Dementia can be thought of as a progressive disability of, or as injuries affecting the brain. Different parts of the brain are affected in different types of dementia, and at different times as the dementia progresses. Understanding how the brain is impacted,and knowing the type of dementia that someone has can help family members, professionals, [read more…]
Posts
Advanced Care Planning
In our last newsletter, we focused on Degrees/Level of Intervention. This month we take a step back to talk about Advanced Care Planning in general. Why should you do advanced care planing? Because if you don’t, and you become unable to make decisions on your own due to a physical or cognitive impairment, someone else [read more…]
Degree of Intervention
Among the many forms that people are asked to fill out when they are admitted to a care facility is one called the “Degree of Intervention” or “Level of Intervention” form. This form is supposed to act as a guideline for (usually) Nursing staff in the event that an emergency occurs, or when a resident’s [read more…]
Hiring Private Home Support
One of the most critical choices Caregivers make is the hiring of someone to help their loved ones at home. The person or people hired can be responsible for their loved one’s safety, health, and mood, and can be what makes the difference between someone being able to stay in ther own home or move [read more…]
Caring for Caregivers
by Peter S. Silin, MSW, RSW for the Vancouver Sun Newspaper Sometimes tragedy is the impetus to review and remake a system. With commitment, we can take what we learn and make things better. Perhaps the legacy of the deaths of Frances and Alfred Albo a few weeks ago will lead British Columbia’s health authorities [read more…]
Using an Agency for Hiring Home Caregivers
There are advantages and disadvantages to hiring caregivers from an agency. Some advantages to an agency are that caregivers are pre-trained and screened, their benefits are paid for, and there is back-up in case they don’t show up. One disadvantage is the caregiver receives only a portion of the money that you pay. A second [read more…]
Preparing for Moves
by Susan Borax While most seniors want to remain independent in their homes, there comes a time when this may no longer be possible. Moving is considered to be the third most stressful life event after divorce and changing jobs. Downsizing a lifetime’s collection of documents, possessions and their associated memories, can be particularly wrenching [read more…]
Grief and Caregivers
A client of ours once told us about the three years he spent careing for his father, who had recently died at age 93. “My father and I had never been very close.” he said. “When he first moved in with me and it was incredibly hard, but now I wouldn’t change it for the [read more…]
In An Emergency: Are You Prepared?
It only takes a moment for something go wrong, and only a moment to learn that something has happened. If you need to take quick action to get your loved one or client to a hospital, are you–and are they–prepared? In an emergency, with your adrenalin going, and the need for speed, it can be [read more…]
Hiring Live In Caregivers
Hiring a Live-in Caregiver entails similar decisions about hiring hourly workers, and whether or not you wish to use an agency, or go it alone. These include how much responsibility you wish to take to run and oversee the caregivers, the tasks you want done, how the person receiving care will be introduced to the [read more…]