Martha Anderson of the Carilion Center for Healthy Aging says families may need to intervene to help aging relatives who:

• Are not taking medications correctly.
• Can no longer maintain their house; i.e., a normally meticulous house is suddenly cluttered and dirty.
• Experience significant weight loss.
• Have a change in sleep patterns.
• Suffer from prolonged sadness.
• Have driving issues; unexplained dents in the car, or it takes the parent longer to get to your house than normal.
• Downplay injury marks or burn marks that are not reported to you.
• Show deterioration in personal grooming.
• Exhibit extreme suspicion of others.
• Have a fire in the kitchen or other rooms, burned pots and pans, or evidence of stove being left on.
• Display inappropriate behavior of any kind; for example, overdressed at 90 degrees or underdressed at 25 degrees, hoarding food in laundry, buying odd insurance policies, etc.
• Lose the ability to make good decisions.