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Housing Tips

Hiring Staff for Your Home Care Franchise

by Richard Bitner
written by Richard Bitner

As a home care franchise owner, there will come a time when you need help handling your workload. While many home care franchise owners spend their first months as their company’s primary or sole caregiver, an expanding client base means that you’ll soon need to expand your workforce. Hiring Staff for Your Home Care Franchise
Hiring Staff for Your Home Care FranchiseThere are lots of qualities you can use to screen and evaluate caregiver candidates for your home care franchise. At Visiting Angels, our corporate team regularly guides new home care franchise owners through the staffing process – giving them tips on how to find strong candidates, what screening procedures to use, and what criteria to rely on for your ultimate decision.
Here are some of the things you should consider when hiring new staff for your home care franchise:

The Right Credentials

Start off by searching for caregivers who carry the proper certification to work as care providers in your region. Certification requirements change state by state, and you should be familiar with what kinds of certification your new staff members will need.

The Right Experience

A candidate with plenty of existing senior care experience is (almost) always preferable to one without. But finding a caregiver with the right kind of experience profile makes a big difference. Check the amount of time this caregiver has spent with individual companies and clients, ask about what kinds of care environments he/she has worked in, and learn what kinds of a care he/she has helped assist with. Look for candidates with a breadth of experience and a strong track record.

The Right References

So much of running a home care franchise lies in keeping clients happy. A strong candidate for your home care franchise should be able quickly supply you with glowing references from previous clients or their family members. Be sure to take the time to follow up on references, as these will tell you a lot about the way each candidate approaches care.

The Right Attitude

A warm, supportive approach is essential for any caregiver. Before hiring a new caregiver for your home care franchise, you should be confident that you’ve chosen a candidate who will bring warmth and care into the lives of your clients. References help here, and an interview will tell you a lot about any candidate’s personality, how they approach home care, and their ability to respond to adversity.

Resources You Can Use

If you’re hiring staff for a home care franchise, your franchisor should offer support with the hiring process. For example, at Visiting Angels, the corporate team regularly guides franchise owners through hiring their first employee caregivers. If you have that kind of support available to you, be sure to take advantage of it, as it can be the difference between a great hire and a so-so staff member. Hiring Staff for Your Home Care Franchise

Hiring Staff for Your Home Care Franchise

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Caregiving

10 Essential Tips to Become Nurse Supporting Family Caregivers

by Guest Blogger
written by Guest Blogger

Becoming a nurse who supports caregivers is a calling for many healthcare professionals. It’s a job you have to do if it is aligned with your passion. Being a nurse already allows you to work in a job that you are passionate about. With ambulatory care nursing, you will be able to flex your schedule a lot more. This is a great benefit and avenue for nurses who are also moms or just want more flexibility.

Going into this career option without much knowledge of what it would be like can be daunting. It’s always best to get as much information as you can beforehand. Once you understand what the job would entail, you are a lot more prepared to deal with the everyday issues. Nursing is a lucrative career choice. Many nurses still work a full-time job and do this on the side for extra income. If you are considering this as a viable option for your career, these tips should help.

1. Patience

Working with a caregiver and the patient might challenge your patience. You have to remember that the caregiver is not a nurse. She is merely here to take care of the patient and probably doing the best with the knowledge she has. Instead of becoming impatient, you can try to teach the caregiver a few tricks. It will take some time for you two to become acquainted with each other.

2. Transfer skills

You are not always going to be available in the case of an emergency. Work on a list of transferable skills. You are not only educating the caregiver, but you are also looking out for the patient’s best interest. Being a nurse means that you are always taking care of others. You transferring some of your skills is simply part of your job. It is going to make it a lot easier for you going forward.

3. Documents

Make sure you have all of your qualification documents ready. The fact that you are a qualified nurse is going to get you hired quickly. You should be able to prove this to the family. Once you have been working for a while, you might not even know where all of your documents are stored. This might be a good time to find your documents.

