Lets Review Strokes - Are you at risk?

WHAT IS A STROKE?
• A stroke or “brain attack” occurs when blood circulation to the brain fails.

WHAT ARE THE CAUSES?
• There are 2 kinds of strokes, with the most common being ischemic stroke.
• Ischemic stroke is caused by a blood clot that blocks or plugs a blood vessel to the brain.
• The other type of stroke is called hemorrhagic and is caused by a blood vessel that breaks and bleeds into the brain.

WARNING SIGNS OF A STROKE?
• Sudden numbness or weakness of face, arm or leg, especially on one side of the body
• Sudden confusion or trouble talking or understanding speech
• Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes
• Sudden trouble walking, dizziness or loss of balance or coordination
• Sudden severe headache with no known cause

RISK FACTORS FOR A STROKE
• High Blood Pressure
• Cigarette Smoking
• Heart disease
• Warning signs or history of stroke
• Diabetes

If you think you or someone you know is having a stroke, CALL 911

The information came from the National Institutes of Health Stroke Quarterly Training

Caring Connections

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http://seniorcare.homeinstead.com/email-signup.cfm?franchise=163

SAVE THE DATE! "Stages of Senior Care" Book Tour Coming to Birmingham!

Mark your calendar for Wednesday, June 2nd from 4pm- 6pm. Paul Hogan, founder of Home Instead Senior Care, will be in Birmingham discussing his book, "Stages of Senior Care". We are so excited about this event!

More details to follow!

About the book:
Senior care is a topic many people are afraid to think about or face and sorting through today's many senior care options can be overwhelming. But Stages of Senior Care is just the resource you need to make these life-changing decisions for yourself or that of your aging parents based on current needs, finances, and future planning.
Stages of Senior Care provides the tools to assess needs, and shows how to figure out costs, avoid pitfalls, scams or low-quality service, and how to know what option is right for now and for the future.
There is probably no other more trusted voice on this subject than Paul and Lori Hogan, founders of Home Instead Senior Care®, one of the largest providers of in-home care for seniors.

To Us, It's Personal

At Home Instead Senior Care we pride ourselves on the fact that we treat each of our clients on an individual basis. Each client is different, which is why we do a full assessment of each client to determine the level of care they need. Based on that level of care we are able to match up our clients to a CAREGiver that has been trained to the level of care needed.
The CAREGiver is given a detailed profile of the client's needs and a daily scenario so the CAREGiver knows what to do from the time they walk in the door until the time they leave.
So that everyone involved is comfortable, we schedule a "meet & greet" with the client and the CAREGiver so they are formally introduced by a Home Instead staff member.
It's personal to us because we personally meet and get to know all our clients!

On Call - Activity 3

Many older adults have a telephone that is programmed with the numbers of family and friends. So all they have to do is hit a speed dial button to make that important connection. A senior can attempt to recall all of the numbers in the telephone directory and make a list.
A senior may want to think of a different telephone number each day this week that she might need and memorize that number. At the end of the week, review all the new numbers.

Incorporate this new skill by asking your loved ones to try to remember the ingredients and directions of a favorite recipe. (Your loved one might want to double check the cookbook to see how well she did.) Or think about a hobby he or she hasn’t done for a long time. Suggest they remember the steps and write them down.

Cooking Under Pressure

Independent research conducted by the Boomer Project (www.boomerproject.com) for the Home Instead Senior Care® network of 1,279 U.S. adult caregivers revealed that nutrition and related issues had a significant impact on their senior loved ones’ health and well-being. Making sure that the older adults for whom they care were eating properly was a high priority for these family caregivers.

The research discovered that family caregivers already spend a significant amount of time caring for their senior loved ones with some of that assistance going toward nutrition-related issues such as grocery shopping and meal preparation.
This survey of adults 35 to 62 years who cared for an older adult found that these seniors face a variety of issues that can impact their ability to achieve a well-balanced diet including use of
medications, illness and lack of companionship. Furthermore, the research disclosed that the greater the nutritional risk factors the more stress on the family caregiver.
Nutrition issues impact both the health of seniors and the relationship between adult
caregivers and their senior loved ones, as evidenced by this research. The vast majority of
caregivers say their seniors have enough food to eat; however, only slightly more than half report their seniors eat a nutritious diet. This would indicate that various factors are influencing a senior’s ability to achieve a nutritious diet.
As a result of these survey findings, the Home Instead Senior Care network has launched
a public education campaign geared toward providing family caregivers with the tools
they need to help their senior loved ones achieve and maintain a well-balanced diet.
The campaign features a Web site at www.foodsforseniors.com and a Cooking Under PressureSM handbook, available for download on that site.

