Nominate Your Favorite Senior Volunteer

Today’s seniors are volunteering in big numbers and in big ways. 52% of seniors volunteer their time through unpaid community service, with 87% saying it is either very important or the most important thing they do.  Watch the video.

Three in five senior volunteers in the Home Instead Senior Care network survey say they are volunteering more now because the need is greater as result of the poor economy.

“As unemployment rates have escalated, and the economy weakened, there are more people in need,” noted Dr. Erwin Tan, who serves as the expert source for the Salute to Senior Service℠ program. “One might logically think that this means fewer people will be able to volunteer. We haven’t found this to be true.

“Even during a recession, people seem to inherently understand that there’s always someone in greater need than themselves. So, while they might give less money, they are still willing to give of their time,” he said.

Their community service helps define who they are. According to research conducted for the Home Instead Senior Care® network, nearly 100 percent of North American senior volunteers say that, when compared to other things they do in their lives, volunteering is important. One in five senior volunteers says it is the most important thing they do.

Help Home Instead Senior Care in Boston honor seniors who serve by nominating your favorite senior volunteer – http://www.salutetoseniorservice.com/senior-heroes/nominate-senior-hero/

Home Care Boston providing elderly services in Cambridge, Boston, and Somerville. Call us at 617.557.4600.

National survey indicates physicians believe addressing patients’ social needs is as important as addressing medical conditions.

According to a new survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the social needs of patients are as important to address as their medical conditions. In a national survey of primary care providers and pediatricians, 85 percent believe that unmet social needs — things like access to nutritious food, reliable transportation and adequate housing — are leading directly to worse health for all Americans. Furthermore, 4 in 5 physicians do not feel confident in their capacity to meet their patients’ social needs, and they believe this impedes their ability to provide quality care.

The conditions we face day in, day out, where we live, learn, work and play, have a greater impact on our health and life expectancy than our medical conditions and the health care we receive.

It’s important that patients be connected to services that address their social needs. Services like fitness programs, nutritional food and transportation assistance are at top of list. Physicians say that those living in the urban and low-income bracket also need help with employment assistance, adult education and housing assistance.

If your loved one needs help fulfilling their social needs in the Boston area, please call Home Instead Senior Care – we can help with needs like transportation, nutritious cooking, and helping your loved one keep moving in order to stay fit and active. Call us at 617.557.4600.

Source: Physicians Highlight Overlooked Connection Between Social Needs and Health

Home Care Boston providing elderly services in Cambridge, Boston, and Somerville. Call us at 617.557.4600.

Seniors who stay healthy live longer. But how can you help seniors maintain good health when the odds of developing dementia, diabetes, heart disease, some form of cancer, or a host of other ailments are against them? Some answers might come from the Greek island of Ikaria where a remarkable one in three natives reach 90 years of age.

According to an AARP The Magazine article called “Live More Good Years,” researchers discovered that, compared to Americans over 90, Ikaria’s 90-plus population experienced 20 percent fewer incidents of cancer, half the rate of heart disease, one-ninth the rate of diabetes and virtually no Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia.

To encourage similar habits to help North American older adults add years to their life. Advise seniors to eat meals incorporating whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables, olive oil, fish, and herbal teas to add important vitamins, antioxidants and complex carbohydrates to their diets. Seniors will also benefit from scheduling walks or daily exercises, naps, and opportunities for social interaction and religious practices into their day.

Another approach to increasing lifespan takes into consideration not only the good behaviors to adopt, but also which behaviors to avoid. A recent CDC report boils the secret to longevity down into four key habits:

•Do exercise regularly
•Do eat a healthy diet
•Don’t smoke
•Don’t drink alcohol excessively

If your loved one needs help and assistance in maintaining a healthy lifestyle, call Boston Home Instead Senior Care at 617.557.4600. Our CAREGivers are available to help your senior stay healthy.

Visit Caregiverstress.com for more information on healthy aging.

Home Care Boston providing elderly services in Cambridge, Boston, and Somerville. Call us at 617.557.4600.

While senior volunteers are rolling up their sleeves to build houses and feed the homeless, it turns out they are doing much more. A majority of older volunteers put their money where their time is by helping to boost the coffers of the organizations where they volunteer, according to research conducted by the Home Instead Senior Care® network. The Salute to Senior Service program will recognize the outstanding contributions of older adults and honor those who go the extra mile for their communities in so many ways.

In a survey released in July 2009 by the Corporation for National and Community Service, one of every three organizations reported increasing its reliance on volunteers to cope with the economic downturn between September 2008 and March 2009.

The survey revealed that 80 percent of responding organizations experienced some level of fiscal stress between September 2008 and March 2009. Nearly 40 percent of those organizations said the stress was severe or very severe.

The most recent data from the Corporation for National and Community Service indicates that one of four Americans 55 and older – that’s 18.7 million people – makes a positive impact on their local communities through volunteering. Between 2008 and 2010, these adults contributed more than 3 billion hours of service per year in their communities. The economic benefit of their service to communities totaled more than $64 billion.

