National survey indicates physicians believe addressing patients’ social needs is as important as addressing medical conditions.

According to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the social needs of patients are as important to address as their medical conditions. In a national survey of primary care providers and pediatricians, 85 percent believe that unmet social needs — things like access to nutritious food, reliable transportation and adequate housing — are leading directly to worse health for all Americans. Furthermore, 4 in 5 physicians do not feel confident in their capacity to meet their patients’ social needs, and they believe this impedes their ability to provide quality care.

The conditions we face day in, day out, where we live, learn, work and play, have a greater impact on our health and life expectancy than our medical conditions and the health care we receive.

It’s important that patients be connected to services that address their social needs. Services like fitness programs, nutritional food and transportation assistance are at top of list. Physicians say that those living in the urban and low-income bracket also need help with employment assistance, adult education and housing assistance.

If your loved one needs help fulfilling their social needs in the San Francisco Bay area, please call Home Instead Senior Care – we can help with needs like transportation, nutritious cooking, and helping your loved one keep moving in order to stay fit and active. Call us at 415-333-3944 or 650-877-8009.

Source: Physicians Highlight Overlooked Connection Between Social Needs and Health

Please call Home Instead Senior Care in the San Francisco Bay area for a free in-home care assessment at 415-333-3944 or 650-877-8009.

The secret to keeping older adults from whiling away their days in a rocker is to volunteer. That’s the million dollar question for any senior care professional who has encouraged, cajoled and begged a senior to keep moving.

Inactivity, as many of those who work with seniors know, is one of the biggest obstacles to healthy aging. It appears, though, that a significant motivation to get older adults up and at ’em may come from an unlikely source: helping others.

Other benefits that the senior volunteer survey respondents identified include:

I want to help others — 99 percent

I want to make a difference in my community — 99 percent

I want to provide assistance to causes I care about — 99 percent

I feel like my volunteer contributions are appreciated — 98 percent

I enjoy volunteering with my friends — 93 percent

I want to socialize and meet new people — 92 percent

I want to share my talents, skills and experience — 90 percent

I enjoy learning new skills — 89 percent

I have more time now — 86 percent

I want to occupy my free time — 84 percent

San Francisco Bay area CAREGivers are available to help your senior loved ones continue to pursue their passions by providing non-medical assistance at home – call us for more information 415-333-3944 or 650-877-8009.

Learn more about how one volunteer is making a difference in his community: Salute to Seniors.

Please call Home Instead Senior Care in the San Francisco Bay area for a free in-home care assessment at 415-333-3944 or 650-877-8009.

While senior volunteers are rolling up their sleeves to build houses and feed the homeless, it turns out they are doing much more. A majority of older volunteers put their money where their time is by helping to boost the coffers of the organizations where they volunteer, according to research conducted by the Home Instead Senior Care® network. The Salute to Senior Service program will recognize the outstanding contributions of older adults and honor those who go the extra mile for their communities in so many ways.

In a survey released in July 2009 by the Corporation for National and Community Service, one of every three organizations reported increasing its reliance on volunteers to cope with the economic downturn between September 2008 and March 2009.

The survey revealed that 80 percent of responding organizations experienced some level of fiscal stress between September 2008 and March 2009. Nearly 40 percent of those organizations said the stress was severe or very severe.

The most recent data from the Corporation for National and Community Service indicates that one of four Americans 55 and older – that’s 18.7 million people – makes a positive impact on their local communities through volunteering. Between 2008 and 2010, these adults contributed more than 3 billion hours of service per year in their communities. The economic benefit of their service to communities totaled more than $64 billion.

We invite our readers to share the ways that older adults are making their marks on the San Francisco Bay community.

Home Instead CAREGivers in the San Francisco Bay area are available to help your senior loved ones continue to pursue their passions by providing non-medical assistance at home – call us for more information call 415-333-3944 or 650-877-8009.

Please call Home Instead Senior Care in the San Francisco Bay area for a free in-home care assessment at 415-333-3944 or 650-877-8009.

Research reveals that there’s no end in sight to the volunteering efforts for a majority of senior volunteers surveyed, who say they’ll go on “forever.” The Home Instead Senior Care® network has announced the Salute to Senior Service program to honor these older adults who go the extra mile to make a difference for charities and community service projects throughout North America. For those seniors who haven’t volunteered but are considering it, here are some suggestions:

Find a passion. Some people live their passion through jobs and careers, but that isn’t always the case. Retirement is the time to save the whales, feed the homeless and brighten up the neighborhood. Find something that fulfills.