• Nearly half of family caregivers spend 20 or more hours a week providing care to their loved ones. Some of the most common tasks that caregivers assist their seniors with are grocery shopping/errand running (83 percent of caregivers) and meal preparation (65 percent of caregivers).

• Eighty-six percent of family caregivers say that making sure their senior eats properly is “very much a priority.” Providing companionship to their loved ones is also a major concern for family caregivers; 83 percent say that making sure their seniors are not lonely is “very much a priority.”

• Caring for an older person who has three or more nutritional risk factors is tied to increased stress levels for caregivers. Of caregivers who rated their lives as extremely stressful, 67 percent were caring for loved ones with three or more nutritional risk factors, compared with 33 percent of caregivers whose seniors have fewer than three nutritional risk factors.

Seniors at Risk
More than 60 percent of caregivers say the senior they are caring for has three or more
nutritional risk factors. The most prevalent risk factors are (percentage refers to number of caregivers who said the condition describes their seniors “very well.”):

• They take three -- or more prescribed or over-the-counter drugs per day (77 percent).

• They have an illness or condition that made them change their diets (45 percent).

• They have gained or lost more than 10 pounds in the last six months without trying (38 percent).

• They are on special diets because of a medical condition (35 percent).

More than one-third of caregivers (37 percent) say the seniors they are caring for have nutritious food available but the seniors still don’t eat well.

Over half of the caregivers (57 percent) say their senior loved ones rarely cook for themselves.

Three out of ten family caregivers report that their seniors typically eat alone.

Approximately one-quarter of family caregivers (24 percent) say the cost of food impacts the ability of their seniors to eat a nutritious diet.

Nearly three-fourths of family caregivers (72 percent) report that the seniors they are
caring for rely on assistance to get groceries.

Survey Methodology
The Boomer Project (www.boomerproject.com) completed online interviews with 1,279
U.S. adult caregivers, ages 35-62, with a parent, stepparent or older relative for whom
they or someone in their household provides care. Questions regarding nutritional risk
factors and stress adapted from Abbott Laboratories’ “Determine Your Nutritional Health”
checklist. Used with the permission of Abbott Laboratories, copyright 2008.

Walking Strong ~ Activity 2

The Leg Curl is designed to help make walking and climbing stairs easier for a senior:

1. Stand behind a sturdy chair, hold on for balance.
Lift one leg straight back without bending your knee or pointing your toes. Breathe in slowly.
2. Breathe out as you slowly bring your heel up toward your buttocks as far as possible.
3. Bend only from your knee, and keep your hips still.
The leg you are standing on should be slightly bent.
4. Hold position for 1 second.
5. Breathe in as you slowly lower your foot to the floor.
6. Repeat 10 - 15 times.
7. Repeat 10 - 15 times with other leg.
8. Repeat 10 - 15 more times with each leg.

Source: National Institute on Aging

Good Friday

From all of us at Home Instead Senior Care in Birmingham, we would like to wish you a Happy Good Friday and a Happy Easter!

Power Grip ~ Activity 1

Having the strength to grip can impact the everyday lives of seniors. Seniors can do this squeezing exercise with a tennis ball while watching TV:

1. Hold a tennis ball or other small rubber or foam ball in one hand.
2. Slowly squeeze the ball as hard as you can and hold it for 3-5 seconds.
3. Relax the squeeze slowly.
4. Repeat 10 - 15 times.
5. Repeat 10 - 15 times with the other hand.
6. Repeat 10 - 15 times more with each hand.

Encourage your senior to incorporate this skill by opening a jar of pickles or olives. Or suggest playing fetch with the dog before nap time. Keep hands and fingers limber by folding towels or the laundry.
Source: National Institute on Aging

Too Close for Comfort

It’s happening in the White House and in homes throughout Jefferson and Shelby Counties. When President Obama’s mother-in-law, Marian Robinson, settled in with her family in Washington earlier this year, they became part of a growing national trend.

