Caregivers are the backgone of America´s long-term care system, and sometimes they need a little help.

November is National Family Caregiver Month.  Today, the White House issued its traditional proclamation, this year focusing on caregiver support being at the heart of the Obama Administration´s efforts to assist families.  Every day, family caregivers assist loved ones with tasks ranging from personal care and homemaking, to transportation and financial assistance.  They are the backbone of America´s long-term care system, and sometimes they need a little help.  At Sunshine Help, they often find the caring, capable eldercare service providers they need for a respite from their caregiving duties.  Here, they can find postings from eldercare service providers who can cook, clean, shop, or perform personal care services such as bathing and feeding.  Sometimes, all that is needed is someone to simply be a companion for an elder person while the family member takes some time to attend to other things going on in his or her life.

When President Obama proclaimed November as National Family Caregivers Month, he  encouraged all Americans to pay tribute and support those who are caring for their family members, friends, and neighbors in need of assistance.  Every day, in every state and community, caregivers assist friends, relatives, and loved ones with daily tasks, including personal care and homemaking.  The National Family Caregiver Support Program and the recent implementation of the Lifespan Respite Care Program are steps to ensure that caregivers are supported in their daily efforts to keep their loved ones at home, in the community and avoid more costly and restrictive institutional settings. Every state has an Aging and Disability Resource Center, where authority is usually delegated to the counties to sponsor services, resources and information.  Google “Aging Resource Center” and the county where you live to find the information that is right for your needs.

Can´t wait for the Census figures – the government´s efforts to obtain an accurate count of the nation´s residents.  We know from the 2000 Census  that one in every eight Americans – about 12% of the U.S. population – was over 65.  They are estimating that this census will reveal a staggering number of Americans reaching retirement age – nearly 10,000 Americans will turn age 65 every day.   We all have roles to play in the graying of America, and we at Sunshine Help see our role as helping identify capable caregivers to help families successfully meet their work and household responsibilities.

Our warmest wishes for  the caregivers of America.

Regards from Sandra and the Sunshine Help staff.

Getting ready for one fangtastic weekend

Is Halloween as sacred in your part of the country as it is here?  We´ve had the Halloween superstores popping up all over the place, providing fodder to the debate of how to ride the economic slump we´re in. That debate hit our family hard – should we plop down a whopping $59 – plus another $20 for accessories – to buy that really cute princess costume for a 2-year old?  OK, I agree that $80 is gone in a heartbeat eating out, going to the movies and popcorn for four, a tank of gas or a textbook for a college class.  But $80 for a costume that will be used only once – and at night for few to see?  Sure, you can get some great pictures for the scrapbook with the opportunity of retelling the story over and over to future generations about how the princess got a whopping pound of candy. But, really, is that worth $80?  In some people´s mind it is, just to hold high our tradition of Halloween, where everyone seems to perform their magic marketing tricks for little treats. Is Dracula, trying to sell you the gas guzzler, really effective?  How about giving you ghoulish savings at the local department store?   

No, I´m not the Grinch in disguise putting a damper on our most hallowed tradition.     I´m just saying there are better uses for $80…… How about paying a tutor for a few classes to pull your child ahead in his or her studies?   Someone to clean your house when you are too exhausted from working all week? Find a sitter to provide services as a special gift so your sister and brother-in-law can get away to rekindle their love, or to provide companionship and services for a loved one who might not be able to afford it. You can find these monster bargains at Sunshine Help. We have listings for hundreds of services, from babysitting to pet care, lawn and pool maintenance to personal assistants.  Buy something from the marketplace that you need for your kids, or empty out your basement and offer something for sale – a great idea to earn some extra cash. Maybe you can find the great Halloween costume from someone who did pay the $80 at a price that screams treat – no tricks!

Halloween falls on a Sunday this year,  so join in the fun.  Actually, you can probably find someone at Sunshine Help to help you decorate the house while you look for the movies and prepare to host the neighborhood monsterfest on film. Hummm…..

Mange is treatable! Find a great pet care provider at Sunshine Help.

I was watching the previews for the upcoming season of one of my favorite television shows the other night. The hero was talking about fighting werewolves or something like that, when the star of the show pulls a clump of hair from his nemesis and proclaims that he has mange.  This prompted the question, “what is mange, anyway?”  I had often heard the phrase, mangey mutt, but I really had no idea what mange was or what caused it.

