The Social Benefits of Senior Living

Senior nursing homes offer a variety of benefits for seniors and their families. From social interaction to the security of knowing that their loved ones will be cared for after they retire, there are many pros at every stage in life who benefit from senior-friendly housing options. In this article, healthcare executive Mark Berger Chicago, CEO at Villa Helathcare, talks more about the social benefits of senior living.

 

Fun Fall Activities for Your Nursing Facility

 

The fall season is a beautiful time of year, and it’s also a great time to visit your local nursing facility. The crisp air, vibrant colors, and cooler temperatures are sure to make you feel rested and refreshed. However, it can also be an extremely challenging time for those who live at the nursing facility as well. With lower outside temperatures and less daylight hours, many residents will soon start feeling depressed and anxious. To help combat this challenge during the fall season, here, Mark Berger Chicago, the Chief Executive Officer at Villa Healthcare, shares some fall activities in your nursing home that you can enjoy with your residents:

 

Recommendations for Seniors With High Blood Pressure

Since the beginning of the pandemic, the health authorities have been clear that certain population groups were more predisposed to suffer serious health complications if contagion by Coronavirus occurred. Hypertensive patients have always been part of this especially vulnerable segment of the population.

In this post, Mark Berger Chicago, Chief Executive Officer at Villa Healthcare, will share some safety and hygiene guidelines for hypertensive people.

Hypertensive patients and risks of Covid-19

Every May 17, World Arterial Hypertension Day is celebrated, a disease that may take time to manifest itself with clear symptoms for the patient and that currently constitutes the risk factor with the highest prevalence among cardiovascular diseases. It is estimated that around 40% of the country's population is hypertensive and that only in 37% of cases the problem has been diagnosed.

The Covid-19 has brought to light aspects of the disease that until now may have gone unnoticed.

4 key recommendations for hypertensive patients

As more details about the behavior of Covid-19 in patients with arterial hypertension have become known, the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare has been updating the list of recommendations that both patients and caregivers of dependent people should keep in mind during the pandemic.

The recommendations given by Mark Berger Chicago to minimize the effects of the Coronavirus in hypertensive patients can be summarized in these four points:

Keep prescribed medication at all times

So far no negative interactions have been found between Covid-19 and the drugs commonly used in the treatment of hypertensive patients (angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors and angiotensin receptor blockers).

Avoid unnecessary travel

Even now that the de-escalation process allows some mobility, you have to be responsible. Mark Berger Chicago recommends that hypertensive people who enjoy autonomy should limit their essential outings to the less crowded times of the day. In the case of dependents, caregivers and family members should pay special attention to take daily walks through areas with little influx and with all the hygiene and distancing measures recommended by the health authorities.

Keep a regular check on your blood pressure

The record that we can keep at home will be of great use to both the patient and the doctor who provides their treatment. Blood pressure is not the same throughout the day and can vary as a result of different stimuli. This regular control will make it possible to identify possible changes in the cardiovascular system and act accordingly.

Maintain healthy lifestyle habits

The abandonment of tobacco and alcohol, a diet low in fat, salt and processed foods and the practice of physical exercise between 3 and 4 times a week are a guarantee of health. Likewise, and especially in these exceptional moments, we must not lose sight of the mental and emotional balance, especially in people who are hypertensive women of advanced age, those who live alone and those who depend on care for the performance of their routines.

World Hypertension Day

If the lockdown has been a successful virus containment measure, responsibility, common sense and information must now take over. World Hypertension Day reminds us that there is a quarter of the population of the planet that suffers from this disease and that for this reason it is more exposed to suffer the most serious consequences of contagion. The healthcare executive, Mark Berger Chicago indicates that providing them with the necessary means for their progressive return to normality and insisting on maintaining healthy habits are essential conditions to address hypertension in the current context.

What is Lewy Body Dementia

There are many neurodegenerative diseases that involve loss of memory and cognitive abilities (dementia). The best known is Alzheimer's, but not the only one. What is the difference between dementia, Alzheimer's, Lewy bodies, and Parkinson's? All of them are diseases that are related between each other.

