A List of Senior Living Communities in the Santa Cruz, CA Area

I live in Santa Cruz, CA, which offers more than 30 senior housing options. For those of you in my area, you might want to try these Senior Living Advisors who offer personalized assistance, financial resources and advice. Looks like they’ve been around for awhile, helping 2,313 families in the Santa Cruz area to find senior care and living community options to match unique needs and budgets.
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I also found this Senior Housing Network, which has listings in our area for senior living. It could give you a head start in finding mom and dad that just right place for their senior years.
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And for those who just need some extra help with elders in the home, Santa Cruz Senior Home Care might have the right person to give you some support.
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Theresa Tucciarelli
Elder Specialist

aMoveMadeSimple.com

(831) 539-1000

The Trials and Tribulations of Caring for Elderly Parents

I found this set of short stories at ‘The Huffington Post’ that I moved me. The stories address the blend of emotional and mental exchanges that arise regarding being cared for and ‘doing’ the care taking. I find that the closer we can read real stories, the more we can prepare ourselves for both the hell and the heaven of dealing with aging. Becoming at peace with the trials it delivers.

• Moving My Kicking-And-Screaming Elderly Parents 1,600 Miles To Be WIth Me
• What It's Like To Watch My Mother As Alzheimer's Creeps In
• A Pain Unlike Any I've Ever Experienced
• Why The Best Years Of My Life Were The Last Of My Parents' Lives
• Are You Caught In The Middle?
• Recognizing When Your Elderly Parent Has Dementia
• The Parent Left Behind
• Long Distance Caretaking: Assisting Elderly Parents From Afar
• As Our Parents Age, We Boomers Must Work Together

I think these articles help us to recognize that, in a way, we’re all grieving together as we encounter the final years with a parent. So we might as well lock arms and do it together. Because it’s the only way we'll make it through.

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Theresa Tucciarelli
Elder Specialist

aMoveMadeSimple.com

(831) 539-1000

The Dilemma of Taking Care of Elderly Parents

It has become the baby boom generation’s latest life crisis: What to do when our parents, can no longer take care of themselves? But even more so, what if you’re one of the 60-year-olds reading this who has one or more living 80-year-old parents? You may want to scan this article, as it might help you come to terms with the reality that our new longevity being both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because we live longer, healthier lives. A curse because sometimes our own aging may be happening right along with our even older parents.

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Theresa Tucciarelli
Elder Specialist

aMoveMadeSimple.com

(831) 539-1000

Elderhood and the Stages of a Spiritual Life

I’ve really grown to love articles from ‘The Huffington Post’. They just seem to have a knack for addressing the real stuff of our lives. As you know, serving the elderly is my life work, and these stories address aspects of aging that often get overlooked, misunderstood, or just plane avoided. I encourage you to scan these stories and tell me what comes up for you? What emotions arise regarding your own aging, or maybe concerns or joys in your life with your aging parent. Elder-hood needs to return to our world as something to be revered, not commandeered.

• The Rock of the Elders
• Aging and the Importance of Belonging
• Elderhood and the Quiet Life
• Adulthood, Elderhood, Buddhahood: The Stages Of A Spiritual Life

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Theresa Tucciarelli
Elder Specialist

aMoveMadeSimple.com

(831) 539-1000

Keep an Eye on Your Loved One’s Money

I’m not big on talking about the negative side of things, but this one is important to address. Residents in senior care centers are vulnerable, and theft from nursing home trust funds is a common theme. Too often, the elderly are targeted. Especially in hard times like today, where staff are not receiving livable wages to take care of our elderly. I think this trend will increase, not decrease over the next few years. So we have to be sure that facilities have good financial safeguards and proper oversight for residents' money. Don’t get that unexpected phone call one day. Make sure there is good oversight on your family member’s money.

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Theresa Tucciarelli
Elder Specialist

aMoveMadeSimple.com

(831) 539-1000

Are Hospitals the Right Place for Your Family Elders?

Medical treatment for aging, chronically ill patients is costly and often ineffective. Can they get better care at home? Hospitals are fine for people who need acute treatments like heart surgery. But they are very often a terrible place for the frail elderly.

I’m interested in this business I found online, who provide “frailty courses” that help keep Grandma or Grandpa at home. Especially with the changing tides of insurance, along with growing medical complications, education like this may become a likely path for many of today’s elders and families.

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Theresa Tucciarelli
Elder Specialist

aMoveMadeSimple.com

(831) 539-1000

Online Elder Care Locator

This Eldercare Locator looks pretty nifty. It’s a public service of the U.S. Administration on Aging, and connects you to services for older adults and their families.

It also has a number of tools and resources such as Long Term Care Planning, Advanced Care Planning, Factsheets, Brochures, and other useful Federal Websites. You can even talk with an online specialist right from the site.

Sharing Your Wii With Grandpa?!

It's interesting how technology has evolved. Amazing the things we can do with it. But I'll have to admit, I never thought I'd be sharing my son's Wii online gaming tool with my aging parents! LOL! But it works. Of course you know that exercise is important to keep the body functioning well - at any age.

Slowing Dementia - Movement Stimulates Our Brain

I like to note articles that talk about positive things we can do to support our close friends and relatives who are aging, especially those whose bodies just aren't what they used to be. Since dementia is such a difficult disease, I have spent time focusing on it in hope of finding ways to make elders who have it, to live - not just longer but 'better' lives. This goes for their families as well, who bare the burden of this challenging disease.