Cathy Cress

Expert in Aging Life and Geriatric Care Management

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Can Blue Blue Christmas and Hanukkah Come From Dementia ?

December 2, 2020

As Elvis Predicted

Many families have a Blue Blue Christmas-or Hanukkah. Why does an aging crisis occur so often during the holidays? How can so many desperate adult children get care managers on the phone and howl about Mom or Dad in December? There are a million bad reasons, – too much alcohol, too many folks who do not get along and drink that alcohol.  But the physical basis for all of this misery in an elder is often a loss of executive function and IADL’s and ADL’s

Why ADL’s and IADL’s.

It takes  IADLs- (Instrumental Activities of Daily Living) shopping for gifts, cooking ritual meals and ADL’s walking to shopping

, decorate serve a ritual meal, climbing ( getting all those decorations out of the attic), grooming ( Mom can be found – in a “messy ensemble” at the feast) by the older person in charge of the holiday to pull it off.  Then add depression to the aging stew – widowhood, loneliness and you have the challenges to an elder, usually the woman in the family,  in managing this entire titanic ritual.

Crash of Executive Skills

The holidays in aging families can be a disaster for another neurological reason. Mom or Dad’s Executive Skills have crashed just like a computer.

Executive functioning involves the ability to organize, plan, and carry out a set of tasks in an efficient manner. It also includes the ability to self-monitor and control our behaviors and multiple other cognitive functions and to perform the goal-directed behavior. It can be described as high-level thinking skills that control and direct lower levels of cognitive functioning.

Planning for the holidays takes those high-level thinking skills -to execute and carry out 25 different major tasks according to a study in the UK- Just think, planning a 

specific holiday ritual menu,( brisket and latkes or popovers and beef prime rib )- then shopping for it cooking it, planning the ritual items in the celebration – a menorah and

Hanukkah bush, Christmas tree, and creche buying them or getting them out of storage on and on.

Why we may end up with burned brisket or turkey.

This is a massive task event/ planning job taken on by one woman usually and as executive functioning power down in her brain- the computer-, which is our aging brain starts to crash- the result- the family freaks out because Mom forgot the ritual steps.

That’s why we need aging life or geriatric care managers to help divide the tasks when Mom cannot do this any longer

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel to learn More- Geriatric Care 1 

SIGN UP FOR MY HOLIDAY WEBINAR

FINAL DAY TO SIGN UP!

8 Ways to Tame the Turmoil of the Holidays & Twindemic in the Aging Family

 

 Learn how!

  • How to sell services to the desperate Aging Family during the holiday surge
  • How to give hope to frantic children who call when their aging parent struggling with Loneliness and isolation on the holidays
  • How to help the Aging Family make holiday visits remotely or safely in person
  • How to counsel the Aging Family to track aging decline &Twindemic risk in loved ones
  • How to work with both dysfunctional and long-distance families who call during the holidays
  • How to use GCM tools to contain Holiday chaos
  • How to use financial forecasting to prepare for business growth during the holidays

Sidestep the Many Care Managers Who Do not know how to work with Dysfunctional family or do COVID Coaching of Aging Families so the client chooses you

THIS FREE WEBINAR IS Thursday, December 3, 2020, FROM 2 PM – 3:30 PM PST

Sign Up Now

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: ADL Loss & Holidays, Aging, Aging Family, Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, Alzheimers, Alzheimers & Holidays, Blog, care manager, case manager, Concierge Senior, Dementia, Dementia & Holidays, Dysfunctional aging family, Families, geriatric care manager, geriatric social worker, Holiday Rituals in Aging Family, Long Distance Care, nurse advocate, nurse care manager Tagged With: aging family, aging life care manager, aging parent crisis, Alzheimers, alzheimers & holidays, care manager, case manager, case manager geriatric social worker, COVID & Christmas, COVID & Holiday Season, COVID Virtual Hanukkah Visit, Dementia & Holiday Tasks, early Alzheimers, Executive Skills, Functional Assessment, geriatric care manager, geriatric social worker, holidays with aging parents, IADLs, nurse advocate, nurse care manager

Can Blue Blue Christmas and Hanukkah Come From The Aging Brain Losing Power ?