4. Resume

You cannot simply walk into a room with your documents and expect to be hired. Make sure you have your resume ready as well. Put your bls certification on resume to give yourself a better chance. Look at this as applying for a nursing position at a prestigious hospital. It’s better to be over prepared.

5. Availability

If you are planning to do this on the side, you might find that you don’t have enough time to balance both worlds. You are going to have to work out a system in which you are available to the caregiver. In this instance, you are her helpline in case something happens. You also need to guide her if there is a new complication she has not be trained at yet.

6. Listen

The caregiver is not a qualified nurse most of the time. This does not mean that there is no information she can share with you. Work on being a good listener. The caregiver is with the patient the majority of the time and should be given a little credit for that. When there is a report back, pay attention to what is being said. It could be crucial.

7. Create a system

When you are working with more than 1 person, it is always advisable to put a system in place. A schedule of your visits, when you are available for a phone call and at what time meds need to be administered is all part of a winning system. This is going to eliminate a lot of issues going forward.

8. Cover letter

Your resume and documents are very impersonal and just a lot of facts on paper. A cover letter can give a bit more insight into who you are as a person. A mental health nurse cover letter would usually be a good way to put the patient and the family at ease.

9. Research

Find out what the patient’s health situation is. The go ahead and do some additional research on the condition. Sure, you are a qualified healthcare professional, but there is nothing wrong with being prepared for ant scenario. Its little things like this that will help you build a stronger bond with the caregiver, the patient and the family.

10. Relax

You are qualified for this position and there are no two ways about it. Don’t allow the process of applying stress you out. With all of the experience and knowledge you have, don’t let this job create any doubt in your mind. You are capable and qualified to do a stellar job.

Final thoughts on becoming a nurse supporting family caregivers

Considering this avenue in your career is a great opportunity for you to help those in need. When a job comes from a place of passion, it is always going to benefit all parties. You can do this and it is a selfless job. Rewards come in the form of seeing the joy on your patients’ faces.

-Bobby Evans

Bobby Evans is a guest post writer and he works as a content writer. He specializes on nursing professional BLS certification on resume for ambulatory care nursing. Writing is not only his job but also his passion. His hobby is reading and traveling. His life motto is “Try to do your best and never give up!”.

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Caregiving

Aging Parents: Plan for All Seasons

by Guest Blogger
written by Guest Blogger

Plan now for where your elders will live as they age. Get their vision for what they want to happen if they need care or accommodations for an illness. Having a plan is the key. It reduces the stress, eases the frustration and makes caregiving easier for all involved. I’ve boiled it down to 3 steps.

Do your elders want to live at their own home as long as they can? Do they have a vision for where they’ll want to be if the time comes when they need care? Does each family member have a role?

First – talk to your elders. Do they want to live in their current home as they age (called aging in place)? Do they want to move to a retirement community where there is a continuum of care (independent living to assisted living to nursing or memory care, if needed)? Do they want to move to be near you or one of your siblings? Do they already have a retirement residence where they want to move?

This first step is critical. Discussing these details with your elders puts everyone on the same page. It brings all the parties who will be a part of their care into the same discussion. You can better accommodate their vision if you know what it is.

Waiting until the first emergency is not a plan. The resulting panic will probably not result in a decision that looks like what it would have if you had developed a plan and executed it.

Second – Based on input from your elders, your siblings and/or other family members, work toward developing a plan that incorporates your elder’s wishes, takes your own needs into consideration and can be accomplished within the budget that your family has.

If they want to age in place, you can help your elders make necessary accommodations to their home or property. Do those things now, before an emergency would make those changes infeasible.

If assets need to be sold to build a budget for care, work on a plan to maximize revenues and minimize the hassle of having to sell immediately because they need the money.

If they want to live with you, near you or near one of your family members, start looking for the right residential fit. If it’s in your home, you can start making any necessary changes now – additions, retrofits for older folks, etc. If it is moving to a retirement or assisted living facility residence, check out what’s available and arrange for a tour. Whatever their choices are, develop a plan, move to the next steps and don’t wait.

