A Helpful Handbook to Caring For The Elderly Around You
Be it a neighbour, loved one or even a distant relative, we are surrounded by senior citizens. Just like you would learn how to care for a child, you need to learn how to care about the elderly. This is not because they aren’t adults anymore but simply because, at a certain age, their needs and habits change. We must strive to provide a better and more protective environment for our elderly. We must learn to treat them with compassion and show concern about their needs.
Today, the cases of elderly abuse are rising around the world as many adults fail to properly accommodate the seniors around them, making them feel vulnerable and scared. Therefore, understanding the elderly, their evolved psyche and vulnerability to various health issues is the need of the hour. Here is how you make the lives of the elderly around you more comfortable:
- Making adjustments in your home:
If you intend to have your elderly in your home, you need to make improvements to the house. These improvements, be they small or big, will save you a lot of trouble.
- Get rid of the excess furniture in your home
- Remove all the unnecessary things from the corridors.
- Fix the bars in the toilet and the tub
- Ensure that there are no loose wires or cables on the ground
- Get the non-skid mattresses for the bathroom and kitchen, and the other slippery routes in the home
The list goes on and on. However, make sure that you make improvements specific to their needs in the house just the same way that your child-proof the house once the child starts crawling.
- Hire help:
The sad fact is that we cannot give adequate 24/7 treatment to the elderly on their own. Caregiving is strenuous and needs a lot of energy. In situations where you may be living far away, so you may not be able to check on your people every day, even though you want to. In those kinds of situations, you can think about hiring competent support that you can get from assisted living, or you can locate a variety of agencies that can provide you with excellent service and make sure you read feedback online before you recruit.
- Visit them often:
One of the biggest factors affecting the elderly’s health is the community around them. A positive community around them proves to be the biggest motivator for being healthy in the long run. Whether you live far or nearby, make sure you see them as much as you can. The time you spend with the elders makes a lot of difference to them, as they look forward to spending time with you. A few words of love and encouragement from you, combined with a little time spent together, could raise their moods and their spirits. This will also give you the chance to search around the house for any changes – an empty house, mail littering the ground, a plant not watered or any injuries or signs of a fall.
- Regular exercise:
Elderly activity tends to increase immune and digestive function, improve blood pressure and bone density, and lower the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, osteoporosis, and some cancers. This also helps enhance their mobility, flexibility, and balance. Although you might not be able to enrol them in a gym, make sure they are physically active as this will allow them to be happier and stronger. If they are sporty, invite them to enter a sports club nearby. Possibly golf, maybe tennis. Or anything as easy as walking. It would sometimes keep them outside, and aside from the health benefits, it would make them feel better about themselves.
- Help them form a new routine:
It’s best to try to coordinate a plan with the help of your other family members to support your elderly loved one when it comes to bathing, doctor’s appointments, business trips, shopping, cooking, cleaning, etc. If required, you will need to hire someone to assist with some of these duties, and they will also need to be included in the schedule. Not only can a plan help keep your life scheduled and coordinated, but it will also help your loved one to know what’s on their agenda.
- Be Careful with Medicines
This is another point that you might want to be careful with. As they get older, their drugs may be mixed up due to bad eyesight, memory loss, sleepiness, etc. Make sure that the primary health care provider knows all the medications they are taking. This includes those recommended by other physicians, as well as vitamins, nutrients, herbal remedies and over-the-counter medications that you use now and then. What you can do is mark the drugs proudly with the directions given to them and place them in separate drawers, making it easy for them to find them with little risk of mixing them.
- Take care of the caregivers
Caregiving is hard. If you are the primary care provider to the elderly, you must stay safe to take care of someone else. Many who take care of their elderly have been found to suffer from fatigue, anxiety, depression and musculoskeletal disorders. If necessary, split the obligations between you, your partner and other members of your family. You mustn’t forget to take a break, get time away and enjoy your life.
On the other side, if someone else is your elderly primary care provider, consider the complexities of caring for a loved one in need and make use of all support available to you in these efforts. This can include online support networks, ways to spend time away from your loved one, or rejuvenation experiences to help alleviate stress and stress.
It is vital to find the right balance for your elderly’s welfare and happiness and your own. They require your time and effort. Dealing with your loved ones ageing is a complex situation that will evolve with time, maybe even day-to-day. Don’t think about it too much or stress out. Remember, you’re not on your own. Staying aware, considering their happiness and comfort and making use of as many helpful services as possible, is the best approach to caring for elderly parents.