Parent in a Nursing Home, Question to ask Beforehand

If you are ever faced with, putting a parent or other loved one in a nursing home you usually ask all the questions you can think of off the top of your head. What type of questions should you ask, and how do you know if you are being told the truth, and not the nursing home's version of the truth?

Ask about staff to resident ratio in the nursing home, and you will generally be told it is higher then it really is. For a more honest look at the figures, when you walk in a nursing home across the nation you will see a piece of paper with those staff ratios and it is more honest then what you will be told by the administrator.

This piece of paper will list only nursing staff, you will see RN, those are the registered nurse's and on the day shift there will be plenty of them in a nursing home. In the evening there maybe only one RN, but most units or floors will have at least two LPN's (licensed practical nurses). The CNA column is the amount of certified nurse's aides on staff per shift.

For a 200-bed nursing home during a day shift, you may see six RN's, up to 12 LPN's and twenty-five CNA's. This looks great on paper and if an aide calls in sick; chances are that aide is not replaced. Sometimes when an LPN calls in sick it is not listed on the paper, nor are they replaced. For the day shift, you have generally 18 licensed staff members and 25 certified staff members to take care of 200 residents. That is not bad on paper, and if all show up as scheduled, it works fine.

It is not a reality usually that everyone shows up which means everyone is working harder then usual. The best bet to get a real glimpse is to just open your eyes and walk on a unit with the administrator on a tour of a nursing home, and keep your eyes open. Do a rough head count of the staff members on a unit, see if they are over worked.

Day shift is usually staffed better then the other shifts and be very apprehensive of a 200-bed nursing home, which has only less then seven aides scheduled on the night shift. Those seven aides will be responsible for turning residents, who need to be turned every four hours, and walk any residents who are able to the bathroom and assist them there.

What planned activities do the nursing home have for residents? If there is an activity going on during your tour of the nursing home, look and see how the staff is interacting with the residents. Do the residents look happy; do the staff members look happy? A good nursing home will have plenty of activities that residents of all abilities can participate in.

Usually on every unit of floor of the nursing home, you will see a calendar of events, planned activities for the month for the residents. Do the activities look like something your parent or loved one would enjoy?

Ask questions such as can you come in and volunteer at these activities if you choose this nursing home for your parent. A good nursing home always needs plenty of volunteers to help occasionally and this is a great way to see what goes on at a nursing home from the inside.

How will the therapists at the nursing home help your parent? Visit the physical therapy room, and talk with the therapist if possible. Therapists are not only there for the residents who need rehabilitation, they are there to help the residents maintain what physical skills they have currently. The therapists in a nursing home also work with the staff members on correct posture, so that the staff knows how to transfer a resident safely who may not cooperate all the time from a wheelchair to a regular chair.

In a nursing home, your loved one will have the best care possible if you ask the right questions and make mental notes on staffing issues. Get to know the staff, be a frequent visitor, and get in to helping out as much as you can.

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Heart Patients and Summer Foods

In the summer time at picnics and other gatherings, there is a variety of foods cooked by different people. Heart patients will not be able to enjoy the offerings as much as other people will. This is because the summer foods such as mayonnaise base salads, hot dogs and hamburgers, and potato chips are all laden with salts that and cholesterol which are not good for us.

To ensure that heart patients can eat and enjoy the day, they usually need to bring their own low salt alternatives. However, since every adult should be watching his or her sodium intake in my opinion, anyone can bring these items to any gathering. Perhaps if more people limited the salt there would not be as much of a meed for blood pressure pills.

There is low salt mayonnaise that can be used with low cholesterol macaroni that make a good salad. Most others who are not on this type of diet will eat it as well because it tastes good. Use low sodium mustard is desired but easy on the eggs, pickles, or olives, which are not on our diet. Opt for low sodium ranch dressing instead of plain mayo or salad dressing.

There are even low salt or no-salt potato chips that you can bring along to any outing. Picking up a bag of baked chips instead of chips, which are fried, is always a better idea. There are several brands of flavored crackers, which are low salt so they are a good idea as well.

Hot dogs, hamburgers, and even sausage usually have a very high fat content and are loaded with salt. Heart patients are supposed to avoid these. Instead, take some low fat Turkey slices, reduced salt mayonnaise, and a loaf of bread, which makes it healthier meal. You could even bring along some low sodium on sliced cheese. Do not forget the lettuce, tomatoes, and sliced onion, these toppings are sodium free.

If you are making a trail mix use, unsalted peanuts, bits of dark chocolate and marshmallows. If you want smores choose low salt graham crackers, dark chocolate and regular marshmallows. Add cool whip to cakes rather than frosting to make them available for heart patients.

Migraines and Salt Intake

Many people do not realize the effects that salt has on their bodies. After I had my heart attacks in October of 2009, I had to go on a low salt diet, as do all heart patients. Within months, I realized that the migraines that plagued me since I was five years old were suddenly gone.

Migraines had affected me since I was a child. These migraines occurred at least three times a month and sometimes they landed me in the hospital. When I was about thirty-five, I learned that processed foods made these headaches worse so I cut back on those foods.

