Hello Caring@Home team mates,
I will be removing this Caring@Home site in the near future and would like to give everyone the opportunity to join the new site. The Caring@Home blog is now located on the Bayshore website www.bayshore.ca. Once again thank you for your dedication to the weekly blog.
You can easily locate the blog at:
http://www.bayshore.ca
http://www.bayshore.ca/caringathomeblog
I look forward to hearing from you regularly, please subscribe to join the team and send your questions and comments.
Yours truly,
Jackie
Monday, May 16, 2011
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Caring@Home: That ringing is going to drive me crazy!
Caring@Home: That ringing is going to drive me crazy!: "To read more of the Caring@Home blog please vist our new location at www.bayshore.ca/caringathomeblog. Join the team, become a member, shari..."
That ringing is going to drive me crazy!
To read more of the Caring@Home blog please vist our new location at www.bayshore.ca/caringathomeblog. Join the team, become a member, sharing your stories and ask your questions. I would love to hear from you.
Your truly ,
Jackie
Your truly ,
Jackie
Friday, April 15, 2011
Caring@Home: A new location for the Caring@Home blog
Caring@Home: A new location for the Caring@Home blog: "Good Friday afternoon to all the Caring@Home members. Once again thank you for your dedication to the weekly blog. I am happy to inform you ..."
A new location for the Caring@Home blog
Good Friday afternoon to all the Caring@Home members. Once again thank you for your dedication to the weekly blog. I am happy to inform you we have moved the blog to the Bayshore website you can easily locate it at:
www.bayshore.ca
http://www.bayshore.ca
http://www.bayshore.ca/caringathomeblog
I look forward to hearing from you regularly, please hit the "become a member" to join the team and send your questions and comments.
Yours truly,
Jackie
www.bayshore.ca
http://www.bayshore.ca
http://www.bayshore.ca/caringathomeblog
I look forward to hearing from you regularly, please hit the "become a member" to join the team and send your questions and comments.
Yours truly,
Jackie
Friday, April 8, 2011
Caring@Home: Home care is the cornerstone of an inclusive, turn...
Caring@Home: Home care is the cornerstone of an inclusive, turn...: "Often, family caregivers start off thinking they can manage caring for an ailing parent on their own. But as the task becomes overwhelming –..."
Home care is the cornerstone of an inclusive, turn-key health care system for seniors
Often, family caregivers start off thinking they can manage caring for an ailing parent on their own. But as the task becomes overwhelming – especially if they are of the sandwich generation and have jobs and children – their role shifts to that of a health care system navigator. Arranging publicly funded home or institutional care becomes even more exhausting than the attention and physical care they personally provide to a loved one. It is then they realize they have entered into confusing sequence of events that involves a multitude of health care professionals and organizations.
This is a situation that will occur with increasing regularity. Statistics Canada has predicted that the number of seniors will surpass the number of children aged 14 or under for the first time ever sometime between 2015 and 2021.
In my experience many family caregivers tend to learn the hard way, through trial and error. This shouldn’t be the case. When my father became ill our family decided to keep him at home to fulfill his wishes. Everyone had homework to do: finding community health resources, investigating care funding options and bringing in help for my mother, as she ultimately became the family caregiver. These were trying times. Our success lay in the fact that we truly became a multi-disciplinary family care team.
If you are faced with becoming a family caregiver or arranging care, you also need to do your homework. Your first steps should be:
• Understand how home care in Canada is funded. Our provincial governments are primarily responsible for health care funding and distributing dollars various divisions within their health care sectors. Provincial home care programs vary across the county in the services they offer, their care delivery mechanisms and eligibility criteria. To understand the process and what’s available, you should visit your provincial home and community care website (e.g., the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, in Ontario).
• Determine what kind of care and funding you are eligible for through government-funded home care programs. This typically will require meeting with hospital discharge planners or social workers and government care program coordinators.
• Investigate your personal and workplace insurance policies for home care benefits.
• Learn about community health services, both public and private. Search online; speak with your local hospital, family physician or even friends.
• Check with volunteer and non-profit organizations in your community that provide support services.
Many people and organizations are advocating for comprehensive, publically-funded community and home care services that are recognized as an essential component of the Canadian health care system. In my opinion, home care is the cornerstone of an inclusive, turn-key health care system for seniors. The answer is collaborative home care programs that involve health care practitioners, the patient and family caregivers, which are accessible, convenient and work in unison.
This is a situation that will occur with increasing regularity. Statistics Canada has predicted that the number of seniors will surpass the number of children aged 14 or under for the first time ever sometime between 2015 and 2021.
In my experience many family caregivers tend to learn the hard way, through trial and error. This shouldn’t be the case. When my father became ill our family decided to keep him at home to fulfill his wishes. Everyone had homework to do: finding community health resources, investigating care funding options and bringing in help for my mother, as she ultimately became the family caregiver. These were trying times. Our success lay in the fact that we truly became a multi-disciplinary family care team.
If you are faced with becoming a family caregiver or arranging care, you also need to do your homework. Your first steps should be:
• Understand how home care in Canada is funded. Our provincial governments are primarily responsible for health care funding and distributing dollars various divisions within their health care sectors. Provincial home care programs vary across the county in the services they offer, their care delivery mechanisms and eligibility criteria. To understand the process and what’s available, you should visit your provincial home and community care website (e.g., the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care, in Ontario).
• Determine what kind of care and funding you are eligible for through government-funded home care programs. This typically will require meeting with hospital discharge planners or social workers and government care program coordinators.
• Investigate your personal and workplace insurance policies for home care benefits.
• Learn about community health services, both public and private. Search online; speak with your local hospital, family physician or even friends.
• Check with volunteer and non-profit organizations in your community that provide support services.
Many people and organizations are advocating for comprehensive, publically-funded community and home care services that are recognized as an essential component of the Canadian health care system. In my opinion, home care is the cornerstone of an inclusive, turn-key health care system for seniors. The answer is collaborative home care programs that involve health care practitioners, the patient and family caregivers, which are accessible, convenient and work in unison.
Friday, April 1, 2011
Caring@Home: April is Daffodil Month – honour and remember thos...
http://nursejackiehickey.blogspot.com/2011/04/april-is-daffodil-month-honour-and.html?spref=bl: "I’m sure if you think for a minute, there is someone you know who has been embattled with the horrifying, gruesome disease of cancer. Accord..."