If your elder already has a retirement residence, are there any accommodations that might need to be made as they age? If yes, decide when/how those can be cost-effectively made and set a timeline in place. It may not be needed now, but determine at what point the changes would need to be made and stay on track to make them if the need arises.

Third – Know that even the best plans change. Keep an open mind about what might happen if their health changes or they need more care than can be given where they planned to live. Make them aware that you will incorporate their wishes and their vision as much as you can.

Have a positive attitude about this journey. Know it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Laugh as much as you can. Giggle when you find something funny and share that giggle with your elder.

If you know what your elder wants, you can develop a plan that incorporates your needs as well, recognizing that life happens and things change. You will have gone a long way to ease your stress in the caregiving/caretaking role. Frustration arises most often when an emergency happens, no plan is in place and you find yourself in PANIC mode. Making decisions in the PANIC mode produces the MOST stress and the LEAST optimal solutions.

Get out your calendar and set a date with your elders. With the holidays coming up, now is the perfect time to talk to your elders with the whole family there.

Start the conversation.

By Suzanne Asaff Blankenship

Suzanne’s experience with eldercare came the hard way – by doing it. Suzanne has two decades of experience managing her mother’s care as well as sharing the care for her in-laws. After years of sharing stories and receiving requests for advice, Suzanne found she wasn’t alone in her eldercare journey, or in her search for solutions. With her unique approach of organized preparation sprinkled with her tongue-in-cheek humor, Suzanne guides others skillfully through the challenging experience of eldercare.

theeldercarenavigator.com

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Delegate Caregiving Tasks to Save Time, Maximize Your Efficiency
Caregiving

Delegate Caregiving Tasks to Save Time, Maximize Your Efficiency

by Kathy Macaraeg
written by Kathy Macaraeg

One of the biggest challenges family caregivers have is handing over the caregiving reigns. Many times, they’re overwhelmed and have too much on their plate but handing over such an important role as caregiving can be upsetting. Delegate Caregiving Tasks to Save Time, Maximize Your Efficiency
That being said, sometimes it is in a family’s best interest to hand off caregiving tasks. Between managing household tasks in two homes and helping aging parents remain safe at home, the never-ending to do list can be too much for one person. While it can be expensive to hire an in-home caregiver, there are less expensive tasks you can outsource to simplify your life.

  1. Errands: Running to the post office, grocery store, pharmacy, etc. etc. etc. can be time consuming. Between the driving and the waiting in line, you can lose hours a week. There are errand services that allow you to outsource these tasks for a relatively low cost. You can also hire a high school or college student to run some of these simple errands. If you don’t have the money to pay someone, do you have a family member or friend who you can trade errands with? Perhaps they pick up your groceries one week and you do theirs the next week. Get creative to find ways to reduce your load. Delegate Caregiving Tasks to Save Time, Maximize Your Efficiency
  2. Meals: I have posted some tactics for eating healthy when you’re busy, but if meals are truly dragging you down, there are ways to outsource the task. Sign your parent up for Meals on Wheels to have one meal taken off their plate. You can also do meal trades with family or friends. Basically, you team up with a family and each cook one extra family meal per week (double your recipe) and share it with each other. You’ll each cook one less time per week. And finally, if you have room in your budget, you can purchase meal delivery programs or meal prep services. Some examples are Dream Dinners (you do the prep, freeze and cook later), Blue Apron, Plated or Hello Fresh (ingredients delivered for you to cook). These services can be pricey, but they’ll save you from grocery shopping and much of the time-consuming prep work is done for you.
  3. Grocery Shopping: Have you tried grocery delivery services? This is a great way to save at least an hour of time per week. You can shop online, set up your delivery time and have your groceries delivered to your door. I know many long-distance caregivers who do this for their elderly parents to ensure that they have food in their fridge. I personally have used Vons.com and Amazon Prime Now. They both charge a small delivery fee but in both cases, I have been extremely pleased with the quality of produce, which was always my concern about trying it out. You can even specify how you prefer your items. For example, I prefer to purchase green bananas because I get a lot of bananas and don’t want them to go bad before we can eat them. You can specify that.