We invite our readers to share the ways that older adults are making their marks on the Boston community.

Home Instead CAREGivers in the Boston area are available to help your senior loved ones continue to pursue their passions by providing non-medical assistance at home – call us for more information call 617.557.4600.

Home Care Boston providing elderly services in Cambridge, Boston, and Somerville. Call us at 617.557.4600.

Research reveals that there’s no end in sight to the volunteering efforts for a majority of senior volunteers surveyed, who say they’ll go on “forever.” The Home Instead Senior Care® network has announced the Salute to Senior Service program to honor these older adults who go the extra mile to make a difference for charities and community service projects throughout North America. For those seniors who haven’t volunteered but are considering it, here are some suggestions:

Find a passion. Some people live their passion through jobs and careers, but that isn’t always the case. Retirement is the time to save the whales, feed the homeless and brighten up the neighborhood. Find something that fulfills.

Look for a need. That won’t be difficult these days. A 2009 survey, conducted by the Corporation for National and Community Service, found that 80 percent of nonprofit and AmeriCorps organizations surveyed reported some level of fiscal stress. To find out where volunteers are needed, contact the local Area Agency on Aging office, church or synagogue, or Senior Corps <<www.seniorcorps.gov>>.

Avoid perfectionism. It’s easy to want that special church event to be perfect or that remodeling project to look like it belongs in the nation’s leading home improvement magazine. Chill out! Perfectionism can ruin the project for everyone on the team.

Home Instead CAREGiver can help your senior loved ones stay on course with their volunteering by receiving support such as food preparation, light housekeeping and medication reminders – call us at 617.557.4600.

Home Care Boston providing elderly services in Cambridge, Boston, and Somerville. Call us at 617.557.4600.

For a vast majority of seniors who volunteer, their community service helps define who they are. According to research conducted for the Home Instead Senior Care® network, nearly 100 percent of North American senior volunteers say that, when compared to other things they do in their lives, volunteering is important. One in five senior volunteers says it is the most important thing they do.

Help us recognize outstanding senior volunteers who make a difference in our Boston area. Nominees have a chance to win $5,000 for their favorite volunteer organization. Please share volunteer stories from your community and nominate a senior for Salute to Senior Service.

• As seniors’ lifestyles and longevity have evolved over time so, too, is the desire for new kinds of volunteer activities, Dr. Tan said. In a highly technological world, the “new senior” has different interests than those of the past. Seniors are being encouraged to volunteer for a cause or an activity in which they are interested or for which they feel passionate.

• According to Home Instead Senior Care network research, 95 percent of senior volunteers feel that seniors who volunteer are healthier and happier than those seniors who do not.

• Check out more benefits from volunteering opportunities as well as information about how to make a deserving senior 65 and older who volunteers at least 15 hours a month a Senior Hero – SalutetoSeniorService.com.

• State and Canadian provincial (except Quebec) winners will receive plaques and their story on the SalutetoSeniorService.com website. A gift of $5,000 will be donated to the national winner’s favorite nonprofit charity.

Home Care Boston providing elderly services in Cambridge, Boston, and Somerville. Call us at 617.557.4600.

For family members still searching for gift ideas for grandparents or aging relatives, think about the things you could purchase that would really help benefit their lives. Here are a few great ideas to help you out:

• Items that allow them to fell pampered – seniors on a budget are not likely to splurge on things they consider non-essentials. For Christmas gifts, buy candles, soaps and body lotions that allow them to feel pampered at home. Gift cards to restaurants or spas are added luxuries

• Gift baskets – gift baskets with a combination of items, including some of the above, as well as seasonal foods, books, and craft supplies that they will enjoy and make use of are all great things to include! Gift baskets can be bought pre-fabricated or can be created at home

• The gift of companionship – seniors will most appreciate the company of their loved ones. If this is not possible, senior care services can be gifted for companionship and assistance at home.

• Take an elderly loved one out for the day – a trip out for lunch around the holidays to see a movie or a musical event can be a very enjoyable way for them to spend a day and it will be memorable!

Home Care Boston providing elderly services in Cambridge, Boston, and Somerville. Call us at 617.557.4600.

When his wife died two months before Christmas, Ida’s Home Instead Senior Care client didn’t have much interest in the holidays that year.

Robert spent the time with family out of town. The next year, while helping to organize a closet, Ida discovered a treasure trove of beautiful Christmas ornaments and decorations that Robert’s late wife had collected throughout the years.

So out came the trees, the ornaments, the holiday tableware, the holiday village and so much more. Suddenly, the holidays took on new meaning again for this 85-year-old senior.

Ida and a fellow Home Instead CAREGiver Kathy engage Robert in other ways, too, including helping him make holiday ornaments. Within his box of ornaments, they discovered an angel decoration and decided to recreate it. So every year now, they make angels to display and give as gifts.

