As Americans live longer than ever, some will find it difficult to stay in their beloved homes: Steep stairs or a slippery shower can pose dangers, and standard houses are not wheelchair accessible. One solution? With 78 million baby boomers about to hit retirement age, some say the time is ripe to overhaul the way homes are designed. A NPR radio emission by Jennifer Ludden
‘Aging at Home’ Posts
Building Homes to Age In
Monday, August 30th, 2010Brain Wellness À la Wii
Tuesday, August 3rd, 2010
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As of August 2010, the Wii leads the generation over the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in worldwide sales and in December 2009 broke the record for best-selling console in a single month in the United States.
Nintendo hoped to target a wider demographic with its console. The productions are Nintendo’s first broad-based advertising strategy and include a two-minute video clip showing a varied assortment of people enjoying the Wii system, such as urban apartment-dwellers, country ranchers, grandparents, and parents with their children.The marketing campaign has proved to be successful: pensioners, as old as 103 have been reported to be playing the Wii in the United Kingdom.. A report by the British newspaper The People also stated that Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain has played using the Wii console!
Now, we have data that the Wii games have brought back feelings of being young again as the participants flex their mental muscles and improve their physical fitness. The Wii is improving the quality of life of many aging seniors.
Diane Carbo, in an article written for Senior Advice, states that “…Healthy aging and a brain fitness program along with the Wii promotes the development of new skills, and helps aging seniors learn from their mistakes. The best part of using the Wii as part of a healthy aging program is the laughter and excitement you see in the faces of the participants. The environment is electric as the aging seniors enjoy familiar interests in a new format. For many seniors it feels like old times again…”
How To Videos: Videos to care for your elder loved one
Friday, July 30th, 2010
Watch these videos to get step-by-step instruction on caring for your elderly loved one. Learn about topics including, how to make your bathroom safer, moving your parents into your home and ensuring your parent’s end-of-life wishes.
Technologies Help Adult Children Monitor Aging Parents
Thursday, July 29th, 2010
89% of Americans do not want to leave their homes when they age. Most of these people will be live alone and receive support from a variety of health and community-based providers, family caregivers. How will the long-term care system provide care to a growing number of seniors living in increasingly scattered locations? And more importantly, how can that system continue to provide quality care in the face of workforce shortages, rising care costs and decreasing resources? Technology has the potential to play a critical role in launching a new model of geriatric care that allows older people to live independently for as long as possible, supports family caregivers in the important work they do and gives health care providers the tools they need to deliver high-quality care at a reasonable cost. The just released article Technologies Help Adult Children Monitor Aging Parents on The New York Times, states that these technologies “…are godsends for families. But, as with any parent-child relationship, all loving intentions can be tempered by issues of control, role-reversal, guilt and a little deception — enough loaded stuff to fill a psychology syllabus. For just as the current population of adults in their 30s and 40s have built a reputation for being a generation of hyper-involved, hovering parents to their own children, they now have the tools to micro-manage their aging mothers and fathers as well…”
We, at Living Well Assisted Living at Home, believe the provide a safety net for the elders, an option to stay at home while providing peace of mind to the adult children and family members.
Building a Safety Net for Elder Care: More Home-Based Models are Needed
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
The St. Louis Today, reported on the need that our communities have to build a strong home-based and community-based system for those who can pay for care and those who can’t pay for it. Building a safety net for those in need is the focus of the 35th Annual National Association of Area Agencies on Aging Conference & Tradeshow, which kicked off over the weekend at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in St. Louis during the weekend of July 22-24, 2010.
The facts are well known, the St Louis Today reports: “…By 2030, about 72 million Americans will be 65 or older — roughly twice the number in 2000, according to estimates by the National Institute on Aging. While plenty of attention has been given to how this coming tidal wave of seniors will strain Medicaid, aging specialists and health care advocates are also beginning to address the “forgotten population” — those who may have enough assets to pay for some health care services but not the cost of a long-term nursing home.
It can be a difficult population to care for. Typically, people 80 or older have one chronic disease; those 85 or older have two chronic diseases. Many of these seniors also have problems doing everyday tasks such as cooking meals, washing their clothes or tying their shoes. On average, 24-hour care in a nursing home runs about $60,000 a year…” Therefore the need for building that safety net for all elders.
Before You Leave Your Home: Eight Questions To Ask Before Buying Into A Senior Community
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
In an article on Forbes USA, Ashlea Ebeling states that moving into a continuing care retirement community requires a big investment and a lot of research. She invites us to ask the right questions “…Are you (or your aging parent) the kind of person who likes to plan for all contingencies? Then you might want to consider a continuing care retirement community–a development that usually includes independent apartments or town homes for spry seniors; assisted living units for those who need some help; plus a nursing home…”
Living Well Independently: 7 Ways To Talk To Your Parents About Getting Help At Home
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
Shannon Martin and Alex Chamberlain affirm how difficult it can be to acknowledge the fact that your parent needs some help with day-to-day activities, let alone introducing to them the idea of hiring a professional caregiver for help. They give us nice and easy to follow advice on how to go about it. Their article on parentgiving 7 Ways To Talk To Your Parents About Getting Help At Home proposes that “…approaching the subject requires patience and tact. However, there are certain considerations to keep in mind that can help you approach a conversation about in-home care with your parent with greater success…”
