Archive for September, 2010

The Healing Power of Therapy Animals in Corona CA

(ARA) – When Sunny, a 3-year-old golden retriever, began working for San Diego Unified School District last spring, one of her first students was a fourth-grader with cerebral palsy, mobile only with the aid of a walker.

Adaptive physical education teacher Andrea Bazer says that as soon as this young student met Sunny, she was eager to take Sunny for a walk — first with the help of her walker, then with Bazer helping, and finally without any assistance. This transformation took several months, but once the student knew she could walk Sunny without the walker, she realized she didn’t need a walker at all.

"She walks all over school now," says Bazer, who has worked as an adaptive physical education teacher for the district for six years. "It’s amazing to see. Sunny gets the kids to do many things that they won’t do for me. When they’re working with Sunny, they forget they can’t do things."

Therapy animals like Sunny are highly trained and play very active roles in the educational or therapy program they’re involved in. Sunny helps by playing fetch and other interactive games with the students. Children in therapy with horses benefit through interacting with the animals and riding them. A client must be confident to lead and/or train a therapy animal, and this provides an opportunity for growth.

Today, animals help out in educational and health care settings so often that the wide array of roles they play can be a bit confusing. For example, within the ranks of assistance animals, there are therapy dogs like Sunny and also visiting animals, which visit the sick in hospitals or nursing homes, providing a warm, soft head to pat.

Bazer works with about 45 preschool to sixth grade children with disabilities at five schools, and she said that Sunny is an asset in her class. Sunny recently helped Bazer achieve a breakthrough with a preschool-aged child who was refusing to open up when faced with a stranger – Bazer. "The child’s first word during the assessment was ‘dog,’ as soon as he saw Sunny," Bazer explains.

Sunny is a hard worker as well; she works 40 hours a week at schools, and then Bazer regularly takes her to the Naval Medical Center in San Diego to give a psychological boost to wounded soldiers receiving treatment.

Dr. Hayden Sears, vice chairman of the American Veterinary Medical Association’s (AVMA) Committee on Human-Animal Bond says the impact animals can have on hospital and nursing home patients, people with disabilities, children and the elderly in therapy situations is remarkable to witness. Dr. Sears worked with therapy animals prior to becoming a veterinarian.

"I have also done a lot with horses and people," Dr. Sears explains. "People with multiple sclerosis, people with broken backs, all the way down to children with cerebral palsy, really benefit from working with a therapy horse."

Dr. Sears says that while most people associate therapy animals with a psychological boost for patients, the impact can also be very physical. For example, horseback riding is known to stimulate the nervous system and offer strengthening and mobility therapy for the disabled. Research consistently shows that therapy animals are helpful with multiple conditions, including heart disease, substance abuse, schizophrenia and dementia.

The active ingredient in animal therapy is a little-understood concept called the human-animal bond. The AVMA has officially recognized the existence of the human-animal bond since 1982. And the AVMA states that this bond has existed for thousands of years. "Interactions with animals can provide emotional and physical health benefits for diverse human populations, including the elderly, children, physically disabled, deaf, blind, emotionally or physically ill, and the incarcerated," AVMA policy states.

Therapy animals have a long history, as well. Florence Nightingale recommended the use of a small pet to provide companionship to the sick, and ancient Greeks believed dogs had healing powers.

While most therapy animals are dogs and cats, therapists have found success using chickens and even small ruminants like goats.

"There have been therapy programs that have worked with cattle," says Carol Davis, executive director of Paws’itive Teams, a California organization that trains both therapy and service animals. Paws’itive Teams is the organization that trained Sunny.

Davis says that over the past decade she’s seen the demand for her animals increase and more diversity in the work these animals are asked to do. Today, therapy animals trained by Paws’itive Teams work with foster children during evaluation sessions and with children who have been victimized.

"We have one dog that works at a county courthouse with children who have been abused and will have to testify against their abuser," Davis says. "In some cases, the judge will allow the children to take the dog with them onto the stand for support."

The AVMA policy on therapy animals suggests that the relationship between therapy animals and their human clients must be mutually beneficial, explains Dr. Emily Patterson-Kane of the AVMA Animal Welfare Division.

