Tag: Personal care for the elderly

Memory Loss: Overview of Age-Related Memory Issues

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Forgetting is normal for every human being, and this habit becomes more prominent as we start to age. With progressive ageing, the human brain takes longer to learn, and elderly people start to lose things more frequently or even have trouble remembering the name of a person or place. This phenomenon is especially more frequent in elders that have aged or have mobility issues. Home domiciliary care services in Birmingham can help them in providing professional caregiving services at such crucial times of their lives. But how can we know if this is just age-related forgetfulness or is something more serious like Alzheimer’s disease?

Reasons for Loss of Memory

While memory loss can happen at any stage of life, it is mostly associated with older or elderly people. Several reasons point to memory loss, but not all of them point to Alzheimer’s disease. Some of the common reasons listed are:

  • Certain traumatic or stressful life experiences or anxiety and depression may lead to loss of memory. Certain events, like losing a loved one or having a major change in life, can lead to extreme stress. Coping with such stresses may result in forgetting things or feeling lost and confused. Taking help from family or support from home domiciliary care services can help in reducing such stress and coping with issues creating that stress.
  • Most people are subjected to various medications that produce a negative effect due to side effects and cause memory loss. Additionally, medical conditions like head injuries, substance abuse, addictions or any other condition may also lead to loss of memory if not taken into serious consideration.

Potential Signs of Alzheimer’s disease

  • Memory loss that starts to disrupt daily life activities.
  • Difficulty in planning or making decisions.
  • Difficulty completing regular tasks like paying bills or using a computer.
  • Difficulty remembering time, names, things, or places.
  • Having difficulty in understanding visual cues or maintaining relationships.
  • Halting in the middle of a conversation or trouble connecting words or sentences.
  • Difficulty in speaking or writing
  • Frequently misplacing and difficulty in tracking them.
  • Poor judgment.
  • Withdrawal from activities and changes in behaviors, mood, or personality.

While not all these signs begin to manifest at the same time, some of them can emerge later in life while some have a protracted course. While home domiciliary care services help a person out in this matter by giving care services to them. There is a far better chance of recovery if professional help is taken at the right time.

Types of Normal Memory Problems

Absent-mindedness:

This form of forgetfulness usually occurs due to the lack of focus on a certain event. A person forgets where they put their stuff because they cannot focus where they put the thing as the brain did not encode the signal. It also involves forgetting something on a timeline, like taking medications or attending an event. Professional domiciliary care services help care for people who suffer from forgetfulness.

Blockage:

This problem involves the temporary inability of a person to recall or retrieve a memory. For example, the answer to a question might be on the tip of the tongue but they do not seem to remember how to think or convey it. Most researchers think that blockage has more association with old age, and so domiciliary care services in Birmingham help them out in a professional way.

Transience:

This problem stems from the tendency to forget any information soon after learning it or forgetting any universal fact or event. While some researchers treat it as a problem, others specify that it is a way for the brain to wash away unused memories and make way for new ones.

Persistence:

While memory problems mean forgetting about memories, sometimes there are memories that a person cannot forget even if they try to. Certain traumatic events or negative feelings may produce harmful effects on memory or reflect the negative realities of life. Such a person tends to be more open to depression and home domiciliary care services in this regard need to work on providing them with necessary care and consideration.

Final Word

There are people with problems of memory loss around us, and if, in any case, we identify any one of them, it is of utmost importance that they are provided with necessary help. If they are among our family and friends, providing domiciliary care services will help them cope with their issues. While it might not be like a walk in the park for both the person and care provider to handle them, working alongside them will give them the support they need. It is always a recommendation to seek professional help if the case has pointed to a more serious case of forgetfulness or in worse cases Alzheimer.

Struggling to Choose Between Live-in Care and Care Homes? We’ll Help You Choose

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Do you have a loved one who needs round the clock care? Are you struggling to choose between the forms of care available? Let’s give you a rundown of what live-in care in Birmingham and care homes are and what aspects differentiate them from each other. Additionally, we’ll take a closer look at how to arrange care in both settings, and how this may influence your decision of whose corner you fight in.

The decision you make will be based on your distinctive circumstances – that’s the reason there are no strict rules when it comes to how you choose the appropriate care for your loved one. But there are a few things that you need to keep in mind. Also, you need to completely understand both forms of care to be able to make an informed decision.

