RetirementHomes.com - homecare

Nursing home versus home care: How to decide

aadmin — Fri, 14 Jun 2013 16:51:56 +0000

As the substantial baby boomer population continues to age, more adults are presented with the dilemma of what to do in terms of long-term elder care. Often, the question comes down to whether or not you, or an aging loved ones, should age in place with the assistance of a home health care provider, or move into a nursing home. There are advantages and disadvantages to each, but the answer should be determined based a holistic perspective of what is best for the individual physically and emotionally.

Has an assessment been done recently?

A comprehensive assessment is the best place to start. If the senior is in the hospital, this assessment can be done by the medical team. If the senior is living at home, the assessment can be done by a reputable home health care provider. During the assessment, professionals will determine healthcare needs, social needs, and mental/emotional well-being, as well as the resources available in the home. The results of the assessment can be used to determine a long-term care plan, which may be graduated to include a home health care aide and transition to a nursing home when the time is right.

What is the status of the senior's physical health?

While caregivers are trained to provide basic day-to-day services such as meal preparation, house cleaning, some mobility assistance, bathing and grooming assistance, and medication reminders, they are not medical professionals. If you or your loved one has more serious medical complications, a nursing home can provide trained medical staff, 24/7.

Can the home be easily adapted for accessibility?

One of the main concerns for seniors who age in place is physical safety. The home assessment will determine whether the home is safe, or can be affordably adapted to meet the senior's long-term mobility needs. If it is not an easy retrofit, recommendations may be to move to a smaller, accessible location, or to an assisted living community so the senior can have independence as well as a built-in community of peers and trained staff.

What are the senior's social needs?

Some seniors are true homebodies, with little need for outside stimulation. Others are more social and aging in place can cut them off from friends and loved ones, which often leads to depression. Home health care providers can serve as companions, and transport the senior to favorite groups, activities, appointments, etc. If this is not enough to keep the individual stimulated, or a senior has more progressed stages of dementia or Alzheimer’s, it might be time to transition to a nursing home.

Does the senior need round-the-clock care?

Often, people are under the assumption that if seniors need 24-hour care, they should be moved to a nursing home. This is not always the case. Many home health care services provide 24-hour care, depending on the needs of the individual.

Once you have worked your way through these questions, you will have a better idea of whether home health care or a nursing home care is the right option for your needs.

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New information regarding eldercare for seniors with coronary artery disease

aadmin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:04:12 +0000

Research recently conducted in Maryland involving over 100 elderly men and women could have an impact on the eldercare that seniors with coronary artery disease receive.

In Baltimore, 145 men and women over the age of 65 with atherosclerosis were tested by experts from Johns Hopkins to see if dual niacin-statin therapy was more effective than traditional cholesterol-lowering therapy. Some doctors believe that niacin, often referred to as vitamin B3, can add benefit in correcting arterial narrowing when combined with statins, which are the drugs used in conventional cholesterol treatment.

"Our recommendation to physicians is that current national treatment guidelines, which recommend mainly statin therapy tailored to the severity of atherosclerosis for preventing arteries from reclogging and narrowing, appear to be sufficient and accurate for physicians and patients to follow," said Dr Joao Lima of Johns Hopkins.

The Mayo Clinic says atherosclerosis is caused by a build up of fat on artery walls that restricts blood flow. This heart condition is both preventable and treatable, but experts say that more than 400,000 people die of coronary artery disease each year nonetheless.

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November is National Homecare Month

aadmin — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:04:12 +0000

All throughout the month of November, the American Association for Homecare (AAH) will be celebrating the efforts of the professionals who help make the lives of seniors more comfortable at home.

The AAH says that homecare professionals currently help more than 8 million elderly Americans who need medical or other assistance where they live. Some of these seniors suffer from multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig's disease and diabetes, among other health problems.

Although some of these professionals provide valuable support, the AAH says that Congress has been making cuts to the homecare sector that have damaged the quality of the service.

The association is now encouraging anyone who receives or benefits from homecare to visit its website to learn more about how to prevent more cuts.

According to AAHomecare.org, some seniors who receive the service are able to save a considerable amount of money by living in their houses instead of receiving medical attention at hospitals. Elderly individuals who are taken care of at home often need oxygen equipment, wheelchairs, hospital beds, diabetic supplies and other medical devices.

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Heart research could affect eldercare

aadmin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:04:08 +0000

Research presented at the Amercian Heart Association's Scientific Sessions 2009 event could help prevent both younger and older persons from suffering brain damage during cardiac arrest.

When a person experiences a sudden loss in heart function, it might be possible to protect them from brain damage by quickly cooling their body.

"We now have a method that is safe and can be started within minutes of cardiac arrest to minimize damage during this very critical period," said Dr Maaret Castren, the lead author of the study.

The researchers examined 200 adult patients who went into cardiac arrest.

Some were given regular resuscitation, while others received resuscitation and cooling using a new tool called RhinoChill that lowers the temperature of the brain. The average age of the patients was 66 years old and 71 percent were male.

About 47 percent of the patients who were cooled survived their incident, which is roughly 16 percent more than those who received conventional resuscitation. Approximately 37 percent of those cooled were in good mental condition afterward, while about 79 percent of those who received regular treatment weren't.

The Mayo Clinic says cardiac arrest usually results from an electrical disturbance in the heart that stops blood flow.

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Holidays offer opportunity to improve retirement living

aadmin — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:04:08 +0000

The eldercare management department of a consulting company in Michigan recently released a set of guidelines it claims can help families improve the quality of life of their elderly relatives.

