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Clark County, WA Senior Housing Options And Considerations
Senior housing choices are not always made due to medical or personal care needs. In many cases senior housing choices are related to lifestyle needs. Especially these days, we are aging better. This means we are living healthier longer. However, living longer can also mean our neighborhoods change, our children are often transplanted to other cities and states for jobs or because their children moved! Lifestyle plays an important role in senior housing of any type. Is it time to find new friends? Has your home become too difficult to manage? Do you need help with daily meals and or medical issues? Whatever the reason you found this article, we are here to help you explore the senior housing choices in Clark County, WA – there is no fee to you for this service. Senior housing can become a consideration for many reasons. There are several points to consider when senior housing becomes an important subject in your life: 1. […]
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“You Are Going To Die”
It was a headline that really caught my attention, from an article posted in the opinion section of the New York Times online: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/20/you-are-going-to-die/. The article goes on to talk about the author’s sadness at his mother’s announcement that she was moving into an assisted living facility. Having visions of an old fashioned “nursing home” where the patients were just left to die, out of sight and out of mind, his fears were unfounded. The facility was beautiful and his mother was really quite excited to move there. However, he makes the point that his sadness comes more from the realization that he will lose his mother one day. It’s something we are all confronted with at one point or another. Whether it’s our own mortality or the loss of our loved ones, we have to deal with this reality. While we cannot predict the quantity of our lives, we certainly have more tools today to maintain our quality of […]
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Assisted Living in Vancouver, WA – A Story of Hope
Assisted living includes a pretty wide spectrum of senior living options from adult family homes to long term care facilities. Most often, we are helping people transition from fully independent living situations to environments where they get the help they need at the level they need it. Frequently a family will decide it’s time to move mom or dad to an assisted living environment because the parent has come to a point in life where they no longer care for themselves as well as they should. Often there is some resistance from Mom or Dad. Especially when they have lived in their home for many years, often raising their children and entertaining their grand children and great grand children there. Many families will first try in-home care. Having someone come in a few times a week to prepare meals and make sure that the elder person is keeping up with things like eating and taking their medications, helping with basic […]
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A New Program In Clark County Washington That Provides A Service For Seniors
There’s a new program in Clark County Washington that provides a service for seniors who are in long term care facilities, hospitals, or other settings. A Clark County Elder Justice Center ancillary organization, Friends of the Elder Justice Center, has been doing great work providing emergency boarding and foster homes for pets of seniors during times of crisis. According to The Columbian article, the Pets of Older People program is designed to help keep elderly people and their pets together for as long as possible and enhance the well being of elderly people who may refuse care because they don’t want to be separated from their pet or they have no one to care for their pet while they are hospitalized, receiving rehab or other needed services away from home. Friends of the Elder Justice Center was originally formed to provide resources and support for vulnerable adults not available through the judicial system or Adult Protective Services. And, through this […]
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Alzhemier’s research, assisted living and other senior resources still important to government leaders
The federal government was extremely active in 2012 in their efforts to improve senior care. There is good news and bad news. Many of the initiatives will carry over into the new year, but some key members of Congress will be retiring at the end of the session, so the political climate will be different in 2013. Come January 3, 2013, when the new Congress convenes, there will be a new chair and a new ranking member leading the Senate Special Committee on Aging. Let’s hope that they will continue to be as concerned about senior care – which includes Alzheimer’s research, assisted living and other senior resources. Recently the federal Department of Health and Human Services created the Administration for Community Living (ACL). Their goal is to increase “access to community supports and full participation, while focusing attention and resources on the unique needs of older Americans and people with disabilities.” The ACL includes the efforts and achievements of […]
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Senior Housing Options In Clark County, WA Fueled By Statistics
