By Alen Cauller

We get so busy taking care of others and our careers that we tend to forget ourselves. Many people consider taking care of self as self indulgence. Not anymore. Self care helps us to improve our relationship with others, changes our outlook towards life, helps us to venture new dimensions and think positively.

Ideas For Self Care

Here are few tips for self care which you could try at home.

• Always try express your feelings. Never suppress them. It is important to share your happiness or sadness with your close friends and other family members.

• Find time for some activity which refreshes your body and mind. Activities could be indoor or outdoor play. Remember ‘All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy’.

• Avoid comparing yourself with other people as that could lead to self-disgust. Never under-estimate yourself. It’s better to have a role model in life to help you improve.

• Learn to say ‘no’ to others when you are forced to do something against your will.

• Find time for exercising like a walk, cycling or even climbing the stairs. This helps to refresh your mind and body. An exercise helps to change your mood.

• Always remember everybody commits mistake and no man is perfect. So, it is fine to commit mistakes as you learn from them.

• Never let others rule you or expect high from you. Always try to do your best rather than living according to others expectations.

• Try to laugh. Never miss a chance to laugh at yourself. Laughing is the best and cheapest tonic for good health.

• Try to be a kind and compassionate person to others. Try to encourage others in their efforts as this will help to boost your self-esteem.

• Cultivate a hobby in your life. Hobbies help to unleash and improve your creativity. This adds zest to your life.

• Most important thing in self care is to find time for spiritual life. Always find time for a silent pray as it provides courage to face difficulties in life. Be grateful to the Almighty for His blessings.

• Find time to relax to ward off all your tensions and worries. Keeping your eyes closed and doing deep breathing
while relaxing helps a lot. When relaxing try to find a place that is comfortable and provides you complete relaxation.

• Try creating a supporting and loving environment in your home. Organize all the things in their own place so that you need not waste precious time and energy searching for them. And also try to fill your home especially your room with things you like a lot.

• Always be grateful to others who have helped you. Never miss a chance to thank them for their help.

• Try to forgive others who have harmed you. Also, never forget to say sorry to others if you have hurt them.

• Reading motivational and inspirational books or articles can help to boost your motivation.

Try to indulge in self care once in a while. Remember life is lived just once, so live it to the fullest.

An assisted living care facility is specifically meant to assist elderly people in their day-to-day tasks. However, moving your parents or a loved one to such a facility might not be required if you follow some simple home self care rules and principles.

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Visit us at www.sonomahomecare.com if you need help for an aging loved one in the area this winter season.

Many family members take loans, skip vacations and often ignore their own health. Government must start providing tax deductions and tax credits to family caregivers.

The expenditures incurred for elderly health care is increasing rapidly and reaching astronomical heights. Elders have many special needs when it comes to health care. One is often left frustrated when there are gaps in insurance coverage. Medicare programs offer only minimal assistance for serious health disorders.

There are some programs that cover senior citizens. It covers hospital expenses and doctor visits, even if you continue to work. All one needs to do is pay a premium every month. These programs are popular among a vast number of senior citizens.

One needs to apply for these programs before one reaches the age of 65. In case you don’t then one has to pay a high premium. One also has the option of enrolling for these programs after retirement.

The premium that one pays depends on your income and which company you will be purchasing coverage from. Senior citizens with low income are also eligible for the entire coverage under Medicare.

Prescription drugs which are used to treat a wide variety of diseases and illness are fully covered if one has a private insurance coverage. If you do not have private insurance, this could be matter of serious concern. Sometimes drug prices are simply not affordable, forcing the senior citizens to forgo other needs to pay for drugs.

Recent Medicare legislation has been a big disappointment for senior citizens, as drug coverage continues to be limited and fails to reduce the rising cost of drugs. Many seniors are forced to manage their medical plan on their own.

At times, the drug industry provides free drugs to the needy who are not covered under private insurance or any government program. Retail stores in the vicinity provide drugs at discounted rates. There are various medicine manufacturing companies that offer assistance to lower income senior citizens. One can seek out these discount programs if they have a financial need.

