What's Eating The Sandwich Generation

Hoarding and the Holidays

2009-12-12T13:41:00.000-08:00

During the holiday season, we have occasion to interact with friends, neighbors and family members that we may not see very often. These holiday visits may reveal problems that we were not previously aware of. A problem that often goes unnoticed or overlooked is hoarding. According to the medical staff at the Mayo Clinic, hoarding is the excessive collection of items, along with the inability to

Help Your Parents Enjoy the Holidays - 6 Tips for the Season

2009-11-24T12:10:00.000-08:00

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Companion Site Launched

2009-11-21T06:48:00.000-08:00

This week we decided to launch a companion site of HelpWithMyParents.com called HelpWithMyKids.com. In many ways this decision feels premature to me - the site still needs a lot of work on the topic pages and we have just begun to list providers who serve children and their parents. Nevertheless, the need is there, and the decision to publish the site now will spur us to action. It will also

My Committment

2009-11-01T06:25:00.000-08:00

In late 2006 after a visit from my good friend and colleague John Bowling I decided to start Helpwithmyparents.com. John and I have both worked for many years in the senior care industry - at first together as psychologists and later separately. John went on the work as an administrator and corporate officer for Silverado Senior Living and I operated outpatient psychiatric programs for seniors.

The Critical Incident – Are you Prepared?

2009-10-19T15:09:00.000-07:00

Most of us who have aging parents go about our daily lives without much thought about what our parents might need if they suddenly became incapacitated or severely ill. Our parents are relatively healthy and self-sufficient, but as they continue to age the likelihood that a critical incident will create a sudden need for us to intervene increases. At HelpWithMyParents.com we think of a critical

Eden Alternative - Some Brief Thoughts

2009-09-14T21:11:00.000-07:00

I recently spoke at a conference for nursing home staff with Brent Pace and our topic was how to apply the principles of the Eden Alternative within nursing homes. I really like the idea of the Eden Alternative and the wisdom in the principles as they are outlined. However, anyone who has been in a nursing home knows that it is no easy task to apply these principles in a meaningful way. Many are

What is a Neuropsychological Evaluation

2009-08-31T14:58:00.000-07:00

A neuropsychological evaluation can be an important tool in helping your parent’s doctor diagnose conditions that impact cognitive (mental) functioning. It can be used to help refine the diagnosis of memory problems by distinguishing between normal age-related memory loss and dementia. It also distinguishes between dementia and temporary memory problems caused or affected by emotional

Intervening in the Decision Making of your Aging Parent

2009-08-25T11:13:00.000-07:00

If you think your parent is making poor choices and that you need to get involved how do you go about doing so? This decision, like the decision about whether to get involved at all, is a very personal one. My thoughts on this are only intended to help you think through the options – not to point you in any particular direction. The choices that you make about how to get involved in your parent’s

When Good Parents Make Bad Decisions

2009-08-20T13:02:00.000-07:00

When you see your aging parent making decisions that you disagree with how do you decide if, when and how to intervene? I’ve encountered this question many times and in a wide variety of situations. I have seen children struggle with how to confront a parent who has demonstrated that he should no longer be driving. I have seen children struggle with a parent who is living in a nursing home and

Could it be Delirium?

2009-08-12T21:38:00.000-07:00

I can’t tell you how many unfortunate situations I have seen that could have been avoided if someone had asked “could it be delirium?” I have seen people committed to psychiatric facilities where they were treated for psychosis and I have seen people assigned long-term guardians because of what was a temporary alteration in consciousness caused by an episode of delirium. If you have ever seen

Combating Helplessness – One Weed at a Time

2009-08-09T15:12:00.000-07:00

I recently read the chapter on weeds in Michael Pollan’s book Second Nature and it seemed to me that there are some parallels between weeds and hopelessness, especially for those who live in the country’s nursing homes. I have been counseling nursing home residents for the past 12 years and in that time I have worked with people who have had such a profound sense of hopelessness that it seemed

Is My Dad Depressed?

2009-08-05T21:30:00.000-07:00

The question of depression comes up frequently in my conversations with the children of aging parents – especially when there has been a recent significant loss. In answering this question it is important that we understand what depression is, how it is manifested differently among seniors and what are the things that mimic, or look like depression.I think of depression as an impairment of mood

To Blog or Not to Blog

2009-08-05T09:36:00.000-07:00

To Blog or not to Blog – that was my question. At 47 (I know - where have the years gone – it seems like only yesterday I was 29) I am among the last of the boomers and, like many of my peers, have an uneasy relationship with advancing technologies. However, the convenience and the expediency of the web and mobile devices have largely won me over, and while I am not ready to tweet (still not sure