American’s lack of financial planning for the future also extends to long-term care insurance. More than half of Americans will need long-term care during their lives. But only seven percent of seniors own private insurance that could help them pay for this type of care, says the Journal of Financial Planning.

Long-term care is simply the help people need when a serious illness, injury or disability makes them physically unable to care for themselves. It can be expensive, with the cost for a year’s nursing home stay averaging $44,000 and adult day care typically $50 a day.

Medicare and Medicaid don’t cover many types of long-term care. And most people can’t afford to pay for it out-of-pocket. Consequently, family members are often left with the burden of providing care. Nearly half of adults age 50 or older provide some care to a family member or loved one, according to AARP’s “The State of 50-Plus America, 2004″. And 31 percent of caregivers quit work to care for an older person with a severe impairment, forfeiting thousands of dollars annually in wages and health benefits.

With life expectancy rising, Americans are facing retirement of 25 to 30 years or more. But many seniors are not financially or legally prepared for the future.

A lack of retirement planning is partly to blame. With Social Security benefits increasingly playing a smaller role in retirement funding, about 90 percent of people feel they will need to take on more responsibility for supporting their retirement, according to a recent survey by the American Council of Life Insurance (ACLI). However, only 44 percent of non-retirees say they are saving for retirement and are able to report how much.

A lack of planning is reflected in other areas as well. Currently, 57 percent of Americans don’t have a will — potentially leaving them without any say about their assets or the care of minor children after they die, reports legal Web site FindLaw. 

If someone dies without a will, their estate will be distributed according to a rigid legal formula and not as they may have wished. Legal experts advise anyone who is over the age of 18 and has assets, children or other dependants to create a will.

Call Expert Home Care when worried whether or not you can stay home comfortably. Please call 800-848-2336.

According to conventional wisdom, people who were kids in the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s, or even maybe the early ’70s probably shouldn’t have survived.

Remember how:

• Our baby cribs were covered with brightly colored, lead-based paint.
• We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, doors or cabinets. And there was nothing to stop us from sticking a fork in an electrical outlet.
• As children, we rode our bikes, we had no helmets. And we would ride in cars with no seat belts or air bags. 
• Riding in the back of a pickup truck on a warm day was a special treat.
• We drank water from dirty garden hoses — not from bottles. Oh the horrors!
• We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle, and no one actually died from it.
• We spent hours building go-carts out of scraps and then rode down the hill, only to find out we forgot the brakes.
• We fell out of trees, got cut and broke bones and teeth, and there were no lawsuits from these accidents. They were accidents. No one was to blame but us. Remember accidents?
• We had fights and punched each other and got black and blue and learned to get over it — or punch harder next time.
• We made up games with sticks and tennis balls and ate worms and mud pies. And contrary to what we were told, we didn’t put out very many eyes and the worms didn’t live inside us forever.
• You’re more resilient than you thought. Congratulations for having survived! 

Visit Healthy Aging often for quality healthy aging information - September is an annual observance month designed to focus national attention on the positive aspects of growing older.
http://www.healthyaging.net/index.htm

Healthy Food - for those who want to age healthfully and enjoy good food.

How many times do you think.. yuk, healthy food? It gives the connotation that healthy food is bland and flavorless.. rather than thinking it is better for us. Healthy food can inspire us and motivate us to cook with exciting, great tasting recipes that please our palate! For healthy eating recipes and more, go to healthyagingfood.com. http://www.healthyagingfood.com/

In addition to eating healthy habits is adding more activity and exercise into one’s daily routine. New Jersey Seniors know it’s good for us but avoid it like the plague. The reasons being we are familiar with being sedentary or afraid that exercise has to be vigorous and painful to be worth the effort given.

But what is beneficial to know is movement is movement -  the more you do, the healthier you’ll be. Even doing moderate activities like chores, gardening and walking can make a big stride in gaining a healthy body.

Just adding a little movement to your life can:

Reduce the risk of stroke, diabetes & heart disease

Have a positive effect on our joint stability

Improve range of movement

Maintain flexibility

Help maintain bone mass

Prevent osteoporosis and fractures

Improve our mood and reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression

Enhance self esteem which makes us happier people

Increase and improve memory in elderly people

Reduce stress

Even the small changes, adding movement to your day, and adjusting to a more modest weight, you will gain many benefits. One study exists that shows just a 10% weight reduction helps obese patients to reduce blood pressure, cholesterol and increase longevity.

For help when caring for an aging relative at home go to Expert Home Care and call 800-848-2336.

Continuing our post from August 22.. Sibling Conflict in Elder Care

Resolving these conflicts can be challenging. But ignoring the difficulties in a caregiving situation can create greater challenges. Ultimately, strained family relationships can impede a family’s capacity to provide the greatest quality of care to a parent. How can families come together in caregiving?

