How to Care for your Elder Parents

Caring Elder Parents

You are used to watching your Elderly parents do all the daily chores with ease like gardening, marketing, cooking, laundry etc. While you may be busy with the office and the kids, they are the ones who provide a helping hand at home. However, with age, it may get difficult for them to take care of their own needs. Since their health is your top priority, let’s look at things that you could do, to make their lives comfortable during their last few years.

Discuss with family :

In case you have siblings or close relatives, you need to first decide where the parents wish to stay. If they wish to stay at their own home or move closer to you or to your sibling’s home. You could possibly look for an apartment that houses more retired people so that your parents have company. You also need to monitor their health to find out if they can possibly live alone, for instance, their eating habits, hygiene, memory loss problems or forgetfulness. Accordingly, you could arrange for some assistance.

Living options for the elderly :

In case you have elderly parents who are no longer capable of living alone and need 24×7 elder care services they can have their own apartments with assistance for housekeeping, food, and medicines. There are nursing homes also for aged people with trained nurses. However, these options can prove very costly. There are some home care services that help in the daily activities such as bathing, dressing, preparing meals etc. You also have options like health care and therapeutic services which are for few hours.

Deciding on the caregiver :

Caregiving can be very exhausting task, especially when your parents are involved and it can take a toll on your physical and mental health. You need to be very strong to be able to see them in this condition and even help them with various daily care facilities. If you have siblings or relatives than it is advisable to share some of your responsibilities with them so that the entire load doesn’t come on you alone. You can mutually decide if your relative or sibling is ready to take the responsibility of the caregiver. Before deciding it is important to have the consent of your parents.

Financial support :

Your parent’s illness may force you to hire a full-time nurse at your home for emergency care. You may even have to go for a home renovation to accommodate their needs and make everything easily accessible to them so that they don’t have to climb stairs, bend for accessing kitchen cabinets etc. hair loss treatment It is advisable to have a family fund that can take care of these expenses so that the caregiver doesn’t feel burdened alone and there is no ill feeling with the other family members.

Your parent’s assets, savings, and insurance :

This is also an important discussion when your aged parents are involved. Since you have to slowly take control of their expenses, it is necessary to know about their income, savings, and investments. Become a joint member of their bank accounts or investment accounts so that it is easy to make timely payments. Also check if they have sufficient insurance to cover them.

It might seem difficult for you to manage everything mentioned above. But you have to be strong and do it all with a smile. After all, you don’t want your parents to feel the pressure. You have to not just look at their physical well-being but also their emotional well-being. Being strong and supportive of each other will ease the challenges for you and your parents.

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