1) Proper Clothing and Footwear

2) Heating Adjustments

3) List of Emergency Numbers

4) Accessibility to Telephone or Cellphone

5) Proper Medication Stored Away

6) Food Shopping

7) Stormy Conditions

8. Mobility

9) Companionship

10) Check Ups

For those not living in hot climates and 75 degree weather, many can agree to the phrases “White Christmas”, “Winter Wonderland”, and “Jack Frost” as winter months brings cold temperatures, white snowflakes, and an increase for in-door activities. For the elderly who live at home and receive senior care from a home health care agency, winter months can become bearable and joyous filled. Exercising the following tips will help your senior and loved one prepare for the holidays and winter months ahead. It will also help your certified home health aide prepare for the days and holidays when they are not assisting your senior or elderly loved one.

Proper Clothing and Footwear
Be sure that the times you are not with your senior or loved one, that there is enough warm clothing stored and footwear with rubber non-slick soles are worn. Snow and ice are major reasons for slips and falls. Seniors over 65 are more prone to broken hips during this time due to slick conditions.

Heating Adjustments
Adequate heating temperatures should be monitored when a certified home health aide is with their elderly patient. In the event that a family member will not be present, a home health aide should set the heating temperature for the patient so that they are comfortable and able to change it if outdoor temperatures rise or lower.

Emergency Numbers
Elderly who have senior home care services should always have a list of emergency numbers visible in case of an emergency. Writing these numbers on a piece of paper and sticking them on a refrigerator door is essential should the patient need assistance during a time when their certified home health aide or family member is not present. As well, the numbers will serve as a method for communication should the patient’s family need to be notified of any emergencies.

Accessibility to Telephone or Cell phone
Equally as important as the last tip, a portable telephone or cell phone should be easily accessible for an elderly patient in case of emergency or to prevent injury when running into another room to answer a ringing telephone.

Proper Storage of Medication
If an elderly patient needs assistance taking medication, the certified home health aide should properly store it in a place where the senior will not confuse it with other medications or vitamins and consume erroneously. On the other hand, if a senior can adequately take their medications, storage should be in a place that is easily accessible and can be opened without assistance.

Sufficient Amounts of Food
If a certified home health aide provides services daily or a few times a week, ample amounts of food should be prepared or well stored for a senior to consume or lightly prepare themselves (i.e. remove from storage facility and place in microwave or on a plate) especially during the holidays. Some aides if schedule to be at a senior’s home on a holiday will sometimes take the day off and make up the hours. In this event and any event, a senior should be adequately prepared to consume food on their own.

Stormy Conditions
For areas where cold, wintry, blistery, and raining conditions are the norm in the winter months, proper preparation for your elderly patient or loved one is critical. Helping a senior with snow shoveling, salting of walkways, and preventing ice buildups before they begin will avoid slips, falls, and inaccessible routes in and out of the home.

Mobility
It’s important to keep an elderly patient mobile even in winter months. Doing so will increase blood flow and movement in legs, healthier lives, and success in aiding the senior to optimal health. With many individuals, winter months increases the amount of time spent indoors in front of a television or computer and less time walking or stretching. Certified home health aides and family members should make an effort to keep mobility up in their patient or loved one at least twice a week.

Companionship
When a senior does not have family that lives near by or see them often, it is often the visits from a home health aide that an elderly patient looks forward to receiving.  Aides can help provide companionship especially during times around the holidays. It is very important as well to keep an eye on a senior during the holidays because it is a time when seniors can become depressed as well. According to Mental Health America, more than two million of the 34 million Americans age 65 and older suffer from some form of depression – and during the holidays this number climbs. Many factors contribute to why seniors may not view the holidays as a time of celebration. The holidays for the elderly may bring up memories of friends who are deceased, loved ones who live far away and cannot visit or the inability to be around others during holiday festivities.

Signs to be alert for that can contribute to holiday depression amongst seniors whether they live with family, on their own, or in an assisted living long-term care facility are:

•    Increased Irritability
•    Lack of Personal Care or Hygiene and Sleep
•    Irresponsible Behavior
•    Loss of interest in socializing
•    Decrease in Appetite

Fortunately, depression is a treatable—including holiday depression. Family, friends and assistance from home health aide can diminish their elderly patient and loved ones’ feelings of despondency. For more severe cases, the help of a professional should be sought out.

Checkups
Whether you are a certified home health aide or family member, check up on your senior patient or loved one takes minutes and will provide the assurance that an elderly person needs to feel appreciated and cared about. Whether it is to say Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Happy Kwanzaa, or Happy New Year—one phone call can bring a smile to a senior’s face and the reassurance that they are okay and doing well.

Following these tips will provide a greater communication and better preparation for the elderly being cared for, the certified home health aide, and the senior’s family. Happy Holidays!