Home Buying in a Retirement Community: Downsizing the Family Home When it comes to senior living options, there are a number of housing options available for today's older adult population. While some older adults will require the care and attention of nursing homes or assisted living communities, there are others who don't require as much, or any, care, but who instead want to be in a community of their peers. These retirement communities can provide us with a great opportunity to meet and participate in activities with others that we need to live the healthy and balanced lives we deserve well into our golden years. Read more
Advice for Overcoming Everyday Challenges Small, everyday challenges can impact us all as we age. The resources and programming offered at senior centers such as the Rose Centers for Aging Well can assist with overcoming these challenges by providing us with opportunities to receive guidance from both professionals and our own peers. Programs like the Aging Mastery Program can help us make small and impactful changes to overcome challenges we may face and improve our overall wellness. Read more
Helping a Loved One Maintain Good Credit While it’s important for all of us, at any age, to keep our finances in good condition, issues of credit card debt are growing among older adults. If we are caring for a loved one struggling with debt and maintaining good credit, it is important for us to understand credit scoring and how to help a loved one improve their credit so they can better manage debt. Read more
Why the Fair Housing Act Matters Many people have heard of fair housing, but don’t truly understand their rights under the Fair Housing Act. Whether we are renters or buyers, we should familiarize ourselves with and know the Fair Housing Act so we can better understand federal fair housing policies and laws, and what our rights are. Read more
I’m the Man (and the Caregiver) All of us caring for aging loved ones face unique challenges. Societal expectations about who handles these responsibilities – and how they should be handled – make some of these challenges ever more difficult for male caregivers. After all, when we think and talk about family caregivers, most of us immediately envision a woman, usually a wife or a daughter, and it is with this image in mind that most caregiver support programs have been created. And yet, according to a recent AARP study, 44 percent of family caregivers for older adults—or six million caregivers—are actually men, and 28 percent of these men are millennials Read more
Benefits of Exercise for Older Adults We’ve all heard it a hundred times: exercise is important! When we hear this, many of us automatically think of the role of exercise in weight management, but do we think about the other benefits of exercising? Centers for Disease Control and Prevention highlight many of these benefits such as reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression; improving our moods; reducing our blood pressure and the risk of falls; and maintaining healthy bones, muscles and joints. Read more
Delirium with UTIs in Older Adults Have you noticed a change in the behavior of an older adult you care for? Perhaps this change has taken place over the span of several days, and includes symptoms such as confusion, restlessness, hallucinations or social withdrawal? Before we jump to the conclusion that a loved one has the beginnings of dementia, we should have a physical exam performed by a physician. They instead might be suffering from delirium brought on by a urinary tract infection (UTI). Read more
Planning for the Future after a Dementia Diagnosis: Why Working Together Is Important If we are caring for a loved one who has recently been diagnosed with dementia or a related disorder such as Alzheimer’s Disease, it can feel devastating. Often, families avoid having discussions with their loved one about what the diagnosis could mean for their future out of fear. As the disease progresses over time, we may find ourselves as a caregiver in the position of making important care or health-related decisions for a loved one in a time of crisis, even if we have never previously discussed with our loved one what kind of care they would prefer. As a result, we may feel guilty about having to make decisions on our loved one’s behalf, without prior knowledge of their care values and preferences. Read more
5 Tips for Preparing for a Doctor’s Visit Doctor’s visits can oftentimes feel one-sided. We may schedule a visit with a physician to discuss an area of concern we have, or to receive a necessary treatment. However, the doctor may ask some questions, perform an exam, provide a diagnosis and write a prescription, leaving very limited time, if any, for us to ask our own sets of questions, or to discuss our areas of greatest importance. These days, it may feel like even less time is spent with our physicians than ever before, resulting in less engagement and even more unanswered questions. Because of this, preparing for each doctor’s visit is essential to ensure our questions are answered, concerns are addressed, and the best health decisions are made according to our needs. Read more
Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Older Adults It may strike some as surprising, but the rates of sexually transmitted disease (STD) in older adults are rising. Older people who are sexually active may be at risk for diseases such as syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydial infection, genital herpes, hepatitis B, genital warts and trichomoniasis. Read more
