Prevent Burnout by using Adult Day Care

If you are caregiver you may be struggling with exhaustion, frustration, and depression. You may be feeling that you have little support from friends and family and feeling that people do not understand the difficulty of what you do. Let’s face it; most people would not unless they walked in your shoes for a week. If you are a typical caregiver you are alone and it’s not easy. Given that, you need every break you can get. Fortunately, Adult Day Care Centers can be one of the best weapons in your arsenal. There are very few opportunities for you to get a break, so you should never pass up a chance to take one.

There are two general types. One is based on a medical model and the other on a social model. The medical model provides comprehensive medical, therapeutic, and rehabilitation day treatment. The social model offers supervised activities, peer support, companionship, and recreation. Both models assist older adults and those with chronic conditions to remain as independent as possible, for as long as possible.

Adult day care is a planned program of activities designed to promote well-being though social and health related services. Almost exclusively adult day cares are only open during the week, typically between 8am and 3 or 4pm, and they provide snacks in addition to a midday meal.

Adult day care offers a win/win situation for everyone in the family-not only for the member who attends the program, but also for the family member who has primary responsibility as caregiver. Adult day care provides a much-needed respite for the caregiver, affording a break from the physical demands and stress of providing “round-the-clock care.”

For the participant, adult day care’s benefits can be extensive:
* A safe, secure environment in which to spend the day
* Enjoyable and educational activities
* Improvement in mental and physical health
* Enhanced or maintained level of independence
* Socialization and peer support
* Nutritious meals and snacks

For the caregiver, adult day care’s benefits are equally important:
* Time for routine chores like shopping and banking
* Make time for ones own medical and dental needs
* Time for personal rest and recreations: exercise or naps
* Opportunity for household tasks and cleaning

A well-run adult day care center’s goals will focus on enriching the participants’ lives, building upon their skills, knowledge, and unique abilities and strengths. Below are some of the activities that may be available:
* Arts and crafts
* Musical entertainment and sing-a-longs
* Mental stimulation games such as BINGO
* Stretching or other gentle exercise
* Discussion groups (books, films, current events)
* Holiday and birthday celebrations
* Local Outings

Besides recreational activities, some adult day care centers provide transportation to and from the center, social services including counseling and support groups for caregivers, and health support services such as blood pressure monitoring and vision screening.

Finding the right one for you

The National Adult Day Services Association (NADSA) recommends you start by asking yourself what specific services both elder adult and caregiver most need. For the day care participant, are social activities primary? Assistance with walking, eating or medications? Mental stimulation? Exercise? As a caregiver, is support what you need most? Some free time? Answering these questions will help you determine which type of adult day care center can best serve you: social or health-focused.
In addition to the many references and resources to help locate adult day care centers in your area, you can also try:

* Your family doctor
* Local social services or health department
* Mental health centers
* Local senior centers
* Area Agency on Aging (Call 1-800-677-1116 for the Area Agency in your area)
* Yellow pages listings under Adult Day Care, Aging Services, and similar categories.
When you phone the center(s) that you are considering, NADSA suggests asking the following questions:
* Who owns or sponsors the agency?
* How long has it been operating?
* Is it licensed or certified? (if required in your State)
* What are the days and hours of operation?
* Is transportation to and from the center provided?
* Which conditions are accepted (memory loss, wheelchairs, incontinence)?
* What are the staff credentials, and what is the ratio of the staff to participants?
* What activities are offered? Are there a variety of individual and group programs?
* Are meals and snacks included? Are special diets accommodated?

Next, If you are a meticulous person, spend a day at the center that sounds best to you, so that you can get a “feel” for the people and environment. Be sure to bring a site checklist with you (see references and resources below). You may wish to go back a few times to see whether your experience on different days confirms your initial impressions.

