Aging in Place

Deirdre and Marsi Beck: Staying Safe, Independent & Dignified In Our Own Homes

“My number one safety tip is being proactive and anticipating and heading off accidents and falls before they happen.”

“We sell independence, safety, trust and dignity, keeping someone’s dignity is invaluable.” ~Marsi Beck

Today I speak with Marsi Beck of On The Mend Medical Supplies and Equipment about

  • Safety in the home
  • Independence
  • Keeping our dignity
  • How they help out of state and out of country loved ones
  • Who they serve beyond the aging population and how they serve them
  • We also chat about the training they receive and the training they provide to their clients, best in home safety tips and safety products.
  • How you can get a FREE home assessment
  • We both agree on this number one safety tip

Marsi illustrates how much they care about their customers and think outside of the box in order to help them achieve their goals.

“We are honored to be part of the journey and the solutions.” ~Marsi Beck

One of Marsi’s mantras and acronyms for our business here at On The Mend is:

KIND

Keeping

Independence

Naturally

Dignified

Favorite ice cream: Ben & Jerry’s Almond Milk Coffee ice cream

Song that reminds Marsi of her youth: Blood, Sweat & Tears, The Carpenters …

Leisure time: Traveling to see her children, hanging out with family & friends, a healthy fitness lifestyle, working out at the gym

You can contact Marsi at On The Mend Medical Supplies & Equipment

Call: 203-262-0383

Address: 385 Main Street South, Unit 102, Southbury, CT 06488

Website: https://onthemendmedical.com/ 

Email: Marsi@onthemendmedical.com 

Or follow them on FacebookLinkedIn or YouTube to watch their informative and many times hysterical clips.

This episode is sponsored by DeClutter By Deirdre, A Senior Move management. Helping You and Your Loved Ones DeClutter, Move & Live a Fuller Life. Take a look at my website and contact me to work together. www.DeClutterByDeirdre.com 

**Download~Like~Positive Review Magnificent Aging**

Thank you for listening, I appreciate you!

#KIND, #OTMyournowcenter, #YouveGotAFriendatOnTheMend, #onthemendmedical, #staysafeathome, #seniordeclutter, #seniormovepodcast, #seniormovemanagementpodcast, #declutterpodcast, #declutterblogger, #seniormovemanagementblog, #seniormovemanagementblogger, #Declutterblog, #Declutterblogger, #Declutterexpert, #Decluttergame, #Declutterguru, #Declutterhabit, #Declutterpro, #agingpodcast, #elderfocuspodcast, #Declutterprofessional, #Distancedeclutter, #Divideanddeclutter, #Eldermoveblog, #Eldermoveblogger, #Eldermovingtips, #Ineedhelpmoving, #Mariekondo

“If we don’t take care of ourselves first we cannot take care of others” ~Tracy Brady

  • As a caregiver, always schedule time for yourself
  • Agency vs registry-which would work for you?
  • Services provided by non-medical agencies
  • Keep people socially engaged
  • Importance of agency employees:  safety, health, respite
  • How to deal with guilt and/or fear in order to get some peace of mind
  • How Tracy’s Visiting Angels agency works with individuals whose family lives out of state
  • Weigh the benefits of having someone come into your home
  • Make choices before you are forced to make choices under duress
  • How to manage care from far away
  • The importance of a care plan for the entire family
  • The advantages of Aging in Place
  • “Active Engaged Program” at Visiting Angels and Reading to Animals in Shelters
  • How Visiting Angels help your loved one needs to keep their dignity as much as possible
  • Call Visiting Angels regarding healthcare proxy, questions on where to turn for assistance with your loved one. They offer care and guidance.

Favorite ice cream: All of them

Off hours interest: Seniors and Animals, the Catherine Hubbard Foundation Senior Paws. https://cvhfoundation.org/the-sanctuary/animals/senior-paw-project/

To contact Visiting Angels: (203) 740-0230 and take a look at their website: https://www.visitingangels.com/brookfield/home

This episode is sponsored by DeClutter By Deirdre, A Senior Move Management and DeCluttering for Aging In Place Company. Helping You and Your Loved Ones DeClutter, Move & Live a Fuller Life. Look at my website and contact me to work together at DeClutterByDeirdre@gmail.com  www.DeClutterByDeirdre.com 

**Download~Like~Positive Review Magnificent Aging**

Thank you for listening, I appreciate you!