Here are some interesting facts for our area. By 2030 (not that far in the future), one out of every five people in Washington will be 65 years or older? Most people can expect to live 20 to 30 years beyond age 65. Vancouver Washington made the “most popular retirement cities in the USA” list. It’s no wonder we are expanding senior programs and senior housing options in Clark County, WA. Clark County is also part of a commission on aging that many counties and states are modeling. Many of the current senior programs here in Clark County are designed for the senior who remains independent and there are many senior resources in the area for those adults who require various levels of assistance. But, much more can be done for those seniors who are and will remain independent as well as for those who are or will become dependent in some fashion. So, now is the time that we […]
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Interesting News About Alzheimer’s Prevention Studies
Being quite familiar with the heart ache and dilemmas faced by the many people we’ve helped find the best senior living option in a Memory Care Unit or Alzheimer’s Unit and the concerns of their family members, we’d like to do our part in spreading the word about the Alzheimer’s Prevention Initiative prevention studies coming up. The Initiative is an exciting collaborative of researchers launching a new era of Alzheimer’s prevention research. Some of their studies will seek people who carry rare genetic mutations that cause Alzheimer’s to strike early in life, other studies will need to screen thousands of people to find several hundred with the major risk factors for Alzheimer’s. These initial trials are meant to encourage other investigators throughout academia and industry in the U.S. and abroad to offer additional therapeutic trials to people who have Alzheimer’s but do not show any symptoms yet. And the goal is to inspire a wave of therapy research for this […]
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Our Job Is To Reduce The Confusion About Senior Housing In Vancouver, WA
It seems that nearly every day we are reminded by our clients of how confusing it can be when looking for some sort of assisted living in the Vancouver or Clark County area. Oh, it’s true that there is a good selection of the various types assisted living, but knowing which setting would be best and all the other important things to consider is overwhelming when you aren’t familiar with all the senior housing options like we are. Just the definitions for each of the various types of assisted living can be a bit much, especially when you aren’t sure if a specific provider can provide the services you or your family member might need now and in the future. Then there are finances to consider. For instance, if you plan to use Medicaid, the senior housing option must be licensed by the state. One of the Washington assisted living options include the retirement community and independent living facilities. These […]
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Elder Care Providers Are A Critical Resource In Our Community
For those who are managing the care of their relatives who can no longer adequately care for themselves and who are not yet ready or able to transition into an assisted living, long term care setting, we’d like to end November with a little more about National Caregiver’s Month. There are approximately 65 million family elder care providers (caregivers) and because they give so much of their time and money to care for elder relatives in need, the National Family Caregivers Association began promoting the celebration of family caregivers in 1994. The association’s chief executive calls these devoted senior caregivers “a national treasure”…according to a recent article in The Columbian, caregivers frequently risk their jobs by taking time off to care for their relative, they use their limited resources, and often neglect their own health and well being. They are a silent population who needs to know they are not alone in their struggles. One in five family caregivers moved […]
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Elder Care In Vancouver, WA Highlighted During National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month
November is National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness/Family Caregiver Month. Here at A Caring Heart, we honor those who have been affected by this disease in some way. Having helped many families and caregivers find the type of residential elder care necessary to meet the needs of their loved one, we know how devastating this disease can be. There are local resources here in the Vancouver and Clark County Washington area for caregivers and families in need of support. Often elder care is managed by the family. It is important to remember that these care givers need a break sometimes. While it is important to research information before taking action, the internet is a great resource these days. One site, www.alz.org, reminds us that “there is no ‘one-size-fits-all’ formula when it comes to Alzheimer’s care.” Indeed, needs do change at the various stages of this disease and “each family’s situation is unique.” Whatever your situation, or if you are planning ahead, remember […]
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Caring For Aging Skin25 Feb 2016
You may notice the following changes as your skin ages. It becomes thinner and loses fat, looking less smooth than it used to. Veins and bones become more prominent through the skin. Scratches, cuts and […]
Short Term Options2 Feb 2016
Many seniors who are looking for senior housing don’t know about short term stay options that are available at many senior living communities. There are a few different reasons you or your loved one might […]