To find out more about the specific adult day care centers where you live, you will want to contact your local aging information and assistance provider or area agency on aging. The Eldercare Locator, a public service of the Administration on Aging (at 1-800-677-1116)or www.eldercare.gov can help connect you to these agencies.
The National Adult Day Services Association is a good source for general information about adult day care centers and programs. They can help you link to a state adult day care association. It can be reached by calling the toll-free telephone number 1-866-890-7357 or by going to their website which you can find with a simple web search.

Some area agencies on aging have programs or link to services that assist older people obtain low-cost assistive technology. You can call the Eldercare Locator at 1-800-677-1116 to locate your local triple A. In addition local civic groups, religious and veterans’ organizations, and senior centers may be able to refer you to assistive technology resources.

I hope this helps enough to get you started. This article is just a synopsis of a much longer eBook which will be included for subscribers of the CaregiverRelief newsletter. Find out more by checking out easycaregiving.com When you get there, take a look in the upper left-hand corner and sign up for the free stress management CD, and are automatically enrolled for the next newsletter and ton of other free stuff.
If this is your first time here and you want to read some of my published articles please go to How to Avoid ending up in Nursing Home and Caregiving is a Thankless task These are just longer versions of what has already been posted here.

Finally I want to shamelessly promote an amazing product called Resveratrol and refer you to the manufacturers of the most powerful compound I have found so far: Longevity RezV who graciously offer a free sample for those that find them through my link. It worth looking at the site if just to see the 60 minutes segment that they use on their home page.

thanks, Donahue

November is National Family Caregiver Month

NATIONAL FAMILY CAREGIVERS MONTH, 2009
- - - - - - -
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A PROCLAMATION

The true strength of the American family finds its roots in an unwavering commitment to care for one another. In difficult times, Americans come together to ensure our loved ones are comfortable and safe. Whether caring for a parent, relative, or child, our Nation's caregivers selflessly devote their time and energy to the well-being of those they look after. During National Family Caregivers Month, we honor the individuals providing essential services to family members who could not otherwise look after themselves.
Caregiver support is at the heart of my Administration's commitment to assisting our Nation's families. Currently, a variety of programs and services offer help and encouragement to family caregivers. The National Family Caregiver Support Program and the Lifespan Respite Care Act include important resources for caregivers of children and adults, with opportunities to receive much-needed assistance and take part in support programs with other families. These programs allow individuals to remain with their families for as long as possible while helping to ensure the wellness of participating care providers.
My Administration's dedication to caregivers is also embodied in our efforts to develop policies to support workers trying to manage their responsibilities on the job and at home. Families are best able to care for their loved ones when they can take time away from work without fear of losing their job or their income. We all have roles to play, including employers, by providing paid leave, flexible work arrangements, and other programs when feasible, to help ensure that caregivers are able to successfully meet their work and household responsibilities.
Every day, family caregivers assist loved ones with tasks ranging from personal care and homemaking, to transportation and financial assistance. As the foundation of America's long-term care system, these individuals give millions of Americans the peace of mind and security that only family can provide.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim November 2009 as National Family Caregivers Month. I encourage all Americans to pay tribute and support those who are caring for their family members, friends, and neighbors in need of assistance.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand nine, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-fourth.

BARACK OBAMA

If you can identify with this proclamation, I want to give you a free stress management recording that you can listen to everyday and maybe avoid burning out.  http://easycaregiving.com  

Time to smile...watch here...

Part 1 of 3 solutions for caregiver stress

Subscribe to donahue101 to see videos on caregiver stress: here is the latest edition that begins the conversation about solutions.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oAUzqTUgGyE

Long Distance Caregiving Just Got a Lot Easier

As hard as it is to a caregiver providing direct care day in and day out, in some ways it's even harder being a long-distance caregiver.

When your parent(s) live far away, and you can't be there on a moments notice - you worry. You never know from visit to visit how much has changed, or what new problems have developed.

Is mom eating right, is dad getting to his doctor visits, how serious is it really when mom says she fell down, but she's ok?

I have heard the horror stories: the daughter who gets called by the neighbors and shows up to find that mom and dad have dementia and they are about to lose the house because they didn't pay the taxes, or that mom fell in the kitchen, broke a hip and lay there for 36 hours until someone came to check on her when she didn't answer the phone for 3 days.

