Senior Home Health Care Tips
Stepping Up As A Home Carer
It’s an inevitable part of life, getting older. We all age from the moment we are born and our parents eventually become elderly and require extra help with their day to day activities. Caring for elderly family members can put a strain on your family, there’s no secret about that.
It’s emotionally and physically stressful to put yourself in the position of ‘carer’ and if you don’t have any other option, senior home health care can also be something that changes your life.
You may have had a life full of family and a career that isn’t related to health care jobs, but stepping up as a home carer for a member of the family can change your entire perspective on what it means to look after someone. This can often lead to taking a degree in healthcare, and then expanding that with online RN to BSN courses to do more in that field. Caring is not an easy job to be involved in when it’s paid work, but it’s even harder when you are stepping into the shoes to care for someone you love.
It’s an emotionally complex thing, being in the position of carer instead of being cared for. However, it can inspire you to do something new with your own life. Often, people who move from one career into healthcare have been personally inspired by the healthcare world. Perhaps they’ve had to be in hospital and have been cared for, or they’ve watched someone close to them deteriorate with a condition that depletes their mental health.
It’s important to take it very slowly if you are in the position of caring for an elderly relative. They may not be particularly comfortable about losing some of their independence and requiring care, which means you have to take your time and make them feel at ease in the same way you would with a stranger in a home environment.
If you start caring for someone close to you, it’s important to have patience. There’s a boundary you will be crossing as a home carer for them, as you go from relative to personal assistant and bridging that boundary is not easy. Expect some emotional turmoil and anger from your relative, as the authority they once had in your relationship is now gone. This is where a level of immense patience comes in.
What you can do to alleviate the change is to ask them their advice on different situations. Ask them what they would like you to help with and ask for help in your life to distract them from the sadness and scariness in their own. The last, very important thing to remember when stepping into the shoes of a home carer is to take care of yourself. You can immerse yourself in the personal care of someone that you love, even if they are a reluctant patient, but that doesn’t mean neglecting yourself. You need to ensure you still put yourself as a figure of importance in your own life.
Are you caring for an elderly family member yourself or do you know any more valuable tips to make it all a bit easier to manage? It would be amazing if you would sacrifice a few minutes of your precious time and tell us about in the comment field below!
In case you are a blogger, please be sure to include a link to your blog so that I can find you easily and reciprocate! Thank you for caring and sharing.
Take good care of your family!
Klaudia
Elderly people are the members of our family, society. So we can’t ignore them as they are old. But I see in lots of family when they grow old young people send them old home. It is very shocking. We must respect them & salute them as they raise for long years. Now its our turn to give them same respect.
Luckily my mom’s family did the right thing and didn’t wait until the emergency stages of my grandma’s life to find an in home care service to come in and take care of her. She is getting to that age though and sadly we can’t always be there to take care of her.
I like how you talked about slowing down and paying attention to what the elderly need. This would be really helpful because it can be hard for patients to understand things at a fast pace. It would also help them feel loved if they had somebody explaining things at their speed.
Very true, I agree with what you are saying, Sam. Older people are very much like little children, it can be tough to understand at times. But it also makes us realize (or it should do) this will be us in some years time given we are lucky to live long enough.Thank you so much for your lovely comment, that’s truly appreciated!
I like that you mention how it can be emotionally and physically tolling to care for somebody who once cared for you. I can definitely see how this is the case, especially if it requires you to change up your work schedule to unreasonable hours. My mom is starting to require more and more care and it’s been very difficult for me to keep up with my job. It could be very helpful to talk to her about what she thinks of a home care professional because I think she’d get taken care of much more effectively than if I were to keep trying. Thanks for the post!
I have to thank you, Tyler! I agree and I know exactly what you are talking about. I used to care for my dad in law as long as I could cope myself, at the end, we had to hire a professional home carer. Caring for elderly can be a very tough and ungrateful challenge. He has made me cry more than once. You constantly feel like not doing enough, not giving all you can although you do your very best. And who knows, what we are going to be like if ever we’re lucky to make it to his age. He’s died with 95 peacefully. Thanks again for visiting and taking the time to leaving a comment, I truly appreciate that!