When it comes to eldercare, you’ll see that the following alert requires immediate family intervention and assistance.

We know that Alzheimer’s Disease is a progressive and fatal brain disease. People with this ailment have memory, behavior and thinking problems. Alzheimer’s, insidious by its very nature, has been found even it its earliest stages to affect financial decision making and the capacity to resist fraudulent schemes.

A recent study conducted by the University of Alabama at Birmingham compared healthy elderly adults with elderly adults diagnosed with mild Alzheimer’s. Both groups were given a number of financial planning-type tasks. These tasks ranged from simple financial concepts like identifying coins and their values to more complex ones like describing investment options and returns. Conclusions of the study determined that financial capacity is significantly impaired in patients diagnosed with mild Alzheimer’s. This impairment grows exponentially in just a one-year period. Decline in the ability to perform both simple and complex tasks is significant.

If you suspect or know that a family member is in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, there is an immediate need to see that financial supervision and planning is available for them.

Eldercare can be involved … this should be a priority for family members.

Gerri Tyber
Operations Manager, Barton Home Care

Neurologists say that if they can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours they can totally reverse the effects of a stroke. The trick is recognizing stroke symptoms, diagnosing and then administering proper medical treatment within that 3-hour period. Speed is everything.

Someone came up with a potent 3-step process that can make all the difference. Since the symptoms of a stroke can be difficult to identify, awareness of the 3-step process can possibly avert brain damage and even death. Remember the acronym S.T.R.

S - stands for SMILE … ask the individual to smile.

T - stands for TALK … and to speak a simple sentence coherently. “It’s sunny out today” as an example.

R - stands for RAISE BOTH ARMS.

If the individual has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 911 immediately and describe the signs of the stroke to the dispatcher. A new sign of a stroke … STICK OUT YOUR TONGUE. Ask the individual to stick out their tongue and if it’s crooked, goes to one side or the other, that is also a sign of a stroke.

As a home care professional in the Denver area, we have helped folks suffering from the effects of a stroke and it’s challenging, not to mention the suffering these folks endure. Quick action can help to maintain a better quality of life (and possibly prevent death) for someone prone to strokes … raise your awareness and be prepared to help someone exhibiting these warning signs.

Click on this link for more information regarding strokes and elderly care for the Denver Metro area.

Tom Barton

Owner, Barton Home Care

The Alzheimer’s Association has defined several common warning signs that may indicate the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease. People demonstrating several of these symptoms should consult a physician for a full examination and evaluation. Some common indicators are listed below.

Difficulties with abstract thinking like bill paying or performing basic calculations. Previously simple tasks like balancing a checkbook become very challenging or impossible.

Familiar chores, like preparing meals, become unfamiliar and difficult to perform. Someone with Alzheimer’s may cook dinner and then forget to serve it or forget that they even cooked it in the first place.

Diminished judgment leading to poor wardrobe choices or shopping purchases, etc.

Language issues—struggling for the right word and sometimes substituting inappropriate ones.

Consistently misplacing common objects like keys or glasses, beyond the scope of normal. Often these misplaced items turn up in totally inappropriate places, i.e., a remote in the refrigerator with no recall at all of how it ended up there.

Dramatic personality and mood swings may occur. Someone who is normally a passive personality may suddenly become very aggressive and outspoken.

There may be loss of time and place and general disorientation. An individual with Alzheimer’s may become lost in what should be a familiar place—like on their own street.

Loss of interest and involvement in usual pursuits, whether they be personal, social or professional. Someone who formerly enjoyed the Christmas holidays may now exhibit no interest in them at all.

Repeated memory loss that impacts the workplace and causes confusion at home.