What are the two most important things to remember when caring for aging parents?

Love and respect. 

Love your parents enough to have conversations regarding what they want and need as they age.  Respect them enough to include their wishes in any plan you come up with.

With love and respect, your primary goals are to help your parents maintain good health, the highest level of independence, and dignity for as long as possible.

Begin by making a health maintenance plan.  Put all the information about doctors, diagnoses, treatments, and operations in one place.  Start by assessing the needs of your parents and take a good look at the big picture, knowing that their needs will change over time.  Talk to a professional when you can.  Review it all together.

Extra care for your parents may mean something as simple as rides to doctor’s appointments, or help on shopping trips, or running errands.  It could be a phone call to remind them to take their meds.

As they age, your parents may perhaps need you or someone to help them a couple of hours a week at first to keep things organized or neat and tidy.  They may need help preparing nutritious meals.  That may go on to a couple of hours a day.  And may eventually progress to 24 hours a day, seven days a week. 

And if your parents don’t know what they want, put yourself in their place and help figure it out from their point of view. 

Help your parents maintain their dignity as much as you can.  Sometimes continuing to live at home is the best option.  Other times, living in a well-chosen assisted living facility is the better answer. 

The actress Debbie Reynolds was recently interviewed about caring for her aging parents (www.caregivers.com).  Because there weren’t as many methods to combat incontinence then as there are now, she had to put her parents in diapers and her father would only her to change them which made it very hard to care for him.  Finally, when he had to be put in a nursing home he agreed to a male nurse and so was able to tolerate it.

Put into play those things that make living enjoyable.  Preparing special meals, trips to visit friends and relatives, rides into the country. 

And don’t forget that so often just being a presence is comforting.

Norma Nixon Schofield

nschofield@abc-seniors.com

As always, Always Best Care is here to help, offering a 'bigger picture' philosophy, ABC's reputation is built on providing one of the highest levels of individualized and customized care in today's market. Besides regular in-home care, we are able to supplement the temporary needs of people wherever they find themselves needing help.  For the full story visit our site at: www.alwaysbestcarewesternct.com or call us at (203) 262 6170.