An aging population creates a need for specialized care for seniors

Story by Diane Poulton | Posted: Tuesday, February 21, 2012 12:00 am
            
Helen Seaman has something anyone with Parkinson's disease shouldn't live without: a companion
   
This companion helps her in her daily struggles – organizing her medications, light housekeeping and taking her on errands and to doctor appointments.
   
Seamen, 85, of Dyer, is a client of Home Helpers of Schererville.
   
"I don't know what I would have done if I didn't have them," Seamen said. "They make sure I get to my appointments; I don't have to worry about imposing on my friends."
   
Seamen said she enjoys the break in the routine and the companion's eagerness to help with anything she needs.
   
"The service helps keep me in my home," Seamen says.
   
AARP estimates 7,000 baby boomers turn 65 each day. As the population ages and faces associated health concerns, coupled with the steadily increased cost of nursing home care, there is a growing need for home health care services that enabling senior citizens to stay comfortably in their own environment. It is a quality of life issue, local home health caregivers say. Most of these services were started because their owners through personal experience saw a need that wasn't being filled. All report substantial business growth.
   
Tammy and Bill Spearson started Home Helpers of Schererville in 2010.
   
"Our motivation was caring for Tammy's mother who had cancer for 13 years," Bill Spearson says. "Then Tammy's father was diagnosed with lung cancer."
   
Being the primary caretakers for Tammy's aging grandmother, mother and father while working two hard-hitting jobs, the couple didn't know where to turn, Spearson says.
   
"It was a roller coaster ride," Spearson says. "You want to be there for your family; it taxes you emotionally and physically."
   
Home Helpers provides nonmedical daily living home care and companion care.
   
"If clients like to bake, the companions will help them, Spearson says. "One caregiver, who is 82, is teaching an 84–year–old client to play the piano; I have never done anything in my life that has meant so much to so many people. Our services give the elderly the opportunity to stay at home at about half the cost of nursing facilities."
   
Spearson says of his 27 trained employees, 90 percent are Certified Nursing Assistants and the rest are companions.
   
Home Helpers provides a host of personal emergency response equipment including a fall sensor, which summons help if a person is unconscious and also has a button the patient can push to speak to a person. Care watches provide global positioning tracking systems. Automatic medication dispensers have sound and light alarms, which are activated when the patient fails to take their medication at the proper time and a call center is alerted. If the patient cannot be reached, emergency contacts are called.
   
Tammy Spearson is a Hospice of the Calumet Area volunteer and a Certified Senior Advisor, providing free advice on Veteran's benefits, Medicare and Medicaid.
   
Spearson estimates business, which covers Lake, Jasper, Elkhart and St. Joseph counties, has increased tenfold since the first six months of operation.
   
A growing need
Patricia Hayes quit her job in physician reimbursement to take care of her aging parents. During the four years she helped them full-time, Hayes saw a growing need for specialized care for seniors.
   
"I would sit at the Veteran's Administration Clinic with my dad and see people coming in who shouldn't be driving but had nobody to bring them in," Hayes said.
   
After her father died, Hayes, who has an MBA, obtained a degree in gerontology and was certified as a geriatric care manager. On March 17, 2011, her late father Tony's birthday, Hayes opened her Crown Point-based business, Hayes Helping Hearts.
   
Hayes' company has two separate divisions. The first, geriatric care management, helps families find needed legal and financial aid resources through links on the company website.
   
The second division provides trained certified nonmedical caregivers who help with daily living activities and transportation and serve as companions.
   
"It needs to be about their quality of life," Hayes said. "Their generation was frugal. They saved; they worked their whole lives. Most of them have pension and Social Security income, but that can quickly diminish."
   
Hayes said her business, which has seven employees and covers Lake and Porter counties, has doubled in the past year.
   
First-hand experience
Owner Gina Kelly she started her business, ComForcare of Valparaiso, two years ago. It has 30 employees and covers Porter, LaPorte and part of Lake County.
   
"My father has Alzheimer's disease and I experienced first-hand the struggles people were going through," Kelly said. "With the population growing, people living longer and the baby boomers aging, there was a big need to be filled."
   
Kelly said business has more than doubled.
   
