That situation can feel to your senior like it appeared out of nowhere, even though there may have been signs all along. Tackling this talk about the Benefits Of Home Care now can be helpful so that when your senior needs, even more, help, she’s got a system in place already.
Sit down for a conversation with your senior. Make sure that you’re not approaching the topic of extra help in a confrontational way or from a perspective of forcing anything onto her. Let her know that you care about her and you want to make sure she’s got what she needs. Talk about where she’s having trouble in a non-judgmental way and keep a running list so that you can refer back to it.
Make sure that you both consider her health issues, too. Some of the health issues that your senior has now may become worse over time, even if she’s taking steps to manage her health. Other health issues may not get worse but could require some special attention. You might also want to talk to your senior’s doctor about what she should expect with her health going forward.
Start making another list with your senior of changes that might be helpful to her. Getting more rest might be on the list, as well as eating a healthier diet. Again, you want to make sure that this is a non-judgmental activity. This is about helping her to live the best life that she can right now, and these changes can take quite a while to happen. She doesn’t have to make big sweeping changes overnight.
Some of the new ideas that your senior might want to try could include giving senior care services a try. Senior care providers can help with the changes that she wants to make, but that seems difficult right now. Things like cooking healthier meals take a lot of time and energy that your elderly family member might not have right now. With some help, though, that becomes much more feasible.
Your senior might not have exactly the help that she wants or needs right out of the gate, and that’s okay. What’s really important is that you and she work together with senior care providers to make sure that she is getting the benefits of home care and the help that she needs and wants.