On November 17, Feinberg Consulting, a company based in Farmington Hills, released guidelines that families can use during the upcoming holidays to assess the happiness of their older relatives.

"Holiday get-togethers are a perfect opportunity to evaluate the needs of older adults to improve their quality of life," said company president Pam Feinberg-Rivkin.

"There are a few simple but often overlooked signs of possible problems with an elderly family member."

The guidelines are supposed to be able to help families learn about the needs, preferences and finances of their elderly relatives.

The National Institutes of Health website says that unhappiness in seniors can be caused by family changes, chronic pain, immobility, memory loss or a variety of other issues. Transitioning into a retirement living community can also lead to depression in the elderly, as can the loss of a spouse or close friend.

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Alzheimer's care could be affected by recent heart failure research

aadmin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:04:08 +0000

A team of scientists at Johns Hopkins University (JHU) has uncovered information regarding chronic heart failure that could change the way Alzheimer's care is approached.

The scientists said that by examining the heart muscle cells in dogs, they discovered that changes in a protein called desmin led to the formation of protein clusters that are similar to the plaque that is found in the brain tissue of Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients.

"Our study leads us to believe that desmin plays a key role in heart failure," said Dr Giulio Agnetti, the lead study investigator at JHU.

"Now we have a chemical target to research further and help us investigate what could be the underlying biological cause of heart failure and if it is like Alzheimer's, an amyloid-related disease."

The Mayo Clinic says that heart failure can be avoided by controlling risk factors such as high blood pressure and obesity. Unfortunately, doctors say nothing can be done to cure AD, but support from family and friends can make life better for people who have the disease.

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The realities of retirement living for family

aadmin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:04:08 +0000

Stressful relationships can often develop when seniors receive eldercare from their children or other family members.

Though viewed as a necessary responsibility, looking after an elderly family member isnt always easy. Because helping someone growing old can be difficult, a family services agency in Teaneck, New Jersey, organized an event called Conference for Caregivers, according to NorthJersey.com.

"When we're busy caring for others, we have less and less in us, and we can't care for ourselves," the agency's director Lisa Fedder told listeners.

"When we can't care for ourselves, we can't give the best service to those we're caring for."

Dr Terri Feldman Katz was one of the event's speakers, according to the news source. The doctor said that helping seniors remain independent for as long as possible can be good for morale. She told the conference that providing an elderly person with a walker can empower them, for example.

The U.S. Census Bureau says the population of individuals between the ages of 65 and 74 is projected to peak at 38 million people in 2030, meaning more and more children may have to look after their elderly parents in the future.

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More progress made in development of eldercare robots

aadmin — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 10:04:08 +0000

GeckoSystems (GS), a robotics company, is in the process of designing a model that is meant to improve retirement living.

On November 16, GS announced that it is starting in-home trials of its CareBot. The company claims that practical and cost-effective robots are its primary goal.

"We are very pleased to begin our first in-home trials of this new assistive care home appliance, a customizable personal companion robot," said Martin Spencer, CEO of GS.

"Now we begin proving our long held belief that personal companion mobile robots, like the CareBot, can help tens of thousands of families take better care of their loved ones while saving significant monies."

Researchers at the University of Massachusetts say that some eldercare robots are capable of performing a variety of tasks, including calling 911 in case of emergencies and helping seniors remember to take their medication.

GS says the CareBot can move about without running into obstacles thanks to its navigation system. The company claims the robot is also capable of responding to verbal commands and answering questions.

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Entering retirement living with a disability

aadmin — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:04:06 +0000

The results of a recent UCLA study suggest that more men and women entering their 60s are disabled than in previous generations.

Researchers found that a percentage of individuals between the ages of 60 and 69 showed increasing signs of a disability over time. The results of the study also showed that fewer seniors between the ages of 70 and 79 showed significant signs of a developing disability.

"Increases in disability in that group are concerning because it's a big group," said Teresa Seeman of UCLA.

"These may be people who have longer histories of being overweight, and we may be seeing the consequences of that. We're not sure why these disabilities are going up. But if this trend continues, it could have a major impact on us, due to the resources that will have to be devoted to those people."

The researchers discovered that disabilities were at least 40 percent more prevalent in seniors who were in their 60s between 1999 and 2004 than in those who were in the same age range between 1988 and 1994.

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, the number of Americans who will suffer functional disability because of a health problem will increase by at least 300 percent by the year 2049.

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Entrepreneur visits retirement living facilities to do research

aadmin — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 10:04:07 +0000

Residents living in senior housing in Pennsylvania might be visited by an unusual guest during the month of November.

Steve Gurney is a 44-year-old entrepreneur who will be staying in a retirement home near Logan Circle in Philadelphia on November 18. The purpose of Gurney's visit will be to conduct market research in the eldercare industry.

He believes elderly homes might present a business opportunity.

"The concept of business travelers staying in senior living communities makes a lot of sense," says the entrepreneur. "These communities offer all the features and amenities of your typical hotel, but have the added benefit of being a true neighborhood with lots of interesting people to engage with."

This will be the third time Gurney will have stayed in a senior housing facility. He first began his research in February of 2009 and believes he has discovered an approach to retirement living that he says is outside the box. "Imagine the connections and wisdom that can be shared between retirees and travelers with similar business backgrounds."

There were almost 37 million people over the age of 65 living in the U.S. in 2008, according to the government.

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