Taking care of the elderly is a huge responsibility. As a caregiver, it’s your job to ensure their best health and this requires careful planning and consideration and learning the costs of medicare. You need to prepare ahead in order to thrive in any situation in front of you. Elderly care isn’t just about looking after your loved one. It’s about looking after yourself too.
Here we’ll be discussing a few practical tips that will help you learn how to make caring for the elderly a smoother, more rewarding experience. Head over to Oxa Care to find out more about aged care.
Be informed
The first thing you should do is to get up to speed on elderly care from places like Homestyle Aged Care. The more information you absorb, the better prepared you’ll be for the challenges ahead. This means researching on subjects like dementia care, home care, and elderly care in general. You’ll find plenty of elderly support websites online that offer useful information on caring for the elderly.
These places are also great for connecting with other caregivers who are in the same position as you. You’ll find their stories and experiences very insightful and you can even ask them advice to help you out. Some volunteers are willing to give caregiver agencies a helping hand such as housekeeping and transportation to help lighten the load. Remember to do your own research and be informed about elderly care as much as possible to provide your loved one with the right care and support that they need.
Establish a healthy routine
When you and your loved one find your rhythm, you’ll get things done quickly and more efficiently. It’s all about establishing a healthy routine that both of you can stick to on a regular basis. This could be agreeing on what time you start and end the day, or what schedule they should take their medication along with their meals. Ideally, you want to have a checklist of tasks for the day so once you get into a groove, you can transition into the next one more smoothly.
Establishing a routine is more of a team effort than an individual one. You want your loved one to feel that they can manage their own schedule, but take each opportunity to share your concerns and suggestions if you have one. Being open with each other helps minimise disagreements which can undoubtedly impact your productivity throughout the day.
Ask for professional help
As a caregiver, you might feel a bit pressured to take on the responsibility of elderly care on your own. But you don’t have to feel this way as there are other people out there, who might work for an elderly care franchise, independent care company, or as a private carer, who are willing to lend a helping hand. For example, live-in carers can move in to your parent’s home and provide them with complete 24-hour support. This eases the burden off your shoulders knowing that someone is there to look after your loved one at any given time. If your loved one is diagnosed with dementia, qualified live-in carers can also provide Alzheimer’s care. They can take the lead on cognitive exercises, medication, or just play a supporting role if you are the one managing those aspects.
When it comes to choosing a live-in carer, you and your loved one will be offered a list of highly qualified candidates. It’s important that you work with a live-in carer that will come to feel like family so you can feel confident about them caring for your loved one.
Don’t forget to look after yourself
When you spend plenty of time looking after someone else, you tend to neglect yourself in the process. Most caregivers experience burnout due to lack of self-care and this is something you want to avoid if you’re looking to provide your loved one with the best care you can. Set health goals for yourself like getting at least 7 hours of sleep or by eating a minimum of three meals a day. Don’t forget to keep yourself hydrated and do some light physical activity to keep stress at bay.
Help for caregivers is available out there. Your general practitioner can assess your physical and mental health and advise you on how to improve your own health and lifestyle. Elderly care isn’t an easy task and you’ll require some “me” time if you’re planning to do it for the long haul. After all, there are a whole host of care companies that can fill in for the short-term. Take care of yourself first so you don’t end up getting physically and mentally drained from caring for your loved ones.
Hopefully these tips will help you be more prepared in caring for the elderly. Looking after elderly people is a big responsibility, but it’s a rewarding experience when you get to see their smiles after a long day of work. Make sure to apply these tips to make elderly care a much more manageable experience. You can also visit aginginplace.org for more information.
This post has been sponsored by High Jump Digital
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One comment
Derek Swain
October 14, 2020 at 10:43 pm
Thank you for explaining how creating a checklist can help you get into a routine in order to care for your loved one more efficiently. Now that my wife and I are required to starting attending work during the day, we would like to find a professional that can help cook meals for my grandmother so that she doesn’t get confused when we are not around. We’ll see if we can find someone that will help care for her properly.