Living With The Elderly At Home? Tips To Take Better Care Of Them
If you’re living with the elderly, you must make certain household changes to keep them safe and healthy.
While the home care market for the elderly is expected to grow to a booming $225 billion by 2024. But as for someone young and tasked with the job of taking care of their elderly parents or grandparents, what should you do?
Well, keep reading this article and find out!
Top 7 Ways To Take Better Care Of The Elderly At Home
1. Take them for checkups
One of the first things you can do to take better care of senior citizens in your household is to ensure regular trips to the doctor.
It’s needless to say that aging people mostly suffer from many health issues like arthritis, heart problems, or vision issues.
Even if the elderly person in your house seems to be in the pink of their health, you must schedule regular medical appointments for them. And while we’re at this, remember to prepare your questions and doubts for the doctor to answer.
2. Take them out
Did you know that the elderly suffer from psychological stress and issues as much as physical ones?
When they grow old, it becomes difficult for them to go out and socialize with new people, which is why so many senior citizens feel cooped up in their homes. Well, you can change that!
It’s very important to get rid of the isolation that your elderly parents or grandparents must be feeling by engaging them in activities.
Take them out every alternate day to a park, or invite some of their friends over to your place!
3. Teach them the basics of technology
Yes, it can be challenging to teach your old grandpa or grandma how to send a picture on Whatsapp or share a status on Facebook, but make sure they know how to do simple things like calling emergency numbers or calling a trusted one through speed dial.
Moreover, scam agencies and fraudsters often target elderly people since they aren’t too tech-savvy, so ask the elderly ones in your family to always stay alert and never tap unknown tabs or suspicious buttons.
4. Hire a caregiver
If you’re a working professional or you have kids of your own, it must be tough to manage everything at once. This is why it’s always a good idea to hire a professional caregiver (especially if the elderly in your house is bedridden or severely ill).
Most people often wait for a crisis to happen before they enlist the help of caretakers, but this is a huge mistake.
Instead of risking everyone’s lives, talk to your nearest caregiving center and ask someone to help with laundry, dishes, house cleaning, etc.
5. Make your house elderly-friendly
To make your house elderly-friendly, you need to make some simple changes to it.
For example, install small ramps next to the stairs so wheelchairs can easily be driven up and down. Or use natural cleaning products Australia to keep the bathroom clean so that nobody slips and falls.
Even installing grab bars in the bathroom or living room can help them to hold on to something if they lose their balance and fall.
You can also look for eco-friendly alternatives to everything that they use in their daily lives – it not just has environmental benefits but a lot of health benefits as well.
6. Go with insurance policies
Insurance policies, especially medical ones, are essential to the well-being of anybody, but more so when it comes to elderly persons.
Make sure that all the insurance policies are updated and that there’s enough money to get your family member through a tough time.
If the elderly person doesn’t have an insurance policy, you must make one for them. It’s also advisable to hire the help of a professional insurance service provider who can choose the best plan for the aging person involved.
7. Keep them in the loop
In many households, youngsters often make decisions regarding the elderly person’s caregiving without consulting them first.
The person may be doing it out of kindness, but it often makes the aged feel isolated and unimportant. So make it a point to keep your parents or grandparents in the loop.
Make them understand why you’re taking them to the doctor every month, or they need to be extra careful while walking around in the house. Communicate openly and honestly.
Over to you…
These are just a few basic tips to help you and your elderly family members stay as safe as possible.
However, when taking care of elderly people, don’t forget to take care of yourself.
Remember when the air hostess asks you to put on your oxygen mask before helping others? Well, this statement goes much beyond simple airline instructions!
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