"People experience great benefits from living or working with therapy animals, and we must make sure that the animals benefit from working with us," Patterson-Kane says. "The real power of the human-animal bond is that people and animals can make each others’ lives richer and more meaningful."

Courtesy of ARAcontent

For information about how Age Advantage can help your family with care and assistance in the Corona area, visit www.ageadvantageriverside.com.

Here is an article from the New York Times that addresses the growing, nationwide problem of searching for missing dementia patients.  New strategies and tactics are needed to find these individuals. If you have a family member suffering from Dementia and need help with their care in the Corona CA area, visit www.ageadvantageriverside.com.

More With Dementia Wander From Home

For generations, the prototypical search-and-rescue case in America was Timmy in the well, with Lassie barking insistently to summon help. Lost children and adolescents — from the woods to the mall — generally outnumbered all others.

But last year for the first time, another type of search crossed into first place here in Virginia, marking a profound demographic shift that public safety officials say will increasingly define the future as the nation ages: wandering, confused dementia patients like Freda Machett.

Ms. Machett, 60, suffers from a form of dementia that attacks the brain like Alzheimer’s disease  and imposes on many of its victims a restless urge to head out the door. Their journeys, shrouded in a fog of confusion and fragmented memory, are often dangerous and not infrequently fatal. About 6 in 10 dementia victims will wander at least once, health care statistics show, and the numbers are growing worldwide, fueled primarily by Alzheimer’s disease, which has no cure and affects about half of all people over 85.

Read more from nytimes.com…
 

Tips to Manage the Stress of Caregiving

(ARA) – More than 34 million people are caring for an aging parent in the United States today. It is estimated one in two of these caregivers are baby boomers, adults in the "sandwich generation," caught between caring for their aging parents while raising families of their own.

Caring for a loved one puts a great deal of strain on caregivers, taking a toll on everything, including their health, relationships and finances. Balancing caregiving with managing households and busy careers has become a struggle for millions of Americans and is made worse when the loved one has incontinence.

Caring.com, a leading online destination for people caring for aging parents, and TENA, the worldwide leader in the management of bladder control issues, conducted an in-depth survey on the impact of incontinence on caregivers.

The survey revealed that 65 percent of Caring.com members are dealing with incontinence in a parent, grandparent or spouse and three out of four caregivers are tackling two to three extra loads of laundry each week as a result of incontinence. About one third of caregivers find incontinence difficult to handle and 42 percent said dealing with their loved one’s incontinence sometimes leads to depression.

"Incontinence often can be frustrating and overwhelming for a person caring for an aging parent or loved one, but there are steps caregivers can take to meet this challenge," says Ann Cason, caregiving expert, author and founder and director of Circles of Care. "These include considering all available treatment options, discussing incontinence in a straightforward and factual way, and asking for physical or emotional support if you need it."

Caregivers should remember they are not alone and can rely on others to help them through difficult times. Some tips to help manage their loved one’s incontinence include:

• Establish a dialogue: It’s important to be able to talk with your loved one about their incontinence. Over time, incontinence symptoms may change or get worse. If you share an open line of communication, you’ll be better equipped to manage these changes by using different products and adjusting your care management plan. Caring.com has a variety of resources with helpful information on how caregivers can talk to their loved one about difficult issues, including who should do the talking, when to have the conversation, where to have it, what to say and how to avoid emotional land mines.
• Create a routine: Having a standard routine helps make it easier for you and your loved one to predict when they may need to use the bathroom. Eating meals around the same time each day, drinking a steady amount of water and keeping a journal of bathroom visits can help in managing incontinence.
• Be prepared: Make sure your loved one has plenty of time to go to the bathroom before you leave the house. Bring a bag with extra incontinence products, wipes and a change of clothes. Being prepared not only helps in the event of an accident, it also helps your loved one to feel more confident and secure.
• Use the right tools: Not all absorbent products are created equal. Absorbent products are designed to meet a variety of different care needs and personal situations. Take the time to research what products are best for your loved one at www.tena.us. Also, www.tena.us provides caregivers with money- and time-saving product tips that help them provide high quality care without breaking the bank. 