April is Daffodil Month – honour and remember those who have been embattled by cancer
I’m sure if you think for a minute, there is someone you know who has been embattled with the horrifying, gruesome disease of cancer. According to the Canadian Cancer Society (http://www.cancer.ca/), every three minutes another Canadian is faced with fighting cancer and it will attack over 173,000 Canadians this year. This statistic must be obliterated. As many of you know, April is recognized as Daffodil Month – we are encouraged to donate and wear a daffodil as a symbol to fight back against cancer and support those who must take the tremulous journey to fight their own fight.
Cancer, unfortunately, has touched almost everyone at sometime or another. I lost my father, mother-in-law and cousin to the disease, and it’s something you can never forgive or forget. If you visit the Join the Fight page (http://www.fightback.ca/index.html) on the Canadian Cancer Society’s website, you’ll see how significant the month of April is in the fight against cancer: “To some, the daffodil is just a flower, to us, it is a symbol of strength and courage, a symbol of life. It says we will not give up. It says we will fight back. It says we will beat cancer.”
We have all seen poignant cancer ads or commercials that emotionally pull at our heartstrings. For example, a mom tells her story of chemotherapy and determination to fight because she wants to be at her daughter’s graduation and wedding, or the lung cancer victim undergoing a bronchoscopy, with her doctor commenting on how it’s “too late.” But until it hits us directly where it hurts, we tend to turn the other cheek.
Write in your calendar, send yourself a reminder or call a friend – whatever it takes, this April, Join the Fight. Donate, volunteer, spread the word and wear your daffodil – awareness is key. Everyone can make a difference and help support someone living with cancer or fund research to beat it.
From a cancer prevention standpoint, proactive health screening tests are highly recommended. They can help find some types of cancer early, even before you have any symptoms, and allow you to prevent cancer by finding changes in your body that could become cancer if left untreated. It’s also important to visit your family doctor for a yearly physical in order to keep on top of the preventative health bandwagon (http://www.cancer.ca/Ontario/Prevention/Get%20screened.aspx?sc_lang=en#ixzz1ID4YsYvO).
Today our office bought 100 daffodils (http://www.fightback.ca/FreshDaffodils.html) to launch an annual company-wide fundraiser in support of the Hike for Hospice Palliative Care (http://www.chpca.net/hfhpc). This is but one of the many ways we can come together to honour and remember the people in our lives affected by cancer. How will you remember them this April?
Cancer, unfortunately, has touched almost everyone at sometime or another. I lost my father, mother-in-law and cousin to the disease, and it’s something you can never forgive or forget. If you visit the Join the Fight page (http://www.fightback.ca/index.html) on the Canadian Cancer Society’s website, you’ll see how significant the month of April is in the fight against cancer: “To some, the daffodil is just a flower, to us, it is a symbol of strength and courage, a symbol of life. It says we will not give up. It says we will fight back. It says we will beat cancer.”
We have all seen poignant cancer ads or commercials that emotionally pull at our heartstrings. For example, a mom tells her story of chemotherapy and determination to fight because she wants to be at her daughter’s graduation and wedding, or the lung cancer victim undergoing a bronchoscopy, with her doctor commenting on how it’s “too late.” But until it hits us directly where it hurts, we tend to turn the other cheek.
Write in your calendar, send yourself a reminder or call a friend – whatever it takes, this April, Join the Fight. Donate, volunteer, spread the word and wear your daffodil – awareness is key. Everyone can make a difference and help support someone living with cancer or fund research to beat it.
From a cancer prevention standpoint, proactive health screening tests are highly recommended. They can help find some types of cancer early, even before you have any symptoms, and allow you to prevent cancer by finding changes in your body that could become cancer if left untreated. It’s also important to visit your family doctor for a yearly physical in order to keep on top of the preventative health bandwagon (http://www.cancer.ca/Ontario/Prevention/Get%20screened.aspx?sc_lang=en#ixzz1ID4YsYvO).
Today our office bought 100 daffodils (http://www.fightback.ca/FreshDaffodils.html) to launch an annual company-wide fundraiser in support of the Hike for Hospice Palliative Care (http://www.chpca.net/hfhpc). This is but one of the many ways we can come together to honour and remember the people in our lives affected by cancer. How will you remember them this April?
Friday, March 25, 2011
Caring@Home: Is there a way to end the pain of families having ...
http://nursejackiehickey.blogspot.com/2011/03/is-there-way-to-end-pain-of-families.html?spref=bl: "As a family caregiver, how do you prepare for the expected inevitable? Many of us have bolted up out of our beds at 3 a.m. when the phone ri..."
Is there a way to end the pain of families having to decide life or death?
As a family caregiver, how do you prepare for the expected inevitable? Many of us have bolted up out of our beds at 3 a.m. when the phone rings. Or we’ve had that sick feeling in the pit of our stomach when no one answers the phone and they are expected to be at home. No one is prepared for the call saying something has happened to your mother – “there is no answer at your mom’s house.” So how do we prepare ourselves for what we know will eventually happen? Are there things we can do or put into place now, which will help us cope with the emotionally-taxing decisions about a parent’s life or death path?
As stated in the Toronto Star’s two part series (http://www.thestar.com/living/article/957080--gravely-ill-man-s-wishes-for-life-must-be-respected-panel-finds), “in many cases, we, the ill or dying, won’t be the ones making our own final call.” There is a very grey line when it comes to the legal and ethical issues around life-saving and end-of-life measures in Canada. These agonizing decisions generally are left in the hands of distraught family members. But recently, we have seen hospital administration stepping in and making suggestive solutions. Is there a way to end the unnecessary suffering of families of having to decide life or death? Who should be making these decisions? If we prepared in advance, could this situation be easier to manage?
In Ontario, it’s responsibility of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) to provide health care information to the general public. But this is a challenge when it comes to end-of-life. There are no clear provincial, federal or medical protocols – these situations can often end up in a stalemate. In some cases the wishes of family members conflict with the medical judgment of the hospital administration. The MOHLTC provides some direction (http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/ministry/), but there’s no clear-cut statement that defines, as harsh as it may sound, “when to pull the plug.”
In my opinion, talking about and planning for death or sudden illness are a must. Regardless of your age, you should plan now. A simple drive to the corner store can change lives forever. Death is not something we obviously want to plan for, but we all know it’s inevitable – death and taxes, isn’t that what they say! So why not plan? Here are some tips to get you started:
End-of-life decisions for yourself, a parent or loved one shouldn’t be made without prior direction. If crisis strikes, everyone should be on the same page and ready to handle the unimaginable. Planning ahead is the best solution. We know it’s easy to talk about life plans, but discussing illness or death is a different matter. Yet by planning for the unexpected, you can make a very difficult and emotional time less stressful and be by a loved one’s side when they need you most.
