Strategies For Coaching Elders to Participate in Their Care

Sometimes our elders appear to become stubborn and uncooperative as they age. Frustration due to loss of independence and loss of ability to do the things they used to be able to do are just two of the reasons. Other reasons may include depression (over the same or different losses), dementia, certain medications, isolation, anger, fear of dying, and (if they are still living at home) fear of being placed in a nursing home.

Children of aging parents, as well as caregivers, can sometimes find it quite frustrating to motivate the seniors in their life to perform even basic daily activities. If you find yourself in this situation, consider these strategies for coaching elders to do things that they don't want to do. Some of these strategies will work with dementia patients and some won't. Those that won't will be quite obvious.

Considering your loved one's state of mind is the first step in building a positive relationship with them. Depression is a common reason why seniors lose their motivation. They may no longer feel that they have reason to get out of bed in the morning and resent the fact that they now have people telling them how they must live. Or perhaps they are being heavily medicated causing them to become lethargic as a result. Creating coaching strategies that are personalized to the senior with whom you are working is the key to success in the care of that person.

Don't feel that you must get your parent or loved one out of bed early in the morning when they'd rather stay put (unless they are going to be attending day care or have a medical appointment.) They can easily enjoy their breakfast at bedside or can watch a television positioned close by. I absolutely detest walking into an assisted living facility or nursing home only to see all their elderly patients lined up in wheelchairs, heads slumped over, staring at nothing. Who would want to do that? And what good does it accomplish?

Building a friendly rapport early in the day can be very helpful in gaining compliance in the latter part of the day. Even if your time is limited and you want to accomplish a list of tasks as quickly as possible, taking a moment to have a casual conversation first can actually make your life a lot easier.

When it comes time to address specific tasks, begin by educating your loved one on the importance of that task first. Whether they have to eat certain foods to maintain their health, or exercise to strengthen their heart, explaining the purpose of the task can help to motivate them to start and maintain a program.

Medication administration can often become a point of contention. One of the reasons may be that they may are difficult to swallow. Offer medications with pudding, applesauce or a nutritional supplement such as Ensure because water is not the best liquid to use for this. Basically something with a little "slime" to it will work much better.

Goal setting can also be a great motivator for seniors. Keep in mind that goals give us a reason to do something and elders can sometimes feel that there is no point in what they are doing. If exercise is the objective for a senior family member or patient, consider charting their progress and posting their accomplishments in a place where they will see them throughout the day. An occupational therapist made several home visits to my father to help him with his balance. My father responded very positively when he saw that his balance was improving, even though only slightly.

Learning what activities your care recipient enjoys can also be helpful. As a coach, you can then integrate them into their day and use them as motivation to get through the more mundane tasks that they are faced with.

Praising their efforts is also a great coaching strategy. It is important for caregivers to remember that the elderly person that they are working may think that small accomplishments such as walking up and down a hall are not that impressive. After all, they were young and physically fit once themselves. However, sincere and heartfelt praise can change their attitude immediately.

Perhaps the most effective coaches (caregivers) are the ones who use humor as a way to break the ice. A good-natured disposition is likely to brighten anyone's mood. That is why it's important to remember to take some time out for yourself in order to be able to maintain that positive attitude which will allow you to maintain that good nature.

穢 2010 Shelley Webb/The Intentional Caregiver

Maintain Dignity With Nursing Homes

Inevitable fact of life - people grow old. And when people are THAT old, they tend to become more and more helpless.

Let's be honest because only in being honest, especially with the self, could we fairly deal with "life". In today's rat-race way of living, anything and everything that gets in the way and slows us down in our journey to our desired stature which we succinctly term our as "future" should be eliminated. But how can we do that to our parents? The parents who cared for us and nurtured "our lives" as if it were their own, sometimes even more than they cared for themselves.

