Boredom, loneliness, and isolation are the most common issues among older people. If your aging parents are experiencing these issues, you might be unsure about how to handle the situation.
Visit & Contact Them Frequently
In some cases, caring for aging parents at home can be as simple as a daily phone call, weekly visits, and assessing their conversational tidbits for information on how they’re going. However, this approach is not enough in most cases, especially if they are already struggling with age-related diseases and multiple chronic conditions. Age also comes with unavoidable physical consequences, such as vision impairments, decreased mobility, and nagging health issues that may affect their ability to perform daily living activities.
To alleviate senior loneliness, take time to listen and actively engage your loved ones in conversation so they could express themselves and help them feel less alone. Besides listening, you can bridge the gap by connecting them with younger relatives, like nieces, nephews, and grandchildren. Another option is to simply take an hour out of your day to share an activity with your aging parent or encourage them to take up a new hobby to keep their brain young and active.
Assess Their Needs
In taking care of your aging loved ones, you should take a step back to understand how much help your parents need to stay safe and healthy. You may want to consider their meal preparation, safety, medical needs, cognitive health, personal hygiene, mobility, family support, and social interaction. Uncorrected hearing loss can be a major issue for senior citizens and often leads to social isolation. Hearing loss is not inevitable with age but can be easily treated with modern hearing aids that are rechargeable. It is also essential to involve your aging parent in the planning process as much as possible, so they won’t feel like they are losing control of their life.
A helpful approach is to start with less invasive methods and gradually increase the level of help as you go, rather than implementing all changes right away. Unless it’s an emergency, you can focus on 1 or 2 critical needs and slowly add until they’re getting all the assistance they truly need. Once you have compiled a comprehensive list of your parent’s needs, the next step is to assess how much of it you can handle without help. Be wary of taking on too much responsibility as you may overlook your health and lose sight of the bigger picture.
Consider Having A Caregiver
Losing independence with age is one of the primary factors that lead to depression among seniors. Caregivers play significant roles in our aging parents’ many health aspects as they keep our parents stay happy at home without losing their comfort, confidence, and independence. Unlike most family members, your in-home caregiver is trained to understand the eating habits, behavior, appearance, and overall condition of the senior they are caring for. Besides, caregivers can also provide companionship that can significantly impact our aging parents’ happiness and general well-being.
Caring for an aging loved one is one of the most challenging jobs you will ever have, so pacing yourself and getting assistance can help you reduce workload and decrease stress. Nonetheless, it is essential to remember that even when you employ a caregiver’s services to take care of your aging parent, you shouldn’t let their presence take your place in the lives of your aging parents–even if you are the busiest person in the world.
Final Thoughts
If you’re overloaded with work and family duties, it can be a good idea to find a qualified partner to help you. In Gherry, we are committed to helping family members of aging people and bringing new technological solutions closer to seniors to organize their everyday health better.
To learn more about our app, feel free to visit our website at https://www.gherry.com/, or download our application for more convenient viewing. If you need more help with the process, you can also contact our professional team, and we will be more than happy to provide you with all the information you need about our services. Connect with us today, and let us guide you through the process of improving the quality of life and care for seniors, all care recipients, caregivers, and their families.
