Back to School

Posted by Jeanne Lowry on August 13, 2014 under BladderMatters | Be the First to Comment

Back to school is a significant time, even for those without kids (more traffic on the roads!). But for parents and especially Sandwich Caregivers out there, it can be both a time of relief and of added on stress.

The return to school can mean a more predictable schedule. Your child/children are at a place until a certain time every day, meaning you can plan for when to be at work or caregiving for parents. Many parents celebrate this time of year, and we can bet you’re probably one of them.

But with a new school year can come with new friends and new challenges. If you’re living at home with both your children and your parent or parents, children may be reluctant to bring friends over. Try and understand where this embarrassment is coming from. Talk with them, and, if possible, be around when and if those friends do come to visit.

Additionally, new friends might mean a sleepover. And if your child has any bladder issues, dealing with any kind of protective underwear can be a potential nightmare. Luckily, nighttime pullups have come a long way. Sleep Overs provide discreet protection for children weighing between 45 and 145 pounds. Their cloth-like outer fabric means no suspicious rustling. If you’d like to try before you buy, you can find samples here.

Congrats from TotalHomeCareSupplies.com on getting through the hot summer. And good luck with a productive, fun and safe new school year!

National Health Center Week

Posted by Jeanne Lowry on August 12, 2014 under Caregiver Corner | Be the First to Comment

It’s National Health Center Week (August 10-16). A health center is generally a clinic that serves areas that have less medical care than the community needs. What can a community health center do for you?

Health centers provide immunizations, vaccinations, primary care and dental care.
Health Centers focus on more than just the health of your body! They also provide services like job training and housing assistance.
Free health fairs and other events are hosted by health centers, especially during Health Center Week.

At TotalHomeCareSupplies.com, we’re committed to keeping you as healthy as possible, so we encourage you to learn more about the services available to you. To find a health center in your area, see what events are happening this week or learn more about health centers, you can visit http://www.healthcenterweek.org. And check out the infographic below!

Quality of Care Provided by Health Centers

Different Types of Caregivers

Posted by Jeanne Lowry on August 11, 2014 under Caregiver Corner | Read the First Comment

There are as many types of caregivers as there are types of charges. Are you a caregiver? What type are you? We’d love to hear from you – let us know in the comments! Here are three main categories:

Family:
Family caregiving brings with it numerous rewards and stresses. The satisfaction that you are “taking care of your own” is very unique. But family also knows you well. They know that the facial expression you’re making now might mean you’re mad, but trying to cover it up. With someone outside your family, they may not notice it or know what it means.

According to the CDC, the typical caregiver is a woman in her 40s, providing care for her mother. This is an incredible act of love, and reciprocation to the woman who brought you into this world. But she may also be the person who’s able to say just a little remark that can bring up decades of past issues. These are stresses many caregivers of their own parents’ experience, and knowing you’re not alone can help (and you’re not, with 34 million unpaid caregivers out there!).

Friends:
The Internet abounds with stories of people who accidentally become part-time caregivers to their friends and neighbors. Often times, the caregiving begins incrementally: picking up some groceries here, dropping off the mail there. It may stop there, or continue on. These people know that they get along with their charge, which can be a help (who doesn’t love visiting a friend?) and a hindrance (when one person is unhappy, it can be awkward to let their friend know).

Hired:
Caregiving professionals are part of an industry that is growing and will continue to grow as the baby-boomers age. These individuals have devoted their careers to helping others. The satisfaction of that does not lower the stress that can come with the job, but it may provide comfort at the end of a long day. They may be temporary or long-term. Either way they are bringing both help and joy to their charge.

TotalHomeCareSupplies.com honors all the caregivers out there, and hope that they know we’re thinking of them. We’d love to hear about your caregiver experiences, past or present! See you in the comments!

