For Families Archives

Here’s an interesting wellness fact we would like to share with you: consuming more vegetables is associated with a lower risk of death! But did you know that our method of cooking vegetables usually drains them of their nutritious value?

Here is a suggested recipe that contains the recommended daily amount of vegetables to keep cancer or heart disease away:

8 whole kale leaves
1 large cucumber
a bunch of parsley
a head of lettuce
1 pear
1 lemon
a large handful of spinach
a piece of ginger.

How would you eat these? Salad? Tea? Snack? Smoothie. Not so easy to consume in one sitting. TRY JUICING! We know that employees in the long-term care industry are extremely busy and have limited time to prepare nutritious meals for themselves. Juicing can offer a perfect balance of nutrition and free time. Juicing is the easiest way to consume a large number of vegetables and fruits in one sitting; just by squeezing all different ingredients together!

In addition, the juice is much more delicious than a single vegetable dish. Furthermore, juicing accelerates the delivery of nutrients to our bloodstream, and turns out to have remarkable advantages on our body and cognitive function.

Our body is able to assimilate nutrients in 15 minutes when you have fresh vegetable and fruit juice, compared to a solid meal that may take over 2 hours! That’s because juicing is able to extract the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, chlorophyll, enzymes and phytochemicals from solid fruits and vegetables to liquid form so our body can absorb these nutrients almost instantly.

Need some tips on juicing? Here we go!

Thoroughly wash all vegetables and fruits before you squeeze them.
Add more vegetables and keep fruit content low. We know fruits taste better than vegetables, but they also contain much more sugar! Try to incorporate cucumber, courgette or lettuce, they are low in sugar, but high in vitamins.
Try to choose organic food to squeeze in order to avoid pesticide exposure.

We just shared our favourite juice recipe with you. Do you have your own exclusive juicing recipe that you find both easy to prepare and healthy? Share with CareStory in the comments…we’d love to hear!

REFERENCES:
Huffpost

“Oh ye of little faith.” — A saying Cynthia Drake lived by.

Cynthia was a woman of few words, with a “look” that spoke paragraphs, and a kind, giving essence that made you feel seen, heard, and loved.

In fact, if you ever visited Cynthia and her husband John on their 52-acre farmhouse in Portland, Jamaica, you were fed until you couldn’t move and left with the food you couldn’t carry. Fruits, vegetables, meat, plants—whatever you wanted, it was yours to take.

Cynthia firstly met John at church, where they quickly fell in love. Married in 1953 with just a single gold band, they were the epitome of true love. Every morning they would spend the first hour in bed listening to the radio, talking, and laughing. They would drink coffee on the veranda with crackers and jam, feeding the birds before retiring to the dining room for breakfast. They lived for each other, they loved each other, and although John was the head of the house, she was the neck that made the head turn.

Cynthia’s purpose in life was caring for others. She was a nurse, however, her husband wanted her to be a stay-at-home mother. As much as she honoured and respected her husband, she honoured and respected her purpose more, and sped down the streets of Portland to work every day. She loved and cared for others at work, and came home to love and care for her husband and five children.

Cynthia spends her remaining years in Portland with her husband, tending to the farm and caring for her plants and animals. Restoring faith in those who have lost it, calming their panic with her words: “Oh ye of little faith.”

It’s no secret that the rapidly accelerating ageing population has put pressure on the long-term care system in Canada. Statistics Canada indicates that the number of Canadians over 80 is projected to approximately triple in the next 25 years.

So the question is, are there enough long-term care beds for seniors in Canada?

Research published in the Canadian Institute for Health Information also announced that in Canada, there are approximately 2076 long-term care homes, and over half of the LTC homes are privately owned (54%). These LTC homes can provide around 198,220 long-term care beds, however, Canada has around 6,835,866 people aged 65 and older. So on average, for 1,000 seniors aged 65 and older in Canada, only 29 of them can have beds in the long-term care communities.

