Senior Caregiver Support

Good Foot Care is Critical for Seniors
Good foot care is especially important for seniors who have circulation problems, arthritis, nerve issues or diabetes.  For seniors it can be difficult to maintain good foot care.  As we all have experienced, the older we get the more challenging it is to reach our toes and lift up our feet due to mobility, flexibility and balance issues.  It is always amazing to see babies suck on their toes and flip the tiny… Read the rest

Many older adults become more and more sedentary with age.  According to the American College of Sports Medicine the top 5 reasons are:

Avoiding aches and pains. Movement can become more painful with age.
Convenience. Just think of how many drive up windows there are in your life, banking, dinner, prescriptions.
Sedentary Entertainment. Television, video games, the internet.
Disease. Chronic illnesses such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes can limit activity.
Injury. Obvious but rehabilitation may help.

But,… Read the rest

With Halloween and Thanksgiving fast approaching, your house will be filled with all sorts of sweets and goodies. It’s hard enough resisting when you know better, but when caring for someone with dementia they might not remember it’s unhealthy at all.  When that loved one also has Type II diabetes it can be downright dangerous.  As the dementia progresses, your loved one will forget they ever had Diabetes and unabashedly reach into that candy bowl.

The holiday season only intensifies… Read the rest

Self-monitoring and lifestyle changes are key strategies for successful diabetic care.  This includes modifications to a person’s daily diet, physical activity, medications, and personal-care and hygiene.   However, it can be especially difficult for seniors to make lifestyle changes on their own.  This is a real issue because diabetes is most prevalent in seniors, affecting about 25% of people 65 and older.  Surprisingly, studies have shown most people are unaware of the long term complications associated with diabetes and are poorly… Read the rest

From October 25th to November 30th we will be writing on the issue of living with and managing Diabetes in the senior years. This will coincide in part with the American Diabetes Association November Awareness Month, but we are kicking off a bit earlier to help caregivers prepare for Halloween.
At SarahCare® we see the struggle with this far too common disease every day in our adult day care centers, both for our family caregivers and their aging loved ones. … Read the rest

Feeling lonely is crummy! We all have experienced it at some point and no-one likes it. Believe it or not, loneliness is actually a good thing; well more of a survival instinct, as it is nature’s way of telling us it is important to stay socially connected. Kind of like food poisoning I suppose. Thanks mother nature! However, regular short term feelings of loneliness are very different than chronic loneliness which is a serious life-threatening condition associated with cardiac conditions,… Read the rest

Even Heroes need a Break: How to avoid caregiver burnout
Being a family caregiver is not a job anyone signs up for intentionally, usually it is one that is acquired due to circumstance.  Not many people enjoy getting up in the evening to help guide their wandering mother back to her room, while also talking her out of making scrambled eggs in the middle of the night.  Pretty sure no-one is signing up for that job voluntarily.  It is a… Read the rest

Stress. Anger. Frustration. Caring for an aging parent or spouse can be overwhelming. Every family caregiver needs and deserves a break at some point but there can be guilt and fear when sharing this responsibility and seeking outside help.

In the US, there are over 65 million family caregivers who deal with the same challenges. Unfortunately, their health has suffered while enduring this burden, often experiencing what is called caregiver burnout. Even when a family caregiver wants professional help, caregivers… Read the rest