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The Aetrex Navistar GPS Footwear System · GPS Shoe

The Aetrex Navistar GPS Footwear System · GPS Shoe: GPS Shoe

Millions of seniors with dementia will wander in search of their lost memories. While we can’t find those remembrances, we can find the lost victims themselves.

The Mayo Clinic describes Alzheimer’s and the problem of Wandering: The disease can erase a person’s memory of once-familiar surroundings, as well as make it extremely difficult to adapt to new surroundings. As a result, people who have Alzheimer’s may wander away from their homes or care centers and turn up lost, frightened and disoriented — sometimes far from where they started.
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GPS shoes can help track people with Alzheimer's (video)

Alzheimer’s Speaks / Shifting Our Dementia Care Culture / International Resources

Alzheimer’s Speaks / Shifting Our Dementia Care Culture / International Resources


Bottom line all businesses, communities as well as individuals need to become Dementia Friendly. The statistics alone show the numbers are staggering and only growing. Now is the time to get ahead of the game before negative outcomes increase. We offer "Dementia Friendly Programs" for both companies and individuals.
Alzheimer's Speaks believes collaboration is the key to living a successful and purpose filled life with dementia.  By working together, we can push both conventional and alternative efforts forward in search of answers.  By joining forces and sharing knowledge, we can win the battle against dementia.

Shopping for the Right In-home Help By Eileen Beal, MA

Shopping for the Right In-home Help: Shopping for the Right In-home Help
By Eileen Beal, MA


Home care vs. home health aide
Home care aides provide assistance with housekeeping and chores (meal preparation, shopping, errands, etc); socialization and companionship; and may also provide some personal care (bathing and grooming).  In some areas, they are called personal care assistants.
Home health aides – increasingly certified nursing assistants (CNAs) and/or state tested nursing assistants (STNA) – provide medically-related care (check blood pressure and glucose levels, dress dry wounds, empty colostomy bags, etc.); assist with therapeutic treatments prescribed by a physician; supervise medication administration; etc.
 “The client’s needs and the aide’s skill-level determine what the aide’s [hourly] fee will be.  The more skills the aide has, the higher the cost,” says Debbie Adams, RN, the Director of  the Cleveland, Ohio-based Western Reserve Area Agency on Aging’s Community Services and Support Program.
Write a job description
 Using the information you’ve gathered from discussing and assessing your loved ones’ needs, write a detailed job description.  “Care expectations vary from client to client, so having everything in writing means everyone knows, and meets, expectations,” says Lucy Andrews, the nurse/CEO at Santa Rosa, California-based At Your Service Home Care.

Renting a Stairlift for short periods

Renting a Stairlift for the Holidays | The Intentional Caregiver: Renting a Stairlift for the Holidays

courtesy of depositphotos.com

Christmas is an exciting time, filled with giving presents and simply being together as a family. You want to be able to enjoy the time spent with family and friends and not spend valuable family time worrying about mobility issues.

If you have become less able in recent years, or if you are caregiving for someone who has, it is understandable that you may not have the same holiday cheer you once had. You may find going to visit family and friends a chore as you or your care recipient struggle to climb up their staircase. You may feel like you will be a burden if you or your loved one cannot move freely around their home. You do not want your family to have to work their Christmas plans around any lack of mobility so you may suggest you will stay at home.

What most people do not realise is that if you can rent a stairlift for the holidays! A mobility lift is the perfect answer to all your mobility needs during the busy Christmas period. Perhaps your children live far away and you would like to stay with them before Christmas until the New Year.
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Features of typical rental lifts include:
  • Brand new rail and fully reconditioned seat
  • Comfortable padded seating and back rest
  • Fold up seat, arms and foot rest
  • Remote controls
  • Battery powered
  • Directional paddle switches
  • Digital diagnostic display
  • Safety sensors

The MedCottage, also nicknamed "the Granny pod",

Where to put elderly parents - National Green Living | Examiner.com: The MedCottage, also nicknamed "the Granny pod", is similar to a three-room apartment but it is equipped like a hospital room. Its water, electric and sewage systems work off the caregiver's home. It has a kitchenette and laundry facilities and comes in three sizes, 288 square feet, 299 square feet, or 605 square feet. The kitchen has a small refrigerator, microwave, and medication dispenser. One wall has a first-aid kit and even a defibrillator machine. There are safety rails, the bathroom is handicapped accessible, and there are three built-in cameras with one in the ceiling over the kitchen area and one in the floor to provide alerts of falls in the unit. Read the Washington Post article for more pictures of the unit and the story of the first occupant of one.

Smart robotic features monitor vital signs, filter air contaminants, and communicate with the outside world. Computers prompt with medication reminders and sensors alert caregivers of problems like the occupant falling and needing help. There are entertainment options for music, literature and watching movies. The state law in Virginia, where they originated, classified them a few years ago as “temporary family health-care structures.” They may not be legal in some states, so get them pre-approved first before buying one.

