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

Ensuring a safe, comfortable and organized environment for seniors.

Most elder loved ones feel the safest and most comfortable in their own homes, but we must consider the risk factors involved for Aging Adults suffering with Alzheimer’s or Dementia. For these older seniors, home is not always the safest as it once was, since their illness. To ensure seniors are happy and well-adjusted, you must establish a safe and comfortable environment for them.

Making appropriate changes to an aging adult’s home environment so it is safe and supportive, is not easy but is vital for an elder living with Alzheimer’s. The family of an a senior citizen can help in making suggestions in establishing a positive environment for their elder loved one. Maintaining these safety guidelines increases a senior’s ability to function and decreases difficult behaviors. This is an important issue that should not be overlooked concerning the aging population showing signs of Alzheimer’s or Dementia.

Aging adults may have had things the same way for more than 50 years and do not want change. A physical environment can greatly impact a Senior’s life. If well-done, surroundings can enhance what’s happening every day. On the other hand, a disorganized or unsafe physical environment can acutually inhibit the activity of everyday life and leave an elderly who lives with Alzheimer’s in turmoil.

Some suggestions to consider:

-Increase lighting levels
-Add bright accents and paintings
-Declutter the rooms, especially walkways
-Install lever type doorknobs
-Install secure railings on both sides of stairways
-Declutter closets - organize clothes by day
-Use safety latches on drawers and doors
-Chairs should have arm rests and be at elbow height

Your loved one’s physical environment can greatly impact their lives. Keep their homes organized and safe.

A new study just revealed a new drug halts progress of Alzheimer’s Disease. 

A major breakthrough in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease is revealed today (July 29) by scientists at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference on Alzheimer’s Disease in Chicago, Illinois.

Alzheimer’s disease is a degenerative and terminal brain disorder which affects millions of people around the world and a major and growing burden on health services in all countries with an ageing population. During the course of its progress there is a build up in the brain of lesions called plaques and tangles.

A new drug that has completed Phase II trials in the UK and Singapore is being hailed as a major breakthrough in the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, as it appeared to slow the progress of the disease by as much as 81 percent over a year, compared to placebo. Methylthioninium chloride (MTC) blocks the accumulation of tau protein tangles inside brain cells, one of the principal characteristics of the disease.

Patients receiving the study treatment experienced an 81% reduction in cognitive decline over one year, and did not experience a significant decline in their mental function over 19 months. The TauRx brain imaging data also showed that the drug had its biggest effect in the memory critical parts of the brain where the tangle density is highest.

Please visit in a day to get more information on study revealed.

If your aging relative is living with Alzheimer’s, Home Instead Senior Care in Austin can help.  Please call us at 512-347-9207.

Alzheimer’s Disease a Growing Concern for Boomers

Question from a daugther of aging mother: My 85 year old mother is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease and is still at home in Austin.  We’re hoping to keep her in her own house for as long as possible.  What’s the latest about Alzheimer’s disease and what it will mean for my generation?

Sadly, the information is not all good news. While many of the diseases that strike senior citizens are declining, the most feared – Alzheimer’s Disease – is increasing at an accelerating rate, according to the latest report from the Alzheimer’s Association.  About five million elderly have the disease now, the organization says, but it projects 10 million Baby Boomers will join these ranks in the U.S.

Your mother is among 5.2 million Americans who are living with Alzheimer’s disease, according to the “2008 Alzheimer’s Disease Facts and Figures” report (online at http://www.alz.org/national/documents/report_alzfactsfigures2008.pdf).

This new study says the disease is poised to strike one out of eight Baby Boomers. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, now is the time to address this looming epidemic that currently has no effective disease-modifying treatments that halt or delay the progression of the disease.

Experts predict by 2010, there will be almost a half million new cases of Alzheimer’s disease each year, and by 2050, there will be almost a million new cases each year. The Association’s report discusses the facts and figures about this disease, which is now the seventh-leading cause of death in the country and the fifth-leading cause of death for those over age 65.

For a private question to be answered by our Home Instead Senior Care Austin expert - email Catherine Kohl HISC.Kohl@yahoo.com.  Call 512-347-9207.

More  Elder care communications tips for emergencies continuing from post August 20….

Originals of documents such as a will or a power of attorney should be kept in a safety deposit box or at an attorney’s office.  But it’s a good idea to keep copies at home.  Titles and deeds to property and vehicles also are important pieces of information to have handy.  In addition, make sure someone in the family knows the location of the safety deposit box and keys.

Communication is key to helping you and your family cope in an emergency.  Advance directives that specify what action your loved one would want taken in a crisis should be visible for an emergency team. Talk with your mother about how she would want her affairs handled before a crisis occurs. 

Advance planning and communication also can help avert a disaster.  Locate people in your mom’s community who can meet any needs for in-home, home health and long-term care.  Churches or synagogues, senior centers and your local Area Agency on Aging are great resources.  You can also search the Internet.       