ComForcare assists with daily living activities, medication reminders, safety supervision, family respite care, transportation/errands, chore services and light housekeeping both at home and at assisted living facilities.
   
"It is most satisfying to know that we can keep people in their homes longer through their last stages of life, making them more comfortable in their own surroundings," Kelly said.
   
Kelly said she enjoys meeting and helping family members.
   
"Many children today live out of town because of their jobs," Kelly said. "We give them the security of knowing their parents are being taken care of and we keep them informed."
   
ComForcare has a 10–step requirement process for employees, which includes testing, professional and personal references, background checks, drug testing, orientation and training. Additional training includes the topics of dementia, Alzheimer's disease, COPD, congestive heart failure, diabetes, Parkinson's disease and a program for fraud prevention.
   
ComForcare provides transitional care from hospital to home and the company partners with skilled care facilities and the Visiting Nurses Association. All employees are insured and the majority of caregivers are certified nursing assistants or home health aids.
   
A one-stop shop
Michele Weathreford–Towle is Regional Director of Marketing Services for Total Home Health Services and Complete Home Health of Illinois The companies serve Cook, DuPage, Will and Kankakee counties in Illinois and Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Marshall, Starke, St. Joseph and Elkhart counties in Indiana with 150 employees. It provides skilled nursing, physical, occupational and speech therapists, medical social workers, home health aides and private duty services.
   
Founding board member of both companies, Stan Sroka, is a physical therapist by trade. For 18 years, Sroka worked in nursing homes and home health services.
   
Sroka decided to venture into home health care after noticing that patients had improved in rehabilitation only to decline after a month at home. Sroka said home help in rehabilitation was lacking in Northwest Indiana. He said both the service areas and client base has increased significantly since the companies were established in 2005. He expects further growth when new Medicare regulations take effect in March.
   
"If a patient is admitted to the hospital within 30 days of being discharged, with the same diagnosis the hospital does not get paid for the second stay," Sroka said.
   
"We keep people in their setting; we provide the medical care." Sroka said. "We believe that quality prevails. We believe that the industry is on strong footing and will emerge stronger after health care reform takes full force."
   
Sroka said the best part of his business is patient satisfaction. Many of their clients are repeat business or word of mouth referrals, Sroka said.
   
Sroka said his companies follow strict Medicare guidelines for providing services to home bound patients.
   
"From a clinical perspective, we are truly a one-stop shop," Weatherford–Towle said. "When people come home from the hospital they don't have to worry about their supplies or medications. We follow them from the moment they get home."

Story by Diane Poulton  Posted in Inbusiness on Tuesday, February 21, 2012

http://www.nwitimes.com/niche/inbusiness/an-aging-population-creates-a-need-for-specialized-care-for/article_5fc9c1ce-7ec9-5783-a645-382d3455f3fb.html


"Learn About Senior In Home Health Care in Austin, Texas

Senior Helpers Provides Many services in the Austin, Texas area. We provide a full array of Home Care services for seniors and the elderly living in this beautiful area. Our Home Care Services are provided by bonded and insured employees and all employees pass a National Background check.

If you need Home Care services in Austin, Bartlett, Bertram, Briggs, Burnet, Cedar Park, Florence, Georgetown, Granger, Holland, Hutto, Jarrell, Johnson City, Killeen, Leander, Liberty Hill, Manor, Marble Falls, Pflugerville, Round Mountain, Round Rock, Salado, Spicewood, Taylor and the surrounding areas we are an excellent choice with impeccable references. Home Health Care for your elderly loved ones is never an easy choice but we can promise we will do our best to make it as painless as possible. From our family to yours we sincerely thank you for considering Senior Helpers of Austin Home Health Care Company.  "

Senior Helpers Has a New Website!

The new website, www.seniorhelpers.com/centraltx , went up this week and is loaded with a wealth of information to assist with caring for seniors and the challenges they face.

Be sure to check out the Alzheimer's and dementia page for the resources listed there.

Please let us know if you like it! And, if something is not working - let us know that too!

CareInfoAustin@seniorhelpers.com

The Elderly Lose Their Ability To Distinguish Between Odors, Posing Hazards

14 Nov 2011   

Scientists studying how the sense of smell changes as people age, found that olfactory sensory neurons in those 60 and over showed an unexpected response to odor that made it more difficult to distinguish specific smells, putting them at greater risk from dangerous chemicals and poor nutrition.