Turns out that mange is the result of too many parasites living in a dog´s hair follicles.  There are actually three types of mange that affect a dog´s coat – actually any animal´s coat, for it turns out that some mange is contagious.

Sarcoptic Mange, also known as canine scabies. is an infestation of Sarcoptes scabiei canis, a burrowing mite.  Sarcoptic Mange is highly contagious and can also infest other animals, and humans, too. Yikes! Hair loss and crusting from Sarcoptic Mange frequently appear first on elbows and ears.

Cheyletiella Mange, also known as walking dandruff, affects mostly puppies and occurs over the dog’s head, neck, and back. Although this type of mange is also highly contagious, it short-lived as the mite that causes the mange dies a short time after leaving the host.

Demodicosis Mange, or Red Mange, is primarily caused by the inability of  a dog´s immune system to keep the Demodex Canis mites in check. This form of mange is rarely contagious to humans, and hardly every causes problems in most dogs.  Certain situations, however, like a dog having an impaired immune system, intense stress or poor nutrition, can cause the mites to reproduce rapidly, causing mange-like symptoms to develop.

There is a simple test for mange, the “Pedal-Pinna Relfex”. Since mites proliferate on the ear margins, scratching gently at a dog´s ears will cause him or her to move one of its hind legs in a scratching motion. A competent pet care service provider would know this, as well as knowing the treatment for mange and other skin ailments.  Find a pet care provider in your area today at Sunshine Help for bathing, grooming and other services you need. If you are a pet care provider and want to market your services, register today at Sunshine Help.

Here´s a great home remedy for the contagious mange: a 1:10 blend of lavender to almond oil. Apply topically and make sure your dog is getting a well-balanced diet.  Yellow dock tea is another topical remedy. Use either daily for three weeks and then once a week for two to three weeks. If there is no improvement, see your vet for microscopic analysis of skin infections. A good homeopathic remedy for the immune-deficiency mange is Echinacea, Cats Claw or Astragalus plus a good diet.

Find a tutor, teacher or assistant in your neighborhood on Sunshine Help to complement online coursework available from first class schools.

Here´s quite a lofty mission….. giving everyone on earth access to a world-class education. This is the mission of Academic Earth, working to remove barriers for anyone wanting to achieve a world-class education. They are building a user-friendly educational ecosystem that will give internet users around the world the ability to easily find, interact with, and learn from full video courses and lectures from the world’s leading scholars. Their goal is to bring the best content together in one place and create an environment in which that content is remarkably easy to use and where user contributions make existing content increasingly valuable.

Courses are offered under a Creative Commons license through open course programs at the universities. Associated materials include lecture transcripts, handouts, reading assignments, tests and problem sets; some classes are also available as podcasts. Look for your favorite subject online at the Academic Earth site.

Did you know that the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (yes, the MIT) offers free online college courses? Their “Unlocking Knowledge, Empowering Minds” philosophy has been extended to open course ware, a web-based publication of educational materials. While many of the courses do not have video lectures, there are class notes in PDFs along with tests and homework.  These courses are available via the Internet, free of charge, to any user anywhere in the world – the same material used in the teaching of almost all MIT undergraduate and graduate courses taught in the Institute’s five schools — the Schools of Architecture and Planning; Engineering; Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences; Science; and the Sloan School of Management.

Not to be outdone by MIT, the University of California at Berkely offers podcasts and webcasts of some of the lectures taking place on campus.  Courses have an RSS feed to track each new lecture. For printable assignments and notes you can check the professors homepage, which is usually given in the first lecture or google his name. Even though the notes, homework and tests are not directly printed on the school´s website as they are in MIT and other courseware sites, it is really not a problem to find them.

Other university-based online coursework include Carnegie Mellon’s Open Learning Initiative, Utah State´s RSS Feeds, and courses offered by Tufts University and Johns Hopkins.  Even Yale, Princeton and Georgetown have gotten on the online bandwagon by offering web-based courses, lectures and other material.

Seattle-based TeachStreet is an online community for “people who love to learn”, or so claims the site that launced in 2007.  Students can search for subject matters to learn, and teachers can post their availability for teaching classes.  The site´s most popular subjects include  tennis, piano, cooking,  and ……Texas Hold ‘em Poker?

