A WAY TO STAY Home Care Yardley Newtown PA

Devon and I talk daily with grown children struggling with how to convince their aging parents to make lifestyle changes to ensure their safety.  It’s an understatement to say it’s complicated so most of these children have only an inkling of an idea about what the lifestyle change should be: Getting Mom and Dad to [...]

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Many callers to our agency want care for their loved ones at home and hope it will be paid for by Medicare or private medical insurance. Our challenge is to educate them about the difference between what our agency offers, “non-medical Home Care”  and that which Medicare generally covers, “Home Health Care.” Let me simplify [...]

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Dr. Suzanne Salamon, associate chief for geriatric clinical programs at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston is just the person to answer questions about seniors. She was recently appointed to the editorial board of Harvard Medical School’s Health Letter and Jane Hass of The Orange County Register interviewed her to get the low-down [...]

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Three weeks ago one of our long-time Home Care clients was unavoidably rushed to the hospital. This nonagenarian fears the hospital because she’s scared of dying there as her husband did 10 years ago.  Her daughter made sure that her usual aides shared shifts at her bedside throughout her mom’s hospital stay.  Devon and I [...]

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I’m a fan of the New York Times The New Old Age blog started by Jane Gross, and just finished reading her book A Bittersweet Season, Caring for Our Aging Parents and Ourselves. The book is well researched and filled with lessons learned by this smart woman and her brother (Michael Gross, author of 740 [...]

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Sometime this Spring  an 82-year old client, Mrs. Z., gave me a stomach-churning account of what it’s like to be talked down to by an 80-year old delivery man. She finds him patronizing and condescending and feels that he treats her like a child because she’s elderly.  I dull-wittedly questioned how an 80-year old guy [...]

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Summer in Philly is officially and brutally here with today’s National Weather Service declaration of an “Excessive Heat Warning”.  People of all ages – not just the elderly – need to take precautions to stay safe in the heat and prevent heat stress. Early heat waves are particularly dangerous, because people are taken by surprise and [...]

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Sometime ago I read an article in the Wall Street Journal called How Long Should a Hug Last.  The topic resonated because of my personal experience; I lost my major source of hugs with my husband’s death almost 6 years ago. I agree with the school of thought that our survival is greatly enhanced when [...]

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The fact that hearing loss is common and untreated in seniors is not news in my world.    I have aging clients, relatives and friends with hearing loss. Each has as many excuses as Doan’s has pills as to why they don’t have hearing aids!  The reality that folks don’t do anything about hearing loss it [...]

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The simplicity of being present with people has gotten easier and more rewarding as I’ve grown older. I find this is particularly true when I’m with someone who has dementia. “We are part of a doing culture. Sometimes, all that is required of us is to simply be with a person — as in sharing [...]

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