"We found clear changes in olfactory sensory neuron responses to odors for those 60 and up," said Professor Diego Restrepo, Ph.D., director of the Center for NeuroScience at the University of Colorado School of Medicine who led the researchers. "When we presented two different odors to the olfactory sensory neurons of younger people they responded to one or the other. The sensory neurons from the elderly responded to both. This would make it harder for the elderly to differentiate between them."

According to the study published in the latest issue of Neurobiology of Aging, those losing their sense of smell are at a higher risk of malnutrition since taste and smell are closely related, they may also be unable to detect spoiled food, leaking gas or toxic vapors.

Researchers looked at 440 subjects in two age groups - those 45- years-old and younger and those 60 and over. Their olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) were tested for their responses to two distinct odors as well as subsets of those odors.

Restrepo wanted to determine if age-related differences in the function of OSNs might contribute to an impairment of the sense of smell. For this, in a collaboration with Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia, researchers biopsied cells from both age groups.

"Whereas cells from younger donors were highly selective in the odorants to which they responded, cells from older donors were more likely to respond to multiple odor stimuli... suggesting a loss of specificity," the study said.

The scientists had expected to find less OSNs in older subjects and they thought the neurons would be less likely to respond to stimuli. In fact, they found as many neurons in the old as the young but those over 60 could not differentiate between two odors, they blended together.

The study suggests that changes in nose and the brain contribute to smell loss in the elderly, Restrepo said.

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release. Any medical information published on this website is not intended as a substitute for informed medical advice and you should not take any action before consulting with a health care professional. For more information, please read our terms and conditions.

References:   University of Colorado Denver  University of Colorado Denver. (2011, November 14). "The Elderly Lose Their Ability To Distinguish Between Odors, Posing Hazards." Medical News Today. Retrieved from

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/237524.php

"Learn About Senior In Home Health Care in Austin, Texas

Senior Helpers Provides Many services in the Austin, Texas area. We provide a full array of Home Care services for seniors and the elderly living in this beautiful area. Our Home Care Services are provided by bonded and insured employees and all employees pass a National Background check.

If you need Home Care services in Austin, Bartlett, Bertram, Briggs, Burnet, Cedar Park, Florence, Georgetown, Granger, Holland, Hutto, Jarrell, Johnson City, Killeen, Leander, Liberty Hill, Manor, Marble Falls, Pflugerville, Round Mountain, Round Rock, Salado, Spicewood, Taylor and the surrounding areas we are an excellent choice with impeccable references. Home Health Care for your elderly loved ones is never an easy choice but we can promise we will do our best to make it as painless as possible. From our family to yours we sincerely thank you for considering Senior Helpers of Austin Home Health Care Company.  "

Senior Boom Creates A Demand For Home Health Workers

By Jessica Marcy
KHN Staff Writer
Aug 15, 2011
This story was produced in collaboration with
            
WASHINGTON, D.C. - At her home health care agency here, Venus Ray quizzes 65 job applicants assembled before her: Can they cook? Do they know the right way to wash their hands? Can they safely transfer patients into wheelchairs? If they give wrong answers, speak English poorly or — God forbid — forget to turn off their cell phones, she asks them to leave.

By the end of the session, Ray has dismissed 42 of the applicants, almost two-thirds, even though she's in dire need of employees.
Ray is executive director of Health Management Inc., which employs about 410 people, including 395 home health aides. With business booming, she is constantly looking to hire more, and she holds group interviews once or twice a month.
"There's a huge demand, and it's only going to get larger as the years go by," Ray said. With the nation's aging population, she added, many people "will tell you that they are more comfortable in their home."
The demand for workers by Ray's company mirrors national trends and is fueled in part by stepped-up efforts to keep seniors and the disabled out of nursing homes. The growth is likely to pick up in coming years as the 2010 federal health law tries to reduce hospital readmissions and expands programs such as Money Follows the Person, which encourages Medicaid recipients to receive care at home.