The History of Adult Diapers

Posted by Jeanne Lowry on August 8, 2014 under BladderMatters | Be the First to Comment

The advances in adult incontinence products over just the past several years have come so far. There are now cloth-backed briefs that allow for air flow and leakage protection. There are underpads that can handle more liquid than imaginable. And there’s even gender-specific protective underwear that look more like regular underwear than ever. The improvements are convenient and there are always more on the way.

But how did we get here, to this place of convenience? Let’s take a look back.

Disposable diapers weren’t introduced until the 1940’s. Everything before that point was cloth. There’s not a lot of information about the prevalence of adult incontinence supplies during this time of change (so if you have any information, please be sure to comment below!). There is some anecdotal evidence about the US Army, Air Force and Marines using adult diapers during long-term or potentially chemically dangerous missions.

Kimberly Clark introduced their line of baby diapers in 1978, and in 1984 they created the Depend line, which began by manufacturing liners for adult incontinence. While Depend was one of the first to create specifically targeted adult incontinence products, many others quickly followed suit when they recognized the market need. First Quality, maker of Prevail, introduced their adult incontinence briefs in 1990.

Since then, with the baby boomers growing into a lively older age, the market need has grown even more, and innovation to keep people as comfortable and active as possible has grown as well.

Unusual Ways to Relieve Stress

Posted by Jeanne Lowry on August 7, 2014 under Caregiver Corner | Be the First to Comment

Sure, everyone would love to be less stressed. But we’ve all read the lists of ways to reduce those stresses and either taken them to heart or thought “I don’t have time for that!” So here are some quick, easy and unusual ways to try and keep all that stress at bay. Comment with any uncommon ways of your own!

Paint the house blue
Blue has been shown to have relaxing effects on the mind and helps with focus. Now, you might say, “I have enough on my hands, I’m not going to repaint all the rooms in my house.” Of course. But even purchasing a light blue poster board and hanging it up behind the computer or above a TV can be helpful.

Bake something
A lot of sites recommend blowing up a balloon to make you breathe deeply, and breathing deeply is supposed to be relaxing. But blowing up a balloon can make you lightheaded. What else could I do that would make me breathe deeply? Good aromas! So really, you don’t even need to bake something, you could just grab a scented candle and give it a few good sniffs. Then light it: even more relaxing!

Get a mouth guard
Stress causes us to not only clench our jaw, it can make us grind our teeth at night. Dentist prescribed night guards are ideal, but can be quite expensive without dental insurance. If you’re experiencing tooth or jaw pain, see your dentist. But in the meantime, a store-bought one might help, and be a solution to some headaches as well.

Light a match
Write down five things that really stress you out or annoy you. Fold up the paper and burn it in a safe place, as a symbol of letting things go that you can’t control 100%. Or better yet, tuck it in to some charcoal in your BBQ, fire it up and have a tasty end to a long day!

Set up recurring shipments
This one is less unusual, and more just super helpful! At TotalHomeCareSupplies.com, you can set up recurring shipments of all the incontinence, ostomy or other supplies you need. Check out these three easy steps to setting up our EZ ship program.

Product Reviews – Thanks!

Posted by Jeanne Lowry on August 6, 2014 under BladderMatters, Ostomy Care, Very Urological | Read the First Comment

We think we carry the best possible incontinence, ostomy and urological products out there.

But you don’t have to take OUR word for it.

We love it when our customers review our products. It lets their fellow customers know specifics of the product and first-hand accounts of using them. We thought we’d highlight a few of these reviews in today’s post. When you finish, please feel free to write some reviews of your own!

Review of First Quality Prevail Adult Briefs:
“I have used this particular brand of briefs for many years and I highly recommend them. They’re absorbent and not too bulky. They’re comfortable and really are the best brief out there.”

Review of Hollister New Image 2pc Flextend Skin Barrier CTF:
“I love these flanges this inside portion is protected by what appears to be plastic covering over the barrier. The ease of use and the outer sticky tape helps hold the flange and barrier are in place. Rarely does it become un-sticky even in the shower. I would recommend them and I’ve tried many types.”

