708-352-4663
630-654-4663
847-698-8200
1-800-349-0663
Schedule a Free in Home Assessment

Our Blog

Category: Family Caregiving

Warning Signs that Help Is Needed in Keeping Seniors Safe

It's the holiday season once again, which means it's also time for the “holiday reality check.” If you haven’t seen your elderly loved ones in a while, now is a great time to take note of how your senior loved ones are doing. With frenzied schedules or long distances separating families for so much of the year, subtle (or not-so-subtle) signals can easily be overlooked. Be on the lookout for the following red flags that additional care may be necessary in keeping seniors safe, and remember that looking for warning signs is not for the purposes of judgment or complaint;...

Read More

How to Manage This Type of Dementia Confusion: Alternate Reality

Dementia confusion, a common occurrence in Alzheimer's, can result in recent memories being forgotten or distorted, while those from the more remote past often stay intact. This may cause prior times to make more sense to an older adult with dementia than the present. A person’s alternate reality could be his or her way of making sense of the present through past experiences. Individuals with Alzheimer's disease frequently have problems expressing themselves, and at times their alternate reality has more to do with a requirement or a specific feeling they are attempting to express than it has to do with...

Read More

Help for These Dementia Signs and Symptoms: Hallucinations, Illusions, and Suspicions

For individuals providing care for a senior displaying dementia signs and symptoms, careful, compassionate management is a must; but potentially the most overwhelming behaviors include suspicions, hallucinations, and illusions that others are out to cause harm. Incorrect impressions such as these manifest typically in the more advanced stages of progressive dementia due to changes within the brain. It’s vital to first understand the reasoning behind these emotions and behaviors, and to manage the root cause. Home & Hearth’s home health caregivers in Chicago, experienced in Alzheimer’s and dementia care, offer the following advice. Hallucinations/Illusions Underlying factors for hallucinations may perhaps...

Read More

Homesickness in Dementia and Alzheimer’s: Tips to Help

Like they say, there’s no place like home; but what do you do when a senior with dementia insists on going home – when he/she currently IS home? Regrettably, when caring for an elderly person with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia, this is an all too common dilemma. And the confusion and plaintive yearning being expressed are simply heartbreaking – and, if we are truthful, aggravating. At Home & Hearth Caregivers, our specially trained dementia care Illinois team helps family members handle challenging scenarios such as this, and we encourage trying the following to help restore peace to...

Read More

Take Steps to Transfer Your Senior Loved One Safely and Prevent Back Injury

It’s a sobering fact: more than 50 percent of all caregivers suffer from injuries during transfers and lifts of senior loved ones. With so many family members providing care for the elderly at home, it’s essential that they educate themselves on proper lifting and transferring techniques. Home & Hearth Caregivers, the top-rated providers of in-home care in La Grange, IL, offers the following step-by-step information to help keep both caregivers and their senior loved ones from injury: If the senior is in a bed that is low, stand with one foot on a footstool, which will help relieve pressure on...

Read More

It’s Science: Social Activities for the Elderly Are Important.

It seems intuitive to some people that interacting socially with others enhances wellbeing by maintaining connections to other people’s experiences, beliefs, challenges, humor, opinions, and a variety of other human occurrences. Now, studies are showing that social engagement with other people actually may enhance the wellness of your brain and your body. These results point directly to the benefits of social activity for the elderly. A study conducted by Rush University Medical Center showed that a person who reported a high level of social engagement was almost twice as likely to remain free of an impairment involving activities of daily...

Read More

Serving Suburbs
and Chicagoland

The Best Home Care for Seniors
in the Chicago, IL Area

At Home & Hearth Caregivers, we are proud to offer compassionate, family-like in-home care, respite care, and Alzheimer’s and dementia care services to seniors and families throughout Cook, DuPage, Will, Lake, McHenry Counties, including the following cities and towns:

read more