Understanding Live-in Care

A live-in carer is a skillfully trained expert who cares for your loved one in your own home. The primary role of your carer is to enable the care recipient to continue enjoying a comfortable, safe, and independent life within the familiar setting of their own home.

What advantages does a live-in care offer?

  • 24/7 support and assistance
  • Continued independence
  • Allows families or couples to stay together
  • No need to move home
  • 24/7 companionship
  • Housekeeping facilities

What are the Disadvantages of live-in care?

  • Applicable only to individuals with low to mid-level needs
  • The care recipient’s home may require modifications for optimal level of care
  • Requires a spare room for a carer

Understanding Care Homes

Care homes refer to specialist residences offering round-the-clock support and care for the elderly. They offer a safe place for your loved ones to stay, with expert carers present through the night and day – responding to their needs and emergencies.

What are the advantages of care homes?

  • 24/7 expert carers
  • A monitored and secure environment
  • Meal preparation
  • Opportunities to socialise
  • Provision of healthcare and medication
  • No maintenance costs or household bills
  • Housekeeping services

What are the disadvantages of care homes?

  • Requires moving into a completely new space
  • Difficult to turn around if the care recipient’s state of health improves
  • Independence is compromised
  • Greater focus on practical compared to emotional needs
  • Negative perceptions

The quality of care

Unlike its counterparts – like live-in care or assisted living where a senior move into a specialist complex having on-call help if required – care homes exclusively cater to elderly individuals who have more substantial needs. Although there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach for the level of care that is provided.

The staff at a care home is responsible for helping seniors with daily tasks and mobility, along with ensuring ongoing – and frequently significant – medical assistance. However, owing to the nature of care homes, one-on-one time is generally restricted: the number of residents far outnumber the staff, and care is likely to be provided on a schedule based on every individual’s needs.

On the other hand, live-in carers are medically trained professionals; however, the form of specialised care they can offer is limited compared to specialist in-house nurses in care homes. This translates to the fact that care recipients having acute medical problems – severe arthritis, late-stage dementia, and so on – may need more specialised care than the caregiver can offer.

However, the best part about live-in care is that these carers can offer one-on-one support round the clock. So they can adapt a schedule to fit your loved one’s needs, rather than the other way round, and manage around their developing needs.

The lifestyle

The staff of the care home makes an effort to provide a lifestyle as independent and inclusive as possible. For this, most care homes host events, encourage exercise, and provide increased independence to low-risk residents. And for many seniors, care homes play a role of a close-knit community where friendship and security go hand in hand.

However, moving into a care home means the care recipient has to leave behind the familiarity and comfort of their own home – needing to adapt to a life without their nearest and dearest, and may not be able to take all of their belongings with them (like a pet, if they own one). In short, this decision from independent to residential living can seem like a pretty major overhaul of the way they lead their lives.

In contrast to care homes, live-in care allows your loved one to stay close to family and friends, and they don’t have to pick and choose which belongings to hold onto. In fact, they don’t have to change anything about the way they lead their lives, except for making space for a new tenant.

How You Can Live Well With a Disability

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People frequently realize the value and importance of things in life once they are gone, and health can also be counted as one of those blessings that are taken for granted. Most people regret their short-term decisions once their health starts to deteriorate as a direct consequence of those decisions. Although our family and friends do say we care for you, what is lost cannot be retrieved. It is a difficult task to adjust to life with a disability as it is easy to obsess over the health we once had. While you cannot turn back time to the moment when you were healthy, you can make certain adjustments to live the life you have and cope with that disability.

Many helping hands in Birmingham provide emotional and physical support that can help you maintain your quality of life and live it fully even with a disability. You will be able to define that you are not limited by your disability to lead a comfortable and healthy life.

  • Understand your disability

Understanding your disability is the first step towards giving you the power to live with it successfully. This is particularly important if the disability is new to you, and you have a hard time adjusting to it. Having helping hands  Birmingham can help you understand the attributes of your disability and help you cope with it. As yourself whether the disability is temporary or permanent and if there is any support available for you. Once you have an answer to these questions, there will be people around you who will say we care for you.

