The Coronavirus Pandemic’s 2 Most Reliable Sources for the Latest Information

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic is all everyone is talking about these days. With good reason. This pandemic is affecting the entire world's population. People don't know what to do or where to turn.
They're worried about their families.
They're worried about their jobs.
They're just worried. They need to know what is going on. Everyone is trying to find the latest news on the virus.
And that's the problem. There are so many people seeking news that we have a giant version of the old game 'Telephone' going on. Remember that one? Someone starts by whispering a phrase in another person's ear. Then they pass it to the next person and so on. When it gets to the last person, the phrase is totally different than when it started. That's why it's important to go to the source of the news you want.
One of the biggest areas of concern is how much the cases and the deaths from Coronavirus are growing (and hopefully, eventually, declining). A great place to look for these original statistics is to go to the Worldometer website for the Coronavirus. If your country is clickable on the list of countries, it will take you to a page showing the breakdown of cases by region in that country (States in the US). Then if you look on the right side of the line by your region, you will see links to the sources they are using to track cases. Those sources are typically governmental websites that explain the latest guidance from the government.

2 Great Sources of Information

Another helpful source of information is the Coronavirus app (of course 'there's an app for that') and accompanying website created by Apple. Android users will have to use the website.
Both the website and app contain the latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), The White House-led Coronavirus Task Force, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Either one will walk you through a series of questions to determine if you need testing for the virus. Based on your responses, they will let you know what to do next (self-isolate, seek a test etc.). You can answer the questions either for you or for anyone near you.
These two resources should be able to give you enough information to help fight the virus and put our economy back to some semblance of what it was. Of course, there will be lots more questions about employment, government assistance, supplies etc. Unfortunately the answers to those questions will have to be on a more case by case basis.

We are doing everything we can to make our assisted living residents healthy and happy during the Coronavirus Pandemic. We want everyone to live to 100 years old at least! Besides cleaning, washing and hands and practicing social distancing, there are other things to do to combat the virus. Things like boosting your immune system and staying happy and healthy. We have a free eBook with tips from experts to help elderly people thrive during this time. See it at https://protectmysenior.com

Our Availability Week of November 4th

Come check out our opening. Just reach out to us via Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call 623-295-9890.

Conversations among friends

Feel free to stop by for fun and conversation anytime. Just reach out to us through Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890.

Hugging is what we do!

Need a hug? We give them out for free. Feel free to reach out to us via Facebook (@aparadiseforparentsassistedliving), our website, email or call us at 623-295-9890

Time to Get Organized!

We'd love for you to stop by and meet all our wonderful residents. Just reach out to us through Facebook @aparadiseforparentsassistedliving, our website, Cam@aparadiseforparents.com or call 623-295-9890.

Subungual Hematoma: How to Fix Your Nail

Why is it that Doctors have to have fancy names for any medical condition? A Subungual Hematoma is a perfect example. The term means blood between your fingernail or toenail and the nail bed. Regardless of what you call it, ‘Nail blood’ at the least look ugly and at worst can be pretty painful.

Although a Subungual Hematoma is much less serious than other conditions our senior communities experience, it’s good to know what to do about them. Seniors can easily have an accident that injures their fingers or toes. Then the injury brings the blood.

Technically a subungual hematoma happens when something injures the blood vessels under the fingernail or toenail. I don’t think though that you will be able to injure the blood vessel without injuring the finger or toe.

When the blood vessels pop, the blood flows out and under the finger or toenail. That little space between the nail and nail bed can’t fit a whole lot. The pressure builds from the blood pooling. That pressure may cause pain for anyone who experiences this condition.

Evaluating a Subungual Hematoma

Subungual Hematomas can result from a bunch of different accidents around the home:

• Slamming your fingers in a car door
• Stubbing your toes
• Hitting your fingers with a hammer 
• Dropping something on your toes

When one of these accidents occurs, obviously you will feel a large amount of pain. The first thing to do is to make sure your finger or toe is ok. Injuries that cause a subungual hematoma can also cause a fracture in one of your digits. If the pain is intense, it’s worth having a Doctor check it out. 

They call the fracture of the bone at the end of your finger a distal phalanx fracture. I’m not sure that helps you in any way. It’s just to show you again how doctors come up with technical names for everything!

For mild subungual hematoma pain, a good rule of thumb is to look at how much of your fingernail has blood under it. The blood could be red, maroon, or a bluish-black pigment. If the blood covers ¼ or less of the nail bed, you can just take care of the injury at home. For nail beds that are over half-full of blood, you may want to seek medical attention regardless of the pain level.

Subungual Hematoma Home Remedies

Taking care of the problem at home boils mostly down to taking care of the pain. You probably won’t be able to remove the blood at home until the fingernail grows out.

Maybe you already know about pain remedies. Most people have racked up a bunch of accidents by the time they become seniors. The same rules still apply:

• Ice (wrapped in a towel or cloth)
• Elevating the finger or toe that is bleeding
• Tylenol, Advil or other non-prescription pain remedies

Or any other pain remedies you know about. 

