Positive Aging Starts
with Daily Activities
Eating, sleeping, bathing, toileting, grooming, moving about, and taking medication are the Activities of Daily Living.
Positive Aging Starts
with Daily Activities
Eating, sleeping, bathing, toileting, grooming, moving about,
and taking medication are the Activities of Daily Living.
A daily routine goes
something like this…
Wake up and go to the toilet
Brush your teeth and wash your face
Shower or bathe
Get dressed
Eat breakfast
Take your pills
All of these are activities of daily living!
How to use a Voice-First Device for Routines & Reminders
14M
senior adults live alone in US
52%
with multiple chronic health conditions over age 65
29.2%
Americans living alone having difficulty with ADLs
1st Step
Dressing and Grooming
Our needs are based on where we live, our chronic health conditions, whatever acute illness we are suffering, if any, the support around us and many other factors. Our decades of life are like rings on a tree which makes some old trees strong and other vulnerable to disease or disaster. Let’s take a close look at some daily activities and strategies for managing them.
2nd Step
Follow Your Care Plan
Doctors prescribe medication. Pharmacists dispense medication. It is you that is responsible for carrying out their plans. If pills are too large to swallow, too difficult to administer (like an injection), or making the person ill then you need to notify the doctor and pharmacist immediately. Please do not stop the medicine and wait till the next scheduled appointment.
3rd Step
Let’s Talk….
Toileting is the highest priority for maintaining independence and dignity. So, let’s discuss this daily activity first. How can you set this task up for success?
Notes from the Author
It is commonly accepted that cognitive impairments are a natural part of aging. In fact, mild cognitive impairment is present in eighteen percent of people over age sixty according to the Alzheimer’s Association. They define mild cognitive impairment as “Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is an early stage of memory loss or other cognitive ability loss (such as language or visual/spatial perception) in individuals who maintain the ability to independently perform most activities of daily living.”
Millions of American live with MCI unfortunately, many will progress to more severe forms of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease. Physicians assess a senior adult’s need for support services or residential care based on the Activities of Daily Living. I recommend downloading The NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s GeriKit smart phone app . It is an outstanding geriatric assessment tool.
All the other daily tasks of preparing food, cleaning house, laundry, paying bills, attending appointments, going shopping, and other events are classified as Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (iADL). Credit for Caring contains a wide array of products and resources for ADL and iADL support. We believe in preserving independence and autonomy for successful aging in place.
We can help support a person’s ability to remain independent doing their ADLs and iADLs. Occupational and Physical Therapist recommend these tools. Imagine a plate the enables a person with dominant hand weakness to eat with pleasure. Devices to help reach items that are too high or low to safely get. We have dressing, bathing, toileting, and eating tools and product bundles to address each ADL. Let us help you.
Habits can be good but can also prevent us from exploring our world to the fullest. Take morning grooming tasks, for example. This bundle helps to support your abilities to properly groom and dress in the morning. Start your day with a big win. When you look good, you feel good.
Sharing a meal with family or friends are the happiest times of life, think of the holiday celebrations filled with love and laughter. This bundle features modified eating and drinking tools to keep an unsteady hand working to its full capacity.
When is the last time you dressed in your favorite clothes? Arthritis, muscle weakness, and many other medical conditions can reduce our abilities as we age. This dressing bundle can help overcome most of these barriers. These gadgets help us perform the fine motor skills that diminish with age. Modest lifestyle changes can and do produce lasting results. Using these tools to dress can produce positive feelings and bring joy. When you look good, you feel good. And when you feel good, chances are you want to share the day with other.
The psychological benefits of bathing are enormous. Water not only cleanses the body but the mind as well. Research studies show that bathing reduces tension and anxiety. It can reduce depressive symptoms as well. In fact, some study subjects equated a good soaking bath as the same as having a sexual release. The joys of bathing change as our abilities change. We can help. This bundle features the right equipment to bring back the healing properties of bathing.
Let’s face it, sometimes you gotta go arrives after… it went. Nobody wants to soil themselves. The loss, or urgency, of bladder and bowel functions is associated with babies. In fact, that why, unfortunately, many people call adult disposable underwear, diapers. Babies wear diapers. The rest of us wear protection. And most of us are purchasing and managing this issue privately for ourselves or someone we love. We created this toileting bundle to restore dignity and as much independence as possible for such a private, intimate task.
“Did I take my pills today?” All of us have days when we forget if and when we took our medicine. Our pill organizer takes the guess work out of this important daily task.
Monica Stynchula – CEO / REUNIONCare, Inc.