Simple Steps to a Healthy Senior Diet

Cooking might not be the pleasure it once was, but you don't want to shortchange yourself on nutrition and a healthy diet. Fortunately, there are plenty of healthy alternatives to spending long hours in the kitchen.

Nobody feels like cooking every night. Some people don't even feel like cooking any night. But if you avoid cooking completely in your senior years and don’t look for alternatives to maintain a healthy diet, you may not get the nutrients you need.

A Healthy Diet Made Easier

Eating healthfully doesn't have to involve hours in the kitchen. Consider these options for maintaining a nutritious diet in your senior years:

• Get help in the kitchen. If you can't or don't like to cook any more, consider getting some help with your meals from friends and family, or by hiring a home health aide who can shop and prepare meals for you.
• Buy prepared meals. Most grocery stores and supermarkets have expanded their prepared food sections. You can buy entire meals with all the preparation done for you. Some stores have prepared foods set up like a big salad bar, enabling you to put together your own healthy mix of protein, veggies, and other sides.
• Consider home delivery services. If you can’t easily get out to shop, see if you can get fully-cooked meals delivered right to your home from the supermarket and local restaurants. You can have healthy, delicious food for dinner without the effort of shopping and cooking, just by making a phone call.
• Partner with neighbors. If you have friends or neighbors who live alone or just don’t like all the chores surrounding cooking, consider forming your own cooking club. You can share in the bills, the cooking, the shopping, and the eating — a great way to stay socially connected, too.
• Choose easy recipes and plan ahead. Stick to healthy yet simple recipes that don't require a lot of ingredients or effort but pack a lot of nutrients. Plan your menu for the week ahead so that you don’t have to make many trips to the store.
  To limit the preparation work, consider using frozen ingredients, like vegetables, in your recipes. A simple way to add flavor to your meals is with seasonings rather than complicated preparations; try different herbs and spices to make eating more enjoyable. When cooking is too difficult, choose frozen meals that are microwavable.
• Investigate social services when money and mobility are problems. Programs like Meals on Wheels deliver nutritious meals twice a day to the homes of seniors who can't cook or get out of the house to shop. Meals on Wheels isn't free, but it is based on income level.

Practice Kitchen Safety

Staying safe in the kitchen is always important, and even more so if you aren’t as mobile or agile as you used to be. Always follow these kitchen safety tips when cooking at home:

• To avoid kitchen fires, never leave food cooking on the stove or in the oven unattended.
• Be careful to keep loose clothing (like shirt sleeves), dishtowels, and potholders awayfrom all heat sources.
• Have a fire extinguisher mounted in the kitchen and learn how to use it.
• Switch to lighter pots and pans. Cast-iron and ceramic pots may be too heavy to lift safely. To avoid bending and extra lifting of any kind, keep cookware and heavier items at waist level when storing in cabinets.
• Clear a space on the kitchen counter before taking hot pans out of the oven or off the stove.
• Make sure there are no area rugs or clutter on the floor that can lead to slips and falls. Clean up any spills or water on the floor right away.
• Completely cook food all the way through to prevent illness.
• Toss out any old foods that could be contaminated with bacteria. Date any leftovers so you remember when to throw them out, usually within three days — freeze them if you won’t be eating them in time.

Whether you buy prepared or frozen foods, use services that deliver nourishing meals, divide cooking duties with friends, or a combination of all these options, continuing to follow a healthy diet is one of the most important steps to staying well throughout your senior years.

Article compliments of: http://www.everydayhealth.com/

What Makes A Good Caregiver Great!

Have you ever thought about helping seniors?  Reports from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predict an increase in the personal and home care aides job category – forecasting it to be the second fastest-growing job group in the nation over the next decade.  But the rapid growth in this job group may not be fast enough.  Home Instead Senior Care’s recent research indicates that demand for these jobs will outpace supply in a big way.  To keep pace with this projected demand, Home Instead will have to double its care force in just three years, according to our research.

So, do you have what it takes to be a Home Instead Senior Care CAREGiver?

A profession caring for seniors brings many benefits.  But it’s also not for everyone.  That’s why it’s important to ask yourself important questions before pursuing this job path.  If you love working with seniors, if you’re an understanding person and if you have served previously as a family caregiver to a loved one, you probably have some of the attributes needed to be a good professional caregiver. 

What is expected of a Home Instead Senior Care CAREGiver?

The most important qualities that we look for in a potential CAREGiver are compassion for seniors, dependability, and patience.  CAREGivers will provide services such as companionship, meal preparation, light housekeeping, shopping, errands, incidental transportation, pet care, bathing, grooming, toileting and many more.  Potential CAREGivers go through a thorough screening process and on average about 5% of all applicants are offered employment with the company.

