If you have a family member who needs care, your instinct may be to provide the care yourself rather than enlisting the assistance of a professional caregiver. While that’s well-intentioned, adding a professional companion to your care team can decrease your stress, save hours of work, and enhance the quality time you have with your [...]
Have you ever heard of a community end-of-life advocate? It’s a caregiver or coach who helps people facing death and their families with non-medical support surrounding saying goodbye, personal care, and the grieving process. During a challenging and tender time in the life of a family, a community end-of-life advocate or professional caregiver with end-of-life [...]
While most of us have heard the terms palliative care and hospice care, we may not be familiar with what they are, how they are different, and what they have in common until we have a loved one who needs these specific types of care. Palliative care is patient and family-centered, optimizing quality of life [...]
As the holiday season approaches, most people are focused on the hustle and bustle of shopping, decorating, and family gatherings. It’s easy to forget that between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, levels of stress and depression increase for many Americans, including seniors. According to the National Institute on Aging, risk factors for depression among elders [...]
When faced with decisions about senior care options, many aging adults and their family members struggle to weigh the benefits and challenges of assisted living communities versus professional companion care at home. There is so much to consider, from safety to social considerations, and from financial concerns to mental health and wellbeing. The pandemic has [...]
The June 2021 announcement that Aducanamab –known by its shelf name Aduhelm™ -was granted FDA-accelerated approval as a treatment for Alzheimer's disease created a flurry of excitement in families whose loved ones have been diagnosed with the terminal disease. Aduhelm is considered the first therapy to demonstrably remove amyloid plaques, one of the notorious primary [...]
Have you ever noticed the striking resemblance between a tree's limbs and our lungs? What a powerful –and apt image. No different from their human counterparts, trees "breathe" in the carbon dioxide we breathe out in a near-perfect cycle of breath. This connection through biology is Nature writ large and a simple example of how [...]
Despite the elderly population's increased risk for COVID-19 associated complications and mortality, less than four in 10 nursing home staff accepted immunization when offered, February data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) revealed. "Residents and staff members in long-term care facilities, particularly skilled nursing facilities (SNFs), are at increased risk for COVID-19–associated morbidity and mortality…" [...]
In August of 2020 – amid the height of senior care communities' visitation restrictions – the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) released its survey of COVID-19's psychological and emotional impact. The findings discuss the challenges of balancing mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Survey findings reported that anxiety disorder symptoms were about three times those [...]
In times of trouble, it can be tremendously difficult to see the forest through that thick stand of trees – giant leafy Southern Oaks if you’re “down South” like us. Mix in a pandemic with the natural bumpy road called Life, and those happy feelings can get lost in the exhaust –and exhaustion. But maybe [...]
