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Winter Wellness for Older Adults: Why Light and Movement Matter
When it comes to staying healthy in the winter months, there’s one big misconception: that wellness has to mean gym memberships, strict routines, or long walks outside. But here’s some encouraging news: winter wellness for older adults can start with two simple things—light and movement. These two small habits have a powerful ripple effect on
Looking at the Holidays With Dementia Through a Different Lens
The holiday lights are up, the invitations are sent, but for someone living with dementia, the festive season might stir more than just warm memories. Unfamiliar faces, changing routines, and sensory overload can lead to confusion, agitation, or fatigue. Seeing the holidays through the lens of dementia means shifting the focus: less about doing everything,
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Add These Stress-Reducing Recipes to Your Holiday Menu
While the holiday season certainly brings with it plenty of joy, it can also add stress, especially for busy family caregivers who already feel as if they’re stretched to the breaking point. The extra responsibilities of baking, shopping, attending family gatherings, and more can make it hard to experience a season that is calm and
Home Modifications for Aging at Home: Tips from Experts
Aging in place is the ability to stay in your home independently and comfortably, irrespective of your age, income, or ability level. With the increasing life expectancy, education level, work opportunities, and decreasing the poverty rate, more people are aging at home. Residential home modifications to suit the elderly are proliferating. The aging population now
Alzheimer’s Communication Techniques to Better Understand and Be Understood
When a senior is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia, one of the key challenges both initially and as the disease progresses is the struggle to effectively communicate. While the disease affects a person’s speech, it also impacts his or her ability to find and use words correctly, as well as to
It’s a Guy Thing: Activities Perfectly Suited for Senior Men
For a number of senior men, who’ve dedicated their lives to working in a meaningful career, providing for family, and staying physically active, the mere thought a relaxing afternoon of crafting or bingo is, to say the least, unappealing. Coming up with engaging activities for older men begins with reviewing their life history to discover
The Flu Vaccine for Seniors: Separate Myth from Fact
Living through the COVID-19 pandemic opened our eyes to the dangers of microscopic, unseen organisms and the havoc they can wreak on all of us. It’s also helped us all to be more vigilant in taking necessary precautions and preventative measures to keep ourselves, and those we love, safe. This includes the flu vaccine for
Could It Be ALS?
Receiving a diagnosis of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) can raise a number of concerns and questions – for the person receiving the diagnosis, as well as his or her loved ones. What causes the disease? What symptoms can be expected now, and how will those symptoms change in time? Where do I turn for ALS
6 Tips for Male Mesothelioma Patients
Mesothelioma occurs in men 4 times more often than women. Researchers believe men develop mesothelioma more often because occupational asbestos exposure typically happens in male-dominated industries. Contact us today if you’re interested in a professional in-home caregiver in Tucson or nearby area to help with care for someone you love who has mesothelioma. 6 Health Tips for
Coming Home from the Hospital: How to Ensure a Safe Transition
Getting the green light that your older loved one is free to return home after a hospital stay brings such a feeling of relief, but at the same time, can raise a number of questions and concerns. Will there be restrictions in place as the senior recovers? What prescriptions will he or she need to
Find the Perfect Exercise for Any Age!
Exercise is a vital part of life for all of us, even, and particularly, as we grow older. Although it can be a challenge for seniors who are experiencing the impacts of aging, or who spend most of their time in a wheelchair, there are still countless ways to incorporate exercise for any age into
How to Recognize – and Prevent – Elder Abuse
Ensuring that the older adults we’re honored to serve throughout Tucson and the surrounding area are safe, happy, healthy, and independent is our top priority at Senior HomeCare of Tucson, and we know that goal is shared by the many family members who serve as caregivers for their own loved ones. As such, it’s crucial
Make Home Safer for Seniors with These Fall Prevention Tips
While experiencing a fall is dangerous for all of us, for an older adult, a fall can be truly devastating, with serious injuries like hip fractures alarmingly prevalent. In fact, as many as a full 25% of all older adults who experience a fractured hip as a result of falling die within six months of
Why Reducing Saturated Fats May Not Be Enough to Improve Heart Health for Seniors
It’s hard to know how to maintain the best diet for heart health for seniors when the recommendations seem to change based on who you ask. For years, we were assured that the saturated fats found in butter, red meat and fried foods were bad; yet, guidelines then shifted, as there simply wasn’t enough evidence
Is It Depression or Dementia?