For caregivers, dealing with your loved one’s incontinence brings added strain to an already stressful situation. Here are some tips for caregivers to deal with the emotional effects of their loved one’s incontinence:

1. Unwind: Taking time for yourself will help reduce stress, elevate your mood and, ultimately, help make you a better caregiver. Buy a new book, join a club or go out to dinner and give yourself some time to relax.
2. Maintain a healthy lifestyle: It’s easy to fall into unhealthy habits with caregiving responsibilities keeping you busy. Incorporating a nutritious diet and exercise routine into your daily schedule will help give you extra energy and reduce stress. Try simple things like adding a healthy salad to your meal or taking the stairs instead of the elevator.
3. Ask for help: Caring for a loved one by yourself can be an overwhelming task. Ask family members to pitch in by picking up supplies or keeping your loved one company while you take a break. Don’t be afraid to call a friend to listen when you’ve had a bad day, or to network with other caregivers who are dealing with similar issues.
4. Know your rights: The Federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) grants legal rights to some employed caregivers at organizations with 50 or more employees. FMLA guarantees that employees may take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave a year to care for a seriously ill parent, spouse or child. Ask your human resources department for more information on programs to help you balance your career and caregiving.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Have questions about caring for your loved one in the Corona area? Please visit us at www.ageadvantageriverside.com.
 

September is Healthy Aging Month! You’re never too old to break a sweat and slow down the aging process. Throw those excuses away, and take this advice from WebMD. Read the excerpt here and the full article at www.webmd.com.

Getting Fit For Life

"I don’t have time."

"I’m too old-I might hurt myself."

"I’d be too embarrassed at a gym with all those fit young people around."

Sound familiar? Maybe one of these is the reason you aren’t physically active or exercising. But, in fact, scientists now know that it’s usually more dangerous to not exercise, no matter how old you are. And you don’t need to buy fancy clothes or belong to a gym to become more active.

Most older people don’t get enough physical activity. Here are some reasons why they should:

• Lack of physical activity and not eating the right foods, taken together, are the second greatest underlying cause of death in the United States. (Smoking is the #1 cause.)
• Exercise can help older people feel better and enjoy life more. No one is too old or too out of shape to be more active.
• Regular exercise can prevent or delay some diseases like cancer, heart disease, or diabetes. It can also perk up your mood and help depression, too.
• Being active can help older people to stay independent and able to keep doing things like getting around or dressing themselves.

So, make physical activity a part of your everyday life. Find things you enjoy. Go for brisk walks. Ride a bike. Dance. Work around the house and in the yard. Take care of your garden. Climb stairs. Rake leaves. Do a mix of things that keep you moving and active.

Four Types of Exercise
There are four types of exercises you need to do to have the right mixture of physical activities.

One-Be sure to get at least 30 minutes of activity that makes you breathe harder on most or all days of the week. That’s called "endurance activity," because it builds your energy or "staying power." You don’t have to be active for 30 minutes all at once. Ten minutes of endurance activity at a time is fine. Just make sure those 10-minute sessions add up to a total of 30 minutes most days.

How hard do you need to push yourself? One doctor describes the right level of effort this way: If you can talk without any trouble at all, you’re not working hard enough. If you can’t talk at all, it’s too hard.

Two-Keep using your muscles. When muscles aren’t used, they waste away at any age.

How important is it to have "enough" muscle? Very! When you have enough muscle, you can get up from a chair by yourself. When you don’t-you have to wait for someone to help you. When you have enough muscle, you can walk through the park with your grandchildren. When you don’t-you have to stay home. That’s true for younger adults as well as for people age 90 and older.

Continue reading….
 

For the best in home care services in the Riverside CA area, visit www.ageadvantageriverside.com.

Don’t forget Grandparents Day on September 12th!

Rising Use of Medical Technologies Extending Americans’ Lives

(HealthDay News) — Surging use of improved medical technology, including new drugs, is driving up life expectancy for Americans and driving down rates of major killers such as heart disease and cancer, a new national health report finds.

At the same time, some things about the nation’s health that experts hoped were changing actually did not, the report found, and the use and misuse of medical technology may also be a factor behind the ever-increasing cost of health care.

The findings are included in a report, entitled "Health, United States, 2009," issued Wednesday by the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics, part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Read More from Caring.com…

For information about how Age Advantage can help your family with care and assistance for a loved one in the Corona CA area, visit www.ageadvantageriverside.com.