There was a time when caring for our ageing parents was a simple every-day task. We just allot certain blocks of "our time" to caring for them within the house. And we needn't make martyr-like sacrifices to do that. But times change and we are now in an era where maintaining our elderly at home becomes such a huge sacrifice, that we sometimes end up regarding them as a "nuisance". But hey, wake up, man! Were we a nuisance to them when we were just little tykes who "demolished" everything in sight? When we peed and pooped anywhere we "pleased"? Did they really complain?

Whether we like it or not, admit it. We owe so much to our parents. And our direct parents to our grandparents. How are we to respond when it is their turn to be helpless? When it is our turn to "care for them"? We can, of course, opt to be shamefully ungrateful and leave them to themselves. We can just say, "It is their life... to each his own". But is it wise? What will you think when the time comes for you to be treated that same way by your own kids?

We need not disgrace ourselves by neglecting our own elderly kin. There are people who have made a vocation in caring for "our elderly". That is how nursing homes came to be. They even evolved into institutions that include special children and other such "cases" in their list of wards. They care for our "helpless" kinsfolk in our stead. Unsung heroes they are.

Nursing homes have professionalised to have service package options that give us the freedom to perform our jobs without having to be burdened with worrying for our helpless family members. They save us from losing time that we use to earn and sustain our family needs and more. They give us the chance to work and save some to be able to pay for the care they give to our aging parents or helpless kin. Our gratitude to man's ingenuity and natural compassion that enabled him to create nursing homes, the outside-the-home-care system that affords us to care and love as if we ourselves were there for our own.

Isn't life wonderful?

School District Negligence

School districts play a unique role in the education of our communities by providing safe, and healthy environments for children of all different ages. They are involved in the education of their students for a longer period of time than any single campus and with that role comes specific responsibilities. Not only are school districts responsible to the students and parents at their schools, but they are also responsible for the proper functioning of the schools in their districts.

Among those responsibilities is the maintenance of educational facilities. A district that fails to maintain its facilities could possibly be liable for contributory negligence in the event of an injury on school property. With the active and naturally curious nature of young children, all schools in a district must maintain their facilities with the safety of their students in mind.

Also, any employment that deals with the care of children requires a high level of confidence in the responsibility of it's employees. Failure to properly screen and ?supervise employees can leave children at risk to be harmed by a person who is not adequately equipped to teach and instruct children. There is also always a threat of inappropriate behavior on the part of teachers. School districts must maintain vigilance in the proper hiring of employees who are fit to engage with children.

Bullying is a threat to the safety and experience of children at all levels of the schooling. Schools have a unique perspective of trends amongst students throughout their schools. Therefore, school districts have a responsibility to address any bullying that might occur at any campus. A failure to do so can result in serious physical and emotional damage to students who are victimized by bullies. Ignorance of or allowance of illegal activities on district properties, like physical or emotional abuse, should not be accepted by the community. School districts are responsible to consider these types of interactions at each of their campuses.

Assisted Living Abuse

It has been found that assisted living abuse has spoiled the names of many nursing homes in the US. It is culpable under the laws of various states whether the abuse takes place in St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Orlando, Cleveland, Ohio, or any other US state. The abuse is of several different types and includes the following.

Physical Abuse - This is said to occur when a nursing home staff member uses physical force to ensure compliance by a patient. It is a patient's right to remain free from physical restraint while he/she stays in a nursing home. Restraint can mean physically tying up a patient to the bed to establish control over him/her. Using improper and illegal restraints on patients comes under the definition. Sedating a patient with an overdose is a form of chemical restraint and is also physical abuse.

Sexual abuse - A sexual act by a nursing home staff member with a non-consenting patient comes under the definition of sexual abuse. Even a sexual act with a patient who does not have the capability of refusing consent and offering resistance against sexual advances is sexual abuse.

Emotional abuse - This occurs when verbal communication or non-verbal signals are used by a staff member to torment a patient in a nursing home. Emotional anguish/distress may be caused to a patient when a staff member does not deliver on promises made by him/her. Such a promise may be made in respect of change of bed sheets or support to sit up or assistance with toilet routine.