But experts warn that a shortage of qualified labor is looming. Workers often lack the training and support needed to properly care for patients, and poor working conditions lead to high turnover, experts say. In addition, salaries are low: In 2009, the median national hourly wage for direct-care workers — a term that includes home health aides — was $10.58, substantially below the $15.95 median for all U.S. workers. Nearly half lived in households that received food stamps, Medicaid or other government aid, according to PHI, an advocacy group for direct-care workers.
In addition, experts say, regulations about training and background checks for direct-care workers vary across states, and often leave consumers without adequate protection.
"I see tremendous challenges on the care side and the consumer side," said Peggy Powell, national director of curriculum and workforce development at PHI, which is based in New York. "My fear, my deep concern, is that in this quick switch [to provide care at home], there is the potential for care to get worse and for the direct-care workers' job to get harder, with less support and training."
A Growing Force
There are several types of direct-care workers, and their titles often vary:

• Certified nursing assistants provide basic clinical care such as taking blood pressure and caring for wounds. They also help with the activities of daily living such as eating, dressing and bathing. They usually work in nursing homes or assisted living facilities and have at least the 75 hours of training required by the federal government for positions at a Medicare- or Medicaid-certified facility.
• Home health aides provide similar care but in private homes and under the supervision of a nurse or therapist. If they're employees of a home care agency, these aides also may need at least 75 hours of training because the federal requirement extends to agencies that serve Medicare and Medicaid patients.
• Personal care aides work in the home and help with everyday activities such as bathing and also perform light housekeeping and cooking chores. There are no federal requirements for their training, which is generally minimal. About a quarter of these workers are not employed by agencies, according to PHI.

In some states, certified nursing assistants and home health aides can administer medication, although some states require that they get extra training to do that. Personal care aides cannot.

More than 3.2 million people work in direct care, according to 2008 data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is 52 percent more than in 1998. Jobs in direct care are projected to account for four of every 10 new health-care jobs between 2008 and 2018, according to PHI.
'What's Your Passion?'
Venus Ray begins her group interview by asking: "Why do you want to be a home health care worker? What's your passion?"
Many describe caring for a loved one, while others say they have been drawn to the field by their deep religious faith. Latreaviette Stewart, 21, says she decided to become an aide after caring for her grandmother, great-aunts and her mother's best friend, who recently died of breast cancer. She just completed a home health aide program at the Community College of the District of Columbia.
Pamela Nfor, a 34-year-old aide from Cameroon who has a child with disabilities, says she enjoys seeing how clients, even those who are depressed and can't go out, improve under her care. "I love the job and I hate the money," she tells other applicants, who erupt in laughter.
Emotions run deep during the morning's activities. One West African woman passionately describes how God revealed her vocation to be in home health care after she prayed intensely, while another woman nearly breaks into tears when she's asked to leave after her cell phone goes off. Both women fail to pass the interview process.
Later, Ray said that she once had to dismiss an entire group of 12 applicants after all of their cell phones rang.
The applicants provide a visual snapshot of national trends. Direct-care workers are disproportionately minorities, and 23 percent are foreign-born. Almost 90 percent are female. The average age is 42, but the number of workers older than 55 is increasing rapidly, according to PHI.
To ensure a qualified workforce, experts say, it's important to increase wages, improve training and beef up licensing requirements.
"It's really important to figure out how to build career ladders for these workers so that they can advance and see this as a real career," said Bob Konrad, a researcher at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. "We have to turn these folks into really active and engaged people in the health policy world."

Washington D.C. Area Requirements Vary

The area is a good example of how regulation of direct-care workers can really depend on geography.

• In Maryland, the Board of Nursing licenses all certified nursing assistants and home health aides. The state requires them to complete 100 hours of training. Those working in homes must also undergo an additional 12 hours of training annually, and pass a competency evaluation. They must also undergo a criminal background check. Although Maryland does not standards for personal care aires, some people hire companions to help with household chores, but they are not supposed to provide any care.
• Virginia requires that certified nurse assistants have 120 hours of training and that home health aides have the 75 hours specified by federal law. Personal care aides must have 40 hours of training if they work for a Medicaid agency. The state requires all employees of home health agencies to have a Virginia State Police check, which does not include fingerprinting.
• The District mandates that certified nursing assistants have 120 hours of training and that home health aides and personal care aides have 75 hours. People in all three professions also must receive 12 hours of annual training.

