Pretty cool Squidoo lens: Senior Citizen Gift Ideas - from one who knows! http://www.squidoo.com/gifts-for-senior-citizens

30 Activities that can be Done in 30 Seconds or Less

1. Greet the person by name.
2. Make eye contact and smile.
3. Shake hands.
4. Ask someone to "show me" an object.
5. Tease: "Mr. Smith, I just saw you eat dessert first!"
6. Tell someone they are loved.
7. Give a sustained bear hug.
8. Give a compliment: "Wow! You look pretty spiffy!"
9. Ask an open-ended question: "How are you feeling today?"
10. Ask an opinion: "What do you think of my necktie? Does it match my shirt?"
11. Play a quick game of catch.
12. Notice an unusual bird or squirrel outside the window.
13. Evoke a memory from a person's life story: "Tell me more about your dog. Did he follow you to school?"
14. Give a hand massage.
15. Share a new hand lotion and talk about its pleasing scent.
16. Try on a new shade of lipstick.
17. Blow bubbles.
18. Slip a little treat to someone.
19. Share a magic trick.
20. Show off family photos of a new grandchild.
21. Blow up a balloon and bat it around. (You can blow up surgical gloves instead.)
22. Look at a flower arrangement and compare colors, textures and scents.
23. Ask for advice on a recipe.
24. Tell a funny story or joke. Clown around for a moment and make funny faces, throw your hands in the air and spin around once or twice.
25. Do a quick dance to some fun music that is playing in the background.
26. Sing a song or say a prayer together.
27. Notice vivid colors in an unusual dress or shirt.
28. Ask for help with a chore such as folding a towel, helping to make a bed, or polishing a piece of furniture.
29. Try on a hat or hats.
30. Step outside for some fresh air.

Reprinted from website www.HillCountryCareProviders.com

Stroke Indicators

Blood Clots/Stroke - They Now Have a Fourth Indicator, the Tongue


STROKE: Remember the 1st Three Letters...... S T. R. 
STROKE IDENTIFICATION:
During a BBQ, a woman stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) ....she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes.

They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Jane went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.

Jane's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 pm Jane passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Jane would be with us today. Some don't die. They end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.

It only takes a minute to read this.

A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke...totally. He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough. 
RECOGNIZING A STROKE

Thank God for the sense to remember the '3' steps, STR. Read and Learn!

Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke.

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions:
S *Ask the individual to SMILE.T *Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently), (i.e. It is sunny out today.)R *Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call emergency number immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.
New Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your Tongue
NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other that is also an indication of a stroke.

  

Peter Eatherley
61 Queens Court , Queensway, London W24QW
Tel 020 7034 0885
Mob 07818 405035

Verified by SNOPES.

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

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.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/10/27/

gps-shoes-for-alzheimers-patients-safety/?cmpid=

cmty_email_Gigya_GPS_Shoes%2C_for_

Alzheimer's_Patients_and_

Prostitutes%3F#ixzz1c69Lh3jb

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

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

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

(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

Healing the Sick - Best Practices: Visiting the sick

Media Entertainment's View of Health Providers

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.......

Dr. Oz

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

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......