Category Archives: Specialty Care

For posts relating to special care requirements and/or special health issues.

Elder Live-In Care in New Jersey – Long Term Care

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Are you seeking caregiving or live-in help for a loved one? Call today! 800-848-2336 or visit Expert Home Care New Jersey.

In our last post, Expert Home Care listed tips and observations on determining if your loved one needs caregiving, or live-in caregiving. If you resolved that the senior has immediate needs, then it’s time to talk about it with the senior. This will be a delicate process that requires probing but respectful questions, a healthy dose of empathy, and an understanding that there will be communication problems and pitfalls.

You will either find that your loved one in question accepts their limitations and makes necessary adjustments, or they will resist and struggle. If he/she resist, know that your conversation may be interpreted as a personal threat to their independence. 

The most effective discussions focus on what seniors can do, rather than what they can’t do. Encourage them to make good use of the abilities they still have. When caregiving is needed, here are some steps to consider taking:

  • Make a list of the assistance that is needed
  • Identify potential helpers and tasks
  • Establish a network of professional care providers
  • Monitor and ensure quality service from care providers
  • Avoid family caregiver burnout by maintaining balance and obtaining relief

The more you know about you mom or dad’s needs and desires, as well as knowing what is available to them through their community services and those related costs, the more depth you will add to discussions about caregiving.

Remember to call Expert Home Care at 800-848-2336, we are Certified Senior Advisors who understand and know the right kind of planning, recommendations and referrals to help make aging a state to be savored instead of a fate to be feared.

Senior Home Caregiving – NJ Home Health Care & NJ Live In

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Expert Home Care NJ provides caregiving in New Jersey for Senior’s at home. Many families ask us, “How do we know if mom and dad need help and caregiving, and if they do, how do I talk about it?” 

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.

Immune System – New Jersey Senior Healthy Immune System

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New Jersey’s Expert Home Care ensures the safety of your loved one in the comfort of their home.  Please call us at 800-848-2336.

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.

New Jersey Home Care for Seniors – Memory Loss Help

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New Jersey Expert Home Care in Somerville, Red Bank, Lakewood, Hackettstown, Ridgewood, Princeton, Trenton, Flemington, Morristown, Wayne helping your loved ones when memory loss is an issue.  Call us at 800-848-2336.

We are your Live-In Home Care Specialist in New Jersey.  Since 1985 we’ve been providing Live-In Home Care in the Tri-State Area. Expert Home Care knows that it means everything to aging seniors to live independently at home. Most adult children understand this wish. That’s why Expert Home Care in NJ offers 24/7 care so we can be there when you cannot be.

Today our topic is memory loss. There’s a bit of confusion around memory loss – is it Alzheimer’s, or dementia? Most often, we are asked, “Is memory loss normal?”

Memory loss is not a normal part of the aging process. this is the message that seniors, spouses, children and loved ones need to remember. As research shows that the ability to pay attention and concentrate decreases with age, and senior moments or word finding difficulties are common, it is not normal for memory to worsen with age. This can, in fact, be a sign of a more serious problem.

Experts in memory loss says aging slows down the process of taking in new information. People don’t forget, but may begin to learn differently. Learning can be improved through such healthy living measures as:

  • Proper exercise
  • Eating a balanced meal
  • Getting enough sleep
  • Reducing stress

New Jersey’s Expert Home Care suggest that seniors become aware of what can adversely affect attention and concentration and find ways to eliminate these stressors from their lives.

This may mean getting treatment for:

  • Depression
  • Reducing alcohol consumption
  • Recognizing medication misuse
  • Using herbal supplements with caution

We suggest the following helpful hints: 

  • Writing things down
  • Organizing important things
  • Planning ahead
  • Exercising the brain - doing crossword puzzles or number games

Regular brain exercises can increase learning and help reduce senior moments. Just like our bodies, our brains require regular care and maintenance. This is particularly true when we get older.

Do you believe you’re experiencing memory loss as you age? What do you do to help diminish or control “forgeting things and dates”? Share with us your story and tips by leaving a comment below. Thank you. 

For help with caring for a loved one living with memory loss, call the Live-in Home Care Specialist at 800-848-2336. New Jersey Expert Senior & Elder Home Care.

Live in Hospice Care

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 Hospice, in the earliest days, was a concept rooted in the centuries-old idea of offering a place of shelter and rest, or “hospitality” to weary and sick travelers on a long journey. Today, hospice care provides humane and compassionate care for people in the last phases of incurable disease so that they may live as fully and comfortably as possible. Its all about making the patient feel comfortable and helping them to end their lives with dignity and to aide the family in coping with this difficult time in their lives. 

 Hospice is a philosophy of care. The hospice philosophy recognizes death as the final stage of life and seeks to enable patients to continue an alert, pain-free life and to manage other symptoms so that their last days may be spent with dignity and quality, surrounded by their loved ones. Hospice affirms life and does not hasten or postpone death. Hospice care treats the person rather than the disease; it highlights quality rather than length of life. It provides family-centered care involving the patient and family in making decisions. Care is provided for the patient and family 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Hospice care can be given in the patient’s home, a hospital, nursing home, or private hospice facility. Most hospice care in the United States is given in the home, with a family member or members serving as the main hands-on caregiver.

There really is no better place to recieve the care and comfort that one deserves at this time than in the familiar surroundings of their own home.  A Live in caregiver from Expert Home Care can work together with Hospice allowing the patient to come home or remain at home to spend the last months, weeks or days in the place that they cherish most-HOME.  We have many caring and compassionate caregivers who have worked within this type of situation and who can ease the family’s burden of the care requirements thus allowing family to spend quality time with their loved one on their own terms.

Expert Home Care is a member in the NJ Hospice and Palliative Care Organization and can discuss the options available for in-home care and refer you to excellent hospice programs throughtout the state.