Look for a need. That won’t be difficult these days. A 2009 survey, conducted by the Corporation for National and Community Service, found that 80 percent of nonprofit and AmeriCorps organizations surveyed reported some level of fiscal stress. To find out where volunteers are needed, contact the local Area Agency on Aging office, church or synagogue, or Senior Corps <<www.seniorcorps.gov>>.

Avoid perfectionism. It’s easy to want that special church event to be perfect or that remodeling project to look like it belongs in the nation’s leading home improvement magazine. Chill out! Perfectionism can ruin the project for everyone on the team.

Home Instead CAREGiver can help your senior loved ones stay on course with their volunteering by receiving support such as food preparation, light housekeeping and medication reminders – call us at 415-333-3944 or 650-877-8009.

Please call Home Instead Senior Care in the San Francisco Bay area for a free in-home care assessment at 415-333-3944 or 650-877-8009.

Roles that senior volunteers play have evolved over the years, according to Dr. Erwin Tan, director of Senior Corps, who serves as the expert U.S. source for the Home Instead Senior Care® network’s Salute to Senior Service program. The program, which kicked off in January 2012, includes a search for the most outstanding senior volunteer in each state and Canadian province (except Quebec) and culminates with the selection of a national Salute to Senior Service winner in May in the U.S. and in June in Canada.

• As seniors’ lifestyles and longevity have evolved over time so, too, is the desire for new kinds of volunteer activities, Dr. Tan said. In a highly technological world, the “new senior” has different interests than those of the past. Seniors are being encouraged to volunteer for a cause or an activity in which they are interested or for which they feel passionate.

• According to Home Instead Senior Care network research, 95 percent of senior volunteers feel that seniors who volunteer are healthier and happier than those seniors who do not.

• Check out more benefits from volunteering opportunities as well as information about how to make a deserving senior 65 and older who volunteers at least 15 hours a month a Senior Hero – SalutetoSeniorService.com.

• State and Canadian provincial (except Quebec) winners will receive plaques and their story on the SalutetoSeniorService.com website. A gift of $5,000 will be donated to the national winner’s favorite nonprofit charity.

Help us recognize outstanding senior volunteers who make a difference in their community. Nominees have a chance to win $5,000 for their favorite volunteer organization. Please share volunteer stories from your community and nominate a senior for Salute to Senior Service.

Please call Home Instead Senior Care in the San Francisco Bay area for a free in-home care assessment at 415-333-3944 or 650-877-8009.

A recent study has shown that heart failure patients who don’t consume enough vitamin C-rich foods have more inflammation and a higher risk of cardiac complications and death.

The study was presented at the American Heart Association’s Scientific Sessions 2011 – See the AHA study.

Study Highlights:

Heart failure patients who don’t eat enough vitamin C-rich foods have higher levels of inflammation and a higher risk of cardiac complications and death.

This is the first study to demonstrate that low vitamin C intake is associated with worse outcomes in heart failure patients.

Compared with those with high vitamin C intake from food, heart failure patients in the study who had low vitamin C intake were 2.4 times more likely to have higher levels of a certain protein, which served as a marker for inflammation and a risk factor for heart disease.

Adequate intake of vitamin C was associated with longer survival in patients with heart failure, said Eun Kyeung Song, Ph.D., R.N., lead study author and assistant professor at the department of nursing, University of Ulsan in Korea.

The use of diuretics also may play a role because vitamin C is water soluble, and diuretics increase the amount of water excreted from the kidneys, according to research.

Diet is the best source of vitamin C, researchers say. Eating the recommended five servings of fruits and vegetables a day provides an adequate amount.

Call Home Instead Senior Care in the San Francisco Bay area to help with meal preparation and medication reminders as your senior loved one recovers from a health problem – we can be reached at 415-333-3944 or 650-877-8009.

Please call Home Instead Senior Care in the San Francisco Bay area for a free in-home care assessment at 415-333-3944 or 650-877-8009.

Recovering From Stroke

The process of recovering from a stroke usually includes treatment, spontaneous recovery, rehabilitation, and the return to community living. Because stroke survivors often have complex rehabilitation needs, progress and recovery are different for each person.

Treatment for stroke begins in a hospital with “acute care.” This first step includes helping the patient survive, preventing another stroke, and taking care of any other medical problems.

Spontaneous recovery happens naturally to most people. Soon after the stroke, some
abilities that have been lost usually start to come back. This process is quickest during the first few weeks, but it sometimes continues for a long time.

Rehabilitation is another part of treatment. It helps the person keep abilities and gain back lost abilities to become more independent. It usually begins while the patient is still in acute care. For many patients, it continues afterward, either as a formal rehabilitation program or as individual rehabilitation services. Many decisions about rehabilitation are made by the patient,
family, and hospital staff before discharge from acute care.

