Monthly Archives August 2012

Sit and be fit with Mary Ann Wilson

Sit and be fit with Mary Ann Wilson

August 31, 2012 | Comments Off on Sit and be fit with Mary Ann Wilson

Yesterday, we here at Freedom Home Care reported on the importance of maintaining healthy bones, joints and muscles in order to increase coordination and balance. In our post, we talked about the benefits that come from weight-bearing activities like taking a walk. Understanding that all older individuals might not have the mobility to get out of the home, we are happy to take advantage of the exercises suggested by the PBS series, Sit and be Fit. In it, Mary Ann Wilson focuses on healthy activities that can take place while sitting in any household chair. For the video that we’ve
Read More

Combating old age from the inside out

Combating old age from the inside out

August 30, 2012 | Comments Off on Combating old age from the inside out

As individuals get older, retire and settle into their later years, there are a lot of positive changes to embrace. Free time is opened up to spend with loved ones and to devote to hobbies that were always put on the backburner. In that same breath, however, there are also changes that happen in old age that might not be as welcomed. The aging process can bring about wrinkles and gray hair, and although these changes are expected, old age can also usher in other harder-to-spot changes. Just as wrinkle cream and hair dye can improve what happens to the
Read More

Making the bedroom a safer place for your aging loved one

Making the bedroom a safer place for your aging loved one

August 29, 2012 | Comments Off on Making the bedroom a safer place for your aging loved one

This week, we here at Freedom Home Care have dedicated our blogging to in-home safety for sufferers of Alzheimer’s and dementia. Our caregivers, based in Oak Brook, Buffalo Grove, Grayslake, Highland Park, Hinsdale and Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood, understand that sometimes it’s necessary to place himself or herself in the position of the patient to anticipate potential dangers in the home. “Caregivers will find that such approaches will be dependent upon the person for whom care is being provided,” say the editors at AgingCare.com. “The most important aspect of caregiving in a home is safety and security, for both the patient
Read More

Six tips for delivering safety in the bathroom

Six tips for delivering safety in the bathroom

August 28, 2012 | Comments Off on Six tips for delivering safety in the bathroom

In yesterday’s post, we here at Freedom Home Care discussed the importance of creating a safe at-home living environment for patients with Alzheimer’s and dementia. And we started with the kitchen, one of the home’s top locations for accidents to occur. Bathrooms, however, can also provide special challenges for caregivers. Therefore, we’re delivering some of AgingCare.com’s best tips for how to create an enhanced level of safety in the bathroom. Here they are: 1. Whenever possible, bathtub and toilet areas should supply adequately anchored grab bars in both bathtub area and around the toilet. 2. Products such as raised toilet
Read More

Four tips for creating a safe kitchen environment

Four tips for creating a safe kitchen environment

August 27, 2012 | Comments Off on Four tips for creating a safe kitchen environment

Providing a safe home environment for a loved one suffering with Alzheimer's is a top priority. And the caregivers at Freedom Home Care understand how important it is for a patient with Alzheimer’s or dementia to be safe and comfortable in their own homes. Therefore, over the course of the next few days, we here at FHC will dedicate our blog posts to providing helpful tips and methods to ensure the utmost level of in-home safety. According to the editors at AgingCare.com, “in the long run, adapting the home environment is much easier than trying to adapt behaviors that may
Read More

Asking the right questions regarding in-home care

Asking the right questions regarding in-home care

August 24, 2012 | Comments Off on Asking the right questions regarding in-home care

Communication is truly the key to a successful in-home-care environment. As we mentioned in yesterday’s post, developing a plan before the need arises can ease the stress involved with transitioning into one’s twilight years. Therefore, creating an open forum for discussion within the family is essential when it comes to the specifics of everyday care. According to the Family Caregiver Alliance, the first step in exploring care options is identifying what is most important to your aging loved one. “Projecting into the future is difficult, but it is important to educate yourself about choices and communicate how you feel about
Read More

Creating a twilight plan

Creating a twilight plan

August 23, 2012 | Comments Off on Creating a twilight plan

Although planning for our twilight years should be on the top of our list of priorities, often times it’s not. For starters, most of us don’t want to think about getting old and potentially needing assistance. Compounding that is the fact that many individuals don’t even know where to start. One way to bring twilight planning to the top of the list is with the help of the National Clearinghouse for Long-Term Care Information website. Founded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the website provides information and resources to help a family or an individual plan for future
Read More

FHC serves as a preferred provider for Ravinia Associates

FHC serves as a preferred provider for Ravinia Associates

August 21, 2012 | Comments Off on FHC serves as a preferred provider for Ravinia Associates

To celebrate our staff and their professional development, we here at Freedom Home Care hosted an annual caregiver appreciation day on Aug. 3 and then followed it up with a company outing at Ravinia Park in Highland Park. Spending the day at America’s oldest outdoor music festival, we were reminded of our relationship with the Ravinia Associates in Internal Medicine Ltd. as a preferred provider. Ravinia Associates, which was recently brought into the North Shore University Health System family, serves the North Shore community by providing up-to-date quality medical care and by imparting their expertise on service providers like the ones at
Read More

Dr. Oz Gets Tough on Diabetes

Dr. Oz Gets Tough on Diabetes

August 20, 2012 | Comments Off on Dr. Oz Gets Tough on Diabetes

As many as 26 million Americans have diabetes and shockingly, as many as 79 million adults have pre-diabetes. Type 2, which is the most common form, is preventable. Therefore, the decisions that we as Americans make every time we sit down to eat can either accelerate our chances to develop type 2 diabetes or prevent it. According to the American Diabetes Association, “in type 2 diabetes, either the body does not produce enough insulin or the cells ignore the insulin. Insulin is necessary for the body to be able to use glucose for energy. When you eat food, the body
Read More

Understanding dementia insurance and why it’s a good choice for retirees

Understanding dementia insurance and why it’s a good choice for retirees

August 17, 2012 | Comments Off on Understanding dementia insurance and why it’s a good choice for retirees

The Wall Street Journal’s Encore blog serves as a wonderful tool for anyone heading into retirement or already there. In a recent post, editors discussed annuities as a way to help minimize poor financial decisions associated with dementia. The editors referred to this financial safety net as a type of “dementia insurance,” put in place to protect assets and allocate the funds throughout the 20 or 30 years of retirement. The challenges lie in the management of 401(k) during the working career and after. “Most 401(k) plan analysts agree that these plans have not worked as well as one might
Read More