As stated in the Toronto Star’s two part series (http://www.thestar.com/living/article/957080--gravely-ill-man-s-wishes-for-life-must-be-respected-panel-finds), “in many cases, we, the ill or dying, won’t be the ones making our own final call.” There is a very grey line when it comes to the legal and ethical issues around life-saving and end-of-life measures in Canada. These agonizing decisions generally are left in the hands of distraught family members. But recently, we have seen hospital administration stepping in and making suggestive solutions. Is there a way to end the unnecessary suffering of families of having to decide life or death? Who should be making these decisions? If we prepared in advance, could this situation be easier to manage?
In Ontario, it’s responsibility of the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care (MOHLTC) to provide health care information to the general public. But this is a challenge when it comes to end-of-life. There are no clear provincial, federal or medical protocols – these situations can often end up in a stalemate. In some cases the wishes of family members conflict with the medical judgment of the hospital administration. The MOHLTC provides some direction (http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/ministry/), but there’s no clear-cut statement that defines, as harsh as it may sound, “when to pull the plug.”
In my opinion, talking about and planning for death or sudden illness are a must. Regardless of your age, you should plan now. A simple drive to the corner store can change lives forever. Death is not something we obviously want to plan for, but we all know it’s inevitable – death and taxes, isn’t that what they say! So why not plan? Here are some tips to get you started:
- DON’T DO IT ALONE – Arrange a family conference; bring everyone together. Discuss your true wishes in the event of an unforeseen health event that leaves you incapacitated or dead.
- GET YOUR PAPERS IN ORDER – Complete a will; assign Power of Attorney (POA) for both health and finances (e.g., mortgage, banking, investments, insurance, pensions).
- CREATE A CHECKLIST – Include regular activities, what needs to be done around the house, important personal manners, bill payment).
- CONTACT INFORMATION – Record contact information for family members and friends, trusted advisers, attorneys, accountants and financial advisers.
- PRE-PLANNED FUNERAL – Many people are pre-planning and pre-paying their funeral arrangements to make things easier for family members.
- PERSONAL INFORMATION – Indicate where personal documents, financial statements, PIN numbers and passwords are located.
End-of-life decisions for yourself, a parent or loved one shouldn’t be made without prior direction. If crisis strikes, everyone should be on the same page and ready to handle the unimaginable. Planning ahead is the best solution. We know it’s easy to talk about life plans, but discussing illness or death is a different matter. Yet by planning for the unexpected, you can make a very difficult and emotional time less stressful and be by a loved one’s side when they need you most.
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Caring@Home: Three steps to Healthy Street from Disease Street
http://nursejackiehickey.blogspot.com/2011/03/three-steps-to-healthy-street-from.html?spref=bl: "Once you develop or are diagnosed with a chronic disease, it will change your life forever. According to the World Health Organization..."
Friday, March 18, 2011
Three steps to Healthy Street from Disease Street
Once you develop or are diagnosed with a chronic disease, it will change your life forever. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), chronic diseases are diseases of long duration and generally slow progression – or in plain terms, an illness that cannot be reversed on its own and requires ongoing treatment and monitoring.
According to Statistics Canada, thirty-seven percent of Canadians aged 40 to 59 have at least one chronic condition and 30 percent have two or more. Leading the pack are heart and circulatory problems, chronic pain and diabetes/obesity. But more fearsome is how chronic diseases affect our lifestyle, loved ones and, ultimately, our everyday lives.
Canadians with multiple chronic conditions have twice as many visits with a family doctor, one-and-a-half times as many consultations with specialists and other doctors, and are four times more likely to stay overnight in hospitals. Do we really have time for these added activities in our already busy schedules? Baby boomers are developing chronic diseases at a fast rate. Can prevention truly reverse, stop or delay the hands of time? If so, what are some key things we can do to prevent these conditions from taking over our healthy lives?
In my opinion, prevention is key – the key to good longevity and good health. Turning back time or stopping the aging process is futuristic but changing our lifestyle is something we can do on our own and start now.
The two biggest modifiable risk factors we can change are:
• Physical inactivity
• Unhealthy eating
By simply increasing our physical activity and eating according to the Canada Food Guide we can change our path from Disease Street to Healthy Street.
There are many health and wellness plans easily available to us. No matter where we go, we can find health clubs, weight loss groups, even online self-help – but you have to be the one driving the bus, you cannot just be a passenger. You need to create a customized plan specifically for you. Everyone is different and has their own, unique life schedule. So how do you fit in physical activity and eating right? I am certainly a prime example of procrastination to adopting a healthy lifestyle, but if I start small and incrementally build on it, it will work. Age, sex and family history can’t be the escape goat. The time is now, and we need to fit our busy schedules into our healthy lifestyle plan.
Start with some easy steps:
• Next time you hit the ten-minute snooze button don’t roll over and go back to sleep. Do 10 minutes of stretching from head to toe – 10 minutes, that’s reasonable!
• Change your meal menu to include brightly coloured foods. It will force you to eat more fruits and vegetables. Bread and carbs are pretty much white, absent of colour.
• Monitor what you do. If you write it down you can’t escape it – you will truly know what you are doing or not doing.
There are two websites I would like you to visit that can help you adopt a healthier lifestyle. One is the Canada Food Guide and the other is Canada’s Physical Activity Guide.
Let’s do this together! Since spring is in the air, it’s time to start something new. For the next two months, let’s incorporate the above three steps into our lifestyle plan and reconvene in May. And just think when it’s time to start your backbreaking gardening, you’re going to feel like a half-a-million bucks!
According to Statistics Canada, thirty-seven percent of Canadians aged 40 to 59 have at least one chronic condition and 30 percent have two or more. Leading the pack are heart and circulatory problems, chronic pain and diabetes/obesity. But more fearsome is how chronic diseases affect our lifestyle, loved ones and, ultimately, our everyday lives.
Canadians with multiple chronic conditions have twice as many visits with a family doctor, one-and-a-half times as many consultations with specialists and other doctors, and are four times more likely to stay overnight in hospitals. Do we really have time for these added activities in our already busy schedules? Baby boomers are developing chronic diseases at a fast rate. Can prevention truly reverse, stop or delay the hands of time? If so, what are some key things we can do to prevent these conditions from taking over our healthy lives?
