Baking Russian Tea Cookies & Breaking Oplatki: Making Holidays Special

The Holiday Season joins family and friends together to share tradition and build memories. This is the time of year we reconnect with those loved ones we may not see regularly—including elderly family members.

Make sure the Holidays are enjoyable for everyone. Elderly family members may require special consideration when planning your holiday celebrations. Preempt restrictions and be creative.

Be prepared. The Holidays are an opportunity to see some family we haven’t seen in a while. What seemed—to those in most regular contact—a natural, incremental physical or mental change for an aging individual may come as an alarming surprise. If you haven’t seen Aunt Eleanor in some time, her waning vision may be startling to you.

Avoid alarm by being prepared for changes. Then, take the necessary steps to see to it that your family member is being cared for by those closest to him or her. Have a conversation with the family member/s responsible for direct care. Be sure that elderly family member is being cared for appropriately.

Clear the Way. Salt the sidewalks and save a prime parking spot in the driveway for an elderly family member or the car they come in. If an elderly family member has mobility issues, make sure you’ve cleared the way within your home to navigate safely with a walker or other assistance.

Wintertime Maladies: Avoid Them!

Wintertime is creeping in. The days are getting shorter and colder. With these changes come the increased threat of illness, especially for those most vulnerable—the elderly.

Take the proper precautions for your loved ones, and stave off wintertime infirmity.

Get a flu shot
As we age, our immune system weakens. The seasonal flu then poses a more serious threat. What begins as common influenza can escalate into pneumonia or bronchitis among those whose bodily defenses are weakened by age. Avoid a potential hospital visit. Get a flu shot.

Be the first with no appointment:

 For more information visit http://www.walgreens.com/marketing/library/centers/flu/flu_faq.jsp

Caregivers: Costume-Less Superheroes

November is “National Caregiver Month”!

Out of love and devotion, over 44 million Americans commit themselves to caring for their loved ones. Their role, unpaid and often unacclaimed, is vital to the wellbeing of many of our friends and family.

Their work is nothing short of superhero. The family caregiver is tasked with balancing their professional and family life with the demands of caregiving. To do so requires no small sacrifice. And yet, our family caregivers do so with humility, abiding devotion, and without a flashy costume to flaunt their superhero status.

They’re not your prototypical spandex clad hero. They don’t tout their saving powers with bright hues. They carry on without distinguishing their caregiver status as anything extraordinary.

And yet, they are the unsung heroes of our day. Our family caregivers give greatly and serve humbly. Their loving sacrifices support the health of those they serve directly, and complete their circle of care. Family caregivers play a vital role in our healthcare system. The estimated value of family caregiver’s unpaid service in 2009 was $450 billion. Yet, what they give goes beyond what can be rendered in dollar value.

MANAGING MEDS AND COORDINATING YOUR NETWORK

by JESSICA

Take diabetes pill twice daily. Remember: thyroid pill in the morning, prior to eating. Beware: blood pressure pill before bed and you won’t sleep because of frequent visits to the restroom. So much to recall!

Is your day metered by a medication regimen? In ancient times, humankind measured the time of day by the position of the sun. These days many of us find our medication regimen helps us track time.  Pill by pill, we tell the time of day. One after another, we must recall an entire time-telling sequence in order to stay healthy.

When did our health become so complicated? Certainly, the advent of new and developing medication therapies have helped to improve health and quality of life, yet from expanding possibility issues complexity. We are better able to treat a variety of ailments. And now, we can optimize health, but do so with multiple medications.