What is Retrogenesis?

And What Does it Have to do with Alzheimer’s Care?

Retrogenesis is a theory that suggests that the brain of a person with Alzheimer’s disease deteriorates in the reverse order that the brain developed from birth.   Part of the theory identifies particular stages, each one accompanied by predictable cognitive and functional levels.  For example, the cognitive and functional level of a person in the early stage starts out at about 11 years of age and over four to five years deteriorates to four years of age.  The middle stage, when most of the difficult behaviors occur, starts with a cognitive and functional level of four years of ages and deteriorates to two years, when the need for 24-hour care may be needed.   During the third and last stage the person can deteriorate to the functional level of a newborn.

This comparison to developmental stages in children is useful as a way of understanding the disease process, but it is imperative that caregivers always remember that the person is an adult and must be treated with the dignity he/she deserves and with the respect and consideration due a mature adult who has experienced all that life has given him/her.

Verna Benner Carson, Ph.D., in her article “Alzheimer’s Disease:  A Virtual Tsunami for Country—An Amazing Opportunity for Home Care” in a recent issue of Caring, Vol. XXX, No. 2, says, “A paid caregiver who is knowledgeable regarding the use of strategies to manage a broad range of challenging behaviors—agitation and aggression, resistance to care, wandering, and sexually inappropriate comments or advances, to name a few—will be worth his or her weight in gold to the family.”

Dementia Care: Making a Difference in Minnesota

What Seniors’ Choice Care Givers Are Doing in the Twin Cities You Can Do Wherever You are

The Seniors’ Choice at Home employees who provide senior care for our clients are especially skilled in working with those who have dementias like Alzheimer’s disease.  Some of the simple suggestions they know about and use with their clients can be easily adapted to the care families provide their loved ones.  Below you’ll find a few simple suggestions.

Language Problems

*   Never stop trying to communicate with the person with memory loss.  Even when they have increasing difficulty talking to you, you can still speak simply to them or try singing simply song.

*   Never underestimate what people with dementia understand.  Always talk to them in a respectful way.

*   Don’t say anything in their presence that you wouldn’t want them to hear and understand.

Lack of Concentration

*   Gently get the person’s attention before speaking to him or her.

*   Remove distractions–ask permission and turn off the TV, for example.

*   Recognize the importance of one-to-tone interactions. 

Loss of Visuo-spatial Skills

*    Use landmarks for way-finding (for example, a picture on the wall by the bathroom.)

*   Be aware of the person’s fears and discomfort.

*   Pay attention to the safety of the environment–remove clutter, add lighting, try to avoid redecoration and remodeling while caring for a person with Alzheimer’s disease.  Remember that familiarity and routines are very important as one’s cognitive abilities decrease.

Relationship-Based Caregiving

Relationships Breed Success

The relationship between the care giver and the client is the key to a successful experience.  A Seniors’ Choice at Home care giver had been taking a client for medical appointments at the request of her guardian.  After the appointments the client would refuse to doing anything social and would just want to go home.   It took a while, but soon she was willing to stop for some lunch when the care giver suggested it.   After a few months of the care giver suggesting some fun things to do (like spending a few hours at a local conservatory,) the client began to ask about doing some things.  This is so amazing because the client clearly has some significant memory loss issues, and seemed totally unable to initiate activities.  This week, at the client’s request (and always with the OK of the guardian,) the “friends” took a trip down the River Road in Minnesota to look at the leaves and to visit Red Wing.  They had some lunch there, people-watched, and checked out a few shops.  On the way home, the client said she thought she might like to take a little trip to Duluth some time!

The guardian was so pleased to hear how much her client had come to enjoy her time with the caregiver.  She went on to say that if the caregiver sees that going out a second day each week would be in order, that it would be fine. 

It took a while, but having the continuity of the same care giver each week helped the relationship build and stimulated the client to begin suggesting outings.  In our business we are always so pleased to see a client maintain his or her status, but when these miraculous positive changes occur, it just makes us elated!

Seniors’ Choice at Home is a non-medical home care serviced serving the 7 counties around the Twin Cities of Minnesota.  Our care givers are amazing!!!  Check out our website at www.seniorschoicemn.com or call me at 763-546-1599 for more information.