Of course, you can always find great resources in your neighborhood to help with your learning goals by seaching the Sunshine Help online directory of  tutors, teachers and assistants. Our goal is to use the latest online technologies to facilitate real-world connections and the best resources available.  If you are knowledgeable in a subject you want to teach, sign up online to post your classes.

Knowledge – what a terrible thing to waste!

Alert system for missing adults, Silver Alerts can quickly broadcast vital information.

Driving down the highway last night, my eye caught the flashing advisory lights….. “Silver Alert  * Green Toyota Camary * Call 357”.  I had known about Amber Alerts, those freeway signs that alert drivers that a child had been abducted and is in severe and immediate danger. Amber alerts encourage drivers to report sightings of a specified suspect car that might be transporting a child in need of help. But this Silver Alert was something new to me.

Like the Amber Alerts, Silver Alerts were designed to create a widespread lookout to locate adults needing help. In the case of the Silver Alerts, these are directed toward finding an elderly person who may be suffering from some type of cognitive impairment such as dementia in which they may wander away or become disoriented. While wandering is most often associated with  dementia in elderly, wandering behavior is also present among the people with Autism.

Silver Alerts were first created in 2006 when Oklahoma passed a resolution in their House of Representatives calling for a system to find missing seniors. In response, the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety added Silver Alert notifications to the statewide alerts sent to law enforcement agencies and the media for rapid distribution.  Georgia followed suit in that same year, enacting legislation to create a state-wide alert program after a two-year case of a missing 68-year Alzheimer´s victim in Atlanta, who was found 500 yards from her home eight months after her disappearance.  Public efforts to to locate missing seniors have been aided by the passage of legislation adopting Silver Alert or similar notification systems in 24 states, with another 8 states considering legislation.  Is your state included in the list?

On the national level, the National Silver Alert Act was passed by the House of Representatives in February, 2009 on a voice vote, and the bill is currently pending in the Senate. If passed, the National Silver Alert Act would establish a national Silver Alert Communications Network within the Department of Justice to assist regional and local search efforts for missing seniors. States would receive federal monies to support  Silver Alert plans, networks, and training, and would make competitive grants availabler to public agencies and/or nonprofit private organizations to maintain a national resource center and database for tracking missing adults.

The National Silver Alert Program in Palm Harbor, Florida, has designed a free, online registration program open to senior citizens and individuals with cognitive disorders like Alzheimer´s Disease. The program was devised to maintain a database of personal information of a senior or impaired person regardless of age, who wish to have their vital health, personal, medical and caregiver information readily available in the event of an emergency. This  information can be given to law enforcement authorities in order to assist in their search of a missing adult.

A similar program is sponsored by a Westerly, Rhode Island start-up company, Missing Patient.  This alert and ID system  was designed to quickly gather information needed by medical professionals, police and private citizens to help find missing people, such as those suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. Also free through online registration, access to the MissingPatient.com database is limited to only police and hospitals that are registered through the system, but allows registered users to search for the people they themselves have registered through the system. Information can be transmitted digitally by sms, email or fax.

MedicAlert and Alzheimer’s Association Safe Return Program is a fee-based,  24-hour nationwide emergency response service for individuals with Alzheimer’s or a related dementia who wander or have a medical emergency. If a registered user becomes lost, caregivers can call an 800-number to activate a community support network, including local Association chapters and law enforcement agencies, to help reunite the family member or caregiver with the person who wandered.

If you are the caregiver for a senior who may be the focus of a Silver Alert, make sure you have contact numbers, a recent photograph, and a set of fingerprints if available to share with authorities who may be called to help find a missing adult.  Detailed information about a missing person can enhance search efforts and gain precious time in finding a missing person and treating resulting injuries from a fall or other accident accident suffered, so it is also adviseable that you have the medical background and details at hand.

If you are in need of someone to help provide eldercare to your loved ones, look for capable, competent care at Sunshine Help, the fastest-growing online service provider directory in the U.S.  Download our guide on chosing a capable home care service provider from the Sunshine Help Resource Center.

Conveying goals clearly and up-front is necessary for the success of any tutoring program.