Every home is a dream of its owner

If you’re a Baby Boomer, or older, your dream was to own your home.  Owning a home meant so much! 

It meant you were mature, and you could take care of yourself, 

It was a symbol of coming into your own,

That you were serious about a long-term relationship,

That you were ready to settle down and have children,

That you were committed to your job and wouldn’t be looking elsewhere for work.

You lovingly filled it with items you were given by friends and family, mostly big, brown furniture.  You cleaned it at least weekly and took pride in that.  It was “sparse”, but it was yours. 

Now, after the trials and tribulations life has thrown it’s looking a little not-so-clean.  The rooms are bursting with items collected but never passed on to those in need.  Most of your children or grandchildren are not so interested in the brown furniture and all the other treasures you hold.  It’s hard to maneuver around all the furniture and collections with a walker or wheelchair. Your eyesight isn’t what it used to be, and the unseen dust bunnies are gathered in the corner.  Suddenly, your dream is a nightmare and a burden. 

You can change that!  Get someone to help you whether you hire a team of people like we have at DeClutter By Deirdre or family and friends. In an afternoon your dream home will be changed for the better! You will feel lighter and that pride of home ownership will creep back in.

Imagine having friends and family over for dinner (that they bring, of course),

Imagine having more lighting in your home so you can see in dark corners,

Imagine furniture being weeded out so you can walk safely,

Imagine regaining pride in your dream home!

Contact me at DeClutterByDeirdre@gmail.com, we will resurrect that dream.

You know, the one with your spouse and household family members about bringing your aging parent to live in your/their home.  Take a deep breath before you do this then understand as much as you can about what you are agreeing to.

This should not be a quick decision.  Talk to your family to get their opinion.  A lot of times family members will allow you to do what you want because it takes the burden off them.  Perhaps think about why they are allowing you to do this (and not them) and clearly understand their reasons because they are valid and perhaps you should consider them before making your decision as well.

This should not be done alone. You need support and will need to take breaks so set that up now.  Hire someone to relieve you daily.  There are many resources available both for free and pay.  Don’t wait until you are at the breaking point to get help, set that up at before your loved one comes to your home.

Talk to healthcare professionals treating your loved one.  Healthcare professionals have a clear understanding of your loved one’s health and what is required to attend to their needs.  These needs might not be something you ever anticipated as health deteriorates.  Physical and mental status changes come with their own challenges.

Preparation is essential.  Look at your home with an eye to the future.  Is there a 3-foot radius between furniture that a wheelchair could maneuver around?  Do you have stairs that will require a chair lift, budget for this now?  What about getting into the home, are there stairs, do you need to get a ramp?  Are there grab bars strategically placed in the bathroom? Are weapons accessible? and I don’t just mean guns, I mean items that can be used as weapons against you or someone else.

Communication is key.  Not only between you, your spouse, siblings, and family members but their extended network as well.  A quick conversation to the extended family will go a long way when your spouses’ family understands your spouse agreed to this arrangement and there’s no need for judgment.

Draw a line in the sand. Plan now as to when you will hand over care to someone else.  When the caregiving affects your family, your work, your mental and/or physical health.  When certain traits begin to show in your loved one. When certain equipment needs to be used for care. When friends and family tell you it’s time to make changes, you agree to listen to them.

This is doable!

Make it as easy as possible as soon as possible so your time together is pleasant and as stress reduced as it can be.

You won’t regret taking care of your loved one.

 

Wasting Away

Growing up most of us are taught not to waste anything because there are people starving, that people would love to have what we have so be sure you don’t waste it.  I remember the nuns saying don’t waste your food there are people starving and some classmate would say under his/her breath “then why don’t we send it to them”, GREAT idea and this concept of sending things we don’t use to someone who could use it is most easily translated to our “stuff”.

I work with people who possess an overabundance of “stuff” and when I ask them why they keep so many pieces of a certain item, many times, I’m met with a shrug and “I don’t know”.  I encounter tens and tens of collared knit shirts, tens of multiples of tens of T-shirts (I might go so far as to say hundreds of T-shirts) and lots and lots of black pants.  People don’t know what to do with these item s and they don’t want to be wasteful, so they don’t deal with the overabundance of items they possess.