Long Distance Care Giving

Help Is Available in Minnesota for Long Distance Care Givers

In this 21st century, more and more adult children are accepting positions that take them to locations far away from parents.  Long distance care giving is a  growing phenomenon.  Many large businesses now contract with organizations that take care of employee assistance including finding help for parents who live in another part of the country.

Organizations like the Alzheimer’s Association (www.alz.org,) the Arthritis Foundation (www.arthritis.org,) and various online resources about caregiving are available with help for family members who are caregiving at a distance.

 Seniors’ Choice at Home, a Minnesota-based, non-medical home care agency helps many seniors whose children live far away.  Caregivers have, at the request of a daughter living in California, made an Easter dinner and spent the afternoon with a Mom who would otherwise have been alone on that holiday.  In another instance, a Seniors’ Choice caregiver, picked up a client and her sister early in the afternoon of Christmas Eve, and drove them to a cousin’s condo, so they all could spend several hours together.  They arranged to be picked up early that evening.  We have accompanied a client to the airport, arranged for a gate pass, and actually stayed with the client at the gate until airline personnel saw the client safely on the plan and on her way to visit her daughter.  

Help is available for the long distance family caregiver, whether in terms of a range of home services or just for ideas and support through a website.  For more information, call us at 763-546-1599, or e-mail Marilyn at crseniors@usfamily.net.

What Does “Failure to Thrive Mean?”

Minnesota Social Worker Talks About FTTOA

Yesterday I attended a small networking meeting where Intrepid USA Social Worker, Susan Long, talked about this prevalent diagnosis among seniors.  Failure to Thrive in Older Adults is sometimes used as a diagnosis to admit a patient to the hospital.  Part of treatment is often the administration of IV fluids for dehydration. 

The speaker’s emphasis was on the importance of recognizing this condition in our parents and older friends early enough so that available resources can be called in to help reverse the condition.

In order to meet the criteria for the diagnosis, all four of the following must be present:

     1.  Decline in physical function

     2.  Rapid weight loss with poor appetite

     3.  Depression or social withdrawal

     4.  Impaired cognitive or mental functioning.

It is estimated that 1/3 of nursing home residents suffer from FTTOA.  As many as 35% of elders residing in the community and more than 50% of hospitalized veterans may be failing to thrive. Those age 85 and older are most at risk.  

Professionals beneficial in the diagnosis and treatment of FTTOA include (but are not limited to:)  physicians, nurses, physical, occupational and speech therapists, social workers, dieticians, and dentists.

Home care offers help in many ways–valuable observers, social contacts, help with meals, help getting out in the community for enjoyable activities.

Seniors’ Choice at Home offers dependable care givers in the Twin Cities (Minnesota) to help seniors thrive, and not just survive.  Check our our website at www.seniorschoicemn.com or call Marilyn at 763-546-1599

Music is Magical for Persons with Memory Loss

The Gift of Music

Music is one of the many gifts a care giver, family or professional can give to a person with memory loss.  Cheryl Biel, RN, C, writes in her practical and charming booklet, “Give Me This Day: An Alzheimer’s Primer,”  from the point of view of the person with Alzheimer’s disease.  She writes, “My ability to enjoy and be ministered to by music will stay with me to the end.  Discover what kind of music I liked in the past.  Sing it with me.  Dance with me.

“Music that I am familiar with will help me relate to my past and help me define who I am.  Music will strengthen my spiritual walk and remind me of the comfort and security my faith has brought me for so many years.  The language of music is a language that i will be able to relate to far longer than any other language that I have known in the past.

“Remember:  If I’ve never liked classical or country western music, I probably won’t enjoy it now.”

“Music touches every key memory and stirs all the springs of sorrow and joy.  I love it for what it makes me forget and for what it makes me remember.”

                                                                         –Belle Brittain

For information about how to obtain Ms. Biel’s booklet, call Seniors’ Choice at Home, a Twin Cities home care agency, at 763-546-1599, or email us at crseniors@usfamily.net

Summer Help Available for Minnesota Caregivers

Could You Use a Little Break This Summer?

Care givers who take care of themselves find it possible to take care of a loved one longer and better.  Do you need a break from caring for a spouse or parent?  Seniors’ Choice at Home can stay with a loved one so you can have lunch with friends, go to a movie, play some golf or tennis, have a few days away at the lake for yourself, or even take a trip to Branson.  We also can provide escort service for those who would like to take a trip, but are unable to travel alone.  You can depend on the Seniors’ Choice Homemaker/Companions to provide loving, reliable senior care.