In my opinion, prevention is key – the key to good longevity and good health. Turning back time or stopping the aging process is futuristic but changing our lifestyle is something we can do on our own and start now.
The two biggest modifiable risk factors we can change are:
• Physical inactivity
• Unhealthy eating
By simply increasing our physical activity and eating according to the Canada Food Guide we can change our path from Disease Street to Healthy Street.
There are many health and wellness plans easily available to us. No matter where we go, we can find health clubs, weight loss groups, even online self-help – but you have to be the one driving the bus, you cannot just be a passenger. You need to create a customized plan specifically for you. Everyone is different and has their own, unique life schedule. So how do you fit in physical activity and eating right? I am certainly a prime example of procrastination to adopting a healthy lifestyle, but if I start small and incrementally build on it, it will work. Age, sex and family history can’t be the escape goat. The time is now, and we need to fit our busy schedules into our healthy lifestyle plan.
Start with some easy steps:
• Next time you hit the ten-minute snooze button don’t roll over and go back to sleep. Do 10 minutes of stretching from head to toe – 10 minutes, that’s reasonable!
• Change your meal menu to include brightly coloured foods. It will force you to eat more fruits and vegetables. Bread and carbs are pretty much white, absent of colour.
• Monitor what you do. If you write it down you can’t escape it – you will truly know what you are doing or not doing.
There are two websites I would like you to visit that can help you adopt a healthier lifestyle. One is the Canada Food Guide and the other is Canada’s Physical Activity Guide.
Let’s do this together! Since spring is in the air, it’s time to start something new. For the next two months, let’s incorporate the above three steps into our lifestyle plan and reconvene in May. And just think when it’s time to start your backbreaking gardening, you’re going to feel like a half-a-million bucks!
Saturday, March 12, 2011
Caring@Home: Should health care jump on the social media bandwa...
http://nursejackiehickey.blogspot.com/2011/03/should-health-care-jump-on-social-media.html?spref=bl: "Last month in the UK a surgeon potentially saved the life of an old school friend by diagnosing his symptoms for appendicitis on Facebook. ..."
Friday, March 11, 2011
Should health care jump on the social media bandwagon?
Last month in the UK a surgeon potentially saved the life of an old school friend by diagnosing his symptoms for appendicitis on Facebook.
A family doctor Tweets a mom at home on a Friday afternoon about what time she can squeeze her daughter in for an appointment, in order to prescribe an antibiotic and save an unnecessary trip to Emergency.
A doctor sends an “all is OK” secure Blackberry message (BBM) directly to his patient, informing that her test results were negative, thereby ending her stomach-churning wait and avoiding an unnecessary doctor’s appointment just to hear the news.
We are increasingly hearing these types of social media health care success stories. So, is it time the health care system jumped on the social media bandwagon?
I recently jumped on the social media bandwagon with the goal of providing valuable health care information and advice through this blog. http://www.nursejackiehickey.blogspot.com/ is dedicated to helping family caregivers provide care, directing them to health care resources and offering health tips. I believe social media can make a difference in the way health care practitioners deliver care.
What if we were able to use social media applications to find a caregiver who could meet a client at home on a Friday evening so they wouldn’t have to wait until Monday morning for a hospital discharge?
What if you campaigned on Facebook for an organ donor or canvassed for donations to bring a child overseas for a lifesaving operation… oh, wait a minute, haven’t we already seen this happen?
What if health care professionals posted reliable, evidence-based health education videos on YouTube to be viewed in the comfort of a person’s home, 24/7?... oh, yes, we’re already doing this too.
There may be great potential for the use of social media to support client care in the 21st century.
In my opinion, social media have the potential to enable health care professionals to engage and communicate with patients about their health more effectively. Since social media’s role is to transport instant information, it could benefit health care by facilitating accurate health information and empowering patients to be proactive and take charge of their health. We need innovative health care services that are accessible, convenient and sustainable – and social media are the vehicle to drive these strategies.
Do you know the fastest growing demographic on Facebook is women over 55? – which is also a significant segment of family caregivers.
So, don’t wait. Get on the social media bandwagon today. Join the 600-plus million people on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/). I’ll be your first friend (www.facebook.com/nursejackiehickey). I mentioned in my blog a few weeks ago that I set up my mom with her own Facebook page. Today she has nine friends, communicates with her granddaughter who is studying in New Zealand and checks in with her daughter each day just to make sure everything is all right.
Social media are convenient, accessible and sustainable. You betcha!
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Caring@Home: Burnout and lack of support can lead to elder abus...
http://nursejackiehickey.blogspot.com/2011/03/burnout-and-lack-of-support-can-lead-to.html?spref=bl: "Recently, a news headline focused the public’s attention to the distressing case of a Toronto man being accused of keeping his elderly mothe..."
Burnout and lack of support can lead to elder abuse
Recently, a news headline focused the public’s attention to the distressing case of a Toronto man being accused of keeping his elderly mother in an unheated garage. The report had many groups calling for action – saying it's time for elder abuse to be given the same attention that child abuse and anti-violence groups have had. According to the Ontario Network for the Prevention of Elder Abuse (http://www.onpea.org/), elder abuse is defined as: “a single or repeated acts, or lack of appropriate action, occurring within a relationship where there is an expectation of trust, which causes harm or distress to an older person.”
“Who are you and how did you get into my house?” “I am sorry it happened again and I couldn’t help it!” “Please don’t lock me in, I promise I won’t go anywhere.” These are outlandish but sometimes real statements made by older adults who have experienced abuse.
“Who are you and how did you get into my house?” “I am sorry it happened again and I couldn’t help it!” “Please don’t lock me in, I promise I won’t go anywhere.” These are outlandish but sometimes real statements made by older adults who have experienced abuse.
Elder abuse has many faces and can occur in different forms – often times the victims don’t even realize it’s happening to them. Why do incidences like this occur? What causes us to make a precarious decision that could ultimately have a life-altering outcome?
One of the causes of elder abuse can be a lack of support for family caregivers. In Canada, one in four family caregivers say they receive no help. The average family caregiver spends four years providing care and devotes 20 hours per week caring for a loved one. There is no vacation time, rescheduling or pay, for that matter – it’s an act of love that no one can fathom unless you have been a family caregiver yourself.
The Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) estimates the economic contribution of informal elder care at $25 billion a year. While 76 percent of caregivers feel rewarded, one in six experiences distress. Since family caregivers are the fastest growing non-profession in health care, it’s important to identify those who may be feeling overwhelmed, stressed or experiencing burnout. How do we recognize the signs of distress? How can we help prevent someone from innocently reaching the boiling point?
