Elderly Care in Mt. Gilead OH
Being on an elderly care journey is not a one-sided situation. This relationship is not about you stepping in and taking over your parents’ lives. While you will give of your time, energy, and effort to make sure that your parents’ needs are met, it is also crucial that you respect your parents as individuals who still have their own thoughts, motivations, opinions, and desires in life. This means maintaining open lines of communication with them and having regular conversations so that you can get insight into their needs and how you can best handle them to give them the highest quality of life possible throughout their aging years.
Some of the conversations that can define your elderly care journey include:
• How is your health? You likely already know about the diagnoses that your parents have received and any ongoing medical issues that they face, but regularly asking them about their health is an important part of really understanding how they feel, how they are coping with these medical issues, and if you need to make changes to your care approach to help them better handle their care needs. This is the time when you let them tell you about any new symptoms they are having, including pain, stiffness, and memory loss, and if they feel like their medical treatments are working for them. Consider taking some notes during this conversation so that you can discuss it with your parents’ doctor later
• How is your wellbeing? While closely intertwined, health and wellbeing are two different issues and it is important that your elderly care efforts focus on both to ensure your parents enjoy a high quality of life. Talking to your parents about wellbeing should involve issues such as loneliness, isolation, ability to enjoy their home comfortably and safely, desire to participate in activities throughout the community, and issues with their mental and emotional wellbeing such as your mother wanting to feel more feminine or your father wishing that he could be more active helping around the house.
• How is your care plan working? Whether you are your parents’ primary caregiver and spend time with them every day, divide your care responsibilities with your siblings, or are a distance caregiver, it is important to check in with your parents regularly to make sure that their care approach is working for them. This should include discussing how safe and secure they feel in their home, whether they feel like they need more care or more independence, and how they are getting along with their elderly health care services provider. These discussions will help you to understand how the care efforts you and the others on your care team are putting forth are impacting your parents’ quality of life, and if there is anything you can do to improve them.
• What do you want for the future? Talking about an end of life transition is never a pleasant thing to bring up with your parents, but this is one of the most important discussions you can have with them. Having an open, honest conversation about your parents’ desires and wishes for their future, including their medical treatments, artificial life sustaining actions, resuscitation, hospice, and even final arrangements, gives all of you peace of mind that you will be able to handle this situation in the best way possible so you can continue to focus on giving them the best life through their aging years.
If you are considering hiring elderly care services near Mt. Gilead, Ohio, call the caring staff at Central Star Home Health at (419) 610-2161. Providing services for families in Mansfield, Lexington, Bellville, Mt. Gilead, Loudonville, Crestline, Galion, Shelby, Ashland, Wooster, and the surrounding areas.
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