Senior Home Care Giving:

Retirement Workout Ideas you’ll actually enjoy.   @Seniors4Living

Benefits of Pet Therapy for Seniors. @GlenboAZ

Chronic pain found to increase risk of falls in older adults. @CaringTrans

Hope for Adult Day programs in PA. Great idea for all Adult Day Programs. @PattyGrace

Employers’ Best Practices for Workers with Senior Home Care Giving Responsibilities. @ElderCareRN

Excellent, Thoughtful Approach for Alzheimer’s Disease – Principles For a Dignified Diagnosis. @CarePath @mike_gamble

‘Medicare Advantage’ at Issue in Senate.  @caregiving

Be sure to check out the Holiday Survival Guide for senior home care givers at Caregiving.

Vital info regarding Alzheimer’s Disease, Dementia and Medicare.

There’s a great new Boomers and Seniors: News You Can Use blog carnival this week.

Grandparents:

Fun Christmas ideas for Grandparents.

For a creative and funny bunch of ideas to do with and for your grandchildren, pop over to @ShaynePacker ‘s site.  They are very adorable.

Words of Encouragement:

God is the rock of my refuge.

God is my salvation.

God is our helper.

God is the strength of my heart.

Baby Boomer Generation:

Surprising analysts, Bank of America says it will fully repay $45 billion taxpayer aid soon. Good news about one of my favorite banks!  On the other side of the coin, with the repeal deadline approaching, House votes to extend estate tax (45% rate). There’s been no action yet in the Senate.  @SoundMindInvest

Yummm. If you have a Christmas party planned this year for friends, neighbors, or grandchild, here’s a delish-looking Candy Cane Fudge recipe!

As Sandwich Generation senior home care givers and grandparents, we can have several challenges in melding the needs of our senior parents and our very young grandkids. One prime example is that we want to allow grandkids to play freely while at the same time keeping safe areas and fall protection for our elderly parents and/or our wobbly toddlers who are just learning to walk.

If you are one of those who are blessed with the gift of keeping things totally immaculate without even trying, you probably won’t have an issue in this area. For those, like me, who are not so blessed, it’s a constant challenge to make sure we keep things picked up so my senior mom OR another grandkid don’t suffer any falls

Some of the things we’ve learned to watch for include:

• Keeping doorways clear for senior parents and shaky toddlers. For some reason, children seem to LOVE to play in doorways. I don’t think twice walking around or over them, but aging parents and tiny toddlers aren’t able to do this safely. Now I routinely remind them not to play there at all.
• Gates are vital for young ones – not to mention puppies – but aging parents might not notice them since they are at knee level. For that matter, they might see the gate, lift their legs over it but not be able to get them up high enough, then trip and suffer falls. Since I, who am usually very spry, just did that tonight, I can testify to how easy that is! 
• Aging eyes don’t see toys as easy as young eyes, and even small toys can cause a shaky senior OR toddler to trip. Marbles are fun for the tween ages, but can cause falls for the older and younger AND pose a choking danger to the wee ones. The same goes for LEGO and other tiny toys. Keeping them picked up is time consuming but easy fall protection.
  
• Dimmed light can be useful to try to get the young’uns to sleep but make it easy for great-grandma to slip and fall.
  
• Rugs – even rubber-backed ones – can cause the very young and the elderly to slip and fall, particularly if they get turned up or rumpled. The rubber-backed ones are vital, but even they need to be regularly monitored to be sure they are flat and safe.
  

These are just a few ways to provide family safety through fall protection. I try to stop and think things through every couple of days, and look around the house for areas that might be a problem.  If you have suggestions of things to watch for, we’d love to hear about them in the comments section below. And, be sure to sign up for the SandwichINK free email for more info and ideas for the Sandwich Generation.

It’s once again time for the Thursday Meme, Current Events Wrap Up. Today I want to share a sad story that includes some very useful information for us as caregivers.

