Florida Elder Care & Senior Health

Mom Has Been Diagnosed with Dementia, Now How Do I Cope?

Things have not been quite right with Mom for some time, forgetting appointments, names, medications and even meals, have resulted in that trip to the doctor with her. Upon receiving the dreaded diagnosis of dementia, she as well as you may experience a wide range of emotions such as denial, fear, frustration and loss.

 A diagnosis of dementia does not mean that life is over for your parent, it does mean that there will be many challenges ahead. Planning for and thinking about them now will better prepare your whole family for the future.

Not only is the diagnosis of dementia difficult for your parent, it also will pose many significant challenges for you and other caregivers that look after her. The stresses of caring for a loved one with dementia can result in depression, feelings of isolation, caused by dealing with this unknown and strange new world, and seeing our parent change, become more distant or estranged.

In addition to feeling the sorrow for your loved one , you may also develop feelings of  sadness, and hopelessness yourself. Depression is a very common result of being a full time caregiver for a person with dementia.

Take care of yourself first.

 The most important thing you can remember is that you cannot take care of someone else without taking care of yourself first.

• Join a caregiver support group, there you will receive education and very importantly emotional support, Such a group can also provide connections to many other local resources.
• Plan activities together that you can both enjoy and be adaptable to the parent's current level of functioning, like walking, gardening, singing, playing cards.
• Attend to your own mental and physical health. Make time for yourself and get plenty of sleep, socialization,proper nutrition and don't skip exercising. If you are run down, you can become physically ill or depressed
• Monitor yourself for signs of burnout, (anxiety, anger, depression, fatigue or sleep problems). If necessary seek medical or mental health for yourself.
• Do not hesitate to get outside help in time, even just occasional respite care.

Dianne Campbell

Community Liaison

A Preferred Nursing Service

www.apnursingservice.com

Home Medication Management

If you are caring for an elderly family member or friend, knowing what medications he or she is taking is important. It is also important to know what the medications are for and when they are supposed to take them. A record needs to be kept of all medications including over the counter medications. A list of all vitamins, minerals, and other supplements also needs to be recorded. This list should be taken to each medical appointment, especially when an elderly person sees multiple doctors.

 Go to http://www.seniorpro.com/forms/homemedicationmanagement.pdf to download a pdf form to be filled in for each person. There are columns for Name of Medication, What it is used for, Amount taken, When to take it, and Date began/ended.

All medications whether prescription or over-the-counter and all vitamin, minerals, and herbal supplements should be recorded.

Karen Best Wright, B.S. Community Health Education
www.SeniorPro.com
www.BlogforHealthyLiving.com

Drug Abuse in the Elderly

When one thinks of drug abuse, elderly adults generally do not come to mind. We usually think about young people abusing drugs. However, the elderly are at risk for overusing prescription drugs and becoming addicted. It is important when caring for an elderly person to know the specifics about the medications he or she is prescribed. It is important to know the prescribed dosage and when the medication is to be taken. 

It is also important to be educated about possible side-effects and addiction signs. The signs of drug addiction is often not recognized in older adults. The following drug addiction signs may be mistakenly taken as just signs of old age.

• memory lapses
• unsteady gait, falls
• changes in sleeping pattern
• irritability, sadness, or depression
• unexplained chronic pain
• changes in eating habits
• increased isolation from friends and family
• poor personal hygiene
• inability to concentrate
• general loss of interest

For more information visit the Johns Hopkins Health Alert Blog.

Beverly Napoli
Visiting Angels of Clearwater
www.homehealthclearwater.com

Family Caregivers vs. Professional Caregivers - From the view of the elderly

According to a study by the University of Michigan, elder parents are more likely to describe themselves as "happy" when they are receiving informal in-home care from a child or spouse than when they receive formal in-home care from a nurse, home health aide, or other home care professional.

Steve Stern from the University of Virginia speculates why this self-reported happiness is more prevalent among those receiving informal in-home care from a child or spouse: "A big part of looking at happiness isn't the care per se, but the fact that the kid is involved in it."

Many children of elder parents did not share that insight about how Mom's or Dad's happiness during long-term care may hinge more on sharing time with loved ones than the medical proficiency of a relative stranger.

"The kids who are more educated perceive their own care-giving as not particularly high-quality," Stern said. "They think that formal care is going to be more high-quality."

That attitude may reflect belief in the whole concept of professionalism, the notion that a professional, by definition, will be more skilled at a given task than a nonprofessional.

The same bias is shared by more highly educated parents, who also seem to prefer formal care compared to their less-educated peers, and not just because they can better afford it. They see it as more effective, Stern noted. So, in more educated (and more professional) families, both parents and children are better able to pay for formal care, and may be more inclined to view the formal care as higher quality.

UVA Today

Karen Best Wright, B.S. Community Health Education
www.SeniorPro.com

What is PAD? Florida Information

PAD stands for Psychiatric Advance Directive. This is a relatively new document that is used by a competent person to give written instructions regarding future mental health treatment. A psychiatric advanced directive can be used to plan in case someone loses capacity to decide for themselves proper treatment during an acute episode of psychiatric illness.

The person must be emotionally stable at the time of signing a PAD.

Chapter 765 of the Florida Statutes, entitled “Health Care Advance Directives” allows you to appoint an agent to make decisions about your treatment if you become incompetent to make decisions.  In Florida, such a person is known as a “Health Care Surrogate”.  The Florida statute also allows you to write instructions about how you would like your mental health care as well as your physical health care to proceed.

The document containing your advanced instructions must be signed by two adult witnesses.  Neither witness may be an employee of your health care provider, and one must be someone other than your spouse or blood relative.

However, keep in mind that a health care provider does not need to follow your PAD if you are subject to the Baker Act. In certain situations, the state can hospitalize you and treat you against your will. If you do become subject to the Baker Act, your health care decisions must be governed by a court-appointed Guardian Advocate.

If you want a say in your health care decisions should you become incapacity, a Health Care Advance Directive is important for both physical and mental health decisions. An elder law attorney can assist you with obtaining the document you need.

The National Resource Center on Psychiatric Advanced Directives provides helpful information.

Beverly Napoli
Visiting Angels of Clearwater
www.homehealthclearwater.com