But sometimes it is as simple as - they let the house run down and its been neglected for years. Usually older parents that are having a hard time taking care of themselves, have already stopped taking care of their home. The yard is overgrown, the house paint looks like something from the "Dust Bowl" era and furniture is falling apart.

Fortunately there are more and more businesses being created that can help caregivers with this stuff. In my newsletter I have been listing these little cottage industries to help caregivers cope. However, I have recently decided to open things up and start posting this information for everyone to see whenever they want. Check out www.easycaregiving.com. It's just starting, but in a few weeks (or months) you will be able to go there and find just about anything you need. One of the first things I want to bring you is this great service that I just unearthed that can help you tremendously. Its called Angies List, and they are amazing!

If you are a long distance caregiver, Angies List is a Godsend, because you can hire them to do just about anything. Even their banner says "From Electrician to Physician". So whether you want to get your parent to new dentist or get their home ready for market and everything in between, you can call these guys toll free at 1 (866) 945-3194 and you will speak to someone that can find exactly what you want.

Thats right, you don't even need a computer, just give em call.

New Site

A new site from the Caregiver Relief family is hitting the blogosphere this week. They are just launching, but it looks promising. Even the title gives one hope: http://easyCaregiving.com. So i wouldn't hurt to click and take a look.
I will see you over there...

You Can Get The Alzheimer's Cure Today

Most people have only a vague understanding of how Alzheimer’s medications get approved by the FDA and come to market where we can get our hands on them. You read about promising medications that are being studied, but you never hear when and if something is going to come out. If Alzheimer’s is in your family, you sure wish they would hurry up, right?

How would you like to know what drugs are currently being tested for Alzheimer’s? How would you like to get your hands on those drugs right now, and not have to wait 5 or 10 years for them?

You should know then, that there is a way to do this without going to the Black Market. Actually, you will be surprised to know that it’s quite easy. In fact, the manufacturers of these new Alzheimer’s medications would love for you to have it. They are at this very moment actively looking for people that want to try these new medications.

The method for gaining access to these medications is ‘drug trials’ and they’re going on all the time, and you are about to learn how to find them and how to get into them. But first let me give you at least a basic understanding of the process.

When you talk about drug trials people respond in one of two ways. One groups shudders at the very thought of a drug trial; picturing themselves as proverbial guinea pigs, being fed toxic cocktails of chemicals that will cause them painful and crippling side effects and death. While the other group is practically leaping out of their chairs, hands raised to volunteer for what they believe is the best and finest medications that advanced scientific research has discovered; research based on the accumulated efforts of dozens of Universities and private laboratories. They reason that the minuscule risk is outweighed by the much more likely outcome that they or their loved one will get badly needed relief from a disease or condition that is carving away at their health and vitality.
Sounds pretty dramatic huh? Well, you get the point. People either think you are nuts to take an experimental drug or they are grasping at their last hope. You rarely find anyone on the fence about it.

But for these fence sitters, I am obliged to explain the drug trial process the best I can, because this article ends with a resource that you can use to find drug trials near you. Not just for Alzheimer’s disease, but for any condition or illness that concerns you.
First let’s look at a few of the advantages of participating in a drug trial:

* Free medication – when approved it will be very expensive. (For everyone else)

* Better yet… you get paid to participate. (both the caregiver and the patient)

* Lots of expensive examinations and medical tests for free. (seriously, you get a full workup worth thousands of dollars)

* Afterwards you get to continue with the medication indefinitely. (It’s called a follow up study and even if you were in the placebo group, you get the medication for as long as you like)

* A very good chance at symptomatic relief, if not a reversal of the condition altogether. (would they be doing this test if they did not already have a lot of promising results?)

* Hope. Never underestimate the power of hope and positive thinking.

But wait, what about all that stuff about guinea pigs, concoctions, and risky side effects? Well let’s look at the process of drug trials and FDA approval.

