Use These Strategies When Dealing With A Difficult Elderly Parent
There may come a point that you need to hire a home health aide to care for your elderly parent who still lives at home. Providing the care yourself can be physically and emotionally exhausting, making it valuable to have a caregiver to lend a hand with a wide range of important tasks. Occasionally, your parent may be difficult — perhaps he or she is in the early stages of dementia and has mood swings, or perhaps he or she is simply frustrated with the aging process and lashes out. This can be difficult for the home health aide, so use these strategies to effectively deal with this situation.
Arrange Care At The Right Time
If your elderly parent doesn't need care around the clock, it's ideal to have the home health aide visit at the "right" time each day. You'll get to know when your parent is at his or her best; for example, perhaps your parent is fresh and cheery in the morning, but becomes sullen and irritable as the day progresses. In this scenario, it's best to have the home health aide visit in the morning to provide whatever care is needed. This way, the caregiver won't have to deal with the challenges of your elderly parent when he or she is acting difficult.
Visit When You Can
When you're able, it's ideal if you can visit your elderly parent's home when the caregiver is present — especially if you know that your parent has been difficult of late and may be a challenge for the home health aide. For example, if your parent has been acting slightly combative, he or she may be reluctant to take medication when the home health aide provides it. This is an issue that can be common among people as they age. When you're there to support the caregiver, you can help convince your parent to take the medication as requested.
Have An Open-Door Policy
The caregiver's ability to deal with the challenges of helping your parent may be affected if the aide is unable to share what's going on with you. Some children of elderly patients may not want to know that their parent is being difficult — and, in fact, may hire help just to avoid having to deal with the parent. You can help to avoid such a dilemma by asking the aide to share every detail about what's going on, even if things are difficult. By supporting him or her, as well as working together to develop solutions, the situation can be improved.
For information on the services that elderly home care can provide, contact a company like Supportive Personal Care Services, LLC.
