Why Is Meal Planning Important for the Elderly

The older people get, the more difficult it is to move around. Basic daily activities will be difficult and extended. Especially for seniors living alone, tasks such as cooking and grocery shopping can be quite tough. To help ease this burden, it is great for the elderly to start meal planning. This way it’s more efficient for them when they go out or cook, or if not, it’s easier for their caregivers to keep track of their meals. Here are some reasons why meal planning is important for the elderly.

It Helps With Nutrition
It’s common for the elderly to get sick easily. That’s why a healthy diet is so important. Some companies offering home care assistance in California have professionals who help the elderly plan out a healthy balanced diet. They also help suggest food that’s appropriate for the elderly’s condition and food preferences.
It Saves Time
For both the elderly and the caregivers, meal planning helps save time to do other things. With meal planning, appropriate portions of food can already be cooked ahead of time and safely kept and preserved until such time when it’s to be eaten.
It Saves Money
Going to the grocery store every day can be quite costly but meal planning & preparation helps you avoid unnecessary purchases for food and it helps save gas money. Through meal planning, there is also less food waste because all meal plans have already been approved by the elderly.

Nutrition is achieved by eating a well-balanced and healthy meal. If you’re looking for professional home care services in San Leandro, California who can help with meal planning for your loved ones, contact us at Thrive Home Care now.

The Role of Caregivers for Alzheimer’s Patients

Alzheimer’s is most commonly diagnosed in the elderly and is a type of condition with no cure. Patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s will slowly lose their memory and ability to perform basic daily activities. As it progresses, seniors diagnosed with Alzheimer’s can get frustrated and angry due to the massive changes in their lives and may need assistance more frequently. Read on to find out what the role of a caregiver is.

To Learn About the Disease
If you visit companies offering home care assistance in California, you’ll see that their staff are well informed about Alzheimer’s. Knowing the disease, its symptoms, and its progress will help you learn how to help your patient.
To be an Emotional Support
Once patients are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, they can be shocked or depressed. After all, it’s a disease that slowly takes away your memory and capabilities to care for yourself. As caregivers, your role is to provide emotional support. Let them know that you will be there with them throughout.
To Be a Healthy and Responsible Caregiver
To effectively and responsibly take care of a patient, you also need to take care of yourself. It can be pretty tiring taking care of an Alzheimer’s patient because you will be helping them with almost anything they need. Always take time off for yourself and remember to ask for help when needed.

Caring for an Alzheimer’s patient is a learning curve both caregivers and patients must learn. If you require home care services in San Leandro, California, for your loved ones, we at Thrive Home Care are just a call away.

Activities Seniors Can Try After Retiring

You’re retired. Now, what? This is a dilemma seniors face when reality finally hits them.

Freedom can be overwhelming. Making a new routine to follow every day can also be daunting. Nonetheless, this is a time to be excited about. Here are some things you get to do now that you’ve retired.

Take time to travel.
Who says you’re too old to travel? If anything, this is a great time to do so! With no deadlines and backlogs waiting for you back home, you can enjoy your vacation with a clear mind. You deserve it, even if it’s a weekend trip to the next town or a few nights in Mexico.
Rekindle old passions.
A regular job can, more often than not, take more time in your day than it should. Now that you’re free, you can finally dedicate time to your old hobbies and passions. It may even push you to meet new friends along the way. Find home care services in San Leandro, California, that support your passions too.
Spend more time with family.
One of the best perks of retirement is having all the time in the world to spend with friends and loved ones. It’s a chance to make up for the lost time. Your caregivers can assist you in making these moments even more comfortable and memorable for you.

Get the home care assistance in California you deserve for your plans and adventures. Thrive Home Care is ready to provide that for you! For your inquiries and concerns, feel free to give us a call.

How You Can Increase Your Home’s Accessibility

With old age comes physical limitations. Hands are not as swift, joints don’t bend as smoothly, and eyesight is not as sharp. Although a lifestyle change can mitigate this, seniors are still prone to falls and other injuries.

