One of the essential steps in aging is to decide how you want to age. Growing old gracefully is one thing. Knowing where and how you want to do that aging is important. A thorough care plan is important for families.
What is a care plan? It’s a plan for how one wants to age and be cared for if it becomes hard to care for oneself. If your mom had a stroke and couldn’t use the left side of her body, would she want to move to assisted living or stay in her home? For most seniors, aging at home is important. By asking your mom a few questions, you’ll know her goals and wishes as she gets older.
How Safe Is Her Home?
Your mom loves her home, but is it as safe as it could be? Does she have enough light fixtures to avoid having shadowy areas in her halls, entryways, and staircases? Is her home cluttered or tidy? If it’s older, are there any safety issues that pose a risk?
Your mom can age at home, but it has to be safe for her to do so. If her basement gets humid in hot weather and she’s prone to mildew allergies, her home may exacerbate her allergies. Issues like that need to be corrected.
Are Legal Protections in Place?
When aging at home, your mom needs to have legal protections in place. If something happens and she can’t make her wishes known, who would she want to serve as her agent for medical and financial decisions?
She needs to designate those people through powers of attorney documents. She might want the same person in charge of following her wishes. She might want you to handle her medical decisions and your brother to handle her finances. Get these POA forms completed to ensure she’s protected.
Who Would She Want Caring for Her?
The time comes that your mom needs help with meals, transportation, housekeeping, and other daily activities. Who is she comfortable with? She needs to be comfortable with her caregiver.
Does she like the idea of having a caregiver from a senior care agency or does she want one of her adult children to help out? Would it embarrass her to have her son helping her with bathing?
If she prefers to have family members, do people have the time it would take? If you work eight-hour shifts all week, you may not have enough hours to also help her each day. You’d need to split up tasks with other family members or a professional caregiver.
Senior care is the right way to ensure your mom’s needs are met. If it’s hard for her, arrange to help her. Remember that it doesn’t have to be you doing everything for her.
Family caregivers often balance full-time jobs and family obligations. These increasing responsibilities can lead to burnout. Don’t struggle to do it all. Call a senior care agency.
If you or an aging loved-one are considering senior care in Greenwood Village, CO, please contact the caring staff at SYNERGY HomeCare today. Call us at (303) 756-9322.
