What To Do When Your Parent Needs More Help Than You Can Give
As parents and grandparents age, they can start to need more help around the house than ever before. From daily, routine tasks to larger ones, you may find that your elder can't easily live their life without your help. What's a grown adult to do when they have their own responsibilities, job, and family to look after? In times like these, it may be best to hire someone to help.
In-home elder care is one possibility for people in situations like yours. It provides the opportunity to bring someone into your elder's home so that they don't feel uprooted. That's an unfortunate problem that happens to many elders whose children can no longer look after them sufficiently. Without help they could potentially get hurt or worse, so many children look to nursing facilities to take over for them.
Unfortunately, nursing facilities often leave elders feeling as though they've been ripped out of their own homes and didn't have any say in the matter. While this isn't the case, it's a feeling you'll likely want to avoid causing with your own loved one, which is why getting them care within their own home is often best.
In-home elder care can take over on just about anything that you used to do for your loved one and no longer have the time for. Mundane tasks like cleaning, helping with bathing, feeding, and dressing are all on the list of activities that caregivers can provide. They can also help with administering medication, going shopping, and bringing your loved one to medical appointments. In short, if there's something that they need, chances are that the caregiver can provide it.
Caregivers are also a great choice because they tend to be less expensive than housing your loved one in a facility. These are naturally more expensive services because you're not just paying for the around-the-clock care, but also for the space that your loved one is taking up. If they stay in their own home, there's no need for this, so the cost is naturally lessened.
Lastly, you can choose for yourself how many hours of the day and how often during the week your caregiver shows up. If you're really only in need of help on certain days or during a few hours of the day, they can fill that role and free you to do whatever it is that you need to attend to.
In-home elder care is the way to go if your loved one needs help that you can no longer reliably provide. Don't beat yourself up over it. Your loved one will be in good hands and will feel like their life is still in their control, thanks to them living in their own home.