Here are some suggestions:

• Express your feelings honestly and directly. Let your siblings know their help is both wanted and needed.
  Keep family members informed regarding a parent’s condition.
• Be realistic in your expectations. Allow siblings to help in ways they are able and divide tasks according to individual abilities, current life pressures and personal freedoms. Assistance with errands, finances, legal work or other indirect care may be the best option for some family members.
• Express appreciation to your family for help they are able to provide.
• Accept siblings for who they are and expect differences of opinion.
• Try to respect other’s perceptions and find opportunities to compromise.
• If communication is particularly contentious, arrange a family meeting that includes an outside facilitator, such as your FCA Family Consultant, social worker, counselor, religious leader or friend. A trusted outside party can ensure that everyone’s voice is heard.
• If siblings are unable to help with care, seek other assistance to provide a respite for yourself.
• Call your local Caregiver Resource Center, Area Agency on Aging, Senior Center or other community resource to locate help.
• Try to forgive family members who continue to refuse to get involved in a loved one’s care. The only thing we have control over in a situation is our reaction. Attempt to work through your negative emotions to take care of yourself and move forward.

http://www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content_node.jsp?nodeid=868

Caring for aging parents or ill relatives brings out the good and the bad in sibling and family relationships. Caregiving can be a time for siblings to come together and provide support for each other or it can be a time for stressful transition, causing strained connections and painful conflict.

A source of friction between adult children carries the existing legacy of family dynamics. Demands of caregiving bring up old patterns, unresolved issues, and tensions. Old family wounds are reopened and rivalries reemerge. Siblings can find themselves replaying their historical roles in the family, recreating old dynamics of competition and resentment as they vie for mom’s and/or dad’s attention and affection.

Other things arise such as denial over a parent’s condition. Siblings who are unable to accept the reality of a parent’s illness and refuse involvement may be protecting themselves from facing a parent’s eventual death and their own loss. This causes the active family caregivers to react with resentment, bitterness, and anger.

What is seen in families is that discord surfaces from the unequal division of caregiving duties. Usually, it is one adult child or sibling that carries the primary role of caregiving for mom or dad. This may be because he or she lives closest to a parent, is perceived as having less work or fewer family obligations, or is considered the “favorite” child. When this situation occurs, it can lead the overburdened primary caregiver feel frustrated and resentful and other siblings to feel uninformed and left out.

Go to http://www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/content_node.jsp?nodeid=868

For help when caring for an aging relative at home go to Expert Home Care and call 800-848-2336.

In North America today, it is very common for children to provide full time care to their aging parents, often within their own homes. Adjusting to the arrival of a parent into a home can be both rewarding and burdening, and it is important that the caregiver receives both emotional and physical support from the rest of his/her family.

Unfortunately, caregiving for a parent is a situation that can often be a source of tension for siblings. It can be difficult for families to agree on the best methods of care, and is not uncommon for non caregiving family members to feel left out. In order to make the adjustment easier on the parent and caregiver, it’s crucial that non active siblings leave the major decisions to the caregiver while still being there for support. Siblings should respect decisions made by the caregiver and keep in mind the sacrifices that he/she has had to make in order to care for mom or dad.

Families need to stick together to provide for the well-being of their family unit, and maintain a peaceful and happy environment for their elder members.

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.

Expert Home Care New Jersey suggests the following home health care tips at home:

Buy a small, lightweight pitcher. Keep it filled with water at all times in a convenient place for your loved-one to get at. Remind them periodically about drinking plenty of water and where the pitcher of water is located. Staying adequately hydrated can ward off a number of different ailments like headaches, sleeplessness, and appetite suppression. It’s great for overall health and well being.

Avoid placing a lot of mirrors around your home. Mirrors can seem confusing for elderly people because they may not recognize their own reflection. Also, walking up to a mirror can startle or confuse them. If you like to have mirrors in your home, buy smaller mirrors and hang them relatively high on the walls. This is to prevent your loved one from seeing their reflection.

Visit us tomorrow when we give family members more home health care tips for their aging loved ones in New Jersey.

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

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Continued from our posting date August 13th - Estate Planning for New Jersey Seniors

The place seniors should start is with a complete financial inventory. This includes taking not of income, assets, expenses and even liabilities. Talk about what the senior is interested in long term. Is retirement living an option or will the family home be sold. These are important questions that should be worked out early on before a situation arises. Finally, determine what kind of insurance the senior will have as well as how much money for retirement.

Also, discuss a senior life settlement. This is an option for seniors who want to sell their life insurance policy for more than the cash value the life insurance company would give them to cash out. This means seniors can sell life settlements and get money to live their retirement on and the individual who bought the insurance policy will simply cash it out upon death.

Before making any of these serious decisions it is important for seniors to discuss their options with a professional. Lawyers well versed in senior matters or financial planers are two great resources for seniors to have their legal questions answered and to receive the help they need planning their retirement. Most of the time using an expensive attorney will be expensive in the short run but it will result in major savings down the road and is worthwhile.