Director for Education and Culture for Koelsch Communities Benjamin Surmi joins Suzanne to talk about reinvention.

What about seniors who are aging in place to reinvent themselves? Benjamin say, "There's a bit of a myth around aging in place, that aging in place means you age in a residential suburban home. Aging in place means to age wherever you will thrive. We all come from the same space that every senior should be where they will thrive, where they will be able to accomplish their purpose. Keep that in mind because it may not be in a house. Let's say a senior says, "The thing I really care about is being a blessing to my neighbors on the street. I've been there for 40 years. I want to keep offering cookies to the grandkids. I wanna keep sitting on the porch and talking with my neighbors. This is where I need to be." Well, that's great. And the point is to identify what is my purpose in being here — because otherwise, if my purpose is just to live in my home as long as possible, what I have seen is elders will live as long as possible in their home watching "Judge Judy," that is their whole life. Most of us look at that and go, "Oh, crap. I do not want that to be my life. But instead I can have a purpose in my head. Now, this is what I want to accomplish. This is what I want to enjoy, or share, or do, if my home and where I live supports me in that, if I can still engage in the community that matters to me, and there's not a barrier because I can't drive to them, then great."

What about caregivers? They have their own purpose, then the purpose with their caregiver, and different answers for each. Benjamin provides an example of a caregiver finding a joint purpose with their mom. Perhaps they say, "This is my mom and what matters to me is us being able to go shopping and antiquing together. I've always done that. Well, then my caregiving plan needs to build around it. If antiquing is so hard to do because I'm keeping my mom at home until she dies, then maybe that ends up going away. Whereas if I moved her into a co-housing situation, or senior living, or some other situation that had a van that was wheelchair accessible, now me and my mom can go antiquing as often as we want."

Learn more about Koelsch Communities at their website or call (360) 867-1900. Hear more of their podcasts at Answers for Elders.

Director for Education and Culture for <a href="https://koelschseniorcommunities.com/">Koelsch Communities</a> Benjamin Surmi joins Suzanne to talk about reinvention.
What about seniors who are aging in place to reinvent themselves? Benjamin say, "There's a bit of a myth around aging in place, that aging in place means you age in a residential suburban home. Aging in place means to age wherever you will thrive. We all come from the same space that every senior should be where they will thrive, where they will be able to accomplish their purpose. Keep that in mind because it may not be in a house. Let's say a senior says, "The thing I really care about is being a blessing to my neighbors on the street. I've been there for 40 years. I want to keep offering cookies to the grandkids. I wanna keep sitting on the porch and talking with my neighbors. This is where I need to be." Well, that's great. And the point is to identify what is my purpose in being here — because otherwise, if my purpose is just to live in my home as long as possible, what I have seen is elders will live as long as possible in their home watching "Judge Judy," that is their whole life. Most of us look at that and go, "Oh, crap. I do not want that to be my life. But instead I can have a purpose in my head. Now, this is what I want to accomplish. This is what I want to enjoy, or share, or do, if my home and where I live supports me in that, if I can still engage in the community that matters to me, and there's not a barrier because I can't drive to them, then great."
What about caregivers? They have their own purpose, then the purpose with their caregiver, and different answers for each. Benjamin provides an example of a caregiver finding a joint purpose with their mom. Perhaps they say, "This is my mom and what matters to me is us being able to go shopping and antiquing together. I've always done that. Well, then my caregiving plan needs to build around it. If antiquing is so hard to do because I'm keeping my mom at home until she dies, then maybe that ends up going away. Whereas if I moved her into a co-housing situation, or senior living, or some other situation that had a van that was wheelchair accessible, now me and my mom can go antiquing as often as we want."
Learn more about <a href="https://koelschseniorcommunities.com/">Koelsch Communities</a> at <a href="http://Koelsch Communities">their website</a> or call (360) 867-1900. Hear more of <a href="https://answersforelders.com/tag/koelsch-communities/">their podcasts</a> at <a href="https://answersforelders.com/">Answers for Elders</a>.

