptoms, stay home for at least 24 hours after your fever is gone – unless you need to get medical care.

* Even if you aren't sick, keep your home stocked with a supply of over-the-counter medicines, alcohol-based hand rubbing solution and tissues, so that if you do start experiencing symptoms, you don't need to go out and to purchase supplies.

* Wash your hands every day with soap and water – or if this isn't available, hand sanitizer.

* Avoid close contact with sick people.

When you are visiting a senior citizen in senior home care, make sure they have supplies on hand and are practicing good personal hygiene. Do they have a squirt bottle of soap next to every sink in their house? Do the counters and bathroom sinks get cleaned frequently? Are tissues available next to chairs in every room?

Remember, seniors may not pay attention to basic preventative measures when it comes to viruses. But by practicing good health habits yourself, you can help keep them from getting sick from the flu. For more information about flu prevention and seniors, visit visitingangels.com/library.asp.

Courtesy of ARAconten

Healing the Sick - Best Practices: Visiting the sick

2009-09-26T20:49:00.000-07:00

Healing the Sick - Best Practices: Visiting the sick

Media Entertainment's View of Health Providers

2009-09-12T14:09:00.000-07:00

A police officer I was speaking with after the fires near Los Angeles said that police get a bad rap from the entertainment industry, but animal control officers get the worst of it. On TV shows and news reports, animal control never comes off as a good guy. I claimed that probably nursing homes are somewhere between.......
between animal control and police. We both acknowledged that good and bad are very subjective. Often, the perception of a person is that something is bad even when necessary and best. So, 'Best Practices' doesn't necessarily mean something that everyone affected will like.

Example: The paperwork involved in checking in to a nursing home is more than that which I had to sign when buying a house. On the admissions paperwork there were 26 times that a person had to sign or initial something. Of course the ones having to sign complained. They DID NOT like it. However, all I had to say was, your signatures prove to Medicare that you are being treated here. Medicare won't pay for your stay here without your signatures. People then gladly added their signatures to the pages.

Sometimes the painful thing protects the patient, but the story about having to sign or initial 26 times is what they talk about rather than the fact that Medicare paid for their nursing home care.

Dr. Oz

2009-09-12T13:25:00.000-07:00

Glad to see that Dr. Oz will have his own show. I'll be taping it everyday to watch in the evening.

Visiting the sick

2009-09-12T12:48:00.000-07:00

I've done both the worst and the best visiting in my time. The worst was when a friend had just undergone a full hysterectomy and was recovering in the hospital. I thought it would cheer her up if I read from an Erma Bombeck book. If you don't know Erma Bombeck's comedic writing then you wouldn't understand why my friend was nearly falling out......
of bed from laughing. But, at the same time she was screaming, "Stop, stop. It hurts too much!" I thought she was saying no when she meant yes. I kept reading. Finally, after she breathlessly whispered, "Stop reading," I stopped to check if she really did want me to stop. She explained that it hurt to be laughing and she feared it was going to bust her stitches.

When I did my best visiting was when, after trying to keep a conversation going relentlessly, my friend said, "You know, I just enjoy it that you're here in the room with me. We don't even have to talk. But, please stay." So I learned to keep the visits long, and I learned to shut up after the greetings and catching up was done. I even learned how to scrunch into the chair and take a brief nap at the same time as my friend. And, I learned it was ok to keep napping even if my friend was awake.