“A common point that these neurodegenerative diseases have is that in their final stages, the person suffering from dementia becomes dependent and needs home care to be able to perform both household chores and to meet their needs: getting up, eating, washing,” says Mark Berger Chicago, owner of rehabilitation and healthcare center Villa Healthcare.

Among the named pathologies, Lewy Syndrome or Lewy Body dementia is the least known, although its incidence in the population is not high. Here, Mark Berger Chicago explains more about Lewy Body Dementia.

What is Lewy Body Dementia?

Lewy body dementia is a progressive neurodegenerative disease. It is a fairly common type of dementia, along with Alzheimer's and Vascular Dementia. The age of onset of the first symptoms is usually after 50 years.

Mark Berger Chicago indicates that Lewy Body Dementia is hereditary, so having a relative with this disease is a risk factor for suffering from it.

Symptoms of Lewy Body Dementia

Healthcare executive Mark Berger Chicago shares that this disease has very characteristic symptoms that differentiate it from other neurodegenerative diseases:

Memory loss and cognitive impairment: It is difficult for the patient to perform mental functions such as reasoning, speech, memory, concentration, and spatial perception. Over time, this makes it difficult for you to follow your daily routines without help from a caregiver.

Difficulties in mobility: The person has trouble walking, tremors, muscle stiffness, and even spasms. The symptoms are the same as those of Parkinson's.

Emotional disorders: Pictures of depression, anxiety, sadness, apathy and lack of motivation appear. Pictures of aggressiveness may even appear.

Hallucinations: This symptom is also present in Alzheimer's. Sometimes one of the initial symptoms of Lewy Body disease are visual, olfactory and auditory hallucinations, sometimes even related to touch.

Atypical behaviors during sleep: Specifically, during the REM phase is when people with this type of cognitive impairment have changes in their behavior. They act as if the dream were reality, vivid dreams, they talk in their sleep and they can even fall out of bed. There are cases in which this is an initial symptom and appears years before the other symptoms, so it has not been related to the original cause for a long time.

Autonomic dysfunction: This causes in the patient a poor regulation of body temperature, sweating, and instability in blood pressure.

Lewy Body Dementia Treatment

Lewy body disease has no cure. Today, as in other types of cognitive impairment, the symptoms can only be treated to make them milder and extend the well-being of the person suffering from Lewy disease.

Treatment for Lewy Bodies is personalized, so if you believe that you have this pathology or that a person in your environment has it, experienced professional Mark Berger Chicago recommends going to a neurologist to make the diagnosis and create a treatment plan for your specific case.

Supportive Technical Aids for the Elderly

The lack of autonomy in the elderly or in patients with mobility limitations does not have to translate into absolute dependence on a caregiver or family member. When the deterioration of these motor skills is not disabling, the elderly can use the different alternatives offered by technical aids for daily life and recover part of their routines with some independence and one way to achieve this is with the help of support products for seniors.

Mark Berger Chicago, Chief Executive Officer of Villa Healthcare will share more about the technical aids that bring support for the elderly.

Rheumatoid Arthritis In The Elderly

Rheumatoid arthritis is an inflammatory disorder that affects the elderly. It is important to know well how this affects the person in order to be able to help them in the most appropriate way.

Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic disease. That means that it has no possible cure and is characterized by its degenerative quality. The disease progressively worsens over time and requires specific care. Mark Berger Chicago, founder and CEO of Villa Healthcare, a skilled nursing and rehabilitation center, indicates that the proper type of care will be the best method to minimize this progression by improving the quality of life of the elderly who suffer from rheumatoid arthritis.

Here, Mark Berger Chicago explains more about rheumatoid arthritis in the elderly.

What is rheumatoid arthritis?

The main cause of the ailment is the inflammation of the membrane called synovium that covers and protects the cartilage. These tissues are found in the joints and in the areas that surround them, although on many occasions the disease affects a wider radius, damaging other organs.

“Sometimes older people see how arthritis affects their kidneys, heart or lungs, notably worsening their health and progressively reducing their quality of life,” says Mark Berger Chicago.

The aforementioned inflammation of the joint membranes causes great pain and considerable stiffness that immediately leads to a loss of mobility. These characteristic aches and pains are felt more intensely in the morning, improving with activity throughout the day.