The increasing number of seniors now living under the same roof with at least one other generation is more than just political news. According to a recent survey conducted for the local company Home Instead Senior Care, 43 percent of adult caregivers in the U.S. ages 35 to 62 reside with the parent, stepparent, or older relative for whom they or someone else in their household provides care.1 The Census Bureau confirms this growing trend: In 2000, 2.3 million2 older parents were living with their adult children; by contrast, in 2007, that number jumped to 3.6 million3 – a 55 percent increase.

The challenges that can arise from intergenerational living prompted Home Instead Senior Care to launch a public education campaign to help families determine if living together is a good idea and to provide tips on how to make such an arrangement work well for seniors as well as their family caregivers if they do decide to combine households. This campaign will help adult children begin to address such issues as the stress of caregiving under one roof, adapting a home for two or more generations and merging household finances.

Several factors are driving this trend, according to Dan Pahos, owner of the local Home Instead Senior Care office. “We see families coming together to share family caregiving duties for economic reasons and emotional support. Sometimes the seniors need care, but in other instances the older adults could be providing care to their own grandchildren. Seniors may feel they need the emotional support of an extended family and, in these difficult economic times, financial assistance. Regardless of the reasons, combining households is a big decision. Some families may decide that maintaining separate residences is the best alternative.”

At the center of the campaign is a handbook, available free from the local Home Instead Senior Care, which addresses the emotional, financial, and comfort and safety aspects of intergenerational living.

The handbook was compiled with the assistance of three national experts: Matthew Kaplan Ph.D., Penn State Intergenerational Programs extension specialist; Adriane Berg, CEO of Generation Bold and a consultant on reaching boomers and seniors; and Dan
Bawden, founder of the CAPS (Certified Aging in Place Specialists) program for the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). A Web site www.makewayformom.com provides additional support and information, including a calculator that will help families compute and compare whether living together or maintaining separate residences is the best financial option. In addition, the Web site features a virtual tour of an intergenerational home where visitors can hear from a real family and see firsthand how they’ve adapted their home.

Penn State’s Matt Kaplan said that families should approach decisions of combining households from a partnership perspective. “Ask yourself, ‘Can I get the whole family behind the idea?’ When a decision is made to combine families, expectations must be set right away. Family members must listen and become engaged in conversation. The more the entire family buys in at the beginning, the more likely they will be to come up with great ideas,” he noted.

“People need independence, but seeking interdependence and family unity are important as well, particularly in today’s hectic and demanding world.”

For more information about Home Instead Senior Care or to order a copy of the free Too Close for Comfort handbook call 205-822-1915 or log on to www.makewayformom.com.

# # #

1. Survey Methodology: The Boomer Project (www.boomerproject.com) completed online interviews with 1,279 U.S. adult caregivers, ages 35-62, with a parent, stepparent or older relative for whom they or someone in their household provides cares. Of the 1,279 family caregivers interviewed, 548 live with the senior receiving care.

2. U.S. Census Bureau; online at http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-ds_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U&-_lang=en&-redoLog=false&-mt_name=DEC_2000_SF1_U_P027&-format=&-CONTEXT=dt

3. U.S. Census Bureau; online at http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/DTTable?_bm=y&-geo_id=01000US&-ds_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G00_&-_lang=en&-mt_name=ACS_2007_1YR_G2000_B09016&-format=&-CONTEXT=dt

Activities for the Mind, Body & Soul

Join me over the next few weeks as we post 15 activities that you can use to keep your senior loved ones active - mentally, physically, and spiritually.

Below explains why Home Instead Senior Care developed the Activities for the Mind, Body, and Soul cards. To view all activity cards at once or to download them for yourself visit http://www.getmommoving.com/.

Both seniors and adult children agree: staying physically active is a major challenge for older adults, according to research conducted for the Home Instead Senior Care network.* But what does that mean to a senior’s everyday life and to family caregivers looking to help and motivate their loved ones?

For many older adults, inactivity is the first step down a road that leads to frailty and decline. Family caregivers as well as seniors want to do everything possible to keep that from happening. The National Institute on Aging says that seniors are more likely to stay active if they:

1. Think they will benefit from activities
2. Participate in activities they enjoy
3. Believe the activities are safe

Keeping an older adult’s mind, body and social life active can prevent or even reverse frailty, experts say. Family caregivers assisting seniors are in a unique position to help them figure out what activities will work best, according to Stephanie Studenski M.D., M.P.H., an authority and researcher of mobility, balance disorders and falls in older adults, who serves as director of clinical research for the University of Pittsburgh Institute on Aging.