According to the Canadian Institute for Health Information, the incidence of dementia among Canadians aged 65 and older is more than doubling every five years. To be specific, about 1 in 100 seniors aged 65 to 69 have been diagnosed with dementia, and 1 in 4 seniors aged 85 and older have been diagnosed with dementia! Moreover, according to the Ontario Long Term Care Association, nearly 70% of seniors with dementia will need long-term care.

It’s not hard to see that long-term care resources are stretched thin, and our caregivers, who are working tirelessly day in and day out, somehow get the blame. Why is there no empathy towards our caregivers? Our leaders? We need to redefine what long-term care looks like from the outside looking in. That, of course, will take years, and support from all angles. In the meantime, caregivers, residents, and families need to connect and demonstrate empathy for all parties. How? Well, try CareStory. Scan Mr. Douglas Hughes’s QR code and experience the transformative power of how CareStory promotes empathy and connection.

Mr. Douglas Hughes QR Code

REFERENCES:
Policy Options
Ontario Long Term Care Association
Canadian Institute for Health Information

Seniors-Caregivers-and-Care-Staff-Cry-Me-a-River-1200x675.jpg

Can we talk about crying? And how healthy and therapeutic it is?

We are big criers over here, whether it be for the good, the bad, or the ugly.

Have you ever been watching a movie, or reading a book, and something just hit you? It reminded you of a past memory, or a present reality, or you were so attached to the characters that you just empathized with them?

One tear comes, then two, then seventy-two. Next thing you know, you can’t stop. Well, we are here to tell you that a good crying sesh is actually good for your health.

According to Penn Medicine, there are 5 good reasons for letting your tears flow:

Improve Your Mood. Research published at Frontiers in Psychology shows that brain releases feel-good chemicals such as oxytocin and endorphins when shedding tears. That’s why your mood may completely change after you cry out stress, anger, and pain.
Improve Your Vision. When we feel dehydrated, we drink water! Same as our eyes! When we cry, we not only release negative moods but also help to re-hydrate our eyes.
Help Protect Your Eyes. When we cry, we actually give our eyes a chance to cleanse themselves. Tears contain lysozyme, lysozyme is a powerful anti-bacterial chemical that helps fight infection caused by dust and dirt that enter our eyes without our consciousness.
Help Clean Your Nose. Probably you don’t know that our tear ducts are connected to the insides of our nose. That’s why we often have a runny nose when we cry! So similar to how tears flush out bacteria and irritants, crying can also flush out irritants from our noses.
Strengthen Your Relationship With Others. We tend to show our most vulnerable side only to the people who matter most, such as our parents, close friends, and partners. Why? Because we tend to avoid crying in front of others at all costs. When we actually cry in front of others, it’s the time we try to create a deeper emotional bond with them. We are inviting them to see another side of us, right?

So here at CareStory, we aren’t going to tell you to dry your tears. Instead, we will offer you a tissue. Do you still remember when you thought they were the most important people to you?

REFERENCES:
Harvard Health Publishing
Penn Medicine

“Asshole!”—If Violet Hughes calls you this, she likes you. 100%.

Vi was known for three things—loving her family, chewing gum, and being the life of the party. Vi loved to dance with her stiletto heels and red lipstick. In her younger years, you could find her at a local dance every Saturday night. In fact, this is where she met her husband, Doug. Truth is, she was dating someone else. But Doug apparently swept her off her stilettoed feet, and they were inseparable ever since.

From 1947 to 1949, Vi was the mascot for The Arcade Ladies softball team, winning the Maritime championship in 1947 and 1948. In four years, they won 90 out of 98 games, with a winning streak of 60 games in a row. This is still believed to be unsurpassed in Canadian softball, which landed them in the Nova Scotia Hall of Fame in 1999.

Vi was a stay-at-home mom to her five children until her youngest went to school. In 1971, she left Nova Scotia and uprooted her family to Toronto. She worked as a secretary for De Havilland Aircraft by day, and a supermom by night, driving her kids to and from activities and sporting events. She missed a lot of games because as she always said,

“By the time I dropped the last one off, the first one was ready to be picked up again.”