In the market for a tutor?  With the first weeks of school under your belt, you might be realizing that your son or daughter could use a little help with their school work.  A tutor could be the perfect solution to help avoid the minefields of having difficulties in school – poor grades, social awkwardness …. problems at home? More and more parents are finding out that tutors can enhance their child´s education and provide them with an academic edge; hiring a tutor is also a cost-effective alternative to expensive private schools. Whether you are looking for academic enrichment for your child, remedial support or simply want to help your child improve his or her grades, a tutor can provide the services you seek.

They say time spent with a tutor automatically puts students in the learning zone and triggers the mind to start focusing. This is especially crucial for those students preparing for university entrance exams. However, before you engage the services of a tutor, it is important to make clear the goals you have for your child´s learning so that progress can be gauged at achieving them. The same holds true for any assistant you might find at Sunshine Help. Conveying goals up-front that are clear and concise is necessary for the success of any help you want to contract, whether it be a personal assistant to help with paperwork, a trainer to help you lose weight, or a coach for establishing life-changing habits. You´ll find listings for  these and many more services at Sunshine Help.

Back to the subject of tutoring, before you hire a tutor, think about the kind of tutor that is right for you and your child.  Tutorial services are rendered by a wide range of providers, from energetic high school students to more formal tutoring companies. Find a tutor in your neighborhood through Sunshine help. If you can´t find one in your neighborhood, try searching in areas that are close-by. Tutors often travel throughout a wide area in order to provide personalized services.

Remember that tutoring forges a personal relationship between the tutor and your child. Children must be willing to fully participate in the tutoring sessions in order to maximize the benefits.  What kinds of questions should you be asking tutor candidates?  How much should you pay for tutoring services?  We offer a free guide to hiring a tutor, available online at our Resource Center or by email. Don´t leave the tasks of finding a tutor to the last minute and be flexible to meet tutors on their schedule. Remember, too, that tutors are often students themselves. Therefore, there may be a flux in availability depending on what papers are due, tests taken, interviews prepared, etc. Find out their schedule in order to arrange tutoring sessions that are convenient for both parties.

Finally, don´t forget the background check. You´ll want the peace of mind knowing that anyone working closely with your child is not a threat to his or her safety and well-being.

Tutors – a good investment parents can make for their child´s education.

Tutorloos from Sandra

"It's fun to eat beautiful food" is the mantra of the Cooking with Kids Foundation

We would like to introduce you to the “Cooking with Kids Foundation”, a nonprofit in San Francisco area that is directing their efforts towards preventing childhood obesity and juvenile diabetes.  This summer, they are offering camps for youngsters, ages 4-13, where children can go have fun while learning the life skill of cooking.  They have partnered with the local Parks and Recreation departments in Contra Costa and Alameda Counties for hands-on teaching. The end result:  not only learning how to cook a delicious, complete Chinese dinner, but learning a valuable life skill as well.

Their philosophy is that cooking can be a lot of fun when you know your way around the kitchen. Their website focuses on teaching children how to make healthy sustainable foods.  While eating nutritious food, the kids are building a strong self esteem and hopefully, in the process, will become happy, healthy, productive members of society.  The focus of their outreach is directed toward underseved and unserved children who are at risk for obesity and diabetes and not being able to afford the classes.  The focus of their activity is on making cooking fun.

For more information, contact Chef Lynda, who has been teaching young children to cook for over a decade.  Check their web site, www.letsgetkidscooking.com,  for the dates and times and locations of the summer camp locations near you.

When´s dinner?

Look for a bilingual babysitter or nanny to ease your child´s learning of a foreign language.

Time to target your child as a future polyglot? Experts say that learning a new language is often best achieved outside the classroom, and the tasks supervised by caregivers in the home are perfect props for learning.  Snack time provides for a great environment to build vocabulary.  Bath time, too, is perfect to teach basic sentences.  In-home childcare service providers are more and more being sought for their language skills as a natural teaching mechanism available to parents wanting their children to become bilingual, tri-linguage or even a polyglot speaking several languages.

Those who study language acquisition tell us that baby-speaking is the preferred method for teaching, and include games and activities that can be worked into any caregiving situation.  For the younger children, how about a game of  “Simon Says”, with instructions given in the language you want your child to learn?  Older children will enjoy songs and skits while the still-older children will be amazed at hidden cooking skills they might possess while learning the ins-and-outs of cuisine from the region where the targeted language is spoken.