Review of Dale Foley Tube Catheter Leg Band:
“This is the best way to hold a cath tube in place. Have used many and found nothing better.”

While we of course love positive reviews, we want to hear about all the types of experiences that our customers have with our products. We use these reviews when considering which products and product lines we should sell, and will sometimes pass on the comments to the manufacturer. Our goal is your satisfaction with everything we sell.

For instance, this review of ConvaTec Aloe Vesta Perineal Skin Cleanser helps us know that there’s another product out there that a customer would like us to carry:
“Great product although it’s hard to spray[,] a foaming product would be better. Hospitals carry the liquid foaming that is what I really was looking for.”
(That cleansing foam can be found here.)

So if you have an opinion on a product you’re using, it’d be great if you’d head over to TotalHomeCareSupplies.com and write it up! Thanks in advance!

Caregiving Blogs – August Highlight

Posted by Jeanne Lowry on under Caregiver Corner | Be the First to Comment

At the start of the new month, we’d like to take some time to highlight some caregiver bloggers. These bloggers are raising awareness of the difficulties their loved ones live with and helping others to know they’re not alone.

http://www.robertssister.com/

Trish Hughes Kreis is the primary caregiver to her brother, who lives with intractable epilepsy. He was also recently diagnosed with Cumulative Traumatic Encephameylopathy. Trish kept her readers aware and informed throughout the process of getting the diagnosis. Trish also participates in a live chat once a month with Denise Brown of caregiving.com to discuss all things related to caregiving.

http://www.lovethatmax.com/

Ellen Seidman’s son, Max, had a stroke shortly after he was born and developed cerebral palsy. (It’s true, babies can have strokes.) Now Max is doing all sorts of things that the doctors told Ellen weren’t going to happen for her son. Reading about Max’s improvements is a joyful thing, and his younger sister is a ton of fun as well.

http://www.insidedementia.com/blog/

Martha Stettinius was a caregiver to her mother with Alzheimer’s for eight years, before her mom passed away. Now she continues to advocate and write for caregivers, sharing her experiences and what she wished she knew then. She also wrote a book, titled Inside the Dementia Epidemic: A Daughter’s Memoir, which we have pinned to our Pinterest board of Caregiver Books.

Do you write a blog or know of one that you’d like TotalHomeCareSupplies.com to highlight? Please provide us with a link in the comments. And if you’re a regular reader of any of these blogs, let us know and give them a shout out!

Why Buy American

Posted by Jeanne Lowry on August 4, 2014 under BladderMatters | Be the First to Comment

When it comes to incontinence supplies, you need the most trustworthy product out there. That’s the number one priority. But what if there are other factors in purchasing these products that can make you feel good about helping out not only your country, but also the environment?

Enter Prevail, by First Quality. Not only are their products designed with comfort in mind, they’re designed with the country and the environment in mind. All their products are engineered and assembled in the US. Why is that so important? Because it means that by purchasing their products, you’re helping create and keep jobs here in the US. These are jobs that are safe and fair to the employees.

In addition, every time you buy a Prevail product instead of one that has to be shipped in from another country, you’re helping the environment. That item doesn’t need to be brought across an ocean, using up more oil than necessary. And not only that, Prevail themselves are committed to sustainability initiatives. During the process of manufacturing their products, only 1% becomes landfill waste.

And when you get your incontinence supplies shipped to you, you also save gas by not taking that extra trip to the drug store in the middle of the night. It’s convenient for you and better for the country. Many delivery services now use trucks that run on alternative-fuel, including those utilized by TotalHomeCareSuppplies.com. UPS just expanded its fleet of alternative fuel trucks, and last year, OnTrac was named one of SDCE 2013 Green Supply Chain Award Winners.

We are proud to be working with companies whose efforts are keeping both American jobs and the global environment in mind.

