Caring for your elderly mom or dad can be a lot of work and mentally exhausting. Although there are a lot of tips and tricks to keep in mind, you should always consider a better solution, which can be hiring elder care. These professionals can come in part-time to help your loved one live a long and full life while giving you the break you need. Caring for a mom or dad takes an entire team of professionals like elder care, doctors, therapists, and of course, family support. You can help your loved one and work with elder care to ensure your mom or dad lives a healthy lifestyle while aging in place.
Every senior will cope with the aging processes differently and need different levels of care. You may be able to go by once a week to help with small chores and to check in on your loved one.
However, some seniors may need more help. If they need a full-time watch, they may need someone like 24-hour home care assistance to help them age in place. Others may need part-time elder care. It all depends on what your loved one needs to stay healthy and what a professional would recommend for their situation. You need to be honest and evaluate your seniors before you allow them to age in place; it may not be the best fit for some individuals.
You may want to rush your loved one, but they may not be physically capable of moving fast. Be patient and accept limitations. This is something that can be so hard to overcome. Accepting limitations can be a mental challenge just as much as a physical. When your loved one is not honest about what they can and cannot do, they may get the wrong help they need. It’s important to sit down with your mom or dad and talk to them about the things they need help with without judging or talking down to them.
Your senior may not need 24-hour help, but you may want to give them more help than you can provide. So, what should you do? Find an in-between or the balance. You can help them out a few times a week but also hire elder care to come to help your loved one for the rest of the week. The point of elder care is to keep your senior feeling strong and independent. Rather than doing everything for them, elder care will help a senior stick to a routine and let them do most of the work, only stepping in when necessary. They can help monitor your senior and even provide transportation when needed. Elder care provides balance and helps you and your loved one cope with aging.
Elder care can do a lot of the work that you cannot. Your senior may allow them to help with bathing and dressing, which your loved one may not want you to help with. Unfortunately, they can’t handle medications or anything that a specialized doctor or nurse would be able to do. So, it is your job to get your loved one more help when necessary, and elder care can help you decide what your loved one needs to stay healthier.