Most family caregivers reach a point when they realize they need help at home caring for a senior Mom, Dad, grandparent or other elderly loved one.

 Tell-tale signs include:

• Recognizing that your loved one requires constant supervision and/or assistance with everyday activities, such as bathing and dressing.
• Finding that certain housekeeping routines and regular errands are accomplished with great difficulty or are left undone.
• In order to take care of any business outside the home, more than one caregiver is required.

Assessing Your Home Care Needs

A number of options are available for finding help at home. It is often best to start by assessing both your needs as a caregiver and the needs of the person you are caring for. There are a variety of checklists to help you evaluate what types of help are needed.

In general, consider the following areas:

• Personal Care: bathing, eating, dressing, toileting
• Household Care: cooking, cleaning, laundry, shopping
• Health Care: medication management, physician’s appointments, physical therapy
• Emotional Care: companionship, meaningful activities, conversation

What Do You Look For In A Caregiver?

It is important to evaluate the values and preferences of the person receiving care. He or she may be more comfortable with a home care worker who shares his or her cultural background and/or language.

The care recipient may also have a preference between male and female caregivers, particularly if the worker will be helping with personal care.

This assessment may enable you to include alternative (and possibly less expensive) approaches to care such as Home Instead, which can provide home helper services, companionship, personal care, transportation, and a host of non-medical care services.

Browse through our digital brochure for information about our services that may help you with making this important, life changing decision.  Or simply call us at 804.527.1100 anytime, day or night.

Trying to help a senior loved one who has a home, garage or attic full of possessions they’ve collected over the years and often full of old newspapers, magazines, plastic tubs, aluminum foil, plastic bags and simply junk can be very overwhelming and stressful, even for the most energetic and loving daughter or son. 

So we’ve been posting helpful articles on our blog about Seniors and hoarding syndrome, clutter and disorganization to help you as a caregiver to notice the warning signs and understand the safety and health hazards.  

Now, we’re providing you with several helpful resources including Home Instead Senior Care.  Our CAREGivers can really make a difference in preventing hoarding syndrome as seniors begin to age and they’re not able to clean like they used to, or  they’re not able to see or notice the health hazards that may begin to surround them.

Here is a list of 9 helpful resources for home disorganization, clutter and hoarding syndrome, particularly for seniors and your elderly loved ones, whether that be a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle or elderly friend:

1. National Association of Professional Organizers.  Find a professional organizer near you at http://www.napo.net
2. National Association of Senior Move Managers.  For assistance helping older adults and their families downsize, relocate or modify their homes, contact http://www.nasmm.org.
3. National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization.  For various resources on combating clutter.  This non-profit organization features fact sheets, a clutter-hoarding scale for professional organizers to help assess their clients, and a questionnaire to determine if someone is a chronic disorganizer.  Chronic disorganization is defined by the group as ongoing (chronic), interfering with the ability to get things done or with relationships, and a history of failed self help.
4. Vickie Dellaquila.  Certified professional organizer and author of Don’t Toss My Memories in the Trash.  Email Vickie at Vickie@organizationrules.com
5. University of New Mexico Researcher Dr. Catherine Roster.  Dr. Roster is a clutter researcher who serves as research director for The National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization.  She is currently working on a clutter self-assessment tool that will help clutter collectors get to the root of their issues.
6. University of Kansas Professor Dr. David Ekerdt.  Dr. Ekerdt is coordinating a “household moves” project to determine the role that possessions play in older people’s housing decisions.
7. Katherine “Kit” Anderson, CPO-CD.  President of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization.  You can email her at kit@andersonorganizing.com
8. Remove from Junk Mail Lists.  To get Seniors off of junk mail lists, you can remove them by going to online resources such as http://dmachoice.org, http://www.catalogchoice.org and http://www.optoutprescreen.com
9. Home Instead Senior Care of Richmond.  Our home helper services such as light housekeeping, shopping services and meal preparation can be just the thing to ensure that clutter creep doesn’t happen and that cupboards and refrigerators stay clean and full of fresh food.  Visit our website at http://homeinstead.com/richmond-va for all the home care services provided to seniors in the Richmond area.

For more information, call our Richmond Home Instead Senior Care office at 804.527.1100 anytime.  We’ll be happy to discuss all your senior home care needs and help you figure out solutions that allow the elderly to preserve their dignity as they age.  Because at Home Instead… to us, it’s personal.

