A Caregiver’s Guide To Family Vacations

By AmeriCare, July 18, 2011

I need a vacation from my vacation.

Have you ever experienced this? A vacation so stressful that returning home seemed more relaxing?

It is this very condition that often discourages caregivers from planning vacations with elderly parents, or family members with special needs; which is a shame, as it is often these caregivers who need a vacation the most. And it is often these families that could most benefit from the special bonding that only occurs when enjoying new experiences together. Otherwise, resentments inevitably creep in, and life becomes too much of a chore.

Don’t let this happen to you. Yes, life may be more complicated now. Yes, you may have to redefine your definition of a family vacation just a bit. But, time away from your regular life responsibilities is essential to your mental health and overall wellbeing.

So, here are some tips to help you get everyone packed up and ready to go on the next great family vacation. Cue up the essential vacation song: Holiday Road.

The key to a successful vacation, when traveling with people with special needs, lies in proper planning.

First, check with the family physician to make sure your elderly parent or disabled relative is medically cleared to travel. Discuss possible vacation scenarios and review safety precautions, such as:

• Bringing extra medication in case a bag gets misplaced
• Knowing which hospital to visit should emergency care be required

When selecting destinations, consider which mode of transportation will be most conducive to all involved. Keep in mind that:

• Most airlines offer priority boarding for special needs passengers, as well as onboard wheelchair service and storage for mobility devices
• Amtrak provides wheelchair accessible compartments, and even offers discounts to disabled passengers
• If driving, a large rental car may be more spacious and comfortable than driving a more compact car that you own

Regardless of the type of transportation that you select, be sure to allocate more time for rest stops.

Allow for longer connection times between flights, and arrange for wheelchair or cart transportation between terminals and gates.

When driving, build in time for frequent stops along your route. Look for fun landmarks to visit along the way that will contribute to the road trip, but don’t get frustrated if things don’t go exactly as planned. Roll with it.

Now, on to the main event: the actual vacation destination. This is still a matter of personal taste and a function of what your family wants to do, but be realistic, and stay focused on what’s most important: that everyone enjoys this time away together.

Don’t feel as though you need to spend every waking minute together, however. If you want to go for a half-day hike, or lounge by the pool in the afternoon sun, go for it, just make sure everyone else is cared for first.

Consider destinations that are versatile and offer a little something for the whole family. Check for on-site activities and sanctioned excursions that appeal to everyone.

Be sure to work with your hotel or resort to reserve rooms that accommodate your special needs, such as adjoining rooms that are on the first floor and are handicap accessible.

Above all else: be flexible, keep a positive attitude, and don’t worry so much about achieving the perfect vacation. Enjoy the precious moments you have with your loved ones and make it your mission to focus on what truly matters, that you all are together and still making the most out of life, regardless of your present situation.

There will also be occasions when you just need to treat yourself to some time away. That’s okay. It’s healthy. You should do it and not feel guilty for one minute. That’s what home care companies like AmeriCare are here for: to care for your loved ones in the comfort of their own home while you’re away.

In short-term care situations, we always encourage introductory meetings to make sure that our caregiver and the client are compatible. Then, we take care of the rest, so that you can enjoy a well-deserved break and come back recharged and ready to give your all with a renewed outlook.

Feel free to contact us if you are interested in discussing short-term, or long-term care options for a loved one. You may find that it’s just the vacation that you’ve been looking for.

Tags: elderly parents, home care, Special Needs, Travel

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Seniors and the “Post-Holiday Blues”

By Debbie Reis, President, January 6, 2010

There are seniors who find that as the holiday season unfolds they feel progressively disappointed, stressed and sad. Older adults may not feel so excited about winter holidays as they used to. It can be caused by a number of things, but can be dealt with as part of the range of normal feelings. Progress can come from accepting the negative feelings as well as taking proactive steps and healthy holiday tips to get through the season.
Possible Causes of Holiday Blues Among Older Adults
It can be as simple as financial and social pressures or as complex as a lingering loneliness or grief which is intensified by all the talk about family closeness and love. When individuals have lost family members or friends the sadness is often intensified during this time of year. There is also reason to believe the decreased exposure to light adds to the mix due to shorter days and the tendency to stay inside during the winter.

There are many influencing factors that can contribute to seniors (individuals over, say, 65) being at particular risk of suffering from the “post-holiday blues,” including:

• Reminders of past losses of significant loved ones.
• Sadness over the contrast between “then” and “now”.
• Having spent the holidays alone.
• Fatigue.
• Coping with failing health.