Or, if you’re starting to worry that your mom might not be safe at home, consider obtaining a personal response system, or hire a non-medical eldercare company. Our home caregivers are bonded and insured, and have completed a comprehensive, caregiving and safety curriculum. Home caregiver services are available for as few as three hours and as many as 24 hours, seven days a week including holidays.

Home Instead Senior Care Austin - 512-347-9207

The Senior Adviser - Home Instead Senior Care Austin - helping families care for aging parents struggling with Dementia.  Call us today at (512) 347-9207. Communication is key to helping you and your family cope in an emergency.

Planning Can Better Prepare Families For Eldercare Emergencies in Austin

Question from an adult daughter of aging parents in Austin, Texas - I worry about something happening to my 82 year old mother, who lives alone.  How can we be better prepared for an emergency and what important documents should she have handy in the event of illness or injury?

Elder Care Planning is the best way to prepare for the unexpected.  You can start by making sure that the proper documentation for your mother is in order and that someone in the family knows where it is.

A contact list and telephone numbers of all of the important people that your mother deals with is vital.  These should include attorneys, accountants, doctors, lawyers, insurance agents, etc.  It’s important, too, to have a list of your mom’s current medications and the dosages so that emergency workers have that available in the event of illness or injury.

You’ll also want to be sure that your mother’s important documents are safe but accessible.  For instance, have access to a list of her assets, along with numbers of bank and financial accounts, and insurance policies.

Visit us in a day for more tips on preparing for elder care in Austin, Texas. If you have a private elder care question or concern, please email HISC.Kohl@yahoo.com - our resident senior care expert.

Growing Elderly Population Over Burdens Health Care System - Austin, Texas

Because of improvements in prevention and care, more and more people are living longer. But they live with a precarious combination of chronic diseases and impairments, including dementia and adverse reactions from mixing too many drugs. They become increasingly fragile, until something as simple as a cold or a fall sets off a cascade of complications, any one of which could be fatal.

A 90 year old woman came into the hospital dehydrated, confused and bleeding in her gut. As Dr. Bruce Naughton looked into her sunken eyes, it was yet another reminder to him of the way many of us will spend the last years of our lives.

Getting old used to be simpler. As people aged, they became seriously ill for weeks or months, or suddenly died. That’s no longer the case. Instead, the end of life is lasting years. A recent Buffalo News article looks at how the healthcare system is unprepared to care for the growing number of frail elderly.

The nation’s health care system, with its focus on treating acute episodes of illness and paying mainly for procedures, remains unprepared to offer the coordinated care in different settings that the frail elderly need.

Nor is the country prepared for the costs. Nearly 70 percent of spending on Medicare, the federal health program for people 65 and older, already goes to the 20 percent of beneficiaries with five or more chronic conditions.

In our next post we’ll address the tips families can follow when making decisions on health care.

Home Instead Senior Care Austin - 512-347-9207.

Immunization for Alzheimer’s Shows Promise

Question:  With my elderly parents, both age 80 in Austin Texas, at risk for Alzheimer’s disease as a result of heredity and age, I’m always looking for the latest research.  What’s new?

Exciting new research recently released about Alzheimer’s disease has uncovered an immunization that could offer a way to blunt or even prevent this devastating disease.  Jordan Tang, Ph.D., who led the study at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, and other OMRF scientists immunized Alzheimer’s mice with a protein believed to play a key role in the disease causing process.*

The mice who received the vaccination showed a significant reduction in the build up of protein plaques which, when present in the brain for long periods of time, are believed to cause the cell death, memory loss and neurological dysfunction characteristic of Alzheimer’s.

The immunized mice also showed better cognitive performance than control mice that had not received the vaccine.  The new research appears in The Journal of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology.

The next stage of the research, funded in part by a grant from the Alzheimer’s Association, will be testing in humans.  “There currently is no effective treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, so we must  explore every possible option to find a way to stop it,” he said.

For more information about Home Instead Senior Care Austin -  call 512-347-9207.

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 Austin helps Dementia and Alzheimer’s patients live at home. Please call for more information 512-347-9207.

Our female elders, over the age of 90, are more inclined to dementia and significantly more likely to have dementia than men of the same age. A U of CA - Irvine study shows, one of the largest studies of dementia and other health factors in this age group. It validates the need for elder care & senior care services -Home Instead Senior Care Austin. The need will only continue to increase as the population ages.

The study’s findings show that “more will need to be done to provide adequate resources to care for the increasing number of very old people with dementia”, Maria Corrada, a UC-Irvine epidemiologist and study co-author.

They found signs of dementia in 45 percent of women and 28 percent of men age 90 and older living in a  southern California retirement community. Researchers found no clear reason for the discrepancy, but noted that women with higher levels of education were less likely to show signs of senility.

The “oldest old,” is the fastest growing segment of the population, according to the U.S. Census. While there are currently nearly 2 million nonagenarians in the U.S. alone, that number is projected to increase to 10 to 12 million by the middle of the century.

The study appears in the July 2 online issue of Neurology. For more information about caring for your loved one living with memory loss, Home Instead Senior Care Austin can help. Call us today at 512-347-9207.