Caregiver Crossing

Speech therapy for seniors is often necessary when recovering from the debilitating consequences of a stroke or dementia. It may also be necessary after a head injury. The ability to communicate effectively is important at any age, but for seniors it can be vital. If a senior cannot successfully describe what they need, where they hurt, or what is wrong in general, an emergency can easily occ...

If someone in your life needs specialized care to recover after a surgery, acute illness, or stroke, rehabilitation therapy could be the solution. There are several things that need to be considered when choosing a rehab center and planning your loved one’s stay there. However, when discharged from the hospital patient’s and caregivers often feel these decisions are quite rushed.   What...

In this week’s episode, Tina and Terri discuss what it means to age by design. How do desires and priorities shift as we age, why do we fail to notice these changes, and how do we live with purpose to our very last breath?    Email Tina: tina@joyshouse.org    Learn more about Joy’s House:  www.joyshouse.org   See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and Califor...

To best serve older adults and increase the age-friendliness of your community, it is important to ask for and record information from older adults on a variety of topics. Collecting resident input provides valuable insight on how the public feels about community issues. This information can guide strategic decisions and priorities for your community.  Engaging the community strengthens relat...

To best serve older adults and increase the age-friendliness of your community, it is important to ask for and record information from older adults on a variety of topics. Collecting resident input provides valuable insight on how the public feels about community issues. This information can guide strategic decisions and priorities for your community.  Engaging the community strengthens relat...

According to AARP, more than 90 percent of people aged 60 or older want to stay in their home and community for as long as possible. One primary barrier to aging in place is when the home is no longer accessible or presents a fall risk. Safe at Home, a service offered by CICOA helps individuals age in place through home accessibility modifications. Working with local contractors and funded by phil...

If you listened to last week’s episode you are aware that guided imagery meditation is an effective relaxation technique with clinically proven benefits for you mental and physical health. You may also recall that we promised to create an original guided imagery session for Terri. Well – we did it!   So, listener, sit back relax and travel with us to a peaceful place – aka our produ...

Guided imagery is a relaxation technique that draws on your ability to visualize and daydream. It’s easy to practice whenever and wherever you are. All you have to do is imagine a peaceful scene in your mind. It works best if you incorporate as many sensory details as possible: what you see, hear, feel, smell, and taste. So you’re not just thinking it—you’re living it. When you engage your imagina...

“Once a caregiver, always a caregiver – it changes you that much.” That is a quote from Winnie the Pooh about weeds and flowers is a perfect summation of the message in Life Giving Dementia Care. With the right perspective, weeds are wondrous. With the right perspective, the caregiving experience can be one of confidence, compassion, growth, and even joy. We are joined today by Toni Kanzler. Toni...

Each of the 5.6 million Americans with dementia has one or more caregivers struggling to make meaning while watching their loved one’s personality vanish. The caregiver is sure to be changed―not only by the myriad tasks and responsibilities, but by the soul-searching questions: Dare, I hope? Who’s to blame? What do I do with my anger? Where’s God in this? These questions of doubt, guilt, intimacy,...

Elderly guardianship, also known as elderly conservatorship, is a legal relationship created when a court appoints an individual to care for an elderly person who is no longer able to care for himself or herself. The appointed guardian has certain duties and responsibilities to the elderly person. Unfortunately, an elderly person may become unable to care for himself or herself. This could include...

Research studies show that prolonged isolation of individuals leads to depression and anxiety. The anxiety and depression increase exponentially as people enter the senior age group. To combat the epidemic of depression and anxiety among seniors, in May of 2021, the Shepherd’s Center of Hamilton County launched a Counseling Program with the goals of decreasing symptoms from mental health issues, i...

They are in our air, in our water, in our soils, and in our food supply: Toxins and chemical pollutants are everywhere -- including in our bodies. So, how do we eat with health in mind while living on a planet many say is poisoned beyond repair? Today we welcome back Dr. Julie Gatza, founder of the Florida Wellness Institute – you may remember her from our Poop 101 episode – to offer advice o...

