Meet our December CAREGiver of the Month

Congratulations to our December 2012 CAREGiver of the Month: Lori!

Hometown: West Mifflin
Tenure: Two years

What made you decide to become a CAREGiver? After helping with caring for my grandparents, I feel it's a big thing to help individuals be able to get care and stay in their homes.

What is one of your best memories as a CAREGiver? Sitting on the back porch with one of my first clients, looking at her garden and talking :)

Name one thing that you have learned in your time as a CAREGiver: Everybody has a story, a life story; take the time to ask.

What advice would you give to families struggling with caring for an aging love one? Ask for help from others. Take time for you and remember that you're doing your best at this point in time.

One interesting fact about you others may not know: I read my horoscope every day before leaving the house.

Lori is just one shining example of the wonderful CAREGivers we have on staff at Home Instead Senior Care. 

Avoiding Frailty for Older Adults

Research conducted for the Home Instead Senior Care network revealed that 90 percent of seniors put loss of independence at the top of their list of aging worries.

One related concern is a condition known as frailty. 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. 

Keep an eye out for these warning signs of frailty:

Change in lifestyle habits, including socialization and hobbies

Inactivity 

Slowing down,both physically and emotionally

Loss of appetite and weight loss

Unsteadiness

There are three areas that need attention to avoid frailty: mind, body and soul. Check out these tips for keeping active in all aspects of life.

Another BASTAS Success

Every year, Home Instead Senior Care franchises across North America participate in the community service initiative "Be a Santa to a Senior." This program helps collect gifts for seniors in the local area who would not be receiving a gift otherwise. 

This year the Munhall office collected gifts for 125 deserving seniors in the area. The staff set up trees in Century III Mall and two Walgreens locations: Homestead and Pleasant Hills. The Jeannette office had a tree in Westmoreland Mall at the Scrub Shack. They collected for about 100 seniors. 

Check out these photos from this year's gift wrapping party in Munhall. Thank you to everyone who donated in our area and across the country! 

 CAREGiver Cynthia packages gifts.

CAREGivers and our office staff helped wrap all of the gifts we collected this year.

Most seniors asked for basic necessities like sweaters, socks and gift cards for food.

Elementary students at Elizabeth Forward decorated the gift bags this year.

Community Service Representative Marsha delivered the gits to local senior centers, highrises and community groups.

How to Help Seniors with Cancer Diagnosis

Cancer – you hear the word and nothing more. Seniors who receive a cancer diagnosis can shut down, tuning out a doctor’s important instructions or failing to understand technical terms and complicated directions. Seniors facing cancer diagnoses often need help to understand their treatment options, and the risks and benefits of each choice.

Consider these tips when helping a loved one with cancer:

• Focus on the absolute risk. The most important statistic to consider is the chance that something will happen to you. Using relative risk makes both patients and doctors more likely to favor a treatment, because they believe it to be more beneficial than it actually may be. 

• The order of information matters. Studies have shown that the last thing you hear is most likely to stick. When making a treatment decision, don’t forget to consider all of the information and statistics you’ve learned.

• Write it down. You may be presented with a lot of information. At the end of the discussion, ask your doctor if a written summary of the risks and benefits is available. Or ask your doctor to help you summarize.

• Less may be more. Don’t get overwhelmed by too much information. In some cases, there may be many different treatment options, but only a few may be relevant to you. Ask your doctor to narrow it down.

• Go to www.SeniorEmergencyKit.com for more tips on how to be better prepared for medical appointments. One way is to take someone with you to help ask questions and understand the information. 

If you are unavailable to assist a loved one with tasks such as these, Home Instead Senior Care can help. Our CAREGivers provide companionship and transportation services on a scheduled and on-call basis. They can help manage appointments, escort to doctor visits, pick up prescriptions and more.


For more on the study, click here.