In my opinion, it’s vital that we help the millions of family caregivers across the country – the vast supportive arm of home and community care – and recognize the warnings signs of caregiver burnout:
- Ranting about insignificant things such as the mailman putting mail upside down in the mailbox.
- Becoming impatient and irritated by little things or snapping at family members.
- Changes in sleep patterns and problems falling asleep – or just look tired and run down.
- Changes in eating habits, including not preparing meals, skipping meals or losing weight.
- Neglecting personal needs – which could be physical, emotional or social – and hearing family caregivers say, “Don’t worry, I’m OK.”
- Seeing they are exhausted and overwhelmed, but not recognizing it.
What can we do to help?
- Listen to what family caregivers are not saying – not many people take pride saying “I can’t cope.”
- Insist and don’t just offer to help them. For instance, prepare dinner and clean up afterward.
- Put tools into place that will help you, such as assistive equipment and devices or even home renovations.
- Hire some extra help.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
Caring@Home: Last week, the Toronto Star launched Begging for ...
Caring@Home:
Last week, the Toronto Star launched Begging for ...: "Last week, the Toronto Star launched Begging for Care, an investigative series looking at how the province is dividing up the $1.1 billion ..."
Last week, the Toronto Star launched Begging for ...: "Last week, the Toronto Star launched Begging for Care, an investigative series looking at how the province is dividing up the $1.1 billion ..."
Friday, February 25, 2011
Last week, the Toronto Star launched Begging for Care, an investigative series looking at how the province is dividing up the $1.1 billion allocated for its “Aging at Home” program. The Star highlighted some of the difficult experiences Ontario seniors faced when laying in limbo in an acute care hospital bed, while on the wait list for a long-term care home. Others desperately needed home care services to continue living in their own homes or to support family members who were caring for them.
The state of health care is coming around full circle. Health care professionals and politicians alike are starting to listen and call for change. For example:
• The Canadian Medical Association (CMA) has announced a town hall, Health care in Canada: Time to rebuild medicare, to be held March 1 (http://www.healthcaretransformation.ca/en/).
• Toronto MP Carolyn Bennett is also hosting a town hall, Caregivers and Homecare, 1:30 p.m., March 6, at Christ Church Deer Park, 1570 Yonge Street.
• Ontario Health Minister Deb Matthews was recently quoted by the Hamilton Spectator, saying: “Long-term-care homes are people’s homes and there should not be coercion as they move into that home.” (http://www.thespec.com/news/ontario/article/491214--province-to-hospitals-stop-threatening-1-800-fees).
People are aware and ready for solutions, which is reflected in the online posts and comments about the Star’s Begging for Care series (http://www.thestar.com/news/article/941693). Many are frustrated, scared and want answers. We have personal observations, experiences and opinions, and are not afraid to share them.
In my opinion, the challenges people face is the cosmic complexity of trying to navigate the health care system. Patients are falling through the cracks, lying in hospital beds and struggling alone in their homes with little or no help, resources or alternatives. Our health care system is hugely disconnected. There are three silos – acute care (hospitals), primary care (doctors) and community care (home care) – that need to start working in tandem and better understanding how their own goals and actions affect each other and their patients.
In my role as a care advisor I’m presented with many situations and one that comes to mind is how well we (public and private organizations) can sometimes work together to find the best care for someone. One of my first advisory clients told me she just couldn’t do it alone anymore. Both her parents wanted to stay in their home but needed help. Her father had physical deficits and her mother early dementia. They made a great team until one of them ended up in hospital and could no longer live independently or safely at home. My role was to help them navigate the health system and facilitate care arrangements … to help them solve the health care puzzle.
Some of the important pieces in this puzzle are:
• Learning about your community health resources – both public and private.
• Getting in touch with your government care program to find out what’s available.
• Investigating volunteer and non-profit organizations in your community that provide support services.
• Being proactive about managing your health (e.g., monitor your own blood pressure) and communicating the results back to your health care professionals.
• Looking into online health information resources and services:
- The Patients' Association of Canada (http://patientsassociation.ca/)
- Your provincial health ministry (http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/)
- Community directories such as Find Help 4 Seniors (http://www.findhelp4seniors.ca/)
- Or pick up the phone and call me at 416-992-4280 or email me at jhickey@bayshore.ca
The time is now. We need collaborative change. $1.1 billion is a fair chunk of dough, in the case of Ontario. We need to spend it wisely, be patient-focused and monitor patient outcomes as well as the impact we have on each other’s services. This will enable us to provide one health care service – our health care service.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Caring@Home: Staying connected is a must for long-distance care...
http://nursejackiehickey.blogspot.com/2011/02/staying-connected-is-must-for-long.html?spref=bl: "Generations have existed for centuries. Lately, people are paying more attention to generations and the impact they have on everyday life, ..."
Staying connected is a must for long-distance caregivers
Generations have existed for centuries. Lately, people are paying more attention to generations and the impact they have on everyday life, as many baby boomers are caught between raising their own children and looking after their elderly parents. Me, personally, I’m stuck in the middle, and it’s sometimes difficult. I look after two teenage daughters who live at home and regularly keep in touch with my 82-year-old mother who lives independently in her own home an hour away. Statistics Canada estimates almost one-quarter of the 1.65 million Canadians over the age of forty-five who are providing care to a parent or in-law live over an hour away.
Being a long-distance caregiver can be challenging. Do you worry about how your parent or parents are coping? Are they getting to their doctor appointments and eating properly? And all the while you are wondering how to cram your work day so you can make it to your daughter’s school play. How do you ensure you can be there for everyone every time?
In my experience, most seniors I visit say the most important thing for them is to stay in their own home for as long as possible – whatever it takes. I recently received a call from an 80-year-old gentleman who was looking for help for himself and his wife. Both of his adult children live out of town, have careers and families of their own and provide as much support as they are able to. But they are at wits end and need help in their role as long-distance caregivers. They want to keep their parents’ wish alive and keep them in their home.
In my opinion, staying connected and communicating regularly with people we care for is the solution. We tend to notice when a picture is crooked because we see it every day. We realize when our son is starting puberty because his voice changes, and we feel relief when our daughter calls to let us know she made it back to her dorm room. The same should be true with respect to our parents – connect regularly with them and you will know if things change. Here are a few simple suggestions you can start doing today:
• Set a specific time to call each other every day, just to say hello.
• Identify a friend or neighbour who can be there when needed.