The heart of drug trial research is the “double-blind study” This is the only accepted method of research for the FDA.
A double-blind study is the FDA’s insurance that the results of any research is truly due to the effects of the drug, and not the opinion of the researchers that stand to make a lot of money. Nor the test subject’s psychosomatic wishful thinking that the drug did its job.

Here’s how it works; you have at least two groups of subjects, one group is getting the ‘test’ medication, and another group is getting a lookalike (a placebo), and then they check to see if there is a statistical improvement between the two groups. (Nowadays, placebos are much more than just a sugar pill. Typically they give both groups the exact same treatment, except one has the active ingredient and the other doesn’t). The researchers that are working directly with the patients do not know which treatment group is getting the active ingredient, they are ‘blind’. The patients are also ‘blind’, they don’t know if they are getting the active ingredient or not. Presto; you have a double-blind study. The reason this works so well is, scientists have learned over the years that even unbiased researchers will often think they see improvements, thus distorting the results. Then there is this strange phenomenon called the ‘treatment effect’; on average a certain percentage of test subjects improve even on the placebos. Interestingly the percentage of subjects improving is very consistent. If I recall correctly, it is around 12%. Double-blind studies eliminate the treatment effect because both groups will average the same treatment effect and cancel it out as a factor.

But you don’t want all this technical stuff, do you? Let’s get back on point. Drug studies have 4 phases they go through before they are approved by the FDA. Phases 3 and 4 are with groups of people. Phase 3 is usually the first time the drug is tried on the public, and they keep the size of the study very small. If all goes well in Phase 3, then they move to Phase 4, using a much large group of people. If you are interested in drug trials, you will almost invariably be involved in a Phase 4 study.

Getting into a drug study is a lot easier than you would imagine. All over the country there are Universities and private testing labs that are turning down drug studies because they can’t find enough participants. So don’t feel like you will be put onto a waiting list. Just be aware that these studies do have certain criteria that has to met.

Which brings us to, “how DO you get involved in a study?” That’s the problem, there are several websites dedicated to providing information about the drug studies, but none of them seem to do a very good job. You can get a list of these sites at the following website: http://alzheimersecrets.com/drugtrial/. However, you may decide to not use them because this site synthesizes all of the information for you. Not only that, but you can actually make a direct inquiry for your location and for the condition or disease you want to address with them. And remember, you can approach any of these sites for any illness or condition, not just Alzheimer’s. Now let’s get into the drugs themselves.
Current Alzheimer Research

Dimebon
This one is getting all the “Press” right now, it seems everybody knows about it and so far it has promising results. Used as an antihistamine in Russia for many years, it also protects against brain cell death. Dimebon targets mitochondria (the cell’s power generator). Phase 3 results show significant improvement in all the key aspects of Alzheimer’s, including thinking, memory, behavior and overall function. Results have been published in “Lancet” July 2008 (Lancet in England is the equivalent of the New England Journal of Medicine in the U.S.). Rumor is Dimebon may be on the market as soon as next year.

Rember (Methylthioninium chloride)
Early research is promising, as researchers announced that the compound appears to slow and even halt the progress of Alzheimer’s. It does this by dissolving tangles of tau protein inside brain cells and preventing their accumulation, stabilizing the disease progression in patients with mild and moderate Alzheimer’s over a period of one year. Over a longer period of 19 months, researchers saw an 81% slowing of the disease. Rember may be on the market as early as 2012.

AL-108
This drug, like Rember, also addresses the problem of neurofibrillary tangles, also interfering with the formation of tangles by affecting the tau protein. However, this drug is administered as a nasal spray. Which brings up a rarely discussed aspect of drug trials: not all drug trials involve taking a pill! Some are nasal sprays, eye drops, some are even administered intravenously. The good news is results with AL-108 took far less time than Rember. Researchers reported a 62.4% improvement in memory with no side effects in only 4 months time.

