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 Margalit Tocher I read this great article from Caring.com that lists 10 noticeable signs that might express the need for assistance for an elderly relative or friend. These signs were taken from a recent story in the Chicago Tribune, and any combination of these signals should be further looked into. The signs include poor hygiene, poor nutrition signaled by weight loss, decreased upkeep of one’s home, poor health signaled by fatigue, forgetting to take one’s medications, bruises that might signal falls, disorientation regarding time of day or surroundings, changes noticed by friends and neighbors, unpaid bills, and finally, being financially taken advantage of.
Even after noticing these signs, it can be hard to get an elderly parent or friend to realize they need help, because many want to maintain their independence. This is when family members can look into the many different options of elder care, such as companies like Home Care Assistance, that can help seniors maintain their independence while still getting the help they need.
If you are a caregiver for a family member or loved one in the Chicago North Shore area, an outside caregiver may be an excellent option for relief to ensure you also have some time for yourself. Home Care Assistance Chicago certified caregivers are available 24/7 to provide experienced, trustworthy caregivers to help with all your home care needs: transportation, healthy meal preparation, companionship, socialization, activities, personal care, medication reminders, and specific Alzheimer’s and dementia care services. Located North of Chicago in Kenilworth (430 Green Bay Road, Kenilworth, IL 60043,) we serve Chicago and all of the North Shore, including Kenilworth, Winnetka, Wilmette, Glencoe, Evanston, Highland Park, Northbrook, Northfield, Deerfield, Lake Forest, Libertyville, Buffalo Grove, Glenview, and more!
Call 847-853-7777 or visit www.HomeCareAssistance.com
Margalit Tocher Heat exhaustion and heat stroke are a risky part of being out in the sun too much during the summer time. Extended periods of time in the sun can leave a person feeling dehydrated, weak, and tired. There are many ways to avoid and be aware of heat exhaustion.
In an article from The Herald News, Dr. Christopher L. Gleason, associate professor of family and consumer medicine at Southern Illinois University School of Medicine, says heat exhaustion occurs when heat and humidity cause a person’s core body temperature to rise through exertion or when the person spends an extended period in intensely heated conditions. Gleason later goes on to say a classic heat stroke results from chronic medical conditions, such as heart disease, that keep a person from controlling his or her body temperature in hot environments.
Heat exhaustion warning signs and symptoms are:
- Pale, cool and moist skin
- Increased Pulse
- Thirst
- Headache
- Cramps and/or muscle pain
- Nausea and/or dizziness
- Weakness
For self-care at home WebMD.com recommends resting in a cool, shaded area and drinking cold water or sports drinks such as Gatorade. Low-sugar sports drinks with high amounts of electrolytes and salty snacks help replenish the body. Also apply cool water to the skin to help cool down the temperature.
A good way to avoid heat exhaustion is not to go outside for long periods of time during the hottest part of the day from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Also wear loose light colored clothes and hats that block the sun.
There have been many hot days in Chicago and there are many more to come this summer. With all there is to do outside no one wants to stay in. So keep it safe. If there is a lot of sun wear a hat and try to keep in the shade as much as possible. Make sure to drink a lot of cold drinks, preferably water, while out.
If you are a caregiver for a family member or loved one in the Chicago North Shore area, an outside caregiver may be an excellent option for relief to ensure you also have some time for yourself. Home Care Assistance Chicago certified caregivers are available 24/7 to provide experienced, trustworthy caregivers to help with all your home care needs: transportation, healthy meal preparation, companionship, socialization, activities, personal care, medication reminders, and specific Alzheimer’s and dementia care services. Located North of Chicago in Kenilworth (430 Green Bay Road, Kenilworth, IL 60043,) we serve Chicago and all of the North Shore, including Kenilworth, Winnetka, Wilmette, Glencoe, Evanston, Highland Park, Northbrook, Northfield, Deerfield, Lake Forest, Libertyville, Buffalo Grove, Glenview, and more!
Call 847-853-7777 or visit www.HomeCareAssistance.com
Margalit Tocher With nearly 5.3 million Americans suffering from Alzheimer’s today, we all eagerly await a cure for the tragic disease. Many doctors and scientists have
developed treatments and medicines that they feel may help slow the process, but the Museum of Modern Art, along with the Alzheimer’s Association, have come up with a slightly different idea: art. “One of the ways to get to people with Alzheimer’s is to engage them through art, because art is so creative,” says Tania Becker, one of the people involved in this project.
