Keeping Seniors Cool in the Heat!

Right at Home In Home Care
Julie H. Burket- Owner/Administrator

          Tips for Seniors Citizens to Stay Cool in Summer Heat

Summer is a season when many activities take place outdoors, with warm temperatures and long days. As people venture outside to enjoy their favorite summer pastime, extremely high temperatures can affect the body’s ability to keep cool. “Although anyone can be vulnerable to summer heat, some people are at greater risk than others,” said, Julie Burket, Right at Home, Central Oregon.“Persons over age 65 particularly are at high risk for suffering a heat-related illness.”

Senior citizens are susceptible to intense heat because their bodies may be less efficient than younger adults to adequately respond to rising temperatures. Senior citizens also are more likely to have medical conditions that change normal body responses to heat, and they are more likely to take prescription medicines that weaken the body’s ability to regulate its temperature or that prevent perspiration.

An elderly person’s lifestyle also can increase the risk for developing a heat-related illness, such as heat stroke or heat exhaustion. Lifestyle factors include overdressing, lack of transportation, extremely hot living quarters and misunderstanding weather conditions. While getting outdoors to engage in summer activities is important to maintain health and wellness, seniors should be aware of heat-related illness and take steps to avoid succumbing to the effects of summer heat.

Heat stroke is the most serious heat-related illness and occurs when the body becomes unable to control its temperature. When the body’s temperature rises too fast, the body loses its ability to sweat and is unable to cool down. During heat stroke, body temperatures can rise to 103° F or higher within 10 to 15 minutes. Heat stroke can cause death or permanent disability if emergency treatment is not given. Various symptoms of heat stroke include an extremely high body temperature (above 103° F); red, hot and dry skin (no sweating); rapid, strong pulse; throbbing headache; dizziness; and nausea.

Heat exhaustion is a milder type of heat-related illness that can develop after prolonged exposure to high temperatures and becoming dehydrated. Warning signs of heat exhaustion vary but may include the following: heavy sweating; paleness; muscle cramps; fatigue; weakness; dizziness; headache; nausea; fainting; cool, moist skin; rapid, weak pulse; and fast, shallow breathing. To learn about other heat-related illnesses, visit http://www.rightathome.net/blog/types-of-heat-related-illness/.

Follow these tips to protect you and elderly loved ones from heat-related illness:

·         Drink cool, nonalcoholic beverages; if your doctor generally limits the amount of fluid you drink or prescribes water pills for you, ask how much you should drink when the weather is hot

·         Rest

·         Take a cool shower, bath or sponge bath

·         Seek an air-conditioned environment; if your home is not air conditioned, visit an air-conditioned shopping mall, movie theater or public library to cool off

·         Wear lightweight, loose-fitting, cotton clothing; if outdoors, wear a hat

·         Plan outdoor activities in early morning when it is cooler

Visit or check on elderly relatives, friends and neighbors who are at risk at least twice a day and watch them for signs of heat stroke or heat exhaustion. If you are unable to check up on an elderly relative, consider contacting Right at Home, Central Oregon for assistance. Trained and bonded caregivers are available to ensure that your loved one is staying cool and drinking plenty of fluids during the hot summer months. They also can transport your loved one to an air-conditioned location if necessary in order to escape extreme heat.

If you observe a person who may be suffering from heat stroke, instruct someone to call for immediate medical assistance while you begin cooling the affected person by doing the following:

·         Take the person to a shady area or an air-conditioned facility

·         Cool the person rapidly by any means necessary – immerse the person in a tub of cool water, place the person in a cool shower, spray the person with cool water from a garden hose or sponge the person with cool water

·         Offer fluids such as water and fruit and vegetable juices, but avoid alcohol and caffeine

About Right at Home
Founded in 1995, Right at Home, Inc. is an international franchise organization based in Omaha, Neb. Independently owned and operated franchise units offer in-home care and assistance to seniors and disabled adults who want to continue to live independently. Right at Home offices directly employ all caregiving staff. Each caregiver is thoroughly screened, trained, bonded and insured prior to entering a client’s home. All ongoing care is monitored and supervised by the more than 200 local franchise offices located across 40 states nationwide and throughout the world. For more information on Right at Home, visit About Right at Home or read the Right at Home caregiving blog. Sign up for Right at Home’s free adult caregiving eNewsletter, Caring Right at Home.

About Right at Home of Central Oregon
The Central and Eastern Oregon offices of  Right at Home are locally owned and operated franchises, serving the communities of Deschutes, Jefferson, Crook, and Harney Counties. For more information, contact our office at 541-633-7436 or email at: info@rightathomeco.com. Check out our website and www.rightathomeco.com.

February 28:  Successful Aging is in the Plan This presentation helps establish the groundwork for the blueprint of your aging years.  Like the victims of Katrina, many seniors and their families are caught off guard when a crisis hits home. Having a blueprint of action and understanding is like having insurance for the hurricane that can someday threaten our safety.