Vi returned to the Maritimes in 1975, where she worked for the Department of National Defense until she retired in 1992. In their first year back, they decided to build her dream home as a family, next to a quiet little lake in Lower Sackville. Working full-time during the day and until midnight, Vi and Doug, with their kids, finished the home in 1976.

Violet spends her remaining years watching the sunrise and feeding the ducks. She also waits for Doug to put in a pool because she is afraid of the lake critters nibbling on her toes.

Leaving you with her final sentiment: “Thanks for reading, assholes!”

So now you’ve gone from agitated to angry, and you have a resident with dementia in crisis mode. What do you do?

Let’s start with what you don’t do. How many times have you calmed down when you were upset just because someone told you to. Never, right? Us either. When my great grandmother was trying to flee the home because she felt like someone was after her, she certainly didn’t calm down when the nurses told her to.

Seniors with dementia are more likely to show agitated and aggressive behaviour. This we know. They may swear, scream, or even hit and bite others. These behaviours may be triggered by various factors, such as pain, changes in the environment, and being ignored. The key is knowing these triggers (enter CareStory ;)).

People with dementia may not understand how they can express their needs, and aggressive behaviour is one way to release frustration.

Here are some methods we have found to calm aggression in older adults with dementia:

Music!

A nice piece of music can help seniors calm down and activate more positive memories! Research from the Alzheimer’s Association also shows that music helps people release dopamine and ultimately triggers happiness :).

Aromatherapy!

We aren’t joking! It is scientifically proven. According to a study published by Cambridge University Press, using scents like lavender and lemon can significantly decrease behavioural issues in patients with dementia. These pleasant scents can help seniors become more focused and reduce their anxiety and hallucinations.

Touch and hold their hands!

As one of the most effective methods to increase trust, touch can build a warm relationship between the caregiver and the senior. With just a gentle hand pat, seniors suffering from dementia can perceive your kindness, slowly calm down and reduce their agitation. Moreover, holding hands can help seniors relax and feel more comfortable. You can either take their hand in a natural manner or offer your hands for them to hold.

Remember, be patient, and smile :). Try these methods; they will definitely aid your efforts to comfort seniors with dementia.

Here is also a fantabulous video we would like to share with you. Let’s check how Teepa Snow successfully de-escalates a dementia care crisis in a positive and empathetic way

REFERENCES:
Alzheimer’s Society
Five Star Senior Living
Alzheimer’s Association
Holmes, C. & Ballard C. (2018)
DailyCaring

“Never pick a fight with the ocean. The ocean will always win.”

Doug Hughes loved to cook; his dream was to be a chef in the Navy. When he turned 18, young Doug waited in line for what seemed like hours to apply to be a chef at the Navy Recruit Centre. But when he got to the front, he realized it was a line for deep-sea divers. Doug looked to his right and saw the line for chefs. It was even longer. So—this is the story of Doug Hughes, a deep-sea diver for over 35 years.

In 1971, Doug left Nova Scotia and moved to Toronto, starting work with the Toronto Bomb Squad Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) and becoming a member of the Experimental Diving Unit. This is where he developed and worked with the hyperbaric chamber to provide treatments for gangrene and diving ailments such as decompression sickness, or in other words, the bends. Yes, he was, for lack of a better word, a guinea pig who voluntarily got the bends hundreds of times to ensure that the hyperbaric chamber provided adequate oxygen therapy treatment.

As the years went on, Doug felt that although he was friends with the sea, he wanted to be acquainted with the sky, too. He went in for a physical, one of the requirements before becoming a pilot, and they found a large tumor behind his heart. If it wasn’t for his physical, he would have been dead in six months. After open-heart surgery and three months of recovery, Doug was back at sea with a clean bill of health.

Back at sea

He returned to the Maritimes in 1975, and was coxswain of the HMCS Cormorant from 1981-1986. One day, while the McKay Bridge was being built, Doug and several other divers were using a large vacuum to remove boulders from the ocean floor. Tragically, before his own eyes, one of his friends got caught in the current and was killed after the strength of the vacuum disfigured and dismantled his body. From then, also battling extensive arthritis, he became chief instructor at the Fleet Diving Unit training school and remained in the FDU(A) until his retirement.

