Caregiving need is on the rise for our loved ones
It is important to realize, with nuclear families on the rise and children moving out to find work or school. Our aging loved ones are left alone at home to fend for themselves. Point often overlooked, living alone without any help is not an easy task and is accompanied with various risk factors. This is because, as we age, the chances of sudden falls, injuries, accidents, and illnesses increase.
Our loved ones in denial
In spite of this, our aging loved ones often deny that there is any problem with them and that they can manage all by themselves. At the same time, who wants to lose their independence of doing their routine tasks without help. But, after a certain age carrying out daily tasks seem to get more and more difficult with each passing day, indicating the need for “help” for our loved ones.
Aging is inevitable for our loved ones
It is important to realize, aging is an inevitable and natural process. And the most compelling evidence is, it is in this phase of life that our loved ones need help the most. However, many of us fail to recognize those signs that show our necessity for proper care. It is important for us to understand, that as we age, our physical capability and mental faculties undergo a decline. Finally, this is when the need for help almost becomes inevitable for our loved ones.
Assistance with daily living
To put it differently, from running errands to attending doctor’s appointments, bill payments to monthly groceries which we did in our younger years with ease, will now require help. For this reason, learning to recognize the early signs that indicate our loved ones need assistance can go a long way in preventing major health concerns and can also prevent our loved ones from accidents. For this reason, hiring a caregiver, or asking our children to help us with our daily chores would be a good idea.
Signs that indicate our loved ones need caregiving
In the first place, our physical capabilities and mental faculties take a back step when we age. In addition, the following is a checklist of some of the common signs that indicate it’s the time our loved ones need care and assistance with our daily activities.
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Getting forgetful and feel lost
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Forgetting appointments and miss taking medications
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Become forgetful and tend to misplace things
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Miss out on important dates and events
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Beginning to trust people we don’t know and sometimes even end up paying them money
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Getting confused and struggle with monthly bills
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Unable to handle both household chores and your social life
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Become depressed easily
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Begin to stay sad and avoid meeting people
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Nothing in life seems to interest you any longer
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Avoid activities that you previously enjoyed
Notes for caregivers
In addition to the above-mentioned signs. There are certain physical as well as medical changes experienced by our loved ones. These signs include:
- Feeling lethargy and the need for more sleep
- Frequent falls
- Difficulty in doing personal chores
- Unable to take proper care of oneself
- A change in eating habits
- Difficulty in eating and dressing up independently
- Experiencing difficulty in cleaning the house single-handedly
- Requiring daily or weekly medical assistance in the form of therapies or dialysis
- To be taken weekly for doctor’s appointments
- Medications need to be evaluated or changed
- Requiring medical equipment such as an oxygen tank
Do our aging loved ones need help or not?
As a matter of fact, it is pretty natural for children to worry about their aging loved ones. Also, the worry that stems from the fact that their loved ones have reached that phase of their life. In addition, where things are usually not the same it used to be a few years back. Not to mention, while many seniors comfortably age in their homes, there are many who face lots and lots of problems during this phase of their life. On the positive side, deciding on whether loved ones need help during old age is extremely necessary to prevent unforeseen problems from occurring. Finally, the following are various warning signs that indicate it’s time our loved ones need caregiving.
- Becoming confused while performing simple tasks for daily living
- There is unexplained sudden weight loss
- Change in dietary habits
- Poor personal hygiene
- Change in personality or behavior
- Poor memory
- Loss of balance while walking
- The house is dirty and smells of urine
- There is clutter
- Appliances such as stove are left on
- Hair is unkept and improper grooming
A point often overlooked, the major mistake many children make is that they wait for some major change to take place in order to arrange for caregivers. For this reason, taking action when any of the above-mentioned warning signs take place can help our loved ones from many major health issues. Lastly, arranging for caregivers at home itself can give our loved ones, their independence along with the help they need. Initiating timely actions can help our loved ones age gracefully.
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