Caregivers are often advised to seek help to lessen the caregiving workload. For many individuals, the natural place to turn for such help is family. Family Caregiver Alliance’s Holding a Family Meeting fact sheet provides information on how to approach the subject, advice on creating an agenda, lists key points to consider discussing, and explains potential conflicts that may arise.

Here's a great article to read that gives eight tips on how to provide assistance — and help yourself, if you are experiencing caring for a loved one while retired or are anticipating this scenario in the near future.
This quick read, written by Richard Eisenberg, hits on some of those high points and gives a bit of healthy advice in the process.

When the level of care needed by an ailing or elder person exceeds what can be provided at home, residential housing is often a next step. But how do you sort through the variety of options available and choose the correct level of care?

Family Caregiver Alliance's infographic “5 Types of Residential Care” reveals the five types of outside-the-home care found in most urban and suburban communities, and what to expect from each. Learn which options are best suited for an individual’s wants or needs, including:

• Smaller, more homey environments
• Apartment-like residential communities
• Facilities offering memory and dementia care
• Facilities offering 24-hour nursing supervision

Pain is a signal that something may be wrong in your body. You’ve probably been in pain at one time or another but found that it often goes away as the body heals or with treatment. However, many older people may have ongoing pain from health problems like arthritis, diabetes, shingles, or cancer. 
 
A few things you can do to help manage your pain and feel better are:

• Keep a healthy weight. Being overweight can slow healing and make some pain worse. A healthy weight might help with pain in the knees, back, hips, or feet.
  
•  Be physically active. Pain might make you inactive, which can lead to more pain and loss of function. Activity can help. 
  
• Get enough sleep. It can reduce pain sensitivity, help healing, and improve your mood.
  

 
The National Institute for Aging has released an informative booklet discussing different aspects of pain experienced by older adults.  To view the booklet, click the button below.

If you have older family members or loved ones, you may worry about their health as they age. Aging increases the risk of chronic diseases such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, arthritis, cancer, and dementia. The good news is that adopting and maintaining a few key behaviors can help older adults live longer, healthier lives. As a family member, it’s important to encourage healthy lifestyle behaviors in your loved ones — it’s never too late to start!
 
For tips on healthy aging, click the button below.

Deciding to become physically active can be one of the best things you can do for your health. Exercise and physical activity are not only great for your mental and physical health, but they can help keep you independent as you age.  
 
To learn more, click the button below.

Exposure to social stress was associated with accelerated aging of the immune system, according to an NIA-funded study recently published in PNAS. The body’s immune system changes as people age, and there’s large variability in these changes. The study, led by researchers at UCLA, investigated whether social stressors added to immune system decline.
 
To learn more, click the button below.

The University of Washington Dementia Palliative Education Network and the WA State Dementia Action Collaborative have created a new free toolkit for family/friend care partners of people living with dementia. 
 
The goal of this toolkit is to: 

• Explain how to form a working partnership with healthcare providers
• Show hot to organize, streamline tasks, and communicate about the care needs of the person living with dementia 
• Reduce chances of avoidable care transitions 

 
The toolkit includes:

• Easy-to-navigate narrated presentation
• Video scenario demonstrations 
• Care, medication, and appointment log sheets 

 
For more information about the toolkit, click here. To view the flyer, click the button below.

If you don’t see an aging parent or friend often, changes in their memory and function may seem dramatic. In contrast, a primary caregiver like a spouse might not notice such changes or realize that more help, medical treatment, or supervision is needed. Talk with your loved one and the primary caregiver about your concerns. Consider these conversation tips:

• Avoid sounding critical. Instead, mention your particular worry, and explain why you are asking. For example, “It looks like you don’t have much food in the house — are you having trouble getting to the store?”
• Discuss what you think could be done. Offer practical suggestions and give specific examples of what you can do. For example, “Would it be helpful if I schedule an appointment with the doctor to talk about changes in Dad’s memory?” or “Would you like me to arrange to have groceries delivered on a regular basis?”

Click the button below to find more conversation tips for discussing changes in memory and function from the National Institute on Aging.

September 13, 2022 |9:45 AM - 11:30 15 PST | Online
 
This webinar hosted by the Area Office on Aging of Northwestern Ohio will discuss incontinence products in the context of caregiving. It will be presented by Janet Firestone, National Account Executive Medicaid, Principle Business Enterprises/ Tranquility Products.
 
To RSVP and obtain access instructions, call Jennifer Forshey at (419) 725-6983, or email her by clicking on the button below
 
To register for this event, click the button below.

Caregivers Count 12th Annual Conference
 
Saturdays, September 10 - October 1, 2022, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM PDT | Online
 
The 12th Annual Caregivers Count Conference is tailored specifically for family or informal caregivers who are caring for older adults.
 
The conference will be held for four consecutive weeks, September 10, 17, 24, and October 1. Attendees will have the opportunity to hear from informative speakers as well as senior service agencies to learn about supportive services.
 
