Taking Care Of Elderly Parent With Dementia – You or your loved ones may be part of the baby boomer generation, which is moving from older adulthood to seniors and retirees. Meanwhile, a number of studies have shown that adults’ expectations of aging (ERA) can affect overall health and mortality rates.
Your expectations may be about the aging process and what “aging well” means. Depending on your lifestyle choices, activity level, and positive or negative thinking, you may have better or worse outcomes as you age.
Taking Care Of Elderly Parent With Dementia
Not surprisingly, aging adults who understand how behavior and attitude can affect outcomes are more likely to take advantage of the senior living services and resources available to them. These tools can help keep your parents active and engaged – bringing sustainable, long-term health benefits.
How To Convince Your Loved One To Seek Help For Dementia
If you find yourself looking after your parents while you still have children at home, you may be part of the sandwich generation. This is a difficult and overwhelming place to be in and that is why we are here to support you during your parents’ aging process.
Our aim is to help you keep your parents healthy, safe, active and independent for as long as possible for the rest of their lives. This checklist for caring for aging parents will guide you as you work through the transition into the later stages of your parents’ “golden years”.
There is no time to create a sustainable senior plan when you are in a crisis. Waiting until you need to implement the plan is a recipe for emotional chaos and stress. The key is to discuss the long-term care plans early on — and review them as necessary along the way.
We recommend reading 10 Signs Your Parents Need Help to Live Safely at Home and passing it on to other family members.
Steps To Take When Aging Parents Need Help
These guidelines may help you spot “red flags” that indicate it’s time to move forward with your advanced care plan. There may already be some red flags present. If not, you can get ideas on what to look out for as time goes on.
Try to get a clear understanding of your aging parents’ current and future financial situation. Financial Planning for Older Parents is a great place to start.
Nutrition is key to healthy ageing. Having nutritious meals, easy heat, and snacks on hand makes a huge difference in overall energy levels and health.
Like nutrition, exercise and regular activity are another foundation for healthy ageing. Caring for elderly parents includes encouraging them to continue walking, swimming, taking exercise classes specific to older people, and so on to maintain their strength, stamina and balance.
Elderly Parents Want Constant Attention
The combination of eating healthy foods and exercise has been proven to prevent cognitive decline and slow the progression of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
If your parents are not as mobile as they once were, make sure they have the necessary adaptations to remain active, including:
An important part of your aging parent’s checklist is assessing their ability to transport themselves. At some point, most older people need to adjust their driving (for example, only during daylight hours and good weather) or many have to turn their keys in altogether.
This is a critical point in the aging process because social and community engagement is essential to emotional and mental well-being. Based on a joint effort by The Hartford and MIT Age Lab, AARP created this free online Webinar: We Need to Talk, on how to assess and discuss advanced driving ability.
Coping With The Challenges Of Adult Children Taking Care Of Aging Parents
Like meal services, there are a variety of advanced delivery services available that can be set up from time to time. Over time, these services can be used more regularly to ensure that your parents:
If you notice that your parents are experiencing negative symptoms or in a pessimistic state of mind, sometimes it may be because of their medication (or forgetting to take their medication). To prevent these potential problems:
Your checklist for caring for your aging parents should include scheduling assessments with licensed home care agencies and/or visiting senior care communities in your area. The benefits of doing this early include:
It’s helpful for adult children to have an aging parent checklist ready in advance so that when the time comes to explore the ways you can help your parents live safely and comfortably, you you are already ahead.
Getting Paid To Take Care Of Elderly Parents
If you still feel unsure about where to start on your journey as a support person, we recommend looking at your parent’s home first.
After all, most older people want to continue living at home for as long as possible. Click below to learn some easy ways you can improve the safety of your aging parent’s home! Dementia is a progressive disease, which means it will get worse over time. For some people, dementia progresses quickly. For others, it takes years to reach an advanced stage. One of the biggest challenges for family carers of older adults with dementia is not knowing what is going to happen next.
