The first thing as a caregiver that you should know about senior day care is: do not feel guilty. It is important to take breaks from your caregiver duties and not everybody has multiple siblings to help aid them in caring for an aging loved one. That is where senior or aging day care can help and is becoming a more common trend in 2022.
What Is Senior or Adult Day Care?
A simple explanation of adult day care is a set of activities created for aging loved ones that require professional care situations while conducting those activities. The range of these activities can be broad and vary from what they focus on. There are typically three main areas that senior day care will focus on:
- Recreation: Typically, these activities will focus around a sport or hobby that is shared between the participating aging adults. You can think of it like afternoon chess tournaments or even something more physical like Pickleball.
- Personal Maintenance: We have seen this offering of adult day care become more popular in recent years with many wanting to keep their hair, nails, and other personal care upkeep.
- Medical or Therapy: This kind of adult day care will likely be much more specialized and require specialized staff to help run the day care. It can include items like knee rehab after a surgery for your aging loved one.
Elderly Day Care Requirements
It is hard to nail down precisely what requirements your loved one will need to meet to qualify for adult day care based on the type, location, and staff at the day care. If your loved one is fairly self-sufficient than it is likely that they will qualify for most day care options.
If your loved one is suffering from a memory-related illness or requiring a rehabilitation form of day care than you will likely have to meet with the director of the day care facility. They can walk you through the physical and mental requirements needed to participate in the aging day care programs.
Is There Day Care for Seniors Suffering from Dementia?
A lack of socialization or increased loneliness has shown signs that it can actually progress memory-related illnesses at a faster rate. There are locations throughout the state of Texas that offer day care programs for those suffering from dementia and other memory-related illnesses.
These specialized day care facilities for dementia patients will be trained in how to handle behavioral outbursts common with those suffering from dementia. They will offer a variety of options that can range from music to art for your loved one. If you are having challenges with your dementia suffering loved one or challenges with their care between family members you might look into counseling. There are several adult day care options that will give families counseling around care duties, expectations, and how to handle outbursts.
What Are the Care Programs Offered by Senior Day Care?
Each facility is different from the next one when it comes to the adult day care programs offered. Here are just a few you might be able to expect:
- Socialized Meals: Might range from a dinner social to standard meals.
- Sports: Will depend on physical capabilities of your loved one but could have a wide range of sports your aging loved one can participate in.
- Haircuts and Styling: We all have to stay looking our best which is why many aging day care programs offer personal care programs.
- Games: Sudoku, Bones (or Dominoes), Old Maid, or other board game tournaments.
- Music: Can often include bringing in a professional piano player to lead the participants in a sing-a-long to the tunes of their adolescent years.
- Nutritional Classes: A challenge for elderly people can be around proper food and nutrition. Adult day care programs can offer training around food preparation or grocery lists.
- Movie Night: A fun program when you find a movie that is being shown that your elderly loved one has a fondness for.
In Conclusion
You need to remember that aging or adult day care has dual benefits for both your loved one and you as the caregiver. You might receive some pushback from them initially but getting them started will likely overcome that hurdle. It will help maintain your mental health and theirs too.