Answers for Elders is the North Star in Navigating Senior Care.  Our content is designed to Empower Seniors and their Families through the Daunting Journey of Aging.

Featuring our host, Suzanne Newman and top industry providers across the USA, together, we support, coach and assist seniors, caregivers and their families in finding the best independent solutions in world of aging, with a comprehensive line-up of topics covering Health & Wellness, Life Changes, Living Options, and Money & Law.

Answers for Elders is the North Star in Navigating Senior Care.  Our content is designed to Empower Seniors and their Families through the Daunting Journey of Aging.
Featuring our host, Suzanne Newman and top industry providers across the USA, together, we support, coach and assist seniors, caregivers and their families in finding the best independent solutions in world of aging, with a comprehensive line-up of topics covering Health &amp; Wellness, Life Changes, Living Options, and Money &amp; Law.

Answers For Elders Radio Network

Empowering Seniors and their Families through the Daunting Journey of Aging

For Caregivers: If you're caring for a senior loved one, or navigating later life care, we help make the journey so much easier for you and your family.

For Seniors: We help you be proactive to prepare for your aging years ahead, honoring your wishes.

Featuring our host, Suzanne Newman and top industry providers across the USA, together, we support, coach and assist families in finding the best independent solutions in world of aging, with a comprehensive line-up of topics covering Health & Wellness, Life Changes, Living Options, and Money & Law.

Empowering Seniors and their Families through the Daunting Journey of Aging
For Caregivers: If you're caring for a senior loved one, or navigating later life care, we help make the journey so much easier for you and your family.
For Seniors: We help you be proactive to prepare for your aging years ahead, honoring your wishes.
Featuring our host, Suzanne Newman and top industry providers across the USA, together, we support, coach and assist families in finding the best independent solutions in world of aging, with a comprehensive line-up of topics covering Health &amp; Wellness, Life Changes, Living Options, and Money &amp; Law.

Answers for Elders

Benjamin Surmi of Koelsch Communities talks about reinvention for those aging in place and for caregivers.

Reinventing While Caregiving or Aging in Place

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/5e27a451-e6e6-4c51-aa03-a7370003783c/clips/fbc9073a-3115-49af-9990-b00e01095458/transcript

Lindsay Friedman and Shannon Lyons join Suzanne to talk about peace of mind and other reasons for getting their innovative health monitoring system Care Bloom to help senior loved ones age in place in their homes.

Listeners, sign up for free to win one year of Care Bloom! Care Bloom is holding drawings in June and September 2024. There's no obligation or commitment to purchase. Learn more at https://carebloom.com.

Lindsay explains the need for Care Bloom. "It's really important because people want to stay in their homes. People are aging much more rapidly than they have been. Caregiving is on the rise. Caregiving is a very hard challenge that we all are going to have to face as our parents are aging. And also our [number of] home health workers are decreasing. If you want it, that cost is increasing. So there's less of them, and it's only going to get more and more expensive to have somebody come and help. It's going to be unaffordable if you could even find somebody. And on top of that, our nursing homes are struggling. The care is not good, the cost is increasing. I see a lot of future closings, and where are you gonna put mom? So we need something that can really help. And Care Bloom is a great care partner to help with care for their family."

Care Bloom is a $199 per month subscription, and you get the hardware for free. Shannon says, "This is something that we spent quite a bit of time on, because it is a hardware, right? We provide a smart watch. We provide hardware for the rooms, but we really wanted to make it an easy purchasing decision for a family."

Multiple family members can use the app. "If brother and sister want it, and then you want a neighbor to have a little bit less [access], that's an option as well. So the app allows you to add as many people as you want, because obviously we can't all be with mom at one time. So we want to make sure that we're giving you the opportunity to provide all the care you can."

Hear more podcasts about aging in place.

