Help At Home Homecare Florida

Guilt, whether genuine or self-imposed, it can be  an emotion almost everyone deals with at one point or another. If you are caring for an elderly or ill loved one, this emotion can become almost crippling.

Consider this scenario: You are the responsible caregiver who has been placed in charge of an ill, aging or disabled individual. Although you dearly love this person, sometimes you need a break. After many months have passed, you may have fleeting thoughts of a nursing home or find yourself longing for a former time, when you enjoyed the freedom to come and go as you please.

What once was a loving duty has now become a burden. When you catch yourself thinking this way, you experience waves of overwhelming guilt.

“How could you feel this way? How could you be so selfish?” you wonder to yourself.

Rest assured, these thoughts and longings are completely normal and they certainly don’t make you a bad person..

When these feelings occur, it may be time to hire skilled nursing care for help at home.

Properly Dealing With Guilt

Many times, problems arise when you have unrealistic expectations. You may feel as if your entire life should be focused on the sick individual in your care, at the expense of all other things in your life. Sometimes, though, it is important to take a step back so you can take care of yourself.

Here are some additional tips for dealing with the guilt you may be experiencing as a caregiver.

• Accept and Ask For Help- Sometimes you just can’t do everything by yourself. If you are struggling with your responsibilities, you may want to consider hiring home health care services. You will receive loving skilled nursing care for as little as a few hours each week to full time assistance. Even a few hours away from your responsibilities may help you to unwind, de-stress, and focus on yourself.

• Acknowledge All of Your Emotions- No matter what you are feeling, don’t ignore your emotions. You may feel stressed, angry, guilty, frustrated, or even sad, and you need to own these feelings. Share these emotions with your friends, relatives, or even your therapist.

• Pay Attention To Your Own Health- Don’t let your responsibilities as a caregiver keep you from taking care of yourself. Eat right, exercise, monitor your medical problems, and get enough sleep each night and have your own support system. Balancing caregiving and your own life is important. Be Sure to still have Fun!

If you are feeling guilty about hiring private home care, remember that taking care of yourself isn’t a luxury, it is a necessity.

And whether you are hiring help for your loved one in Sarasota, Bradenton, Venice, Englewood or Port Charlotte, Florida  it is important to keep in mind that guilty feelings are normal, but they should not keep you from providing your loved one with the quality care they deserve.

With caring and professional help at home, you and your loved one will both enjoy a richer, more full quality of life. this is exactly what we offer at Help at Home Homecare- Call or Contact us for a Free Consultation.

Related Article: It’s emotional-Coping with the Emotions of a Caregiver

It’s that time of year again, when many of us start to evaluate our inner and outer selves and see where we need to set the bar higher for the upcoming year. If you are a resolution maker, then in order to succeed here are a few tips that will help you achieve your goals for 2012.

Experimental psychologist, Richard Wiseman, tracked over 3000 people who were attempting to meet their New Year’s Resolutions. In this study:

• 52% thought that they would succeed
• One year later, only 12% actually did succeed

Related articles

• 85% of New Year’s resolutions fail, so pledge not to make one with this app (thenextweb.com)
• Guest Post: 5 Apps to Help You Reach that New Years Resolution (socialwayne.com)

Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional. 

~Chili Davis

According to the National Association for Home Care and Hospice, 7.6 million Americans receive skilled nursing care from one of the 17,000 home care staffing services in this country, while only 1.6 Americans actually reside in nursing homes or senior care facilities.

While many of these elderly individuals may need help at home homecare on occasion, most are avoiding nursing homes and remaining healthier longer due to a more health conscious, active, and self-sufficient lifestyle. That’s good news!

A New Breed of Seniors

The baby boomer generation has quietly crept up to retirement age, but age seems to mean very little these days. With 40 being the new 30, and 80 looking like the new 60, there’s not much stopping any of us.

There is a conscious move in every generation toward health, longevity, and self-preservation. Living life to the fullest and making the
most of every second is definitely the mantra of the over 65 crowd today.

Consider for a moment one of the top celebrities these days, Betty White. This popular actress may be in her mid-80s, but she is still going strong, starring in new television
shows and even hosting Saturday Night Live and connecting with this generation.

And she isn’t the only baby boomer who has become an energizing role model for aging men and women.

• Louise Hay, the founder of a self-help movement, turned 81 lasted year and starred in her first movie.

• Hazel Soares, a 94 year old woman, attended Mills College and recently graduated with an art history degree. When asked why it took her so long to obtain her degree, the mother of six and grandmother to 40 stated that she has had a busy life!

• Another remarkable individual is Mimi Kirk, author, raw food enthusiast, and winner of PETA’s “Sexiest Vegetarian Over 50″ contest. When Mimi earned this title, she was over 70! Full of energy and with a strikingly youthful appearance, she attributes her energy and health to her clean, healthy, vegan diet.

Changes in Aging and Home Care Needs

Along with the changes to how we, as a nation are aging, the number of baby boomers relying on in home health care instead of spending their 60s, 70s, and 80s in a nursing home is also on the rise. Home Health Care allows seniors the autonomy of staying at home and the majority are remaining self-sufficient for longer periods of time.