If you have a larger budget, or siblings who can contribute financially, here are some other caregiving tasks that you can outsource. Delegate Caregiving Tasks to Save Time, Maximize Your Efficiency

  1. Paid Caregiver: Even if you intend to be the main source of care for your aging parent, you can hire someone to come in to assist with some of the more challenging caregiving tasks or to provide respite care. Delegate Caregiving Tasks to Save Time, Maximize Your Efficiency
  2. House Cleaning Service: Whether you hire a service for your home or your parent’s home, getting help with cleaning will take a huge load off your shoulders.
  3. Transportation Provider: Unfortunately, in some cities, there aren’t a lot of safe, reliable transportation services available for seniors, but if you happen to live in a community where there is a good transportation service, consider enlisting them for some of your parent’s social outings. Social isolation can lead to depression, so while this may be low on your already packed to do list, it is important to your parent’s well-being.
  4. Companionship: As I stated, social isolation can lead to depression or an increase in health concerns. If your parent is alone for most of the week, consider hiring a senior companion – there are some individuals and services that specialize in being a companion to seniors – or enrolling your parent in an adult day care or activities at their local senior center.

You may not be able to hire all of the services, but even adding just one or two to your life can give you a bit of time to take better care of yourself or practice self-care.
Juggling Caregiving in the Sandwich Generation

Delegate Caregiving Tasks to Save Time, Maximize Your Efficiency

Delegate Caregiving Tasks to Save Time, Maximize Your Efficiency Delegate Caregiving Tasks to Save Time, Maximize Your Efficiency Delegate Caregiving Tasks to Save Time, Maximize Your Efficiency Delegate Caregiving Tasks to Save Time, Maximize Your Efficiency Delegate Caregiving Tasks to Save Time, Maximize Your Efficiency Delegate Caregiving Tasks to Save Time, Maximize Your Efficiency
 
 
 
 

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Choosing Your Home Instead of Senior Care
Caregiving

Choosing Your Home Instead of Senior Care

by Kendall VanBlarcom
written by Kendall VanBlarcom

If you are an older adult, or caring for an aging senior, the topic of home instead of senior care has likely come up. But, you don’t have to move to an assisted living facility to get the care needed. There are ways to get help with personal issues, meals, and medication while still living at home. Choosing Your Home Instead of Senior Care

69% of people age 90 or more have a disability, according to government estimates. With numbers like these, it is clear support is needed. Reach out to get the care you need to stay in your home as long as possible.

Home Instead of Senior Care

Make a plan to stay in your home while recognizing that your needs will likely change over time. Get the support you need today. Then, put the right steps in place for future decisions. Bring trusted loved ones and family members into the planning process. Often, it’s helpful to talk to a counselor who is experienced in senior issues, too. They will have a background of knowledge to help you.

Needing Home Support

If you are providing support for your loved one in their senior years, know that there are ways to maximize the experience, both for you and the older adult in your care.
Some concerns include the following:
Safety – Older adults are at a higher risk of being targeted for financial scams. Block their names from telemarketer lists. Secure the home at vulnerable entry points. Some find it is helpful to have an emergency alert system in place as well.
Meals – If you are concerned that, as you age, you are relying on more prepackaged or other unhealthy meals, or if you have a senior you love you are worried is making unhealthy food choices, put a system in place. Look into local community centers to find out if they are serving up healthy meals. Or start scheduling potluck dinners, for example.
Household chores – It is a familiar problem for individuals who move less, due to aging or mobility issues, to need help with housework, their yards, and shopping. Maybe hiring a cleaning service or scheduling regular grocery deliveries would help. Anything to reduce the stress experienced by a senior who is choosing their home instead of senior care should be looked into.

