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
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Archives for Freedom Home Care
FHC Hosts its 2nd Annual Caregiver Appreciation Day
This Aug. 3, Freedom Home Care hosted its 2nd annual caregiver appreciation day and then followed it up with a company outing at Ravinia Park in Highland Park to listen to Crosby Stills & Nash. The all-day celebration was in response to yet another year of unmatched services provided by FHC staff. During the event, the FHC family had the opportunity to earn training credits in multiple areas and were able to do so in a fun and interactive way. The activities fostered personal growth and camaraderie within FHC’s already tight-knit team. In addition to professional development, caregivers and management
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Sleeping your way to 100
The next time you hear the ridiculous phrase, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead,” you may want to let the individual know that their chances of reaching age 100 could be slim as long as a good night’s sleep isn’t part of the equation. According to a Wall Street Journal article, extra sleep and a healthy diet equate to a longer life lived. The primary findings of a United Healthcare study that looked at centenarians and baby boomers and the possibility of reaching the age of 100 revealed that “many boomers are embracing lifestyles that could lead to a long and rewarding
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Getting health benefits from video games
It’s a beautiful, sunny Saturday afternoon, and chances are that a lot of Chicagoland kids are inside playing video games. As adults, whether it be a parent or a grandparent, it should be our responsibility to get those kids off the couch and outside. And then once Chicago’s youth have taken a deep breath of fresh air, we adults, should then feel it our responsibility to pick up those controllers and start playing video games where the kids left off. Although it might sound a bit odd, a recent Wall Street Journal post titled “How Video Games Keep Seniors Fit,” discussed
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Evanston announces a community health center to serve low-income patients
For so many aging Americans, the price of health care is a cause for much undue stress. For seniors living in Evanston and Skokie, that stress has been greatly alleviated by recent news that was published yesterday in Evanston’s Evanston Now, a news and information site dedicated to the local community. According to the site, the NorthShore University HealthSystem is donating $1.8 million to support the establishment of a new federally qualified community health center to serve low-income patients in Evanston and Skokie. “The contribution supplements a $650,000 annual grant from the federal government to the Erie Family Health Center, the group
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Finding inspiration from senior athletes
Last week we reported on Hiroshi Hoketsu of Japan, a 71-year-old competing at the 2012 London Olympics in the individual dressage for Japan’s equestrian team. Hoketsu’s accomplishments are impressive. He is, after all, the oldest individual to do so in the last 92 years. As you’ll see in the video below, Hoketsu isn’t the only senior out there showing off their athletic prowess. The National Senior Games also known as the Senior Olympics is bringi college essay writing ng together a whole host of aging individuals who despite their age are participating in competitive games. In Tennessee, for example, tens of thousands of senior
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The NCOA debunks the myths of older adult falls
The National Council on Aging is a great resource for older individuals as well as for the people who take care of them. Therefore, we here at Freedom Home Care tend to visit the NCOA’s website with a fair amount of frequency. When we stumbled on the article, “Debunking the Myths of Older Adult Falls,” we knew we had to share it with the regular visitors of our blogs. We hope you find it to be as enlightening as we did: Myth 1: Falling happens to other people, not to me. Reality: Many people think, “It won't happen to me.” But
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Celebrating Chicago’s North Shore communities
More than 150 years ago, Europeans settled in what are now known as Chicago’s North Shore communities. After an 1833 treaty with local Native Americans, the area was free for the picking. Towns like Evanston rose up once Northwestern University opened its doors in 1855 and even more emerged upon the founding of Lake Forest College two years later. After the devastation of the Great Chicago Fire, city dwellers escaped to its quiet neighborhoods, building mansions and beautiful homes that still line the streets today. Ever since, the tight-knit communities have welcomed even more residents to raise families and open
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Tips to help aging individuals cope with extreme heat
This summer has been brutal – temperature-wise. In a recent blog post, Tom Skilling, Chicago’s favorite forecaster, reminded residents just how hot it's been. If we crack the 90-degree marker 11 more times, he said, we will tie the 24-year record for the most days over 90 degrees. And considering that Chicago’s five-day forecast calls for three days of above-90 temps, it looks like we just might do it. Despite the fact that the worst is behind us, it’s still a good idea to be reminded of the health risks that this type of weather can pose to aging individuals. Hypothermia,
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Feel comfortable and confident with your loved one's caregiver
When your loved one opens his or her home to a new caregiver, the No. 1 hope is for that individual to become not only an aid but a friend, as well. A recent study, however, revealed that hiring a caregiver can open up the unfortunate opportunity to a host of concerns. The study, recently published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society and funded by the National Institute on Aging, revealed poor hiring and screening practices by home-care agencies around the nation. According to an article published by NextAvenue.com, which summarized the study’s findings, including the responses of 180
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