December 3, 2019

As Elvis Predicted

Many families have a Blue Blue Christmas-or Hanukkah. Why does an aging crisis occur so often during the holidays? How can so many desperate adult children get care managers on the phone and howl about Mom or Dad in December? There are a million bad reasons, – too much alcohol, too many folks who do not get along and drink that alcohol.  But the physical basis for all of this misery in an elder is often a loss of executive function and IADL’s and ADL’s

Why ADL’s and IADL’s.

It takes  IADLs- (Instrumental Activities of Daily Living) shopping for gifts, cooking ritual meals and ADL’s walking to shop,decorate serve a ritual meal, climbing ( getting all those decorations out of the attic), grooming ( Mom can be found – in a “messy ensemble” at the feast) by the older person in charge of the holiday to pull it off.  Then add depression to the aging stew – widowhood, loneliness and you have the challenges to an elder, usually the woman in the family,  in managing this entire titanic ritual.

Crash of Executive Skills

The holidays in aging families can be a disaster for another neurological reason. Mom or Dad’s Executive Skills have crashed just like a computer.

Executive functioning involves the ability to organize, plan and carry out a set of tasks in an efficient manner. It also includes the ability to self-monitor and control our behaviors and multiple other cognitive functions and to perform the goal-directed behavior. It can be described as high-level thinking skills that control and direct lower levels of cognitive functioning.

Planning for the holidays takes those high level thinking skills -to execute and carrying out 25 different major tasks according to a study in the UK- Just think, planning a  specific holiday ritual menu,( brisket and latkes or popovers and beef prime rib )- then shopping for it cooking it, planning the ritual items in the celebration – a menorah and

Hanukkah bush, Christmas tree, and creche buying them or getting them out of storage on and on.

Why we may end up with burned brisket or turkey.

This is a massive task event/ planning job taken on by one woman usually and as executive functioning power down in her brain- the computer-, which is our aging brain starts to crash- the result- the family freaks out because Mom forgot the ritual steps.

That’s why we need aging life or geriatric care managers to help divide the tasks when Mom cannot do this any longer

Subscribe to my YouTube Channel to learn More- Geriatric Care 1 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Aging, Aging Family, Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, Blog, care manager, case manager, Concierge Senior, Dysfunctional aging family, Families, geriatric care manager, geriatric social worker, Holiday Rituals in Aging Family, Long Distance Care, nurse advocate, nurse care manager Tagged With: aging family, aging life care manager, aging parent crisis, care manager, case manager, case manager geriatric social worker, Executive Skills, Functional Assessment, geriatric care manager, geriatric social worker, holidays with aging parents, IADLs, nurse advocate, nurse care manager

Why Does The Loss of IADL’s Cause That Blue Blue Christmas and Hanukkah ?

November 2, 2017

 

Why does an aging crisis occur so often during the holidays? Why do so many desperate adult children get you on the phone and howl about Mom or Dad? There are a million bad reasons, – too much alcohol, too many folks who do not get along and drink that alcohol, just another Blue Blue Christmas as Elvis predicted. But the physical basis for all of this in elder is a loss of executive function and IADL’s.

It takes  IADLs- (Instrumental Activities of Daily Living) meal planning, shopping, plus ambulation to the person in charge of the holiday to pull it off. Older people Then add depression – widowhood, loss and you have the challenges of aging in managing this entire titanic ritual.

The holidays are a disaster for another neurological reason. Mom or Dad’s Executive skills have crashed just like a computer.

Executive functioning involves the ability to organize, plan and carry out a set of tasks in an efficient manner. It also includes the ability to self-monitor and control our behaviors and multiple other cognitive functions and to perform the goal-directed behavior. It can be described as high-level thinking skills that control and direct lower levels of cognitive functioning.

