When Your Loved One Resists Care in Orlando FL
by Rich O’Boyle, Publisher

“How many times has your mother refused to change her clothes? Has your father resisted getting out of bed? Has your wife pushed you away when you tried to brush her teeth? Many times a caregiver will be particularly frustrated by her loved one’s refusal to help himself. At times she can’t help but think that the person she cares for "36 hours a day" is going out of his way to make her miserable! The increasing irrationality of individuals with dementia makes it even harder on the caregiver.”

When your loved one resists care, step back calmly and think:

• Are there any environmental factors such as lighting, shadows, noise, commotion or other external influences that are causing the problem now?
• Before you say something, think about what you are going to say. Check your emotions and frustration before you speak. Your increased frustration can contribute to your loved one’s agitation.
• Put yourself in her shoes. Use your knowledge of her personal background to pinpoint patterns and reasons for her reaction.
• Is this confrontation worth escalating? Choose your battles wisely. A head-to-toe bath is not necessary every day or even more than once each week. Similarly, clothes do not have to be changed every day if they are not soiled.

Continue reading from ec-online.net 

The caregivers at Age Advantage understand caregiver stress are available to talk with you and your family about all of your live-in home care needs and concerns. Age Advantage is a home care agency providing caring quality and affordable home care in Orlando FL and the surrounding areas. Call
407-347-2050 for more information.

Caregiving and Family Hostilities

By Isabel Fawcett, SPHR for LTC Expert Publications

If it seems like caregiving to aging parents with chronic health issues brings out the worst in some individuals, it happens. The family’s communication gridlock may not be due to the stress of eldercare, however.

Deep-seated individual and/or family dysfunction in communicating and relationships may have remained unresolved over the years. Unresolved family issues will not magically disappear.

Family Dynamics Mirrors Social Issues
In 2010, healthcare reform legislation passed in the form of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA.) Some Americans were gung-ho about the passage of PPACA and the need to radically reform healthcare in the U.S. Other Americans were and may remain vehemently opposed to PPACA. Some individuals are in favor of having PPACA repealed. One nation America shall remain regardless of individual viewpoints.

Consider family dynamics in context of the PPACA social analogy. One family remains recurring dysfunction notwithstanding. To have and express strong emotions is to be human.

Tip of the Family’s Eldercare Iceberg
Common sticking points for families facing eldercare life transitions include:

• estate disagreements;
• eldercare decision disagreements;
• financial disputes;
• medical treatment issues for elders;
• funeral, burial and memorial decisions;
• wills and powers of attorney, and more

Even the most trivial matters can trigger major family disputes or lead to a total breakdown in a family’s communication and relationships.

Feelings
Feelings will ebb and flow at-will. Some feelings may be repressed and surprise us in when, and, how they re-emerge during the most stressful times in our lives. Stressful times – as in caring for our aging and chronically ill parents who once did a dismal or, not so dismal job of caring for us when we were children.

Remember those occasional (normal) vulnerable feelings you and I had as children?

Some of our childhood feelings were real. Other feelings we may have experienced in childhood may have been based on imagined or misinterpreted signals. Those childhood and young adulthood feelings that we may not have been able to express due to: age, immaturity, language development, cultural influences, fear, or any number of reasons, remain intact only to re-surface when least expected.

It may be that the most important step a caregiver can take when eldercare makes its debut in a family’s life is recognizing that disputes will occur in the best of families, as in society. Similar to social disputes and heated public discourse family disputes boil over or slow-simmer.

A caregiver’s handling of family disagreements may ease angst and help the caregiver, elder, and the entire family achieve healing over time. Some caregivers do so without outside help. Others may need a friend, counselor, mentor, or licensed professional to help. It’s all good.

The caregivers at Age Advantage can help answer all of your home care questions. Contact us at 407-347-2050. We are a home care agency providing elder care in Orlando FL and surrounding areas.

When A Loved One Needs In-Home Help
By Kristen Gerencher, MarketWatch

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — The signs can hit you quickly or sneak up on you gradually. But what do you do if Mom or Dad isn’t safe living alone anymore?

“The worst thing you can do is ignore it,” said Bob Mecca, principal of Robert A. Mecca & Associates, an independent, fee-only financial planning firm in Hoffman Estates, Ill.

If an elderly relative starts to need help to get through the day, families who want to avoid institutions often face two choices: hire a home-care aide or become one yourself. Both these options allow the older person to remain at home where he or she may be most comfortable, experts say, but each has its own pitfalls.

Families who choose outside help must decide what level of care their loved one requires and whether they want to go through an agency or hire a caregiver privately. And people who join the ranks of the 65 million unpaid family caregivers in the U.S. can face health-draining burnout if they don’t budget for respite care for themselves.

There are two main kinds of in-home care. Personal or home-care aides provide companionship and support a person’s activities of daily living such as dressing, bathing, preparing meals and doing laundry. Home health aides may do all those things plus tasks such as administering medication or recording changes in a client’s condition. They also may work under a nurse’s supervision.

…continue reading from marketwatch.com

Home care counselors at Age Advantage are available to talk with you and your family about care needs for your loved one, including, how to reduce caregiver stress while providing better, affordable care. Age Advantage is a home care agency providing In Home Care in Orlando FL and surrounding areas.

Is Home Care for You?
By Maria M. Meyer and Paula Derr, Contributing Writers

The need to provide care for another person arises for many reasons. Often, the person who needs care does not realize it and family members must step in to help make decisions. One of those decisions involves who the caregiver will be and where care will be provided. The choices can be difficult unless you know what to consider.

When one member of the family becomes disabled, roles within the family often change. A person who took care of the family in the past or was the income provider may become dependent, while another person in the family takes on added, often unfamiliar responsibilities. For a single person, the changes may involve a new dependence on non-family members. Just the word “dependence” can cause unpleasant feelings. Being
able to talk openly about fears, anxiety, frustration, and doubts can be very helpful in dealing well with these new facts of life.

Discuss chronic care needs with the person’s medical team to learn what treatments; adjustments and other changes may be necessary. For some people, training to provide medical treatments, advice on coping with the challenges of chronic illness, and some long-range financial planning will be enough. For others, in-home personal assistance is the best option. Sometimes a nursing home or assisted living center is the better choice for everyone involved.

In making the decision for home care, it is important to be realistic about what the person in your care needs, and what you, the caregiver, can provide in terms of time, kinds of care, and financial responsibility. For example, deciding to hire an in-home attendant may be necessary if the primary caregiver works full time.

Before this happens, it’s important to look at the financial and emotional issues that go along with this decision.

Source: Caring.com
Continue reading…

For information about how Age Advantage can help your family with home care, please contact our caregivers at 407-347-2050. Age Advantage is a home care agency providing quality in home care in Orlando FL and surrounding areas.

“Wishing you and yours all the Best in 2011
May you enjoy health and prosperity
throughout the New Year!”

From All of Us at Age Advantage Home Care Services

At Age Advantage, our caring staff can help answer all of your questions about home care, including how to reduce caregiver stress while providing tender, quality care to your loved one. Age Advantage is a home care agency providing caregivers and in home care in Orlando and surrounding areas.