  • Focus on Your Strengths

Whenever you have a chronic or new disability, that does not mean you are useless in any way. If you have a weakness, you are sure to have strengths in some other area. Try to focus on those strengths and things you are still good at and grow those as much as possible. Many helping hands in Birmingham will be there for you once you start to adjust yourself to your new lifestyle. Always speak about the things you can do rather than what you cannot do. You will start to notice considerable changes in your lifestyle by focusing on your strengths.

  • Do Not Isolate Yourself

Difficulties and hurdles are a necessary part of life that define us and how we progress. Whoever has a disability, they should turn down every urge to isolate themselves under all circumstances. Isolation will lead to negative thoughts, which will, in turn, weaken your abilities. Go outside, meet people, and have quality time with your family, you will be surprised how life reacts to this behaviour of yours.

  • Stay Positive

You can lead a healthier and happier life once you start to remain optimistic about everything. Being positive will make you think less about your disability and more about how you can lead your life as you wish. You can stay positive by joining programs organized by helping hands in Birmingham, or you can train yourself to stay positive even in the most difficult of times to lead a happy life. Stimulate your life by trying to find good in everything, even if it is minimal.

  • Maintain Your Interests

You should not stop doing what you love or pursue your passion if you have any disability. Try to maintain your hobbies and interests to keep yourself in the game and tell yourself you care for yourself, and there is nothing that can stop you from living your life. If you like playing an instrument, by all means, play it to your heart’s content. If you are passionate about photography, take that camera and start taking nature’s blessings in disguise. You will notice you have started to love life again, which you had lost some time ago.

  • Look For Professions

Start looking for jobs that will complement your abilities to stay financially stable and running. While you may not be able to keep your previous job due to disability, there are plenty of helping hands available in Birmingham that can offer you new opportunities. Make a list of things you are good at and start looking for occupations that resonate with it. Just remember, it is illegal for an employer to reject you due to your disability, so use this to your advantage and live your life.

Final Word

Whether you have a chronic disability or any accidental event that happened to you, make sure not to make that disability your weakness. Your friends and family might say we care for you, but the only person that can fully understand the situation is yourself. You might have taken your health for granted once but do not make that same mistake again. Keep your head up and go live your life to the fullest. Life may have thrown a curveball at you, but you can swing that bat and score a point.

What is Respite Care? How to Approach Your Loved Ones regarding Respite Care

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Respite care can be defined as a short period of relief or rest from caring for people who depend on you. Caring for a loved one can be one of the most beautiful things one can experience. However, the other side of the story is that it can get hard sometimes. You can feel yourself to be on the ‘giving’ end of the equation, and there could be no end in sight to your current situation. You are a caregiver. You are responsible for the care of your loved one. And you are doing the best you can. What you do is wonderful as nobody can care as much for your loved one as you can.

The estimates from the Alzheimer’s Association indicate that there are approximately 15.5 million friends and family members engaged in over 17.7 billion hours of unpaid care for their loved ones with Alzheimer’s or some other form limiting illness. The statistics seem staggering, and as a caregiver, sometimes, you also need to be taken care of. Everybody needs a break from their same monotonous routine, and so does a caregiver – a period of rest so that a caregiver can recharge and be ready to be on the ‘giving end’ of the equation. This is where respite care comes in. Respite care Birmingham can provide you anywhere from a few hours to a few days to do what you need to do for yourself. This could be anything from going to a doctor’s appointment or sleeping uninterrupted for several hours or maybe catching up with the people of your age. Approximately 40-70% of caregivers will experience symptoms of depression and anxiety that reflect on the constant emotional labour of caring for someone they love.

How to Approach Your Loved Ones Regarding Respite Care

Becoming a recipient of personal care from someone else is not an easy choice for anybody. The decision can strike your loved one as loss of independence, and the first response from almost every care recipient is a feeling of being overwhelmed and depressed.

While it is essential to respect their wishes in this regard, it is also significant that they are receiving the proper care they need. The course of convincing them to allow respite care should be accomplished with the recognition of their feelings, regular reassurances, and overall dignity. If you truly want your loved one to be cared for, this is not something you should rush them into. Here is what we think of how you should disclose this decision to your loved one.