Tips to Help Overcome These Factors:

• Keep a schedule. Write a routine down. Since there’s so much emotion in the air, choose not to act on winter depression only, but rather go by a schedule. Make it loose enough for extra activities, yet structured enough to give the day some shape. For example, set a time for meals. Do some physical activity in the morning. Read or watch a movie after lunch.
• Email or call at least one person, or socialize in other ways. Sometimes just a short chat can help relieve holiday stress.
• Consider walking outside, at a local mall, or another place with sights to see; enjoy nature or just go people watching.
• Have a cup of tea or coffee at a certain time each day.
• Take a shower and dress warmly.
• Open the shades, blinds or curtains. Sunlight has often been shown to be helpful in relieving seasonal affective depression. Some people even use seasonal affective disorder light therapy.
• Find TV programs or music to enjoy.
• Tend a garden or even plant something.
• Smile even if no one is looking. In fact, force a smile upon awakening. It can become a habit.
• Don’t hesitate to seek professional help from a doctor or counselor.

The Effect of the Shorter Darker Days of Winter

For some people, the shorter, darker days of winter are enough to bring them down. SAD, which is short for Seasonal Affective Disorder, affects millions of people of all ages. The word “affective” relates to emotions, and for those who experience SAD, their emotions go into a tail-spin throughout the winter months, causing such symptoms as depression, fatigue, anxiety, chronic over-eating and social withdrawal that persist until Spring brings longer, lighter days.

If you feel down for days on end during the weeks and months following the winter holidays, it’s important to seek advice from a mental health professional as soon as possible, particularly if you notice that your sleep and appetite are affected. SAD is very treatable; even the most severe cases can receive almost immediate relief once treatment has begun.

The American Psychiatric Association reports that “80% to 90% of all people with depression–even those with the severest cases–improve once they receive appropriate treatment.” Basic ways to treat depression include therapy, medication, and a combination of the two. There are therapists who are particularly skilled at helping those who are suffering from depression so that they’re better able to look to the new year–and many more holiday and post-holiday seasons–with renewed energy and optimism.

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Senior Care – Knowing When and How to Get the Best Service

By Vicktoria Baylor, October 29, 2009

Many concerned family members feel like they can only watch from the sidelines as they observe the gradual deterioration of the health of an elderly loved one.  Seniors often receive a reputation for stubbornness and an unwillingness to compromise.  Can you really blame them?  Coming to terms with old age is something everyone will put off as long as they can.  Some folks have no choice but to relocate to a nursing home when critical health issues arise.  Sometimes the issues are stealthier though, and appear very gradually.  How do you know when the time comes to look into senior care options before an accident actually occurs?

 There are a few tell-tale signs of needed senior care that can reveal themselves to you in the form of daily struggles that require assistance.  Such difficulties could include the inability to complete chores or even a complete negligence of them.  A change in behavior that includes going from being a neat freak to one who could care less about the cleanliness of their home could be much more than a simply behavioral change.  They could be losing the ability to complete chores but resist telling anyone the truth about it because they fear the nursing home life.  More seriously, it could be the onset of a mental condition that causes them to forget or simply not care about the things that used to characterize their behavior.

The other sign that it is time to look into senior care is if tasks like bathing and dressing become overly difficult or even dangerous.  A classic mishap is an elderly person slipping in the tub, hurting themselves and being unable to call for help.  If you want to prevent a disaster like this from happening, catch it before it becomes too difficult of a task to complete independently.

An ongoing, time consuming medical condition can put strain on a family who cares for a senior.  Perhaps before it becomes unbearable to manage you should look into senior care options.  You are almost guaranteed to be the one who must make this decision as the elderly are often not attuned to their own issues or they are too prideful to admit they need assistance.  Educate yourself on the differences between varying housing options or in-home care.  Depending on the issues faced specifically by your elderly loved one, you may want to look into different senior care options with differing levels of medical and custodial care.

AmeriCare Homecare provides the best in-home care options available. Contact a local office for more information about services provided.

Tags: elderly, homecare, in-home care, mental condition, nursing home, respite care, senior care

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Are you a caretaker or a caregiver?

By Debbie Reis, President of AmeriCare, October 22, 2009

Do you ever place other people’s needs before your own? Do you ever feel that you care for a loved one out of responsibility or moral obligation? Do you ever feel like no one fully appreciates all that you do?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you fit the description of a caretaker. As a caretaker, you stretch yourself thin. You sacrifice your own personal time rather than disappoint a loved one. Often your day is a frantic attempt to balance the needs of family, work and the person for whom you care. You can easily feel overloaded, as your best never seems to satisfy all the things required of you. It’s frustrating, exhausting… and it’s unnecessary.

