Tips To Celebrate Holidays with Seniors in an Assisted Living Facility

Enjoying the holiday season is an important part of the year for many people and the same goes for seniors. If you are looking for ways to celebrate holidays in a senior home, here are some easy tips.

Planning to celebrate the holidays in an assisted living facility?

It can still be a lot of fun. Generally, these retirement communities decorate the facility for the holiday season. Many serve some special, holiday-themed meals too. However, it is your responsibility to ensure that your seniors are enjoying the festive season.

There is a lot you can do for them. Ranging from hosting some special events and activities like movie nights and craft time to some musical performances. Below are some ideas of ways to celebrate the holidays at an assisted living facility.

Visit Them Frequently: During the holiday season, gifts can play to be an important part. But the most important gift you can give is your time. This season make more time for your loved ones. Visit as often as you can and invite others to join you. It will be great to cherish the time you have together.

Decorate Together: Facilities will do their part and will decorate the assisted living homes as per their budget. But why not make your loved one’s apartment full of holiday cheer. You can indulge in some handcrafted decorations, get them involved in making and then decorate their rooms. You can use lights, garland, and most important bring a little Christmas tree to put on a festive mood.

Cook Some Cookies: Just like decoration, you can try baking some cookies together. Of course, you need to seek permission from the authorities in living homes. This can be really fun and you will have fresh cookies to enjoy in the end!

Music Is Must: Every celebration is incomplete without music. So, don’t forget to put on their favorite music and see their face light up. You can also arrange some live performances for them inside the communities.

This holiday season make it wonderful for the residents and help them enjoy the holidays to the fullest. Happy holidays!

How To Care For Senior’s Nutrition

Senior Health

Adequate nutrition is essential to good health. But as people age, it can become more difficult to go grocery shopping and preparing meals. This can result in a lack of nutrition for seniors.

Seniors cannot simply ignore their nutrition needs just because they are getting older. By seeking the assistance from a caregiver, elderly adults can get the help they need for preparation of nutritious meals and remaining healthy.

Listed below are some easy tips that can aid a caregiver in making an impact on the overall nutrition quality of senior’s diets.

Proper Planning Of Meal Schedules!

During the start of the week, a caregiver should have a good discussion with their clients about what kind of meals they love to have. A caregiver can come up with exceptionally inventive ideas as well as also helping to change the client diet in a healthier direction. This can sometimes be challenging when you have to plan according to a diet prescribed by doctors.

A caregiver can make a meal with an adequate amount of proteins, vegetables, fruits, whole grains and all the necessities included in a healthy diet.

Assist Them With Shopping!

Activities like extensive walks and carrying heavy weight items can prove to be too much to be handled for a senior. A caregiver can take this load off of their client by doing the grocery shopping with them. Creating a plan before hand in accordance with the dietary needs of your client will help to save time when shopping. It will also give you ample time to figure out healthier items that you can use to take better care of their body’s nutrition needs.

Preparing Meals!

Aging brings with it natural muscle loss which can further lead to fatigue. Lifting of heavy items can prove to be too difficult for some seniors. While having a caregiver a client might still possess the facility to prepare healthy meals for themselves.

A caretaker should deliver the perfect amount of help to the client to lessen their anxiety and strain. They can reduce the cooking time by performing the deed themselves. By assembling the ingredients, chopping, cooking and serving the meal, a client will get a sufficient amount of time to enjoy their meals.

Cleaning Dishes!

Being aware that a large clean-up of utensils and dishes following a meal can be enough to convince a client to avoid cooking altogether. Cleaning pots, pans, and utensils used can be an intimidating task to anyone. Working with a caregiver can make this chore simple as they are helped with an extra pair of hands. A caregiver can also help avoid muscle strains or related injuries by aiding them with heavy and sharp objects.

In addition to methods stated above, a caregiver can really prove to be beneficial to seniors by helping them get the adequate nutrition. They themselves can prepare for or seek assistance from dietary experts about the food that will assist seniors to achieve the healthy nutrition.

PCA - A Form of Dementia That Affects the Vision

We have listed the definition, signs and treatment for a form of dementia that comes with visual problems.

Mr. Wilson, a 59 years old grocery store owner is suffering from dementia. Apart from thwarting his cognitive ability, dementia has affected the way he sees or perceives the world. He can’t see car keys lying in front of him. He mistakes a shadow on the carpet for a hole. Mr. Wilson sometime even sees things that don’t exist in realty. He often sees faces in cluttered pattern.

Mr. Wilson is not alone as there are many dementia patients having their sight plagued with such issues. This condition is termed as posterior cortical atrophy or PCA. With this condition a dementia patient experience problems with their sight which cause them to misinterpret what they see. In some cases the patient can even experience hallucinations.

PCA was first mentioned by neurologist Arnold Pick in 1902. Despite being described a century ago, the disease is still a mystery and medical experts don’t know much about it. This is because PCA is not common and is present in nearly one of every 20 patients suffering with dementia.

Why and How Dementia Affect Vision

Dementia is a set of symptoms that affect mental cognitive functions like memory and reasoning. Some of the common signs of dementia are loss of memory, loss of reasoning and judgment, physical decline and even death.

Then how it can affect sight?

PCA affects occipital lobes that help us understand what we see.

Seeing is a complicated process going through many stages including the one through your brain. Information is transmitted from your eyes to your brain where it is then interpreted, alongside information from your other senses, thought and memories.

This is why you become aware of what you have seen or perceive. If your brain is already affected by dementia, it may be unable to interpret the information from your sight properly. It leads to illusions, misperceptions, and misidentifications in a person. With this condition, you might first approach your eye doctor, but eye tests or changing lenses won't fix the underlying brain problem.

How to Help Your Loved Ones With PCA

Apart from seeking medical assistance, you should lend your help, support and reassurance to aid people living with dementia. This will not only help them manage the condition, but also it creates a safe environment for them.  

Be Careful Towards their Eye Care and Visual Health:

• Take them to regular eye checks and tell the optometrist about their dementia.
• Make sure to keep their glasses clean
• In case of cataracts, talk to an optometrist about treatment.

  

Modifying the Home:

A sight problem can cause several problems for them even at home. For example, they can bump into things or have difficulty reaching things. You will need to make some arrangements in your home:

• Remove clutter
• Apply labels to drawers
• Replace throw rugs with non-skid floor coverings
• Put stickers on glass doors and large windows so that they can see them easily.
• Adequate lighting should be in all rooms with being particular to reducing glare. 

Use Some Practical Tips:

 

• Ask friends and relative to reintroduce themselves, if they fail to recognize them.
• Try to make activities accessible for them. For example, if they enjoy reading, consider reciting a book to them or using audio books. 
• Explain the uses of objects. Ignore any mistakes and try to help them to understand the object while using it.

This is some essential information about the form of dementia that affects vision, known as PCA. Make sure your loved one understands that this might be something that could effect them and to seek medical help if they are concerned.