How to Balance Support and Independence for Seniors

The ability to remain self-sufficient is essential for everyone at any age. That does not change for seniors. Independence is often one of the things they feel they have control over.

Often, seniors can remain independent but need help with day-to-day tasks such as housekeeping, monitoring medications, and care.

Keeping seniors involved in decision-making helps smoothly transition to hourly or live-in care. This care enables them to stay self-reliant while receiving help from professionals.

The aid and amenities assisted living communities offer are helpful and even luxurious. Yet, most would prefer to remain in the privacy and comfort of their homes as they age. Moving can bring fear and emotional distress. The thought of leaving memories and the surroundings they love can be overwhelming.

In this article, we will discuss ways in which you can assist seniors in remaining independent while providing them with the care they need.

Plan Future Care Together and Include Them in Conversations and Daily Tasks

Making plans with your loved ones can empower them. Inclusive conversations will make them feel like they are part of making important decisions about their care.

Include them in discussions and keep them up to date on new information. You can also ask them to help plan meals, prepare food, do laundry, and do other daily tasks. Seniors feel the most fulfilled and self-sufficient when they do what they choose. Feeling involved makes them feel more fulfilled and happy.

Provide Choices

Provide them with healthy choices that will keep them involved. Give them options for clothing, meals, and activities every day. Providing choices will allow them to feel more in control of their daily lives while staying healthy and within limitations.

Make Home Modifications for Safety

You can make various upgrades and modifications to a senior’s home to help them remain liberated and active. It is also vital that the house be safe and free of hazards. When an elderly person falls and suffers an injury, this can often leave them with mobility issues and losing independence.

To prevent any dangerous falls, ensure you remove all risks from their home. Add handrails to stairways and anywhere necessary. Other helpful modifications include:

Widening doorways for their wheelchair or scooter
Installing ramps around the home
Kitchen modifications so they can safely prepare easy meals
Smart home devices seniors can voice operate
Medical alert systems for emergencies
Hoyer lifts to navigate mobility issues without help
Floor modifications such as no-slip flooring

Making modifications to the home to ensure safety makes remaining at home with hourly and in-home care a viable option.

Make Day-To-Day Items Easily Accessible

As seniors age, bending down, reaching high locations, and crouching is more complicated. Ensuring items in the kitchen and bedroom are easily accessible will make living a more independent life possible.

Make adjustments so that any items they use throughout the day are at eye level by using or installing lower shelving options.

Get a Mobility Scooter for Seniors With Movement Issues

Wheelchairs can often leave seniors feeling isolated and unable to leave their homes. Mobility scooters allow seniors to get out and about.

They can meet up with friends close by for social time or just go out for fresh air by themselves. Check their insurance plan for coverage.

Help Them Exercise and Stay Active

Encourage your elderly loved one to get moving, exercise, and stay active daily. When a person becomes less mobile, it causes more limitations in their ability to remain active.

Daily physical activity will increase bone and muscle strength. Strength will allow them the physical ability to stay active for longer.

The Benefits of Hourly and In-Home Care

Seniors face more challenges as they age. They lose the ability to do things they once did without help. Hourly care allows your loved ones to receive 24-hour care while at their house.

Those with dementia or other physical limitations can receive personalized and compassionate care. Hourly and in-home care are also perfect for those at home recovering from illness or with special needs. The caregiver could provide services including:

General housekeeping
On-call medical care and services
Transportation for appointments and daily activities
24-hour medical monitoring
Medication management
The support of compassionate and trained staff is available 24 hours a day

Senior Care Companions provides quality non-medical hourly and in-home care. Personalized care allows seniors to remain independent at home and within their community.

Senior Care Companions offers compassionate and cost-efficient care with diverse expertise and specialties. Seniors stay happy and active in their home and community with hourly professional care and medical monitoring.

Seniors need attention and love during the holidays, just like everyone else. Unfortunately, some people forget to visit their loved ones during the busiest times of the year.

Finding ways to take care of seniors during the holidays is extremely important. Doing so involves helping them with their physical, mental, and emotional needs. Let’s look into the ways you can take care of seniors during the holiday season.

Hire a Service

Some seniors might not be able to help themselves with different tasks such as:

Mobility to go places
Remembering important details and schedules
Assistance with motor skills

Whatever you may need, we here at Senior Care Companions can help. We offer various services to help seniors each day. You can find assistants to help them 24/7, or just a few hours of the day.

While you should help seniors when you can, you may need professional help. After all, you can’t be at their sides 24/7, so see if you can find a reliable service to look after them.

Plan Fun Activities

Seniors can face boredom during the holidays, especially if they don’t have people to spend time with them. Coming up with fun activities you can do with one another is important to their mental and emotional wellbeing. Potential activities include:

Sit down and play board games together
Enjoy holiday activities like eating or watching movies
Go for a walk through the park

Focus your attention on letting them have fun. Doing so can help you take care of them emotionally and mentally. For example, they could feel happy after the activities or thankful you thought of them.

Seniors can potentially become lonely and depressed during the holidays, so take the time to plan fun activities for them. Doing so can help them overcome the mundane and boring moments in their lives.

Prepare Them Ahead of Time

Some seniors may like to stick with their schedules. If you know seniors like this, you should prepare them before any activities. Some seniors may have health problems, so make sure you accommodate them.

You can do this in multiple ways such as:

Ensure they have a way to safely reach the areas if they have to use wheelchairs
Give them specific food if they have dietary restrictions
Show them pictures of who they’ll see at the event if they suffer from memory loss

You don’t want to worry them, so make sure you take some time to talk and prepare. This can help them understand the plan and feel comfortable during the activity.

Visit Them Regularly

Often people forget to help seniors with their mental and emotional health during the holidays. If you want to help them during the holidays, just visiting them is an easy way to make their day.

Visiting seniors can help them out in many ways:

Allows them to talk with someone
Shows them others care about their well-being
Help them with tasks or anything else they need

When you visit a senior, you can help them feel happy. You can also help them avoid feelings of loneliness or boredom if they have to live away from home. Even if you have seniors in your life who live on their own, you should visit them during the holidays.

Seniors recognize the time you take to visit them, so they’ll appreciate your efforts.

Ask Them What They Want

Sometimes, people try to make decisions for seniors, so you should communicate when possible. If you communicate with them, you can avoid some problems.

Ensure they do something they like and avoid boredom
Meet their personal needs and keep them safe
Learn more about them and their interests

These points can help you find an activity that will make the seniors happy. You don’t want to drag them to an activity they don’t like, so you need to communicate with them. That way, you can find something you’ll both enjoy.

Some people forget to remember each senior as a person. Make sure you show these seniors you care by asking them what they want. As you do so, you can form stronger relationships with them.

Final Comments

The holidays give you a great opportunity to show your love to the seniors in your life. Whether you want to help relatives in your family or the local seniors, you can make the holidays better for them.

If you want to help these seniors out, try out the ideas above. If you need assistance in taking care of the seniors in your life, reach out to Senior Care Companions.

Have any Questions? Just give us a call, we would love to help in any way.

“Quality Care You Can Trust – Since 2004”