Lupron (Leuprolide, Memryte)
Don’t you just love the way they name these drugs? Memryte (memory right?) or Rember (Remember?). Lupron is currently an approved drug for the treatment of advanced prostate cancer. But now they are looking at it for Alzheimer’s because it alters production of beta-amyloid in the brain. Beta-amyloid, in a nutshell, is the main material that plaques are made of. The theory is, no beta-amyloid = no plaques = no Alzheimer’s Disease.
Funny story: the connection between Lupron and Alzheimer’s was discovered accidentally, when the wife of a metastatic cancer patient who was receiving Lupron told the doctor that the drug worked well on his cancer – and his Alzheimer’s appeared to improve, too. (Wow, a doctor that listens! What a concept)

Immunoglobulins
Basically these are antibodies already in our blood. These antibodies are used by our immune system to hunt down and eliminate bacteria. This is one of those treatments that is being administered intravenously. It is still in the early stages of research, and larger studies are forming as you read this.

Rosiglitazone (Avandia)
One of the little know facts about drug approval by the FDA is that Pharmaceutical companies spend 10’s of millions of dollars bringing a drug to market. Therefore it’s safe to assume they have to be pretty confident of success before they decide to start a new drug trial. Furthermore, you can imagine that the process is complicated and technical. Let me give you an example, when they apply for a new drug approval, they have to be very specific about which disease, or condition they are going to test for. That makes sense. But occasionally after a drug comes to market it may start showing effectiveness on conditions that it was not originally intended for. But if they want doctors to legitimately prescribe their established medication for this new condition they have to start the drug trial process all over again from scratch.
Thus is the case with Lupon mentioned above (currently approved for prostrate cancer), as well as this one Avandia. Avandia is currently on the market for type 2 diabetes, in diabetics it enables their cells to use the hormone insulin more efficiently. But they now think it might affect the brain inflammation seen in Alzheimer’s patients, so they are starting new drug trials for it.

Alzheimer’s Vaccines
“Another method for targeting Alzheimer’s comes in the form of a vaccine that uses antibodies from the body’s own immune system to attack and destroy beta-amyloid and clear out plaques in the brain, or to eliminate clumps of tau protein (neurofibrillary tangles) in the brain that kill neurons responsible for memory”. Phase 3 studies are also starting this year, and they look promising. * (Oops, hold that thought, just yesterday as I was finishing this article there was story making the rounds that a prominent research physician was quoted in the press as saying that he has serious doubts that beta-amyloid is the cause of Alzheimer’s and that researchers are missing the boat, and spending a lot of time and money for nothing. Time will tell…)

Gene Therapy
This is another of those methods that have been around, getting perfected for years. It is very complicated, and involves genetically altering your own cells to produce nerve growth factor (NGF) and injecting these altered cells into the brain to slow the destruction of brain cells. They may sound creepy, but naturally produced NGF has amazing promise for many different illness and diseases. Some researchers are predicting extending the life span by decades when NGF is perfected.

Histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor
Researchers are making impressive claims with this one. “This compound has the potential not only to slow degenerative memory loss, but also to reverse the process and bring back lost memories”. The HDAC inhibitor compound was first formulated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). “The research suggests that people with dementia might not completely lose their memories, but that the memories might be stored away somewhere that is inaccessible. The clinical trials are expected to assess whether ADAC inhibitors can safely and effectively improve cognitions and possibly reverse memory loss in humans.
This concludes the long list of drug trials that are out there for Alzheimer’s Disease. Can you imagine…this is just Alzheimer’s? I have heard of studies for just about every other major disease, and even for conditions that I did not know were a problem. For example I read about a study that was supposed to make eye-lashes grow longer and thicker. I don’t see anyone dieing of thinning eye-lashes, but I certainly see where something like that would make a fortune.
Nevertheless, if you or someone you know is interested in drug trials please go to this site for a complete list of different websites that promote and talk about drug trials: http://alzheimersecrets.com/drugtrial/.

Source: Special Report on: Combating Memory Loss (common problems and treatments) by Massachusetts General Hospital & the editors of Mind, Mood & Memory.