Sandwich Generation caregivers tend to be in perpetual motion. If we’re not busy with senior home care giving, we’re often playing games with grandkids. If we’re not doing that, you can often find us at the computer. Our grandkids tend to stay pretty busy as well, because that’s what kids do. But our aging parents don’t always keep so busy and, while that’s not necessarily bad, it’s also not good. Staying active, mentally and physically, is good for the body, the mind, and the spirits, helping to stave off depression and unneeded worry. How can a busy caregiver help to encourage more activities for their senior parents?

Just as with grandkids’ activity sites, there are interesting senior citizens’ activity sites. One such resource for us is the Nursing Home Activities Resource. While their primary audience is activity directors for nursing home and assisted living facilities, they have an eye out for us senior home care givers as well. I enjoyed looking around their site and found some interesting ideas to share with others plus some old favorites from years past.

Bridge and other card games have been very popular for many decades. My dad had to quit playing a couple of years after he got Parkinson’s Disease, because of his hand shaking, but many seniors can continue to enjoy playing well into their 80s and beyond. I used to drive a dear senior friend all over our fair city once every two weeks, for her Bridge game. She and her friends had been playing since they had worked at the same high school – over 50 years before!

Crossword puzzles were an old favorite my dad enjoyed til a couple of months before he went to be with the Lord, and is something my senior mom still has fun with. Sudoku is a new variation of this. It can be a bit tough for some, but many seniors have taken to it with a vengeance!

My husband’s grandma and grandpa loved to go their church every Sunday night to sing together with others. No sermon at this particular service, just lots of rousing, happy, wonderful old hymns. I would have loved to join them if we hadn’t lived on the opposite coast. Definitely kept their spirits up just thinking about it through the week!

The website includes group activities, things to do by yourself, musical fun, exercises, party plans, and even interesting ideas for those dealing with dementia care due to Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s, etc.

I especially enjoyed their article on a Luau party, complete with a video of the get-together (with a great song ) as well as another video showing how to make paper leis. Many seniors have enjoyed trips to Hawaii in the past and this would be a nice way to spark good memories and stories for the grandkids. For those involved in the senior ministry at their church, this could be a really fun project.

I have been enjoying their newsletter for awhile and am adding this to my bookmarks as well. How about you? What are some of your senior parents’ favorite activities? We’d love to hear about them.

Here are some interesting tips, links, and information from Twitter this week for all of us in the Sandwich Generation:

CAREGIVERS:

Preventing the Spread of Swine Flu in Nursing Homes and Senior Centers is an excellent article from Seniors For Living.

A CDC update, Taking Care of a Sick Person in Your Home , has some very useful information including how it spreads, medications that can help, and steps you can take to lessen the spread.

GRANDPARENTS:

Disney is one of the most popular channels with my grandkids . Particularly since we have a tween! For those who also like Disney, but don’t get it with their current connections, the NY Times reports that “Disney/ABC adds shows to Hulu, joining NBC and Fox/News Corp .”

SANDWICH GENERATION – GENERAL TIPS & ENCOURAGEMENT:

If you, or someone you know, is a hair stylist, Seekzpeace has some really cute stickers for kids when they get their hair cut. Sounds like something my grandkids would love!

Free audio book download, Foxes Book of Martyrs , at ChristianAudio My pastors have all recommended that book. I’m going to have to get it! 

The steadfast of mind You will keep in perfect peace, Because he trusts in You. Isaiah 26:3 Thanks to @RapturReadyNews . Speaking of them, Rapture Ready is one of my favorite sites for news updates from a Christian viewpoint.

CNN reports that the FDA says “stop using Hydroxycut products , which are popular dietary supplements used for weight loss.” Thanks to @NerdNews for that update.

Are you looking for friends from high school, or helping an aging parent track down an old army buddy? PIPL is a great search engine for finding people.

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.” ~ Corrie Ten Boom

Be careful if you use Facebook to keep up with friends, family, and even grandkids . There’s a new phishing attack going on. Don’t click on fbstarter links Thank you @JesseNewhart.

That’s it for this week. More updates on the next Sandwich Generation Twitter Tips on Microblog Monday.

Nursing home and assisted care facility research is probably not on your top 10 favorite things to do. Unfortunately, health problems in elderly relatives can pop up when least expected and usually at the worst possible moment. One way to make things a little bit easier is to do some pre-prep work before you actually need it. Then, if the worst occurs, you don’t have to start from scratch. One way of doing that is bookmarking the various resource sites that could be useful to you if the time for deeper research is necessary. Here are two links I found through Mr. Eldercare on Twitter to help you in that quest.

Medicare has an easy to use website that lets you compare every Medicare and Medicaid-certified nursing home in the country. You can locate them by city, state, zip code, county, or by their name. http://budurl.com/CompareNursingHm

When my dad was put into hospice, he had a bad reaction to medication. For a short time, we thought we would have to move him into a nursing home. I had no clue what they were like, or how good or bad they were. I would have greatly appreciated this resource at that time.

I plugged in a couple of zip codes where there are nursing homes I am familiar with. The scores seemed pretty much on target to me, however this is just a beginning point. Once you have this information, it is still crucial that you or someone you trust visit the site personally and check it out carefully. One other caveat, I noticed one nursing home I am familiar with was NOT on this list. I presume it is not a medicare or medicaid-certified nursing home, though it is a very nice faith-based facility. So do realize there may be other options available than what you will find on this list.

In fact, USA Today has an interesting and informative article that discusses pros and cons to this chart along with more details and extra charts including one listing the best and the worst options. It would be a good article to bookmark but also to print out and save for future reference, in case it is removed from the site. http://budurl.com/NursHmsRatingsInfo

One step we have taken to help you with this project is to start a list of bookmarks using the social bookmarking site, Delicious. You will find the most recent bookmarks listed at the top of the far right column of this page. Each time I add a link to an article, the link should also be added to Delicious, making it easier for each of us to find important resources in the future. I moved the news headlines down below the Delicious bookmarks. Let me know how you feel about the change – love it or hate it. You can leave a comment below, or send an email to SandwichINK@SandwichINK.com .