For instance, I cut back to two hot dogs at a cook out and I had a slight headache not that raging one I had when I ate three. In the summer time at cookouts, I would eat three grilled hotdogs but I rarely ate them other times in the year. I did eat a lot of cheese and sandwich meat because it was cheap, as a single mom, I pinched pennies.

After the heart attacks, I began reading labels to make sure I was staying on the low salt diet. Cold cuts, hotdogs, sausage, and cheese went off my diet for the most part, because they were high in sodium. The benefit for me was lower blood pressure and the migraines virtually disappeared. I have had a few since then but they are very rare and always occur after I splurge on sodium-laden foods.
Occasionally when I will eat too much salt, the migraines come back because the blood pressure goes up. I can feel it. Most of us do not realize the effects that our food intake does to our bodies.

Unfortunately, after some people have heart attacks they still did not limit the salt and their blood pressure remains high. Therefore, they have recurring heart attacks. I am very careful about what I put in my body. I am anal about salt intake because I am scared to death to have another heart attack.

I am very careful when I go out to a restaurant. I order baked chicken or a chef salad, but the heavily seasoned items are off my list of eatable foods. Instead of the beer battered Haddock I love, I opt for baked fish which is lightly seasoned and not breaded. I choose a baked potato instead of the French fries, which are usually salted before they come from the kitchen.

For picnics or parties where there is a wide array of food, I will always go for the plain looking foods. I also make a low salt dish to pass so that I know at least there is one thing I can eat. Being on a low salt diet does not mean I have to eat bland food or go hungry. It simple means I need to make better choices and if this means I get the added bonus of the rare migraine it is a great choice.

Picnic Foods for Heart Patients and Diebetics

Heart patients and those with diabetes are often invited to picnics and cook outs during the summer. Those who cook the dishes, which are passed during these events, usually forget our special diets. Please do not forget us. Here are some ideas for your next event.

With so many people now on special diets, it might be hard to plan dishes for those among us who are on them. The heart diet is low salt, low fat and low cholesterol while the diabetic people limit sugar and those foods which break down to sugar.

When cooking the meats, please remember that many prepared sauces have high levels of sodium. Instead of slathering all of the chicken or beef with this sauce, sprinkle a few pieces of meat with Ms. Dash instead. The same with the burgers sprinkle them with a no salt seasoning, this way when we add mustard or ketchup we are not over loading on the salt content. Too much sodium is bad for everyone so it is best to try and limit is where ever you can.

The flavored chips are usually loaded with salt, so grab a few bags. It is best to purchase a flavored bag, a plain bag, and a plain bag with low salt. Mix the two bags of plain chips together and no one will be the wiser.

To make a heart healthy chip dip take a packet of Lipton French Onion soup mix and mix it with twice the amount of low fat sour cream. Trust me if no one sees you do this, no one will even taste the difference. We can use this dip on top of hamburgers rather than a slice of cheese, which has a quarter of the amount of salt adults, should eat a day.

When making potato or macaroni salads use low fat mayo instead of salad dressing. This is a great alternative. Items such as olives, pickles, mustard, and eggs, which really make salads of this type, taste delicious, are loaded with salt so please limit these things. Did you know that you can also lower the sodium content of pickles and olives by rinsing them off in cold water before you put them in the salad?

Cakes, other sweets, and pies are picnic staples but a better alternative is a nice fruit salad made with fresh fruit. If you use the canned variety, be sure to rinse of the items before you toss them in a bowl. Use low fat cool whip instead of regular cool whip. Another great alternative is to use jell-o. You can serve it plain or mix fruit in there.

Penguin Pride and Heart Patients

Hockey is a fun game to watch and if you are a heart patient there is no reason you cannot go to watch the game! Walking into the stadium is good exercise for your body and soul. Maybe you cannot play the game anymore but you can get out where the action is.

When you get the itch to catch a real live hockey game, go see Ticketamerica’s web site.  Ticketamerica.com has tickets for the Pittsburgh Penguins the Consol Energy Center and all other NHL tickets. Being from PA myself, I got Penguin Pride! Get your NHL tickets  at Ticketamerica's web site. They also have tickets for all Pittsburgh Penguins matches even those played at the  Consol Energy Center.

If you are a hockey fan but cannot get to the rink to watch a game or play, the next best thing is to find some free online games to play

Over at Candystand there is an extreme air-hockey challenge. It is free to play and if you submit your scores, you can win real prizes.  When playing this one, you select your country and help lead the team to victory. The mouse controls your mallet. So get your trigger finger ready for this excitement. You can play on Acadepod’s website they have eight hockey games.  Some of these are flash, java, and shockwave games for fans to enjoy.

Starting at the beginning

I am living a much healthier life since I had a few heart attacks back in October of 2009.  I thought I was too young to have a heart attack, boy was I ever wrong.

You are never too young to have one. I turned 43 in mid September of 2009 and had my first mild heart attack 2 weeks later. Two days later I had two more heart attacks.  I drastically changed my lifestyle for the better but it still took me a long time to get healthy again.

What did I change my lifestyle? I have children and grandchildren and I wish to be here for them.  Besides, at that time I had not accomplished my big goals in life. Now I have accomplished some of them, yet I wish to do more, and certainly experience more of this joyful thing called living.

I will include tips, tricks and lessons learned here on this blog. Together we all can remain healthy and heart attack free.