Caregiver Hints

I found this little tidbit just in time

National Family Caregivers Month is organized each year by the National Family Caregivers Association and is designated as a time every year to thank, support, educate and empower family caregivers.

“This year we are encouraging people to speak up during National Family Caregivers Month.” said Suzanne Mintz, NFCA president and co-founder. “One of the most important attributes on being an advocate for your loved one is the willingness and the ability to speak up and keep your eye on the ultimate goal, protecting not only the health and safety of your loved ones but for yourself as well.”

Be sure to use this time to make an extra special effort to encourage a caregiver you know. It’s a difficult job and getting a “thank you” or acknowledgement frequently can help a caregiver through that particularly tough day, but use this month to do something a little extra special.

Respond in the comments with any particularly good ideas you come up with and would like to share or let us know what YOU did for the caregiver in your life that is helping you to taking care of a friend or family member, or is taking care of his/her own loved ones.

And if you are a caregiver, take extra time to do something for yourself. The holidays are just around the corner and you might not get another chance for a while.

I wanted to bring some attention to this web site, not only because it is run by a fellow caregiver, but also because I think it does a great job of highlighting the design aspects of products, and how they relate to making peoples’ lives easier. Some of the posts may relate directly to the elderly or handicapped, but I think it also emphasizes how good design can benefit everyone.

In their own words…

“This is a collection of design-thinking news, products and services around the Critical Support Point (CSP) of aging, the point when we may turn to our built environment, helpful products, and assistive services to prolong independence and maintain the daily life we want.

My purpose is to refocus user centered design-thinking to encourage the development of innovative products and services that extend and enhance the Critical Support Point. Increasing design-thinking around this topic will transform how society views, and how individuals experience the aging process.”

In today’s world of electronic-based lifestyles, social networking through the internet, and smart-phones, I think it pays for us as a society to start looking at how this evolution is affecting the older generation, and how it will affect future generations as the pace is likely to move even faster. Products need to be able to “talk” to everyone, and focus on usability, not just functionality.

So swing by Good Age Design Well and have a look.

While riding the bus to downtown San Fran, I saw a car with a logo and and a URL about Senior moving services, so I looked it up when I got home. Turns out, easyMove, LLC. is a moving service catering to the needs of older people and the disabled who address the specific needs of these groups, especially the planning and management of the move. Knowing about these folks would have greatly helped me since I had to move my Mother no less than 3 times within the city.

According to their site, they serve Contra Costa County, the San Francisco East Bay Area, and Northern California.

If you have move needs, I’d encourage you to check them out, and please report back on your experience. I’d love to report back on how these folks compare to other moving services.

There have been several aricles about this from different sources, but they all say essentially the same thing. Excess belly fat, and being overweight, may be a factor in the onset of dementia. While not too many details were offered, initial studies have found that fat accummulating around the waistline in particular, has a detrimental effect on the brain.

This has a two-fold implication…one, that if you are caring for someone who is overweight, you may end up dealing with dementia, and two, if your family has a history of dementia or Alzheimers, you have another reason to watch your health more closely.

Bulging belly now could mean dementia later

Tags: dementia, Alzheimers, health, family, weight, brain

I’ve just installed the article commenting commenting system from DISQUS!

What it means for visitors, hopefully, is that it will provide a better community experience, and an easier way to post questions and follow responses. Another cool thing is that if you visit other blogs using DISQUS, you can use the same user profile.

Please try it out and let me know what you think!