Archive for March 8th, 2010

Posted on March 8, 2010 - by Nurse Virginia

SO MANY ELDERS SAVE EVERYTHING, WHEN IS IT CLUTTER OR IS IT HOARDING

(Part 1 of 2)
Home safety check lists always include- keep walkways clear, avoid clutter. They don’t talk about; homes over run with animals, garbage, paper, and elders living in small spaces because clutter has taken over the house.  The person writing the home safety check list never pictured that.

When does clutter take over?
As the population ages, more and more elders living with overwhelming clutter will be identified. People are living to older ages and the population 80 and older is the fastest growing segment of the population. As this population ages, someone 85 has a 47% chance of having Alzheimer’s disease. With Alzheimer’s disease come problems with distraction, decision making, reasoning, all of the issues that can add to the accumulation of clutter.

As our family saw Dad becoming increasingly distracted and forgetful. Because he was in an assisted living facility, we could gradually add services. The facility first started washing and changing his linen and towels. Then we added vacuuming every other day and washing the kitchen and bathroom floors. Eventually the facility was totally caring for the apartment, even having someone wash his dishes everyday.

When junk mail becomes overwhelming
Besides the housekeeping issues, we realized that part of the problem was the large amount of mail Dad was getting. He had always spent part of the day going through the enormous amount of mail he received. However, now he was having trouble deciding what to throw away, what to read and what would need to be responded to. As he became more confused, the piles of mail grew.

The United States Postal Service Website has all the information to stop junk mail. How to remove an elder’s name from mailing lists. How to forward mail to a family member’s home,  they can then take over bill paying for the elder.

Stopping junk mail can save the elder money
Elders often send for every “chance” from Publisher’s Clearing House, and can be vulnerable to a particularly good marketing company’s promotion. When my husband’s family went to check on their Mom in retirement in Arizona, they found a spare bed room piled high with purchases from Fingerhut. All of these boxes were unopened, but that didn’t stop her from ordering more when the opportunity came in the mail.

When clutter is a lifelong issue, not a recent problem connected to the person aging or part of a disease process such as Alzheimer’s disease. Then the problem could be “hoarding.”

Virginia Garberding, R.N.
Director of Education, The Wealshire, Lincolnshire, Illinois
Author: Please Get To Know Me – Aging with Dignity and Relevance
www.pleasegettoknowme.com