Usually, when children have to become caregivers for their elderly parents, they may feel weak, scared, lost, and lonely as caring for elderly parents may seem like an overwhelming task that they cannot handle. Therefore, it is important not to give in to these emotions in time, but to take the necessary and correct steps to make life easier for both sides of the care process. Following the next tips can help to find the right care for elderly parents fast and simply when they can no longer take care of themselves.
What to Do When an Elderly Person Needs Care?
The aging process is often a traumatic experience for children of aging parents and for the parents themselves. Therefore, if there is difficulty with the perception of aging on any of the sides, it is important, without embarrassment or remorse, to contact an appropriate specialist who will help improve the perception of the aging process. This will certainly have a positive effect in finding suitable ways to care for elderly parents.
Here Are a Few Steps on How to Find and Organize Care for Elderly Parents:
The process of providing care for your elderly parents should begin with a realistic understanding of what help they need and what help you are willing to provide yourself.
Identify Needs
Correctly assess all the needs of elderly parents because this determines how adequately they will receive care and how much this will prolong their viability. Then compare the care needs of your elderly parents with your physical and mental capabilities and determine what you will need help with and what you can definitely handle on your own. It is important to try to intelligently, adequately, objectively, and without guilt evaluate all these parameters in order to avoid chaos and exhaustion of your body in the future, because this will determine how well and for how long you can prolong the well-being of your elderly parents.
If aging parents are mobile enough to meet basic needs such as washing, brushing teeth, going to the toilet, and showering, then they may need partial care. But if you think that elderly parents obviously need help with personal hygiene and mobility, then you will need more effort and tools to provide this type of care. If your parents are completely unable to move and meet basic needs, then you will need round-the-clock care for them.
Taking Treatment on Time
Also important is the presence of illnesses and the need for regular medication, since aging parents can become distracted, capricious, and forgetful. Therefore, patience, loyalty, control over intake and constant provision of the necessary medications purchased in advance are mandatory.
Conversation
The next step may be the most difficult, but it is vital because it can bring clarity to the situation of caring for elderly parents. This is a direct conversation with parents but in a relaxed and perhaps even softly humorous form about the fact that they need care and their view of their needs. The elderly parents may not give a complete picture of caring for them, but they will definitely be able to show you the vector of what you need to pay special attention to.
Safety
Providing a safety of living conditions in care of the elderly parents is also an important step. If you’re taking care of elderly parents in your home (or in theirs), you’ll need to make sure that it’s a safe place for them. If the house has two or more floors, it is preferable to arrange a room for the elderly parents on the ground floor and closer to the kitchen and bathroom with toilet. Be sure that the bed has a comfortable high for them to stand up and lay down. Ensure floors are clean, safe, and non-slip to walk on. This will protect the elderly parents from discomfort, falls, and injuries. It is also important that there are no unnecessary objects on the way to the kitchen and bathroom with the toilet that could interfere with movement.
The path should be as free as possible from things and large furniture. You also will need to make sure that the appliances that they use are working and within reach. Make all the light switches easily accessible so that lights around the home are bright. It’s good to add railings and handlebars to places where the elderly parent might need to walk or bend down. If the parents can be lost outside easily, make sure that they can’t leave the place of living without you or a person who gives them care.
Separating the main components of caring for the elderly parents and creating a daily and weekly schedule taking into account their well-being, as well as regular and systematic implementation of this schedule, will make it easier to cope with the basic tasks of caring for the elderly parents.
Help for Taking Care of Elderly Parents
Caring for an elderly parent on your own is an incredibly draining process, which means that you are going to need help. Firstly, it’s good to research of helpful government services that can help to care for the elderly parents. Usually, they don’t give full help and support but you can take advantage of the programs that will benefit the elderly parents. One such useful resource is Medicare. If they become sick or have an accident, this will ensure that they can receive affordable and high-quality healthcare. The Administration of the Aging (AoA) is another useful and important program. It allows elderly parents to get free help with long-term care planning, health insurance counseling, and legal assistance (when applicable).
Secondly, you can always use an option of in-home caregiving. An in-home caregiver will come over at the times specified and help the elderly parents with everyday activities. These activities range from cleaning up the house and helping with bathing and hygiene to simply providing companionship. With an in-home caregiver, the elderly parents can be in a familiar and comfortable environment 24/7 and aviod embrassment in the parent-child relationship. They won’t need to uproot themselves and lose touch with the routines and rituals that they loved.
Just be attentive while hiring in-home caregivers. Make sure about the sorts of services the caregiver provides, his goals for providing home care for the elderly people, the price of his service, the needed schedule of care and your presence while doing his responsibilities to find a qualified person. Discuss the acceptance to organize constant video surveillance when you are not there.
Find Care for Elderly Parents
Taking care of elderly parents is a difficult task, both emotionally and physically. That’s why it’s natural to feel tired and need help during this process. So it’s important to take care not only of the elderly parents but also of your own mental and physical well-being. Give up striving and trying to be a perfect caregiver. Don’t be embarrassed to ask for help and find the time to relax and renew the energy balance with your favorite activities, sports training, good food, and enough sleep.
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