Other Common Needs of Support

Exploring transportation options – While remaining active is important for health, it is not always possible for individuals who are experiencing pain, mobility issues, or health concerns. Transportation options have to be in place for seniors. They also need to be able to secure doctor’s appointments and maintain the ability to purchase daily necessities, such as groceries and medications.
Activities and friends – Human beings are social animals. There is no reason to feel isolated and alone while living at home instead of senior care. Look into new ways to interact with others. Explore local senior center options or find volunteers, from family members to individuals in the community.
Talking through all of these issues, and more, with a counselor can bring relief. Reach out today.
Choosing Your Home Instead of Senior Care
Choosing Your Home Instead of Senior Care Choosing Your Home Instead of Senior Care Choosing Your Home Instead of Senior Care Choosing Your Home Instead of Senior Care Choosing Your Home Instead of Senior Care Choosing Your Home Instead of Senior Care

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Caregiving

10 Mantras for Dementia Care Providers

by Richard Bitner
written by Richard Bitner

Providing dementia care for a family member is rarely easy. But it gets easier if you regularly remind yourself about positive aspects of caregiving. The following eleven mantras for dementia care providers offer needed perspective to family caregivers and professional care providers alike. 10 Mantras for Dementia Care Providers

  1. “I Am Creating Positive Change.”

Caregivers sometimes feel like nothing they do is really making a difference. During tough moments, it can be hard to see the positive impact that you’re having on your loved one’s life. It pays to remind yourself how much tougher those moments could be without your presence.

  1. “Quality of Lifeand Quality of CognitionAren’t the Same Thing.”

When a loved one starts to lose their cognitive abilities to dementia, it can be easy to confuse this with a loss of quality of life. While the two are linked, it is still possible to live a happy, comfortable, and meaningful life in the face of a dementia diagnosis. As a caregiver, it’s important not to lose sight of this distinction.

  1. “My Loved One Needs Affirmation, Not Correction.”

Even experienced caregivers can sometimes fall for the trap of trying to correct or argue with someone suffering from dementia. When your loved one is confused, remind yourself that trying to correct them will only make things more confusing. By affirming their experience — even if it’s mistaken — you will help them feel more comfortable, at ease, and secure.

  1. “Caregiving Missteps Are Learning Opportunities.”

No one has ever provided care for a loved one without making missteps along the way, especially when caring for someone with an illness as complicated as dementia. Remember that mistakes almost always present an opportunity to learn and become a better caregiver.

  1. “There’s Nothing Wrong with Asking for Help.”

Caregivers often take the weight of the world onto their shoulders, feeling like it’s their responsibility to bear the burden. At a certain point, we all need to recognize that we need help from others. That might be from family. It might be from friends. It might be from professional dementia careproviders. No matter who it’s from, it’s crucial that you allow yourself to ask for help when it’s needed.

  1. “Self-Care Is an Essential Part of Caregiving.”

As a caregiver, any moment you spend on your own well-being can feel like an indulgence. “How can I be focused on myself when my loved one’s care needs are so much greater than my own?” But without taking care of yourself, you won’t be able to adequately care for your loved one. And remember: caregiving isn’t supposed to be a case of trading your quality of life for your loved one’s.

  1. “There’s Always Something New for Me to Learn.”

The learning curve never truly ends when you’re providing dementia care for a loved one. Whether you’re learning from other caregivers at a local support group, acquiring information from medical professionals, or taking part in an online community like The Caregiver’s Voice, there are always new perspectives and new information for you to learn.

  1. “Routine and Structure Shouldn’t Be Taken for Granted.”

Routine, structure, and familiarity can be crucial to those coping with dementia. Familiar surroundings offer comfort and security, helping those with dementia manage moments of stress and anxiety. Caregiver’s shouldn’t underrate how important a familiar routine can be to their own lives. Creating a stable routine gives you much less to worry about, allowing you to focus on care responsibilities.

  1. “There’s No Such Thing as The Perfect Caregiver.”

When a loved one’s well-being is in your hands, it’s easy to expect perfection from yourself. But there’s no such thing as the perfect caregiver, and caring for someone with a memory disorder will put you in situations where there’s no perfect solution.