Take the extra mile and install safety measures that make it more accessible to the elderly. You can:

Install grip bars
These are especially helpful in the bathroom, where balance plays a big part in getting to the toilet. You can look for home care assistance in California for more assistance in daily tasks.
Add a ramp
One of the main struggles of a person in a wheelchair is going up and down a ramp or floor. For places with stairs, add a ramp for convenient access. Caregivers would be glad to see this convenient and safe addition to your home.
Remove area rugs
Rugs have aesthetic value in a room. However, they can cause trips and falls. To eliminate this possibility, consider putting area rugs away.
Replace the faucet and door handles
Lever-style knobs and handles require minimal strength to turn. These are not only elderly-friendly but also arthritis-friendly too.

Along with our home care services in San Leandro, California, Thrive Home Care is a professional provider of comfort and safety. We care about your well-being. Discuss your action plans with us today!

Common Factors That Trigger Incontinence

If your aging parents’ incontinence is getting hard to manage due to having increased urination, it might be because of something they consume regularly that has negatively affected their bladder.

Listed below are some foods and beverages that can trigger incontinence among Seniors:

Alcohol and all carbonated drinks.
Coffee or tea and fluid intake before nighttime.
Spicy food and foods containing honey, corn syrup, and fructose.
Chocolate and citrus fruits such as grapefruits, oranges, limes, lemons, and tomatoes.
Frozen foods and medications such as blood pressure-lowering drugs, sedatives, etc.

If your loved one’s incontinence problems are getting out of hand, it is better to seek help from healthcare professionals and consider getting Home Care Assistance in California.

It is better to have someone by their side who is knowledgeable in providing incontinence care. So if you are looking for skilled Caregivers who can assist your loved ones daily or hourly, you can find them here in our home care agency!

Here at Thrive Home Care, we make the task of caring for your elderly loved ones easier in the comfort of home. We tailor our home care services in San Leandro, California to meet our client’s specific needs and provide the treatment prescribed for them. We also take pride in our excellent services and in setting high standards of care.

Please feel free to give us a call anytime if you have further inquiries regarding our services.

Tips for Seniors on How to Boost Their Immune System

Due to aging, seniors are usually prone to various diseases, especially flu. And according to some reports, the flu virus affects people of all ages every year. Although it may not cause serious problems for some, there’s a risk of complications among older adults. So if you are elderly, make sure to strengthen your immune system.

Here are some immune system boosting tips for Seniors:

Know how to manage your stress and always get enough sleep.
Get your annual flu vaccination to reduce your risk of unwanted hospital trips.
Support your gut health by eating lots of fiber-rich foods and fermented foods.
Always stay physically active daily, but seek help from caregivers if you find it difficult to do so.
Eat a nutrient-dense diet such as eating lots of fruits and vegetables rich in nutrients and antioxidants like B vitamins, vitamin C, Selenium, and Zinc.

When living alone as an older adult, it can be challenging to do activities of daily living along. At some point, you need to consider availing of home care services in San Leandro, California.

Seeking home care assistance in California can give you many benefits since you will be provided with a skilled caregiver who can provide you quality care and assistance you deserve whenever you need it.

And when it comes to delivering home care services, we at Thrive Home Care are the ones you can trust.

If you want to know more about the care services we offer, please feel free to contact us anytime.

Mistaken Ideas About Availing of Hospice Care

Alongside our home care services in San Leandro, California, Thrive Home Careis also a licensed provider of hospice care. It’s a lifeline for many people seeking to maintain their quality of life in the face of a terminal illness.

And yet, misconceptions abound about what it means and what it really does for those who avail of it. As your partner in-home care assistance in California, we would like to address some of these mistaken notions to encourage you to seriously consider hospice care for yourself or a loved one.

It’s for cancer patients.
It’s true that many patients with cancer avail of hospice care. Medicare reported in 2016 that 30.1% of those who received aid for hospice had cancer. But it’s also for virtually all kinds of life-threatening, end-stage conditions like Alzheimer’s and kidney disease.
It prevents you from seeing your physician.
In reality, hospice care teams encourage trusted physicians to participate in implementing hospice care plans. You get caregivers and healthcare professionals working together to manage your symptoms, minimize pain, and expand your independence.
When the six months are up, you’re out.
This may come from the fact that hospice care recommendations involve a prognosis of six months. But in the fortunate cases where seniors live longer than their prognosis, hospice care can continue.
It’s about giving up.
Hardly. Hospice care is a declaration that you can still go on even in the face of a life-threatening illness. It gives you more time to settle matters, find satisfaction in one’s life, and continue enjoying life with friends and family.

