Senior Care in Loudonville OH
Being a family caregiver for an elderly adult with Alzheimer’s disease can pose many challenges. One of the most pressing is how you can balance their need for care, support, and assistance, with their continued need for independence and autonomy. Even as your aging parent is progressing through the disease they still value the sense of being independent and having control over their life. Going through the same types of tasks that they did in their younger years of life can also help the to feel more comfortable and confident, and relieve anxiety, stress, and the potential for negative behaviors. Helping them to do this safely encourages them to live their highest quality of life as they progress through their disease.
One task that your elderly parent might remember handling when they were younger and can give them a variety of benefits is meal preparation. Not only does getting into the kitchen and preparing meals help them to maintain better nutrition and support better physical health as they age, but it also encourages a sharper mind and better memory skills. With the heat, knives, and other potential dangers of the kitchen, however, it is extremely important that you guide their tasks carefully.
Some ways that you can involve a senior with Alzheimer’s disease in meal preparation include:
- Choose recipes together. Encourage your parent to help you select the recipes that you will prepare. This supports memory skills as they think about the food that they would like to eat or what might be appropriate for a particular situation or event, such as a holiday. Ask them to come up with what they would want to prepare, or give them two or three options so that they can select the one that they want.
- Gather ingredients. Have your parent help you move around the kitchen finding the ingredients that they need for the recipe. Rather than parceling out the amount that you need of each right from the beginning, take the step of gathering these first as a form of stimulating their mind and keeping them active.
- Measure ingredients. Help your parent work their math skills and strengthen their memory by helping you to measure ingredients. Talk to them about the different implements used to measure ingredients and have them choose which would be the right one, then walk them through using that implement to get the proper measurement. Be sure to read through the recipe before you get started so you know what order to measure out the ingredients. This way there is no confusion.
- Tearing vegetables. Handing your loved one a knife might not be a good idea as you are preparing a meal, but they can still help you prepare foods like salads by tearing vegetables. Ensure that their hands are clean and then give them washed vegetables such as different types of lettuce that they can tear up and put in the salad bowl. You can also pre-cut some vegetables, such as bell peppers, and encourage your parent to break them into smaller pieces.
If you are considering hiring senior care in Loudonville, OH, 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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