In the mild stages, your loved one may be able to carry out their daily routines without difficulty. By the moderate stages, they may start to have trouble doing normal tasks that they always did. In the severe stages, however, they will need help with day-to-day activities.
As people with dementia progress through these stages at different speeds and with different symptoms, it is helpful to focus on helping your loved one live well with dementia and meeting their needs at that time.
How Can Children Help Taking Care Of Seniors At Home?
Dementia is not just about memory loss, such as forgetting someone’s name or where you parked. Although memory decline is a common symptom of dementia, there are other symptoms that affect a person’s ability to carry out everyday activities independently.
Other common symptoms include reduced motivation and lack of initiative, changes in language and communication skills, and changes in mood such as depression and/or anxiety. These changes can be one of the most distressing aspects of caring for someone with dementia.
Although it can be difficult to understand why people with dementia behave the way they do, the explanation can be attributed to their disease and the changes it causes in the brain. It is important to familiarize yourself with some of the common situations that arise when someone has dementia so that you know how to respond calmly and effectively.
For more information on what you can expect as a family carer for a loved one with dementia, download our e-book “When is the Right Time for Memory Care?”, a guide for family carers on how to know when is the right time to consider moving an elderly parent or loved one into a memory care community.
I Want To Go Home’
Receive relevant information, moving resident stories and helpful tips direct to your email inbox. All you have to do is subscribe to our “Family Connections” VIP newsletter. It’s FREE and you can unsubscribe at any time.
Learn more about our signature Memory Care program to determine how well it will fit your loved one’s situation. Simply fill in the fields below to access the PDF.
Have you decided that assisted living is the best option for your elderly parent, and now feel overwhelmed on how to start looking for the right community?
Are you considering assisted living for yourself or a loved one but hesitant about the cost? The costs of assisted living, services and amenities vary greatly among the latter and most expensive communities, and costs are higher in some states than others.
Memory Care Archives
This guide will answer questions you may have about supported living expenses and recommend resources to help you pay for it.
This guide will give you useful tips and insight into how to have a productive conversation with your parent and siblings about your parenting future.
Difficult behaviors among older adults are very common. They can be an expression of frustration that your loved one is feeling or a symptom of the early stages of dementia or Alzheimer’s.
This guide will provide you with skills and information on how to handle difficult behaviors that your aging parent may be experiencing.
What I’ve Learned About The Financial Toll Of Taking Care Of Aging Relatives
How can you help? In this guide, you will get answers to the difficult questions you may have about depression.
Has your aging parent recently lost interest in activities they used to enjoy? Have you noticed a change in their mood and behaviour?
This guide will provide you with resources and tools on how to recognize depression, what are the common causes of depression, and how to promote mental health in your aging loved one.
Does your loved one need more support than what they are getting? Would they benefit from some help with daily activities?
Caring For Aging Parents
What qualities in a community should you look for? How do you know you’ve made the right decision?
Has your father stopped getting together for lunch or outings with friends or visits with neighbours? Have you stopped enjoying time with your parents because you are a carer?
Choosing an assisted living community is a big decision. Learn how to find the right one for you and your loved one.
No one ever plans to be sick or disabled, and disasters, man-made or natural, can happen anytime, anywhere.
How To Ask Family For Help When Caring For Your Elderly Parent
Yet older adults are among the most vulnerable during a crisis. That is why it is essential that older people, and those who care for them, prepare for emergencies.
This guide provides tips and ideas on downsizing, what to pack and how to make the transition smooth
How to take care of an elderly parent with dementia, benefits for taking care of elderly parent, taking care of elderly with dementia, elderly parent with dementia, payment for taking care of elderly parent, tired of taking care of elderly parent, help taking care of elderly parent, taking care of elderly parents with dementia, compensation for taking care of elderly parent, taking care of elderly parent, taking care of a parent with dementia, grants for taking care of elderly parent