Dr. Studenski says, “A key is simple activities that seniors find pleasurable or enjoyable. If possible, engage frail older individuals in what they’d like to do. And don’t separate the mind, body and soul activities. Seniors need to stay active doing things they find meaningful and helpful to others, even if they can no longer get out of the house."

The National Institute on Aging Exercise and Physical Activity Guide points out that regular exercise and physical activity are important to the physical and mental health of almost everyone, including older adults. They can help maintain and improve endurance, strength, balance and fitness; help improve the ability to do things; help manage and prevent diseases like diabetes, breast and colon cancer, osteoporosis and heart disease; and help reduce feelings of depression. Being active may also help improve mood and may maintain some aspects of cognitive function, such as the ability to shift quickly between tasks. Emerging data also suggests that engaging in social and productive activities may help maintain well-being.

*The Boomer Project (www.boomerproject.com) completed online interviews with 523 seniors and 1,279 adult caregivers, ages 35-62, with a parent, stepparent or older relative for whom they or someone in their household provides care.

Fear of Fraility Continued...

In a women’s study released last summer, researchers at Columbia and Johns Hopkins Universities discovered the important role activity plays in the fight against frailty and shed new light on what causes the condition.

So how do family caregivers know what to look for? Following, from Stephanie Studenski, M.D., M.P.H., University of Pittsburgh geriatrician and researcher, and Home Instead Senior Care, are the signs that a senior might be becoming frail:

Change. If a senior has always been interested in talking to the neighbors, reading the newspaper or volunteering and is withdrawing from those interests, suggest your loved one see a doctor.
Inactivity. If your senior suddenly becomes less active, investigate what could be the cause.
Slowing down. If grandpa always used to have a bounce in his step and now, suddenly, trudges along, that’s a bad sign.
Loss of appetite and weight. A senior who always had a healthy appetite and doesn’t any more should be of concern to their loved ones.
Unsteadiness. Loss of balance comes with aging but an increasing unsteadiness is a sign that something could be wrong.

To find out how you can help keep a senior active, contact Home Instead Senior Care for a free set of Get Mom Moving Activity Cards: “Activities for the Mind Body and Soul.”

Fear of Frailty ~ Lack of Activity Threatens Local Seniors’ Independence

Fear of frailty is of paramount concern not only for Birmingham and surrounding area seniors, but those local adults ages 35 to 62 – many of whom are daughters – worried about the health and safety of their older loved ones. That’s according to results of a recent national survey of seniors and adult children that reveals staying physically active is a major challenge for seniors.

Lack of activity can lead to a downward spiral of poor health resulting in frailty, a condition that threatens the mind, body and social life of older adults, according to senior care experts.

“We regularly see seniors who are literally trapped in their homes because they are too weak to perform many of the activities they need to remain safe and independent, or to even enjoy life,” said Dan Pahos, owner of the Home Instead Senior Care office in Birmingham. “That’s why staying active is viewed by so many as vital to healthy aging. Differences in perceptions between family caregivers and seniors can make addressing these issues challenging for many families.”

This problem is what prompted Home Instead Senior Care to develop the Get Mom Moving Activity Cards and Web site at www.getmommoving.com, both designed to help keep seniors engaged and fit. These resources provide the tools by which seniors can fight frailty.

A national study conducted for the Home Instead Senior Care^® network found that 74 percent of seniors 65 and older say that staying physically active is a major challenge. Adult caregivers see the problem as well: 81 percent of adult caregivers listed staying physically active as a top challenge for seniors. That challenge leads to another worry: 90 percent of seniors in the survey say their greatest fear is loss of independence.*

Frailty can be difficult to define, but most know it when they see it, said Stephanie

Studenski, M.D., M.P.H., one of the nation’s foremost authorities and researchers of mobility, balance disorders and falls in older adults, and director of clinical research for the University of Pittsburgh Institute on Aging. Medical professionals describe frailty as a syndrome of weakness, fatigue and decline in physical activity that may be triggered by hormonal or inflammatory changes or chronic disease states. For some, frailty results from a heart attack or stroke, while another senior might experience falls and weight loss.

