Category: Nursing Home

Gifts for Seniors – 10 Great Ideas

The holidays are coming up, and you may be wondering what gifts to get for the seniors in your life. It can be difficult during these busy times of year to find gifts that they will enjoy.

Gifts for Seniors - 10 Great Ideas

We have compiled a list of 10 great gifts for seniors– including ones for those who live independently or with family, as well as gifts for nursing home residents.

Gifts for Seniors – 10 Great Ideas

Are you having a hard time buying a gift for a senior loved one? Gifts are really hard to buy for people as they get older, but gifting a senior citizen doesn’t have to be hard, it just needs to come from the heart.

The easiest way to gift a senior citizen is to give something that the senior citizen could not so easily buy. Here are ten gift ideas for your favorite senior citizen:

Homemade bread.

A senior citizen often likes something sweet with coffee for afternoon snacks, so why not whip up a loaf of homemade banana bread or homemade apple bread for your favorite senior citizen? Wrap it in foil or plastic wrap and top it with a bow. This makes a perfect anytime gift for your favorite senior citizen.

You can try a variety of baked goods to keep things fresh – like some of these great ideas we found:

Gifts for Seniors - 10 Great Ideas

A Casserole.

Cooking a meal is sometimes exhausting for a senior citizen, so why not bake a delicious one-meal casserole and deliver it up as a gift for your favorite senior citizen. You can leave the casserole dish as part of the gift, or you can offer ongoing refills on a weekly/monthly basis just for your favorite senior citizen returning the dish each time.

May I suggest breaking it down into smaller portions first? That way a few can go into the freezer for later use. Who wants to eat the same thing night after night? If you did this for a few months with different casseroles, eventually they would have a freezer full of a nice variety.

Lawn mowing.

It’s a tough job to mow the lawn in the heat, especially for a senior citizen. So, why not save your favorite senior citizen the trouble by gifting a lawn mowing? Not only will this serve as a helpful gift for your favorite senior citizen, but it’ll also make you feel better about yourself, and you might even get a glass of tea out of the deal.

Lawn mowing

Trip to the beauty/barbershop.

Is your favorite senior citizen on a fixed income? If so, he/she might not be able to afford that special attention from a beauty shop/barbershop. So, why not take your favorite senior citizen for a haircut, hairstyle, or a permanent one? You drive; you pay. This is one of the best senior citizen gifts as it helps their self-esteem too!

Even a manicure or pedicure could be a huge treat – pedicures are great if they have diabetes, it helps you subtly keep an eye on their health.

A hand-delivered meal.

A senior citizen often enjoys getting a home-cooked plate of food cooked by someone else, so why not dish out a plate for your favorite senior citizen when you cook your own family a meal? You might want to be careful with the spices. As a person ages, spices tend to agree less with the digestive system.

It can be nice to whip up a few that only need a quick zap in their microwave – and they often taste better than the options from meals on wheels.

A hand-delivered meal

Outing to a senior dance.

Give your favorite senior citizen the chance to mingle with people his/her own age by taking your favorite senior citizen to a senior citizen dance. You can dance, too. The evening will provide both of you with some good exercise and some good company.

Trust me – some of those seniors might easily out dance you – after all, they know every step!

A Night at bingo.

A night at bingo can really pep up the spirits of your favorite senior citizen. Bingo helps with thinking/reaction skills, and the good news is that it doesn’t cost a lot to spend an afternoon at bingo. Play a card or two while you both sip on sodas, and your favorite senior citizen will walk away with a smile stretched across his/her face.

If it is at your local casino? Go for the buffet too!

A Night at bingo

Visit the senior citizen center.

Many towns provide senior citizen centers, and these centers offer a variety of activities, so treat your senior citizen to a ride to your local senior citizen center. Your favorite senior citizen will have the chance to play dominoes, shuffleboard, or other activities during the visit.

