To make sure that both you and your elder loved one are safe, here are some important tips:

• Keep a glass of water in every room for quick access.  Drink plenty of fluids, even if you don’t feel thirsty.
• Dress in light-weight clothing.  Remove all heavy materials, long sleeves and dark colors from closets. 
• Stay out of the sun during the hottest times of the day.  Sunburn makes heat dissipation more difficult.
• Take a nap during high heat times or find a good television program or movie to watch.
• Keep shades down and blinds pulled. 

Most people know that extreme heat can make us sick. But we may think of heat-related illness as something that only affects people who are overdoing it like overheated marathon runners, professional athletes, or new recruits doing drills on military bases.

But most people who die from heat stroke in the U.S. about 400 every year, and possibly more don’t get it from overexerting themselves on a muggy day. In certain people during high temperatures, it’s all too easy to develop heat stroke while sitting perfectly still on the couch.

Heat stroke occurs when the body is unable to regulate its temperature. The body’s temperature rises rapidly, the sweating mechanism fails, and the body is unable to cool down.

Read the full article: Hot Summer Days Can Make Sick People Sicker.

Call Expert Home Care NJ if your elder needs Home Health Care in New Jersey at 800-848-2336.

Michael FitzPatrick reminds us why women need to pay close attention to planning for their future.. the long term care future.  He asks a provocative question…  ”When visiting nursing homes in America, what do you see? More specifically WHO do you see in nursing homes?”

Thinking back when visiting my dad living with Alzheimer’s, I remember seeing more women.  “Why do you suppose that is?”, asks Michael FitzPatrick. 

We can only assume why there are more women in nursing homes is because women out live their mates, and we don’t plan for our on future. “Men”, as Michael shared, “don’t plan for their future…, why do you think?” Michael believes it’s because most men KNOW they will be taken care of by their family.. usually the wife first, and then the adult children.

Reasons there is a disproportionate number of women in nursing homes -

• Women live no longer
• Family is no longer close to provide care for aging relative
• Increasing number of women remain single and childless
• Women have no financial plan in place

2008 Statistics on Long Term Care for Women

• Average life expectancy is 84
• Social Security provides 40% of all retiree’s income
• 12-15 million Americans need long term care now
• Between 65 and 70% of women work outside the home
• Divorce rates are on the rise – 1 out of 2 marriages end in divorce
• 25% of baby boomers don’t have children
• Family members can live across town & the country

Expert Home Care invites women in New Jersey to learn how better care for themselves in the future. Call Michael FitzPatrick at (973) 394-0053 or visit THE LTC Partnership at www.theltcpartnership.com.

 

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has announced plans to implement a one  to five star rating system for nursing homes to help consumers in New Jersey evaluate a nursing home’s quality when selecting a facility. The ratings would appear on the agency’s Nursing Home Compare Web site.

CMS will base the ratings on government inspection results and the staff data and quality measures. It is yet to be determined – if the ratings will include patients with dementia or those on ventilators.

CMS Administrator Kerry Weems believes the public is hungry for this type of information. And he adds, “lower ratings will likely put nursing homes on the path to improvement . . . I don’t think we’re going to see many people who are very anxious to put a loved one in a one star home.”

But the new rating system was criticized both by consumer advocates and the nursing home industry, for different reasons.

A senior policy attorney with the Center for Medicare Advocacy, Toby Edelman, said that two of three criteria CMS plans to use for the ratings like staffing data and quality measures are “self reported by nursing facilities and are inaccurate.” Edelman said, “Relying on nursing homes to describe accurately how well they are doing . . . just doesn’t make sense”

The president of the American Health Care Association, Bruce Yarwood, a long term care industry trade group, criticized CMS’s use of government inspection results as criteria for the ratings and said CMS should consider consumer and staff satisfaction.

If you want your elder or senior living in New Jersey to continue living at home go to Expert Home Care and call us at 800-848-2336.

Frank Esposito and David Goodman, owners of Expert Home Care in NJ are Certified Senior Planners, members of the Society of Certified Senior Advisors. The Society works very hard educating professionals, like us, to work more effectively with our senior clients. We believe that the right kind of planning, recommendations and referrals can make aging a state to be savored instead of a fate to be feared. For us it means understanding the key health, social and financial factors that are important to seniors, and how these factors work together. 

