Tag: Elder Care in Minneapolis MN

If you can only do one thing to keep your elderly family member from experiencing a fall, ensuring that her home environment is as safe and clean as possible is a good start. This is because your elderly family member’s home environment is what she will be moving around in the most, so she needs to have the space that she needs in order to be safe.

Keeping Your Senior’s Home Neat and Tidy Is Vital

There are a lot of factors involved in fall prevention, but if your elderly family member’s home is cluttered, dirty, and basically not easy for her to navigate, she’s far more likely to experience a fall. Take stock of what is going on right now in your elderly family member’s home so that you can assess what else needs to be done. Once you get her home in good shape, it’s easier to maintain that condition with the help of elder care providers.

Downsize, if Necessary

Your elderly family member may have more items in her home than she can realistically safely have there with her. It may be time to talk with her about how she should think carefully about what is in her home and what can be relocated. Opening up some space by reducing items is going to help your senior to be a lot safer.

Reorganize as Much as Possible

Once you know what items your elderly family member is keeping, it’s time to look at how those items are stored. Often a fall is not just because your elderly family member trips over something. She can also experience a fall because she’s standing on something to reach an item she needs. Home care providers can help your elderly family member to move items where they make more sense for her needs and where they’re safer.

Make Sure that Spills and Other Problems Are Handled Right Away

Another aspect of keeping your senior’s home clean is ensuring that spills and other problem areas are handled as soon as they happen. Elder care providers can make a huge difference for your senior with this aspect of maintaining her home. They can stay on top of what’s happening and what needs to be dealt with in order to keep your senior safe.

Reassess Your Senior’s Needs Often

Once you have your elderly family member’s environment in shape, it’s important to reassess her needs and her home periodically. This step is going to help you to ensure that as her needs change, you’re on top of the situation. Elder care providers can help you to do this as they notice changes in what’s happening with your senior. As soon as you notice potential problems, take action to address what you are able to change.

Talk with your elderly family member’s doctor about what else you can do to help prevent a fall for her. Understanding all of her risk factors is vital in order to ensure that she remains as safe as possible.

Source
https://www.cdc.gov/falls/index.html

If you or an aging loved one is considering elder care in Minneapolis, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.

Gout is a type of arthritis that occurs more in men than women. It occurs when uric acid crystals build up in and around the joints causing tremendous pain. Typically, the joint in the big toe is the one most affected by a gout flare-up.

When he’s dealing with a flare-up, your dad can’t walk around much. Doing things like carrying the laundry downstairs, taking a walk, or putting on shoes seems impossible. You want to help him avoid these flare-ups. Have you considered looking at his diet?

He Needs to Avoid Foods High in Purine

Uric acid crystals form as your dad’s body breaks down the purine found in foods. If he lowers his intake of these foods, it can help lessen the flare-ups.

  • Fruits – Fruits are essential to the diet, but some are linked to increasing the risk of a gout attack. It’s often the fruits with higher fructose levels, such as apples, grapes, and dates. Cherries have been found to help with gout flare-ups, so it’s often recommended to keep fresh cherries on hand for snacks.
  • Processed Foods – Processed foods that are high in sugar can lead to too much purine. If your dad likes to eat packaged granola bars, cookies, doughnuts, cakes, brownies, high-sugar fruit juices, or breakfast cereals, he needs to stop.
  • Proteins – Your dad should avoid specific proteins that have higher levels of purine. This includes shellfish like mussels and lobster, organ meats like chicken livers, and red meat. Processed meats like bacon, deli meat, ham, and smoked sausages are also good ones to avoid.

In addition to those foods, your dad needs to limit his intake of alcoholic beverages. If he can’t live without a drink sometimes, wine is often a better choice than beer for people with gout.

Ideally, your dad wants a diet that balances his intake of whole grains, fresh vegetables, and lean proteins. If he finds fish doesn’t lead to flare-ups, fish is one of the best options. It can be a trial and error situation as some foods increase flare-ups in some people and not others.

Have Elder Care Helping When Gout Attacks Hit

When gout pain flares up, your dad could use a helping hand with housework and meal preparation. Your dad may not need caregivers every week, but elder care is beneficial when he struggles with mobility due to the pain in his big toes. Call an elder care agency and ask about respite care services.

If you or an aging loved one is considering elder care in Minneapolis, MN, and the surrounding areas, please contact the friendly staff at CareBuilders at Home Minnesota. Call today 612-260-2273.