7 Super Simple Tips That Will Help You Care For Your Elderly Loved Ones Better
PAGE Magazine
By PAGE Editor [Aug 5 ‘24]
Considering the numerous challenges associated with old age, our senior loved ones need and deserve the best level of care and love they can get. However, taking care of an elderly person is not the easiest of tasks, especially if it’s your first time. Sometimes it can get stressful, but it helps to keep in mind that depending on you or other people for basic care is not easy for them either. There is also direct primary care Tampa as a good resource.
Thankfully, there are a few ways to make elderly care better and less stressful for both parties. Since you cared to look, here are seven simple tips that can help you take care of your elderly loved ones better. If you want to find more about exactly what live-in care offers compared to moving into a care home, check out this guide to live-in care.
1. Get Senior Care Help
As earlier iterated, taking care of an aging person is not an easy task. Especially if you are the busy type of person, you might need to employ an aide, caretaker, or helper. Depending on your loved one’s specific needs, professional help could mean someone to help them with their daily tasks such as cooking, housekeeping, showering, and getting dressed. Be sure to get someone that will take the best care of your aging loved one.
With this, when seeking senior care help services, it's essential to consider a memory care community that offers tailored support and a safe environment for seniors with memory impairments.
Since you may not always have an experienced caretaker that you really trust, it is best to consider getting professional senior care services for your loved one. As highlighted at arcare.com.au, you can either choose residential care or home care services. Residential care means enrolling your loved one in a senior care residential facility where all their needs will be taken care of by professionals.
As for home care services, your loved one gets to stay at home near other family members. The expert caregivers will come to offer their services regularly or daily. As far as the costs, safety, and convenience are concerned, most people put their money on residential care.
2. Make Their Home Safer, Comfortable, and More Accessible
At the end of the day, your elderly loved one may feel abandoned when sent to a senior care home. In this case, the best option is to take care of them from their homes or your own. To give them the best care, you may have to do a few modifications, so their needs are accommodated. While at it, you will want to have their safety, comfort, and convenience in mind. This means creating a senior-friendly home design by introducing features that mitigate their risks of injury and harm while enhancing comfort and boosting convenience. A few things you can do include:
Adding wheelchair ramps
Installing grab bars and handrails in shower places and toilets
Decluttering the home to make it easy to navigate
Installing automatic sensor lights that tell you if they are awake at night
Getting rid of loose cables and cords to avoid trip-and-fall incidences
Introducing non-slip mats, especially in the bathroom and other potentially slippery areas
3. Ensure Coordinated Care
If you decide to take your loved one to a senior residence, be sure to visit them often. This will help prevent them from feeling socially segregated. Even if you have a professional caretaker at home, be sure to keep in touch with them and follow up on all aspects of their care.
4. Ensure Their Opinion Counts
In all honesty, seniors can be quite difficult, more so when discussing certain matters related to their overall wellness. Apart from ensuring their opinion counts, you can even encourage them to make some decisions on their own. For instance, involve them regarding the type of care they can’t, where, and when they want to get it.
Nonetheless, there is also a need to ensure mindful communication when dealing with a senior loved one. Some conversations might be tough from time to time, but you may also need to be tough in equal measure. Just make sure they know you want the best for them when picking an option they dislike.
5. Get Adequate Insurance
As earlier mentioned, seniors are bound to encounter a range of challenges as they age, most of which are related to their health and overall wellness. Thankfully, you will find a few insurance plans out there dedicated to senior citizens. But each and every person’s situation is different as they age, making it important to pick a policy that is right for you.
For instance, premiums for some senior care policies can be overly expensive if your aged loved one has one or a few chronic illnesses. The main idea is to make sure to pick a long-term policy that addresses the challenges of your aged loved one. It is cheaper and more convenient.
6. Embrace Technology
When taking care of the elderly, we also have to be abreast of the latest technology. Your aged dad or grandma might not be an everyday fan of TikTok, but they could for sure benefit from FaceTime appointments with their caregiver or physician.
There’s a myriad of apps out there that can help monitor his or her safety and keep track of the care given. When aiming to improve his activity levels, installing a fitness tracker app on his phone can help keep track of how much he walks each day.
7. Protect Them from Social Isolation
As earlier mentioned, nothing can be more down-putting to senior citizens than the feeling of being socially distanced. Social isolation is a mood-killer and a major stressor. The last thing you want is to cause depression to an already struggling soul.
Therefore, consider creating opportunities for your elderly relative to actively play a role in the family or community. This makes them feel part of us. It gives them the strength to wake up every day with a smile on their face. A few more things you can do to protect your senior loved one from social isolation and the related stress include:
Get them a pet
Take them on vacations
Ensure they engage in light exercises
Visit the senior living community regularly
Include them in family events and activities
Consider counseling sessions
Finally, you will also need to take good care of yourself for you to provide better care to a loved one. Taking care of an elderly person can be quite taxing on your health, physical, and emotional well-being.
Sometimes it requires concerted efforts from different family members to do it successfully, so don’t be afraid to seek help. All the same, the above few points should be more than helpful.
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