There is a happier, healthier way to meet your responsibilities. It involves a transition… to a caregiver.

Caregivers take a different approach. They recognize their limitations, and realize that they must take care of themselves before they can be of any help to anyone else. Instead of franticly juggling, they prioritize. They delegate. And most importantly, they seek help before they become overwhelmed, stressed out and resentful of those who depend on them. Caregivers understand that time spent with a loved one must never become a burden or a chore. That’s not productive or healthy for either one of you. Time spent with a loved one should be time you appreciate… quality time… sometimes trivial, sometimes silly, but often filled with moments that will become memories.

Becoming a caregiver can be quite a big transition. And it can require help. At AmeriCare we’re focused on providing this help, so you can find balance. Our professional caregivers are trained to be resources for you, whether you’re looking for companion, at home or senior care. By matching the right professional with your specific needs, we can offer your loved one comfort and you confidence.

We think of it as a solution for the whole family, which is only natural because almost every AmeriCare employee has been a caregiver for someone in their own family. It’s a difference you will notice in all the thoughtful things we do.

Tags: caregiver, caretaker, respite care, responsibility, senior care

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Pamper Mom with “New Mother” Care

By Debbie Reis, Persident of AmeriCare, September 8, 2009

AmeriCare is a private duty home care company that specializes in assisting seniors with their day to day activities.  However, new mothers might also find themselves in need of assistance with day to day activities that can seem overwhelming when they come home with a new baby. AmeriCare can help!

While you are taking care of your infant, you might not have the time to clean the house or do the shopping, but both of these are incredibly important for the whole family.

If you don’t have anyone else that can help you, you can hire a companion to take care of your household chores. They can tidy up your home, take care of your pets, and even clip coupons to prepare for a day of grocery shopping. They can go do the grocery shopping for you, or go with you to help you push the cart and keep track of your list. Sometimes just a little bit of help those first few weeks is all a new mother needs.

As a new mother, you might not want to be alone for extended periods of time. A few hours of companionship can help you feel safe and secure. You’ll be amazed at how many things you used to do that you might forget about when you have your newborn home for the first time. Having someone around who knows what your daily routine should be can help you get things done such as watering plants and setting up appointments. You’ll also have someone there to run errands, pick up prescriptions, and accompany to doctor’s appointments.

If you don’t feel comfortable going out by yourself, an AmeriCare companion will go with you just about anywhere, from the park to events or religious services. Whatever your normal activities would be, you can count on your caregiver to be with you.

It can be difficult to invite a caregiver into your life, especially one you are counting on for so many things. You are letting this person help to take care of you while you are taking care of your newborn, and it should be your decision who you have around.  When you hire AmeriCare, each caregiver is carefully screened and will be interviewed by you for the best match. You can keep going through the interview process until you find the right caregiver to help you and your newborn thrive these new, exciting, and sometimes overwhelming first few weeks.

Call AmeriCare to set up an appointment to discuss the best way to pamper yourself or that new mother-to-be in your life!

Tags: companionship, daily activities, infant care, new moms, new mother, private duty

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Compassionate Approach to Discussing In-Home Care

By Sally Price, AmeriCare Franchisee in Northern CA, August 11, 2009

Discuss before hiring

When considering an in-home care provider, your parents should be a part of the discussion. Recognize that your parents may be experiencing tremendous amounts of fear once they realize that they are not functioning well on their own. They fear losing their freedom or their home. Respect their feelings and always approach the topic of in-home care with compassion.

Begin Slowly

Most elderly parents respond to in-home care by saying, “There’s really nothing for the caregiver to do.”

 Suggest they give the caregiver a try with basic housekeeping, such as laundry, changing bed linens and cleaning. Or the caregiver can perform errands such as grocery shopping or accompanying your parents to doctor appointments. Keep in mind that as the caregiver takes on these smaller tasks your parent will most likely begin to feel more comfortable trusting them with larger and perhaps more personal duties later. 

 Most importantly remember to reassure your parents that in-home care is NOT the beginning of the end, but an active step to prolong their ability to remain in their home. Having an in-home care provider is another form of preventative medicine. Like exercising or taking vitamins, in-home care can help your parent’s lead healthy, active, and happy lives.

Tags: care provider, caregiver, home care, in-home care, in-home care provider, parents

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