  1. “I’m Not Alone.”

Memory disorders create confusion and disorientation for those with dementia and their caregivers. When caring for a loved one with dementia, it’s common to feel lost and alone. But there are millions of people who are in your shoes or who have walked miles in them at some point in their lives.
10 Mantras for Dementia Care Providers
10 Mantras for Dementia Care Providers 10 Mantras for Dementia Care Providers 10 Mantras for Dementia Care Providers 10 Mantras for Dementia Care Providers 10 Mantras for Dementia Care Providers 10 Mantras for Dementia Care Providers 10 Mantras for Dementia Care Providers
 
 
 

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How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment
Vision

How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment

by Richard Bitner
written by Richard Bitner

Poor eyesight is a serious health concern for American seniors. Roughly one in three seniors copes with some form of vision loss or vision impairment. Poor vision is linked with lower quality of life, poor self-care, and increased risk of injury and poor health. One study from 2014 found that, over an eight year period, seniors with poor vision faced a 16% higher risk of mortality compared to those without vision problems. How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment
One way to fight back against elderly vision impairment is through home care services. While home care services can’t restore vision, they can help seniors with poor eyesight in a number of other ways. With home care, seniors with vision loss receive the personal support they need to maintain quality of life and reduce their risk of injury, poor health, and mortality.

Home Care and Poor Eyesight

Vision loss may be linked with lower quality of life and poor health, but these aren’t direct links. There’s almost always something in between.
For instance, seniors with poor vision are more likely to suffer injuries. This isn’t because poor vision causes injuries. Instead, it causes seniors to misjudge their surroundings, which increases the risk of slipping, tripping, or coming in contact with harmful objects. In these situations, it isn’t necessary to correct vision problems to reduce the risk of injury. If someone is there to lend a helping hand and a second set of eyes, it can dramatically reduce the chance of injury.
If a spouse or family member can’t always be there, a home care professional can step in to help seniors with vision problems. Through the support of a home care professional, seniors with poor eyesight can benefit in a number of areas. These include:

  • Social Life. Researchers have found that seniors with poor vision report lower levels of social activity and higher levels of loneliness. A home care professional can make it easier for vision-impaired seniors to get out and meet friends and family. Even if seniors prefer to stay at home, a caregiver can provide them with much-needed person-to-person contact.
  • Self-Care.Poor vision makes mundane tasks more difficult than many people realize. These difficulties often lead seniors with limited eyesight to give up on aspects of self-care. Home care services ensure that someone is there to help perform these tasks, which may include activities like dressing, grooming, day-to-day hygiene, and preparing complete meals.
  • Homemaking activities, as with self-care activities, become more difficult as vision degenerates. Seniors with poor eyesight who struggle with homemaking can benefit from a caregiver’s help with activities like buying groceries, light housekeeping, washing dishes, and doing laundry.
  • Many seniors give up their favorite pastimes as they lose their vision. A caregiver is the perfect partner for hobbies like card games, gardening, model making, or bird watching, providing a companion and a second set of eyes to make these activities enjoyable once more.
  • Accident Prevention.Accident prevention is the most important thing home care can offer to seniors with vision problems. A caregiver’s presence means someone is there to spot dangers that visually impaired seniors can’t, such as slipping or tripping risks on floors, sharp or hot objects, and household chemicals and medications with hard-to-read labels.

If you have a loved one with vision loss or impairment, you should be able to find home care services through a home care agency in your local area. To find home care services near you, we invite you to contact your local Visiting Angels® office

How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment

How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment How Home Care Helps Seniors with Vision Loss or Impairment

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Understanding the Difficult Emotions Behind Caregiving And Aging
Caregiving

Understanding the Difficult Emotions Behind Caregiving and Aging

by Kathy Macaraeg
written by Kathy Macaraeg

There is No Shame in Negative Emotions Tied to Caregiving – It’s How You Respond to Them that Matters

Aging and caregiving have so many emotions tied to them, unfortunately, some aren’t as positive as we’d like. Rather than feel embarrassed about your emotions, or trying to ignore or hide the emotions, it is better for your well-being to understand them and accept them. Understanding the Difficult Emotions Behind Caregiving And Aging
When we ignore our emotions, they just get bigger. You can’t run from your feelings so it is important to explore your feelings and find ways to accept them or cope with the negative emotions.

