Innovative Nursing, Nurses and Sitters

Are you one of the people who shortens or puts off vacations all together because of the worry and logististics of elder care? I used to be one of them– until I discovered a few simple steps to make taking time off alot less complicated and worry free.

Anyone who is a caregiver needs time away from the care-recipient, whether they think so or not. It is not only revitalizing for the caregiver, but done right and with a little planning, it should be a vacation for the care-recipient as well.  Take a few minutes to review our article on Vacation and Respite Care.

I would love to hear your ideas. Or if you need some help planning your time off, I can be reached at 713.523.2329 or jane@innovativenursing.com

Bon Voyage,

Jane Seger

Assisted living services provide seniors an opportunity to retain their independence for longer and remain in the comfort of their own homes. It delays, and may eliminate, the disruption and expense of a move from familiar surroundings into new, and, frequently, less comfortable, spaces. You owe it to yourself and to the elderly family member you are caring for to look into the benefits and feasibility of an assisted living arrangement.

You can read a short example of what assisted living actually provides and what it can offer to a beloved senior.

The beginning of a new year is a good time to think ahead about what you need to know to care for the senior and elderly members of your family. We have prepared a number of informational articles addressing different issues that one faces when caring for the elderly in home settings. To see what we have available to help you, go to the index of articles about senior health care and browse some of the titles there. We offer such topics as ways to show your family member that you care for them. Seniors frequently suffer from depression and need compassionate understanding to help them cope with the new challenges they face as they age.

Many elderly persons compound the difficulties they face when they fall, and we provide some ideas about fall prevention precautions that you can take to avoid this complication.

Other articles in our selection address different problems that one might face, all written by our professional staff who has extensive experience in helping seniors coppe with the problems of their later years.

With the holiday season in full swing, it is important to not lose sight of safety issues around the home. In all the hubbub of families coming and going, with children and grandchildren scurrying about excitedly, elders can be overlooked easily, but an accident can be very disruptive to a celebration, and can be serious with seniors.

Take a moment from your busy schedule to look over our elder care home safety checklist to make sure that the important people in your life will not have unexpected problems during this period.

The many activities associated with the season can also make it more difficult for your senior patients to get about the community to take care of their routine needs. This might be a good time to look into an elder care transportation package to relieve some of the burden of chauffeuring by family members.

Whatever your needs for help in caring for your senior and elder loved ones, we stand ready to support you. Call Susan now to find out what we can offer!

Halloween is upon us, and we all have special concerns with the season. Our children who are in the neighborhood “Trick or Treating” are definitely on our minds, but we cannot forget our elders, who shepherded us safely through the holiday and now are in need of our help and attention.

We have created a short checklist for your use whenever you are thinking about moving your loved one from one location to another. Read over our suggestions for transferring an elder patient safely before you attempt the maneuver. It could save you or your patient from embarrassment or injury!

INS Supervisor Jane Seger spoke to the Case Manager’s Association luncheon today at The Methodist Hospital. About fifty case managers were in attendance and the topic was Managing Chronic Diseases while Avoiding Re-hospitalizations.

Innovative Nurses recommends sending patients home after a hospitalization with an INS caregiver. Our caregivers are specially trained in post hospitaliztion care. We will pick up the patient at the hospital, take her home, pick up new perscriptions at the pharmacy, write an updated medicine list, make follow-up doctor’s appointments, prepare a meal and whatever else is necessary for the patient to have a good start for recovery. Four, eight and twent-four hour packages are available. Click on this link for more information about our Recovery Care program,  or contact us at 713.523.2329 if we can be of service.

We have been posting material to our Facebook pages to try to broaden our reach to include more people in our community who need assistance with their elder care. We encourage you to try us out on Facebook and “Like” us when you see us there! Doing this will help us to reach more people who spend time on Facebook and have a need for our support.

If you have an account on Facebook, the next time you are on, go to the top of the page and search for several terms that we have created material for. These include “in home care” (which should bring up a page reading “In Home Care for Seniors and Elders”), “respite care”, “live in care”, or just “Innovative Nurses and Sitters”. When you get to our page, look for the “Like” button near the top and give it a quick click! This helps Facebook to recognize that our page is of interest to people and give us a boost in the rankings! We appreciate it greatly!!

Also, on the right hand side of the page, there is a link where you can “recommend Us”. That is another way to give us a hand!

We are also interested in what you think about our efforts. Drop us a note and let us know how we are doing. You can always reach us through our Contact Us page.

We encourage our friends and clients to write reviews about our in home and elder care services, and have a page on our site where we list several places on the web where we are represented and reviews are accepted.

Located on the West Loop South near the 59 interchange, we are ideally located to provide superior in home care to our clients in the Bellaire and Greater Houston area. For those in need of care provided in the comfort of their own home, and for caregivers providing that care, but who need occasional breaks, we offer a wide range of convenient and professional services.

In home care allows the elder person who needs support to remain in the comfort and familiarity of their own home. They are not forced to deal with the many adjustments in life style that accompany moving to another facility, either the home of a relative, where they must fit into the household routine of another family, or to a nursing facility of some type with its own impersonal regimen.

We invite you to check us out by reading one of our reviews on Superpages, or other reviews of our elder and senior care services that were sent directly to us.

When an elderly patient is returning home from a hospital stay, it can be very helpful to have someone with experience in making this transition available as part of the team. We offer packages for this service as part of our regular offering of support, and are ready to assist caregivers with a project that is a little out of the ordinary.

Handling a senior recovering from a hospital stay can be awkward in terms of relatively simple things like getting to a vehicle, then getting in and out of the vehicle without introducing further complications. Getting back into a home may present problems with steps and doorways that were not problems prior to the hospital stay. Experience in dealing with these kinds of-issues can make the transition much easier and more comfortable for everyone involved and can set the stage for effective ongoing care in the home.

For more information, take a look at our Hospital to Home Package description on our web site, where we provide a short checklist of items that could require extra attention in this transition.

We have been hearing a lot from the Sandwich Generation this week—individuals who are caring for children at home as well as aging parents. Popular thought suggests that parents are happy to release custody of their children during the day to school. But getting children back into the swing of a new school year takes its toll on parents as well, adding a new regimen and structure to daily life.   When families are also taking care of an elderly loved one, the back to school process can really put the squeeze on. Please see our article Back to School: The Sandwich Generation.

In my own case, I try to bring my sister– for whom I provide care—into the new school year universe.

I show her the new school clothes and the new schedule. We talk about the inordinate amount of assignments and school issues I am concerned about. When I have to spend less time with her, she understands the reasons and can empathize because I brought her into the process. A small bit of communication can make transitions easier for the whole family.

If you’re feeling the back-to-school-squeeze and need assistance with in-home care, transportation or respite care, please contact us 713.523.2329. We are here to help.