A Note From Carol
Dear Friends,
April is when I really think spring. Even though Easter
was early this year, April is when we in the Northland
get to see the first brave flowers poke through the
ground - or this year - through the snow.
Speaking of growing, this is truly the appropriate
season to break out the new collaboration between
Barbara Mascio's Senior Approved Services and
Minding Our Elders. Barbara and I have supported
each other all along. Her dedication to seniors, the
caregiving community and her high ethical standards
made her a magnet for me as I was setting up my
own help networks.
Barbara is now offering two newsletters from her
Senior
Approved Services site, one of which is this
monthly Ezine from Minding Our Elders. The other is a
quarterly newsletter by Kathy Kilpatrick. You've seen
some of Kathy's work on these pages and you'll see
more. Kathy is a communications expert and has tons
on information on her site at
Connections in Communication. The press
release about our collaboration can be found here
.
If you're interested in my new health and travel blog,
the link is here and on the list below. It's a
work in progress that has been a natural transition for
me, so we'll be offering some tips on health and
travel in this newsletter, along with caregiver support.
Take care of yourself, Carol
Quick Links...
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Hello!
Welcome to Minding Our Elders! Our hope is to break
the isolation that caregivers often feel. We'd also like
to share ideas, comfort and information that will help
you along your caregiving journey. Finally, we'll be
adding some articles on health and even travel for
caregivers, boomers and seniors. Thanks for reading.
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Protecting Seniors from Contractor Fraud and Rip Offs
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Trusting a Contractor...
It doesn't matter how small or large the community,
cases of unsuspecting homeowners losing
thousands of dollars to an unscrupulous contractor
are reported, and in many cases, go un-reported
because the homeowner is too embarrassed. It
seems to be especially prevalent within the senior
citizen community. Bad contractors have no problem
taking advantage of the trust of the elderly.
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Back to the Future: Could Riding the Rails be My New Mode of Travel?
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I've been thinking about trains lately. Back in the late
50s, when my brother and I were young, our parents
would put us on the train to go see our grandparents,
two-hundred miles to our west. The porter would keep
an eye on us, but we were pretty good pals and had a
good time.
Our grandparents would pluck us off the train, we'd
have fun visiting them and then they'd pack us up and
send us back home. I always wanted to eat in the
dining room, with its white tablecloths and fancy china,
but our parents didn't think we needed that, which was
probably right.
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Warning Signs That Your Parent's Finances Are Off Track - And What To Do About It
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"I just can't get this checkbook to balance this month."
Those words were my first inkling that mom might not
be as sharp as she once was. I was taken by
surprise. After all, she had managed her own finances
with aplomb for many years and all I did was a little
coaching. She remembered all her appointments, all
her meds, and often reminded me of dates to
remember. How did I miss this?
Had I purposely been blind to subtle indicators? The
answer was "yes," because I didn't want her to
change.
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The Sandwich Generation: What It Is and How to Cope
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When my elderly neighbor Joe was widowed, I did
what most neighbors would do. I didn't know Joe or
his wife well, but I knew Joe was completely deaf and
that his wife had just died. He was lonely. I started to
visit, thinking I could help him if he needed groceries
or something. What began as a neighborly visit,
continued into a kind of adoption of Joe, by myself and
my two sons, ages six and eight.
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Young Brains Are Like Ferraris; Old Brains are More Like Old Pickups
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Studies are always bringing surprises. The Buck
Institute published an article titled "Paradoxical
Alzheimer's Finding May Shed New Light on Memory
Loss," describing the findings of a study published in
the March 7, 2008 issue of the Journal of Alzheimer's
Disease.
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Natural Healing: My story so far
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You won't find many cross-posts between my original
Minding Our Elders blog and my health and travel
blog, but this is a subject thread that I'd like all of my
readers interested in their health and the health of
their care receivers to follow, so yes, today you will find
this post on both my health blog and my caregiving
blog.
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About Carol
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Caregiving expert Carol Bradley Bursack, Author,
speaker and columnist, presents a collection of
articles, stories, news and research for you to
browse. Please check the blog and Web site links for
more information and feel free to email Carol at
carol@mindingourelders.com to chat or ask
questions.
If your group or organization would like to buy "Minding
Our Elders: Caregivers Share Their Personal Stories"
in bulk, please email carol@mindingourelders.com
for information.
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