This year’s conference format will be streamed live via Zoom.
 
Sessions will also be recorded so that caregivers can refer back to them after the conference.
 
EVENT TOPICS:
 
September 10, 2022: Keynote: A Holistic Approach to Self-Care ( Jenn Chan, Senior Shower Project)
 
September 17, 2022: Strategies for Dementia Caregiving (Tami Anastasia, Dementia Caregiver Educator & Trainer)
 
September 24, 2022: Introduction to Long-Term Care (Vanessa Souza, Alzheimer's Association)
 
October 1, 2022: Fall Prevention & Home Safety (Santa Clara County Fire Department; Jenn Schachner, Lecturer @ San Jose State University)
 
To register for this event, click the button below.

Rachel Nagler, 39, has worked part time since she was 22, but she will never be financially independent, according to her father. She is legally blind with a seizure disorder and mild cognitive impairment, the result of birth trauma.
For her parents, Sam and Debra Nagler of Concord, Mass., planning for retirement required them to focus on Rachel's future as well as their own. 

Caring for an older family member often requires teamwork. A primary caregiver — especially a parent — may be hesitant to ask for help or a break. A few ways you can help are:

• Provide emotional and moral support. Acknowledge how important the caregiver has been and discuss the physical and emotional effects of caregiving. Just listening may not sound like much help, but often it is.
• Offer to arrange for respite care. Respite care will give your parent a break from caregiving responsibilities and an opportunity to care for themselves.
• Help coordinate a move to assisted living or a nursing home. In time, the person receiving care may have to move to a residential facility. If that happens, you can help your parent by selecting a facility that fits everybody’s needs.
  

Click the button below to learn more about supporting a parent with caregiving responsibilities.

Parkinson’s disease is a brain disorder that causes unintended or uncontrollable movements, such as shaking, stiffness, and difficulty with balance and coordination. Symptoms usually begin gradually and worsen over time. Common symptoms include:

• Tremor in hands, arms, legs, jaw, or head
• Muscle stiffness, where muscle remains contracted for a long time
• Slowness of movement
• Impaired balance and coordination, sometimes leading to falls

 
While the exact cause of the disease remains unknown, many researchers believe that Parkinson’s results from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. There is no cure for Parkinson’s, but there are medicines, surgical treatments, and other therapies that can relieve some of the symptoms associated with the disease.
 
To learn more about Parkinson's disease, click the button below.

Some people perform incredible feats of strength and endurance well into their retirement years. The great news is: You don’t have to bench press 300 pounds or run a marathon to benefit from strength training.

NIA-funded researchers have been studying the effects of strength training for more than 40 years and have identified multiple ways it can benefit older adults, including maintaining muscle mass, improving mobility, and increasing the healthy years of life.

Click below to learn more about the findings, along with tips for maintaining strength or becoming stronger as you age.

I didn’t volunteer to become a caregiver to my elderly parents. Instead, I was slowly initiated into the role. It started by doing little things to help. Even though they were in their mid-eighties, they insisted on staying in Pensacola, Fla., their home of 50 years. Since I lived in Virginia, I called twice a week to check on them and shopped for them online. With each visit, I tried to notice things that would tell me if they were doing all right.

As a caregiver, you may worry about the health of older family members or other loved ones as they age. The good news is that adopting and maintaining a few key behaviors can help older adults live longer, healthier lives — and it’s never too late to start! Consider these tips to boost healthy habits:

• Promote physical activity. Exercise can help reduce levels of stress and anxiety, improve balance and lower risk of falls, enhance sleep, and reduce feelings of depression.
  
• Encourage healthy eating. Having a healthy diet can support muscles and strengthen bones, which can help with balance and independence.
• Schedule regular check-ups with a doctor. Staying on top of doctor visits may help reduce risk factors for disease such as high blood pressure and cholesterol levels.

Find more ways you can support healthy aging in older adults.

Respite care provides short-term relief for primary caregivers. It can be arranged for just an afternoon or for several days or weeks. Care can be provided at home, in a healthcare facility, or at an adult day center.

It’s important to understand what is and isn’t a normal part of aging. Many people make assumptions about what it’s like to grow “old” and how older age will affect them. Research has shown that you can help preserve your health and mobility as you age by adopting or continuing healthy habits and lifestyle choices. A few common myths about aging are:

• The older I get, the less sleep I need. Older adults need the same amount of sleep as all adults — seven to nine hours each night.
• Only women need to worry about osteoporosis. Although osteoporosis is more common in women, this disease still affects many men and could be underdiagnosed.
• It’s inevitable that older people will get dementia. Dementia isn’t a normal part of aging. Although the risk of dementia grows as people get older, it’s not inevitable, and many people live into their 90s and beyond without the significant declines in thinking and behavior that characterize dementia.