Head Injuries – One very sad story that has had headlines all week was the tragic death of actress Natasha Richardson, Liam Neeson’s wife. In case you missed it, she died from a fall while skiing on a fairly simple slope. Each time I saw the headlines, I prayed for her, and I continue to pray for comfort and encouragement for her husband, family and friends. One part of this story that I found of special importance to us, as caregivers, is found in this article at the Globe And Mail . Apparently an ambulance was dispatched, but turned back because her injuries did not seem to be very bad. According to the article, “Mr. Coderre, who has 23 years’ experience as a paramedic, says victims of head trauma often make the potentially fatal mistake of believing they are fine. ‘When you have a head trauma you can bleed. It can deteriorate in a few hours or a few days. People don’t realize it can be very serious. We warn them they can die and sometimes they start to laugh. They don’t take it seriously.’”

As a caregiver of children and elderly adults, we know that falls are a common occurrence for both groups. Many times, these falls can involve head injuries. I know to check with a doctor and then monitor anyone with a bad head injury for 24 hours. But I would never have thought that was necessary if they said they felt OK. Now I’ll know to ask a few more questions, watch a lot more closely, and push a little harder for a doctor visit. Medline has a good article on the subject of head injuries, including a checklist of what to watch for. This would be a good site for caregivers of all ages, including grandparents and parents, to bookmark.

If you’d like to read more articles on current events, check out the founder of this meme, The Surrendered Scribe . There you’ll find her take on the Madoff story as well as another view of Ms. Richardson’s death that I found to be informative and a sweet tribute.

You’ll also notice she is going to be participating in the Blog Party I am so excited about.  Don’t forget that starts tonight at 12:01 a.m. EST, (though you might not want to visit until tomorrow during the daylight hours ). I do hope you’ll come to our party, have a little fun, and maybe even win a fun prize! In fact, SandwichINK has donated two prizes:

99 — $25 gift certificate for Shutterfly
Provided by: SandwichINK.com
Prize details: $25 gift certificate for Shutterfly for photos of all those cute kids, grandkids, pets, etc.

100 — Two Coaching Sessions with Denise M. Brown from Caregiving.com
Provided by: SandwichINK.com
Prize details: Wishing for an easier day? With Denise as your coach, you can tackle your life’s current challenge. During each coaching call, you will determine your next steps that will take your toward the resolution, change or insight you want. Denise is a certified life coach, specializing in eldercare and life purpose. The value of your two free coaching calls is $150.00. For more information, please visit www.caregiving.com

You can see the rest of the prizes over at 5 Minutes For Mom’s prize page .  As of 12 noon on Thursday, there were over 200 prizes listed.  I’ve heard that many of the sites are also offering prizes on their own sites instead of through the main site, so the total number of fun goodies may be even bigger than this. Remember, if you don’t have a blog, you can still have fun. Stop by here tomorrow to get the link for the  Blog Party Main Post. You just have to visit at least 20 of the many interesting sites you’ll find linked there, leave comments at each one you visit, then go back to the Blog Party Main Post and leave a comment, telling that you visited 20 sites and including what prize(s) you are interested in to be eligible to win. You have a whole week to do all that. And most important of all, have fun!

It’s that time again. The Boomers & Seniors Blog Carnival has a new crop of great articles and you can find their links at Seniors Support – http://seniors-support.com/2009/02/10/boomers-and-seniors-blog-carnival-feb-10-edition/ . You’ll find a wide variety of articles to help you as you navigate all the different aspects of the Sandwich Generation life.

Once there, you can read about tax tips and RMD rules for investors. For those interested in frugal finances, check out how to use a garden to fight the recession as well as information about retiring cheaply.

Speaking of retiring, there is an interesting article about moving near the water, along with another on how to choose an assisted living facility.

Healthwise, you can read about antioxidants and herniated discs as well as how to deal with the issue of falls by elderly relatives. Complementing that information was my article on Medical Alert Systems.

Grandparents, I think you’ll enjoy reading about Hangman, one of my favorite games to play with my grandkids.

In addition, you’ll find interesting articles covering dementia, our adult children caring for us someday, and other topics of interest. So do go over to http://seniors-support.com/2009/02/10/boomers-and-seniors-blog-carnival-feb-10-edition/ for some interesting and educational reading time.