One of the most challenging challenges facing family caregivers is understanding how to help aging parents with proper care for the elderly. While aging in place, it’s a delicate situation: you want them to stay safe and healthy, but you don’t want them to feel overbearing.
Your intervention could make them feel that their independence is threatened. However, you believe that some steps, such as teaching them to drive, promote independence in the long run because they decrease the risk of injury and would sincerely be helping the elderly.
When determining the best approach, evaluating your parent’s needs, knowing your options, and taking action, you have many things to handle. However, you will feel in control of the situation if you develop a concrete action plan.
Likewise, making decisions can be overwhelming, especially when figuring out their needs and understanding their options. Finding something concrete to focus on can help you feel more in control of the care for elderly parents.
Take Charge of Elderly Care: Learn the Essential Steps
Gain control over the care of your aging parents by understanding their needs, exploring available options, and taking action with our comprehensive guide.
Recognizing the amount of care needed
The demands of providing for others can cause one to lose sight of the big picture.
To accomplish the many tasks on your caregiving To-Do list, you tend to lose sight of the bigger picture when overwhelmed.
Your first step will determine how much care your aging parent needs.
Having a list of daily, weekly, and monthly care tasks will allow you to see when you need someone to help you.
In addition, you will learn what time of day supervision is needed. Making a comprehensive list can be easy if you keep a notepad out and take notes every time you help your older relative.
Your senior will need some help with what and when after a week. Keep taking notes for a long time to ensure you don’t forget anything that happens once or twice a month.
Assessing your parental needs
You might feel overwhelmed when you must take care of a parent because you aren’t sure precisely what to do.
Consider how much help your parent needs to solve that issue to cope with their daily lives caring for the elderly at home.
Evaluate the key areas where your parents might need severe assistance. Those areas might be family support, social interaction, personal hygiene, mobility, medical requirements, and meal preparation.
Make sure you keep track of the needs so that you won’t miss out on the important aspects.
Occasionally, you can’t meet the needs of your parents in the circumstances such as :
- Driving
- Planning/preparing meals
- Other household chores
- Laundry or errand running
- Unplanned doctor visit
From weekend sporting tournaments to annual family vacations, there are also times when you have to get away. Having respite care in the wings when you need it is possible when you work with a home care agency in advance.
Having respite care in the wings could easily help the elderly living at home when you are actually unable to be unattained or give out serious attention to your aging elderly parents.
Creating an Action Plan: Ensure Quality Care for Aging Parents
Develop a concrete action plan to provide optimal care for your elderly parents, making informed decisions and feeling more confident in your caregiving role.
Make home modifications
How to help the elderly? The best course of action is to inspect their home thoroughly and assess any safety hazards. Simple fixes may be possible, but some home modifications may be necessary. Among them:
- Ensure all cables and cords are safely tucked away to reduce the risk of falls.
- Installing a few auto-sensor nightlights through the house so they can see if they wake up in the middle of the night.
- Adding a ramp for wheelchairs or walkers.
- Incorporating grab bars in the shower and toilet.
- If you have a bathtub or shower, or any other area in your house that may be slippery, make sure you have non-skid mats or strips available.
- Elevating the toilet.
- Smoke detectors (or carbon monoxide) need to be tested (or installed).
- Make sure that the lighting is bright enough in the house.
- Remove excess clutter or obstructions in your house.
- Removing small rugs from the floor.
Financial obligations and options for assistance
Caring for the elderly at home may seem like an overwhelming financial burden. However, people find that they can take care of the elderly at home with multiple resources, and it is not necessary to cash out savings accounts.
Providing Nutritional Meals
When caring for elderly parents, many seniors lack the skills and motivation to cook for themselves. Providing them with healthy food is essential to their well-being. Preparing meals in advance can make this easier. The deliverable meal plan also includes many other options that your loved one may enjoy. Some of these meal plans can accommodate even diabetic meals.
Searching for reliable funding for the elderly care
The elderly have access to a variety of resources. Public and community resources are available. Make sure your loved one qualifies for what they are eligible for and how it may benefit them. Your loved one might be surprised by what’s available to them.
Recruiting early helpers
Caring for aging parents becomes more difficult as they age since their needs increase proportionately. It is difficult to determine what is needed exactly, how often, or who can provide it best if one waits until a crisis occurs.
Include the whole family in the process when working out the parental responsibility age. A team effort is given to providing respite care on certain days or during particular months, contributing to a general fund to support professional in-home care providers or having someone come clean the house as needed. Taking on everything on your own will wear you out.
Stay active and engaged with your parents
Living independently can be great for seniors, but it should not mean retreating from their daily routine as they were engaged and active in the past. It may not be possible for your parent to attend social, religious, recreational, or other events they once enjoyed on their own. You may have to hire a companion or ask others in related organizations for help to actually take care of your parents in old age.
Become familiar with Medicare and aid
Check about the funding coverage for nursing-home stays. Medicaid pays nursing home bills. However, only people with exhausted assets qualify. Do your parents have Medicare coverage? Figure out the extra pocket expenses that might incur at the later stage of elderly care; also check the aged care visa of your elderly parents.
Navigating the Care Journey: Find Clarity and Support
Find guidance and support in caring for your aging parents as we share practical tips and insights to help you navigate the complex challenges of caregiving.
Ensure accessibility to safe transportation
It’s probably the most traumatic loss seniors face after losing mobility to the keys, but failing to get around shouldn’t be an excuse. A safe driving plan for seniors is within reach. Make an effort to learn more.
Make it easy for your parents to communicate
A simple, straightforward means for them to contact you, their family, and friends will significantly assist your aging parent. Older adults who are socially isolated face serious health problems that adversely affect their well-being and quality of life.
Learn how your family members can use their phones if they have one. You may consider a more specific device with programmable numbers if you don’t need a smartphone with all the bells and whistles. Another alternative would be to suggest a wearable medical device.
A respite care provider or someone to provide you with additional support is an excellent solution if you live far from your parent. You can connect for immediate service with Wise Choice Care.