Doug spent his remaining years with his wife Vi on a lake in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia where they raised their five children. Water, as he said, a friend and foe, surrounded him always.

Leaving you with his favorite saying;

“See you on the bottom!”

The New Normal

Since the pandemic, we have been relying more and more on technology, therefore changing our day-to-day routines. Change, while scary, can also be good, and as a result, be exactly what we need.

When introducing new technology into any long-term care community, certainly, there are going to be some challenges. On the other hand, once you get the hang of it, there is no going back. In many ways, incorporating technology in senior living has become the new normal. Let’s take a look at four popular trends we have seen in caregiving technology since early 2020.

Interactive Platforms

Firstly, let’s discuss Interactive Platforms.

As professionals in senior living, we collect a lot of data. This data can consist of seniors’ personal information, health records, medications, and physical examination reports, for instance. Interactive platforms store and organize data for you, and as a result, can improve care management efficiency!

Voice-Enabled Interfaces

Let’s move on to Voice-Enabled Interfaces.

“Hi, Siri!” “OK, Google!” Sound familiar? These devices can comprehend, interpret, and even anticipate our needs. Yes, we said anticipate. Creepy? Definitely. Convenient? Definitely. Seniors need the convenience of speech recognition technology just as much as we do. According to a report published by Orlov’s Aging and Health Technology Industry in 2019, speech recognition technology will continue to be be everywhere in senior living because voice-enabled interfaces help seniors and caregivers have a better understanding of the seniors’ health conditions.

Remote Monitoring/Telehealth

Next, let’s discuss Remote Monitoring and Telehealth.

As you know, it’s the remote work era. How many Zoom meetings have you attended wearing pyjama pants? The correct answer is “all of them”. Currently, Telehealth technologies can monitor and manage health records at a distance, so caregivers can not only provide diagnoses remotely. Furthermore, care staff can also quickly access resources and documents they need, such as video conferencing, virtual reality training programs, and online chatting and booking systems.

Assistive Technologies

Finally, let’s review Assistive Technologies.

Research at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine mentioned that assistive technologies have a great effect on those involved in senior living, especially in the care of people with disabilities. This technology can support people with vision, hearing, and mobility limitations. Common devices include smart glasses, which provides navigation for people with vision impairments, and smart hearing devices, which adjusts the sound of the environment around the user.

Now What?

Have we missed any?

In short, technology is currently shaping our experiences of living, ageing, and caregiving, and consequently, will help to change the narrative and perception of long-term care. CareStory believes that senior living will continue to evolve with emerging technologies, and therefore update outdated policies and procedures.

REFERENCES:
https://academic.oup.com/gerontologist/article/60/Supplement_1/S41/5735605#198949062
https://betterhealthwhileaging.net/tools-for-caregivers-keeping-organizing-medical-information/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31107599/
http://www.seniorhelpers.ca/blog/new-technology-making-seniors-safer-at-home

Happy Monday! It’s Senior Story time again!

Rain or shine, snow or sleet, if you were inside, Mary Shute told you to “get out”. I don’t blame her—she had 11 children.

Born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Mary was the glue that held her entire family together, catering to her husband, Ralph, first. She made sure that he came home to fresh, hot food and busy kids, after a long day’s work.

Had a sweet tooth? No problem. You’ll get your fix anywhere in the house, with numerous selections of Robertson’s Candy, popular in the Maritimes around Christmas, such as chicken bones, ribbon candy, and clear-toy suckers, displayed beautifully in crystal bowls.

Every year on Pancake Day, also known as Shrove Tuesday, Mary would fry you up some delicious pancakes stuffed with coins (wrapped in wax paper) to sponsor your trip to the local convenience store in search of penny candy.