Studenski and her colleagues conducted a series of focus groups with health care providers and family caregivers about how they perceive frailty in an effort to better

identify the condition. “I think the thing that was most striking to me was that many family members we talked with perceived that an older person is getting more or less frail based more on social and psychological factors rather than physical factors. Doctors, on the other hand, focused on the physical manifestations in an older adult,” she noted.

Dr. Studenski said that frailty can be both prevented and reversed by activity. “One of the core ideas in aging is that there are underlying problems in the body’s self-correcting mechanism. For example, when a young person is bleeding, the body self-corrects by increasing the heart rate. But older adults, because of medication or health problems, may have lost the ability to self-correct by being able to increase their heart rate. Through activity, though, seniors can build both physical and mental reserves that can help their bodies better tolerate problems that come with aging.”

So, in a very real way, family caregivers who can encourage and integrate physical, mental and social activities in seniors’ lives are helping them ward off frailty and stay healthy. And that addresses seniors’ biggest fear of losing their independence as well. “This topic is at the heart of the concerns that we see each day in the lives of seniors and those who care for them,” said Home Instead Senior Care’s Pahos. “Fear of frailty keeps seniors worried about whether they can stay home.”

# # #

Fear of frailty is of paramount concern not only for Birmingham and surrounding area seniors, but those local adults ages 35 to 62 – many of whom are daughters – worried about the health and safety of their older loved ones. That’s according to results of a recent national survey of seniors and adult children that reveals staying physically active is a major challenge for seniors.

Lack of activity can lead to a downward spiral of poor health resulting in frailty, a condition that threatens the mind, body and social life of older adults, according to senior care experts.

“We regularly see seniors who are literally trapped in their homes because they are too weak to perform many of the activities they need to remain safe and independent, or to even enjoy life,” said Dan Pahos, owner of the Home Instead Senior Care office in Birmingham. “That’s why staying active is viewed by so many as vital to healthy aging. Differences in perceptions between family caregivers and seniors can make addressing these issues challenging for many families.”

This problem is what prompted Home Instead Senior Care to develop the Get Mom Moving Activity Cards and Web site at www.getmommoving.com, both designed to help keep seniors engaged and fit. These resources provide the tools by which seniors can fight frailty.

A national study conducted for the Home Instead Senior Care^® network found that 74 percent of seniors 65 and older say that staying physically active is a major challenge. Adult caregivers see the problem as well: 81 percent of adult caregivers listed staying physically active as a top challenge for seniors. That challenge leads to another worry: 90 percent of seniors in the survey say their greatest fear is loss of independence.*

Frailty can be difficult to define, but most know it when they see it, said Stephanie

Studenski, M.D., M.P.H., one of the nation’s foremost authorities and researchers of mobility, balance disorders and falls in older adults, and director of clinical research for the University of Pittsburgh Institute on Aging. Medical professionals describe frailty as a syndrome of weakness, fatigue and decline in physical activity that may be triggered by hormonal or inflammatory changes or chronic disease states. For some, frailty results from a heart attack or stroke, while another senior might experience falls and weight loss.

Studenski and her colleagues conducted a series of focus groups with health care providers and family caregivers about how they perceive frailty in an effort to better

identify the condition. “I think the thing that was most striking to me was that many family members we talked with perceived that an older person is getting more or less frail based more on social and psychological factors rather than physical factors. Doctors, on the other hand, focused on the physical manifestations in an older adult,” she noted.

Dr. Studenski said that frailty can be both prevented and reversed by activity. “One of the core ideas in aging is that there are underlying problems in the body’s self-correcting mechanism. For example, when a young person is bleeding, the body self-corrects by increasing the heart rate. But older adults, because of medication or health problems, may have lost the ability to self-correct by being able to increase their heart rate. Through activity, though, seniors can build both physical and mental reserves that can help their bodies better tolerate problems that come with aging.”

So, in a very real way, family caregivers who can encourage and integrate physical, mental and social activities in seniors’ lives are helping them ward off frailty and stay healthy. And that addresses seniors’ biggest fear of losing their independence as well. “This topic is at the heart of the concerns that we see each day in the lives of seniors and those who care for them,” said Home Instead Senior Care’s Pahos. “Fear of frailty keeps seniors worried about whether they can stay home.”

# # #

* The Boomer Project (www.boomerproject.com) completed online interviews with 523 seniors and 1,279 adult caregivers, ages 35-62, with a parent, stepparent or older relative for whom they or someone in their household provides care.