What if we looked at being wasteful in a different context?  What would you say if I said to you these items are being wasted because they are shoved into the back of your drawer or closet and NO ONE is using them, and they are wasting away when they could be put to good use by someone else.

I know that if I find T-shirts stuffed into the bottom of your hall closet you are wasting them.  I know that if I find collared knit shirts hanging in your laundry room covered in dust you are wasting them.  I know that if I find boxes of socks in the basement covered in mouse poop you are wasting them.  I know that if I find a total of 270 shirts in your home in various rooms that 240 of them are being wasted.  I know that if I find cans of tomato paste, vegetables, tuna fish, or any food item, past their expiration date they are being wasted.

Your money is being wasted.  If you stopped buying excess what could you do with that wasted money?  Would your bank account have a positive number?  Would you be able to go out for a beautiful meal once a month? Would you feel better because you contributed to a soup kitchen or homeless shelter?  Would you be able to volunteer somewhere with the hours not wasted buying items you don’t need?

Be conscious of your spending, donate what you can, enjoy experiences.

Stop Waste NOW.  You can do it!

Look at the photo, what do you see?  The front door is on the other side of the cabinet.   The FRONT door, where Emergency Medical Service personnel will come in to help.  There are items spread all out, no huge piles, it doesn’t seem too bad…but it is!!

When I enter a home to do my initial assessment I am mainly looking at the safety of the environment: the physical safety of the people living in the home, the safety of people entering the home and working in the home, the brain health of the occupants meaning is there an outside influence? I will make suggestions right off the bat.  Safety first, always.

First thing to take a look at is creating a clear path to an exit.  It may seem obvious or you think: I can get around that pile, well don’t count on it.  In the heat of an emergency you can forget your own name let alone how to get out of a dangerous situation.  Ensure that all exits have a clear, unencumbered path leading out.  Do not leave items in an exit path thinking you can step on them if you had to.  In the case of an emergency, they can become the biggest obstacle between you living and dying.  You can slip on an area rug, clothing, drapes, any kind of plastic, containers that can hold things like buckets or food containers, newspapers, magazines, cans, bottles and fall making all the difference in getting out the door or being trapped.

People have good intentions and create piles of things that must be dealt with so they place them in the hallway.  Ask yourself, could an EMS stretcher get down that hallway?  If someone came to assist you could they get the two of you out and past furniture and accumulation of items with plenty of elbow room and nothing to slip on?

Plan with “what if” scenarios in mind.  You will feel so relieved you did and that you were prepared if the time ever comes.

Re-Connect Movement
My dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and asked our family not to tell anyone. That was a really challenging request because when I speak to family and friends they always ask how I am and I couldn’t tell them the truth that my heart was breaking, I didn’t know what to do and I needed their comforting words. I got the blues, I turned inward and became isolated because it was too hard to tell people I’m fine, my family is fine, everything is fine.

In my work as a Move Manager, DeClutterer, Organizer I see people who also are disconnected from family/friends/life, have the blues, who cling to items out of a sense of loss, people who assign the soul of those who have died or left to things and I get it. I see them unable to make a decision for themselves because they have decided to protect themselves and this is the only way they know how.


Our clients have a lot of fear of the unknown, they have experienced loss: divorce, death, illness, loss of a career, loss of home, loss of friends, trauma, full-time care of a child or family member, loss of money all of which can translate into fear and many times there is no one with them taking the journey. I always ask my clients “Who is your support”? Many times, it’s me and the lovely, trustworthy, caring people who work with me. 


My thought was, I see the disconnect in my life and those I work with, how can I change that? How can I help myself and others to be more connected? I came up with the Re-Connect Movement.


I thought about how speaking live, either on the phone or in person, to someone could change my hour, my day, my week and my life. I thought about how just the act of reaching out could show me courage and open paths to uplifting emotions and clearer emotions then I thought about how this could impact my clients and others to help them declutter those areas in their lives they were hanging on to.
Please, join me.

What Do I Do with Expired Meds?

