One of the most daunting inevitabilities that life hands you is having to take care of one or both of your aging parents. If your parents are blessed to live long enough, then a time will come when they’ll need you to care for them as they did for you. As the old saying goes, Once an adult, twice a child.
The most important decision you will have to make for your parents is where they will live. There’s nothing simple about deciding what kind of senior care is the best fit for your parents, but here are some tips to help you.
Approach The Situation Delicately
If you think that taking care of your parents is a hard role reversal for you to get used to, then imagine what it’s like for your parents. They’re used to being there for you, from making your decisions for you when you were a child to advising on them as you matured.
Counseling is a great way to help your aging parent to cope with the disappointment of not being able to care for themselves. Therapy for aging adults hasn’t gained as much momentum as other forms, but if you search diligently, you’ll find the right therapist.
Sites like withtherapy.com use artificial intelligence to help you find a therapist that best suits your parent’s needs. They use algorithms that pair therapists and clients using factors like age, ideas about therapy, and location.
Don’t dismiss the impact that talk therapy could have on your parents. Sometimes talking to the right professional is enough to improve someone’s entire outlook on life.
Get Paperwork Settled
Elderly parents with dementia can’t manage their personal affairs for themselves. They’re prone to forget to pay bills, mismanage their meds, and misplace important information.
If this happens to be the case for your parents, then you need to make a plan to manage their affairs. An attorney like Howard Fensterman can help you and your parents with estate planning and power of attorney issues.
No one looks forward to the day that they have to manage their parents’ legal affairs, but you must prepare for it. It’s the only way to make sure their wishes are respected and their affairs properly taken care of.
Determine What Level Of Service Your Parent Needs
Before you determine what type of care is best for your parents, you have to figure out what type of assistance they need. Is your aging parent only suffering from mobility problems, or does he or she also suffer from dementia? Is your parent’s health fine but he or she needs help with some daily home maintenance tasks? These are the questions to ask yourself before deciding what level of service is the ideal fit for your aging parent.
If your elderly parent is in good health and can still take care of him or herself, then an independent home is a good fit. These facilities offer to handle many daily home-maintenance tasks, but they may charge for those services. Independent living facilities offer everything from housekeeping to lawn mowing, so it’s important to know what your parents can and can’t do.
Know What To Look For
When you are looking for housing for your aging parent, your paramount concern is their safety. Much light has been shed on the inhumane conditions and even abuse endured by seniors at facilities across America. Finding the right place for your mom or dad means finding a place where they’ll be respected and handled with kid gloves. On the bright side, the New York metro area has plenty of facilities to choose from.
Care facilities like Summer Hill, a nursing and rehabilitation center in Old Bridge, NJ help their patients adapt to the aging process. They offer physical, occupational, and speech therapy as well as activities for enrichment and entertainment.
Listen To Their Needs
When you do find the right facility for your parents, you need to make sure that you monitor the situation closely. Listen to what your parents say about how they are being treated and do all you can to make sure they’re comfortable.