At Christmas, she would stuff her husband’s woolen socks with fruit, nuts, and candy for each child’s stocking, and hand you the Sears catalog to choose one, yes one, toy.

Mary was kind, and giving (what she was able to give) and was very much stubborn… in all the best ways. One year, her son and daughter-in-law gave her a scratch ticket inside her birthday card, and she won $500. She thought it was only fair to split the winnings with them, as they were the ones who purchased the ticket for her.

Mary was dependable, protective, and family-oriented: a woman who got things done.

She spent a number of years after Ralph’s retirement at their lakeside cottage, before her battle with Alzheimer’s. Rumor has it, she’s currently telling other seniors at the nursing home to go out and play.

Feeling Forgetful?

Have you ever walked into a room and forgotten what you went in there for? Yeah, us too. It’s normal. You may have even heard of “senior moments”, and probably have experienced them. As a result of getting older, we will all see more and more memory issues, but how do you know if your memory loss is part of the natural ageing process, or a symptom of dementia?

The fact is, early-onset dementia does often goes undiagnosed because initial symptoms are too similar to those of senior moments to be distinguished. As a result, when people experience memory issues, they are often very fearful that they are experiencing dementia.

Senior Moments vs. Dementia

Again, memory loss is quite normal, and the incidence of dementia is low. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), nearly 40% of the elderly population will experience some form of memory loss after 65 years of age. However, only 5 to 8% of them live with dementia.

As we age, our memories may start to get foggy, and some may even begin to fade. If seniors find themselves experiencing a bit of memory loss, misplacing items and forgetting names here and there for instance, you can assure them that they are most likely not experiencing dementia. Forgetting the name of an old friend is not a sign of dementia, but forgetting who your son is might be. Moreover, if your friends and family are more aware of your memory issues than you are, it might be a sign of dementia.

How to Differentiate Between Normal Ageing and Dementia

Let’s compare some signs of normal ageing memory loss and signs of dementia together so that we can have a clearer picture. Now, we are not doctors and by no means experts in dementia so these are just guidelines. If you really are concerned, please visit your doctor to have further discussions!

Signs of Memory Loss Due to the Natural Ageing Process

Unable to recall the content of conversations or details of events that took place a long time ago.
Fail to recall the name of an acquaintance.
Forget and slowly recall dates, things and events occasionally.
“Tip of the tongue,” trouble finding words in conversations.
Executive functions remain normal, but have longer cognitive processing and reaction time.
You are worried about your memory, but your families and friends are not.

Signs of Dementia

Forget recent events details or conversations content.
Repeat the same conversations.
Unable to recognize or know the names of family members.
Forget things, events and appointments more frequently.
Trouble coming up with the desired words in conversations and have frequent pauses and substitutions when finding words.
Unable to perform complex daily tasks
Your friends and relatives are worried about your memory, but you are not aware of these issues.

Attention! Not all symptoms are listed here. If you find yourself having some of the signs, please visit professionals and ask for help!

Preventative Measures

According to the American Academy of Neurology’s practice guideline, aerobic exercise is one of the best methods to maintain brain health. Take 30 minutes out of your day to exercise! Swimming, brisk walking, jogging, gardening, and cycling, for instance, are some recommended aerobic exercises for seniors.

Cardio workouts not only help seniors with memory loss, but also help lower blood pressure, enhance the health of the heart, and improve sleep quality. It’s never too late to start exercising, and there is always time to stay up-to-date on the latest resources of geriatric diseases. Together, we can beat this.

REFERENCES:
https://www.retiredbrains.com/senior-moments.html
https://www.bridgesbyepoch.com/resources/educational-resources/day-life-someone-dementia-1537298462
https://www.helpforalzheimersfamilies.com/learn/preserve-memories/capturing-memories-someone-alzheimers/
https://www.bayshore.ca/resources/dementia-strategies-tips-for-communication/
https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/dementia
https://alzheimer.ca/en/about-dementia/do-i-have-dementia/differences-between-normal-aging-dementia
https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/11826-memory-problems-what-is-normal-aging-and-what-is-not

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