If you are one of the millions of people who are now responsible for taking care of your elderly parents, you know that it can be a daunting task. There are many things that you need to consider and keep in mind which can make it feel very overwhelming. It’s important to know how to best care for them, and what resources are available to help you. Here are five tips that can make the process a little bit easier.
Understand What They Need
The very first thing that you’ll need to do when looking after your elderly parents is to assess what their needs are. Since everyone is different than some might not be the same for everyone, but there are generally eight areas that are the most important.
These areas include social interaction, mobility, meal preparation, home safety, personal hygiene, family support, cognitive health, and medical needs. Now that you’re aware of the support they’ll need, you can work out what support they are already receiving. The two most common areas in which elderly parents require support are mobility and meal preparation. Or in other words, taking them to the supermarkets when they need to get groceries.
Be Able to Identify Common Problems
The next thing that you are going to do in your pursuit of looking after your elderly parents is to identify common problems that they might face and prepare for these. For example, many elderly parents often suffer from joint problems, such as plantar fasciitis, which is heel pain that is primarily caused by being on the feet too often. A simple heel pain treatment can help if they face a problem like this and will provide immediate relief. By being proactive and identifying problems before they arise, you can ensure the health and safety of your elderly parents.
Know When to Get Professional Help
One of the most important things that you can do for your elderly parents if you are trying to take care of them is to know when to get professional help. Right at Home Canada provides home care in Winnipeg, and because sometimes your parents’ needs could be very demanding, this is an option to consider.
This is also why you need to understand your abilities and what you can do to help. It’s important to consider your schedule, how much time you have, what responsibilities you have during the day, how much you will be traveling, and more. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with admitting that you can’t look after your elderly parents, as much as you would like to, which is why it’s vital to get professional help if you can’t. If your parents have some kind of mental illness such as dementia, then it’s even harder. Assisted living homes are a good solution but you should definitely learn how to move a parent with dementia to an assisted living community.
Include Your Parent in the Loop
Something else that you should do when looking after your elderly parents is to include them in the loop or the process. The last thing that you want to do is to make your elderly parents feel dependent, or like they aren’t independent anymore.
There’s nothing worse than feeling like you aren’t in control of your own life, and by including your parents in the process of the decision-making process, you are allowing them to feel like they still have some independence. More than this, if you just start taking charge and making changes within their life, they might be very resistant in the beginning. By including them in the process, you can minimize any struggle that you might face.
Finances are Important
Another thing that you seriously have to consider when taking care of your elderly parents are the finances that you have available. Taking care of someone can be very expensive, so you need to know how much everything is going to cost as well as how much your parents can afford.
There are likely many changes that you’ll need to make, such as home safety modifications which can lead to quite a big bill. More than this, they might need to start eating special food and change their diet. There could also be caregiving supplies that you’ll need to buy. One last thing that you’ll have to consider is that communication. You’ll want to make sure that your parents can easily contact you or any emergency services should something happen.
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