Things Every Caregiver Should Know: Personal care home for seniors is the first choice for most families because of varied reasons like financial constraints and personal preferences. However, it can be emotionally, physically, and financially exhausting and draining. Therefore, home caregivers are always advised to establish what works for the seniors they’re taking care of so they can find ways to make it a better experience for both.
There are so many factors for a home caregiver to consider, like the health state of the elderly. Also, being self-dependent to depending on someone else can be difficult for anyone.
Here are a few things every caregiver should know:
1. Monitoring your elderly family members
While most people check up on their elderly parents through phone calls, it is hard to miss the most vital signs that show that they should not stay on their own or when they start to develop age-related illnesses. Most older adults are good at keeping things they may consider a bother to themselves. This may lead to harm coming their way. Everybody with elderly parents is encouraged to check up on them physically as often as possible.
2. Get Help for Them as Soon as Possible
You are looking after your aging parents gets more challenging as they age. While it’s okay to want to look after them yourself, getting help will go a long way. The sooner you get someone to help you look after them, the better. That way, as the caregiver and your helper, you will understand what your parents are going through and what help they should be given so that they are comfortable and able to cope with the situation.
Getting help will also give you more time to rest, work, and go on with your life without burning out. To take care of your aging parents, you need to be okay emotionally and physically. You can have other family members involved, or if you can afford a professional caregiver, you can get one.
If you are working or have a family, getting a helper is the only option. Someone who can drive them to where they want to go, plan and cook their meals, and clean up after them. They need to stay in a clean house and have their laundry done. This can be someone from the family doing shifts with other family members or someone hired to care for them sorely. Your duty will be to ensure that the hired help looks well after them.
3. Have a Meal Plan
An older adult’s immune system is like that of a child. It would help if you had a simple meal plan for them, so they don’t suffer from malnutrition. Most older people who live on their end up skipping meals or eating foods they can make quickly, which sometimes lack vital nutrients. You should ensure they get freshly prepared foods and consider any dietary restrictions in case of diabetes and blood pressure, among other conditions that most older adults suffer from. They should avoid foods and drinks, and unless someone restricts them, they will not stop eating them.
4. Keep them occupied
Keeping your parents occupied and engaged will make them alert and active. Encourage them to participate in social gatherings and meetings where they interact with other people their age and even participate in light exercises. You can take walks with them every day or do other activities they used to enjoy. This will keep them alert and happy. Practices will also ensure that they stay fit and healthy. A few minutes of walking every day is all they need. They can walk around the compound or even help in watering plants. Allow them to do an outdoor activity that they once enjoyed doing.
5. Ensure their home is safe
Make sure their home is safe for them to live in, even if that means renovating. Ensure that they are in a safe space where no injury will occur. For example, if their bedroom was upstairs, you could move it downstairs, so they don’t have to go up the stairs. The kitchen should also be safe for them to fix a light meal whenever they want.
Modify the house to have several grab bars that they can hold on to while moving from one place of the house to the other. Ensure their bathrooms are anti-slippery and their bathtubs are well raised to reach easily. Also, get comfortable couches and chairs that will not strain their backs and legs.
6. Store Medication Safely
Please keep all the medicines away from their reach. Older people forget quickly, and they may take a pill and forget almost immediately that they had taken the medication hence overdosing themselves. So the medicines should be under lock and key at all times. It would help if you also reminded them what treatment they should take and at what time.
7. Entrust Them with Something
Entrusting your aging parents with something will make them feel special and valued. It could be walking their pet or simply looking after a plant. This way, they will remain active and alert and feel that they are helpful.
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