To our families of aging seniors, knowing when the need for caregiving arises is key. Usually, it’s defined by functional ability, not by the age of your loved one. In our experience working with New Jersey seniors for the past 20+ years, most wish to remain independent. Seniors also wish to remain in control of their lives as long as possible. We’ve learned not to make generalizations when it comes to age. 

Determining if your NJ senior needs caregiving assistance will demand astute observation on the family member’s part. Also, you will need to ask revealing questions and pay attention to the telltale signs. It’s important to look for patterns of consistent neglect within the following:

• Basic tasks: difficult in walking, dressing, talking, eating, cooking, climbing steps, or managing medications
• Hygiene: infrequent bathing, unusually sloppy appearance, bad body/mouth odor
• Responsibilities: unopened mail, unpaid bills, unfilled prescriptions, unreadable checkbook, phone calls aren’t returned, low food supply, laundry is piled up, spoiled food in refrigerator
• Health: weight loss, appetite changes, difficulty swallowing, fatigue, burns, bruises, hearing loss, incontinence, spilling or dropping things (look for stains), sleeping too much or too little, dehydration
• Isolation: Lack of interest in friendships, hobbies, or activities; curtains drawn day and night, no access to transportation
• Attitude: sadness or talk of feelings of depression and despair, abuse of alcohol or drugs,  paranoia, refusal to communicate, unusual argumentativeness, verbal abuse
• Cognitive functions: consistent forgetfulness about where things are, getting lost walking or driving, confusion, loss of reasoning skills, difficulty answering questions, inability to find the right  word or complete a sentence, repetitive words or phrases, wandering, loss of sense of time or  season, forgetting how to use ordinary things like a pencil, consistently forgetting to turn off stove, close windows, or lock doors.

Pay attention to these signs – these are the telltale signs that give you information that you seek. Visit our next posting when we give tips on “how to bring up the home care help talk”.

If you need more help determining whether your loved one needs caregiving at home, please call us at 800-848-2336 or visit Expert Home Care New Jersey.

New Jersey Expert Home Care in Somerville, Red Bank, Lakewood, Hackettstown, Ridgewood, Princeton, Trenton, Flemington, Morristown, Wayne.

Social historians say Americans are sleeping less. In the 18th and 19th centuries, people averaged 9.5 hours of sleep a night. Today, people in the U.S. sleep an average of 7.5 hours. In Canada, the average is 8.2 hours.
There is no formula for how much sleep is enough for you. Some people need ten hours, and some get along fine on six. But, one thing that is certain for everyone is that not getting enough sleep takes a toll on one’s mental health.

The loss of a night’s sleep results in irritability, fatigue and mood shifts. It undermines creativity, flexibility, originality, and the ability to deal with unfamiliar situations.

How can you make up for lost sleep? Don’t try to do it with a long afternoon nap. That can cause insomnia, and another miserable day tomorrow. Rather, experts say, you should go to sleep 15 or 20 minutes earlier each week until you are sleeping enough to eliminate daytime sleepiness.

The demands of jobs, community, and family can make it difficult to get enough rest, but the quality of sleep can also help to make up the difference. That means that if you get six hours of good sleep it is better than eight hours of interrupted or poor sleep.

Here are some tips on how to get restful sleep:

• Try to eliminate noise and light.
• Keep regular hours.
• Cut down on stimulants like caffeine.
• Don’t go to bed stuffed or starved.
• Develop a nightly ritual that sends signals to your body that it’s time to sleep.
• Sleep on a good mattress.

Regular exercise can also help relieve both physical and mental tension – as long as you don’t exercise too close to bedtime and help prepare your body for a good night’s sleep: that magical state of non-consciousness your body uses to restore itself.

Expert Home Care Live-in care, Elder care, & Senior home care in NJ  800-848-2336.

“Mr. Sandman” Often Overlooks The Elderly in New Jersey

For many older people, getting a good night’s sleep can be a challenge. While for some, going to sleep is as easy as crawling under the covers and turning off the light, scientists are learning that more than half of the elderly have difficulty falling asleep and/or staying asleep.

Many well documented studies suggest that altered sleep patterns are a normal part of aging. Some studies suggest that the elderly produce less of the so called sleep hormone, melatonin, than they did when they were younger. Some evidence supports the view that those elderly individuals who complain of sleep problems have lower melatonin levels than other individuals who are the same age and who get better sleep at night.

