Can You Be a Caregiver and Not Irritate Your Senior?
Aging in peace is a common goal and it’s definitely doable. But that goal might take more of a toll on you as your senior’s caregiver than you think it will at first. Balancing your senior’s need for independence and your need to ensure she’s safe is a delicate situation. These tips can help you get along with each other.
Set a Check-in Schedule
Home Care Media PA Non-Irritating Caregiver
Talk to your elderly family member about checking in with you on certain days or at specific times. This isn’t to infringe on her independence at all. Instead it’s about ensuring that she’s okay and that her needs are met for the time being. If she does need help, she knows that she can ask for it and she also knows that you won’t pressure her if she’s checking in.
Establish Some Limits
When your senior understands what boundaries you’re comfortable with, she can determine if she’s also comfortable with the same ones. For instance, perhaps she can’t drive at night any longer due to vision issues. If she agrees that someone who is safe to drive, like home care providers enlisted for this purpose, handles the driving, she’s okay to go places in the evening. This is about putting safety first.
Listen When She Shares Concerns
Your senior can easily start to feel as if you’re not really taking her concerns to heart. And to be honest, there may be times when you see a situation that needs to be handled and you just take over. Make it a point to listen to your senior’s issues and concerns when she voices them. When she knows you’ll listen, she’s less likely to just go and do what she wants, no matter what.
Take Breaks from Each Other
You love your senior and you want the best for her, but you don’t have to be with her every minute of every day. She doesn’t want that from you, either. If she needs more than occasional care, then home care providers are a fantastic solution for this problem. When you and your senior are around each other, you’re going to be less likely to create friction with each other.
Some aging adults really chafe at feeling as though family members want to tell them what to do all the time. Try to approach caregiving as a partnership that you’re entering with your senior. That perspective can help to solve a great many issues.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Home Care in Media,PA please contact the caring staff at True Direct Home Health Care today.
Doc, as he is called by everyone - staff, patients and clients - first experienced home health care and hospice care while as a colleg student at King's College as he cared for his mother every day while she first battled COPD and then lung cancer. It was during this time that he came to understand that caring for a patient was more than just clinical expertise.
"Admittedly, my strongest attribute is my communication skills and the simple fact that I love to help people. Even the smallest thing you can do for someone really can mean so much to them long term. In fact, it could change them forever. That's what providing quality personal home health care should be all about."
In his spare time, he cooks for homeless shelters and children's music and arts events. He also is highly involved in his local youth sports soccer academy as a coach and Board member.
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