• Exchange your parent’s contact information with neigbours or someone who lives nearby that can help. Put it in your parent’s wallet. Plan for an emergency and be prepared.
• Get some help if your parent needs in-home care, support or someone to check in on them or shovel their driveway. You can't do everything and be everywhere.
• Hire a nurse to monitor their health and prevent serious health problems from occurring.
• Take care of yourself – you can't be effective if you are not healthy.
Social media can also help you stay connected with your aging parents and survive the sandwich generation. Think about it, we are the generation that joined Facebook to keep an eye on our children and what they are doing on these sites, and then realized the value social media had for us personally and in business. So why not create a Facebook page for our parents simply to stay connected? I practice what I preach and set my mom up with her own Facebook page. I’ll let you know how that goes in a future blog.
Parenting is the biggest job we’ll ever have and it gives us the most joy and stress at the same time. A recent quote I read states it well: First we are children to our parents, then parents to our children, then parents to our parents and finally children to our children. We will be where our parents are someday – so let’s pave the way now. Stay connected with parents – particularly those who don’t live nearby. It just might be the best peace of mind you’ll ever have.
Being a long-distance caregiver can be challenging. Do you worry about how your parent or parents are coping? Are they getting to their doctor appointments and eating properly? And all the while you are wondering how to cram your work day so you can make it to your daughter’s school play. How do you ensure you can be there for everyone every time?
In my experience, most seniors I visit say the most important thing for them is to stay in their own home for as long as possible – whatever it takes. I recently received a call from an 80-year-old gentleman who was looking for help for himself and his wife. Both of his adult children live out of town, have careers and families of their own and provide as much support as they are able to. But they are at wits end and need help in their role as long-distance caregivers. They want to keep their parents’ wish alive and keep them in their home.
In my opinion, staying connected and communicating regularly with people we care for is the solution. We tend to notice when a picture is crooked because we see it every day. We realize when our son is starting puberty because his voice changes, and we feel relief when our daughter calls to let us know she made it back to her dorm room. The same should be true with respect to our parents – connect regularly with them and you will know if things change. Here are a few simple suggestions you can start doing today:
• Set a specific time to call each other every day, just to say hello.
• Identify a friend or neighbour who can be there when needed.
• Exchange your parent’s contact information with neigbours or someone who lives nearby that can help. Put it in your parent’s wallet. Plan for an emergency and be prepared.
• Get some help if your parent needs in-home care, support or someone to check in on them or shovel their driveway. You can't do everything and be everywhere.
• Hire a nurse to monitor their health and prevent serious health problems from occurring.
• Take care of yourself – you can't be effective if you are not healthy.
Social media can also help you stay connected with your aging parents and survive the sandwich generation. Think about it, we are the generation that joined Facebook to keep an eye on our children and what they are doing on these sites, and then realized the value social media had for us personally and in business. So why not create a Facebook page for our parents simply to stay connected? I practice what I preach and set my mom up with her own Facebook page. I’ll let you know how that goes in a future blog.
Parenting is the biggest job we’ll ever have and it gives us the most joy and stress at the same time. A recent quote I read states it well: First we are children to our parents, then parents to our children, then parents to our parents and finally children to our children. We will be where our parents are someday – so let’s pave the way now. Stay connected with parents – particularly those who don’t live nearby. It just might be the best peace of mind you’ll ever have.
Friday, February 11, 2011
Caring@Home: It changed my outlook on heart disease forever
http://nursejackiehickey.blogspot.com/2011/02/it-changed-my-outlook-on-heart-disease.html?spref=bl: "Each year the month of February is recognized as Heart Month, with tens of thousands of people across Canada putting their hearts into makin..."
It changed my outlook on heart disease forever
Each year the month of February is recognized as Heart Month, with tens of thousands of people across Canada putting their hearts into making a difference through support for the Canadian Heart & Stroke Foundation (www.heartandstroke.com). I felt it important to dedicate this blog to heart health, in an effort to help reduce the many unexpected deaths that heart disease brings.
The purpose of Heart Month is to raise awareness through education and prevention of diseases related to the heart. The Heart & Stroke Foundation believes that many Canadians are being ignorant and negligent about their food and life style choices, which increases their risk of developing heart disease. If you visit the foundation’s website you will find an enormous amount of valuable information. But the thing that stood out for me the most is the vast impact this organization makes – from repairing a newborn heart in its first moments of life to saving a woman's life from a deadly heart defect, to helping a parent recover from a disabling stroke or stopping cardiac arrest from taking its next life.
As caregivers in the home we may not have the high-tech equipment to monitor the internal workings of the heart and its affect on the body. So we need to be aware of the warning signs and listen to what the body is telling us. Human bodies are just like well oiled machines. With regular maintenance and good care they can run for many years and many miles. Our body requires dedication to maintenance and care, just like a well-tuned car. The reality is, if we don’t take care of our body, it won’t take care of us. I certainly am not telling you anything you haven’t heard before, but I do think it’s worth repeating.
I remember the first time I experienced the black hole of a heart disease. I was a fairly new nurse working a shift in ICU, when in came a 28-year-old woman admitted with chest pain. The medical staff initially cast a professional judgment that it must be stress or a panic attack, saying, “We see this all the time – young, hard working, highly stressed females trying to climb the corporate latter.” But we sure were surprised when the medically confirmed diagnosis came back: myocardial infarction or, commonly, “MI.” It changed my outlook on heart disease forever.
In my opinion, if we adopt some simple life style choices we can make a difference that can positively impact our health. By managing some of the most common and deadly cardiovascular risk factors we can change our path from destruction to construction. We cannot ignore the fact that we are what we eat and our level of physical activity can make or break us. An alarming study exposed that passivity and obesity can take almost four years off one's lifespan, high blood pressure two-and-a-half years and a eating low amount of fruits and vegetables just over one year. We become increasingly vulnerable to heart disease by living an unhealthy life at any age.
There are some simple lifestyle practices that could benefit your heart and prolong your life: staying active and exercising, managing stress, getting enough sleep, not smoking, minimizing alcohol consumption and eating healthy food. By incorporating the four food groups from the Canada Food Guide into your menu and including some physical activity into your everyday routine, you or your loved one might just avoid a serious heart problem.