Home Instead Tappahannock visits Bay Internists

Have you spotted the new kid in town? It’s the Home Instead CareBug – a VW Beetle sporting an all-over paint job of a hot pink tulip on the hood, lime green fenders and a big “Home Instead” logo on the door.

It’s pretty hard to miss the CareBug as it makes its way around the county and town roads of the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula, with local staff members Pam Bragg or Regis Slaw at the wheel.

If you’ve ever wondered where the CareBug has been, or is going to be next, check back here for spottings and updates. If there’s somewhere you think the CareBug should visit, be sure to share that with us.

Wednesday – May 19, 2010

The CareBug visited Bay Internists in Kilmarnock for a luncheon and to introduce the Northern Neck Home Instead Staff and Services to the doctors and office personnel.

Thursday – June 24, 2010

Home Instead Senior Care is hosting BINGO for the residents at the Warsaw HealthCare Center at 2:00 and The CareBug will be there.

For more information about senior home care in the Northern Neck area, call our Tappahannock office at 804.443.4885.

We know that caregivers, whether a family member or a professional, have loving hearts.  But helping them to maintain a healthy heart can often be a more difficult challenge as they so often put the needs of the family member, patient or client first before themselves.

Nearly half of the 80 million American adults (about 38 million) who have cardiovascular disease (CVD) are 60 or older.  So it is important to keep a healthy heart at any age.  Sometimes family caregivers are the Baby Boomers, getting older themselves while taking care of an elderly parent or even grandparent while taking care of their own children who may be college age or even married with children of their own.  It’s often a lot to handle and being a family caregiver can put an extra burden on one’s heart health.

Maintaining a health regimen can be a particular challenge for family or professional caregivers.  Consider the following tips from the American Heart Association:

1. Make the time to take a 10 to 15 minute walk a couple of times a day, even if it’s just around the yard.
2. Choose a space in the house that is your “quiet space.”
3. Schedule your timeouts.  Choose a time when your loved one is typically sleeping, eating, watching a TV program or seems to be at their best during the day.
4. Insist on these moments in a gentle way and reward your loved one when you’ve refreshed yourself.

By remembering these four simple tips, caregivers can maintain a healthy heart while providing exceptional care to their elderly loved one.

And, remember, if you’re a family caregiver who could use an extra pair of hands to help out with the needs of an aging Mom, Dad or Grandparent, simply call Home Instead Senior Care of Richmond at 804.527.1100 anytime day or night.  You’ll be glad you did.

Diane was awarded the February 2010 Caregiver of the Month from Home Instead Senior Care of Richmond VA

Congratulations to Diane, our February 2010 CAREGiver of the Month. 

Diane has been a member of the Home Instead Senior Care of Richmond team since December 2008.  During this time, she has graciously helped out picking up last minute shifts and has been incredibly loyal to her clients. 

Loyal really is not even the right word for Diane as she truly has a gift for developing such touching relationships with all of her clients.  We hear nothing except rave reviews and praise for her wherever she goes. 

In her heart, she is a caregiver through and through and truly cares about each person she helps.  We are so grateful to know Diane and to have her as part of Home Instead Senior Care of Richmond…and our clients are grateful as well.  Congratulations Diane!

If you’re in need of extraordinary senior care in the Greater Richmond or Northern Neck areas of Virginia, simply call our Richmond home care office at 804.527.1100.  You can call anytime during the day or night, even weekends. Because to us, it’s personal.

More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease. And blacks and Hispanics may be at a greater risk for it, according to a new report from the Alzheimer’s Association.

The organization found that black Americans are about two times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than whites, and Hispanics face about 1.5 times the risk.

Why?  The report delves into the impact of health conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes, conditions that are highly prevalent in the African-American and Hispanic communities.  Such factors increase risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Even worse?  Lower income and education is more common in the black and Hispanic communities, meaning those who have dementia may not even know it or receive a later diagnosis because of the disparities.

“Alzheimer’s disease is the single largest, looming, unaddressed public health threat facing the nation, but we now know the threat is even more substantial in the African-American and Hispanic communities,” said Harry Johns, the association’s president and CEO.  “These groups are more likely to have Alzheimer’s, less likely to know it, and, as a result, less likely to receive available treatments and supportive services that can help them cope with the disease.”

For more about Home Instead’s Alzheimer’s and dementia care, visit our website to learn more.  Or simply call our Richmond home care office at 804.527.1100. 

P.S.  We serve the Northern Neck area as well, with a Tappahannock home care office.  Also, there are plenty of activity suggestions for seniors at http://getmommoving.com.