More than 15 million caregivers assist a senior diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. This month, Congress passed and President Barack Obama signed into law legislation authorizing a $350 million increase for Alzheimer’s disease research funding in 2016’s budget.

Disease modifying drugs and a cure will be the best way to allow the U.S.A. to be able to effectively care for seniors with the current Medicare and Medicaid benefits. The Alzheimer’s Association supported a research study to find how much money will be needed to adequately care for the growing number of seniors with Alzheimer’s disease, finding Medicare spending will more than quadruple in the next generation to $589 billion annually in 2050. By this time, if no cure or improved treatments are found, more than 16 million Americans will suffer from Alzheimer’s disease.

However, research funding for cures for cancer, AIDS/HIV and heart disease exceed $2 billion each.  As someone in the U.S.A. gets Alzheimer’s disease every 67 seconds, this will also become an even larger economic issue for both American citizens and the government senior Medicare and Medicaid health care programs.

Women over the age of 60 are twice as likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease than breast cancer.

Studying our brains will be the key to more than just a cure for Alzheimer’s disease, which is another reason more money should be invested in this research.

Participation in clinical trials for Alzheimer’s disease is one step senior caregivers can learn more about along with joining Maria Shriver’s The Women’s Alzheimer’s Challenge to emphasize brain research.  Share your story as an advocate, caregiver and activist for Alzheimer’s disease care and research.

Senior caregivers may obtain caregiver training for activities to engage with seniors with memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease in the digital caregiver certification training program. More caregivers are needed to assist senior's who may need part-time or full-time senior home care. Join Caregiverlist to be considered for caregiving jobs in your area. Anyone with a caring and trustworthy personality can become a senior caregiver.

It is a dark time of year, but fortunately the days are getting longer. We hope you are enjoying warmth, light and laughter inside. This week's photo was taken on the winter solstice near Frankfurt Hahn Airport in the Rhineland-Palatinate region of Germany. Caregiverlist invites you to enjoy the photo and share it with loved ones. At Caregiverlist we know the realities of caregiver stress. Thank you caregivers and certified nursing aides for your hard work and caring for our seniors. Please refer your friends to apply for part-time and full-time job positions on Caregiverlist.com and visit our career center for additional career tools.  As 2015 draws to a close, we wish you a very Happy New Year!

"Laughter is the sun that drives winter from the human face." -Victor Hugo

Hanukkah has passed, and the shortest day of the year, Christmas, and the promise of the new year are upon us. Thank you caregivers and certified nursing aides for your hard work and caring for our seniors. Senior care training assists caregivers to better manage a senior's care needs and manage caregiver stress. This week's stress relief photo was taken in the historic North End of Boston, Massachusetts. Please enjoy and feel free to share the photo and inspirational quote with loved ones. We hope you have a great week filled with the warmth and pleasures of the holidays. 

"May your walls know joy, may every room hold laughter, and every window open to great possibility." 

 -Mary Anne Radmacher

Senior caregivers assist seniors with what is referred to us "ADL's, meaning Activities of Daily Living. Learning how to help a senior with ADL's is the first caregiving skill in order to properly provide care. However, there are many additional skills needed depending on the senior's care needs and care environment. In order to properly be sure caregivers are trained to meet the senior's care needs, the federal and state governments have stepped in to regulate the industry.

Certified Nursing Aide (C.N.A.), also called Certified Nursing Assistant: this is a federal certification requirement for ALL nursing assistants working in nursing homes, assisted living communities, hospitals and hospice care. The C.N.A. process is governed by a federal law which requires each state to approve schools to give the C.N.A. training course and to manage the certification exam process. A minimum of 75 hours of training are required along with in-the-field clinical training. Individual states may require more training. The number of hours of training for nursing assistant certification can be from 75 hours to 180 hours, with just 13 states only requiring 75 hours of training. All L.P.N.'s and R.N.'s become trained as C.N.A.'s first as they progress through their education.  Find C.N.A. training programs in your state to become a C.N.A. and you may begin learning skills by applying as a professional caregiver where a senior care company will provide you with training.

Certified Home Health Aides (C.H.H.A.'s): this designation is used in the state of New Jersey to identify the specific job duties required for caregivers working in the home. As caregivers must supervise their duties each day and interact with other family members and are individually performing work in a home, it is important that these caregivers are trained in documenting care plan notes. New Jersey provides specific training requirements for professional caregivers working in the home and calls them C.H.H.A.'s.

Hanukkah ended earlier this week and Christmas is only a week away. Plus Kwanza and the New Year are within sight. Instead of stressing about writing, addressing and mailing physical holiday cards, caregivers can create cards right in the PaperlessPost app to send to senior clients, family and friends. 

Once users open the app, they will find the home page presents different categories with types of cards available for customization. The app provides templates for cards and invitations for many occasions, including weddings, birthdays and thank you notes. The three main holiday categories are holiday invitations, holiday cards and holiday photo cards. 

Once a user selects a main category, they can scroll through all of the card options available. New users in the app can create a free account and receive 40 "coins" to start with to purchase cards to send in the app. All of the cards are sent over e-mail and cost various coin amounts.On the main screen with all of the options, users can see the number of coins each card costs so comparison is easy. Some of the cards are free to send, but users can also purchase additional coins if needed. 

If users would prefer to design a card online to physically send via mail to their loved ones, they can also see the price per card in the app. Users can import photos into the holiday photo card templates directly from the camera roll of photos stored on their phone. If a senior client would like to send out cards to their relatives, designate an afternoon to take on the project. Get dressed up and do a little photo shoot in the house, then let them pick out a design. 

Other customizable areas of each card include colors, font and the exact phrasing of the text. While the card comes with a pre-populated seasonal greeting, users can change that to make it more personal or applicable to the exact holiday they're celebrating. Likewise, users can send out one group of cards addressed one way and then change the text and send out another group with a different greeting depending on the recipients. 

