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Eldercare Review | Thursday, June 23, 2022
If you take on excessive and burn out physically or emotionally, you won't be able to help your parent or yourself.
FREMONT, CA: It is common to find elder parents staying on their own while their children are away in various cities or countries. Most regularly, children find it hard to address the well-being and health of the elder parent remotely and, based on friends and relatives in town, to watch out for them in case of emergencies.
Assess your parent's needs
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Finding out what is required to keep your parents healthy and safe is key to finding the right blend of care your parents need.
To solve that issue, take a step back to learn how much help your parents require with daily life.
Think about 8 key areas:
1. Think about your requirements and abilities
Everybody is in a different place in their lives. Taking care of elder parents is not easy.
Before you assume you can take care of all your parent's requirements by yourself, stop and think about your situation and abilities.
We wish our parents to be safe and healthy. And it's not selfish or heartless if you're not the best person to give that care.
You're still being a supportive and caring child by caring for their health and safety and setting the help they'll need.
It's best to make an honest assessment before the process, so you don't get into a situation that's not supportable.
If you take on excessive and burn out physically or emotionally, you won't be able to help your parent or yourself.
2. Include your parent in the process
Elder parents cherish their independence and don't want to be treated as sick.
Hence it's important to involve your parent as much as possible when planning for their care.
This aids them to see you more as a partner than someone swooping in to make changes.
They're likely resistant initially, so it will possibly take multiple conversations.
If they're not in instant danger, try not to rapidly compel changes. You might want to initiate with less intrusive methods and increase the level of help as you go.
Unless it's an emergency, get them familiar with accepting help by concentrating on 1 or 2 critical needs.
After that, slowly add on until they get all the needed help.
3. Learn the financial situation
Whatever, caring for an older adult will cost money. It's a good tactic to estimate future costs so you'll be prepared.
Think about the medical care they're likely to need, the cost of their possible living situation (such as assisted living vs. moving in with you), and daily costs like food, caregiving supplies, home safety variations, etc.
Once you know their financial status, you'll know if they can afford the care they require or need financial help.
4. Take care of home safety basics.
Safety hazards in the house increase over time, making it simpler for older adults to trip, fall, or hurt themselves.
Avoiding will go a long way to maintaining your parent's self-sufficiency for as long as possible.
Simple fixes involve:
5. Ensure communication is easy and accessible.
Another thing that maintains your parent safe is the capacity to readily call for help and keep in contact with family and friends.
Along with being a safety hazard, isolation and loneliness have a strong negative effect on overall health.
Ensure their phone is user-friendly and easily accessible. For some, keeping a simple mobile phone with pre-programmed numbers in their pocket is promising and easier to get to.
Or, if your parent is available to the idea, consider a wearable medical alert device.
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