Health Tip: Coping With Memory Loss

(HealthDay News) -- Baby Boomers with elderly parents often live with the fear that their elders will start a fire while cooking, forget to take their medications, or fail to remember an important phone number -- all signs of the memory loss that comes with aging.

The Wisconsin Department of Health and Social Services suggests these solutions:

In the kitchen, adaptive stove controls can be installed to automatically turn off an electric stove after a certain period of time or when there is an excessive amount of heat (unfortunately, they are not available for gas stoves).

A simple solution for remembering to taking medications is to set up a weekly supply of the pills or capsules in a labeled, clear plastic case. A more sophisticated solution is to use an automatic pill dispenser that dispenses medications at specific times. Pill dispensers can come with an alarm, a visual alert system, and battery backup in case of power outage.

When it comes to remembering phone numbers, attach pictures of familiar people next to their phone numbers on a sheet of paper. Or use a phone that is pre-programmed with frequently dialed numbers.

-- Nancyann Rella