Sadness:

Both the caregiver and caree can experience sadness during the caregiving journey. The caree may mourn the body or mind that they used to have. It can be difficult to accept that you can’t do all of the things you used to do. It can also be hard to have to rely on your child, or other family members. Understanding the Difficult Emotions Behind Caregiving And Aging
The caregiver can also feel sadness about the person their parent or spouse has become. It is difficult to see a loved one struggle. There is also sadness about the new role of caregiver. Becoming someone’s caregiver is very rewarding, but it is also a huge sacrifice. Free time will become a luxury and the financial and emotional toll is high.

Resentment:

A caree may resent their caregiver for a number of reasons. They can resent that their child or spouse is telling them what to do or handling tasks that they previously handled. They can resent the situation. No one wants to become dependent on someone else. They can also resent that it changes their role in the relationship and how it makes them feel.
A caregiver can also experience resentment that they no longer have the freedom to go away or check out. They may resent that there is so much on their plate and they are under a lot of stress. They can also resent the financial toll or the impact caregiving has on their career or social responsibilities. A caregiver can also resent the toll on their social life, particularly if they have had to make major life changes. Understanding the Difficult Emotions Behind Caregiving And Aging

Anger:

If someone is experiencing sadness and resentment, it may turn to anger, particularly if it is a long-term lifestyle change. Anger is a common expression of grief, which both caregivers and carees go through as life as they know it is altered.
The caree can become angry over their current situation and take out their anger on the closest target – their caregiver. The caregiver may be angry over their new situation or the toll caregiving takes on their life.

How to Cope with Caregiver Emotions:

While it isn’t easy to move past sadness, resentment and anger, if you are in a long-term caregiving relationship for someone you love, it is critical to your relationship that you do. Once you understand why the person is lashing out or handling the transition badly, it can be easier to not take things so personally.
Instead of focusing on the negative aspects of your situation, work together to accept it and create a new normal. For example, if your mother is grieving over the fact that she can no longer prepare her favorite meals and her way of expressing it is to criticize your cooking, have her guide your cooking. Sit together and go over her recipes, or bring her into the kitchen to walk you through her preparations. Yes, it can take more time and we don’t always have a lot of time, but she’ll feel like she has more to contribute and more value.
Try to bring some joy and play into your new situation. Your caree may be focused on all of the negative aspects of his or her health and you may be bogged down in running two families, which can feel depressing. Bringing some fun and humor into your situation will help you both feel better.
Give each other space. You and your parent probably have not spent this much time together in a long time. Your parent has been living alone for some time and you have set up your own life. Blending the lives of independent adults is difficult. Give each other some space. Read a book in your room or set up a TV in your parent’s room. You don’t need to be together every minute of every day.
Respect your parent’s routine. If you have become a morning person but your dad likes to stay up late watching movies and wake up around 11 a.m., don’t go bursting into his room at 8 a.m. encouraging him to join you for breakfast. Obviously, you are not a diner serving up meal at all hours of the day, but prepare something that can keep and leave it for him to enjoy when he is ready. If medication is an issue, discuss his schedule with his doctor to be sure pushing back the day to accommodate his schedule is safe.
Understanding where you are each coming from and respecting each other’s needs can make your caregiving journey run smoothly.

