What is the concept of elder care?
A medical dictionary defines elderly care service as a concept or effort that goes by assisting and caring for elderly, injured, sick, or weak people, either at home or by admitting them to in-home care facilities. Family members often provide most of the care to the elderly but in some cases, friends, relatives, and near and dear ones also can help to ensure good elder care.
In some cases, professional helpers or medical professionals like doctors or nurses and sometimes elder care facilities can also come together in providing the maximum elder care to the elderly to ensure proper satisfaction and keeping a healthy body.
Why should we protect our elderly as a part of elder care?
It is not your responsibility to take care of others, is that what you think?
Here are 5 reasons why you should protect the needs and care for the elderly :
1. Family comes first
At the top of every priority in life, family is the first priority of an individual. The elderly likewise are your family, your own blood runs in theirs. It is because of them that you are here and thriving so you are somewhat entitled to take care of them, if not entirely. If a little effort is also provided, that is enough to make your elderly happy and ensure the first step to elder care.
2. They are weak and prone to illness
We as young adults have considerably stronger bodies and minds as compared to the elderly back at the house. The elderly are more prone to illness and mood swings and irritability.
They have a weaker immune system and are ailed by diseases like high blood pressure, diabetes, heart failure, and strokes or diabetes alike.
3. Sense of belonging and warmth
Today’s elderly suffer from loneliness – a sentence we’ve heard everywhere and rightfully so! It is our responsibility to not make them feel even more disheartened and hopeless by ignoring their needs or cutting off contact with them.
At this feeble age, all an elderly needs are proper support and love from their own family in order to lead a good and happy life.
4. They do not have unending days to enjoy
As sad and lonesome as this sounds, this is very true that our elderly people at home only have a few days or years of time at hand to live a fruitful life. This very realization may have a significant impact on the elderly’s minds – the fact that their days are nearing their end.
As a family, the least we can do is cheer them up and enliven their spirits so that they know that whatever days they might leave, they have a family by their side.
5. They have made as many sacrifices as they could for you
No one does as much as family does for you. Yes, your old parents or grandparents have made as many sacrifices as they could for you and if they are given another chance, they would do it all over again, isn’t it? So why can’t you? You definitely can and you must.
How to protect the needs of our elderly to ensure proper elder care?
Aforesaid are the reasons we take up to ensure elder care and why our elderly deserve to be treated well by us!
But how do we really take care of them? Where do we start? When do we know that things are beyond our reach for elder care and they need more professional services?
Chill, we have explained everything below!
Here are the top 5 practical ways to protect the needs of our elderly to ensure proper elder care :
1. Repairs around the house
Make simple repairs around the house for the safety of the elderly back at home, or hire repair persons to do their job more effectively. Elders are prone to tripping and slipping so repair the wobbly handrails or broken stair risers or switchboards if the electric coils are showing through.
2. Safety first
Make sure that the safety items around the house are fully working and give the proper safety measure for the elderly. For example, smoke detectors, fire extinguishers, eyeholes on the entrance door, and things like that should always be ready to use
3. Reviewing medications
Medications and over-medications, both can be hazardous sometimes. Even the safest medications may have some side effects like dizziness or headaches and loss of balance. Overdose of medications is a big no-no. you as the caretaker ensuring proper elder care should not play with the dosage of medicines if you’re caring for an elderly.
4. Exercise to the rescue
As the primary caregiver of the elderly around the house, encourage exercise as much as possible even if it gets difficult to convince them to do so. Balanced exercise can help with body posture and help reduce falls and tripping, confirms studies. Senior care exercise programs can be found in plenty on the internet from where you can take inspiration.
5. Financial protection
This is an underrated point, but financial protection is one of the biggest steps you can take to ensure the elderly at home live their lives in peace and comfort.
At this age, the elderly can neither work nor beg for money, so if there is someone who is taking care of their financial needs, nothing like it!
Keep them updated on the insurance and help them and educate them on the bills so that they do not fall prey to fraud.
What to do in case things go beyond our reach for the elderly as a part of elder care?
There are times when you should just give up on being the caregiver and consult a doctor or seek professional help immediately.
If you see an elderly getting imbalanced, losing their senses, or experiencing sharp pain in the body or chest, or if they suddenly seem to forget everything and complain of a sudden low vision, these are the cases where you require help from healthcare experts.
Sometimes, the best you can do as the caregiver trying to ensure elder care rightfully is to take the elderly to elderly care service.
Servicure is a company that offers the best elderly care service in Kolkata. They have a wide range of services like at-home care, nursing care, medical care, personal care, etc, and their services are not only trusted but affordable and effective.
Sometimes as a caregiver, the best thing we can do is to submit our elders to the hands of someone trusted but skilled in healthcare because all we are trying to do is do the best possible for our elders’ well-being and happiness, in those cases without hesitation contact an elderly care service like Servicure if you need help from them.