Learn to:

• Start the conversation about aging and reframe independence

• Establish the framework of a plan for the aging years

• Recognize the importance of legacy

Karnopp Petersen LLP is sponsoring Successful Aging is in the Plan.

http://www.wiserandoldernow.com/

Yes, I am a Senior Citizen

1. I'm the life of the party - even if it lasts until 8 pm.
2. I'm very good at opening childproof caps - with a hammer.
3. I'm usually interested in going home before I get to where I am going.
4. I'm smiling all the time because I can't hear a thing you're saying.
5. I'm very good at telling stories; over and over and over and over.....………
6. I'm not really grouchy, I just don't like traffic, waiting, crowds, lawyers, loud music, unruly kids, barking dogs, politicians and a few other things I can't seem to remember right now.
7. I'm wrinkled, saggy, lumpy, and that's just my left leg.
8. I'm sure they are making adults much younger these days, and when did they let kids become policemen? 
   
   And, how can my kids be older than I feel sometimes?
9. I'm wondering, if you're only as old as you feel, how could I be alive at 150?
10. I'm a walking storeroom of facts - I've just lost the key to the storeroom door.

“When it snows, you have two choices: shovel or make snow angels”

Choosing Hearing Aids

http://www.rightathome.net/blog/choosing-hearing-aids-consider-size-technology-and-price/

New Deductibility Levels for Long Term Care Insurance

posted by Angel Carl on November 10, 2010

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently announced increased deductibility levels for long-term care insurance policies purchased in 2011.  Some long term care insurance help those insured pay for home care services. 

"Tax advantaged long-term care insurance remains one of the few remaining significant tax-savings benefits especially meaningful for small business owners.  For taxable years beginning in 2011, the limitations have been increased," explains Jesse Slome, executive director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI), the industry's trade association.

The deductible limits under Section 213(d)(10) for eligible long-term care premiums includable in the term ‘medical care’ are as follows:

Attained Age Before Close of Taxable Year 2011 Deductible Limits

• 40 or less $ 340
• More than 40 but not more than 50 $ 640
• More than 50 but not more than 60 $1,270
• More than 60 but not more than 70 $3,390
  Source: IRS Revenue Procedure 2010-40
  
  We would like to thank Jesso Slome, Executive Director of the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance (AALTCI).  AALTCI is the national association serving insurance and financial professionals who provide long-term care financing solutions. A complete explanation of tax deductible rules for individuals and business owners can be found on the Association's website: http://www.aaltci.org/tax

The hardest thing for a child to do is tell their parents they can't drive anymore.

The first thing Peter Haugen noticed was that the dents in his mom's car were multiplying. Then the Osterville, Mass., software engineer learned that his mother, 85, had confused the brake and the gas pedal and ended up, unhurt, atop a stone wall. He pleaded with her to stop driving. He spoke to her doctor. He even persuaded her to see a geropsychologist.
Nothing worked. Like many older drivers, she clung to her license to preserve her mobility as well as her sense of independence and identity. But on July, 16, 2003, Haugen decided he had to do more. On that day, an 87-year-old driver made national headlines when he plowed into a Santa Monica, Calif., farmer's market, killing 10 people. "I told my sister," he recalls, "'We gotta get going on this. There but for the grace of God go we.'"
Enlisting the aid of their mother's doctor, her minister and the local police, Haugen and his sister persuaded their mom to get a driving assessment at the DriveWise program at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. She failed. Mom was off the road, and--who knows?--perhaps another fatal accident was averted.
Haugen's call was one of a flood received by DriveWise director Lissa Kapust and other driving-safety centers around the country following the Santa Monica horror. For years, experts on highway safety and aging had been crying, "The boomers are coming! The boomers are coming!" But until Santa Monica, government and foundations had been sluggish in responding to the scary statistics. In seven years, the oldest boomers will turn 65; by 2030, 1 out of 4 drivers will be 65 or older. Not all older drivers pose safety hazards, but people 75 and older have more fatal crashes than any other group except teenagers. And drivers who are cognitively impaired--about 25% of the 65-and-older group--are 7.5 times as likely as nonimpaired drivers to be at fault in a crash, exceeding the rate for even drunk drivers.
After the Santa Monica accident, legislators, state departments of motor vehicles (DMVs) and others began putting a premium on older-driver safety. The push is occurring on several fronts: research to identify which drivers need testing, development of more accurate assessment tools, a greater focus on driver remediation and the creation of specialized licensing for the elderly. In addition, states and social-services agencies are starting or bolstering programs to support older people who have stopped driving, offering counseling and alternate transportation options. Backing up all these efforts, officials are launching public education campaigns to encourage testing of older drivers and counter their often passionate resistance to giving up driving.
New Hampshire and Illinois are the only states that require age-based road tests (for those 75 and older). Most states are wrestling with how to identify at-risk drivers scientifically without the difficulty and expense of testing everyone past a certain age. Maryland has been at the leading edge of research to determine the age at which large-scale screening of drivers makes sense. Preliminary results, says Dr. Robert Raleigh, chief of the Maryland Medical Advisory Board, indicate that 75 is the age at which screening at license renewal becomes most effective.


Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1090887,00.html#ixzz13Ola61EH