Answers for Elders is part of the Senior Resource Network. Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks.

Lindsay Friedman and Shannon Lyons join Suzanne to talk about peace of mind and other reasons for getting their innovative health monitoring system Care Bloom to help senior loved ones age in place in their homes.
Listeners, sign up for free to win one year of Care Bloom! Care Bloom is holding drawings in June and September 2024. There's no obligation or commitment to purchase. Learn more at <a href="https://carebloom.com">https://carebloom.com</a>.
Lindsay explains the need for Care Bloom. "It's really important because people want to stay in their homes. People are aging much more rapidly than they have been. Caregiving is on the rise. Caregiving is a very hard challenge that we all are going to have to face as our parents are aging. And also our [number of] home health workers are decreasing. If you want it, that cost is increasing. So there's less of them, and it's only going to get more and more expensive to have somebody come and help. It's going to be unaffordable if you could even find somebody. And on top of that, our nursing homes are struggling. The care is not good, the cost is increasing. I see a lot of future closings, and where are you gonna put mom? So we need something that can really help. And Care Bloom is a great care partner to help with care for their family."
Care Bloom is a $199 per month subscription, and you get the hardware for free. Shannon says, "This is something that we spent quite a bit of time on, because it is a hardware, right? We provide a smart watch. We provide hardware for the rooms, but we really wanted to make it an easy purchasing decision for a family."
Multiple family members can use the app. "If brother and sister want it, and then you want a neighbor to have a little bit less [access], that's an option as well. So the app allows you to add as many people as you want, because obviously we can't all be with mom at one time. So we want to make sure that we're giving you the opportunity to provide all the care you can."
Hear <a href="https://answersforelders.com/tag/aging-in-place/">more podcasts about aging in place</a>.
Answers for Elders is part of the <a href="https://www.seniorresource.com/">Senior Resource Network</a>. Check out our affiliate podcast <a href="https://alzheimersspeaks.com/">Alzheimer’s Speaks</a>.

Lindsay Friedman and Shannon Lyons join Suzanne to talk about peace of mind and other reasons for getting their innovative health monitoring system Care Bloom to help senior loved ones age in place in their homes.

Why Caregivers Need Care Bloom for Aging in Place

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/5e27a451-e6e6-4c51-aa03-a7370003783c/clips/53417063-8a52-409a-aae7-b15900f29452/transcript

Through the use of a watch, room sensors, and an app, Care Bloom provides 24/7 health monitoring services for caregivers. Lindsay Friedman and Shannon Lyons join Suzanne to talk more about the Care Bloom watch and app, an innovative new tool to assist senior loved ones with aging in place.

Listeners, sign up for free to win one year of Care Bloom! Care Bloom is holding drawings in June and September 2024. There's no obligation or commitment to purchase. Learn more at https://carebloom.com.

Shannon describes the information a caregiver can see on the app. "We really want to pull the most important information forward for a caregiver. You're gonna be able to see information like vitals, so that would include temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen saturation. You're also going to be able to see accurate location data, where they're spending most time, if they're in the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and really how how the mobility looks throughout the home. And then the last one is, you're going to be able to see important health behavioral data.

"We know that there's a lot of smart watches on the market that tell you you're going to get this health and wellness data. How we're different is that we take that health data, and we put it in the context of behavioral. And those things look like sleep, mobility, or steps throughout the home, and then self-care, like toileting and bathroom, so that you can really be proactive in your care. You're not finding out that mom hasn't left her bedroom for six hours and you're getting off of work and saying, 'mom, what's going on.' You're going be able to see that there's stagnation, and maybe something's wrong, so that you can communicate earlier, find out what's going on, and be more proactive with what your next steps are. We also thought it was really important to be able to set alerts in the home. So if there's a restricted room — a room that is a fall risk, like the basement, garage, or stairwells, we want to be able to tell you, hey, mom's out in the basement right now, and you can call her and say, 'hey, I'm coming over after work to do laundry. I see that you're in the basement. Let's make sure you get up those stairs,' so that you're not finding out about it after that. Or if your loved one has issues with leaving the home at times that they're not supposed to, or maybe wandering, we want to make sure that elopement is part of the alert package, so that it really is sort of all of those behaviors. And then if your loved one needs assistance, they can actually request it through their watch. And that notification goes directly to your app. It's a push notification, and you can see mom needs help, she's currently in the bathroom, and you're able to make a plan for what's next."

