Guest article by Cheryl Levin-Folio My husband, Michael, was diagnosed with younger-onset Alzheimer’s at the age of 56. It was surreal and hard to swallow, but we didn’t run away. Nor did we try to escape the stigma that accompanied the devastating news. We let it sink in and created a plan to live our [...]
Strokes, or “brain attacks,” disable Americans more than any other disease. With an interruption of blood to the brain, a stroke may have similar symptoms; but as everyone’s brain is different, so are the effects of each person’s stroke. There is no rhyme or reason to the severity of strokes and or to the recovery [...]
What is it like to be a caregiver? Your clients and their loved ones probably never expected to be caring for a person who is sick or has a disability. As professional caregivers, we need to ensure a meaningful quality of life for our clients, the care recipient, and ourselves. Just as the care recipient [...]
Keep your loved one comfortable and follow the recommendations of his or her health care provider. Keep others in the home healthy by washing hands and household surfaces frequently. Ensure that all medications are taken as directed. Keep your loved one in a separate space from other members of the household. Everyone in the home, [...]
When caring for people who have the flu: Avoid being face to face with the sick person. If possible, it is best to spend the least amount of time in close contact with a sick person. When holding sick children, place their chin on your shoulder so they will not cough in your face. Wash [...]
Winter is a special time for celebration. It should also be a time for added caution if you or someone in your family is an older adult. It is the season for falls, slips on icy streets and other dangers that can be especially harmful for older adults. "Something as simple as a fall can [...]
Frigid weather can pose special risks to older adults. The National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, has some advice for helping older people avoid hypothermia — when the body gets too cold — during cold weather. Hypothermia is generally defined as having a core body temperature of 95 degrees [...]
Imagine finding a glimmer of good news in a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s. A neurologist who’s been specializing in dementia and memory loss for more than 20 years, Dr. Gayatri Devi rewrites the story of Alzheimer’s by defining it as a spectrum disorder—like autism, Alzheimer’s is a disease that affects different people differently. Told through the [...]
Becoming a caregiver for someone with Alzheimer’s disease can be an underappreciated, and yet noble role. Because of the nature of these disorders, the only way to become an effective caregiver is to become well-informed about the disease. With the right information, you can become your own expert at both caring for your charge and [...]
