The person has to cope with a new environment in an aged care facility. They are no longer surrounded by the familiarity and comforts of home, and they have busy, unfamiliar people all around them.

It’s not hard to understand they may feel overwhelmed and upset.

Moving into aged care also often coincides with the loss of ability or poor health, which can make the move even more trying.

But the move into aged care also has its positives.

The resident will be able to receive around-the-clock care, medical assistance is always nearby, and there are likely to be more opportunities to socialize.

At Autumn Aged Care, there are several ways we can help to ease the transition for new residents into our aged care facility.

Helping residents settle in

What can carers do to make new residents feel more at home?

• · Encourage the resident to familiarise themselves with the facility before they move in. Could they visit the home before they walk in, and even share a meal with the other residents?

• · Let staff and other residents know a new resident is moving in. Encourage them to welcome the person, and if possible, tell them a little about the person so they know what to expect and what the person might be interested in talking about.

• · Explain what is happening to the resident, and what they should expect as they settle in. Let them know it’s understandable for them to feel unsettled at first, but that it will pass. Explain daily activities and routines.

• · Build positive relationships with family and keep communication channels with them open. Warn the family the resident may feel anxious at first, and that this is normal. Keep family informed about how the resident is settling, even letting them know what the resident has been up to. Ask family if they have received any feedback from the resident and encourage them to visit often.

• · Does the resident have any cultural or language requests? Understanding the resident’s cultural identity will help make the resident feel understood, respected, valued and that they are being treated with dignity.

• · Suggest the resident bring some of their own possessions with them, including old photos, artworks, their own drinking glass or cups and saucers, and even furniture, such as a favourite chair. Being surrounded by familiar possessions will help make the resident feel at home. Help them, or encourage family, to set up the new room so it is familiar and comforting for them.

• · Answer the resident’s questions patiently, keeping in mind the enormous change they are going through. Think about a time you have been through a significant difference in your life, and how you would have liked to be reassured.

• · Learn about the resident’s life story. Talking to them about their lives and their memories is likely to make them feel happy, and will also reassure them they are around people who care about them. You may like to help the resident put together a scrapbook about their life that others can look at.

• · Find out about the person’s interests. Is it possible for the resident to continue taking part in some of those activities? Can they play their favourite music on earphones? Do they have books they’ll enjoy available to them?

• · Encourage the person to take part in the activities at the nursing home. Participating will help the person get to know other residents and make them feel involved.

• · Give them time. It generally takes around four weeks for a new resident to settle into their new home. If, at first, you notice the resident seems down or even confused, it could just be that they are adjusting to the change. Although of course if these signs persist, you should consult a doctor.

• · But most importantly, maintain a positive attitude. Let the resident know it’s normal to feel worried and even sad at first. Talk about the positives of being in care, and reassure them that their new home will really feel like ‘home’ before they know it.

The post How to feel at home in an aged care facility appeared first on Autumn Aged Care.

Around 30 per cent of adults over the age of 65 experience at least one fall per year. With Australia’s ageing population, that rate is only likely to go higher.

Up to 32 per cent of older people who fall will suffer a fracture, but falls can also result in decreased independence, functional decline, anxiety, and even death

A fall is often the incident that precipitates an older person moving into aged care. Up to half of all aged care residents fall at least once a year.

Why do older people fall more often?

What happens to our bodies as we age makes us more susceptible to falling.

For example, older people are more likely to have a chronic health condition, such as heart disease, dementia, low blood pressure, arthritis, or osteoporosis.

Older people are also more likely to have physical impairments that make us more likely to fall, such as poor vision, muscle weakness, or stiff joints.

What can we do to prevent falls?

What are experts telling us about the best ways to prevent falls among older people?

