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Activities of daily living
Activities of daily living, abbreviated as (ADLs). This will include some of the very basic tasks that you provide on a daily basis either in a home or in a community. Overseeing this can cause you to stress because you can’t be in 2 places at one time: taking care of your business and taking care of your loved one. Look into hiring some help. This will give you the opportunity to get some rest and also make sure your loved one is properly cared for.
Or maybe you want to spend more time with your loved one while taking a break from some of the redundant business tasks like sending out emails, returning calls, or organizing files. Let’s chat about how I can be of service to you so you can take care of your business and your loved one.
What are the activities of daily living
Activities of daily living, are those routine activities that people carry out every day without any help. Some of the most common and basic tasks of daily living are below:
- Personal hygiene- includes brushing, bathing, nail care as well as grooming.
- Getting dressed – To put on the clothes and undress a loved one.
- Using the washroom – Using the washroom, cleaning up oneself and bathing.
- Eating: Eating independently
- Mobility – This includes, walking, climbing stairs, shopping, moving around the house, getting in and out of the bed, getting up after seated for a long duration.
Understanding the basics of Activities of Daily living
Understanding the various types of activities of daily living is important. This is because it helps you understand, the ability of your aging loved one to carry out the routine tasks with or without help. The ability to help and the type of help required by your loved one would decide the type of care they would need to lead their life. Let us now understand the difficulties faced by our elderly while carrying out the tasks of daily living.
- Personal hygiene – Simple activities such as brushing, grooming, bathing may become a difficult task for your elderly.
- Getting dressed – This task may sound simple. But this becomes a difficult activity for your loved one who cannot put on their clothes as well as undress themselves.
- Using the washroom – Using the washroom and the capability to clean up becomes a difficult task for most seniors. The ability to get off the bed on time to use the washroom also becomes a major issue.
- Eating: Eating without spilling food and without creating a mess, becomes a difficult task for our loved one. The ability to properly feed oneself, in itself becomes a huge accomplishment, leave alone cooking food.
- Mobility – Mobility becomes a challenge for our loved ones. This is due to the various chronic ailments or physical incapacities. Moving around or getting up can become a bit tricky for our loved ones.
The tasks of basic activities of daily living may sound very simple for any person who is fit and healthy. However, these simple day to day activities may become challenging for our seniors who are not physically fit or are suffering from chronic diseases. In such cases, helping them with these basic activities becomes the primary job of the family caregiver.
Difficulty to be in two places at once
In a busy world, and for most of us, it is getting increasingly difficult to take care of our aging parents along with the daily busy schedule of our work. As a result, our parents often feel neglected and do not get the care they need. Many times, this can become a potential reason for stress at work, due to failure or delay in meeting the deadlines. Lack of attention can cause loss or failures in business or other ventures.
There is always a solution to every problem, and I too have a very good and effective way to deal with this. You can be productive at work and also take very good care of your parents. By doing this, you can carry on with your work, business meetings, and so on. But at the same time, you are also at peace, as there is a help to alleviate your business duties.
To sum up, the job of caregiving, as always, can become an extra task for the family member, who may already be busy with various other priorities. The task can get even more challenging if the family caregiver is busy managing their business or other jobs. In such cases, it becomes very important for the caregiver to seek help from caregiving experts.
Who can help you manage it all
This is a question that probably haunts you every day. your loved ones are alone at home when you away to attend an important meeting or travel for days for some business purpose. Most often, we think that there is no one better than us, who can care for our parents and this kind of mindset often prevents us from taking help from others. However, if we need to focus on our core activities, then hiring a virtual assistant is essential.
Hiring Help
Either you think of seeking help with your business-related tasks, such as administrative duties and other tasks. It can be difficult to attend to your loved one activities of living, but it’s not impossible. With the right knowledge, you can do this. Don’t forget about taking care of yourself and keeping your business going while you are caregiving. I’m here to assist you on this journey. Schedule your planning session with me so we can look at how to keep your life and your business running smoothly. I have several years of experience and hands-on expertise in caregiving, and I can make things work for you in the right way.
Conclusion
Caring for your loved one while running your business can be overwhelming. I ran a home health agency for twenty-five years with twenty-six employees. And I love to help things run smoothly on both accounts. For exact help with activities of daily living, check out compassionate care 101.