I was once moving furniture with my wife. My wife slid the couch towards me. It caught the nail on my big toe. It felt painful. What really shocked me though was seeing the nail sticking straight up 90 degrees from the toe!

The pain wasn’t enough to go to the Doctor. We didn’t have the internet back then. Looking back, I should have treated it better. From what I’ve researched since being in the assisted living business, it would be good to prevent infection if you lose your nail. 

If you lose your nail, try soaking the nail-less toe or finger in water with anti-bacterial soap for about 15 minutes once or twice a day for a couple of days. After you finish soaking the digit apply some non-prescription antibiotic ointment to the affected area.

What Can Medical People Do?

Let’s say you decide to go to the Doctor for your Subungual Hematoma. Here are some of the things a Doctor can do.

First of all, the Doctor will want to know if you fractured the finger or toe. They may order X-rays for you to let her know. Obviously the X-rays won’t say much about the blood vessels, but it will help them rule out treating the bone.

The Doctor will then ask you what you did to injure the finger or toe (she might ask you that before the X-ray). Depending on the nature of the injury and the amount of blood under the nail, the Doctor may decide to remove the nail to check how bad the injury is underneath.

The Next Step – Nail Trephination

That’s not to say the Doctor will remove the nail every time. Hopefully they will just do it if you have a lot of pain, or there is a high risk of cuts (or lacerations in Doctor-speak). The Doctor may also be able to drain the blood from your nail using a procedure called nail trephination. Here is a video of how nail trephination works:

Doctors might also numb your finger or toe with a ‘digital block’. They like to call your fingers or toes ‘digits’, as opposed to ‘fingers’ or ‘toes’. The block means they will inject medication that numbs the area at the base of the finger or toe. The injection might hurt more than the problem. You may want to decline this procedure if the pain it too bad.

Once your finger is numb, a Doctor has several options to drain the blood from underneath your nail:

1. The simplest way is to use a needle to put a hole in the nail and drain the blood
2. Burning through the nail. It’s called electrocautery (what did I say about big names?). Doctors can use a device that burns a hole in the nail to drain the blood.
3. The old paper clip. Most Doctors don’t practice this method much anymore. If people do use it, they unfold a paper clip so the pointed end is sticking out. Then they heat up the pointed end and use it in a combination of pushing and burning through the nail.

 WARNING: Anyone using fake nails should be aware that fake nails are flammable. You may not want to use any of the heat methods if you have fake nails. Or at least remove them.

Subungual Hematoma Follow Up

Depending on how extensive your injury is, there is usually not a lot of follow up involved with a subungual hematoma. Infections are pretty rare, so don’t try to solicit your Doctor for antibiotics. Of course, you should listen to your Doctor if he prescribes the antibiotics.

For more extensive treatment, such as deep cuts in your nail bed that required stitches, your Doctor will probably want a follow up visit to make sure everything is ok. 

Worst case, you may have a fracture in addition to the subungual hematoma. In that case, you may have a splint. Try to keep the splint and the area under it clean and dry to prevent infection. I’m pretty sure the Doctor will also want to see the progress and decide when to remove the splint.

Our assisted living homes work with Doctors all the time, even on (mostly) minor occurrences like this.  The staff at A Paradise for Parents also have basic medical training to administer medications, perform routine first aid, and are trained in CPR if required. You can read about our manager’s credentials for each of our homes, on these pages:

• 15922 N. 164thLane, Surprise, AZ 85388
• 18175 W. Banff Lane, Surprise, AZ 85388
• 15257 N. 135thDrive, Surprise, AZ 85379
• 15292 W. Campbell Ave. Surprise AZ 85395

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to call us at 623-295-9890, check out our website, or email us at Cam@aparadiseforparents.com.

Lazy Afternoons are Meant for Word Puzzles

Can games, puzzles and education help avoid or even prevent memory loss, cognitive decline and possibly Alzheimer's?

Medical research is still working on an answer to this question. However, some studies are showing that challenging your brain does help. One study involved  around 2,800 older adults (65+). The participants attended training for 5-6 weeks that involved memory, reasoning and speed of processing information.

The people who attended all the training sessions saw improvements in their memory and ability to accomplish tasks that lasted 5 years or more.

We're not scientists at A Paradise for Parents. But it sure seems that our residents are happier when they're engaged and active.

Why not come take a look for yourself? You can reach out to us at our website (https://aparadiseforparents.com) by email (Cam@aparadiseforparents.com) or call us at 623-295-9890.

We'd love to help in any way we can.

We Hope Everyone had a Great Halloween!

We really love to have fun at A Paradise for Parents. Holidays like Halloween give us a great chance to have a lot of fun with our residents. When I came in with this T-Rex suit, one of our residents stated

"Get away from me - you're too goofy".

It's that lighthearted mood that we are always trying to encourage around our homes. If you would like to learn more, please contact us at https://aparadiseforparents.com, Cam@aparadiseforparents.com, or 623-295-9890.

Wonderful Video about Best Friends...

Come see more interactions with best friends at @aparadiseforparentsassistedliving https://aparadiseforparents.com, or email Cam@aparadiseforparents.com or call 623-295-9890

8 Most Significant Contributors to 'Brain Fog'