How to Care for a Senior Loved One with Disability

Caring for our elderly loved ones is never a walk in the park, especially if they have special needs or physical disabilities. Regardless, we all want to care for them as much as we can, and while we still can. Thankfully, there are useful online resources that share practical caregiving tips to help those who are not professional caregivers.

Care Tips for Seniors with Disability

It can be challenging if you don’t know where and how to give them their much-needed care. That said, here are some ways to care for your elderly loved ones living with physical limitations.

Understand their medical condition

Before you can be a proper caregiver for your senior loved ones, it’s crucial to understand their medical condition, first of all. To do this, you can talk with their doctors to have in-depth knowledge about the challenges they are going through every day. It’s only with understanding that you can provide support.

Don’t be afraid to ask if you notice any unusual changes in your loved one’s behavior and thinking patterns. Knowing all these allows you to zoom in on their health situation, helping you and the rest of the family provide the best care and support.

Discuss the role of each family member

When all family members understand your senior parent’s medical condition, discuss the role each member will play in giving care. Having you do everything may eventually take a toll on your health and personal life, so don’t hesitate to ask for help from others.

For example, you can take care of your senior parent’s hygiene and bathing. The other member can take care of managing medications and prescription refills. Then, another member will manage your aging parent’s finances and make sure all bills are paid on time.

If this is hard to do since everyone is probably working, you may enlist a reliable and certified caregiver to help you.

Include them in activities and social events

Caring for seniors doesn’t mean you’ll have to do everything for them while they just sit in the corner and wait for you. Regardless of their health circumstances, seniors love their independence and freedom. Activities and events that make them feel independent give them a sense of identity and purpose.

Social events are significant for older people as they often feel isolated. If they can’t socialize, they are likely to get depressed or anxious. To avoid this from happening, include them in activities and social events. Do those as much as possible and as much as their mobility allows them.

There are endless opportunities for your senior parents to socialize in and out of your home. It could be as simple as inviting friends and relatives for a get-together, visiting a nearby park, or going to the beach. You can also accompany them in some senior activities within the neighborhood.

Don’t stop if you failed

There’s no perfect way of caring for a senior loved one with special needs. Even professional caregivers may make mistakes now and then. If you think your loved one is not making slight progress in their treatment or health condition, don’t think you failed. Many family caregivers fall into the pit of depression because they feel that their efforts are not helping their loved ones live more comfortably.

If you get tired of caring, which happens to everyone, take respite. A few days off from your caring responsibilities to recharge won’t hurt. 

Remember self-care

Caregiving for seniors with mobility concerns is a lot of hard work. It can be rewarding and fulfilling but challenging at the same time. Sometimes, it can make you think that nothing is going right.

But remember self-care. As a carer, you must stay healthy for yourself and those in your care.

Give yourself some time to rest and recuperate. Read a book, take a walk in the park, go shopping, and do whatever you want to recover from the stress of caregiving.

Conclusion

Caring for a senior loved one with a disability can overwhelm everyone. Nevertheless, knowing that what you do positively impacts your loved one’s life is fulfilling. At the end of the day, what matters is that they live in comfort and receive the best care from you or their caregiver.

But no matter how demanding the caring task is, you shouldn’t put your well-being on the back burner. You have to take care of yourself because that’s the only way to keep on caring for your senior loved ones.