Elderly parents, as Shakespeare rightly said, live their second childhood in the golden days, depending on caregivers for varying levels of assistance.
Naturally, they expect the same fond caring from their children that they had once extended when their wards were babies.
For grown-up kids, it may seem an added responsibility to care for parents who have diminishing mental and physical capacities due to age.
Some accept this responsibility with gratitude in their hearts while others do so begrudgingly.
But the bottom line remains that elderly parents need a varying degree of care for basic sustenance, daily chores, grooming, health and medication, transportation, money matters, and so on.
They need to be surrounded with love and care.
So how do you make sure that they get to spend the fag end of their lives comfortably? Here are some useful tips.
Understand the level of care needed
The level of care that an elderly person needs may vary from individual to individual.
It will essentially depend on the state of their health, mobility, and whether they suffer from a chronic condition or a degenerative ailment like dementia.
For medical conditions like dementia, you will have to plan for constant care, be it at home or old age care facilities.
Care at home or external facilities
Consult your spouse/partner, and of course your parents, and decide whether it would be convenient to care for them at their home or elsewhere.
The decision of whether you’d like them to move in with you or at an elderly care facility must be made after considering several factors such as your living situation, the level of care and attention your can practically offer, and whether they require any special medical care.
Equip your parents’ surroundings with the right gears
The right gears can be life-savers. Monitors and medical alerts with fall detection will alert you of an accident.
Anti-tremble utensils, anti-skid flooring, hand railings at strategic positions around the house will enhance the quality of life of your elderly parents.
Plan for an emergency
With age comes numerous health complications.
Plan for medical exigencies. Keep contact details of the geriatric physician, the nearest hospital, and professional caregivers at hand for any unforeseen situation that may arise.
Find out about financial support
Explore government-funded financial support for the care of elderly parents.
You can get more information from government websites, about the different plans available, depending upon the needs of your parents and their caring arrangements.
Take formal lessons to care for the elderly
Yes, taking up a course to learn the fundamentals of elderly care is a good idea. Explore aged care courses from NIET to help you in your journey as a caregiver.
Be empathetic
Lastly, be empathetic. It is traumatic for an independent person to suddenly become dependent on others, even if it is their children.
On top of it, the discomfort due to health complications is also undeniable.
So be kind, put yourself in their shoes, and see life as they do. It would become easier to care for them.