As aging boomers look to downsize and become more independent, home healthcare becomes more attractive than ever before, but how do you know what kind of care to offer?
As with all things, it really depends on the individual, but there are some basic guidelines you can follow to make sure your aging loved one is as comfortable as possible, and also that they are taking good care of themselves.
Aging Loved One Living At Home
For your aging loved ones who are living at home, there are a few things you can do to help make them both safe and comfortable with the ability to live as independently as possible.
Here are some ideas.
Create a Caregiver Checklist of Tasks and Activities
There’s nothing like a good checklist and if you have employed senior home care professionals then it’s even more important to have a centralized checklist of tasks and activities for the caregiver to follow.
Requiring the caregiver to follow a checklist will also help with any difficult family dynamics, as it will give everyone involved a sense of peace and control over the situation.
Create a Care Plan
Help your loved one create a care plan that they can share with friends and family so that they have a basic awareness of what their friend or relative is facing.
How they adapt will depend on their individual personalities but having them prepared mentally and emotionally will make their lives easier in the long run.
Create a Plan for Managing Medications
As your loved one ages, it becomes more and more important to have them manage their own health.
If you are caring for them at home, then this is doubly true. Create a plan that includes a checklist of daily medications, as well as instructions on where to get extra medication refills.
Create a Plan for Managing Finances
Similar to the above point, having your loved one prepare for the future financially will help prevent issues before they become problems.
This can include everything from money management to long-term care insurance and any other long-term concerns they may have in the back of their mind regarding finances.
Adapt the Housing to Fit Their Needs
Even if your loved one has lived in their house for decades, there is always a way to make things a little more comfortable as they age.
The chair they sit in while working can be replaced with a recliner, the shower curtain can be rolled up against the wall so they can get in and out of their bathroom quicker and easier, you can get straight stairlifts for them and so on.
Create a Plan for Managing Socialization
Deciding how to help your loved one socialize can be a tough decision, as it all depends on their personality and the needs of their particular situation.
It’s important to help them work through their doubts and fears on their own, but also make sure they have access to people once in a while so that they aren’t completely isolated.
Just be sure not to put your loved one in an environment that will encourage stress or depression. Doing this can cause major problems in the long term.
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