We are dedicated to providing superior CAREGivers for the seniors in Southeastern Massachusetts - someone we would feel comfortable working with our own family. If you are interested in learning more about being a professional CAREGiver, you can reach a Recruitment Coordinator Monday-Friday 9:30am-3pm at 818-843-8688. 

For more info: http://www.womensjournals.com/articles/464/1/What-Makes-a-Good-Caregiver/Page1.html 

CAREGIVER OF THE MONTH

Congratulations to Earl for being our CAREGiver of the Month. Earl has been a part of the Home Instead Senior Care team for 3 years. Coincidentally, this week will be his 3 year anniversary. Earl is a very kind, patient and gentle man whose compassion and understanding of his clients needs are one of those instinctual gifts. He is always prompt and always goes the extra mile. If he could do it, he always does, no questions asked. He is a valuable person to have in our company and our community. We thank you Earl and Congratulations for being The CAREGiver of The Month.

Signs Of Depression Checklist

Depression in the elderly is a widespread problem, but is not often recognized or treated, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). A number of life changes can increase the risk for depression, or make existing depression worse. Caring for a spouse or family member also can add to those feelings of depression. According to the NIH, some of the other changes and life events are:

• Adapting to a move from home to an apartment or retirement facility
• Chronic pain
• Feelings of isolation or loneliness as children move away and their spouse and close friends die
• Loss of independence (problems getting around, caring for themselves, or driving)
• Multiple illnesses
• Struggles with memory loss and problems thinking clearly

Look for the signs that an older loved one may be depressed and need help:

• Being more confused or forgetful.
• Eating less. The refrigerator may be empty or contain spoiled food.
• Not bathing or shaving as often. Visitors may notice smells of urine or stool. Clothes may be dirty and wrinkled.
• Not taking care of the home.
• Stopping medicines or not taking them correctly.
• Withdrawing from others. Not talking as much, and not answering the phone or returning phone calls.

The support of a CAREGiver^SM from Home Instead Senior Care® can go a long way toward helping an older loved one who is depressed or suffering the strain of caring for a sick spouse or other family member.

For more information about depression, go to:http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001521.htm

On Valentine's Day, Elderly Couple Recalls Finding Love at a Funeral Parlor

GREENWICH VILLAGE — When Norma D'Amico stood in front of her friend's casket at the Greenwich Village Funeral home in December 2003, love was the furthest thing from her mind.

Surrounded by flowers, D'Amico, 85, was greeting her 82-year-old friend's loved ones when a woman she knew walked in with a silver-haired gentleman.

As she soon discovered, romance blooms in the most unexpected places.

D'Amico, a widow who had lost her second husband earlier that year, heard the stranger, Sonny Ruggiero, 80, talking about a Christmas party he had every year, and jumped into the conversation.

"He said, 'Everybody comes to my party,'" D'Amico, who has lived in the same two-bedroom apartment on Minetta Lane for the past 69 years, recalled. "So I said, 'You didn't invite me.' And he said, 'You're welcome to come.'

"Once I started to talk to him, I thought, 'Hmm, nice guy,'" she added.

Eight years later, she and Ruggiero are still an item — seeing each other nearly every day, enjoying a glass of Scotch and doing jigsaw puzzles together.

"My girlfriends who were widowed said, 'We go to the bar, we go here, we go there, but we've got to start hanging out at the funeral parlor,'" D'Amico said.

"Not everybody at the funeral home is dead," Ruggiero chimed in.

But the couple's mortuary meeting was almost not to be.

D'Amico got Ruggiero's phone number from their mutual friend and called him about a week later to say she would miss the party because she had come down with a cold. Ruggiero said he was sick too and that he would call her to let her know when he had rescheduled the festivities.

"I waited about a week or so and I never got a call," D'Amico said. "So, I called him up and said, 'Did you forget about me?'"

"[Ruggiero] said, 'No, no, I'm still not ready to have the party yet.' And we started to talk," D'Amico recalled.

They began eating lunch together at Greenwich House's Senior Center on the Square on Washington Square North and that April, Ruggiero, himself a widower for nine years who had once worked in lumber yards and printing shops, asked D'Amico out to dinner.

"We went to dinner [at the Bleecker Street Chinese restaurant Suzie's], and after dinner we came back here, for a nightcap," D'Amico said. "We did a little dancing and stuff like that, and that was the beginning."

After some waltzing and dancing the foxtrot, they decided they wanted to see more of each other, Ruggiero said.

"I really didn't expect to get involved with anybody," said Ruggiero.

"Neither did I," said D'Amico, who once worked in restaurants and as an accountant at St. Vincent's Hospital.

Their shared interests in dancing and music and mutual, calm demeanors help keep them together, Ruggiero said.

"To be perfectly honest, the generation nowadays, they're always looking to go out with somebody and have sex right away," Ruggiero said.

