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Elder CareTips:
Mastering The Eldercare Maze™
August 1,
2004
Sundowning:
It's The Crisis Hour...Again
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"You can count on it
like clockwork," Linda says, as her mother marches
with a determined air into the kitchen with her
overcoat.
"Where's my purse! I have to go! Now!" Alice demands.
"Where are you going, Alice?" I ask.
"I have to go! I have to be there! I need to go home!
Right now!" Alice mumbles as she tries to push past me
and out the dead-bolted door of the house she's lived
in with her daughter for more than 10 years.
During the day Alice is fine. She dresses herself and
eats without assistance. She'll help Linda fold
laundry, or dust. She enjoys the occasional joke, and
she loves to get out in the car. She dozes contentedly
in her chair off and on.
By late afternoon, though, Alice changes. Increasingly
she becomes more agitated. She rummages through
things, tossing them wildly about as if she's looking
for something she can't articulate. Sometimes she gets
aggressive. Other times she's inconsolable with a
grief she can't explain, wailing and wringing her
hands. She doesn't seem to want to be touched. It's a
fight to get her ready for bed, and she's up and down
all
night. Linda is exhausted and desperate.
Alice is sundowning.
Read The Rest...
Does someone in your
household play the television at an ear-splitting
volume? You might want to
check these out
- it might save the sanity of you and everyone else.
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It Really Is A Golden Age |
The Golden Age Passport is a lifetime pass to all
Forest Service, Park Service, Bureau of Land
Management, and US Fish and Wildlife Service sites
charging fees for entrance into federal recreation
areas such as National Parks and National Monuments,
developed day-use recreation sites (picnic sites,
trailheads, visitor centers, low development boat
ramps, and parking), and high impact recreation areas
(areas of high public use that may not be highly
developed).
Golden Age cardholders receive a 50% fee discount at
campgrounds, developed boat launches and swimming
sites, and for specialized interpretive services.
The Passport is available for a one-time fee of $10 to
citizens or permanent residents of the US who are age
62 or older. The visitor must show proof of age, which
may be a state driver's license showing birth date, a
birth certificate, or a similar document.
Try a
Golden Passport if you plan to travel to any of
these sites. Anything that saves us money is a good
thing.
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Elder CareTip:
In and Out of the Car |
Helping anyone with
limited mobility in and out of the car can be a tough
job, especially on fabric seats. Try placing a big,
heavy plastic bag on the seat. Have the person you're
helping sit down on it with his feet outside the car.
The bag will slide as you swivel him more easily into
place facing forward.
An extra dividend is the plastic serves as additional
protection for the seat in case of spills or other
accidents without calling attention to the need for
protection.
| To err is
human. To blame
it on a computer is even more so.
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