Katie Appleby is an accomplished niche website developer and author.

To learn more about the cost of elderly health care, please visit Senior Health Today for current articles and discussions.

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Visit us at www.sonomahomecare.com if you have any questions, or need help with an aging loved one in the area.

• January 7th – Gio Benedetti Trio
• January 14th -  Pianist Susan Sutton with bassist Bill Fouty
• January 21st – Bassist Chris Amberger Duo
• January 28th – Saxaphonist Peter Yellin

All Concerts Sponsored by:

Sonoma homecare

www.sonomahomecare.com

(707) 938-7371

(707) 939-8379 fax

Caregivers and Multi-tasking: Holidays Can Push People Caring for Elderly Parents to the Max

Carol Bradley Bursack

If one can believe the old Westerns, frontier women multitasked by rocking a cradle with their foot to quiet a squalling baby, while pounding out bread dough with her fists, bossing a full crew young kids and maybe dodging a few bullets. Oh, yeah, since it was just days before Christmas, she would also be trying to knit a scarf for her husband during odd bits of time.

That scenario sounds like a walk in the park to some modern caregivers, especially those known as the sandwich generation because they are raising children while caring for their parents. At this time of the year, nearly every parent has one, if not several, school holiday programs to attend, plus church or other religious programs they want their children to participate in. Many have a full-time job, which often requires attendance at office functions outside of work hours, not to mention festivities during work time that pretty much require a big smile and a batch of home-made cookies. Is this your story?

Continue reading HERE

December 3, 2009 Sonoma, CA

Sonoma Homecare has received the prestigious ‘Home Care Aide Organization Certification’ from the California Association for Health Services at Home (CAHSAH).

Home Care Aide Organizations are the only unlicensed, unregulated health care services in California. In fact, the only requirement to provide home care services in a person’s home is a Business license.

As home care continues to become the nation’s fastest growing industry, Sonoma homecare and CAHSAH strive to promote the utmost in quality care.  This Certification Program was developed to create minimum standards for the home care industry. These standards seek to protect the consumer, home care aide and home care organization. Without oversight and accountability, many consumers and family members pay the price as they place caregivers into their loved one’s homes believing the person entering their home has been thoroughly screened, trained and properly insured.

Sonoma Homecare will continue to advocate for high standards and accountability from all homecare providers. Together with CAHSAH, we will continue to bring important home care policies to our legislatures to protect consumers, families and home care workers throughout California.

Sonoma Homecare is proud to be recognized as an exemplary agency in California and is confident in our ability to provide vital services throughout the community.

For more information on Sonoma Homecare or CAHSAH’s Home Care Aide Certification, call Sonoma Homecare at 707 938 7371 or email at info@sonomahomecare.com.

In addition, please visit www.sonomahomecare.com or www.cahsah.org.

Contact person: Genevieve Ladha

(ARA) – The new year often means resolutions like being healthier or exercising more often. What many people don’t know is that our joints are the critical part of the body that allows us to be active and do the activities we most enjoy.

Approximately one-third of Americans 35 and older say their joints prevent them from doing their favorite sport or activity in the last year and more than 50 percent of them just accepted that as part of the aging process, according to a recent study. The good news is there are simple and effective steps you can take to strengthen and protect these “forgotten soldiers” – ensuring your joints a healthy kick-off to an active year.

Dr. Kevin R. Stone, an orthopedic surgeon at the Stone Clinic and founder of the Stone Research Foundation and Joint Juice, a San Francisco-based joint health beverage company, offers five tips for helping to maintain healthy joints:

1. Manage your weight – You won’t just look better – you’ll feel better. Every extra pound puts four times the stress on your knees and other weight-bearing joints. Even a small amount of weight loss will give your joints relief.

2. Be supplement savvy – Dietary supplements like glucosamine have been proven to help maintain joint function and mobility. Glucosamine is produced naturally in the body, but due to the physical demands of everyday life (let alone running, tennis or even walking), our body’s supply is often not enough. Joint Juice beverages provide an easy way to drink your daily supply of glucosamine and avoid having to swallow two big horse pills a day.