"You have to go out with somebody for a while to find out what are their good aspects and if you have the same compassion, helpfulness, love — of course — and consideration. I think those four things will keep you healthy," he added. "Make sure you're in love and that it's not just fascination."

The senior sweethearts — who will go back to Suzie's for dinner on Valentine's Day and say they have no plans to wed — said their macabre meeting is proof that no one can predict when Cupid's arrow will strike.

"Things can happen when you least expect them," Ruggeiro said.

"You never know," D'Amico added. "You never know."

Nominated Senior Heroes

Know a senior hero that’s making a difference in your community? Salute that senior’s volunteer efforts by filling out the nomination form below. Nominated Senior Heroes℠ have a chance to become a national Salute to Senior Service℠ winner. Home Instead, Inc. will make a $5,000 donation to each of the national winners’ designated non-profit charity of choice. 

Click here for tips on how to enter






http://www.salutetoseniorservice.com

GPS shoe lets families keep track of elderly relatives | The Republic

HACKENSACK, N.J. — A Teaneck, N.J., shoe maker has joined with a California technology company to create a shoe that uses GPS technology that records where a wearer walks — and can send alerts to caregivers if someone suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia wanders away and gets lost.

A family in Virginia has been using the shoes for the past month, as part of a trial set up by an elder-care expert, to keep track of an 83-year-old husband and father who scared his wife recently when he wandered away while she was grocery shopping. The man’s son now gets alerts on his cellphone showing his father’s location. “So if I lose him, I can call my son and he tells me where he is,” the man’s wife said.

Aetrex Worldwide Inc. began selling the shoes on its website last month. Aetrex President Evan Schwartz said the company has sold “a few hundred pairs” thus far and that the response from customers has been positive. He said the company also is in discussions with the Department of Veterans Affairs and assisted-living companies about the shoes.

Aetrex spent close to two years developing the GPS footwear with GTX Corp. of Los Angeles. GTX had invented a miniature GPS tracking device and was looking for ways to use that technology. Andrew Carle, an administrator at George Mason University in Virginia who specializes in studying the technology needs of the elderly, approached GTX about creating a tracking shoe for Alzheimer’s patients and helped bring GTX and Aetrex together. Carle also recruited the Virginia man’s family to test the shoes.

“GTX was thinking of using the technology for children,” Carle said. “I contacted them and pointed out the need for something like this for Alzheimer’s,” he said. “We know that 60 percent of people with Alzheimer’s wander and get lost. We know they have extremely high rates of injury and even death if they’re not found within 24 hours,” said Carle, who has become a paid consultant for GTX.

And, Carle said, caregivers also know that other kinds of tracking accessories, such as watches or bracelets, don’t work because the Alzheimer’s patient will remove them. Most Alzheimer’s patients aren’t going to wander off without their shoes, he said.

Carle said “procedural memory” — habits such as putting on your shoes when you wake up — is the last to fade for Alzheimer’s patients, and that is why a GPS device in a shoe is effective.

The privately held company says it has more than $60 million in annual sales, and has one retail store, in Englewood, N.J.GTX patented the GPS shoe technology some years ago, but hadn’t found a company that could make the shoes until it began talking to Aetrex. Aetrex, founded in 1946 as an orthotics inserts manufacturer, now also sells shoes, sneakers and orthotics for people with special footwear needs such as diabetics, as well as comfort shoes for the elderly. GTX recently branched into fashionable comfort shoes, such as sandals and women’s boots, as well.

In discussions with GTX, “we realized this might be a good fit,” said Schwartz. “You have this company that makes this technology and a company that’s really well-known in the foot health space.”

Aetrex installed the GPS tracking mechanism in a sneaker-style shoe it makes called the Ambulator, which is popular with elderly patients. The GPS shoe comes in men’s and women’s models, and in two colors, white and black, and sells for $299.99. Customers who purchase the shoe also need to pay a monthly fee for the GPS monitoring service. There are two levels of service offered — location alerts every 30 minutes for $34.99, or every 10 minutes for $39.99. Customers also can go online and create, in effect, a virtual fence — a geographic zone around a person’s residence — and get special alerts anytime the shoe wearer leaves that zone.

The battery that powers the shoes needs to be charged periodically, and a charger plugs into the back of the shoe.

Carle said “procedural memory” — habits such as putting on your shoes when you wake up — is the last to fade for Alzheimer’s patients, and that is why a GPS device in a shoe is effective.

He said wandering is a problem, even when a patient is with a spouse or family member all the time, because “it doesn’t take 15 seconds for them to be gone. You can’t have this person follow you everyplace you go. By definition, there’s going to be moments when they’re alone. And they wander,” he said.

Aetrex only makes the shoes in adult sizes, but said there is much interest in similar shoes for children. Right now, Schwartz said, the GPS devices aren’t small enough to fit into a children’s shoe. “Between the antennas, the battery, the chip … it ends up being too bulky to get in there,” he said.