Your aging loved one has been able to always take care of themselves. From personal hygiene to yardwork, they have always been self-sufficient. However, lately it seems, your loved one has started to slide on some of those things and rely on you or your siblings to help out with more duties. You might find their house is cluttered or they’ve not been keeping up with regular showers unless prompted to do so by you.
These realizations can be difficult but could be signs that it is time to start looking at finding in-home care for your elderly loved one. At Senior Living Specialists, we know the difficulty around that process and can help you find the right type of care as a completely free service. It is important to know a few things to keep in mind even when you seek experienced help like ours though which we wanted to share in order to make the process even easier.
1. Get honest feedback from their doctors and specialists.
There are fewer people that likely have greater insight into the current and future medical needs that your aging loved one might have. Speak to them about what they believe should be taken into account when looking at in-home care and the different services offered. If they have identified some memory-related illnesses like dementia or Alzheimer’s, they might let you know rough timelines on when you can expect your loved one will need to move to a memory care facility.
2. Weigh the benefits between home care agencies versus independent caregivers.
You will need to decide whether you want to go with an independent caregiver or approach an agency. Agencies are licensed businesses that employ the different caregivers and handle all of the scheduling to assist your loved one. Private caregivers are employed directly by you. That means you handle their payments and are also responsible for checking up on whether they are handling all of their duties. Typically, agencies will be more expensive than independent caregivers which can be a fact that isn’t always weighed against having to be your own employer if you hire a private caregiver. Weigh those benefits along with having to do background research into the caregiver before you decide which route you want to go.
3. Make sure the caregiver is the right match for your aging loved one.
Whether you decide agency or independent caregiver, you will want to sit down with the person that is going to be interacting with you elderly loved one on a regular basis. You can inform them of personality traits, habits, diet, and medication to see if they have any issues with their duties. You will also want to make sure that they will be able to get along with your parent to avoid any potential conflicts or confusion.
It will take some time for you and especially your elderly parent to develop a trust and bond with the caregiver. Give it some time and keep open communication lines to make sure that all parties are happy. We have seen some caregivers become very close aging loved ones and provide a level of companionship that can help mentally along with their physical duties too.
