4 Simple Caregiver Solutions

By Rachel Reynolds

“There are many products designed to help you care for your loved one.”

• Side rails that fit between mattresses, anti pressure overlay mattress, bed cloth or disposable barrier pads can help.
• Hard sole shoes or socks with grippers, elastic waist slacks and shirts with Velcro rather than buttons.
• You can purchase a basket or tray to place on a walker which is a great way to carry things.
• Reachers, sock aids, wedge pillow for turns can be a helpful.

— Kayla Cook, owner, Caring Excellence

Give Your Loved One Some Space (and that includes the holidays)

By Rachel Reynolds

Holiday meals can be both wonderful and hectic. Honoring a loved one’s need for quiet as well as connection is key for success. “Sometimes the chaos of the day is too much for someone with physical or cognitive issues,” says Becky Beanblossom, president of Home Instead Senior Care. Often saying hello to everyone and eating amounts to a full day for a loved one, and it’s best to let them retreat or go home early if they need to, she says. Encouraging them to help plan the menu is also a way to ensure that there will be food available that they can digest. “Just remember, forcing someone to stay when they feel uncomfortable or anxious is just asking for hurt feelings or conflict,” Becky says.

Making Holiday Meals Enjoyable for Your Loved One

By Rachel Reynolds

Holiday meals can be both wonderful and hectic. Honoring a loved one’s need for quiet as well as connection is key for success. “Sometimes the chaos of the day is too much for someone with physical or cognitive issues,” says Becky Beanblossom, president of Home Instead Senior Care. Often saying hello to everyone and eating amounts to a full day for a loved one, and it’s best to let them retreat or go home early if they need to, she says. Encouraging them to help plan the menu is also a way to ensure that there will be food available that they can digest. “Just remember, forcing someone to stay when they feel uncomfortable or anxious is just asking for hurt feelings or conflict,” Becky says.

Six Ideas that Will Make a Home Safer for Someone with Alzheimer’s

By Carrie Vittitoe

Patients with Alzheimer’s disease often have problems with visual perception, but Amy Sass, a client and employee coordinator with Caring Excellence at Home, has suggestions for minimizing the risk of falls and resulting injuries:

- Remove all rugs.
- Keep corners and floors as clutter-free as possible.
- Remove low-sitting furniture.
- Add furniture that is flush to the ground.
- Remove breakable items from surface areas.
- Add grab bars in the bathroom and by the bed.

Simplify Grocery Shopping for Your Loved One

By Carrie Vittitoe

Grocery shopping for a loved one should first begin with two questions: What do you like to eat, and what are you able to eat? Amy Sass suggests caregivers shop for their loved ones using store gift cards. After grocery items are purchased, both the store gift card and the receipt should be put in the same envelope. This way, your loved one can review all costs and items bought. If anything needs to be returned, it will be easy to locate the receipt and gift card.

Turn Bathing into a Calmer Experience for Your Loved One

By Torie Temple


Sheila Carter, owner of Heartsong Memory Care, shares her top five secrets to success when it comes to bath time refusals.

Get Around Easier with this Hybrid Wheelchair

By Torie Temple

“A combination wheelchair and transport chair is a must-have,” says Dan Heins, director at Humana Inc.

How to Lift Your Loved One's Mood: A Pet Might Help

By Torie Temple


“Depression needs to be treated by a professional,” says Becky Beanblossom, president of Home Instead Senior Care.

Thinking Ahead: One Helpful Tip for Caregivers

By Torie Temple


According to Janice Baldon-Gutter, caregiving can be made easier by pre-planning, which can fall into two categories: long-term planning that includes looking for a nursing home, home care, or rehab before the crisis hits and short-term planning for doctor visits or transportation.

Three Uplifting Ideas for a Relative Who is Sick

Torie Temple


Try these tips for keeping your loved one entertained during their illness.

Does Your Loved One Struggle with Managing Their Meds? Here's a Solution

Torie Temple

Caregiver Cheryl Basham gives her best advice for keeping track of medications. “I created a daily log to record when medicines were given,” she says.

Two Easy Caregiving Tips that Can Make a Big Difference

By Torie Temple




















Here are a couple of ideas that will help your loved stay healthy and move through their days comfortably. 

5 ideas to entertain your loved one today

When you’re caring for an aging loved one, it can be hard to come up with engaging activities that will both benefit your loved one and help pass the time. Our Caregiver Circle panel shares five easy ideas you can try at home today.

How she handled a situation where multiple loved ones needed care

Sheila Carter, founder and president of Heartsong Memory Care, gives her solution to a caregiving quandary:

Help your loved one get more out of mealtimes

If your aging loved one isn’t eating enough or if mealtimes are proving difficult, remember this advice:

Build your caregiver confidence

How do you stay confident as a caregiver? “Educating myself on the condition of my loved one helped,” says Janice Baldon-Gutter, online instructor and facilitator for adult higher education at Kaplan University and author of Caregiving: A Daughter’s Story: Life After Loss - Surviving Caregiving. “I didn’t always accept the initial advice of the physician, but I educated myself on alternative treatments or needs. I learned to participate in the decisions for my loved ones.”

Click here for more caregiving advice or find more help in our latest issue.

Two rules for a stress-free day of caregiving

Kayla Cook, owner/director of Caring Excellence Personalized Home Care Services, shares her two rules for caregivers to have a stress-free day:

The biggest challenge a caregiver can face...

The biggest challenge a caregiver can face is balancing what is best for the person being cared for and what is best for the caregiver, says Becky Beanblossom, president of Home Instead Senior Care. Her advice for this challenge? “Sometimes as a caregiver we have to realize that these two things might be at odds,” she says.

Caregiver advice: “Don't sweat the small stuff.”

Dealing with a loved one suffering from disease can be frustrating, but Mary Kay Flege, chair of HCM Senior Services, says accepting the situation for what it is will help in the long run.

A simple way to keep track of all your medications

Pate Rita, President of ElderCare 4 Families, dishes on a trick she has learned to make taking and keeping track of different medications easy on aging adults and their caregivers.