Elderhood

Advice About What to Look For in a Caregiver

   “I feel like I’m looking for an angel with a halo and wings. Or maybe a whole chorus of angels, because one definitely won’t do.” A week earlier…      Abby felt overwhelmed as she looked at the many notes she had spread across the dining room table. Mom would be returning home from […]

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Finding the Care You Need to Stay in Your Home

It began with a fall. Abby got the call at work and rushed to the hospital to meet the ambulance that brought her mother there. Mom had gone out to take the garbage to the curb and had slipped on some black ice. The kids had all left for school and the street was deserted,

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How to Deal with a Diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or Dementia

    As a fiction writer, one of the skills I’ve developed is to get inside my characters’ heads and hearts. I need to feel what they are feeling and then spill that onto the page in ways that draw my reader in.      That’s what makes today’s blog so difficult to write.  

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When Should I Worry? When Forgetfulness Becomes a Problem

    There are words whose spelling trips me up every single time. It’s like I have a mental block about them, and it drives me nuts. Why can’t I learn them and put this behind me?      Diarrhea.      Nutrition.                        

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How to Remember When You Are Prone to Forget

Can you relate? You open the fridge door and stare inside, searching for a clue. You came in the kitchen for something, and you think it’s in the fridge, but what was it? You look everywhere for your phone, only to find it in the pocket of the jacket you’re wearing. You hear yourself saying,

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How to Recognize and Begin to Overcome Caregiver Stress

“It takes a village to raise a child.” African proverb Care partners need a village, too. A group of sometimes unrelated people who in ways, big or small, pour into their elder. I can hear you. “Yes, that sounds lovely. But I have no village. There’s only me.” That’s a recipe for disaster. This month,

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How to Make Good Lifestyle Choices for the Rest of Your Life

      Do you remember the song about how all our bones are connected? “The foot bone’s connected to the ankle bone…” Hearing it as a kid was the first time I thought about the concept that everything in our body is connected to everything else. You only have to stub your toe to

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The Number One Factor in Maintaining a Healthy Brain

     Is it playing those word games I love?      Solving math puzzles I don’t?      Spending regular time with a group of close friends?      Good genes?      All of these are factors, but the single greatest element of brain health over which you have control is your diet.

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What 81% of Canadian Elders Want and How Technology Can Help

     Greta knew that her kids wanted to talk with her, and it scared her. She had guessed their concerns for her mobility, her safety and the fact that she still lived in the house they’d grown up in would be the topic of conversation.       They sat around her kitchen table, and

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5 Ways Technology Can Help the Other 10%

Gladys didn’t understand the appeal. Her friends had fancy phones which did all kinds of things besides make phone calls. They did their banking without leaving the building. Was that even safe? They got their groceries and other things delivered and talked to some weird guy called “Siri.” All these things scared and confused her,

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