The decision to move a loved one to a long-term care facility is usually a difficult one to make. How do you know which facility to choose or what to look for? How do you know if your loved one will be well taken care of and happy? If you have several facilities to choose from, the decision may be more difficult and will take longer than if you don’t have many choices. In either case, you want to visit the homes at least twice. Make one visit during the day and another during the evening to see if you notice any differences in what goes on. Before you go, buy a notebook! You will want to take lots of notes during your visits. It is also a good idea to prepare a list of questions in advance.
Memorial Day is a day on which those who died in active military service are remembered. What can you do to honor them? Visit cemeteries and memorials. Attend Memorial Day ceremonies. Volunteer to place an American Flag on each grave in national cemeteries. Observe a minute of silence at 3:00 PM, local time. Attend a Memorial Day parade, festival, fair or concert such as the National Memorial Day Concert. Run for charity on Memorial Day weekend. Volunteer to support events such as the National Memorial Day Parade. Donate to veterans and military support groups. History Memorial Day began sometime after the Civil War with both formal and informal ceremonies at graves and ceremonies for the so
Filling the days with meaning can be a challenge for someone who has dementia. They may not know what they are supposed to do next. Your loved one may lose the ability to initiate activity, or to follow through on the sequence of steps necessary to complete a task. They may need your help to complete the activities of daily living, as well as the past-times and hobbies they have always enjoyed. How do you step in and provide the stimulation that is important for your loved one’s quality of life? What can you do with a person who is living with brain changes, and has different abilities than they used to have? Think about the person. What have they always enjoyed doing? What were their hobbie
If you need long-term care as you age (and odds are that you will), how will you pay for it? Depending on what kind of care you need, the bill can run $100,000 per year or more! Where will you get the money? In this video, attorney Kim Kimbrough explains a new option for funding long-term care expenses. If you're curious about how this approach could work for you, just give Kimbrough Law a call at 706.850.6910.
It’s a loaded question, one that many adult children want to ask—but don’t—often until it’s too late. Research shows that financial decision-making ability peaks in our 50s and starts to decline after age 70. That’s why you hear about older folks falling victim to IRS phone scams and the ubiquitous grandparent scam, where fraudsters pretend to be grandchildren calling for financial help. Few people want to hear that they’re not as sharp as they used to be. And many won’t recognize the rising risk of losing hard-earned life savings as they age. Ironically, as the ability to make sound financial decisions decreases with age, our self-confidence in this area actually increases. If you want to p
May is Mental Health Awareness Month and Elder Care Coordinator Bre Simmons talks about the importance of keeping the mental health of caregivers in mind.
As a dementia caregiver, you wear many different hats. Each day, you assess the needs of the person that you care for and make decisions to ensure that the person receives everything they need. You cook, clean, run errands, go to appointments, pay bills, buy groceries, do laundry, help with personal care, and perhaps work outside of the home. You manage to get it all done and the next day you begin all over again. There is no question that a great many demands are placed on you as a caregiver. It takes a special person and a unique set of skills to succeed in taking care of a person living with dementia, as well as yourself. It helps to be well organized, and to have tools, systems and resou
Dementia affects many aspects of a person’s life including meal times. The ability to prepare nutritious meals and to feed oneself will change as the condition progresses through the various stages. Enjoying delicious and tasty food is one of life’s greatest pleasures, and that is no different for a person with dementia! They will have the same likes and dislikes that they have always had and will have lifelong habits around mealtimes that were developed at a young age. The more you know about a person and their background, the more successful you will be in helping them to enjoy their meals. Early stage In the early stage, very little may change. It is important to honor the person’s prefer
IRS, Security Summit Partners warn of new twist on phone scam; crooks direct taxpayers to IRS.gov to
The Internal Revenue Service is warning of a new twist on an old phone scam as criminals use telephone numbers that mimic IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs) to trick taxpayers into paying non-existent tax bills. The IRS and its Security Summit partners – the state tax agencies and the tax industry – urge taxpayers to remain alert to tax scams year-round, especially immediately after the tax filing season ends. Even after the April deadline passes, the tax scam season doesn’t end. In the latest version of the phone scam, criminals claim to be calling from a local IRS TAC office. Scam artists have programmed their computers to display the TAC telephone number, which appears on the taxpayer
Mother’s Day is May 13th this year. It’s also the start of National Women’s Health Week. Ladies, this is the perfect time to schedule a wellness check with your physician to see how you are doing and set some goals for your health, especially if you're caring for elderly loved ones.