Ornaments are an important part of the Home Instead Senior Care network’s Be a Santa to a Senior® program as well. Home Instead Senior Care offices throughout the country partner with local retailers and use senior-care agencies to identify needy seniors. Trees go up in the community with ornaments that feature the first names of these seniors and their gift requests. BeASantaToASenior.com

Now Robert loves to participate in the Be a Santa to a Senior program each holiday season. Together with his CAREGivers, he buys gifts and makes angel ornaments for other seniors who might need a lift during the holidays.

Home Instead CAREGivers have years of experience bringing cheer and companionship to seniors across the U.S. and Canada – during holidays and throughout the year. We can help you and your loved one make the most of the holidays in Boston this year, find our how 617-557-4600.

Home Care Boston providing elderly services in Cambridge, Boston, and Somerville. Call us at 617.557.4600.

If you come home to visit you parents and find their house dark and dreary during the festive holiday season, it could be a sign they are no longer up to the holiday decorating they once enjoyed. Encourage your parents to decorate by helping them add color and light to their homes for the holidays. Here are a few ideas to help make their season festive:

Help a senior find and unpack their decorations, or ask to do it on your own. Perhaps that’s a task that they dread tackling by themselves.

Ask your loved one which decorations are most significant to them, and how and where they should be displayed.

Maybe your senior would like to shop for one more decoration to add to his or her collection. You could add to a continuing tradition, such as a new angel ornament for the tree.

Offer to photograph this year’s holiday display, not only to hold a memory for weeks after the holidays, but to remember exactly where everything needs to go next year.

Decorations could tie in with a tradition of holiday foods. Perhaps it’s appropriate to prepare a special dish that’ll complement a table display. Share others’ recipes and stories from the Homemade Memories Cookbook at www.mealsandcompanionship.com.

If your parents need extra help to make the holidays special, Home Instead CAREGivers are easily available to make the holidays more enjoyable for loved ones. Call 617.557.4600 to learn more.

Home Care Boston providing elderly services in Cambridge, Boston, and Somerville. Call us at 617.557.4600.

It’s no surprise that food often takes center stage at family gatherings. Perhaps it is Aunt Marie’s famous meatballs that have graced the family dinner table for 40 years. Or maybe Mom’s apple strudel recipe evokes wonderful memories.

For Laurie Lufkin, it was Grandma Mimi’s clam cakes. Lufkin is the grand prize winner of the Homemade Memories Recipe Contest, sponsored by Home Instead, Inc., the franchisor of the Home Instead Senior Care® network. Her story and recipe, along with 49 others who garnered the top votes in the Homemade Memories Recipe Contest, are featured in the recently released Homemade Memories Cookbook (Nov. 4, 2011, $29.95). In total, more than 240 recipes were submitted.

As her prize, Lufkin will receive a $500 Visa gift card that she can use toward making new “homemade memories” with her senior loved ones.

“I remember the smell of the cast iron pan full of oil and lard – yes, lard – bubbling on my Mimi’s big, white enamel gas stove, awaiting the arrival of those clam-filled balls of savory, salty dough,” Lufkin wrote. “My dad or one of his friends would dig a whole mess of clams, we would have steamers for dinner and then my Mimi would make the most fantastic little fried clam fritters with homemade tartar sauce the next day. It was heaven.”

Lufkin is accustomed to sharing her passion with others. The small business owner, who has a screen printing, promotional products and embroidery business, spends much of her free time devoted to cooking and baking. She writes a food blog and hosts a local cable access show that features the talents of other area cooks.

Her grandmother, who inspired the clam cakes recipe, has passed away. But Lufkin keeps family traditions alive, cooking with her 10-year-old daughter and preparing meals with her mother. She is proud to showcase Essex. Her hometown of about 3,500 people is situated along the Essex River, whose banks produce the “steamer” clams that inspired the winning family recipe. “I love to feed people – it shows that you love and care for them, and want to share with them,” she explained.

“The Homemade Memories Cookbook is unique in that each recipe features a family story much like Lufkin’s,” said President and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Huber of Home Instead, Inc. “Companionship is such an important part of the dining experience for older adults. And these stories just enhance the experience.”

Other popular recipes included:

• Orange Chocolate Chip Bundt Cake, one of Jamie Jones’ first memories of her great-grandmother, who served it on Sunday afternoons after church.
• Lucy Orton’s Blueberry Pancakes, which helps her remember the wonderful breakfasts at her Aunt Janet’s house.
• Thomas Lanahan’s Albany “Hotstuff” Relish, a recipe handed down in his family since the 1800s.

The cookbook is available for the holiday gift-giving season. To order, go to www.mealsandcompanionship.com or https://www.facebook.com/CookingWithGrandma. Proceeds will go to the nonprofit Home Instead Senior Care Foundation to benefit U.S. and Canadian seniors. And to learn more about the value of companionship to older adults, go to www.mealsandcompanionship.com.

Home Care Boston providing elderly services in Cambridge, Boston, and Somerville. Call us at 617.557.4600.