Neglect - This is abuse by omission. When a patient in a nursing home is not administered the requisite services in time, it results in breach of nursing services and comes under neglect. Neglect can include failure to provide hygiene, skin care, and nutrition. Inadvertent neglect is not as culpable as willful and deliberate neglect. A patient and his/her family pays for nursing services so breach of that through neglect is punishable under elder abuse laws.

Abandonment - A nursing home can never leave a patient admitted in it to fend on his own for himself/herself. After all, he/she has been admitted in the home for precisely help in nursing services for which the nursing home is monetarily recompensed. Desertion of a patient by nursing home staff is tantamount to abuse of the rights of the patient.

Financial abuse - A patient's family pays a nursing home owner for the services to be rendered by the staff there. Misuse of the payment by not providing requisite nursing services to the patient causes breach of the right of the patient to nursing services.

Keeping mum about the violation of a patient's right to nursing care can never prevent abuse in nursing homes. Rather than silent forbearance, taking immediate rightful action against assisted living abuse in nursing homes is very much recommended. Patients' families can do this by retaining firms of elder abuse attorneys.

Pork Rinds Are Healthy and Other Lies We Tell

This week an administrator in one of my buildings asked me to talk to a female resident about her diet. I will call this resident "Ethel". Ethel chronically complains to me and the staff about her food. She said the food from the nursing home kitchen is too "greasy" and "spicy". She also stated she had two strokes and it was because of the nursing home food. What she did not tell me on my prior visits was she had a staff member buying her food. The staff member provided me Ethel's shopping list. The list included Pepper Jack cheese, Vienna sausage and fried pork rinds. When I approached Ethel about her shopping list, Ethel responded, "Pork Rinds are healthy. Besides, I only started eating them with the colored gal here. She's my friend" I shot back with my usual dry humor, "Ethel what color is she"? Ethel yelled, "You know what color she is, she's your color!" I did not want to upset her so I asked if I could also explain the situation to her friend. Ethel told me her friend died six months ago from a stroke. I realized at that point Ethel was not exactly "connecting the dots."

Ethel's lack of understanding is justifiable. She has a diagnosis of schizophrenia and a limited amount of education. Anyone in the 21st century who refers to another grown woman as a "colored gal" is not obviously receptive to change. Furthermore, pork rinds are advertised as low carbohydrate food and we all know low carbohydrate food equals healthy food, right? Now, I would like to discuss some other lies we tell:

1. Size does not matter.

Let me explain my position. You should feel good about yourself no matter how much you weigh. I have no problem if you want to wear a bikini on the beach and weigh 400 pounds. This is not a matter of your self-esteem; it is a matter of your health. If you have a BMI (body mass index) greater than 25, you are at risk of developing type II diabetes. If you already have type II diabetes, losing 5% to 7% of your body weight (10 to 14 pounds if you weigh 200 pounds) can improve your blood sugar. You do not have to look like Kate Moss to control your diabetes.

2. Only people who go to the gym get proper exercise.

The National Weight Control Registry is an organization that monitors individuals who have lost at least 30 pounds and kept the weight off longer than one year. The average weight loss of the participants is 66 pounds and the average time of maintaining their weight is five years. According to the registry, walking is the number one exercise. Most of the participants walk daily. You can start slowly by walking for 10 minutes several times a day. You can also burn calories by cleaning your house, gardening or washing your car. You can even exercise in your chair. Just move!

3. Eating at restaurants is cheaper than cooking.

Eating at McDonald's or the nearest buffet may be more convenient than cooking at home but it is definitely not cheaper. In addition, processed food is not cheaper than whole food. You can make more chips from a bag of potatoes as opposed to buying a bag of potato chips; however I would not recommend it. The old credo "time is money" does not apply either. Think of how much time and money are wasted with extra doctor visits or medications because you did not take control of your health. Plus, think of time lost because you die earlier than you intended.

