How To Plan Elderly Care For Your Ageing Parents
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When your parents start to age, that’s the time when the care is reversed. After all these years that your parents have been taking care of you, it’s now time for you to give them back that care too. In doing so, you can give them the best last years in their lives when they’re supposed to relax and enjoy that sunset season.
Whatever your chosen plan for them will be, the most important thing here is you give them what’s best for them and what’s best for the entire family. There’s no universal approach to this, as you’ll have to factor in each of your unique situations. The point is to give your ageing parents all the love and attention that they very much still need from you.
That said, here are some tips on how you can effectively plan your ageing parents’ elderly care.
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Assess What Your Parents Need
If your ageing parents still haven’t lost their mental faculties, you should sit down with them in this process and ask them what they need. A proper assessment can help ensure that you’re giving your parents that care which they truly need, and not just something that you think they need. It’ll also make the process less overwhelming for you when you know where to start by taking in their inputs.
Think about the key areas that your ageing parent may need the most support with such as:
- Social interaction;
- Family support;
- Meal preparation;
- Home safety;
- Personal hygiene, mobility, and medical needs.
Make this list as comprehensive as possible, and list everything from the moment they wake up until they go to bed. Doing so will give you a clearer picture as to the extent of care that your parents need.
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Be Realistic About The Care You Can Provide
Now, here comes the hard part. Surely, you’ll want to give 100%, 24/7 attention to your parents. But, while this may be what you want, it’s not always that possible. If you’ve got a full-time job, with kids, and live in a place where having household help isn’t affordable and isn’t the norm, then you know there’s just a lot on your hands. If your parents need special medical care, then you know you just can’t give them that yourself.
Remember that you shouldn’t feel guilty about having to send your parents to the nursing home or an assisted living facility like Family First Home Care, a top-rated home care agency. If this is what’s best for everyone, then you can still show much of your love even when they’re in these facilities. Plus, there are many top-notch facilities now where you can be sure your parents are in good hands.
Just be sure what you’re deciding on is something that you can also provide, so that no other duty in your life suffers.
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Understand The Financial Situation
If your parents are retired and may not have enough financially to provide themselves with the best care for them, then you and your siblings may need to step up. You can split up the cost of your ageing parents’ care, just so you’re sure you’re not skimping on what they need and what they deserve.
It’s very important to be transparent in the discussion on the finances given that it’s expensive to care for ageing parents. There’s the caregiver you have to pay for, the nursing home, the medicines, and the list goes on.
Sitting down and talking about the budget with your siblings can ensure that you’re prepared for all of the future costs that will come along.
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Involve The Entire Family In The Planning Process
Taking care of your ageing parents isn’t just a decision that you can make for yourself, together with your parents. This is one you’ll have to sit down on with your entire family, so all of your siblings are involved. It’s best to have everyone’s opinion about what’s best for your parents, rather than have one doing all the decision-making.
The more that you get your siblings involved, the happier your parents also become. It’s not all the time that siblings stay as close and united when they get older. When your parents see that you can all set aside their time and even differences to unite for your parents, that alone can uplift their health and make them feel so much happier.
Conclusion
As you can see, there isn’t one single way to go about giving your parents the care they need and deserve. There are many ways for you to give your parents that love, during this season in their lives. While your parents may seem invincible to you, they’re not always going to be that strong. One day, there’ll come a time when they’ll need you. However you show your parents that, what’s most important is you’ve given them all the love in the world – during these last few years of their lives.
Image: AdobeStock
