The Top 5 Best Products for the Elderly

This upcoming holiday season, you may be thinking about buying a gift for an aging loved one. With thousands of products on the market that can help these seniors with everyday tasks, you may be wondering what you should add to your shopping list.

If you're in need of some ideas, here are five products you may want to consider buying:

1. Alarm

No, this isn't an alarm that is going to protect someone from an intruder, but rather, this type of alarm is going to protect your loved one in case of a dangerous fall or escape.

Known as a fall or wandering alarm, these alarms can send visual and audio notifications when they need help. So if a loved one were to fall, they could simply push a button and notify someone immediately. On the hand, a wandering alarm will alert someone when they are a certain distance away from a receiver. This is ideal for those who tend to escape often.

2. Medication Reminder Watch

Since there's a good chance that your loved one is taking medication, there's probably been an episode in the past where they forgot to take their pills. This is where the medication reminder watch comes into play.

Acting like any other ordinary watch, you will simply program the watch with medication reminders. Every time it's time to take a pill, the watch will beep and notify the user what medication has to be taken. The watch is also able to store medical information, blood type and important phone numbers for emergencies.

3. Shower Head That Prevent Burns

Every year, thousands of seniors burn themselves in the shower because it's too hot. Whether the water heats up too fast or they forget to check it before getting in, this is where a shower head that prevent burns can help avoid this scary situation.

Equipped with a special sensor that measures the water temperature when coming from the pipes, the shower head will automatically circulate the water when it gets too hot. Once the water is cool enough, it will come out like any other shower head.

4. Smoke Alarm for Hearing Impaired

It's no secret that many aging seniors have hearing problems. Well, if a fire were to happen, there could be a good chance that they won't be able to hear the smoke alarm.

The smoke alarm that is designed for the hard of hearing will flash strobe lights and vibrate to help alert those when smoke or a fire is nearby.

5. Television Headphones for Hearing Loss

We all know that a popular activity to pass the time for seniors is watching television. However, many seniors have a hard time hearing the television when sitting down far away.

Thankfully, with these specially designed headphones that sit beneath the chin, the user can set their own volume while affecting no one else in the room. Equipped with a foam tip, the headphones will offer a dialog that is clear and understandable. Best of all, the headset is lightweight and can cover up to 600 square feet of space.

Derek is blogging for Empowered Living Today, a site that provides information for adaptive clothing for the elderly. 

How a Senior Living Community Gave me the Time to Focus on my Art

I'll admit that when my daughter first approached me about moving into a senior living community, I resisted the idea. My husband died years ago, and I've always been an independent, career-minded woman. When I retired, I certainly had no trouble keeping busy. But my daughter finally convinced me to give it a chance, by pointing out to me how much of my life I was missing just by trying to keep everything maintained, taken care of, and keeping up on my health.

When she took me to visit Fox Hill Club & Residences, I was sold. One of the things that I've always wanted was more time to pursue my painting, and when I learned that Fox Hill had a fully supplied artist studio and woodworking shop, I realized that a move to a senior living community could be just the opportunity I'd been looking for. And on top of the artist studio, they've also got game rooms, a library, gardens, a recording studio, and a performing arts center that houses guest speakers, concerts, films, seminars, and other performances. And that's not even mentioning the spa and salon, fitness center, indoor pool, or the gorgeous woods complete with walking trails all over the grounds.

And the food! There are four restaurants at Fox Hill, as well as the Kindred Spirits bar. Pretty much whatever kind of mood I'm in, there's a restaurant to accommodate it, and I can eat here all week without ever feeling like I'm getting into a rut. And there's never any shortage of community events, new things to do, or people to talk to.

Fox Hill is also conveniently located in Bethesda, Maryland, close enough to Washington D.C. that I can still visit my daughter and the grandkids, or they can easily drive out to visit me. But we're also far enough out that it feels like a secluded woodland hideaway. Which has been great for my painting already. And I have to admit that it's nice to have people taking care of all the stuff that I'd rather not deal with. The staff at Fox Hill treat us all like royalty, and just knowing that the on-site health and wellness staff is there gives me and my daughter an added bit of peace of mind.

I'm glad that my daughter convinced me to give Fox Hill Club & Residences a try. Thanks to Fox Hill, I'm painting more than I ever have, and I've even dabbled a bit in sculpture, thanks to the fully-stocked artist's studio. I was afraid that by moving into a senior living community I'd be giving up on my independence, but instead I've found that I've enhanced it. With so many of my worries taken care of, I can finally focus on the things I've always wanted to do.

The author of this article, an independent senior citizen living near Bethesda, Maryland visited Fox Hill Club & Residences with her daughter because of their fine reputation for high-quality amenities and services.

The Importance of Health Care in Choosing a Senior Living Community

Health care is an important piece of the puzzle.

I'm not the kind of person that takes my health for granted. I've led an active life and I relish my good health. So, when the time came to start looking into a senior living community, health was one of my biggest concerns. I've had diabetes for years, and have had a couple of knee and back surgeries, and so I know first-hand how frustrating dealing with doctors, hospitals, insurance, and all that can be. I'd also heard horror stories from friends about communities whose in-house care was less than could be expected, and friends who had expected that they knew what they were getting into, only to see their medical bills skyrocket month after month. So I had some pretty concrete ideas of what I didn't want from a community, especially where health care was concerned.

That was one of the biggest factors influencing my decision to go with The Heritage of Green Hills. Their comprehensive, community-wide Well by Design program isn't just a health care add-on, it's integral to their whole philosophy, and it's designed to enrich my life and keep me healthy, not just address problems as they arise. It offers a full range of services included in my monthly fee. There's a full-time Health Services Navigator always available to help with any and all health-related needs. They provide assistance with just about anything I could want, from coordinating medical appointments, hospitalizations, and discharges, to collaborating with emergency personnel in the event of a 911 call. They even helped me get my Living Will and Advance Directive taken care of, something that I'd been putting off far too long, partly just because the whole concept sounded so complicated to me. The Health Services Navigator at The Heritage helped make it easy!

The Heritage of Green Hills has many physical activities.

There are also a lot of physical activity programs at The Heritage of Green Hills, and something like 80% of their residents participate in one every day. I know that I do! I think I'm more active since I moved here than I ever was when I was younger! Lindsay, the American College of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer here provides a lot of great physical activities, and since she's also an Aquatic Fitness professional, most of those involve the pool!

One of my favorite things about the health care services at The Heritage of Green Hills, though, is that it's a fee-for-service community, which means that I only pay for the services I use. After talking with friends in other communities who paid exorbitant fees for medical and health services care, even when they didn't use it, I wanted to make sure that all my retirement money went toward giving me the lifestyle that I've worked hard for. With the fee-for-service advantage at The Heritage, I pay for only what I use, which leaves me with more left over for other things!