Becker and her volunteers believe that art can help those with Alzheimer’s, because art is an easy way to express one’s emotions, and inability to express emotions is often one of the most is
olating factors of the Alzheimer’s. Therefore, Becker, along with some volunteers, has started an art class for individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. Participants in Becker’s class can come in and paint virtually whatever they like – sometimes they paint an image from their minds, other times they paint the highlighted centerpiece provided by Becker. Becker believes that art can help her students live in the “here and now,” which is something they don’t get to experience often.
If you are a caregiver for a family member or loved one in the Chicago North Shore area, an outside caregiver may be an excellent option for relief to ensure you also have some time for yourself. Home Care Assistance Chicago certified caregivers are available 24/7 to provide experienced, trustworthy caregivers to help with all your home care needs: transportation, healthy meal preparation, companionship, socialization, activities, personal care, medication reminders, and specific Alzheimer’s and dementia care services. Located North of Chicago in Kenilworth (430 Green Bay Road, Kenilworth, IL 60043,) we serve Chicago and all of the North Shore, including Kenilworth, Winnetka, Wilmette, Glencoe, Evanston, Highland Park, Northbrook, Northfield, Deerfield, Lake Forest, Libertyville, Buffalo Grove, Glenview, and more!
Call 847-853-7777 or visit www.HomeCareAssistance.com
Margalit Tocher Many of you have probably had, or will have some type of surgery in the future. Hip replacement surgery, for example, is conducted about 120,000 times per year in the United States. Knee surgery and cancer-related surgeries are certainly not uncommon either. With some sort of surgery being almost inevitable, it is important to know how one can speed up recovery time. According to Martina Navratilova, the fitness guru at AARP, physical activity can actually decrease recovery time. Martina underwent knee surgery several years ago, and writes that her doctor recommended physical activity before and after her surgery in order to strengthen the muscles around her knee, and then to keep her joints from stiffening. 
If you are interested in learning more about which exercises doctors recommended to Martina read the following article from AARP.
If you are a caregiver for a family member or loved one in the Chicago North Shore area, an outside caregiver may be an excellent option for relief to ensure you also have some time for yourself. Home Care Assistance Chicago certified caregivers are available 24/7 to provide experienced, trustworthy caregivers to help with all your home care needs: transportation, healthy meal preparation, companionship, socialization, activities, personal care, medication reminders, and specific Alzheimer’s and dementia care services. Located North of Chicago in Kenilworth (430 Green Bay Road, Kenilworth, IL 60043,) we serve Chicago and all of the North Shore, including Kenilworth, Winnetka, Wilmette, Glencoe, Evanston, Highland Park, Northbrook, Northfield, Deerfield, Lake Forest, Libertyville, Buffalo Grove, Glenview, and more!
Call 847-853-7777 or visit www.HomeCareAssistance.com
When David Servan-Schreiber, M.D ., discovered he had a brain tumor, he was forced to reevaluate conventional cancer-beating methods and dig deep for something new and promising. Schreiber decided to take a deeper look into what factors cause cancer and how it can be prevented.
From his research he realized that all of us have cancer cells within our bodies and it is our own protective systems that keep two thirds of the population cancer-free. For the other one-third of the population that will most likely get cancer, however, Schreiber writes that we must protect our immune systems in order to make it harder for those cancer cells to take over the body. Some of these prevention techniques include lifestyle changes such as more exercise and stress-reducing activities such as breathing exercises.
Schreiber identified several behaviors that could help fight cancer that one might not have guessed would help battle this disease.
-Avoid refined sugar
-Add spicy foods to your diet
-Exercise regularly
-Practice yoga and mindful meditation
-Avoid household toxins like Teflon
Although Schreiber has been living with cancer for 16 years he feels much happier and healthier after his lifestyle change.