The Truth About Nursing Home Abuse

Nursing homes are being occupied in record numbers. Unfortunately, as nursing home residency increases, so do reports of widespread neglect and abuse.

The U.S. Administration on Aging estimates that over one million aging Americans are being exploited or abused. Further aggravating the problem is that many cases of neglect and abuse in nursing homes go unreported by staff. Lastly, several government studies suggest that about 90 percent of nursing homes are understaffed to begin with. The sad truth about nursing homes is that a large number of them focus more on profit than on providing quality resident care.

Lowry and Associates, a personal injury law firm based in Maine that provides legal services to victims of nursing home abuse, offer the following tips on what to look for when choosing a nursing home for a loved one:

Look for well-groomed residents who are actively engaged in scheduled activities.

Look for homes with pressure sore survey ratings at near zero.

Look for homes with physical restraint survey ratings at near zero. A high incidence of physical restraints may indicate a home that substitutes restraints for proper staffing levels.

Even if a home has appropriate staffing levels, take note of the quality of interaction between residents and the staff.

Gauge reactions to resident complaints. You can also get an idea of the relative number of complaints among nursing homes in an area by contacting Maine's long-term care ombudsman.

Consider a non-profit home since these generally have lower deficiency ratings and higher levels of staffing.

Resumes For Senior Caregivers

Senior caregivers assist seniors with either companion caregiving or hands-on care as Certified Nursing Aides. Positions are available for part-time, full-time and live-in caregivers with senior home care agencies nationwide. There are more than 5,000 senior home care agencies today that did not exist just ten years ago. This is because seniors are living longer, while also needing some care assistance and prefer to live in their own homes.

Many people think that you must be a trained nurse in order to be a caregiver and this is untrue. Professional senior caregiving companies provide training for their caregivers. In addition, some states, such as Illinois, have passed laws to require licensed senior home care agencies to provide a minimum level of training. In Illinois, 8 hours of training are required. You may obtain a Certified Caregiver training certificate after completing 10-hours of online training which will meet the Illinois requirement.

Seniors with memory loss may only require a companion caregiver to assist them to remember appointments, take medications on time and eat nutritious meals. Anyone who can demonstrate a caring personality and show dependability, will be qualified for these companion caregiving positions.

As there is a need for more senior caregivers, if you are looking for a job, you may want to consider entering the health care industry as there will continue to be employment opportunities. You can adapt your skills to caregiving by creating an effective resume.

Tips for Writing a Caregiver Resume

• Share Information About Volunteer Positions (Church? Nursing Home? Memory Walk?)


• Include Personal Reasons Sparking Interest To Be Caregiver in Objective


• Demonstrate Consistent Employment (Shows Dependability)


• Include Training

Many volunteer opportunities exist for working with seniors and supporting senior programs, such as the Memory Walk to raise money for Alzheimer's disease, Meals on Wheels, delivering meals to seniors in cities nationwide and senior centers. Nursing homes also will usually accept volunteers to assist with meals and activities and also welcome anyone who will conduct an activity for them. If you play a musical instrument or have another skill you can teach or demonstrate, you will be welcomed by the activity director at most nursing homes and senior living communities.

Caregiver training can be obtained online, through an online caregiver training course which you take at your own pace. You may also want to obtain training in C.P.R. and the Red Cross offers this training in most cities. By showing you are motivated to learn more, you may include this on your resume to stand out from the crowd.

Senior caregiving delivers fulfillment beyond a paycheck and as all of us hope to live to be a senior, you will also learn about the wisdom that comes with aging. Many career paths exist in senior caregiving, from becoming a Registered Nurse to a Geriatric Care Manager to an Eldercare Attorney and one of the best ways to find out if you like this industry is to begin working as a senior caregiver. Build a resume that shows you care and you will be on your way to employment in senior care.