Listen to your body and be aware of these warning signs for heart attack and stroke:
Pain – sudden discomfort or pain that doesn’t go away
Shortness of breath – difficulty breathing or not speaking in full sentences
Nausea – sick feeling in your stomach or vomiting
Sweating – wet, cool or clammy skin
Fear – anxiety, denial or knowing something is wrong
The cliché “an ounce of prevention” rings true now more than ever. We rely on our heart every day and every beat, yet we often take it for granted and neglect how we care for it. So take control of your health and start today on your journey to good health. Don’t wait until you get a warning sign or are hit with a devastating diagnosis.
The purpose of Heart Month is to raise awareness through education and prevention of diseases related to the heart. The Heart & Stroke Foundation believes that many Canadians are being ignorant and negligent about their food and life style choices, which increases their risk of developing heart disease. If you visit the foundation’s website you will find an enormous amount of valuable information. But the thing that stood out for me the most is the vast impact this organization makes – from repairing a newborn heart in its first moments of life to saving a woman's life from a deadly heart defect, to helping a parent recover from a disabling stroke or stopping cardiac arrest from taking its next life.
As caregivers in the home we may not have the high-tech equipment to monitor the internal workings of the heart and its affect on the body. So we need to be aware of the warning signs and listen to what the body is telling us. Human bodies are just like well oiled machines. With regular maintenance and good care they can run for many years and many miles. Our body requires dedication to maintenance and care, just like a well-tuned car. The reality is, if we don’t take care of our body, it won’t take care of us. I certainly am not telling you anything you haven’t heard before, but I do think it’s worth repeating.
I remember the first time I experienced the black hole of a heart disease. I was a fairly new nurse working a shift in ICU, when in came a 28-year-old woman admitted with chest pain. The medical staff initially cast a professional judgment that it must be stress or a panic attack, saying, “We see this all the time – young, hard working, highly stressed females trying to climb the corporate latter.” But we sure were surprised when the medically confirmed diagnosis came back: myocardial infarction or, commonly, “MI.” It changed my outlook on heart disease forever.
In my opinion, if we adopt some simple life style choices we can make a difference that can positively impact our health. By managing some of the most common and deadly cardiovascular risk factors we can change our path from destruction to construction. We cannot ignore the fact that we are what we eat and our level of physical activity can make or break us. An alarming study exposed that passivity and obesity can take almost four years off one's lifespan, high blood pressure two-and-a-half years and a eating low amount of fruits and vegetables just over one year. We become increasingly vulnerable to heart disease by living an unhealthy life at any age.
There are some simple lifestyle practices that could benefit your heart and prolong your life: staying active and exercising, managing stress, getting enough sleep, not smoking, minimizing alcohol consumption and eating healthy food. By incorporating the four food groups from the Canada Food Guide into your menu and including some physical activity into your everyday routine, you or your loved one might just avoid a serious heart problem.
Listen to your body and be aware of these warning signs for heart attack and stroke:
Pain – sudden discomfort or pain that doesn’t go away
Shortness of breath – difficulty breathing or not speaking in full sentences
Nausea – sick feeling in your stomach or vomiting
Sweating – wet, cool or clammy skin
Fear – anxiety, denial or knowing something is wrong
The cliché “an ounce of prevention” rings true now more than ever. We rely on our heart every day and every beat, yet we often take it for granted and neglect how we care for it. So take control of your health and start today on your journey to good health. Don’t wait until you get a warning sign or are hit with a devastating diagnosis.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Caring@Home: Caring@Home: Pre-planning your visit to the doctor...
http://nursejackiehickey.blogspot.com/2011/02/caringhome-pre-planning-your-visit-to.html?spref=bl: "http://nursejackiehealthadvisor.blogspot.com/2011/02/pre-planning-your-visit-to-doctors.html?spref=bl: 'We pre-plan our life, our financial ..."
Caring@Home: Caring@Home: I threw my nursing cap off and became...
http://nursejackiehickey.blogspot.com/2011/01/caringhome-i-threw-my-nursing-cap-off.html?spref=bl: "http://nursejackiehealthadvisor.blogspot.com/2011/01/i-threw-my-nursing-cap-off-and-became.html?spref=bl: 'Today’s health care system is fac..."
Caring@Home: Caring@Home: Fight Alzheimer’s disease by keeping ...
http://nursejackiehickey.blogspot.com/2011/01/caringhome-fight-alzheimers-disease-by.html?spref=bl: "http://nursejackiehealthadvisor.blogspot.com/2011/01/fight-alzheimers-disease-by-keeping.html?spref=bl: 'January is Alzheimer Awareness Mont..."
Friday, February 4, 2011
Pre-planning your visit to the doctor’s office – is it the way of the future?
We pre-plan our life, our financial goals and our funeral. Is it time to pre-plan our visits to the doctor?
Back in 2006, the College of Family Physicians of Canada conducted a survey that revealed 17 percent of Canadians do not have a family physician – nearly five million people! But even more concerning was that two million were looking for a doctor and couldn’t find one. With our aging population, we’ll see the number of Canadians seeking family doctors steadily increase. There is a looming crisis in primary care as more and more family doctors are feeling pressure to see more patients, as well as the frustrations of trying to access care for their patients.
How can we, as patients, help with this crisis? Can being prepared and pre-planning for a visit to the doctor benefit us?
Recently, one of my myNurse™ health management program clients expressed how stressful it was when she needed to take her mother-in-law to the doctor. Not only were there the challenges in arranging transportation, as her mother-in-law was wheelchair-dependent, she also needed to remember to gather her medications, bring documents she needed to show the doctor and reschedule her mother-in-law’s care with the Community Care Access Centre. She should have left home with a plan for the visit in her mind, but instead hurriedly departed thinking “Did I remember to bring everything?” When she returned from a day of adventure, she was so stressed and overwhelmed that she forgot everything the doctor told her. Could she have taken some simple steps to prevent this common occurrence?
In my opinion, if you come prepared you will have a more successful visit, which will benefit both you and your doctor. Family doctors on average have 10 minutes to spend with each patient, including asking medical questions, performing a physical examination, determining a diagnosis, prescribing a treatment plan and documenting the visit in your medical record.
Here are some tips they might help with your next visit:
1. Buy a notebook and title it My Health Management Journal.
2. PLAN AHEAD – write down your complaint or what ails you; what has changed with your health; how it has affected you.
3. GET IN EARLY– try to book your doctor’s first appointment of the day or right after lunch. Don’t forget to bring your health card.
4. PREPARE A LIST of your current medications or ask your pharmacist for a printout.
5. DRESS FOR RESULTS – wear clothes that can be easily and quickly removed for examination (remember time is precious).
6. FOCUS on the main problem with your doctor. You might have a host of things that are bothering you and various questions, but your doctor can only process so much in one visit.