1. Modify your environment:
   • Install handrails in the bathroom and around the entrance ways.
   • Mark out the edge of steps to make sure they are easy to see.
   • Keep pathways even and in good condition.
   • Replace worn mats and remove trip hazards such as rugs.
   • Ensure you have adequate lighting around your home, and that floors aren’t slippery.
2. Make sure you are eating nutritious food and drinking plenty of fluids to keep your body healthy and to ensure you have plenty of energy.
3. Don’t walk around in socks or ill-fitting shoes or slippers.
4. Wipe up spills immediately.
5. Avoid ladders and footstools.
6. Take medication only as required. See your doctor if your medication is creating side effects such as dizziness.
7. Have your eyes tested annually
8. Wear hip protectors or a personal alarm if you are worried about falling.
9. Exercise. Research has shown that exercise programs can reduce the number of falls by 23 per cent. Exercises that target balance and functional performance, such as sitting down and getting up from a chair, reaching, and stepping, have the strongest evidence of effectiveness.
10. Take up Tai Chi, it’s good for strength and flexibility, and it’s also relaxing and fun.

By following these steps we can reduce the risk that older people will fall, and we can thereby help to preserve their good health, independence and quality of life for longer.

The post The top 10 tips for fall prevention appeared first on Autumn Aged Care.

The world has seen and experienced inexplicably dark times. These dark times have happened across continents, people groups and periods in history.

One feature arguably unites every instance and that is the utter breakdown in empathy.

Empathy is defined as “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” Empathy has long been a crucial element of humanity.

Countless scientists, academics, authors, creatives and professionals across every discipline have sought to understand what makes us humans tick and what helps us live our best lives.

Dr Helen Riess of the Empathy and Relational Science Program at the Harvard Medical School advocates the  importance of empathising with our fellow human.

Whether innate or practiced, the ability to empathise may hold much greater sway than we realised.

Within our own lives and caring, empathy has a pivotal role.

The Science Of Empathy

Dr Reiss explains in her recent study that empathy has a critical role to play in all our lives.

Whether interpersonal or on a larger societal scale, empathy helps us humans share experiences, needs and desires.

Carrying information back and forth between us as individuals, empathy builds and sustains emotional bridges that encourages pro-social behaviour.

She explains that as this phenomenon is occurring “an exquisite interplay of neural networks and enables us to perceive the emotions of others, resonate with them emotionally and cognitively, to take in the perspective of others, and to distinguish between our own and others’ emotions.”

Understanding where others are coming from has been proven throughout the years to reduce hostility, violence and negative interpersonal outcomes.

In a world where emotions can be intense, whether at home or at work, being able to understand how someone is feeling can provide insight into how to act for the best.

Studies have shown that we as humans desperately want to be understood and heard, empathy is that in action.

Empathy In Health Care

Unfortunately with the significant calls upon time, effort and resources, medical professionals and aged care workers have spoken about the difficulties of maintaining empathy.

It is completely understandable that in the routine and consistency of work that the energy to empathise will come under strain.

This is due to the fact that no human has an endless supply of social, mental, emotional and physical juices.

Sometimes the carton will run dry and so it is important to be aware of our own emotional wellbeing as aged care workers.

To be sympathetic to your own needs and training yourself to gaze internally ever so often, to see if you yourself need care and support, will aid you in your mission to provide the best care for others.

Cognitive Empathy

Dr. Riess speaks of cognitive empathy as a way to practice the skill of ‘walking in another’s shoes’.

Some of us may find it more difficult than others to empathise with those we meet and work with.

Cognitive empathy is the conscious decision to accurately discover and understand another person’s emotional state.

Discovering a resident’s emotional state may take a lot of questions, time and effort but the insight into what they are feeling, and why they are feeling that way, is likely to have hugely positive effects on the quality of care you can provide.

While the world races around at breakneck speed, many are unable to keep up and while the fast, strong and mighty are championed, there is a greater power that we can all use.

Empathy is the power to connect to our fellow human and make them know that theirs is a story worth listening to and understanding.

The post Why Empathy Is Important In Life And Care appeared first on Autumn Aged Care.