Find great bilingual caregiving candidates at Sunshine Help, America´s fastest-growing online classifieds, with free postings and listings.  Whether you are looking for a caregiver or want to offer your caregiving services, Sunshine Help is there to assist you get the word out.

Hasta la vista! from Sandra

Peter Cottontail, America´s most popular small animal pet

Ever wonder which pets are the most popular in America?  Since 1988, the American Pet Products Association (APPA) has been collecting and publishing the industry’s most comprehensive consumer research study of demographics, buying habits and other traits of pet owners. According to the APPA 2009-2010 survey, here is a list of the most popular pets in the category of small animals and birds in the United States:

          Small Animals                       
(1)  Rabbit / (2) Hamster /
(3) Guinea Pig / (4) Mouse/Rat /
(5) Ferret/Gerbil

                 Pet Birds                                               
(1) Cockatiel / (2) Parakeet /(3) Small Parrot / (4) Lovebird, Conure and African Grey /
(5) Dove/Finch

If you want to find out about new and expanded topics in this year´s issue, read about electronic tracking devices, pet travel, medical expenses and provisions for pets in wills.  If you need help finding a good petcare service provider, go to Sunshine Help at www.sunshinehelp.com and search on the petcare tab.  You´ll find plenty of competent dog sitters, groomers and cage maintenance folks, resources for tons of animals, even for this year´s number one small pet – Peter Cottontail.

Tax Time Approaches

It´s April, time again for the taxman!  Attention, aupairs:  The IRS considers you to be “employees” of your host family for tax purposes. Even a cultural exchange visa cannot relieve the burdon of filing a return, even if the aupair in question does not owe any taxes.

What´s new for 2010 filings?
* IRA deduction expanded.    You may be able to take an IRA deduction if you were covered by a retirement plan and your 2010 modified AGI is less than $66,000 ($109,000 if you check filing status box 6). If your spouse was covered by a retirement plan, but you were not, you may be able to take an IRA deduction if your 2010 modified AGI is less than $177,000.
* Roth IRAs.   Half of any income that results from a rollover or conversion to a Roth IRA from another retirement plan in 2010 is included in income in 2011, and the other half in 2012, unless you elect to include all of it in 2010. In addition, for any tax year beginning after 2009, you can make a qualified rollover contribution to a Roth IRA regardless of the amount of your modified AGI.
* Alternative minimum tax (AMT) exemption amount.   The AMT exemption amount is scheduled to decrease to $33,750 ($45,000 if you check filing status box 6; $22,500 if you check filing status box 3, 4, or 5).
* Domestic production activities income.    The deduction rate for 2010 increases to 9%. However, the deduction is reduced if you have oil-related qualified production activities income.
* Personal casualty and theft loss limit reduced.   Each personal casualty or theft loss is limited to the excess over $100 (instead of $500).
The latest information is available through the Internal Revenue website, www.irs.gov

Get ready with the information you will need to file: 
…..Do you have a record of stipend payments received from the host family?  Hopefully you will have kept a list of weekly payments showing the dates, amounts paid, payment method (check, direct deposit, cash, etc.), corresponding period for which payment was made.  If you didn´t make the list last year, start one for 2010.
 
…..Don´t forget to select the correct tax bracket and claim the personal exemption. Because aupairs are not eligible for the standard deduction in their tax filing, taxes may be owed on the difference between their total stipend earnings and the current personal exemption amount. Make sure you are in the right tax bracket. Aupairs are almost always in the 10% for 2009 Federal taxes. This should be confirmed in the applicable tax tables for the current year.

…..Be aware of the fact that aupairs are not eligible for the Earned Income Tax Credit, The Hope Credit or the Lifetime Learning Credits. Also, because aupairs are not considered students, they are also not eligible to exclude au pair wages from gross income under the student article of any U.S. income tax treaty.

Get all the information you need, along with the appropriate form, on the Internal Revenue website, www.irs.gov

So head off to your local post office, library or other places where tax forms are made available to the public and find form 1040NR, or 1040NR-EZ if you don´t have other income to report, for income you may have been paid for the previous calendar year. And don´t forget to send it in my April 15th.

Best regards from the Sunshine Help staff.