Homework is Important

This is no discussion you could begin without doing some homework and research. You need to research the respite care services that are available in your locality so that you can be ready to talk about different options with your loved one. Knowing about the specifics reassures them that you respect and care about their needs, and this will be a mutual decision for their better health.

Begin the Conversation with Questions

Just like every other conversation, it is better if you let the other person come up with their own solution for the problem. If you know the right questions to ask, you may be able to get their approval for respite care faster than you thought. The questions can be anything like “what would happen if you fell and I was out completing chores?” or any other questions that could lead them to respite care as an option.

Pick the Right Place and Time

Owing to the sensitive nature of the conversation, you really need you think about the time and place you choose to bring up this conversation. Indulging in this conversation on Christmas Day may not be suitable. Rather than picking a special day, you need to choose a random day to take them out for lunch. The idea here is to take emotion out of the situation, as this may cloud their decision. This is exactly the reason why your own home is not the best place for this conversation to take place.

Make Your Loved Ones the Focus of Conversation

While it may be challenging to take your own needs and wants out of the equation, it is crucial to keep the focus of the conversation on the needs of your loved one. If you don’t make their needs the Center Point of your conversation, they might misunderstand and feel like you’re deserting them. You need to bring their safety and overall health to the table. Consider the existing situation and get them thinking about what comes next. Be honest and respect their feelings during the talk.

5 Important Elements for Elderly Home Care

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For a variety of reasons, most caregivers choose to provide care to the elderly at home. Given the situation remains safe for all those involved, providing personal home care is a wonderful thing to do. You must remember that senior care is one of the most difficult and stressful jobs in the world, and the number of caregivers has high risk of burnouts and other health conditions.

If you are the one providing care at home services to the elderly, you have to keep up with the pace, as you cannot operate at 100% efficiency every day. This helps you in providing care services effectively while remaining healthy in the end.

To help you keep going and provide excellent home care services, we list 5 important elements for elderly home care to consider.

  1. Experience

For those providing personal home care assistance to elderly citizens need to give high-quality care on par with the skills and experience of the staff. Any of the required tasks like chores, bathing, grooming and financial management needs readily assisted in a kind, empathetic and effective manner.

Experience in care services serves as the main prospect through which those who need assistance determine the best caregivers for their elderly. The experience should always be patient-centred that takes into account all of your preferences and goals. Your experience should resonate with the service you opt to provide.

  1. Empathy

The most common complain care at home service providers receive is the unprofessional and unsympathetic attitude of the care aides towards the elderly. Compassion, respect and empathy serve as the cornerstones of quality care service. Those employed in the field need a kind-hearted attitude towards the elderly so they can lead a healthy and happy life.

Mostly complains from seniors cite issues like aides snapping at them, behaving sarcastically, rolling their eyes and muttering in a disrespectful way. Our elderly deserve all the care they can get from us and behaving in such a manner is never acceptable. Empathy towards old and elders needs top priority for caregivers.

  1. Professionalism

The person coming in your home is an elderly home care professional who knows how to provide care and assistance our seniors need to lead a healthy and happy life. The individual, on the other hand, needs to display professionalism through their attitude and service at all times. Professionalism means different things in a different context, but in the case of senior care service, it means:

  • Showing up on scheduled timings
  • Arriving with necessary equipment and accessories
  • Immediately begin tending to needs and assistance
  • Not taking long breaks or disappear without notice
  • Not taking the mind off things during working hours

If a person employed shows any of these behaviours, they are not at all serious and professional in their duty. They need to be by your side every time as they are here to assist you and not to do anything else.

  1. Affordability

Care at home services are the most preferred services by elderly and senior citizens to give them the best care facility. In addition to providing them with quality care and self-reliance, their services are also preferred due to their affordable prices. There is a corresponding range of prices offered by various agencies who employ highly trained professionals for their services.

Those who give the best pricing and have a reputation often get selected. Those in need of assistance make their decision based on their budget.

  1. Reputation

Your elderly home care service needs to have an excellent reputation regarding the service and should have positive reviews present online. A simple review may count for an addition of another client in your list that needs your service. Today, employers count on online search results and reviews by other clients as a sure-fire way of finding a quality care aide or agency. Be sure to keep your reputation positive and have positive reviews present to portray you as a reputed service provider.

