Home Instead Senior Care Austin - Providing home care for elders and seniors. Call (512) 347-9207.

WEAR RED DAY (1st Friday) of this month

This is the day when people are encouraged to wear red to show their support for heart disease awareness in women. The Red Dress is the national symbol and it helps alert women about their personal risk factors for heart disease. To learn more, visit goredforwomen.org.

A Home Instead CAREGiver can help clients transition home from the hospital if they’ve had a heart attack. Oftentimes their doctor limits what activities they can do around the house - a CAREGiver can help with laundry and other light housekeeping. They may also be weak, so it’s good to have someone around.

If clients haven’t had a heart attack CAREGivers can help prevent one by assisting with a walk around the block, transporting them to an exercise class or trying a new activity. A CAREGiver can also remind them to take their cholesterol, blood pressure or other vital medication, or plan and prepare nutritious, heart-healthy meals.

The Red Dress is a trademark of DHHS.

Sources: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute;
National Institutes of Health; U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services

Home Instead Senior Care Austin - Providing home care for elders and seniors. Call (512) 347-9207.

Interview Questions Dr. Devere

Q: Dr. Devere, you are a doctor in Austin who specializes in Alzheimer’s, Dementia, and Neurology.  May we ask you some questions about health care that we are often asked and have often heard answered poorly by others?
A: Yes, you may.

Q: Regarding Trends in Health of the Elderly: In addition to good nutrition, a multi-vitamin, and proper hygiene, what are some additional tips that Senior citizens can use to stay healthy throughout the year?

A: To maintain Brain Health, it is important to exercise physically and keep your brain active by reading, gardening, games and socialization.  Be sure you don’t have untreated high cholesterol, high blood pressure or early diabetes.

Q: Regarding Symptoms and Diagnosis: One of the most commonly asked questions that our readers ask is, “What are the symptoms of dementia and/or Alzheimer’s?”  We want to ask a greater question: What at-home, non-professional tools can we use to recognize symptoms of numerous elder related illness, disease, and disorder?  How will we separate true health issues from basic age-related decline?

A: If caregivers or friends recognize that a person’s memory is abnormal and especially if it interferes with Basic Daily activity, which is not normal,  they should be evaluated by a physician.  Not all memory loss is Alzheimer’s.  Most conditions causing memory loss are treatable, including Alzheimer’s

Q: Regarding Later-life Housing: The statistics say that a fraction of people pass away suddenly/unexpectedly; it is far more likely that we will all have a normal, healthy decline.  This means that people will likely spend their waning years at home or in some form of skilled nursing or assisted living institution.  AARP tells that people have a preference to stay in their homes; not a surprise to anyone, but as living one one’s own becomes increasingly difficult, what steps can they take to age in place successfully?

A: People with physical and/or cognitive abnormalities will likely need help from their spouses or family.  Help with basic home Activities and meds can be obtained by hiring aides through Home Care and Companionship Service Agencies.  Assisted Living facilities with or without a spouse are available.  Nursing Homes really should be a last resort if the above considerations fail.

Q: Thank you Dr. Devere.  May our readers continue to ask questions of you?
A: Yes, Absolutely.  They can reach me at 1200 Lakeway Dr # 8, Lakeway, TX 78734 and (512) 261-7909

Home Instead Senior Care Austin - Providing the most trusted elder home health in America! Call us today at (512) 347-9207.

In order to make life easier as a caregiver, one must be able to ask for help from friends, professionals, and family. Don’t let the voice of the responsible child whisper in your head… mom and dad raised me. I should take care them now. It’s my responsibility. This can be hard to hear and ignore. But it is important to care for ourselves too, no matter how hard it is.

“People feel guilt because they think that somehow there’s something they could, might, should, would have done,” says Lee L. Pollak, director of the Bereavement Center at Jewish Family and Children’s Services in San Francisco. “But the perfect ending never happens, no matter how well prepared a family is.”

If your company’s Human Resource department is researching options for back-up care for employees taking care of their families, you will want to know how do these programs work. If you are a working mother caring for children and older adults, you might be struggling to get through the days. Call us if you could use some help at 512-347-9207.      

You join thousands of others in this nation caring for seniors as well as young children.  Many employers like yours are investigating back-up care programs for their employees as a way to reduce employee stress and improve absenteeism and productivity.  These programs provide lists of providers that employees can access and contact quickly when they need back-up care.

Work Options Group, a Colorado-based company that specializes in the provision of corporate-sponsored back-up care, shares some feedback from employees who use back-up care. Survey results indicate that the employee benefit does in fact reduce stress and unscheduled absenteeism as well as improve productivity and loyalty among employees. Below are key findings from the 2008 Back-up Care Survey conducted by Work Options Group.  More than 1,200 employees who used back-up care through Work Options Group between March 1 and May 31, 2008 completed the survey.

Visit our blog in a day to view the full survey.

For more information about Home Instead Senior Care Austin, contact us at 512-347-9207.  For more information about the survey, log on to http://www.workoptionsgroup.com/press_release_survey.html.

Home Instead Senior Care in Austin, Texas invites you to Be A CAREGiver. There are many Austin seniors who may be needing extra income due to the rising costs of living today. If you’ve spent several years caring for an aging loved one and find yourself short of funds or time on your hands, give us a call at 512-347-9207. You may be retired, over or near the age of 65 with lots of time to better another elder’s life in Austin. If you are healthy and active, and expresses an interest in working again - please call us at 512-347-9207 or fill out Be A CAREGiver.    

In a recent study by MetLife Mature Market Instititue found:

• 70 percent of those surveyed overestimated how much savings they can draw and still maintain enough money to last through retirement.
• 43% thought they could withdraw more than 10% each year, while experts suggest a withdrawal rate of at most 4%, according to the institute.

Outliving savings is the largest risk in retirement, the institute said.

The good news for healthy and active seniors is that more are working well past traditional retirement age.  And one of the most popular professions is caregiving.  The personal and home care aides occupation is expected to grow by more than 50 percent between 2006 and 2016, increasing from 767,000 to a projected 1.15 million jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Many of these caregiving jobs in Austin can be found in the homes of seniors who need help to remain independent.  If you have experience caring for an elder or a loved one and have learned caregiving skills, this could be a great job for you.  

Home Instead Senior Care Austin, for instance employs many seniors as CAREGivers.  In fact, we have joined AARP’s National Employer Team (NET). 

So if you do have marketable skills that could provide extra income and a fulfilling way to spend your days, call Home Instead Senior Care Austin at 512-347-9207.

MetLife Mature Market Institute study, log on to: http://www.metlife.com/FileAssets/MMI/MMIStudiesRetirementIQ.pdf