7. PROVIDE PERTINENT INFORMATION – tell your doctor the details about your ailment, which you recorded in your journal. Let your doctor know if you’ve received any treatment, seen any other health professionals or taken any medication.
8. LISTEN and WRITE down what the doctor is saying (tell him what you are doing and that this is the best way for you to remember).
9. REPEAT the treatment plan or advice your doctor gives you, so you are clear about the next steps.
10. ASK QUESTIONS – don’t be afraid to ask your doctor to clarify anything you don’t understand. Never be afraid to call back; explain you were just in to see the doctor and there is something you didn’t understand; ask to speak with someone on the team.
11. FOLLOW THROUGH on the next steps, which could include following your doctor’s advice, getting a prescription filled or booking an appointment with another health professional.
12. COMMUNICATE with your spouse or family whether you will need them to support you. Health care sometimes requires a team approach.
So the next time you need to go visit your doctor, follow these 12 steps and just, maybe, the visit that was over in a flash won’t leave you wondering exactly what the doctor wanted you to do. Pre-planning your doctor visits is part of pre-planning your life. Being in the driver’s sit of your own health is where you need to be, in order to get the most from each visit to your doctor.
Friday, January 28, 2011
I threw my nursing cap off and became a family caregiver
Today’s health care system is faced with enormous challenges – structurally, financially and in terms of human resources. There just isn’t enough to go around. With the shift away from traditional institutional care, we are seeing more people cared for in their own homes by family, friends and neighbours. Family or “informal” caregivers are becoming the support system to the sustainability of the public home and community care sector. Some statistics say they provide more than 70% of the home care delivered in Canada. We can only expect the need for family caregivers to increase as our population ages. The number of seniors over 65 is expected to rise from 14% of the population to more than 25% over the next 15-20 years.
What exactly is a family/informal caregiver? According to Health Canada it’s defined as an individual who provides care and/or support to a family member, friend or neighbour who has a physical or mental disability, or is chronically ill or frail.
Family caregiving has been around for a long time – probably as along as families have existed. But the concept has gained attention over the past decade due to the strain that an aging population has brought to our health care system. Baby Boomers, many sandwiched in caring for their children as well as parents, have been vocal in expressing the challenges they face as caregivers.
I experienced being a family caregiver first hand four years ago when my father had his third stroke and could no longer care for himself independently. My parents lived through a world war, immigrated to Canada in the 1950s and grew with Canada as it went through its many trials and tribulations to become the nation it is today. They were proud Canadians but they were unprepared for the challenges my father’s illness created.
As a nurse working in the system I was shocked at how little I really knew about home care. I lived within the institutional walls of a hospital, not realizing there was a vast domain out there called home and community care. My health care knowledge was about to change. If it was a challenge for me as a nurse to navigate the health care system, I could only imagine how my parents would have coped on their own. We needed to know what resources were available to us in the community, how to get in touch with our local CCAC (Community Care Access Centre) and what kind of funding options were available through workplace benefits and insurance plans? So I threw my nursing cap off and became a family caregiver. I tried to utilize every resource available. I asked lots of questions, because if you didn’t ask, nobody will tell you. Together with the CCAC, private agencies, family, friends and neighbours, we created a “caring” plan for my father.
In my opinion, the biggest challenge family caregivers face is the lack of knowledge, time and money. The sandwich generation is hit with the economic burden and mental and physical stress of having to care for their own family as well as parents, sometimes over a distance. We are seeing people giving up their job to care for a loved one and people in their eighties being the main caregiver for their respective spouse.
There are more than four million family caregivers in Canada. So how can we help this growing population of caregivers? I would suggest you start by creating a checklist that covers the essentials:
· Contact your local CCAC to determine eligibility for publically-funded home care services.
· Look for additional home care funding through personal and workplace insurance policies.
· Contact community resources and associations for assistance, counselling, education and respite care.
· Look into private care services to ensure sufficient care.
· Create a support system – someone to talk to about your experiences, frustrations and feelings.
· Build a “caring” plan for your loved one to ensure they get they receive proper care.
We need to educate ourselves and learn what resources are available to us and accept the help. The saying “it takes a village” is 100% true. With the help of community health services, friends and family I survived the family caregiver experience and our family was able to give my father his wish to die at home and, more importantly, with dignity.
This is a job you don’t apply for – it involves workplace hazards like safety risks, stress and burnout.
Friday, January 21, 2011
Fight Alzheimer’s disease by keeping your brain healthy
January is Alzheimer Awareness Month. We know that Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, but what we may not know is that it’s the degeneration of our healthy brain tissue that causes a steady decline in our mental and social abilities. Dementia affects one in thirteen Canadians over 65 and one in three over 85. In my practice I’m finding that more and more people are touched by this family altering disease.
The impact of Alzheimer’s can become increasingly demanding for individuals caring for a spouse, parent or family member with the disease. Over time, their loved one will need increasing amounts of supervision and, eventually, hands-on help with the activities of daily living. When you speak with someone who has a family member affected by dementia, each person’s story is different and has its own unique challenges. What’s common is the need for better understanding about Alzheimer’s disease (www.alzheimers.ca).
I had a client last Christmas who missed out on holiday celebrations with her family because she was too unstable to leave her care facility. I also cared for an 83-year-old woman who was asked to leave a retirement residence because of her physical outbreaks and, most recently, we heard the heartbreaking story of a 67-year-old Toronto woman who died on the street after wandering away from her home in the early morning hours. How can we change some of the outcomes of this devastating disease and how do we prevent dangerous, life-threatening situations from occurring?
In my opinion, family caregivers need to consider turning to community health care resources for support. But will they receive the level of care they require, and in a timely manner? Our public health system is facing increasing financial challenges in delivering services to an aging population. Another option is to use a private home care agency or to hire your own caregiver. Many don’t realize that care for individuals with Alzheimer’s can be provided in a more economical manner through home support and personal care professionals, rather than more costly nursing staff.
From a preventative standpoint, healthy living habits can reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s. Intellectual activities such as social interaction, reading, doing crossword puzzles or playing a board or computer game have been shown to reduce likelihood of the disease. According to Dr. Jack Diamond, Scientific Director of the Alzheimer Society of Canada, exercise, eating foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids and which are brightly-coloured, is good for your brain.
Here is my Alzheimer prevention challenge: walk a mile, eat a red apple and do a word puzzle every day. It just might help keep your brain healthy and ward off this dreaded disease.
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