You or your loved one deserve to have options in a difficult situation like a terminal illness. Reach out to arrange a care plan today.

Common Complaints Seniors Have With Senior Living

Has your senior loved one chosen to age in place? They have joined the growing number of Americans making the move to home care services in San Leandro, California, and beyond.

Why is this happening? Experts suggest that not only is in-home care an affordable and effective way to receive aid for daily living, but it also addresses factors that get in the way of senior healthy living, called geriatric syndromes. Thrive Home Care would like to discuss a few of these factors and show how our home care assistance in California resolves them:

Falling
It is common among seniors and is also a common cause of hospitalization and limited mobility. Your loved one can avoid falls if they have a caregiver who helps clean up spills, remove tripping hazards, and offer a hand to hold on to whenever they move around.
Memory problems
Some levels of cognitive decline are expected as your loved ones age. But without the right assistance, it can easily put them at risk of medication errors, accidents, home abandonment, and a loss of independence. Caregivers can help them overcome difficulties with remembering important tasks as well as pursuing therapy for cognitive health.
Pain
It is not only a daily source of discomfort but a possible symptom of an underlying health issue. Caregivers are trained to assist with pain management and attending appointments, which can help determine the cause of unknown pains.
Loneliness
A study showed that 43% of seniors report feelings of loneliness, which is linked to a higher risk of physical and cognitive decline. This is directly addressed by having a dedicated caregiver by their side 24/7.

With such benefits, it’s clear why more people are choosing home care. Learn more about how we help seniors overcome obstacles to healthy aging by calling today!

The Strong Advantage of Professional Care

It is typical for seniors and older adults to experience health conditions. When these happen, family members step up and become care providers for their seniors’ loved ones.

As a provider of home care assistance in California, we laud and admire this noble effort. But with our expertise, we also know that this may not be what is best for their senior loved ones.

The first reason why this can do more harm than good is that family members may have received little to no formal training on how to take care of another person, let alone a senior with extensive needs. This lack of proper training can put the health of your loved ones at risk.

On the other hand, professional caregivers are specifically trained to provide care to another person. They have the knowledge, skills, and tools to ensure that your loved ones’ needs are met properly.

Furthermore, care professionals also have the time to take care of your loved ones. Most family members often have to deal with school, work, or home responsibilities while taking care of a loved one. These other preoccupations will limit their ability to care for another person.

Since professionals are specifically hired to care for your loved ones, they can give their full attention. At the end of the day, your loved ones will benefit. This can also free up your time and can let you attend to your responsibilities with ease.

If you need help with taking care of your loved ones at home, you can call us here at Thrive Home Care. We provide home care services in San Leandro, California, and our care providers can give their full attention to your loved ones. Call us today with your inquiries!

Good Morning Habits for Seniors

The events that happen at the beginning of our day often sets the mood for the rest of the day. Whatever happens that day, the habits we practice in the morning can affect what we do later on.

As providers of home care assistance in California, we know how impactful ideal morning habits can be for the overall well-being of seniors and older adults. With that, let us discuss some good habits to incorporate into their morning routine.

It is always perfect to start the day with meditation. A couple of minutes of peaceful meditation per day can be stress-relieving. When seniors do this, they can start their day with minimal stress.

Of course, exercise will always benefit a person no matter the age. Some exercises may be dangerous for seniors. But activities like stretching and walking are perfect for their physical abilities.

Through these exercises, seniors can invigorate their bodies and start the day feeling energized. If these activities can be too hard for them still, having caregivers assist them would be ideal.

Furthermore, one should never ignore maintaining good hygiene and proper grooming. This is best done during the morning as it prepares seniors for any activity they have scheduled for the day.

To top it all off, having a nutritious breakfast should never be overlooked. Breakfast is always important for individuals whose health is sensitive to their diets. A healthy meal will also help them prepare for the day.

If you need help caring for your loved ones, you can come to us here at Thrive Home Care. We provide home care services in San Leandro, California, and we are ready to help your loved ones with their morning routine. Call us today for your inquiries!

Author: thrivemiel