The above reprint appeared in the North Bay Business Journal’s Health Care and Senior Living insert.

We continue our series of feature posts on independent living and assisted living facilities located in Sonoma County.  This week, we highlight Brookdale Senior Living in Santa Rosa.

Brookdale Place of Chanate is conveniently located in Santa Rosa and offers both independent and personal assisted living.

Nestled along a beautiful hillside location among mature redwood trees and a pine forest, Brookdale Place of Chanate sits just off Highway 101 and is within minutes of Kaiser and Sutter Hospitals, giving residents there an added sense of security.

At Brookdale Place, retirees live independently – though there is personalized, additional care available if and when they require assistance, offering extra assistance that some residents may need when it comes to bathing, dressing, medications and more.

Those living independently will enjoy private or companion suites with a choice of floor plans.  Utilities are included, too.

The dining room at Brookdale Place.

Among the amenities:

• Elegant community dining room
• Private dining room for family or guests
• 24-hour bistro
• Media, television and living room areas
• Beautifully manicured landscaping and gardens
• Outdoor areas to walk and relax in
• Comfortable quality furnishings and artwork
• Fire safety system
• Full-service beauty/barber shop (additional fees)

For more information on Brookdale Place of Chanate, conveniently located in Santa Rosa, call 707.575.7503.

And for more information about senior home care and companionship services, no matter where you’re elderly loved one calls home, visit Home Instead Senior Care of Sonoma County or call 707.586.1516.

Assisted Living, Alzheimer's Care and Skilled Nursing are all offered at Brighton Gardens of Santa Rosa.

We are beginning our series of blog posts featuring both independent living and assisted living communities throughout Sonoma County.  Today, we’re featuring Brighton Gardens of Santa Rosa.

Brighton Gardens of Santa Rosa is nestled in the sunny foothills of the elegant Fountaingrove section of town, just minutes from historic downtown Santa Rosa and Northern California wine country.

You’ll find that there is no shortage of golf courses here too – if that’s your thing.

The makeup of the development is one- and two-bedroom studio apartments that offer spectacular views of the area.  

More importantly, though, Brighton Gardens is well-staffed to take care of seniors with their assisted living, Alzheimer’s care and 24-hour professional nursing services. Senior couples with different health requirements get the advantage of having those three care options under the same roof.

Brighton Gardens’ special programs include indoor activities in music, arts and crafts, as well as outdoor activities that let residents enjoy the natural beauty of Sonoma County.

For more information on this senior living facility, please call 707.566.8600.

And if you need assistance on living independently at home – where ever home may be – simply call Home Instead Senior Care of Sonoma County at 707.586.1516 anytime.  We’ll be glad to help you with your senior home care needs.

“In sickness and in health.”

They are five words that make up a short but very important sentence.  Yet it can be extremely difficult to be a spouse and care for a sick loved one.  It’s physically draining, emotionally challenging, and financially stressful for any caregiver, but is especially hard on a spouse.

Home Instead of Sonoma CAREGivers, like Donna, help to care for elderly when it's difficult for a spouse or family member to do so.

Steven H. Zarit, a Pennsylvania University gerontologist, tells the Arizona Republic that spouses who care for a sick lover are dealing with their own age-related health limitations.

Plus, longer life spans means that once-fatal conditions like heart disease are more manageable, which means sicknesses can last a very long time.   

Essentially, it means a sick spouse could be caring for a slightly sicker spouse. And that’s not a great scenario for sure.

At Home Instead, we’ve developed a specialized resource guide for spouses (or family members) who are giving care to sick loved ones.

You can find it at www.caregiverstress.com. The site includes a Stressmeter, where you’ll be able to better how much stress is too much to handle.  (The Stressmeter is also found on our blog, in the right-hand sidebar).

Consider this: A study released this year by the University of South Florida and the University of Alabama at Birmingham found that high care-giving strain among spouses increased the risk of stroke by 23 percent.  That association was particularly strong among husbands caring for wives, the study noted.

If this scenario sounds all-too-familiar either to you as a spouse or to someone you know, we encourage you to visit www.caregiverstress.com, where you’ll find helpful tips on taking care of yourself while taking care of your loved one. Because tending to both are just as important.

For more information about Home Instead Senior Care of Sonoma County and the services we provide – such as light housekeeping, meal preparation, transportation and more – please call our Sonoma County Home Care office at 707.586.1516 anytime.  Or you can visit our senior home care digital brochure.

Eating cheese can boost the immune system in elderly.

Chick-fil-A Restaurants might want to start a new marketing campaign for its senior customers: Eat More Cheese.

According to a recent study by University of Turku in Finland, eating cheese can boost the immune system of elderly people by acting as a carrier for probiotic bacteria. 

Probiotics are living microorganisms that exist in the stomach that strengthen the immune system and aid digestion.  They are usually consumed as part of fermented foods with specially-added active live cultures. If you’ve enjoyed a cup of Activia Yogurt (just as actress Jamie Lee Curtis does), you’ve had probiotic bacteria.

Dr. Fandi Ibrahim, lead author of the probiotic study in the elderly population, said in a statement that:

“The increase in the proportion of aged individuals in modern society makes finding innovative ways to thwart the deterioration of the immune system a priority. The intake of probiotic bacteria has been reported to enhance the immune response through other products, and now we have discovered that cheese can be a carrier of the same bacteria.”