If you are a "typical" caregiver, then you are strapped for time and under way too much stress. You don’t need a study to know that many caregivers feel financial, physical, and emotional fallout from their role.  What you need is a way to remove some of that stress – and many caregivers are turning to mindfulness and meditation to help relax the body and calm the mind. Effective techniques i...

Family caregivers play a crucial role in the successful healthcare transitions of the loved ones. They are uniquely capable of monitoring their loved one’s progress and spotting red-flags early on; they can also provide valuable information to physician regarding disease progression, environmental changes, and other key details. Caregivers should be treated as partners in the medical care of their...

Family caregivers play a crucial role in the successful healthcare transitions of the loved ones. They are uniquely capable of monitoring their loved one’s progress and spotting red-flags early on; they can also provide valuable information to physician regarding disease progression, environmental changes, and other key details. Caregivers should be treated as partners in the medical care of their...

More than 21 million people provide unpaid care for millions of people living with dementia in the U.S. With input from caregivers, researchers from Regenstrief Institute, Indiana University, the University of Wisconsin, and Purdue University are developing and testing Helping the Helpers, a user-centered, evidence-based app to support dementia caregivers as they help manage medications -- very of...

A recent study by the Alzheimer’s Society found that over half (56%) of people surveyed are put off seeking a dementia diagnosis for up to a year or more. According to the WHO 55 million people live with dementia worldwide and there are nearly 10 million new cases each year. The leading dementia charities are warning that a lack of diagnosis is denying many of these people the chance of getting th...

Heat-related deaths and illness are preventable yet annually many people succumb to extreme heat. Historically, from 1979-2003, excessive heat exposure caused 8,015 deaths in the United States. During this period, more people in this country died from extreme heat than from hurricanes, lightning, tornadoes, floods, and earthquakes combined. In 2001, 300 deaths were caused by excessive heat exposur...

Poop happens — to everyone. Although it's natural to flush and hit the sink without a second glance, peeking at what's in the toilet bowl can benefit your health. And chances are, there's a lot you never knew, or thought to ask, about your number two. It is what's left after your digestive system absorbs all the nutrients and fluid from your food and drinks. As such, observing the shape, texture,...

Stigma around dementia encompasses any negative attitude or discriminatory behavior against people living with dementia, just based on having the disease. When a disease is as prevalent as dementia, yet still poorly understood, it's easy for false beliefs to spread. Left unchallenged, these beliefs perpetuate stigmatizing attitudes against people living with dementia, reducing their quality of lif...

Caregiving is one of the most important and reward rolls you can have in life, but the strain (left unmanaged) can take a heavy toll. If you are a caregiving spouse between the ages of 66 and 96 and are experiencing mental or emotional strain, you have a risk of dying that is 63 percent higher than that of people your age who are not caregivers. The combination of loss, prolonged stress, the physi...

Retirement is an exciting proposition. No more early morning wake-up calls or long days plowing through a stressful workload. We’ve all dreamt of having the free time to do as we wish. Unfortunately, that sweet dream can sour quickly. All that free time can turn into long, unproductive days, weeks, and years that can be rife with boredom and uncertainty. Even empty nesting can have this effect.&nb...

Structured family caregiving is one way for states to handle the needs of an aging population that’s growing rapidly and living longer. It is a government program that empowers caregivers to care for seniors and those with disabilities who wish to remain at home, or in the home of an approved caregiver, rather than become institutionalized into a nursing home.  Indiana launched its pilot proj...

June 26th – this coming Monday – marks the anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court case, Obergefell v Hodges, which made same-sex marriage legal in all 50 US states. Some may know – and some may not – that the man that filed the lawsuit, Jim Obergefell, was a same-sex caregiver who was denied the right to legally marry his love and partner before he passed from ALS in 2013.   We would...