Lindsay gave an example of Care Bloom solving a problem. "We had one individual who was talking about how lightheaded he was, and feeling fatigued, and he was an elderly gentleman, and you start to wonder what's going on. His vital signs were looking good, but after watching him for a series of days, we were noticing that there were no toilet activities. So, went in and kind of monitored him for a little bit, and he wasn't drinking. No one was there reminding him it's time to have a glass of water, it's time to drink during the day. And dehydration really plays heavily on our seniors with confusion and all of that. It was an easy thing to remedy, that we were able to see within a matter of days. No doctor trip, nothing. And it was a quick fix that, just from looking at the data, was able to be resolved."

Hear more podcasts about aging in place.

Answers for Elders is part of the Senior Resource Network. Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks.

Through the use of a watch, room sensors, and an app, Care Bloom provides 24/7 health monitoring services for caregivers. Lindsay Friedman and Shannon Lyons join Suzanne to talk more about the Care Bloom watch and app, an innovative new tool to assist senior loved ones with aging in place.
Listeners, sign up for free to win one year of Care Bloom! Care Bloom is holding drawings in June and September 2024. There's no obligation or commitment to purchase. Learn more at <a href="https://carebloom.com">https://carebloom.com</a>.
Shannon describes the information a caregiver can see on the app. "We really want to pull the most important information forward for a caregiver. You're gonna be able to see information like vitals, so that would include temperature, blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen saturation. You're also going to be able to see accurate location data, where they're spending most time, if they're in the living room, kitchen, bathroom, and really how how the mobility looks throughout the home. And then the last one is, you're going to be able to see important health behavioral data.
"We know that there's a lot of smart watches on the market that tell you you're going to get this health and wellness data. How we're different is that we take that health data, and we put it in the context of behavioral. And those things look like sleep, mobility, or steps throughout the home, and then self-care, like toileting and bathroom, so that you can really be proactive in your care. You're not finding out that mom hasn't left her bedroom for six hours and you're getting off of work and saying, 'mom, what's going on.' You're going be able to see that there's stagnation, and maybe something's wrong, so that you can communicate earlier, find out what's going on, and be more proactive with what your next steps are. We also thought it was really important to be able to set alerts in the home. So if there's a restricted room — a room that is a fall risk, like the basement, garage, or stairwells, we want to be able to tell you, hey, mom's out in the basement right now, and you can call her and say, 'hey, I'm coming over after work to do laundry. I see that you're in the basement. Let's make sure you get up those stairs,' so that you're not finding out about it after that. Or if your loved one has issues with leaving the home at times that they're not supposed to, or maybe wandering, we want to make sure that elopement is part of the alert package, so that it really is sort of all of those behaviors. And then if your loved one needs assistance, they can actually request it through their watch. And that notification goes directly to your app. It's a push notification, and you can see mom needs help, she's currently in the bathroom, and you're able to make a plan for what's next."
Lindsay gave an example of Care Bloom solving a problem. "We had one individual who was talking about how lightheaded he was, and feeling fatigued, and he was an elderly gentleman, and you start to wonder what's going on. His vital signs were looking good, but after watching him for a series of days, we were noticing that there were no toilet activities. So, went in and kind of monitored him for a little bit, and he wasn't drinking. No one was there reminding him it's time to have a glass of water, it's time to drink during the day. And dehydration really plays heavily on our seniors with confusion and all of that. It was an easy thing to remedy, that we were able to see within a matter of days. No doctor trip, nothing. And it was a quick fix that, just from looking at the data, was able to be resolved."
Hear <a href="https://answersforelders.com/tag/aging-in-place/">more podcasts about aging in place</a>.
Answers for Elders is part of the <a href="https://www.seniorresource.com/">Senior Resource Network</a>. Check out our affiliate podcast <a href="https://alzheimersspeaks.com/">Alzheimer’s Speaks</a>.