(Expiration Dates on Meds / Out of Sight, Out of Mind)

The smallest room in your home needs attention…

Even in design, the bathroom is too often neglected.  It’s the smallest room in your home, and contains so many and important things.  For sure, there’s most likely the medicine cabinet, and the average person spends 30 minutes a day in the bathroom.  If this statistic is true, then what’s behind the closed door of the medicine cabinet is ever-present and inevitably neglected until the moment calls to use something hidden from every day view.  Medications have a way of accumulating and are contributory to the “unseen clutter”.  And by taking the steps to declutter your medicine cabinet it is also a best way to prevent misuse or accidental use of medications.

When you open up the medicine cabinet, what do you see?  Assuredly, what you see isn’t comforting.  Besides the half-empty bottles of aspirin, bits and pieces of first aid solutions and personal care products, there is a collection of old prescription bottles from a previous illness.  And those prescription bottles contain meds that are long past the expiration dates.  There may even be medications that are not in the original container.

Of course, the first step is to throw out all that has expired.  It’s a telltale sign if you can’t remember when you bought it or if the medicines have changed color – it needs to be disposed of properly.  (Doubly telltale if you can’t remember what color the original medicine should be).  But there is a protocol for the proper disposal of unused and expired medications that is important for health and safety reasons.

There are precautions, environmental, and safety concerns for proper disposal of drugs and inhalers.  When disposing of medications it is important to remember that the illegal use of prescription medications is a concern as well.  Medicines are classified into categories because not all medicines can be immediately disposed into regular house-hold trash. Community take-back programs provide options for disposal, and require preparation for the expired meds for disposal or call your local Police Department, they might be part of a federal program that allows you to drop bagged medication into a receptacle at any time.  Recycle the plastic bottles or boil and take to your local Humane Society or Pet Adoption Center.

Cleaning out your medicine cabinet and exposing of expired medications should be done two times a year.  Assigning this task to an important date like daylight savings time and changing the battery in your smoke detector, or New Year’s Day and July 4th can serve as an important reminder and keep your medicine cabinet free and clear of the accumulation of expired medications.

DeClutter By Deirdre is committed to assisting people & their families who struggle with where to start and complete de-cluttering their homes so they can de-stress and enjoy a full life without extra burdens they could not previously tackle on their own. People who are ready to take control of all they can in their lives and develop solid systems that allow them to step away from items and stresses that no longer serve them and to enjoy the company of others and have the leisure time to pursue family time, interests and hobbies. Remodeled/organized spaces reduce the mental burden of clutter, allow easier movement about the house when physical challenges present themselves or changes to the home have to be made to allow those individuals who will be aging in place to stay in their own home.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

closet declutter, closet, closet clutter, messy closet

The major reason to hire DeClutter By Deirdre is we DE-CLUTTER your home in preparation for your move! This saves you money so you are not moving and paying to move items you will never use or store in an expensive storage unit. If you are not moving it pays to unburden your life from clutter, saving you from repurchasing items you didn’t know you had and saving you from the psychological burden of clutter! Message me!

declutter by deirdre senior move specialistDeirdre Dolan Nesline, a Senior Move Planning Specialist and Owner of DeClutter By Deirdre, A Senior Move Management Company.
Member: National Association of Senior Move Managers,
Coalition of Agencies Relating to Elderly Services, Senior Care Resources of Western Connecticut
Email: DeClutterByDeirdre@gmail.com
Phone: 203-733-1073
www.declutterbydeirdre.com
Follow: DeClutter By Deirdre on Facebook

1. Be sure you have 42 inches between furniture so a wheelchair can
move around easily
2. Start planning for living in place before you need it
3. Tell your family and friends your wishes to stay in your home and
what you have done to ensure that you do
4. Consider a 55+ community to move to, they know what people
need to have in order to live in place
5. Educate yourself on services available in your area, will they meet
your needs and budget?

declutter by deirdre senior move specialistDeirdre Dolan Nesline, a Senior Move Planning Specialist and Owner of DeClutter By Deirdre, A Senior Move Management Company.
Member: National Association of Senior Move Managers,
Coalition of Agencies Relating to Elderly Services, Senior Care Resources of Western Connecticut
Email: DeClutterByDeirdre@gmail.com
Phone: 203-733-1073
www.declutterbydeirdre.com
Follow: DeClutter By Deirdre on Facebook