If you don’t have a senior center, check our local parks and recreation guide for different activities. Often they have great bargaining power and get amazing deals for all participants.

Dominoes.

Want a fun time with your favorite senior citizen? Why not gift your favorite senior citizen with a nice set of dominoes and then set up a weekly domino night. You can build on that gift by baking a loaf of banana bread, etc, and run on over one night a week for some good clean fun with your favorite senior citizen.

If Dominoes aren’t your thing – there are so many other great games for 2 people to play: GO is a great example. It originated in China in ancient times. It was considered one of the four essential arts of a cultured Chinese scholar in antiquity and is described as a worthy pastime for a gentleman in the Analects of Confucius. Maybe Chess, Checkers, Backgammon, Cribbage? Maybe try a new game every month!

Dominoes

Day of housecleaning.

Even a senior citizen who lives in a small apartment might have a hard time keeping a clean house due to mobility/energy issues. Worse yet, with declining eye issues they fail to see how bad things might really be getting.

Worst-case scenario? They have bugs in their pantry and aren’t even aware that they are getting extra protein with their daily cereal. I only mention this as it is something we had to deal with. Even the couch my mother-in-law practically lived in had little creatures living off the crumbs she had dropped.

So, why not share your abundant mobility/energy by helping out with some household chores. You don’t even have to completely clean the house. Just do the dishes or vacuum the floors.

Day of housecleaning

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10 Great Books On Aging Parents

Great Books On Aging Parents? Whoever said it was easy to care for your elderly parents may never have experienced the real deal when it comes to their demand and overall – living! They can either prove to be difficult, be restrained, segregate themselves, or cooperate and let life takes its course.

Either way, you will need help as a child who is taking care of your elderly parent. As such, those who have dealt with it or are dealing with it have put their feelings into words to help guide you and let you know what is happening.

10 Great Books on Aging Parents

Here are a few books you can consider reading through to help you along the way…

How to Care for Aging Parents

This book will help you get all the answers you need to questions you wished you didn’t have to ask. How to Care for Aging Parents is a resourceful material prepared by Family Caregiver Alliance and is a strong source of information, support, and stability.

It is regarded as a compassionate and comprehensive caregiver’s bible that guides you through the changes to be expected, the adjustments you must make, how to avoid being “a parent to your parent,” as well as how to deal with any potential difficult issue or crisis that may arise. If you have the time for only one of the Great Books On Aging Parents, this would be it.

Reading this book will guide you on how to cope with chronic issues such as dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other memory loss illnesses. They will not easily adjust to you (even if they lived with you), and this book provide a guide on how to work through this.

Coping with Your Difficult Older Parent

If you have to deal with a parent who always blamed you, doesn’t want to be alone, is obsessed with sickness, or finds pleasure in pulling your legs the wrong way, then you need this book. Of course, it is stressful to deal with an aging parent who does not find it easy to adjust to life because of the crisis health or other conditions may bring.

You can aid in helping them to transition from one stage of life to another and dealing with anger, guilt, frustration, and blame. This book is seen as a “common-sense guide” from a team of professionals who have had firsthand experience in dealing with people who go through this condition. Reading this book also helps you to:

  • Have the talk with your parents about not being able to live with you
  • Handle negativity from your parents
  • Deal with a parent who is impaired from one condition or the other
  • Decide the best options for living when your parents can no longer live alone.  

A Bittersweet Season: Caring for Our Aging Parents–and Ourselves

When you are thrown in the position of taking up an instance caregiver role, you will understand how difficult and stressful it can be to take care of your aging parent(s).

Writer Jane Gross was put in a similar situation and is the ultimate reason which prompted her to write her book, A Bittersweet Season: Caring for Our Aging Parents and Ourselves. The book tackles issues such as:

  • Dealing with their health conditions and which medical providers may be the best.
  • The truth about assisted living and how to handle hard situations.
  • Family medicines and therapeutic aids for selected health conditions.