Seniors’ Choice at Home is a family-owned business that has been providing outstanding senior care in the Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN area since 1995.  Check out our website at www.seniorschoicemn.com, or call Marilyn at 763-546-1599 for more information

Practical, A+ Care for Seniors in Minnesota

Senior Care is More Than Just Cleaning and Cooking

While nutritious meals and a clean environment are very important for seniors, what many older adults really need and value is socializing with a friend and engaging in activities that are enjoyable.  The aging process often means that we are less able to do things we did in our younger years; it doesn’t mean that enjoyable activities are no longer possible.

The key is knowing what has been enjoyable in the past and adapting the activity for what the senior is now able to do.  My mom used to love to knit; she was an expert knitter.  During the last year of her life when she was in the end stages of Alzheimer’s disease, most of the time, she was disoriented to time and place, and many days she did not recognize me or my adult children.  But she enjoyed it when I brought my knitting.  She enjoyed touching the yarn, smelling of it, looking at the colors and the pattern book.  Some days she was able to reminisce a little about items she had knitted in the past and about how she used to help me with the finishing of a sweater. 

Almost all people love to go places and do things.  For seniors with physical and cognitive impairments, combining their interests with adapting the activity to their abilities means thriving, not just surviving.  

At Seniors’ Choice at Home, our first priority in hiring care givers is the ability to develop a friendly relationship with clients.  Some examples of enriching, enjoyable and stimulating activities we have done with clients, are:  taking a client for rides around a lake in the fall and out for an ice cream cone; taking a client to a large florist where the displays are gorgeous to see and to smell; taking a man skeet-shooting once a week, because that’s what he loved to do; taking a client to museums and galleries; taking a client to tea at a fancy tea shop where wearing a hat was encouraged.; taking a client on a short trip to Branson; taking a client to a golf tournament in a golf cart.

 For more information about Seniors’ Choice at Home, check out our website at: www.seniorschoicemn.com or call Marilyn at 763-546-1599

The 55+ Generation–Healthier Than Ever!

Stay Healthy With Help

Every day I read more and more about how the 55+ generation will be healthier and will live longer than any generation before them.  The good health of this group is due in part to the fact that men and women in this group generally have a healthier and more active lifestyle.  Golf, tennis, swimming, water aerobics, yoga, Tai Chi, walking, running, weight training and host of other activities help people maintain good health. 

If care for a parent or spouse keeps you from continuing to remain active, a home care service can come into your home, stay with a spouse or parent help with some cleanin, laundry or get a meal preparation and give you the peace of mind to leave your loved one with a caring, reliable helper while you take a break and take care of yourself.  Some organizations like the Parkinson Foundation even offer some grants to caregivers to cover some respite help.  

For a dependable and experienced care givers in the Twin Cities (Minnesota,) call Marilyn at Seniors’ Choice at Home–(763) 546-1599, and check out our website:  www.seniorschoicemn.com

Making Life Better for Minnesota Seniors

Relationship-oriented Senior Care

One of the prime concerns when new care givers are hired at Seniors’ Choice at Home is that the new employee has the ability to develop a relationship with the client.  We do not want a care giver to make lunch for a client, leave him or her eating along at the kitchen table and go into the living room and watch TV.  We  want the care giver to sit down with the client, eat with him or her and carry on a pleasant conversation relevant to the client.

Last week a caregiver took her client to a scheduled doctor appointment.  In the past this client who has significant memory loss, would be taken to an appointment, and when asked about going out for coffee, a ride or lunch afterwards, would always opt to go directly home.  Because we’ve had the same care giver available for most appointments, a relationship has developed and finally, the client agreed to doing something instead of going directly home.  The care giver stopped at a Baker’s Square, picked up some treats, drove to a picnic table by a lake (it was one of those few days lately that wasn’t cloudy or rainy,) and the two of them enjoyed a lovely time together. 

Having the same caregiver is so important, especially for clients with memory loss.  The importance of the relationship cannot be over-emphasized.  Continuity and familiarity are comforting.  Routines help people with memory loss feel secure.  Care givers who work for Seniors’ Choice at Home know this and seem to have the knack of working well with their clients.  Check out the website:  www.seniorschoicemn.com or call Marilyn at 763-546-1599 for more information.