Basics of Alzheimer’s Disease |by Elayne Forgie,

Stages of Alzheimer’s

Early Stages – What day is it?

The disease begins in the hippocampus, then spreads to the frontal temporal lobe affecting recent memory, learning of new information, thinking, planning and organization.

Middle Stages – Who are you?

It moves further into the frontal temporal lobe and into the occipital and parietal lobes affecting sensory perception, communication, behaviors, impulse control, judgment and attention to personal appearance.

Late Stages – Who am I?

In the final stages the disease spreads throughout the brain and affects the ability to recognize anyone, including themselves, to control bodily functions and to eat and drink. Eventually, the brain can no longer tell the body what to do.



by on Dec 28, 2012 in Alzheimer's Care West Palm Beach ; more information on Alzheimer’s disease, dementia or another cognitive impairment, contact Alzheimer's Care West Palm Beach at (800) 209-4342

States With Filial Responsibility Laws | You May Have to Pay for Your Parents' Care

30states.pdf (application/pdf Object)


You May Have to Pay for Your Parents' Care



States with filial responsibility laws are: Alaska, Arkansas,
California, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana,
Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota,
Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota,
Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.

The Collaboration Trap – The Wrong Way to Innovate | Senior Housing Forum

The Collaboration Trap – The Wrong Way to Innovate | Senior Housing Forum: Two Big Collaboration Problems
Collaboration is a good way to solve well defined problems where there is already a set of possible solutions. It is a terrible way to innovate. There are two reasons why collaboration is an ineffective . . . even impossible path to innovation:

1. Unequal Power – Good collaborative efforts put considerable time and effort into making sure all stakeholders have a voice. The process may even include a framework that allows the minor stakeholders have a disproportionately strong voice. Yet for all of that, some participants will have much more influence than others. In some cases it is strength that comes from position and in other cases, it comes from having a strong charismatic or forceful personality.

2. Accommodation – The word collaboration suggests that everyone has a voice and every voice has value. This means that as solutions begin to emerge there is an innate tendency to make sure everyone has contributed to the solution. That each person can say about some part of the solution “That was my idea” or “my contribution.” This means that ultimately, the solution(s) will regress to the mean, in other words regress to something that accommodates everyone even if not optimal.
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 author: Steve Moran
smoran@seniorhousingforum.net
seniorhousingforum.net
916-390-2238

If you like this story  subscribe to his email list.
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Caregiver Cards


Communication Is Important

Communication is considered a shared responsibility. However, in dealing with persons affected with Alzheimer’s and dementias, the responsibility for understanding and being understood lies squarely with the caregiver.
Communication is quite simply the act of conveying or sharing information. Alzheimer’s and related dementias eventually create a barrier to effective communication, mostly dealing with the language part of communication.


 Caregiver Cards was founded off of the idea that not only are persons living with Alzheimer’s entitled to supportive and the best possible care, so are the caregivers. We understand so well, because we have cared for our loved ones too.

žCommunication is considered a shared responsibility. However, in dealing with persons affected with Alzheimer’s and similar dementias, the responsibility for understanding and being understood lies squarely with YOU the caregiver.

žYou, the caregiver, will be in charge of handling Caregiver Cards, and helping your loved one find their voice with a new style of communicating.

 Barbara Worthington is the founder and owner of Caregiver Cards. Barbara  with over 13 years of experience and knowledge related to care giving and Alzheimer’s.

How to Interact with a Person with Dementia in Distress |

How to Interact with a Person with Dementia in Distress



Support & Insight for the Autumn of Life

Tips for Families & Volunteers on Visiting the Person with Dementia

MindStart - Puzzles, Games, and More for Persons with Memory Loss Tips for Having a Good Visit

Individuals with dementia can have difficulty with recent memories and with communicating, making it harder to maintain relationships with others on their own. Often, their friends, neighbors, and extended family members do not know how to handle this, so stop visiting or calling. Offer these tips to decrease the fear and make the visit successful.

Choose a quiet calm location
Introduce yourself, as needed
Keep focus on the person, using eye contact and patience
Avoid correcting; instead offer reassurance and praise
Avoid open-ended questions; instead use yes/no questions or questions where 2 choices are given
Monitor body language and facial expressions of the person
Enter their world. Talk about what they are thinking about at the time.
Reminiscence is a wonderful tool. Talk about past interests or significant life events.
Use adapted Alzheimer activities to form a connection and have fun together.



  
Don't know what to do when visiting with the person with dementia?
This is the perfect 'kit' to have a variety of activities that work for different stages of dementia. 
 Includes your choice of one 26 piece puzzle, various level re-usable word searches, and lacing card in a handy  binder.