Through the use of a watch, room sensors, and an app, Care Bloom provides 24/7 health monitoring services for caregivers. Lindsay Friedman and Shannon Lyons join Suzanne to talk more about the Care Bloom watch and app, an innovative new tool to assist senior loved ones with aging in place.

Tracking Mobility and Health Data for Senior Loved Ones

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/5e27a451-e6e6-4c51-aa03-a7370003783c/clips/e32f134b-73c7-455f-8898-b15900f1f348/transcript

Lindsay Friedman and Shannon Lyons from Care Bloom join Suzanne to talk about an innovative new home-monitoring tool to assist senior loved ones with aging in place, living independently in their later years. Through the use of a watch and app, Care Bloom provides health monitoring services for caregivers. You'll be able to purchase Care Bloom beginning in June.

Listeners, sign up for free to win one year of Care Bloom! Care Bloom is holding drawings in June and September 2024. There's no obligation or commitment to purchase. Learn more at https://carebloom.com.

Lindsay explained how Care Bloom came about. "All through college, I was a state-tested nursing assistant. So, with the experience, when my grandma needed to a family caregiver, I got designated to take that role. While she was in Cleveland, where we are from, I was taking care of her in the home. But she did want to go back to Florida where, once she got to Florida there, we got her aid. So she had a rough time. And my grandma would complain to me, and say they're not doing what they're supposed to do. They're not there when I wake up at night. The caregivers were saying she's confused, it's night time, and was already in her nineties, so that was the case. Well, one night she was calling out for them in her room, and asking them to come and help her, and they couldn't hear because they were asleep in her guest bedroom. So she decided to get up on her own to go use the restroom, and she fell, and she broke her femur. And that ended her time at home. It ended up being what caused the end of her life. And, you know, my story is a common one. It is more common than not. So I decided that there has to be something that we can do, to make sure that grandma and mom can be home. I've got to do something, and Care Bloom was born."

Shannon describes Care Bloom. "It is a monitoring system. Your loved one wears a watch. It actually looks very similar to a Fitbit. So this is not a medical device. It's very cool looking. And there's actually a lot of really lovely data that most people actually get in tune with, such as what their daily activities look like. That's the watch. Each room has an anchor which is connected to an outlet. So you just plug it into an outlet in each of the rooms that you want monitored. You have a gateway, and that gateway sends all of the information to your app. So as a caregiver, you'll use the Care Bloom app. And it really gives you a snapshot of what your loved one's daily activities are, and their health status.

"So, really quick, you're able to see on one page page, everything's green, Mom's good to go, and you can go about your day. It's more insight than we've ever had, in some ways, on their behaviors. You could also send reminders to your loved one, that goes to their watch. So, 'mom, hey, it's time to take those meds.' And so we're really looking at care plan compliance. We're looking at supporting health behaviors, and making sure that there's some accountability. So if your loved one does have a home health worker, you can actually designate tasks for that worker and confirm that they occur. So if medication should be taken at 10 a.m., they should be checking into the kitchen and taking that med. If mom's not in the mood for a shower, they're able to say, hey, you know what, she was not in the mood to take a shower today, it did not occur, so that the next day when the health worker comes, they know what that week look like. So it's a lot of interesting data."

Lindsay says, "Our largest goal, which really is probably impacting all of your listeners right now, is we're trying to improve the process of caregiving."

Hear more podcasts about aging in place.

Answers for Elders is part of the Senior Resource Network. Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks.