Apart from all these elements, quality personal home care providers also tend to give a helping hand in other specialised services that meet the individual needs of the elderly. Whether they require flu shots or IV-drips management, these service providers also assist them during their hours.

Conclusion

Elderly home care aides become an integral part of an elderly person’s life due to the care they provide. Whether you are an agency that provides professional home care services or is one yourself, you need to consider these elements. These factors serve as the benchmark and foundations of a quality care service that elderly people deserve. The kind and compassionate attitude towards the elderly is of utmost importance as they are the ones in need of our assistance. Giving proper care not only provide comfort to clients but also leaves you with a peace of mind and satisfaction.

Loneliness – A Rising Endemic in The United Kingdom

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According to a recent survey, one in three of the elderly living in the United Kingdom has complained of feeling lonely. You might be inclined to linking their loneliness to a lack of friends, family, or people around them in general. That is, in fact, not the case.

The truth is that in most scenarios, the elderly have lived a pleased, fulfilling life – filled with people left, right, and centre. However, it’s a fact: Life goes on, people keep gaining speed.

As you grow older, your speed dwindles further and further until you realise you aren’t running anymore. You’re walking briskly or maybe just dragging your feet along. Would anyone slow down for you?

This is the scenic description of the statistic mentioned above – people don’t slow down. This leaves the elderly feeling unneeded, unwanted, and thus lonely.

What Is Elderly Home Care?

People in the United Kingdom aren’t unaware of the fact that loneliness is becoming an endemic with an increasing number of people having been shut to their houses for weeks on end.

This isn’t solely linked to emotional disturbances. There are chances that their lack of support, in general, might be a problem for their health.

For example, imagine an older man or woman who needs help with basic needs such as bathing, cooking, or dressing. Their age is becoming an increasing factor that prevents them from doing what others would consider necessary.

Thus, the establishment of elderly home care. This is a service rendered by many companies across the United Kingdom – and increasingly in the world, whereby companies offer dedicated staff to spend hourly or round the clock services to the elderly.

Services might be assistance in basic needs, domestic needs, or just fellowship and companionship. All of these services are availed by people who have chosen not to go to retirement homes and would much rather spend their living moments in their home, their sanctuary.

The Difference with Personal Home Care

These companies don’t solely offer their services to the elderly. They aid anyone living in a situation that might not be synonymous with ‘normalcy.’

The term is used pretty loosely here. Normalcy isn’t limited to those in their twenties. People with an able mind would be normal. However, the name used in this context is synonymous with the independence to complete basic needs.

Adapting Homes

One way to help the old or the disabled is to adapt their living situations in such a way that they could get on about their day with ease. The need for fellowship is still there, but their reliance should be reduced to a considerable extent to make them feel more independent.

Let’s face it; we crave independence, and being old or disabled shouldn’t take it away from us. Hence, occupational therapists all over the country are implying their strategies to help people consider options to improve their living situations.

Necessarily, it’s their job to help adapt home situations for people with disabilities or a lack of motor skills to carry out day to day functions. They consider factors such as wheelchair dependency, bathroom tasks, house help, and stairs, or other exerting factors.

Home adaptation is manifested with the instalment of ramps, handrails, and medical alert buttons. What are medical alert buttons? Well, they’re alarms that go off in their houses that signal hospitals, emergency service providers, or friends and family that they require immediate medical assistance.

These are just some of the things to consider. The person themselves can likely give you the best indication as to things they are struggling with mobility-wise at home, and either you or the occupational therapist can then think of creative ways to help them out with their situation.

Emotional Assistance

Regardless of disability or ailing health due to age, it is essential to make sure that the person in question does not lose their purpose.

It is alarming to note the number of people who have taken such a toll on their mental wellbeing that they’ve just given up trying at this point. Help the person see how they can live just as much of a meaningful life as the next person regardless of their situation.

To thrive mentally or emotionally would require that the person in question has a stable support system. They must find ways to enjoy their life as well as feel like they can make meaningful contributions to the world around them.

Care For You

At Care for You, we’re a dedicated company operating in Birmingham, the United Kingdom, working with some of the most skilled and dedicated employees with every necessary credential to aid living for the old and disabled. From domestic help to medical assistance to even emotional health – the company offers services of all sorts.