If you are a caregiver for a family member or loved one in the Chicago North Shore area, an outside caregiver may be an excellent option for relief to ensure you also have some time for yourself. Home Care Assistance Chicago certified caregivers are available 24/7 to provide experienced, trustworthy caregivers to help with all your home care needs: transportation, healthy meal preparation, companionship, socialization, activities, personal care, medication reminders, and specific Alzheimer’s and dementia care services. Located North of Chicago in Kenilworth (430 Green Bay Road, Kenilworth, IL 60043,) we serve Chicago and all of the North Shore, including Kenilworth, Winnetka, Wilmette, Glencoe, Evanston, Highland Park, Northbrook, Northfield, Deerfield, Lake Forest, Libertyville, Buffalo Grove, Glenview, and more! Call 847-853-7777 or visitwww.HomeCareAssistance.com
 In an interesting article in June 2010 AARP Bulletin, about living a longer and better life. In the article, advice is given by Robert Butler, M.D., one of the country’s foremost experts on aging. In his latest book, The Longevity Prescription: The 8 Proven Keys to a Long, Healthy Life, Butler talks about cool facts like: How holding hands and hugging reduces blood pressure, fresh flowers reduce stress, and laughter protects the heart. To read more about this article click here!
If you are a caregiver for a family member or loved one in the Chicago North Shore area, an outside caregiver may be an excellent option for relief to ensure you also have some time for yourself. Home Care Assistance of Chicago certified caregivers are available 24/7 to provide experienced, trustworthy caregivers to help with all your home care needs: transportation, healthy meal preparation, companionship, socialization, activities, personal care, medication reminders, and specific Alzheimer’s and dementia care services. Located North of Chicago in Kenilworth (430 Green Bay Road, Kenilworth, IL 60043,) we serve Chicago and all of the North Shore, including Kenilworth, Winnetka, Wilmette, Glencoe, Evanston, Highland Park, Northbrook, Northfield, Deerfield, Lake Forest, Libertyville, Buffalo Grove, Glenview, and more! Call 847-853-7777 or visit www.HomeCareAssistance.com
With summer showing its signs all around us – barbecues, pool parties, and most importantly, heat waves—it is crucial to keep our health in mind in order to survive these scorching months. Chicago has extremely hot weather in the summer. Water is necessary. Be safe and read the following New York Times article to learn how to stay hydrated!
 If you are a caregiver for a family member or loved one in the Chicago North Shore area, an outside caregiver may be an excellent option for relief to ensure you also have some time for yourself. Home Care Assistance of Greater Chicago certified caregivers are available 24/7 to provide experienced, trustworthy caregivers to help with all your home care needs: transportation, healthy meal preparation, companionship, socialization, activities, personal care, medication reminders, and specific Alzheimer’s and dementia care services. Located North of Chicago in Kenilworth (430 Green Bay Road, Kenilworth, IL 60043,) we serve Chicago and all of the North Shore, including Kenilworth, Winnetka, Wilmette, Glencoe, Evanston, Highland Park, Northbrook, Northfield, Deerfield, Lake Forest, Libertyville, Buffalo Grove, Glenview, and more! Call 847-853-7777 or visitwww.HomeCareAssistance.com
 As we get older, many of us are concerned about remaining mobile and independent. Many of this depends on our ability to drive, and to drive safely at that. A recent study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety showed that many of today’s seniors are working on being safer drivers. While seniors are holding onto their licenses even longer these days, their accountability in fatal crashes has dropped 37 percent. Many people are confused about why this is, but the study suggests that it might be because “they [seniors] really care about this, and while their physical skills are deteriorating, they’re smart about making necessary adjustments to achieve their goals.” Senior Vice President of AARP Elinor Ginzler also stated that we are living in a time of many new distractions, such as cell phones and DVD players, and that “the attentiveness and judgment of older drivers should reassure other drivers on the roadways.” So keep up the good work, drivers!
