Firstlight Resources

16 Ways to Enjoy the Summer Season with the Senior in Your Life

From our Care Blog

With vacation times and the kids out of school, it may be hard to think of fun things to do with seniors. Of course, it can depend on the weather, where you live and the level of mobility of the senior. However, it’s important that seniors continue to be as mentally and physically active as possible. At FirstLight Home Care, we interact with seniors daily – here’s some fun things to keep the boredom away: Watch the sunset or sunrise. Because many seniors do not sleep as long, they can be early birds. Bring their favorite coffee or donut and...

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What is Veneration?

From our Care Blog

By definition, veneration is the expression of respect or reverence inspired by dignity, wisdom, dedication or talent, often of an elder. Veneration is also a new initiative with an aim to raise awareness of aging Americans, find connections to other generations, find solutions to the challenges facing older adults and rebuild the dignity that our elders deserve. The Veneration Project was incorporated in 2011 by two sisters, Adina and Sara Saoerstein, who had to care for their mother at a young age. They had no support as they navigated through the complicated legal systems and home care options for their...

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Celebrating Father’s Day for Grandpa

From our Care Blog

Father’s Day is June 17. This year, make it all about Grandpa. Get the kids involved and treat your dad or grandpa to a day that he will always remember. Having trouble thinking beyond golf tees and “#1 Grandpa” mugs? Check out these ideas to make Grandpa’s day: Make a Father’s Day craft. Help your kids make an age-appropriate craft to give to their grandpa. He’ll love anything handmade: from a painting of the family to a clay model of his favorite chair. Get outside. If your dad or grandpa is an outdoorsy type, take a day to go for...

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Be Positively Happy

From our Care Blog

Happiness begets happiness. When we think positive thoughts, we lessen stress, increase our coping skills and reduce the risk of depression and cardiovascular disease. Everyone likes being happy, but it’s not always easy to get there. To start on your path to happiness and positivity, follow these tips: Surround yourself with positive people and things. Toxic relationships will make you unhappy. Take count of all the meaningful relationships in your life and work on nourishing them, then distance yourself from relationships that cultivate negativity. Make your home a place that relaxes and inspires you; fill your space with things that...

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The Case for Hiring a Caregiver

From our Care Blog

A USA Today poll revealed that 41 percent of baby boomers with living parents are providing some kind of care to them, either financially, personally or both and an estimated 34 million unpaid caregivers in America provide an average of 21 hours a week of care. When you realize that an older adult in your family needs extra help, a few options come to mind: move him or her to an assisted living facility, hire a caregiver or move in to do the caregiving yourself. This is a challenging decision for many people and requires some serious thought. Before you...

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Honor Elderly Veterans this Memorial Day

From our Care Blog

In the United States, there are over 21 million military veterans, including over 9 million vets aged 65 and over. Since 1966, Memorial Day has been a time to celebrate, honor and remember service members who gave their time, effort and lives to our country. This Memorial Day weekend, honor the veterans in your life by thanking them for their service. • Spend time with a veteran. If you personally know a veteran, bring him or her dinner or invite him or her to a barbeque to celebrate Memorial Day and honor veterans. If you don’t know a vet, visit...

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FirstLight celebrates second annual national conference

From our Care Blog

What a great three days with our FirstLight Home Care owners at our second National Conference last week! Truly extraordinary people who are providing exceptional care and to whom I am very proud to say I am on their team. We welcomed 65 franchisees, employees and caregivers to the event at The Ritz-Carlton in downtown Atlanta, Ga. The three day event incorporated panels and roundtable sessions on best tips and practices of successful networking, effective management, administration and training techniques, plus focus groups for recruiting, advertising, social media and care coordination. Special presentations from industry experts and guest speakers were...

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Caregiving doesn’t stop if your loved one is hospitalized

From our Care Blog

Today we handed the spotlight over to Martine Ehrenclou, M.A., an award-winning author and patient advocate, who shared her personal experiences of handling the care and hospitalization of her mother and godmother and how others can navigate the intimidating hospital world. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section below. Have a great weekend, all! -- Jeff Bevis I began my journey into advocacy eleven years ago when my mother and godmother were patients in hospitals for very lengthy stays (five months and seven months respectively.) I was not prepared for what I saw and experienced with their...

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Stress Awareness Month: Stress stops here

From our Care Blog

April is Stress Awareness Month, a national effort sponsored by The Health Resource Network (HRN) to inform people about the dangers of stress, offer coping strategies and disprove harmful misconceptions about stress that are prevalent in our society. Prominent writer Martin Boroson, author of One-Moment Meditation: Stillness for People on the Go, published an article yesterday on Huffington Post about “stresscalation”—the way in which we pass our stress to other people, often unwillingly. Boroson challenged readers to vow not to pass their stress on to others for one day, in honor of National Stress Awareness Day on April 16. It’s...

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Caring for the Caregiver

From our Care Blog

I’m excited to introduce you to LeAnn Thieman, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Caregiver’s Soul. She has provided a great guest post for our readers about caring for the caregiver. Strong bonds between family members are crucial to any healthy relationship. However, caregivers often require additional support from family members as they carry both the young and older relatives on their shoulders. LeAnn does a great job of offering advice to help care for the caregiver in your family.   Terry stacks the breakfast dishes into the sink, hands the freshly-packed lunchboxes to her son and daughter, bundles them...

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