Leaves Personal Homecare Journal2023-03-31T23:37:42+00:00

The Leaves Journal

News, Information and Tips for Seniors

Conquering the Winter Blues

Conquering the Winter Blues: Your Guide to Staying Sunny (Even When It's Not) Ah, winter in West Michigan. The season of cozy nights by the fire, hot cocoa, and...the dreaded winter blues. While there's undeniable beauty in the crisp air and snow-covered landscapes,

Top Tips for Living to 100

Top Tips for Living to 100 At Leaves Personal Care, we believe in living life to the fullest! We’ve searched the web to read interviews with different centenarians to find their top tips to living to 100.  Here’s some wisdom from our amazing

Mild Cognitive Impairment

Living with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a condition that affects memory and thinking skills. The symptoms of MCI can vary depending on the cause of the condition. Some common symptoms of MCI include: Memory problems, such as forgetting

Skin Care for Seniors

How to Keep Aging Skin Healthy and Glowing During Fall Fall is a beautiful time of year, with changing leaves and crisp air. But it can also be a challenging time for your aging skin, as the weather becomes drier and colder. This

Hygiene and Aging Loved Ones

HELP! My dad won’t take a shower! Hygiene can become a challenging struggle for families whose loved ones live alone at home. Sometimes memory changes cause your loved one to think they just took a shower “yesterday” and they insist they don’t need one

Parkinson’s Big and Loud

Why do people with Parkinson’s Disease speak softly? Individuals diagnosed with Parkinson’s may have struggle with communicating.  This is one of the possible effects of Parkson’s Disease and is caused by dysfunction in the muscles of the face, mouth and throat.  This can

Healing at Home

Hospital Discharging to Home Hospitalization is a reality for many aging Michiganders. Illness or injury can result in the need for inpatient care to deal appropriately with an acute crisis. Once the crisis has been addressed, the Hospital Discharge team will assist with

24/7 Care for Seniors

How does 24/7 care help seniors in West Michigan? Many individuals find that as they age that changes in strength, mental clarity, or health make it hard to maintain their independence at home.  Too many of these seniors assume that their only option

Dementia Warning Signs

Is it dementia? Watch out for these warning signs. Carla and Jerry were excited about the wedding of the eldest daughter, Alaina.  Alaina had grown up learning from Carla how to sew and was unhesitating when she got engaged, Mom would sew her

20 Years of Leaves

We're celebrating 20 years of service! Leaves Personal Care is celebrating 20 years of providing in-home health care services for seniors in the West Michigan community. Having owned Leaves for 10 years, Brian and Ruth Wilson chose to celebrate God's goodness by refreshing

Celebrating Caregivers

National Caregivers Day – February 17, 2023 The 3rd Friday of February each year is National Caregivers Day! The National Alliance for Caregiving and American Association of Retired Persons reports that, in 2020, an estimated 53 million caregivers in the U.S. cared for an adult

Slowing Alzheimer’s

Can Lecanemab Slow Down Alzheimer's The Food and Drug Administration recently approved a drug that may help patients in the early stages of Alzheimer’s by slowing down the progression of the disease. In clinical trials, the drug, called lecanemab, reduced the rate of cognitive decline

What is an ACO?

What is an ACO? An ACO (or Accountable Care Organization) is an organization where “groups of doctors, hospitals, and other health care providers, who come together voluntarily to give coordinated high-quality care to their Medicare patients. The goal of coordinated care is to

Nursing Home Surprise

Nursing Home Surprise: Advantage Plans May Shorten Stays to Less Time Than Medicare Covers Susan Jaffe October 4, 2022 After 11 days in a St. Paul, Minnesota, skilled nursing facility recuperating from a fall, Paula Christopherson, 97, was told by her insurer that

Compassion Fatigue

The Physical, Emotional, and Psychological Impact of Helping Others Compassion fatigue is defined as the physical, emotional, and psychological impact of helping others.  By comparison, burnout is a term that describes the impact of being in a stressful workplace. If you’ve been pouring

George Muller

A Life of Faith One of my personal “faith” heroes was a man named George Muller.  He lived in the time of Charles Dickens and developed a deep burden to care for the many orphaned children which Dickens described so well in Oliver

Living with MS.

Living with MS According to the National MS Society Website; “Multiple Sclerosis is a disease that impacts the brain and spinal cord which make up the central nervous system and controls everything we do. The exact cause of MS is unknown, but we do know

Estate Planning

Estate Planning – It’s Not So Bad! Do you dread estate planning? You’re not alone.  But I’ll let you in on something . . . it’s not that bad. In fact, most of my clients say it’s pretty painless and that the sense of

Medications and Memory

Could your medications be affecting your memory? Memory Loss is not a normal part of aging. However, with other compounding illnesses affecting us as we age, sometimes the treatments we seek might have unintended consequences.  Two of the most common offenders of medications

Is homecare for me?