Once the card is entirely customized, users can click send and their recipients will receive an e-mail letting them know they have an e-card to view. Click the link in the e-mail takes the users to their web browser to view an animation of the card being opened and pulled up and out of the envelope. They can click a swivel button to move between the front and back of the card to read your message as they wish. Alternatively, the physical cards will be mailed to you to address and send to your loved one. 

The PaperlessPost app is available for Apple platforms. 

Senior caregivers, let us know your feedback on this app and keep us posted if you discovers additional apps that assist with caregiving duties and help relieve caregiver stress. You may also refer-a-friend to a senior caregiving job and win prizes weekly and monthly on Caregiverlist. 

-Paige Krzysko

The U.S. Senate passed the RAISE Family Caregivers Act this week (and this bill is actually supported by both Democrats and Republicans), which will require the development of a national strategy to support family caregivers. The bill goes to the House next for consideration. The Department of Health and Human Services would be required to develop, maintain and periodically update a National Family Caregiving Strategy. Federal departments would also be required to share any data that can assist with creating a national caregiving strategy.

Advocates are hoping this will help make senior care a national agenda item in the upcoming presidential election. Currently, only candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton, who cared for her own mother at home, has called for more support for family caregivers. 

This summer, New Mexico Representative Michelle Lujan Grisham reintroduced a bill to create a national Care Corps program, modeled after the Peace Corps, in which volunteers would help family caregivers. New York state's Representative Nita M. Lowey also introduced legislation that would give caregivers a Social Security earnings credit when they take unpaid time off from their jobs to provide care.

Advocates behind RAISE hope that increasing awareness will eventually spark political action.

Why?

Medicare does NOT pay for long-term care and nursing home costs can easily be from $150 to $350 per day. About 40 million Americans care for family members, which works out to an unpaid workforce worth around $470 billion per year. They typical caregivers is the oldest adult daughter or another relative. 

A congressional caucus was formed to focus on the needs of family caregivers earlier this year, with the backing of AARP. RAISE would specifically require the development, maintenance and updating of an integrated national strategy to recognize and support family caregivers. More caregivers and more programs to support caregivers will be needed to support our nation's growing senior population.

Senior caregivers are already in demand, as seniors rarely plan ahead for care and will be quickly discharged from a hospital to a nursing home or to their home while still needing assistance with activities of daily living. Anyone with a caring personality may become a senior caregiver by taking a basic caregiver training course and applying to a part-time or full-time caregiving job in their area.

AARP Offers this hotline to call your U.S. Congress Representative to urge them to support the bipartisan RAISE bill in the House at 844-453-9952 (Toll Free).  Remember, this legislation simply begins the process for a strategy to be developed around family caregiving.

Thank you caregivers and certified nursing aides for your hard work and caring for our seniors. Senior care training assists caregivers to better manage a senior's care needs and manage caregiver stress. This week's stress relief photo was taken at the Christmas market in Trier, one of the oldest cities in Germany. Please enjoy and feel free to share the photo and inspirational quote with loved ones. Whether you are celebrating Hanukkah this week, or getting ready for Christmas, we hope you enjoy the festivities and have a great week. 

"There are two ways of spreading light, to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it."  -Edith Wharton

For a senior, something as simple as moving a bookcase to clear up space in a room can seem daunting. Physically they can't attempt to move it themselves for fear of injury, and senior caregivers may not be able to assist alone. The Dolly app offers professional on-demand moving, delivery and assembly services for senior caregivers and their clients. 

After users initially create a profile, they can schedule their first Dolly appointment. The options for type of appointment are: move furniture, charity donation, labor only, store delivery, craiglist pickup and other. In addition, for the holidays the app provides tree delivery for those seniors who would like a Christmas tree but cannot go out to buy one themselves. 

Each category then breaks down the specifics needed for the assignment, such as number of Helpers need dot complete the job, whether assembly or disassembly of furniture will be needed, if the items need to be moved up or down stairs, etc. The app also provides the option to ride with Helpers from the pick-up location to the drop-off location. If users decide to select this option, the app warns them that Helpers are not required to offer a return ride from the drop-off location back to the pick-up location at the end of the assignment. 

The next screen asks users how many items will be transported or assembled by the team of Helpers. Users can list the items and provide a detailed description of what they need done on the assignment and any important instructions for the Helpers on the day of the move, such as parking information, apartment unit number, etc. Caregivers can also attach photos of the items to the order so Helpers can get a preview of what the move will be like. 

For the Tree Delivery option, caregivers simply need to select the type of tree they would like between a Douglas Fir, a Fraiser Fir and a Scotch Pine and an approximate height between 5 feet and 8 feet. Then, they can indicate whether or not they'd like a tree stand and how many helpers are needed and schedule the exact time of delivery. 

Scheduling appointment times is easy with a calendar view and a sliding bar for time of day. The window to schedule services is from 8 am to 9 pm on most days. Once users have entered in all of the pertinent information, the app will share an estimated price with them before they hit the schedule button. All of the Helpers hired by Dolly have gone through background checks and interviews with the company prior to being assigned tasks. 

In addition to moving, senior clients can use this service to assemble new furniture, move existing furniture from one spot in their house to another or to donate items they no longer need to charity. Senior caregivers may also find value in using this app to move from one apartment or house to another if the need arises. 

The Dolly app is available for Apple and Android platforms. 

Senior caregivers, let us know your feedback on this app and keep us posted if you discovers additional apps that assist with caregiving duties and help relieve caregiver stress. You may also refer-a-friend to a senior caregiving job and win prizes weekly and monthly on Caregiverlist. 

-Paige Krzysko