If you have an aging loved one who you think is a hoarder and you want to talk to someone about it, I suggest you seek out a geriatric physician or psychiatrist in your area. These doctors are often few and far between and being that hoarding is a new issue we as a society are beginning to address, it is not always the easiest to diagnosis or treat.

If you live in Southeastern PA and are close to Delaware County, PA area, Crozer Keystone Health Services offers the G.E.M. Program which stands for Geriatric Evaluation and Management. The program is designed to assist seniors and their families with memory impairment diagnosis, mental health concerns, medication management and other issues. The program has several wonderful geriatric doctors, nurses and a social worker who will meet with the family to discuss concerns regarding your loved one. To read more about GEM or to contact them, click HERE. If you are interested in speaking with an organizer who can give you some tips on how to begin conversations about de-cluttering, click HERE.

This is the third or fourth year the chamber has run this event and it has always been very successful. Since the beginning the Chamber has also supported the Stop Senior Hunger campaign by asking attendees to bring a box of dry food or canned good to the event. The donations are collected by Comfort Keepers staff and are then taken to local low income senior living residences. To read more about Stop Senior Hunger, click HERE.

To register for the Chamber Bowling Event, click HERE. Want to learn more about the Delaware County Chamber of Commerce and how it can help your business to grow? Attend the new member reception as a guest. No pressure to join but you must register to attend. To register, contact Joanna Brune, Membership Director by calling 610-565-3677.

The Smallest Room in the House May Be the Most Dangerous for Seniors We all want the best for the senior loved ones in our lives. For many seniors, living independent lives at home is their main desire. Seniors are able to do so provided they are physically and mentally able to care for themselves. Sometimes, depending on their situations, seniors need help and guidance from friends and relatives, or from even caregivers who can facilitate the potential of seniors living home alone for as long as possible. The key to seniors maintaining independent lifestyles depends on many factors and most importantly their safety in doing so. With that being said, it should be noted that one of the most common dangers older seniors face is falling. In fact, research shows that injuries and subsequent complications due to falls are the leading causes of death in seniors who are 65 and older. Furthermore, one out of three seniors in this age group fall each year. While not every tumble guarantees an injury, these statistics should prompt you and your senior loved ones to make every effort to prevent falls occurring within their homes. The first place to evaluate is the bathroom. While this is the smallest room in the house, bathrooms potentially offer the most opportunities for falls to occur. Bathtub edges may be hard to step over for some seniors. Once in the shower or tub, wet surfaces can cause seniors to slip. Some seniors may not be able to stand steadily while bathing. Others may have trouble sitting down on toilets or standing up again after using them. Wet floors after showers or baths and even bath mats can cause seniors to slip and fall. Comfort Keepers offers these ideas and solutions for safety in the bathroom: Bathtubs and Showers Install grab bars in proper places to aid in safe entry and exit of tubs and showers. Consider replacing a bathtub with a walk-in shower for seniors who have trouble stepping over high bathtub sides. Non-skid mats or decal applications should be applied on the floors of showers and tubs to help prevent slipping while bathing. Seniors who have trouble standing to bathe should use sturdy shower chairs made specifically for this purpose. Make sure soap, shampoos, towels and other bathing necessities are within easy reach. Toilets and Floors Seniors who have trouble sitting and standing up can have raised toilet seats installed to make this process easier. Grab bars should be installed for additional support. Make sure the toilet paper dispenser is easily accessible. Use a bathmat for the bathroom floor just outside the shower or tub to prevent slipping on slick floors after bathing. Place a non-skid material between the bathroom floor to prevent the mat from sliding or creasing. While none of these safety features guarantees a no-fall zone, they certainly add layers of protection and aid for seniors at risk for falling. Your local home improvement store or durable medical equipment company carries safety devices made for specific purposes, and to ensure the safest results these items should be used instead of homemade devices. Another crucial element is installing safety aids properly and also teaching your loved ones how to use them. The discussion may be a bit hard to broach but the end result fosters safe, independent living for seniors in their own homes for as long as possible.

This article taken from the Comfort Keepers website. To read more like it click HERE. For more information about in-home senior care services click HERE.

Well from a practical standpoint, an employed caregiver has to report in to the company. The process is very much like a service person who arrives at  your home to clean your rugs, install your cable or fix your heater. The service person or caregiver is employed and the company is responsible for overseeing the customer service, the quality of service you are given, the dependablity of the worker and address any issues or concerns that might arise when the worker is in your home.

If you use an unemployed caregiver, you may have some practical problems. What if one day the private caregiver decides he or she does not want to go to work, who will you call to complain to? What if the person is in the home and falls and sprains an ankle, who is responsible for the emergency room bill? What if something is missing from the home or there is a personality clash with your loved one? How will ask the person to leave and never come back to work?

Sometimes people who are looking at care only want to focus on price. The price for a private caregiver is often only a couple dollars less an hour and the senior or family hiring the person thinks this is  a much better deal because we need alot of care. There is only one problem with that scenerio. The problem is families do not realize that once a caregiver is hired that is the start of a relationhsip with that person. A relationship that is much much different that that of a service person you may see once or twice a year to fix your car or clean the heater. It is a daily relationship that becomes somewhat intimate in the sense that the caregiver has access to everything in the home. The caregiver is in your cupboards, in your underwear drawer and providing care such as help to bathroom. Things don’t get more vulnerable or intimate than that in caregiving process. Once the relationship starts it becomes like another family member and often it becomes difficult to keep boundaries intact.

If the caregiver is employed and the company is doing its job the company gently reminds the family and the caregiver that there are boundaries and the company is managing the care with the family not the caregiver with the family.

To learn more about this process and others, go to Comfort Keepers website by clicking HERE.

United Savings Bank in Springfield PA and Media PA are collecting food as well as many organizations and companies in Montgomery County PA to help provide canned goods and dry foods to low income senior citizens.

Are you interested in donating or learning more about Stop Senior Hunger? If so, click here to go to our donation site page. If you would like more information about senior nutrition please go to our national Stop Senior Hunger page by clicking HERE. For more information about in-home services that Comfort Keepers provides including meal preparation and grocery shopping, click HERE.