Archives for Freedom Home Care

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
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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
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FHC Hosts its 2nd Annual Caregiver Appreciation Day

FHC Hosts its 2nd Annual Caregiver Appreciation Day

August 16, 2012 | Comments Off on 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

Sleeping your way to 100

August 15, 2012 | Comments Off on 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

Getting health benefits from video games

August 11, 2012 | Comments Off on 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

Evanston announces a community health center to serve low-income patients

August 9, 2012 | Comments Off on 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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The NCOA debunks the myths of older adult falls

The NCOA debunks the myths of older adult falls

August 6, 2012 | Comments Off on 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

Celebrating Chicago’s North Shore communities

August 3, 2012 | Comments Off on 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

Tips to help aging individuals cope with extreme heat

August 2, 2012 | Comments Off on 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

Feel comfortable and confident with your loved one's caregiver

August 1, 2012 | Comments Off on 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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