The Importance Of Vaccinations For National Immunization Awareness Month
Even though it’s still summertime, fall is right around the corner.
For all of us, staying healthy requires effort. Lifestyle choices, such as health-conscious dieting and daily exercise, play a huge part in managing disease and prolonging a healthy lifestyle! However, sometimes diet and exercise aren’t enough, especially for at-risk populations. Preventing disease and infections are more effective when also linked with routine vaccinations.
August is National Immunization Awareness Month, which was developed to highlight the value of immunization. This month serves to educate and highlight the benefits of vaccine protection for seniors and people managing chronic illnesses, all while encouraging people to take steps to avoid preventable infections.
Depression Among the Elderly: Warning Signs Can be Easy to Miss
As summer becomes fall and the days grow shorter and cooler, many people—especially those who are elderly and homebound—can experience a bit of an emotional turn. For most of us, this seasonal “depression” is quite normal, and presents no cause for concern. But it’s good to be mindful of a few common symptoms that might indicate more serious depression, because, when they are overlooked, they can lead to bigger issues.
Depression is not a normal part of aging. Depression interferes with your daily life. Depression can often trigger a downward spiral that can result in a series of health issues. Many people suffering from depression never seek treatment but the majority, even those with the most severe depression, can get better with treatment! Medications and other methods can effectively treat people with depression.
Donating Blood: A Precious Gift
Donating blood is one of the most precious gifts you can give to another person. When you donate blood, you give the gift of life. A decision to donate blood can save a life, or even several if your blood is separated into its components — red cells, platelets and plasma — which can be used individually for patients with specific conditions.
There is a constant need for individuals to donate blood because blood can only be stored for a limited time before it needs to be used. Regular blood donations by a sufficient number of healthy people are needed to ensure that safe blood will be available whenever and wherever it is needed!
If you have been thinking about becoming a blood donor, or you have given blood before and would like another opportunity to donate again, we are hosting a Community Blood Drive on Wednesday, August 17th from 8:00am-1:00pm! The address of the event is 26 State Avenue (Suite 102) in Carlisle, PA.
For some, the experience of donating blood is very personal. For others, the thought of donating blood can be a bit intimidating. In honor of our blood drive, here are a few things to know in advance to help you prepare:
The Pressure Is On: Getting Your Blood Pressure Under Control
Beat by beat, your heart forces blood to circulate through your body, delivering oxygen to vital organs and tissues so that your body can function properly. These levels are referred to as your blood pressure and good blood pressure levels are key indicators of good health. However, if you experience higher blood pressure you aren’t alone – almost 68 million Americans have high blood pressure.
Before talking about what you can do to stay healthy, let’s look at why maintaining good blood pressure (under 120/80) is so important. The reason that high blood pressure can be dangerous is because your heart is pumping blood faster than it should, which, over time, can damage your heart and the walls of your arteries.
Unfortunately, there are no tell-tale signs or symptoms of high blood pressure, although some people may experience dizziness or headaches. When left untreated, high blood pressure leads to a variety of serious and even life-threatening complications. These include: stroke, heart attack, aneurysms, impaired kidney function, and trouble with memory and cognition.
Let’s talk numbers.
The Perks Of Aging
Have you ever heard this saying? When you’re young you have time and energy, but no money. When you’re middle-aged, you have energy and money, but no time. And when you’re old, you have time and money, but no energy.
It is this view of the different stages of life that oftentimes causes people to fear getting older. But truth be told, there are many people who still look forward to aging – and to those who are, we salute you! read more…
Exactly How Important Is Sunscreen?
There are a lot of questions out there lately about sunscreen. Is it good? Is it bad? Here’s what we’ve learned.
First let’s talk about Vitamin D. Most people can fulfill their daily vitamin D requirements with normal daily activities amounting to 30 minutes outdoors twice per week. Equally, a healthy vitamin D rich diet of fish, milk, dairy, liver, eggs and vitamin D supplementation provides daily requirements. Prolonged sun exposure gives no extra production of necessary vitamin D, and it exposes the skin to the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation which includes development of skin cancers.
One must also be aware of sun exposure when taking certain medications. There are many medications which may make the skin extra susceptible to sun. These include anti-inflammatory, cardiovascular, and acne medications. Oral medications Doxycycline and Minocycline used in the treatment of acne may cause skin problems when exposed to direct and prolonged UV.
What about spray on sunscreens and expired sunscreens.
The Benefits of Walking
What’s simple, fun, and free exercise? Taking a walk!
The beauty of walking as exercise is that it takes no equipment, pricey gym memberships, or trainers and boasts a long list of benefits, including a reduced risk of some diseases and a general improvement in health. Walking is also low risk, easier on the joints than running, and can be done by almost any person of any age.
Here are just a few of the many benefits of walking that are hard to ignore:
Reasons Families Fight About Senior Home Health Care
Caring for an aging loved one can be one of the most stressful family milestones. The sheer difficulty of the task, its high cost, as well as underlying family issues, can create a perfect storm of discontent. But, when families put aside their differences and work together as a team for the best interest of their elderly loved one, they are often able to overcome this challenge and assure that their parents have the happiest remainder of life possible.
Here are 10 reasons families fight about senior care, and advice about how to prevent these types of conflicts:
Home Modification For Ageing Parents
Whether your ageing parents are choosing to remain independent in the comfort of their own home or are planning to combine lifestyles with you and your family, it’s important to think about the safety and comfort as you prepare the home modification process.
Modifying a home to meet the needs of your parent will greatly depend on what types of challenges they are facing. Our team has compiled a helpful list of home modification tips that they have seen through experience that will help you as you begin the first steps.
Here a few home modifications that are proven to increase safety read more…
Traveling Tips for the Elderly
Traveling with older adults can be a rich and fulfilling experience for the entire family. Yes, it involves added responsibilities and a few compromises, but the time you spend discovering new things and sharing experiences with your elders is something you — and your children — will cherish for a lifetime.
In addition to the usual packing lists and numerous confirmation codes you’ll need to know, seniors have specific health and lifestyle needs that could shake up your travel itinerary a bit. If you are currently planning a summer getaway with a grandparent, here are a few things to keep in mind:
Schedule a doctor visit before your trip.
First, there are the health concerns to consider before traveling.