How family can manage their elderly’s care at a senior living
Management of elderly or geriatric care is done worldwide, not only by hired caregivers or in senior
but also simultaneously by the elderly’s family, friends, or even neighbors, partners,
and community. Having seen all the above in the past, there is no right or wrong as everyone has a unique thought process and perspective on caring. Culture does play a major role in this. When we allow culture to fit into our senior living, we are allowing humanity to thrive and be well forever. That being said, the care that people provide for the elderly aside from what they get at senior living is sometimes different, similar, or even complementary. In other words, some families do like to be more hands-on if they live nearby and some like to be there for companionship and family-ship rather than spending time on routine things.
Most of all, all scenarios lead to satisfaction, happiness, and joy of being with family for the senior or for
caring for the family and others. To what extent the help is needed or wanted by the elderly is
dependent on many factors, including underlying conditions, finances, distance from the above, and many more.
Management can be a challenge when parties do not agree, but when they do, it is such a blessing and
joy.
Here are some ways for families to manage an elderly’s care at senior living:
- Make a plan for when the elderly move in and where and so on… All the details need to be clear and
precise. - Plan ahead for the above. Not days but months are preferable, but anything that works is also
alright. - Decide who holds the DPOA for health, finances, or both.
- Who knows more about the healthcare needs and who has been caring closely?
- Who can help manage finances in the best interests of the elderly and have access to the elderly?
if needed. - What are the needs of the elderly? What are their abilities currently? What is being
anticipated further… - How will appointments for healthcare be handled? Who will be responsible for overseeing the care at the senior living facility?
- Why must the elderly need help from families if senior living can provide them? Are there any
unmet needs? Or is it like a family not able to let it go? - What can families do to enhance the experience? Or what can they not do?
- What is the future of seniors? Is the family planning to bring them home ultimately or will
they move them somewhere else? - Have they thought about holidays, celebrations, events, birthdays, etc.?
- Are they all equally familiar with what senior living has to offer?
- How long will the savings last for the senior parent to receive care in senior living?
- Is there a living will, a trust?
- Have they thought about end-of-life care for their parents or elderly family members?
- Has the family made a list of the senior’s wishes? What are they planning to do with it or
how will they address those? - How would they like to spend time with the elderly, do chores, or enjoy time alone? What are their
priorities? - Who will make the calls in times of emergency or urgency? Who should the senior living know to
call and inform, as sometimes DPOA is not available. - Has the family had experience in caring for other elderly and if yes, what challenges did they
face and how did they overcome it? If not, have they reached out to resources? - What is the ultimate goal they are setting for the care of their parents or elderly, and for themselves?
A lot of these questions can be asked in other ways, have simplified them into the above as per my
Nevertheless, there are always opinions from others that could benefit us. Geriatric care has the power of diversity in geriatric care. We thank everyone for following our blogs and are happy to get feedback. We shall continue this conversation in future blogs… until then, we wish mihygge to every senior and their kith and kin wherever they are. Regards.