Five Reasons You Might Need Homecare Show of hands for those of us who enjoy asking for help?  No one? Yeah, let’s be honest, asking for help is kind of un-American.  We are raised to be hard-working, independent, and

Top 6 Blogs for Boomers

Six Blogs You Should Check Out in 2022 We’ve scoured the internet for the most interesting, entertaining, inspiring, and informative blogs on all things aging.  From faith to finance to fashion, and from hilarious to heartbreaking, we’ve got you covered with the best

Hiring your first caregiver

Establishing a Relationship of Trust One of the major barriers standing in the way of a client hiring their first caregiver is an element of trust.  Maybe they’ve had a bad experience with a caregiver in the past?  Perhaps they are afraid of

Social Wellness Month

7 Ideas to Expand Your Social Network One of Leaves Personal Care’s Pillars is RELATIONSHIP.  Consequently, we love that July is Social Wellness Month.  Originally inaugurated by Words of Wellness LLC, a counseling group from Detroit, Social Wellness Month continues to be recognized

Legislative Update

Spending Bill for Home-based Care and Services Proposed At the end of April, President Joe Biden proposed a spending bill to Congress that allocates $400 billion for home-based care and services.  The White House shared, “President Biden believes more people should have the

Mesothelioma Facts

Here’s a 10 second biology blast! The mesothelium is a thin, protective layer that lines the lungs, abdominal cavity and organs, and the heart.  Unfortunately, it is susceptible to a particular kind of aggressive cancer, often caused by exposure to asbestos. Though it

Seniors and Stress

Dealing with stress as we age We live in an era when everybody seems to be stressed.  2020 certainly hasn't done us any favors in this regard; and stress isn’t something that only younger people deal with.  As we age our ability to

Corona Virus Resources

Corona Virus Tools and Resources Leaves Personal Care wants to make sure you have the tools and resources you need to continue to be successful during the Corona Virus Crisis.  Here are three links provided by different agencies that might be useful to you.

Cherishing Precious Stories

An American Love Story The first time Ed laid eyes on Jane was the spring of 1950.  Jane was wearing a navy, polka-dot circle skirt and white top.  Her dark curls and dazzling smile melted his heart and a year later they were

Cognitive Vitality

Achieve and Maintaining Cognitive Vitality through Lifestyle Management Mayo Clinic published an article entitled, Achieving and Maintaining Cognitive Vitality with Aging.  In it they wrote: “Emerging research has resulted in a growing understanding of the potentially modifiable risk factors associated with cognitive decline

Dealing with a Stroke

Dealing with a Stroke What is it? While there are different types of strokes, in the simplest terms, a stroke is simply a sudden interruption of blood supply to the brain. What happens? The brain needs the oxygen which the blood supplies.  Every

Forgive Blend

Forgive Blend We love the Forgive blend for its fresh, woodsy scent.  As with all doTerra oils, its comprised of only the highest quality, Certified Therapeutic Grade oils.   The blend contains Spruce leaf, Bergamot peel, Juniper berry, Myrrh resin, Arborvitae wood, Nootka tree

After Surgery Care

So you’re having surgery! Going “under the knife” can be a scary time but there are things you can do to help you on the road to recovery. Here are a few tips: Get Moving – As soon as your Dr. gives you permission

Meaningful Relationships

Meaningful Relationships We are created for relationships.  Our grandmothers knew this.  The wisest man on earth, King Solomon, wrote; “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow.

Senior Advocacy

Senior Advocacy Advocacy is one of Leaves Personal Care’s pillars.  As such, we thought it would be good to share with you about some of the advocacy choices available to you. AARP is ubiquitous as the “retirement” organization which does a lot of public

Living with a Diabetes Diagnosis

Learn all you can. Sometimes denial, apathy or a sincere belief that it’s not that big of a deal can lead to a lack of learning and harmful consequences. Attend classes, seek out and read up on the disease through reputable online sources and books. Ask the physician or diabetic nurse for recommendations on resources.

Sun Safety for Seniors

After a long winter indoors many of us are excited to get outdoors and enjoy the sunshine!  Nevertheless, remembering the importance of Summer Safety is especially important as we age.  Three risks are particularly accentuated for the elderly; Dehydration, Heat Stroke and Sun Burn.

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