How the Yellow Ribbon Fund Keeps Military Families Together
During this season of thanks and gratitude, LeanOnWe offers annual appreciation and support to those who serve in America's armed forces.
During this season of thanks and gratitude, LeanOnWe offers annual appreciation and support to those who serve in America's armed forces.
For many of us, a week does not go by without someone raising the topic of home care for an aging parent. The path to resolution is a long one. Parents are often resistant, or even in denial. Grown children are worried about safety, hygiene, driving, or having enough food in the fridge.
Today many seniors prefer to stay in their own homes as long as possible, but family and friends often have concerns for their safety and well-being. Some of these issues can be resolved quickly and easily, such as adding a new railing along the front walk or modifying the shower. Others, like avoiding loneliness, will require ongoing effort.
Many families don’t realize how much a loved one’s health has deteriorated until a fall sends her to the hospital. Falls are one of the most common, and most serious, health issues among seniors. And the resulting injuries can dramatically alter a senior’s quality of life.
More and more seniors prefer to age in place, and flexible in-home care options are readily available. Yet some families may still find providing in-home care overwhelming, and many seniors enjoy living with their peers in an assisted living community. With so many factors to consider, how do you determine whether in-home care or assisted living is best for your parent? Ultimately, the choice is a personal one.
Whether you stepped in to help an elderly relative out of love, a sense of responsibility, or financial necessity, caregiving can sometimes feel like a burden – even for the most devoted family members. What frequently starts as a small role, perhaps doing some grocery shopping or cleaning, often becomes much more demanding over time.
Whatever your needs, there’s an in-home caregiver that’s right for your family. But finding that person depends on clearly understanding your aging parent’s condition or disease, and defining the specific care he requires. For instance, in addition to specific daily care skills, Alzheimer’s caregivers should possess an extra dose of patience and compassion.
Before you begin interviewing Alzheimer’s caregivers, here’s what you should know:
We are often so busy worrying about the cost of a caregiver’s salary that we often neglect to consider the other costs related to having someone in your home caring for a parent or elderly relative. The expenses are minor compared with the commitment you made to paying a qualified caregiver, but they need to be considered and accounted for when calculating the total financial commitment to in-home.
Though providing care for an aging parent may start as a sprint, it often becomes a marathon. Perhaps an injury or illness sends you scrambling for emergency care, but you soon realize that your senior won’t recover fully. Instead, she’ll need ongoing and likely, increasing, care. Or maybe you get a bit more warning; you notice your parent’s declining health and put a care plan in place over several months.
Burn marks, bruising, poor hygiene, and broken bones are the telltale indicators of physical elder abuse and an astute observer can typically spot these signs easily.. But physical abuse, as horrible as it may be, is not the leading cause of elder abuse.
It’s common for your loved one’s needs to change over time. If you’re lucky, you have a trusted caregiver who really connects with your senior, understands his or her needs, and is responsive to your input and concerns.
Some seniors, particularly those in the early stages of dementia, may have a hard time trusting anyone other than the family member they rely on most. Yet being solely responsible for an elder’s care can quickly become a heavy burden for that family caregiver -- no matter how loving and committed he or she may be. Reliance on a single caregiver isn’t in the senior’s best interests either, since it can lead to isolation and in some cases, may even increase the risk of elder abuse.