How are they doing it?

Exercise- Over the past 20 years, the American Sports Data Inc. (ASD), has kept tract of trends in exercise. Surprisingly, a recent survey by this organization has found  a startling increase, more than 380% since the year 1987, in individuals older than 55 who spend time at the gym. Many of these individuals are focusing on low impact exercises like yoga, Pilates, recumbent bikes, and elliptical trainers. These exercises focus on relaxation, flexibility, firming up back muscles, and reducing stress on problems areas like knees, ankles, and backs.

Fulfilling Dreams- For many baby boomers, taking advantage of their later years to fulfill their dreams is a way to stay youthful. Women, who may have had to postpone their graduate school plans, career advances, and world explorations to raise their families, can use their later years to fulfill these life goals.

Health Care- According to Science Daily, the aging process is being postponed because individuals are reaching an older age in better health. This stems from public health efforts made to prevent disease, improvements in living conditions, and improvements in medical care, according to the head of Duke University’s Center on the Demography of Aging.

Income- In 1959, the number of individuals over the age of 65 living below the poverty line was at 35%. In 2003, this number fell to 10% due to the support of Social Security. With this increase in income, the elderly are able to live better eat healthier, and enjoy a better quality of life.

If you are in the Sarasota, Bradenton, or Venice area and feel you might benefit from a bit of extra help at home, don’t hesitate to give us a call. Receiving home care is no longer reserved for the bedridden or ill. Improve your overall lifestyle by taking advantage of our numerous temporary or full time in home client services. From preparing meals, light
cleaning, and running errands to skilled nursing care, we will help you live your best life now!

  Call us whenever you’re ready.. We’re here to Help!

941-388-3117

Everyday while providing in home care for our patients, we strive to truly connect and deeply care for our clients as a loving family member would. The caring power of touch allows a health care provider to not only assess a patient, but shows without words the gentle nature of how much you want to attend to their needs.

In the digital age that we’re living in, automated patient care will surely make for a more impersonal level of medical assisting. Stanford University  Doctor of Medicine, Dr. Abraham Verghese implores us to not drift and forget how utterly important and cathartic the act of touch is in medicine. He claims that the iPatient is getting wonderful care on paper, but the real human patient is wondering where everyone is as technology seems to be in charge.

If you’re in any facet of offering healthcare today, let this post that was originally shared on Mind the Gap, written by Stephen Wilkins MPH, inspire you to get back to the basics of the Human side of patient and caregiving!

The Power Of A Physician’s Touch – A Sure Path To Better Patient Trust, Outcomes And Satisfaction-Stephen Wilkins

My wife has two world-class oncologists who help her manage her Stage 4 Lung Cancer.  Both are excellent clinicians.  Yet their skills differ in one very important way.  Her radiation oncologist physically touches her a lot (in a good way of course!).  There are the touches on her arm, a hand on the shoulder, hugs, and of course a thorough hands-on physician exam.  Her medical oncologist not so much.

We all recognize the therapeutic value of touch.  Dr. Abraham Verghese, a Stanford Physician and Professor, at the 2011 Med2.0 Conference, described the power of touch associated with the physical exam.  In the following scenario he describes an interaction with a chronic fatigue patient who came to him after being seen by many other physicians.

The patient was very voluble and kept talking as I began the physical.  I always begin my routine, my ritual with the patient’s hands…it seems natural to hold the hands.   I slip my figure to the radial pulse and then examine the fingers looking for cyanosis and clubbing….  As I began my routine, this talkative patient began to quiet down.   I had an eerie sense that the patient and I had slipped back into a primitive ritual…one in which I had a role and the patient had a role.

When I was done the patient said to me with some awe…I have never been examined like this before.   If this were true that was unfortunate since this patient had been examined by other physicians many times before.   Following the exam, I told the patient the same thing he had been told by other physicians, I don’t know what the problem is …but here’s what we will do.  I had earned the right to tell the patient this because of the examination.

Verghese believed that, unlike the other physicians seen by the patient, he had earned the right to diagnose the patient and expect the patient to accept and act on his findings.  Why?

Because of the patient trust he had earned in part through the power of touch.

According to researchers, people are able to more accurately discern a wider range of feelings and emotion from touch than from gestures, expressions, and sometimes even words.  That’s because touch is the first language we learn.  Tiffany Field, PhD of the Touch Research Institute in Miami has found that benefits of touch seem to stem largely from its ability to reduce levels of cortisol, a stress hormone manufactured by the body.

Given the high degree of personal stress associated with a trip to the doctor, a lab test, or hospital visit, I suspect we could use a whole lot more touching…not less as is the trend.  Verghese has a name for this trend – you know where clinicians gather around the computer and not the patient.  He calls it iMedicine….and it’s not a good thing.

What do you think.. Have you seen the direct benefits of human touch in your medical career show themselves powerful? We would enjoy having you                 weigh in!

With the Holidays upon us, families are going to be visiting one another and spending some great quality time together! With this, comes a  great opportunity for those who are young at heart to realize that we still have alot to learn from our younger generations.