-Jessica Marcy

http://www.kaiserhealthnews.org/stories/2011/august/16/direct-care-workers-in-demand-as-seniors-ranks-grow.aspx

"Learn About Senior In Home Health Care in Austin, Texas

Senior Helpers Provides Many services in the Austin, Texas area. We provide a full array of Home Care services for seniors and the elderly living in this beautiful area. Our Home Care Services are provided by bonded and insured employees and all employees pass a National Background check.

If you need Home Care services in Austin, Bartlett, Bertram, Briggs, Burnet, Cedar Park, Florence, Georgetown, Granger, Holland, Hutto, Jarrell, Johnson City, Killeen, Leander, Liberty Hill, Manor, Marble Falls, Pflugerville, Round Mountain, Round Rock, Salado, Spicewood, Taylor and the surrounding areas we are an excellent choice with impeccable references. Home Health Care for your elderly loved ones is never an easy choice but we can promise we will do our best to make it as painless as possible. From our family to yours we sincerely thank you for considering Senior Helpers of Austin Home Health Care Company.  "

Loss Of Independent Living For Seniors Greatly Influenced By Death Of Spouse

25 Oct 2011

The death of a spouse is always a tragedy, but for seniors, that tragedy can spur some significant life changes. And one University of Alberta researcher says the choices they make are something policymakers need to pay attention to.

Sociologist Lisa Strohschein says that losing a partner can precipitate the need for the surviving spouse to leave the residence they once shared. And the bereavement period is often key for them or their family members to decide whether it makes sense for that person to continue living alone or whether they give up living independently.

"Two people can take care of each other; they can share the burden of household tasks and may share income sources that allow them to live the kind of life that allows them to live independently," she said. "What this study shows is that, in fact, bereavement is a triggering mechanism (for the surviving spouse to move out of independent living)."

Strohschein's research noted that these seniors choose to either move into an institution or to reside with family members, most often their adult children. She says that when it came to these decisions, men and women were both equally likely to having to move when their partner died. She also noted that immigrants to Canada were more likely to reside with their families than their Canadian-born counterparts. Yet, she says, more needs to be done to help seniors make the final choice of where to live, but when to move should be left to the seniors themselves.

"Perhaps we can do a better job of providing services and/or counseling for recently widowed seniors to help them make decisions that are going to be right for them," said Strohschein, "and provide more services for those ones that really do want to move out of independent living who say, 'I can no longer bear these burdens,' to ensure that they are supported."

Strohschein says that understanding the processes that lead to seniors' decisions to leave their homes is important for the government to acknowledge, especially with an aging population. She says that developing processes and putting services in place would allow these people to retain their independence and their dignity in their twilight years, which is critical to ensuring the system does not become needlessly taxed.

"How do we delay that onset of moving a person to institutional care, care that tends to be quite costly, and can be depersonalizing for the person who's receiving it," Strohschein said. "As people come towards the end of their lives, how do we give them the most ability and the greatest dignity to exercise their right or their need for independence?

"Coming up with other kinds of options that are going to maintain seniors' independence as long as possible and give them the services that they need to help maintain that are going to be absolutely critical."

Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/236503.php

"Learn About Senior In Home Health Care in Austin, Texas

Senior Helpers Provides Many services in the Austin, Texas area. We provide a full array of Home Care services for seniors and the elderly living in this beautiful area. Our Home Care Services are provided by bonded and insured employees and all employees pass a National Background check.

If you need Home Care services in Austin, Bartlett, Bertram, Briggs, Burnet, Cedar Park, Florence, Georgetown, Granger, Holland, Hutto, Jarrell, Johnson City, Killeen, Leander, Liberty Hill, Manor, Marble Falls, Pflugerville, Round Mountain, Round Rock, Salado, Spicewood, Taylor and the surrounding areas we are an excellent choice with impeccable references. Home Health Care for your elderly loved ones is never an easy choice but we can promise we will do our best to make it as painless as possible. From our family to yours we sincerely thank you for considering Senior Helpers of Austin Home Health Care Company.  "