Jim and Nancy were doing great. They lived independently in their home of 45 years, shopped for groceries, and prepared their own meals. They kept their appointments and took their medications as directed. They did their best to get out for a walk, but since their dog passed away, those walks haven’t been the same.
They are active at the Senior Center and have been watching their friends having issues that may have been preventable. They hear their friends talk about people they know, or close calls around the card table and start to think about their own journey through life.
Admittedly they are noticing subtle changes in their energy and their strength. Balance has become an issue but hasn’t resulted in any falls. They likely wouldn’t even think about this if they didn’t get those weekly wake-up calls at the card table.
They have always been proactive in their life and feel like it would be a good time to contact a local care manager to hire for an evaluation and review of her services. Jim and Nancy want to smoothly transition from one stage of life to another in their aging process. They realize they are in sync right now but as time goes on their aging will individualize, needing to make sure both are getting their different nutritional and exercise needs met.
Jim and Nancy ran their plans by their daughter who was relieved to know they had decided to seek outside assistance. Their daughter knew she couldn’t be much help in the long haul regarding their diet and exercise plans, due to living at a distance. It would give her peace of mind to know that a professional was helping them locally.
Jim and Nancy called us to find out how we could work with them. We were excited to let them know that planning in advance was the most successful way to manage changes that might happen unexpectedly. They explained what their concerns were and what they were hoping to accomplish.
We met with them and discussed their concerns further and we helped them review their options for changes as their aging progressed. We talked about their medical history, medications, exercise, transportation, and what their future plans looked like. It was obvious that they were planners, and they had a solid routine. One of their requests was to take a look at their nutrition to make sure that they weren’t missing anything. We reviewed and it was a balanced diet. They were also both taking vitamins and supplements. We created a list of all medications, vitamins, and supplements so that we could review the list with their physician to make sure that there were no issues.
We talked about walking for exercise and how they could walk in the local mall if the weather was inclement. We also showed them a few chair exercises they could do for stretching and strengthening. They talked about joining in on some exercise classes at the Senior Center.
Despite what Jim and Nancy thought there were some differences in their needs, her mobility was at risk, she was being treated for bone loss. He was being treated for high blood pressure and prediabetes. As for as their eating plan they could both eat the same things, but he was going to need to take extra care about his starchy carb and sugar intake to ward off diabetes.
All in all, they had a good plan to get them started and it would be maintainable throughout their lives. As needs change or new diagnoses occur, they could adjust their diet and exercise accordingly.
Maintaining movement now will give them benefits down the road if something does occur that affects mobility. They will have the bone and muscle strength gained in their exercise efforts as well as have a diet that feeds their muscles and supports bone health.
Maintaining this relationship will benefit Jim and Nancy and provide support as they need it. If you would also like to have support from a care manager, please give us a call at 803-215-1019 or email us at info@longtermliaisons.com, today.