Planning for the holidays takes those high level thinking skills organizing planning and carrying out 25 different major tasks according to a study in the UK- Just think, planning a  specific holiday ritual menu,( brisket and latkes or popovers and beef prime rib- then shopping for it cooking it, planning the ritual items in the celebration – a menorah and Hanukkah bush , Christmas tree and creche, buying them or getting them out of storage on and on

This is a massive event/ planning job taken on by one woman usually and as executive functioning powers down in her brain the computer which is our aging brain starts to crash- the result- the family freaks out because Mom forgot the ritual steps.

Join me Wednesday, November 8 and learn how to come to the rescue of Concierge Entitled families who find coal in their stockings.

Wednesday, November 8  @11am Pacific Time

Sign Up Now 

2pm CST/ 4pm EST / 8pm LONDON / 5am SYDNEY   (Find your local time)

Sign Up Now 

The holiday season in the aging dysfunctional family triggers amped up turmoil. Mom can’t cook the turkey, she forgets to wrap presents, Dad’s not just drunk but he’s wandering.                             

In this 1-hour webinar, you will learn the 10 clinical steps to handle these long distance and fractured families when the adult children call a care manager for help when they visit during the coming holiday season

 

 

Filed Under: Aging, Aging Family, Aging Life Care, aging life care manager, Blog, care manager, case manager, Concierge Senior, Dysfunctional aging family, Families, geriatric care manager, geriatric social worker, Holiday Rituals in Aging Family, Long Distance Care, nurse advocate, nurse care manager Tagged With: aging family, aging life care manager, aging parent crisis, care manager, case manager, case manager geriatric social worker, Executive Skills, Functional Assessment, geriatric care manager, geriatric social worker, holidays with aging parents, IADLs, nurse advocate, nurse care manager

What’s the Difference Between a Psychosocial and Functional Assessment of an Elder?

April 15, 2013

PDF-Cover-of-11-10-12My-Geriatric-Care-Management-Agency.jpg

What is the difference between a psychosocial and a functional assessment. Find out more in my interview on Your Money Your Life , this unique You Tube Channel covering Elder Issues

Filed Under: Aging Tagged With: aging family, aging parent, aging parent care, aging parent crisis, care monitoring, care monitoring visits, care plan, care planning, caregiver assessment, checklist for aging parent problems, Cognitive Assessment, crisis with aging parents, depression, Depression Assessment for Older person, East of Eden, elderlaw attorney, Functional Assessment, Geriatric Assessment, geriatric care management, Geriatric care management operations manual, geriatric care manager, IADL assessment, IADL financial abuse, IADL Food preparation, IADL Housekeeping, IADL Laundry, IADL Responsibility for Own Medications, IADL shopping, IADL telephone use, IADL Transportation, IADLs, IADLs senior drivers, LCSW, Marriage and Family Therapist, My Geraitric Care Management Operations Manual, NAELA, National Assocaition of Geraitric Care Managers, National Association of Geriatric Care Managers Conference, National Geriatric Care Manager Month, parent care, parent care crisis, peace of mind, Psychosocial assessment, psychosocial assessment- social connections, red flags for a family meeting

Functional Assessment- Falls and Mobility

January 29, 2013

PDF-Cover-of-11-10-12My-Geriatric-Care-Management-Agency.jpg

Filed Under: Aging Tagged With: activities of daily living, ADLs, aging parent crisis, caregiver overload, crisis with aging parents, elder care crisis, elders and mobility, falls and the elderly, family meeting, Functional Assessment, Funtional Assessment, geraitric assessment, geraitric care manager, Geriatric care management operations manual, IADLs, Instrumental Activities of Daily Living, Lawton and Brody, mobility assessment, Psychosocial assessment, red flags for a family meeting, visit to doctor with elderly parents

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