Our children and especially grandchildren, can be our best teachers, can’t they? They are young, hopeful, inquisitive, and constantly discovering the world around them. If we pay attention to our grandchildren, we can learn valuable lessons that can renew our hope and help us to better enjoy and appreciate our lives and see things in a whole new way.

• “One More Time Grandpa!”

Your grandchildren may be among the most resilient people you will ever meet.  Giving up is often a foreign concept for them.  If it’s hard for them to reach the cereal on the top shelf, for example, they will stretch and tippy toe until they succeed, even if it means knocking everything out of the pantry and spilling most of the cereal on the floor! The point is that your little ones don’t give up easily. They teach us that with hard work, we can reach whatever goal we set our minds too.. even as we age, no matter how many tries it takes we should set goals and work toward meeting them.

• “Can I Try Grandma?”

For your grandchildren, there is nothing more exciting than discovering something new. When you introduce them to a new game or toy, it’s as if their whole world has just changed. They can’t wait to jump right in and get started.  They love to learn and to try new things and as you learn to share their enthusiasm, you may learn to adapt to a healthier mental view of the world around you. Looking at the world through the enthusiasm of a child you can learn to embrace different experiences, just like your grandchildren do.

• Comedy Hour for All!

Laughter comes naturally for your grandchildren. They don’t hold back or wonder who may hear them and they certainly aren’t inhibited by insecurities. In fact, they love nothing more than when others join in and laugh along with whatever silly dance or joke they’ve created.  You can learn to let go of your anxieties and your inhibitions and laugh right along with your grandchildren. Research shows that laughter reduces stress and makes it possible for adults, and seniors, to live healthier, longer lives.

• Can Anyone Help, Please ..?

Though kids like to feel all grown up and often try to do things themselves, they are not opposed to asking for advice on how to accomplish their goals. By observing your grandchildren, you can figure out what it means to be your own person while accepting help from the people who care about you. Whether you may be experiencing the need for in home homecare or are thinking of asking your grandson for computer tips..admitting that you could use some help is a positive step towards a healthier lifestyle.

• “Let’s Get Out & Play Today!”

Playtime is more than fun; it’s good for you! More than likely, your grandkids love playing in the fresh air and sunshine. As you learn to enjoy spending more time outdoors, you will find that the health benefits are quite worth it. Being outdoors is proven to relieve harmful stress, and increased oxygen intake promotes healthier brain function. So get outside with your grandkids and enjoy their company each time they visit you, as well as the health benefits that will come along with it!

Life is all about perspective. If you learn to enjoy your life and the simple things, just like your grandchildren do, you’ll find that you can enter your senior years and even a bit of help at home healthcare with a positive, bright attitude.

At Help at Home Homecare, it’s our desire to assist you or your loved one whenever you are in need. From transportation, meal preparation, companion care to extensive skilled in home nursing care, we’re here for you. WE are ready to meet your needs and allow you to enjoy every season of your Life!

Contact Us for a Free Assessment when you are ready- We’re here for you!

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Image Credit: Photostock / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Momma always said.. “There’s No Time Like the Present”, and this addage is no less true today than it was years ago. In regards to Social Media and the opportunities that it presents for businesses, brands, Doctors, hospitals and home health care providers, now is the present time to get on board and start engaging with an entirely new online audience.

• The largest growing demographic creating Facebook profiles are baby boomers. Studies show that the 74+ age group is logging in at the fastest rate, and that internet users age 65+ grew at the rate of 100% in the past year!

• What the internet is showing us, is that as our society ages we will continue to desire to be more connected and engage with not only our family, friends and grandchildren who may live miles away, yet we are also wanting to be in communication with our Health Care Professionals as we taking charge of our own health care.

Professional health care providers, in home home care agencies and other medical professions that are progressive and desire to advance their reach to an online target audience should truly be getting on board with Social Media Marketing.

A Doctor, Dentist, Dermotologist, PA,  R.N. or office liason can utilize online Socail Media Profiles to become an informative after care tool to clear any vague areas that may not have been covered during the office visit. Most should realize that direct diagnosis etc. most definitely should NOT be discussed online, but many other topics can be discussed and specific content can be shared that’s an added value to their patient care and benefits all parties involved.

Knowledge is Power, and so many internet users log on daily to sites like WebMd, Discovery Health, CNN Health and more to learn what the next latest and greatest anti-aging remedy is, or how to eat our way to live to be a centurion. Wouldn’t it be best to be able to converse directly with your local health care provider about your concerns rather than a conglomerate site?  WE think the answer is a resounding.. Yes!

The next time you’re on Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter, search and see if your Doctor, Dentist, Plastic Surgeon or Health Care Professional is online and active within Social Media Networks.

Here is a great article that offers super tips for your office, or for you to share with your health care provider as they start their online Social Media communities:

Social Media for Doctors

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• Social Media and Patient Interaction (hospitalphysicians.com)
• The Rise of the Digital Doctor
• Has Your Hospital Engaged a “Social Media Sweatshop?” (healthcaremarcom.wordpress.com)