Tips for Helping Your Aging Parents: (without losing your mind)

When looking for Great Books On Aging Parents, it is because you realize Caring for your aging parents is a job all by itself, so if you have a full-time job while doing this…it is inevitable for you to become overwhelmed. In the book Tips for Helping Your Aging Parents: (without losing your mind), the writer made it straightforward what it is like to live and deal with them. The book guides you on how to:

  • Deal with their medication
  • Create a safe environment to protect them from hurting themselves
  • Not become overwhelmed while caring for them
  • Deal with a crisis should one arise
  • Have critical discussions with your parents
  • Deal with parents who refuse getting paid assisted help at home.  

Holding the Net: Caring for My Mother on the Tightrope of Aging

If you dealt with caring for an aging parent or you are going through it, this book will be perfect for giving you the solace you need to keep going. It can be a challenge to care for them, especially if you don’t understand the needs and conditions that come with being old.

This amazing book, Holding the Net, provides a full practical guide on how to prepare yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally to deal with health decisions, rehab, living arrangements, and so much more. It encourages you and advises from experts on how to handle and manage every situation.

Role Reversal: How to Take Care of Yourself and Your Aging Parents

This book is designed to give the best advice to caregivers and potential caregivers who are faced with the reality of caring for their elderly family. It guides you on how to care for your loved one amidst the challenging pressure you are facing. There is valuable information on critical topics you will need to guide to guide you along the way.

The Caregiving Season: Finding Grace to Honor Your Aging Parents

Caring for your elderly parents is stressful, hard, and challenging, and it is a season of your life that will never be normal and will forever change your life. The Caregiving Season: Finding Grace to Honor Your Aging Parents details every practical advice you will need to cope and handle the situation at hand.

Dementia or Alzheimer’s?: A Daughter’s Guide to Home Care from the Early Signs and Onset of Dementia through the Various Alzheimer Stages

While there are many suggestions and references for others to use, the book never falls into a dull recounting of lists of books or items to pursue. Instead, as Ms. Gail recounts her memories, she shares the helpful things she found that aided her mother during what can be a difficult time for everyone.

This loving memoir is a touching reminder to all of us that even though it can be painful watching a loved one go through this difficult time, there are rewards in helping them in whatever way we are able.

Children of the Aging Self-Absorbed: A Guide to Coping with Difficult, Narcissistic Parents and Grandparents

This book provides you with awareness on how to deal with your parent’s self-absorbed behaviors and attitudes as they get older. It shows you how to develop strategies in dealing with your parents based on the current situations you face while caring for them. Also, it shows you how to set limits with your parents for you to remain focus and sane during the process.

30 Days of Hope When Caring for Aging Parents (Gifts of Hope)

30 Days of Hope When Caring for Aging Parents (Gifts of Hope) gives you a chance to live and maintain stability while you care for your elderly parents. It has a spiritual guide to it in terms of caring for your parents in a way that is pleasing to God and at least shows honor to them amidst the possible stress they are causing. You will maintain dignity and sanity with the guidelines presented in this book, and, of course, they are easy to implement.

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Are Nursing Homes A Safe Haven For The Elderly

Caring for elderly parents or grandparents in a private home setting requires patience, love, and a strong will. Unlike children, though some are like children, adults have a sense of independence, yet are dependent on the caregiver. Once healthy and self-sufficient, they are vulnerable and helpless, in need of care from family members. It causes not only the caregiver grief, but the one being cared for is often confused and can’t accept their condition. Nursing homes may be an option you are considering.

Are Nursing Homes A Safe Haven For The Elderly cover picture

In-home elderly care usually falls on the shoulders of one family member. In the beginning, other family members may assist and give the initial caregiver time off.

Are Nursing Homes A Safe Haven For The Elderly

Still, as time progresses from weeks to months and possibly years, other personal activities tend to override the importance of sharing in the task, often leaving no other choice but putting the loved one in a nursing home. Without family support, it is nearly impossible to spend twenty-four hours, seven days a week meeting the needs required for the elderly person.

