ON GRANDPARENTS DAY VISIT YOUR ELDERS LIVING ALONE

BLOOMFIELD, NJ, SEPT. 4, 2014 – Grandparents Day is September 7 this year and while celebrating and looking in on your loved ones who live alone observe how they are getting along. Personal-Touch Home Health Services of New Jersey’s, (www.pthomecare.com), mission is to help individuals who are in need of a little help, yet want to remain at home.

According to The Administration on Aging’s latest study about 29 percent or 11.3 million of all non-institutionalized older persons in 2010 lived alone. They represented 37.3 percent of older women and 19.1 percent of older men. The proportion living alone increases with advanced age. Among women aged 75 and over, for example, almost half (47 percent) lived alone.[i]

“Helping a loved one remain independent at home and age gracefully can be a challenge,” said Sandy Fromm, Administrator, Personal-Touch Home Health Services of New Jersey. “It can be like walking a tight rope, as one has to balance the wishes of the elder, yet make choices that ensure their safety. It is important to recognize the signs that your loved one may require help.”

There are indicators that living alone is no longer safe for an older adult. Here are five warning signs that a little help is needed:

· Having trouble seeing

· Living isolated

· Forgetting to: take medications, eat, pay bills on time, or keep appointments

· Unable to keep up with daily chores, personal care, or housekeeping

· Living with home safety hazards such as poor lighting and loose carpeting

Fromm added, “If your elder loved one is experiencing any of the warning signs of aging, but wants to continue to live independently there are ways to accommodate them and keep them safe. Seek a home health care services group that has bonded, certified and insured home health aides. These aides are trained to help with medication management, personal care, housekeeping, grocery shopping, keeping appointments, etc., which will help your senior remain living independent. In addition they can offer companionship, which helps keep elders mentally stimulated and physically active.”

Personal-Touch Home Health Services is dedicated to providing individualized comprehensive home care services and committed to helping people feel good and live independently. Personal-Touch provides a variety of home health care services by insured, bonded, criminally checked and drug screened Registered Nurses and CHHAs (certified home health aides) to patients any time of day or night. Personal Touch services include: medication management, senior care, companionship, housekeeping and homemaking, personal care, and live-in and overnight sitter services at hospitals or nursing homes. Personal-Touch serves the New Jersey counties of Essex, Bergen (lower), Hudson, Middlesex (upper), Monmouth, Ocean and Union.

About Personal-Touch Home Health Services
Personal-Touch Home Health Care Services, Inc. began operations in 1974 and since then has grown into a national company with over 50 locations in 12 states. Each office is licensed by the State in which it operates. Personal-Touch’s trained, certified and bonded staff of Registered Nurses and CHHA’s provide home health care services to patients 24/7. Services include: Senior Care, Medication Management, Housekeeping, and Companionship duties. Staff receives ongoing specialty training and certifications. For more information please visit us at www.pthomecare.com or contact Sandy Fromm, Administrator at Personal Touch of New Jersey, 973-680-1434, X202 or at sfromm@pthomecare.com.

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PLEASE COME MEET US AT: The Bloomfield Harvest Festival on Saturday, September 27, 2014, and Sunday, September 28, 2014, from 11 am to 6 pm on Broad Street near Bloomfield Center.

[i] A Profile of Older Americans: 2011; http://www.aoa.gov/AoARoot/Aging_Statistics/Profile/2011/6.aspx