Mark Berger Chicago, who has over 30 years of experience in the healthcare sector, indicates that, if the inflammation is not treated properly and remains uncontrolled, the degeneration of the tissues increases and the disease progresses rapidly and can damage bones, surrounding ligaments and tendons.

The direct consequence of this progression of the disease is the deformation of the damaged joints and, with it, an increasingly marked loss of their ability to move. Thus, with a higher incidence in the elderly, the inability to move and the difficulty in performing simple tasks becomes more and more noticeable and daily life becomes an effort that ends up requiring the assistance of other people, such as family members and caregivers.

To avoid reaching this situation of dependency, it is important to take specific care of the inflammation caused by rheumatoid arthritis in older people. According to Mark Berger Chicago, the relief of pain, the improvement of symptoms in general, and the brake that can be put on the relentless progression of the disease allows these people to maintain their independence and personal mobility for longer, favoring a healthier and much more complete life.

How to Detect the First Symptoms of Alzheimer's

 

Alzheimer's is one of the most common degenerative diseases in the elderly. It supposes a progressive loss of the cognitive functions of the brain and affects aspects such as memory, language, orientation and attention. Likewise, it also affects the emotional and behavioral capacities of the patient, which prevents them, on many occasions, from carrying out the daily activities of their day-to-day life.

The definitive diagnosis of Alzheimer's is not immediate and is usually based on the observation of the elderly's behavior and a series of interviews and questionnaires carried out by the neurologist to check if the elderly person has the most common symptoms. For this reason, it is important that the people in charge of caring for the elderly know how to detect the first symptoms of Alzheimer's and thus be able to go to a specialist to start with the usual patterns of the disease and help the elderly have the highest possible quality of life .

Detecting these symptoms is not always easy and generally, the first signs that alert family members are related to behavioral changes or mild memory loss, such as the elderly forgetting a prescription that they used to make regularly or not remembering to perform any of the tasks they normally do. Knowing when these signs are related to Alzheimer's and going to a specialist is difficult for family members. Therefore, as a nursing home owner and expert in care for the elderly, Mark Berger from Chicago is going to give you five signs that should watch.

MEMORY CHANGES THAT MAKE EVERYDAY LIFE HARD

Alzheimer's patients lose the ability to learn new things, so it is normal for them to forget things they learned less time ago first, such as dates, important events, or health issues such as taking medication.

It is also common for these patients to ask the same questions over and over again, it is not because they do not understand the answer, they simply forget that it has been answered. This in many occasions hinders the normal behavior of the elderly and they feel frustrated.

DIFFICULTY IN PLANNING OR SOLVING PROBLEMS

The decline in the cognitive abilities of Alzheimer's patients also affects problem solving and calculating with numbers, so it is common for patients to start having problems managing their money.

Taking out too much, not remembering of withdrawing it, losing it or hiding it and not finding it are some of the usual behaviors of the elderly with Alzheimer's. According to Mark Berger Chicago, it is best that some accompanies the elderly to the bank when we begin to identify these behaviors.

DIFFICULTY TO PERFORM REGULAR TASKS AT HOME, AT WORK OR IN THEIR FREE TIME

Forgetting how the electrical appliances work, leaving the fire burning or not remembering to go to the supermarket are also common behaviors in Alzheimer's patients. Little by little, these patients will lose the ability to do it alone, so they will need help to carry out daily tasks and leave the house. As the CEO of Villa Healthcare, Mark Berger Chicago makes sure the care-giving stuff is trained in providing care, support and connection throughout the course of the disease.

 

DESORIENTATION OF TIME OR PLACE

It is also very common for people with Alzheimer's not TO remember what year they live in, what day of the week it is, or how old they are. It is even normal that if we ask them about a current issue such as who is the president, they answer the last one they remember and it is no longer the current one for decades.

DIFFICULTY UNDERSTANDING VISUAL IMAGES

It is less common but it can happen that Alzheimer's patients begin to have vision problems such as difficulty measuring distances, differentiating colors or even reading. If the old man drives, it is best to have his license withdrawn if he begins to have these problems.