Until the early 1900s, people managed to take full responsibility for elderly parents or grandparents. However, many of the caregivers were less fortunate, living in impoverished conditions. Thus, almshouses and poor farms were instituted. Many thought it best to place their loved ones in such a place to get the care they needed.

A Little History Lesson

The almshouses were supported strictly by charity donations and were for those who were no longer productive and needed a place to stay. On the other hand, the poor houses, or at times referred to as poor farms, were at the beginning established to house paupers who were caught stealing.

The poor house is not to be confused with the paupers prison. The farms were supported by taxpayers, similar to the modern-day welfare system. Amongst the residents of such institutions were thieves, the mentally ill, orphans, and the elderly.

Eventually, the government decided that housing those with an array of distinct needs together was inappropriate, and the farms soon became known as “old folks homes.”

When should a person go to a nursing home?

Not until 1935 were changes made in favor of the elderly when President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the bill for Social Security benefits. Those who were already housed in one of the facilities, however, were not eligible for the benefits.

The benefits were only for retired individuals and did not include the poor. Soon after the signing of the bill, homes were opened for those who had income, such as Social Security, with the mindset that the home’s proprietors could benefit from the payments.

Government Regulations Taking Effect

In the mid-1950s, the government took a stand against those homes which were taking money from the residents, yet care was rated very poor. The government passed a bill that required all such facilities to be licensed through the government.

In that case, not only did the proprietors make a substantial income, the government would benefit from the cost of licensing a vast number of “old folks homes.”

During the 1960s, the government passed the Moss Amendment after a mass nursing home scandal broke out in New York State. The Moss Amendment was to prohibit below-level standards of care and stop fraudulent activities.

After several years of investigation, Medicare was initiated in 1969, a program established to assist those who were on Social Security, met the low-income standard and were either elderly or handicapped.

Again, in 1971, the government became involved with the nursing homes, which were no longer a welfare system but, due to the licensing process, considered to be part of the health care system, and modeled after a hospital setting.

The care received in nursing homes was supposed to be the same quality that a patient gets in a hospital. However, due to the many scandals that once again took place in the seventies, it seemed that government involvement had not improved the establishments’ bad habits but gave them an even greater opportunity to play a fraudulent game with the resident’s Medicare and Social Security benefits.

Why do elderly not like nursing homes?

Balancing Finances for Care

Today, in modern nursing home facilities, the government has cut Medicare payments to homes, allowing them only a percentage of the patient’s income. The homes are paid according to the Balanced Budget Act.

The patient, by no means, gets the greater part. The residents are permitted to have $1,500.00 in their personal accounts that are in the nursing home banks. Should that amount exceed that which is allowed, the patient’s family must do a “spend-down” to bring the account back to an allotted amount of that mentioned.

It is often difficult to spend a large amount of money on those who are confined to a nursing home. However, if the payment is not spent on the resident, with receipted proof, the state acquires the money at the time of the patient’s death.

7 Ways to Choose a Nursing Home

This can be a very difficult step for both you AND your aging parent. We have a checklist for you to help make the process a little easier.

Nursing home checklist

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Make Sure You Oversee Things

Over the years, since the poor house syndrome, many things have changed as far as modern daycare, building appearance, and food. However, even though there have been stricter laws applied, the nursing staff does not give much better care in the days past. The rate of nursing home abuse and neglect is astronomical. Most modern-day facilities are understaffed, and lacking in heartfelt compassion.

To many who work as nurses and nurses aides, it is nothing more than an eight-hour job. Constant observation from family members is imperative. Notice any unusual behavior the patient may have. Check their skin for bruises.

It is our responsibility to report unexpected “falls” or bruises that happen too often. Reporting incidents to the nursing home is not always the best option. It may become necessary to report to a local Ombudsman organization if mistreatment is suspected.

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