Ibraham’s team conducted a four-week study with volunteers between the ages of 72 and 103 who lived in the same nursing home.  Volunteers were asked to eat a slice of either placebo or probiotic Gouda cheese with their breakfast. The results, conducted through blood tests, showed a clear boost in the activation of blood cells involved in immunity.

For seniors, eating well-balanced meals in addition to nutrition education and counseling is a vital aspect to healthy living.

Home Instead’s Cooking Under Pressure nutrition campaign is designed to educate and support seniors and their family members who are sometimes stressed-out by the demands of caregiving.  With our partners at the University of Maryland and Duke University’s Diet and Fitness Center, we’ve developed a great handbook of nutrition tips.  See it here.

Or simply call your Sonoma County Home Instead office at 707.586.1516.

Summer in Sonoma County (La Crema Winery)

Summer is the perfect time to consider giving the gift of a Home Instead CAREGiver to an elderly loved one, a relative or a friend.

As we celebrate family time, we cherish the moments we spend with our Mom, Dad or grandparents.

But we also become more aware with each passing day that as our loved ones get older and find it difficult to remain living independently in their own homes. So the lending hand of a trained CAREGiver can be all that is needed to be sure your loved one gets the extra care they deserve.

Home Instead Senior Care of Sonoma County can provide your Mom or Dad or other elderly loved one with home helper services such as light housekeeping, medication reminders, meal preparation — even transportation to a doctor’s appointment, grocery store or religious services.

Many Seniors in Sonoma County are lonely, may be suffering depression and are in need of companionship care — someone to read to them, play games, socialize or reminisce about the past. Home Instead CAREGivers are also specially trained to help the elderly who are experiencing dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

Our CAREGivers take special care to maintain the elderly person’s dignity and to treat our clients with ultimate respect in their aging years.

If you are interested in giving the gift of a CAREGiver for an elderly loved one, simply call our Sonoma County Home Instead Senior Care office at 707.586.1516. Make an appointment for a free, no obligation home care assessment right away.

Because…To us, it’s personal.

Our Home Instead CAREGivers often become just like family members, spending simple yet quality time with their Clients while they care for them.  This story is written by our Home Instead of Sonoma County CAREGiver, Anne, about spending time with her Client, Annemarie.  Enjoy.

The first time I was scheduled to work with Annemarie I was told that she was sweet and liked to go for walks. And that was a good description of her.  For the first two weeks I worked with her, we would take walks in her neighborhood around the block, and sometimes after dinner if we had time we would go on a short walk in her apartment complex. 

After a while I started thinking maybe she would like to go for a walk somewhere else. So I asked my office if it would be okay to take her to a park or somewhere else to go for a walk and they approved it for me.  

So I started researching and looking for a good place that she could take her front-wheeled walker easily without a lot of problems. Once I found a couple of different locations. the very next day I asked her if she would like to go for a walk at a park somewhere else. Annemarie’s eyes lit up and she said yes!

We have tried many different parks and places to go on our walk, but Annemarie and I have a favorite park that has a little lake and birds to feed.

So now a normal day for Annemarie and I starts off with her and I cutting up some French bread to feed the birds and then we gather our things together and head out.

We drive over to the park and feed the birds while we walk around the lake. It’s a nice park, easy for Annemarie to get around considering she has a front-wheeled walker.

It’s not too long of a walk and there are plenty of benches to stop and sit on while we feed the birds.

After we return home from the park I make her dinner and clean up the kitchen.

After dinner, Annemarie and I sit down and practice some of her voice exercises. Due to the fact that Annemarie has had a stroke that has affected her ability to speak, we work together practicing saying the days of the week, months of the year and our ABC’s. She is doing so great and is now able to say “thank you” and other words really well.

After that our time together comes to an end until the next day. 

Isn’t that a great story?  Our Home Instead CAREGivers really bring a lot of joy to our clients and find things to do to brighten up their day.  We put together this short video about Anne and Annemarie’s Day at the Park.  We hope you like it too.

We can quickly provide experienced CAREGivers to take care of your aging loved one, parent or grandparent  Call us anytime at 707.586.1516.  Or, for more information, visit our digital brochure at http://hisc392.digbro.com.

Thought you would enjoy this video by the AARP. We hope you’ll be inspired.

Do you think we’re in a lost generation?  What did Henry Ford say?  If you think you are, then…

If you’re a senior and you are living at home in Sonoma County, or if you have an aging parent or relative who is, this summer is a great time to assess whether you need extra help around the home.  Below is a short survey to determine your senior home care needs:

Please check all that apply:

1. Are you having trouble walking?
2. Have you fallen, or are you afraid of falling?
3. Are you not eating as well as you should be?
4. Are you forgetting to eat?
5. Are you afraid of falling in the shower or bathtub?
6. Do you need help getting to your medical appointments?
7. Do you need help grocery shopping and running errands?
8. Do you need assistance getting dressed?
9. Do you need help getting to the bathroom in time?
10. Do you forget to take your medications?
11. Are you afraid to be home alone?
12. Does your family worry about you while you’re home alone?
13. Are you able to properly maintain your home?
14. Have you lost interest in activities that used to make you happy?
15. Are your regular, daily activities more difficult than they used to be?

If you can answer “yes” to any of these questions about your activities of daily living (ADL), then Home Instead Senior Care may be able to help.  Our trusted CAREGivers provide non-medical companionship and homecare services to help seniors remain as independent as possible in the comfort and safety of their own homes – wherever they call home.

To learn more about how we may be able to help you, please call our Sonoma County home care office at 707.586.1516.  Or visit us online at http://www.homeinstead.com/sonoma.