How To Care For Senior Adults

At some point in your life, you may need to take care of your senior adult loved one. When that happens, you want to ensure that your senior loved one is treated with the patience, love, and respect they deserve.

While adjusting can be stressful, it’s also critical to remember that it isn’t easy for seniors to depend on you for their care. To make things easy for you, being familiar with various ways to provide the best care possible can be helpful. Some of these may include the following:

1. Encourage Active Lifestyle

A sedentary lifestyle isn’t recommended for everyone, regardless of your age. So, encourage your senior loved ones to have an active lifestyle by incorporating manageable physical activities into their daily routine.

Swimming is one of the best activities seniors can enjoy. It not only strengthens muscles but also keeps one’s heart healthy and lessens the risk of osteoporosis. To find more activities suitable for senior adults, consult the doctor. Additionally, you can look for a senior living community with active fitness centers and workout programs or fitness classes tailored to the elderly.

2. Visit Them Consistently

You should pay senior adults frequent visits. Older adults want emotional assurance and security that somebody cares about them. You’ll feel at ease knowing what they need and how they’re doing. Check their food supplies, prescriptions, meal routine, and some essential items during your visit.

3. Make Necessary Home Modifications

It’s wise to take a look around your house and evaluate what can be a safety hazard when caring for senior citizens. Other modifications can be simple fixes, while some can be more involved. And such may include the following:

• Installing raised toilets;
• Upgrading overall lighting to ensure sufficient brightness;
• Removing clutter that’s lying around;
• Plugging in some auto-sensor night lights throughout your home, especially if senior adults often wake up in the middle of the night;
• Ensuring there are non-skid strips or mats in the shower or near the bathtub;
• Making sure wires or cables are safely tucked away to avoid potential falls;
• Installing grab bars and handrails; and so on.

Aside from the above modifications, you should make other necessary changes to provide seniors with a safer home. For example, you can remove small rugs that may potentially cause stumbles. While rugs are aesthetically appealing, they may cause possible accidents like falls for seniors with canes or on walkers.

4. Provide Healthy Meals

Several meal plans cater to particular dietary needs, such as those who have heart problems or joint pain. There are some meal plan alternatives for senior adults that you may choose from. Healthy meals are the key for your senior loved ones to achieve optimum health. If you don’t know which meals are best for seniors, ask for recommendations from their dietitian or nutritionist.

5. Be Involved In Senior Medical Care

Many seniors deal with various age-related diseases and health issues. To ensure senior adults get the best care they deserve, be involved with their medical care. You can do that by talking to them and their healthcare team to understand the health conditions your senior loved ones are dealing with.

Keep an eye out for worsening or new symptoms, and ensure to seek medical attention once you notice changes in their condition. For example, if seniors are dealing with emotional problems, watch out for signs of anxiety or depression, such as sadness, loss of interest, lack of energy, and irritability.

In addition, you must check the medications of your senior loved ones. Make sure they have adequate supplies of medications. It’s essential that their prescriptions are enough and refilled when needed. If they’re taking several medications, purchasing a pill box organizer with labeled compartments is helpful.

6. Enlist Helpers As Early As Possible

Caregiving is a responsibility. It gets harder as your parents age since their needs grow proportionally as time passes. Waiting until a problem happens makes it challenging to determine what is needed, who’s best at providing it, and how often you may need help.

When deciding to enlist helpers, get your entire family involved. Whether it’s about hiring someone to clean the house or professional home health care providers, it must be a team effort.

You should involve your senior loved ones in every decision you make for them too. Ensure they’re comfortable with the choices and willing to accept help or receive treatment. So, communicate with them honestly and freely. You must ask for their input to make decisions and respect their opinions as well.

7. Encourage Senior Adults To Do Periodic Examination

Older people are often at risk for diseases, which may include osteoporosis and various types of cancer. Such illnesses require proper treatment immediately. If your senior loved ones are afraid to consult a doctor, do your best to convince them. You must accompany them, particularly if they have mobility issues.

Conclusion

Caring for senior adults isn’t an easy job. It can be overwhelming, especially if you don’t know where to start. But there’s nothing to worry about. By following the abovementioned tips, you can be sure that you’ll be able to provide your senior loved ones the best care possible. Just make sure not to do it alone and ask for professional assistance whenever necessary.