Camping Checklist

Posted by Jeanne Lowry on August 1, 2014 under BladderMatters | Be the First to Comment

Anyone going camping during this last month or so of summer? If you are, and you need incontinence supplies, there are some some extra items to add to the checklist. Here are a few items that are either essential or helpful. First up, something that everyone should have whenever heading out of the house for the tent life:

1) Bath Wipes
These unscented, hypoallergenic wipes are extra large, so you’ll only need one for each person each day (initially, at least, as they will also come in handy after meals to clean faces and hands). Each washcloth has more than enough moisture to cleanse thoroughly. They come eight to a pack, but they’re so inexpensive, two packs might be a good choice even for a short trip.

2) Flashlights, Paper Towels, Can Openers
There are many other convenient items that you could probably get away with forgetting, but these three are pretty much the most essential, besides the tent. Pack these items a few days beforehand to make sure they don’t get lost in the shuffle of last minute packing.

3) Underpads
A wonderful accessory when camping and experiencing incontinence issues. If you have been employing reusable underpads at home, get a pack of disposable underpads for the trip. While reusable underpads are less expensive in the long run and better for the environment, the convenience of disposable is great for camping. They’ll make the mornings so much easier and with Prevail underpads, you only need one layer at a time.

4) Games
Chatting by the campfire is ideal, but you want to make sure you have a back-up option in case the talk starts to slow. Take some card games, but nothing large or that requires a board. Then you’ll know that you’re ready to provide the outdoor entertainment once the sun goes down.

5) Extra Incontinence Supplies
That may sound bulky, but it doesn’t need to be. Just be smart about it. Pack everything you may need (extra briefs, wipes, gloves, creams, washes and disposable bags) into one bag, like a small gym bag. Have a really large tube of cream? Just take what you need by putting some into a travel sized bottle. Keep in mind that because your schedule and activity amount may change during your vacation, your supply needs might change as well.

Having everything securely packed will make you able to relax and appreciate your vacation. Last tip: if you have multiple bags, during packing time, note which item was place in which bag. Then take that list with you. It will save time later and you’ll know exactly what you packed. Enjoy your trip!

What Is An Ostomy?

Posted by Jeanne Lowry on July 30, 2014 under Ostomy Care | Be the First to Comment

On June 21^st, 2014 the charity organization Crohn’s and Colitis UK posted a picture of one Bethany Townsend. As of this writing, the post has received nearly 250,000 likes, easily catapulting it to the status of viral. What was Townsend wearing in this popular photo? A bikini, an ostomy bag and a stoma cap.

Other sites, including Huffington Post picked up on the photo and the short article about Townsend, but failed to go into an explanation of what these items she’s wearing are and what they’re for. This led to a huge uptick in searches online for the word “ostomy” as people strove to understand why it was that Townsend needed bags to survive.

So here’s the short and sweet explanation: Ostomy bags are the term for any bag placed over a surgical opening on a body, generally in the abdomen region (you can see some examples of new bags here). The uses for these bags are to help with the work of organs that aren’t functioning properly or have been removed, such as all or part of the large intestine or the bladder. In cases such as Crohn’s disease, colitis, cancer or other issues, a surgeon will create a direct connection from the working parts to the outside of the body – creating a stoma (aka opening). Waste from the small intestine (or part of the large intestine or bladder) is dispelled through that opening, generally into a bag.

Ms. Townsend appears to be wearing an ostomy bag, and a stoma cap. The ostomy bag is there to capture the contents being emptied from her small intestine. The stoma cap, the smaller of the two items, is likely there to capture any small output from that particular stoma. As that stoma likely doesn’t produce waste on a consistent basis, it doesn’t need a full-sized bag. This is an assumption, of course, and everyone’s experience with stomas differs, but that’s a basic explanation of bags and caps.

It’s great to see such a positive response to Townsend’s photo, and to see so many people reply with proud pictures of themselves sporting ostomy bags.