Lindsay Friedman and Shannon Lyons from <a href="https://carebloom.com">Care Bloom</a> join Suzanne to talk about an innovative new home-monitoring tool to assist senior loved ones with aging in place, living independently in their later years. Through the use of a watch and app, Care Bloom provides health monitoring services for caregivers. You'll be able to purchase Care Bloom beginning in June.
Listeners, sign up for free to win one year of Care Bloom! Care Bloom is holding drawings in June and September 2024. There's no obligation or commitment to purchase. Learn more at <a href="https://carebloom.com">https://carebloom.com</a>.
Lindsay explained how Care Bloom came about. "All through college, I was a state-tested nursing assistant. So, with the experience, when my grandma needed to a family caregiver, I got designated to take that role. While she was in Cleveland, where we are from, I was taking care of her in the home. But she did want to go back to Florida where, once she got to Florida there, we got her aid. So she had a rough time. And my grandma would complain to me, and say they're not doing what they're supposed to do. They're not there when I wake up at night. The caregivers were saying she's confused, it's night time, and was already in her nineties, so that was the case. Well, one night she was calling out for them in her room, and asking them to come and help her, and they couldn't hear because they were asleep in her guest bedroom. So she decided to get up on her own to go use the restroom, and she fell, and she broke her femur. And that ended her time at home. It ended up being what caused the end of her life. And, you know, my story is a common one. It is more common than not. So I decided that there has to be something that we can do, to make sure that grandma and mom can be home. I've got to do something, and Care Bloom was born."
Shannon describes Care Bloom. "It is a monitoring system. Your loved one wears a watch. It actually looks very similar to a Fitbit. So this is not a medical device. It's very cool looking. And there's actually a lot of really lovely data that most people actually get in tune with, such as what their daily activities look like. That's the watch. Each room has an anchor which is connected to an outlet. So you just plug it into an outlet in each of the rooms that you want monitored. You have a gateway, and that gateway sends all of the information to your app. So as a caregiver, you'll use the Care Bloom app. And it really gives you a snapshot of what your loved one's daily activities are, and their health status.
"So, really quick, you're able to see on one page page, everything's green, Mom's good to go, and you can go about your day. It's more insight than we've ever had, in some ways, on their behaviors. You could also send reminders to your loved one, that goes to their watch. So, 'mom, hey, it's time to take those meds.' And so we're really looking at care plan compliance. We're looking at supporting health behaviors, and making sure that there's some accountability. So if your loved one does have a home health worker, you can actually designate tasks for that worker and confirm that they occur. So if medication should be taken at 10 a.m., they should be checking into the kitchen and taking that med. If mom's not in the mood for a shower, they're able to say, hey, you know what, she was not in the mood to take a shower today, it did not occur, so that the next day when the health worker comes, they know what that week look like. So it's a lot of interesting data."
Lindsay says, "Our largest goal, which really is probably impacting all of your listeners right now, is we're trying to improve the process of caregiving."
Hear <a href="https://answersforelders.com/tag/aging-in-place/">more podcasts about aging in place</a>.
Answers for Elders is part of the <a href="https://www.seniorresource.com/">Senior Resource Network</a>. Check out our affiliate podcast <a href="https://alzheimersspeaks.com/">Alzheimer’s Speaks</a>.

Lindsay Friedman and Shannon Lyons from Care Bloom join Suzanne to talk about an innovative new home-monitoring tool to assist senior loved ones with aging in place, living independently in their later years. Through the use of a watch and app, Care Bloom provides health monitoring services for caregivers. You'll be able to purchase Care Bloom beginning in June.

Introducing Care Bloom Health Monitoring for Senior Loved Ones

https://api.omny.fm/orgs/5e27a451-e6e6-4c51-aa03-a7370003783c/clips/f42dbbdf-a1c6-48a9-90e2-b15900f08398/transcript

Reinventing While Caregiving or Aging in Place

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