Conversely, still other studies indicate that melatonin levels do not diminish as individuals age. Doctors are still trying to determine just how useful melatonin treatment could be for those over age 65 who experience sleep problems. Here are some suggestions from sleep experts that could help you improve your quality of sleep.

• Stay active – Many studies have shown that exercise can be helpful for people 50 to 78 to regulate their sleep. Even getting enough sunlight during the late afternoon can help, too.
• Avoid alcohol and caffeine – Having a cup of coffee after supper, or a few drinks before bed, can really affect your sleep. Alcohol might make you feel sleepy at first, but it actually makes it difficult for you to stay asleep and rest.
• Take short naps – Daytime naps are okay as long as you limit them to 30 minutes or less. If you find it difficult to get the sleep you need, you should discuss the topic with your doctor. “Mr. Sandman” may be passing you by, but that needn’t rob you of the benefits of a good night’s sleep.

Do you have problems getting a full night’s sleep? How did you overcome “Mr. Sandman’s” absence? Please share your stories, we’d like to hear them!

To learn more about the type of care Expert Home Care in New Jersey offers seniors and elders choosing to live at home, giver us a call 800-848-2336.

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A healthy immune system is capable of eliminating dangerous infections and diseases before you’re even aware of them. Our body’s immune system is a thriving swarm of billions and billions of white blood cells, T-cells and other antibodies that have one goal: to recognize foreign invaders within our body and destroy them!

When bacteria enters your body through a cut, specialized cells called macrophages rush to the scene to devour the invaders. Other helper T-cells, killer T-cells and B-cells which create antibodies also rush to the site to clean up any bacterial fragments left behind.

Viruses are more insidious than bacterial infections because they sneak into our cells and have the ability to alter them for their own purposes. Against a viral infection, the immune system dispatches swarms of antibodies to attack the viral invaders. In addition, your immune system has memory cells that analyze each viral infection, remembers the formula that successfully defeated it, and creates an immunity to that exact virus in the future.

Lastly, our immune system contains free ranging agents called natural killer (NK) cells that seem to be programmed to attack both viruses and cancer cells. Fortunately, you can strengthen your immune system without too much effort:

• Eat a balanced diet.
• Cut down on fats.
• Take supplements containing the antioxidants like vitamins A, C, and E.
• Exercise regularly. Regular exercise increases blood flow and helps to move immune cells throughout your body.
• Minimize or neutralize the effects of stress. Chronic, unrelieved stress is probably the most severe threat to your body’s immune system.
• Limit alcohol consumption.
• Quit smoking cigarettes
• Get a good night’s sleep.

Without our immune system, even the mildest infection would be lethal. Under normal circumstances and with a little care and common sense, we can all keep our body’s immune system healthy and strong.

New Jersey’s Expert Home Care can help keep your aging relatives safe & healthy. Call us at 800-848-2336.

Expert Home Care is a good alternative to Assisted Living & Nursing Homes.. keeping seniors and elders safe and healthy in their homes. Call us today at 800-848-2336.

Medications Need to Be Carefully Managed

Consider the following common myths about medication use:

• If one dose makes me feel good, a larger dose will make me feel even better
• If one drug does not work, take two or three
• If I can buy it over the counter, it must be safe
• If my physician has not stopped the medication, I can still use it
• If it helped my friend, it will help me

Many seniors and elders living in New Jersey buy into these myths. Since seniors take on average as many as six prescription drugs and three to four over-the-counter medications, problems with medications are common.

The biggest medication problems for New Jersey elders:

• Not taking medicine correctly – either forgetting to take it or failing to follow instructions
• Allergic reactions
• Drug side effects
• Drug interactions
• Duplication
• Wrong dosage
• Unnecessary or inappropriate usage

Those with chronic conditions that take multiple medications may find one drug interacts or interferes with the effectiveness of another drug, or can cause unexpected side effects that can result in such symptoms as nausea, dizziness, heartburn, faintness, fatigue, drop in blood pressure, or blurred vision.

Common drug-to-drug interactions include aspirin with a blood thinner, like Coumadin, or certain diabetic medications; antacids with heart and blood pressure medications; and antihistamines with antidepressants.

There can also be problems when certain medications are taken with such common foods as dairy products, caffeine, grapefruit and orange juices, and alcohol, or with certain herbal supplements like gingko biloba or kava kava.

Let us help your loved ones live safely in their home. We are one of the best alternatives to Assisted Living and Nursing Home facilities – Expert Home Care New Jersey. Call for assistance 800-848-2336.