Taking care of an ageing parent needs strategy and enough planning; otherwise you may end up not giving your loved
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one the best care in terms of health care or emotional care. As the body ages, it becomes prone to medical conditions. We all cannot prevent ageing but we can learn how to deal with arising conditions for great health of our loved ones. Most health concerns for the elderly are memory loss, dementia and Alzheimer’s disease among others. Discussed below are tips to make parent care at home more manageable.
1. Consolidate the medical / health information – When you decide to go with parent care at home, make sure you consolidate your parent’s medical information. Open a file for health purposes and keep doctor’s contact details, medical tests, and prescriptions and medical notes. The file can either be in soft copy, hard copy or both. You may also consider online tools. These may help you with information urgently.
2. Take in a nursing attendant – If you are considering in-home care for your parent, taking in a nursing attendant is a good idea since your parent will enjoy his /her family’s compassion at home and still have an aide around to take care of the health issues. In case the symptoms get worse, the professional is able to alert the concerned doctor especially when you have the doctor’s contacts in the file.
3. Consider fall-prevention – Falls have been associated with most non-fatal and fatal injuries for elders. Falls lead to many physical health problems in an ageing body. Fall-prevention measures include hazard-proofing your home environment and reviewing your ageing parent’s medication.
The doctor can help you to review by looking at the interactions and side effects of the prescribed drugs and advising accordingly. In most cases, some antidepressants and sedatives may increase falling risks. Help your parent wear sensible shoes and ensure that your home is well organized at all times. The floor should always remain dry. Non-slip mats and rugs also play a big role in fall-prevention.
4. Make physical activity arrangements – Exercising can go a long way in helping your ageing parent remain healthy and fit. With his/her doctor’s approval, let the caregiver watch as he/she engages in activities such as water workouts, walking or tai chi (a gentle workout involving graceful and slow dance-like movements). Such physical activities will boost their mood, organ functionality and strength. In fact exercises minimize the risk of falling with improved flexibility, balance and coordination.
5. Provide emotional support – When your parent is emotionally unstable, chances are that he will be reporting sick most of the times. Staying at home where loved ones are minimizes stress and negative feelings of neglect or rejection. You should therefore make efforts to communicate with your family members about showing concern and love at all times. For instance you and your siblings may accompany him for doctor’s visits when you can.
6. Elder Proof Your Home – For best parent care at home, it is recommended to elder proof your house. Set up working systems and procedures that will make sure that you, your parent and other family members keep off all unforeseen stress. For instance, emergency response systems, medication management systems, mobility devices, meal delivery services and grab bars would make your house elder proof and convenient for other occupants.
Looking after your ageing parents properly means providing the most compassionate elder care solutions. Sometimes forcing your parents to go to a nursing home is not one of those good solutions. Letting them live at home where family and friends are is one compassionate move. Some elders suffer from nursing home abuses since there are no family members to protect them. Their health may even deteriorate in such homes.
Seeing your ageing parent healthy, happy and generally well taken care of is a great relief. You can make it a reality by consolidating health information, hiring a compassionate nursing attendant / aide, undertaking fall-prevention measures, arranging for physical activities and elder-proofing your home. However, these are just few tips and you can perfect this by showing love, care and compassion towards your ageing parents.
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