The holiday season is upon us...Our blogs offer some tips to stay safe, what's going on at the Devonshire Mall and also shopping for seniors (yours truly here!)
When shopping for a senior this holiday season, whether it is your parent, grandparent or neighbour, your gift will be a success if you purchase something practical or unique for your loved one. Some seniors have very specific gift requests.
“While socks and pyjamas tend to be the old mainstays, we work with seniors and their families all the time, and know that many seniors have special needs,” says Colleen Jershy of Home Instead Senior Care®. Home Instead Senior Care provides home care and companionship services for seniors in their home and in care facilities, and has 29 locations across Canada.
An analysis of thousands of senior gift requests conducted by the Home Instead Senior Care network reveals that the most popular holiday wishes of older adults are items such as blankets, slippers, pyjamas, and robes. You also can’t go wrong with food or homemade gifts, such as cards or holiday ornaments.
Be a Santa to a Senior®, the popular campaign that Home Instead Senior Care started seven years ago, has delivered 1.2 million gifts to 700,000 deserving seniors throughout North America. The campaign is gearing up again this holiday season and it is coming at a time when seniors need more of the bare necessities to get by.
Home Instead Senior Care makes Be a Santa to a Senior a reality by partnering with local retailers, non-profit agencies and volunteers from the community to ensure that isolated and less-fortunate seniors receive gifts and companionship during the holiday season.
“People naturally think of kids during the holiday season, but it’s easy to forget about seniors, some of whom can be lonely and isolated, and with no family members.” says Jershy. “Many seniors aren’t as mobile or nimble as they used to be, and find it difficult getting around in their own home or doing things in the kitchen. And then others have issues with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. For them, good gifts would be such things as hand-held electric can openers, neck pillows, and a wide variety of mind games to keep those brain cells active – video games, word puzzles, jigsaws, and memory games.”
Jershy is collecting names of seniors in the Windsor area and Essex County who are alone and otherwise unable to exchange gifts with friends and loved ones during the holiday season. She hopes to collect and distribute gifts on these seniors wish lists before Christmas.
“Seniors shouldn’t be alone at any time of year, but especially during the holidays,” adds Jershy. “Gifts that accomplish more than one action – such as a gift card to a restaurant that provides not only a meal but an excuse to go out – will benefit your loved ones in a big way.”
While seniors’ needs for the basics have increased this year, so has the generosity of those who are giving gifts to older adults, according to the Home Instead Senior Care analysis.
Although seniors may not openly admit, some prefer to receive unique gifts that they would otherwise not receive during the year instead of the practical necessities. Gifts seniors may want include items such as large-button phones, favourite perfumes or gift certificates for personal care such as a relaxation massage.
In Canada, there are 29 independently owned Home Instead Senior Care offices, including the one in Windsor-Essex. Services include companionship, meal preparation, medication reminders, light housekeeping, and escorts for errands and shopping. Home Instead Senior Care services are available at home or in care facilities from a few hours per week up to 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Thank you to Home Instead Windsor for collecting gifts for seniors--the community appreciates all you do!
by Deborah Jones Publisher Biz X Magazine
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
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