3. Stretch – Stretching isn’t just for workouts. Take breaks throughout the day, especially at the office, to get re-energized. Range-of-motion exercises are a good way to keep muscles and ligaments flexible and strong.

4. Use good technique – When sitting, standing and especially when lifting, using the proper technique will prevent fatigue and injury. Ask an expert if you don’t know how to do it, but be sure to assess your technique for these simple daily activities.

5. Make a date with your doctor – See a physician for a routine check-up at least once a year. Request an examination of your joints – from head to toe – and ask for tips on protecting your joints from daily stress.

Courtesy of ARAcontent

Visit us at www.sonomahomecare.com for help with an aging senior in the area.

Holiday Visits: A Time When Adult Children May Notice a Decline with Their Aging Parents

As the holidays approach, many long distance caregivers are now planning visits to their aging loved ones – perhaps the first opportunity in several months to personally observe older relatives.

And the number of caregivers considered long distance is significant. According to a study conducted by the National Alliance of Caregiving, in collaboration with AARP, 15% of the estimated 34 million Americans who provide care to older family members live an hour or more away from their relative.

Continue reading HERE

The holidays can cause large amounts of stress for people caring for elderly parents. In addition to caregiving duties, they now add shopping, holiday parties and family gatherings to a never-ending to-do list.

The Agingcare.com community has seen an increase in stress-related issues on our discussion boards. One AgingCare member said, “I feel more stressed every year…It starts before Thanksgiving and lasts through the New Year. Holiday planning always falls on my shoulders. Last year, Mom was in the hospital, which added to the stress. I keep promising myself to get more involved in something other than caregiving…to recharge myself.”

Here is some advice for weary caregivers.

Continue reading HERE

Visit us at www.sonomahomecare.com for help with an aging loved one this holiday season.

Jacqueline Marcell

Recently I received a call from Michelle, an exasperated adult daughter asking if there was any legal way to get her elderly father to stop yelling, screaming and berating her, and to accept a caregiver so she could move out of his house. She had moved in to help him after her mom passed, but was now trapped as he refused to move to assisted living or accept live-in help.

Michelle started to cry, saying she had just called an agency where a man “laughed at me,” saying her father could do whatever he wished in his own home short of physically abusing her. Since I have survived the same situation with my own father, I knew the misery she was going through.

Continue reading HERE: 

As always, visit us at www.sonomahomecare.com if you need help caring for an aging parent in the area.

Top 10 Ways to Celebrate National Family Caregivers Month 2009

There are many ways to celebrate family caregivers and to take action and communicate the important messages of NFC Month.

The following are ideas and guides to help you create a successful National Family Caregivers Month in your community:

1. Offer a few hours of respite time to a family caregiver so they spend time with friends, or simply relax.
2. Send a card of appreciation or a bouquet of flowers to brighten up a family caregiver’s day.
3. Encourage local businesses to offer a free service for family caregivers through the month of November.
4. Participate in the National Family Caregivers Association’s FREE national teleclass: Safe & Sound: How to Prevent Medication Mishaps The free one hour teleclass/webinar will be November 12 at 2 p.m. ET. For more information visit: www.thefamilycaregiver.org.
5. Help a family caregiver decorate their home for the holidays or offer to address envelopes for their holiday cards.
6. Offer comic relief! Purchase tickets to a local comedy club, give a family caregiver your favorite funny movie to view, or provide them an amusing audio book to listen to while doing their caregiving activities.
7. Find 12 different family photos and have a copy center create a monthly calendar that the family caregiver can use to keep track of appointments and events.
8. Offer to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for a caregiving family in your community, so they can just relax and enjoy the holiday.
9. A United States postage stamp honoring the more than 50 million family caregivers in America is officially “under consideration” by the U.S. Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee for introduction as early as 2011. Sign the petition at www.thefamilycaregiver.org and ask others to sign the petition letter.
10. Help a family caregiver find information and resources on the internet or to locate a local support group.

 Original content can be found HERE.