Home Care: Most people abandon their New Year’s resolutions before the end of January.
And that’s a shame because finding ways to make positive lifestyle changes is a great way to stay busy and engaged throughout the winter. Seniors who have committed to getting healthier may need some motivation from a family caregiver or a home care provider to keep trying to make their New Year’s resolutions become healthy lifestyle changes. Some things that you or a home care provider can do to help your senior loved one stay motivated and stay on track are:
Help Them Set Achievable Goals
One of the reasons why seniors fail at making lifestyle changes is that they don’t set achievable goals. It’s easy to say that you want to eat healthier but that’s not a measurable or achievable goal. An achievable goal would be saying that you were going to not eat pizza during the week anymore or eat at least one vegetable at every meal. You or a home care provider should sit down with your senior loved one and go over their New Year’s resolutions. Take those resolutions and use them to create a series of achievable goals.
Celebrate Every Success
Every success should be celebrated! Even small successes are important because they add up to big changes over time. So make a point of celebrating your senior loved one’s successes. If your senior loved one went for a walk around the block for the first time or went for a walk three times during the week celebrate that. Just make sure that you’re celebrating in healthy ways. You can buy your senior loved ones little gifts or give them cards to celebrate their successes instead of giving them rewards like candy.
Use Motivation Messages
Motivation messages are very easy to do but they can have a powerful impact on your senior loved one. Just write out little messages of support and motivation for your senior loved one and put them all over the house. Put some in your senior loved one’s purse or jacket pocket. Tape them up on the fridge or the bathroom mirror. Call your senior loved one’s phone and leave a voice message of support for them. Or you can program the smart speaker to give your senior loved one random messages of support throughout the day. Your senior loved one will be thrilled to get little boosts of support from you.
Track Their Progress
Another motivational tool that works very well for seniors is to track their progress in making healthy changes. Create a giant calendar on posterboard and have your senior loved on mark off each day that they achieve their goal. So if they go for a walk, don’t have dessert, get eight hours of sleep, or whatever the goal is they can see their progress on the calendar. Science shows that seeing an unbroken line of marks on the calendar can motivate people to keep doing those things so that they don’t break the chain.
If you or an aging loved-one is considering Home Care in Green, OH, please contact the caring staff at Autumn Hills Home Care, LLC today. (330) 217-6090
He graduated with a Bachelor of Science from The Pennsylvania State University, and Master’s degree from The University of Akron.He is currently studying Spanish Language at the University of Akron.
He is married to Lisa, and together they have a daughter, two sons, a son-in-law, a daughter-in-law, and four grandchildren.The entire family lives in Summit County, Ohio.
In his professional career he worked in hospitals, taking several assignments in Youngstown, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Akron, finally settling in Akron in 1987.
His career took him into starting up two specialty hospitals in Akron, then into starting up several Home Health and Hospice programs.
Fourteen years ago he and his wife, Lisa, entered into restaurant ownership and operation.They since started “Lala’s Restaurant and Fireside Lounge” in the Portage Lakes.The restaurant has been open since November 2019, and provides residents of the area with fine food and entertainment.
Toward the end of his service in the Hospice industry, Jeff had a vision for starting a Home Care service to care for seniors in our area.After a search of franchises and other businesses, he started Autumn Hills Home Care.Through this business, he has proudly provided the best of service to seniors throughout the area, as well as meaningful employment for many caregivers.
Most recently, Jeff entered government service as was elected Trustee of Coventry Township.He was sworn in and started service in January 2020.
In his free moments, Jeff enjoys family time, bicycling, golf, learning Spanish, and travel.He can be reached at jeff.houck@outlook.com
- Everything Your Family Needs to Consider About Aging at Home - May 12, 2022
- How Your Senior Parent Can Benefit From 24 Hour Home Care - April 29, 2022
- National Garden Month: Celebrate the Benefits of Gardening Together - April 11, 2022