If you are a caregiver for a family member or loved one in the Chicago North Shore area, an outside caregiver may be an excellent option for relief to ensure you also have some time for yourself. Home Care Assistance of Greater Chicago certified caregivers are available 24/7 to provide experienced, trustworthy caregivers to help with all your home care needs: transportation, healthy meal preparation, companionship, socialization, activities, personal care, medication reminders, and specific Alzheimer’s and dementia care services. Located North of Chicago in Kenilworth (430 Green Bay Road, Kenilworth, IL 60043,) we serve Chicago and all of the North Shore, including Kenilworth, Winnetka, Wilmette, Glencoe, Evanston, Highland Park, Northbrook, Northfield, Deerfield, Lake Forest, Libertyville, Buffalo Grove, Glenview, and more! Call 847-853-7777 or visitwww.HomeCareAssistance.com
With the number of dementia patients growing everyday, it’s important to think about how we can keep our brains active and sharp by any means possible. With that in mind, neurolinguistics professor Holly Bardutz of the University of Regina decided to teach a Brain Fitness and Enrichment class at the university for 32 students, ages 50 to 90. In order to avoid memory loss and general slowdown, Bardutz stresses variety. In addition to strategies like Sodoku puzzles, Bardutz’s patients take part in activities such as figurine painting, ball-throwing, and writing exercises.
While Bardutz cannot guarantee that her methods can ward off Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, she does have scientific reason to believe they can help. “As long as you are requiring new brain cells, you will make new brain cells,” she states, as learned in a recent study. Bardutz focuses on challenging her students, as she finds it beneficial for them to continue to learn new things, which require brain reinforcement. Most of all, Bardutz wants her students to be socially interacting with one another. “In order to keep the brain functioning and fit and healthy, there has to be a socialization part,” she says, “and it has to be fun.”
If you are a caregiver for a family member or loved one in the Chicago North Shore area, an outside caregiver may be an excellent option for relief to ensure you also have some time for yourself. Home Care Assistance of Greater Chicago certified caregivers are available 24/7 to provide experienced, trustworthy caregivers to help with all your home care needs: transportation, healthy meal preparation, companionship, socialization, activities, personal care, medication reminders, and specific Alzheimer’s and dementia care services. Located North of Chicago in Kenilworth (430 Green Bay Road, Kenilworth, IL 60043,) we serve Chicago and all of the North Shore, including Kenilworth, Winnetka, Wilmette, Glencoe, Evanston, Highland Park, Northbrook, Northfield, Deerfield, Lake Forest, Libertyville, Buffalo Grove, Glenview, and more! Call 847-853-7777 or visitwww.HomeCareAssistance.com
With many of us Boomers now looking towards retirement and senior-citizenship, the question of how to remain financially independent is on everyone’s mind. Depending on your age, the answer is different.
Younger Boomers in their 40s and 50s still have the opportunity to educate themselves about how to pay for those later years, while older boomers must figure out what to do now that they are living those later years.
A recent study conducted by Jeff Faust, a specialist for Allianz Life, showed that 61% of the study’s 3,200 participants feared outliving their income “more than they feared death.” Clearly, this is a real concern for many people. However, with over 78 million Boomers, financial specialists don’t have all the answers.
Jan Yager, Ph.D. from Consumer Affairs attempts to aid Boomers with her “7 Steps to Avoid Out-Living Your Money”:
>> Keep working
>> Be more frugal
>> Pay off debt and avoid new debt
>> Downsize or relocate
>> Stay healthy
>> Consult an attorney about asset protection
>> Consider long term care insurance
While there are many Boomers with all different kinds of financial situations, Dr. Drummond Osmond, a financial advisor, often finds that everyone’s concerns are the same. Therefore, Osmond urges his clients to have a healthy relationship with their money, and to think about how they want to live before thinking about how much money they want to have.
In the end, no matter who you are, experts stress the importance of planning and being prepared in order to avoid outliving your money.
If you are a caregiver for a family member or loved one in the Chicago North Shore area, an outside caregiver may be an excellent option for relief to ensure you also have some time for yourself. Home Care Assistance of Greater Chicago certified caregivers are available 24/7 to provide experienced, trustworthy caregivers to help with all your home care needs: transportation, healthy meal preparation, companionship, socialization, activities, personal care, medication reminders, and specific Alzheimer’s and dementia care services. Located North of Chicago in Kenilworth (430 Green Bay Road, Kenilworth, IL 60043,) we serve Chicago and all of the North Shore, including Kenilworth, Winnetka, Wilmette, Glencoe, Evanston, Highland Park, Northbrook, Northfield, Deerfield, Lake Forest, Libertyville, Buffalo Grove, Glenview, and more! Call 847-853-7777 or visit www.HomeCareAssistance.com
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