Things You'll Need:
- Love and Patience
- Ability to learn new skills
- Flexibility
- Willingness to ask for assistance
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Step 1
Tough economic times mean that lots of people will wind up providing daily care for elderly relatives at home rather than visiting them in expensive facilities.
With a bit of preparation and a lot of love/patience, you CAN safely provide care for elderly relatives and preserve your sanity.
The first important step is consulting your elderly relative's doctor or other health care professional. You will need to do this with your relative (or at least with your relative's written permission.)
Be sure to get a list of current medications (including when they should be administered and any food/drink that should not be consumed at the same time.) Are there specific exercises your elderly relative is supposed to be doing? Is he/she prone to falling? Is he/she able to perform daily tasks like bathing and dressing without assistance. Any dietary restrictions?
If mobility is severely restricted, will Medicare provide a walker or wheelchair? How about a hospital bed? -
Step 2
It goes without saying that you need to provide a SAFE environment for your elderly relative. That might mean something as simple as adding grab bars in the bathroom or something as complex as having to replace a slippery type of tile on the floors.
While it may be a challenge to find room in your home for an elderly relative, do your best to find space for their favorite chair or desk that is full of priceless memories for them. Be sure to display favorite family photos too.
A small TV with a set of wireless earphones will allow your elderly relative to crank up the volume without bothering other members of the family. -
Step 3
Is your elderly relative coming to your home directly from the hospital? If so, Medicare may provide short-term home nursing visits, physical therapy, and bathing assistance.
Make sure to take full advantage of the opportunity to learn from the professionals.
Observe how they assist your elderly relative in safely transferring from bed to wheelchair. Ask questions to be sure you understand how to avoid injuring yourself while assisting your elderly relative.
What kind of exercises is the therapist doing? What kind of follow up should you do when the Medicare funded therapy is over? -
Step 4
Take a page out of professional home health care workers' routine by setting up a loose leaf binder for your elderly relative.
The first and most important item is a constantly updated list of medications (including dosage, time administered, and any special instructions about how the medication should be administered.) An example of special instructions might be a large vitamin tablet that should be crushed and mixed with pudding for easy swallowing. Another example might be a medication that requires a caregiver to take blood pressure first. If it's lower than a certain number, medication should be withheld.
This list is the first thing paramedics will ask for in a medical emergency. It will also allow a substitute caregiver to take over if you're not available.
The notebook should also include your elderly relatives living will, health care directive, written permission for you to discuss your elderly relative's benefits with Medicare and/or a supplementary insurance provider, etc.
Develop a daily schedule with the understanding that flexibility is the key to survival. If your elderly relative refuses to bathe in the morning, suggest doing the afternoon exercises instead.
In addition to exercises to keep the body in shape, don't forget activities to keep the mind sharp. Does your relative enjoy word puzzles or games? Instead of the standard what day and date is it and who's president method of testing cognitive abilities, how could you creatively make sure your elderly relative is alert and well oriented? You might consider a dry erase board that shows the day and date with a personal tag to jog their memory (like today is January 13th, Uncle Bob's birthday.) -
Step 5
Making sure your elderly relative gets sufficient calories and nutrition can be a challenge. Assuming that you've ruled out difficulty chewing and or swallowing and creatively used herbs/spices to tempt diminished taste buds, the problem may just be trying to feed too much at one time.
A strategy that often works well is serving three smaller meals a day and supplementing them with three healthy snacks.
Here's an example of how that might work:
Breakfast:
Oatmeal with brown sugar and milk
Coffee or tea
Midmorning snack:
Yogurt and fresh fruit parfait or a milkshake made by combining a nutritional supplement drink with a scoop of ice cream
Lunch:
Vegetable soup and crackers
Juice
Mid-afternoon snack:
Half a turkey sandwich
Beverage
Dinner:
Small portion of what the rest of the family is eating
Evening snack:
Cheese and crackers