Visiting Mom recently revealed some concerning signs. She’s always been an early riser, but now she stays in bed until nearly noon. Rather than preparing her signature home-cooked meals, she resorts to simply heating up a can of soup; and only eats half of a serving. And perhaps most significantly, she’s lost interest in her
Eliminate Stress and Enjoy the Holidays!
What comes to mind when you think of the holiday season? While many of us have visions of sugar plums dancing in our heads, for family caregivers, a more accurate depiction may be one of overwhelming stress. In addition to the everyday challenges of providing care for a senior loved one, you now need to
Holiday Safety Tips: Ensure the Holiday Season Is Merry and Bright
The holiday season provides a wonderful opportunity for family members to spend quality time with the seniors they love. And, it’s also the ideal time to make sure that the holidays will be just as safe for your senior loved ones as they are celebratory. Since there are a variety of fall risks and other
Maintaining Senior Independence: How to Walk the Fine Line Between Helping and Hindering
When a senior we love is having difficulty completing a task, our natural instinct, with the best of intentions, is to step in and take care of it ourselves. But is this really helping the senior, or could it be hindering their senior independence? The truth is, there’s a fine line between ensuring an older
The Benefits of Seniors Staying Social
Ask a group of people what it means to be social, and the answers will be as varied as each individual: meeting friends at a restaurant each week for lunch, belonging to a club, taking classes. For seniors who find it difficult to leave home, however, socializing could be reduced to sporadic phone calls and
Senior Care in Oro Valley: Common Nutrition Problems in Older Adults
There’s really nothing better than sitting down with family for a hearty, home-cooked meal. Yet for many older adults, particular health concerns can hinder the enjoyment of meals or even the ability to shop for nutritious foods, which in turn leads to malnutrition. Senior HomeCare of Tucson shares tips to overcome some of the most
Alzheimer’s Tips to Better Manage Difficult Behaviors
Family caregivers know firsthand how fulfilling it can be to help their loved ones experience a higher quality of life. Yet they also know that providing care is not without its challenges, and this is particularly true when a senior loved one has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. And with Alzheimer’s, the varied behaviors can
Tips for Avoiding Caregiver Burnout While Caring for an Aging Parent
The rewards of providing care for a senior loved one are incredible. Family caregivers share a bond with their loved ones that’s unlike any other, and this deepened connection, combined with the feeling that comes from knowing you’re making a real and lasting difference in someone’s life, provides a sense of meaning, purpose, and fulfillment.
How to Identify When to Stop Driving and Still Maintain Senior Independence
There’s nothing quite as freeing as hopping in the car whenever we please and driving off to whatever destination we choose. That’s why for many older adults, determining that it’s no longer safe to drive can produce feelings of great loss. Yet with effects of aging such as reduced vision, slowed reaction time, side effects
Signs of Dementia: How to Tell if A Senior’s Forgetfulness Is Something More
“I just had my glasses on a moment ago…where could they have gone?” “Is today Tuesday or Friday?” “Have I taken my medications yet this morning?” For older adults, questions like these can arise on a daily basis, and can raise concerns with family members about whether such memory lapses are simply part of growing
Keeping the Peace with Siblings While Caring for Aging Parents
The relationships we have with our siblings are unlike any other, and typically are the longest lasting relationships we’ll enjoy throughout our lifetime. Though we may have fought like cats and dogs as children, many siblings find that, in adulthood, they’ve formed strong friendships. Yet regardless of the bond you may have with your siblings
Top Tips for Helping Seniors Accept the Idea of In-Home Elder Care
Think through some of the little everyday tasks you’ve taken care of today without giving them a second thought: making the beds, running to the grocery store, stopping for coffee with a friend, preparing dinner. Now imagine no longer being able to accomplish these things independently, and the feelings of fear and frustration you’d experience.
Warning Signs to Watch For Over the Holidays: How to Tell if a Senior Needs Care at Home
We all look forward to the chance to spend extended, quality time with those we love over the holidays. And while the festive meals, bright decorations, gifts and laughter are vital components of family holiday celebrations, there’s another key aspect to be sure to include in your visiting: assessing older loved ones for any changes
The Sobering Facts on Senior Isolation
The latest information from the Administration on Aging indicates that about 13.3 million people 65 and older (29%) live alone. Almost half (46%) of all women ages 75 and older live by themselves. What’s worrisome is that, as people get older and more vulnerable, their odds of living alone increase. Senior isolation can have many