Understanding the Difficult Emotions Behind Caregiving And Aging

Understanding the Difficult Emotions Behind Caregiving And Aging Understanding the Difficult Emotions Behind Caregiving And Aging Understanding the Difficult Emotions Behind Caregiving And Aging Understanding the Difficult Emotions Behind Caregiving And Aging Understanding the Difficult Emotions Behind Caregiving And Aging
 
 

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Tips on Caregiving after at Hip Fracture
Conditions & Treatments

Tips on Caregiving after at Hip Fracture

by Richard Bitner
written by Richard Bitner

This year, over 300,000 U.S. seniors will be hospitalized with a hip fracture — a serious injury for any elderly person. While some seniors recover relatively quickly after a broken hip, for most seniors, hip fracture recovery is both difficult and dangerous. Tips on Caregiving after at Hip Fracture
During hip fracture recovery, non-medical support from senior care providers and family caregivers can make a huge difference. During the recovery period, seniors are unable to perform many basic tasks and are at an elevated risk of a hospital readmission or mortality. Senior care — either by professional caregivers or family members — can help make day-to-day living easier and increase the chance of a full recovery. Tips on Caregiving after at Hip Fracture
If you have a spouse, parent, grandparent, or an elderly friend or relative who has experienced a hip fracture, are some of the steps that you and another caregiver can take to improve your loved one’s chance of recovery:

Start with Doctor’s and Therapist’s Orders

In helping a senior recover from a broken hip, care begins and ends with doctors’ orders. Your loved one’s doctor will have a full understanding of your loved one’s risk factors, the severity of his or her fracture, and the best options for your loved one’s recovery. When discussing your loved one’s recovery with his or her physician, be sure to take detailed notes on care directives and ask questions if there is anything you are unclear about.
Your loved one’s physician and insurer will coordinate physical therapy, which is typically provided in your loved one’s home or in a recovery facility. Therapy is generally performed multiple times a week and is crucial to helping your loved one heal and regain strength. Your loved one’s therapist will likely leave instructions for exercises that your loved one should perform between therapy sessions.
It is important that you make sure your loved one practices these exercises. Roughly 75% of seniors who suffer a broken hip never fully regain the ability to walk. Your loved one’s exercises will increase their chances of being part of the 25% that regain full walking ability and will decrease the likelihood that they will require a walker or wheelchair for the remainder of their life.

Senior Care During Recovery

In the weeks and months after your loved one’s hip fracture, their mobility will be extremely limited. It will be impossible for your loved one to do many daily tasks on his or her own. This is where family caregivers and professional care workers come in.
Non-medical senior care during hip fracture recovery includes assistance with activities like bathing, dressing, hygiene, mobility, transferring, running errands, shopping for groceries, and preparing meals.
Part of providing senior care after a broken hip is also ensuring your loved one’s living place is safe. After a hip fracture, seniors often have balance and coordination issues, increasing the likelihood of a second fall, resulting in a refractured hip. To make your loved one’s home safer, you should consider strategies for how to fall-proof your home. These include improved lighting, removing clutter, keeping cords bundled up and away from walking areas, and installing weight-bearing railings/grab bars in stairways and bathrooms.
Senior care during hip fracture recovery also includes emotional and companionship components. The pain, isolation, and disability of a broken hip can often lead to sadness, despondency, and depression during the recovery period. Family caregivers can help relieve these feelings, whether by offering empathy and conversation or simply by providing a human presence.

Recovery a Long Road for Most

Recovering from a hip fracture is a long and difficult process for most seniors. While your loved one’s fracture might heal within 6-8 weeks, it typically takes 9-12 months before seniors have recovered their strength, balance, and coordination.
During these months, your support, the assistance of other family members, and the help of professional caregivers, therapists, and doctors will be a major part of your loved one’s recovery. As a family senior care provider, you will also play a big role in preventing future falls and injuries.
If you have a loved one who requires senior care after a broken hip, professional non-medical care can make a big difference. At Visiting Angels, our caregivers regularly provide non-medical assistance through our Ready-Set-Go Home program, which provides care for seniors after coming home from the hospital. This program is designed to reduce the risk of complications and injury during recovery.
To learn more about this program and to schedule a free care consultation, contact your local Visiting Angels office today.
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4410861/

Tips on Caregiving after at Hip Fracture

Tips on Caregiving after at Hip Fracture

Tips on Caregiving after at Hip Fracture
 

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