The last stage in stroke recovery begins with the person’s return to community living after acute care or rehabilitation. This stage can last for a lifetime as the stroke survivor and family learn to live with the effects of the stroke. This may include doing common tasks in new ways or making up for damage to or limits of one part of the body by greater activity of another.For example, a stroke survivor can wear shoes with velcro closures instead of laces or may learn to write with the opposite hand.

If you are seeking home care services for a loved one who had a slight stroke call 317.357.5411.

Get more FREE Stroke Information

Please call Home Instead Senior Care in the San Francisco Bay area for a free in-home care assessment at 415-333-3944 or 650-877-8009.

What is a Stroke? A stroke is a type of brain injury. Symptoms depend on the part of the brain that is affected. People who survive a stroke often have weakness on one side of the body or trouble with moving, talking, or thinking.

Most strokes are ischemic (is-KEE-mic) strokes. These are caused by reduced blood flow to the brain when blood vessels are blocked by a clot or become too narrow for blood to get through. Brain cells in the area die from lack of oxygen. In another type of stroke, called hemorrhagic (hem-or-AJ-ic) stroke, the blood vessel isn’t blocked; it bursts, and blood leaks into the brain, causing damage.

Strokes are more common in older people. Almost three-fourths of all strokes occur in people 65 years of age or over. However, a person of any age can have a stroke.

A person may also have a transient ischemic attack (TIA). This has the same symptoms as a stroke, but only lasts for a few hours or a day and does not cause permanent brain damage. A TIA is not a stroke but it is an important warning signal. The person needs treatment to help prevent an actual stroke in the future.

A stroke may be frightening to both the patient and family. It helps to remember that stroke survivors usually have at least some spontaneous recovery or natural healing and often recover further with rehabilitation.

This booklet outlines the services that are available to stroke survivors, and where you can go for more information.

www.strokecenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Recovering-After-a-Stroke.pdf

Please call Home Instead Senior Care in the San Francisco Bay area for a free in-home care assessment at 415-333-3944 or 650-877-8009.

It’s a known fact that most seniors want to stay living in their own home for as long as they can, but in some cases, safety is an issue. However, there are several things that family members can put in place to make a home safe for their older loved ones. Being at home is a comforting thing for most aging adults, but being safe at home is the ultimate factor of their good health.

1.    If mobility is an issue, the layout of the home may have to be altered. This may sound like a huge project, but it can be as simple as rearranging furniture and changing doorways to allow for easy and safe access.

2.    Bathrooms often need to be updated or remodeled to help seniors at home. Installing shower handles and grip bars on the walls of the bathroom will help make the room safer. There should also be an anti-slip mat or grips on the bottom of the tub or shower to help prevent falls.

3.    Increase lighting. Falls at home are the leading causes of injuries for seniors. By increasing the amount of light in the home, seniors will be able to see things better and reduce their chances of falling.

4.    Remove all rugs or carpets from stairs and make sure a hand rail is installed.

5.    In addition to the physical safety at home, seniors need to be concerned over emotional safety. If they feel they are being harassed or targeted, there are many crime prevention programs that can help. These programs will monitor the home from the outside and can even offer discounts on security systems.

Please call Home Instead Senior Care in the San Francisco Bay area for a free in-home care assessment at 415-333-3944 or 650-877-8009.

Home Care San Francisco Bay Area serving seniors in San Bruno, San Mateo, Walnut Creek and Concord. Call us at 415-333-3944 or 650-877-8009.

Preparing for Elderly Visitors During the Holidays

The holidays are here and many of us will have house guests. Some of those guests may include the elderly, so it is important to prepare for their arrival as well as their stay. There are some simple things that can be done to make their stay more comfortable. Make sure to consider their personal and medical needs and make all necessary arrangements. Things to do to prepare for your visitor include:

1. Have a designated caregiver if one is needed.

2. Find space in the home for your visitor.

3. Make sure that the provided space will accommodate their needs.

4. If your elderly visitor uses a wheelchair, make sure that hallways are clear and they are able to move around the home freely.

5. Prepare the room for the visit by arranging furniture to accommodate any special needs.

6. Make sure to include a nightstand in the room.

7. Add some extra food to the refrigerator, including some favorites of your guest.

8. Coordinate schedules of everyone in the house. This will be helpful if your elderly visitor will have doctor’s appointments.

9. Don’t forget quality time. Preparing can be stressful, but the idea is to make sure everyone enjoys the visit.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays from Home Instead Senior Care.

Home Care San Francisco Bay Area serving seniors in San Bruno, San Mateo, Walnut Creek and Concord. Call us at 415-333-3944 or 650-877-8009.