Help for Elderly

Help for elderly includes home care for elderly, housekeeping, senior living options, assistance with relocating and much more. Depending on your aging parents needs, they may also benefit from supports and equipment to make their lives safer and easier.

This article covers:

Assess The Situation
What Are The Options
Tips And Advice

Assess The Situation

Determine if your aging parents are managing safely with the supports and equipment they already have in place. You may need to obtain the services of health care professionals to accurately determine their needs.

Are they managing their activities of daily living (self care)?

Are they managing their instrumental activities of daily living (household management, finances, transportation, grocery shopping, etc)?

Once you (or a health care professional) has determined what your aging parents are safely and easily completing and what they are not, you can determine the required help for elderly. This can include hiring private help, friends/family assistance, moving to a senior housing option and other options (described below).

There are a variety of professionals that can assist you in this process, including: geriatric care managers, doctors, nurses, therapists (physical, occupational and speech), home support companies, neighbours, other family members and most importantly, your aging parents. Involving your aging parents in the decision process is essential. It is ultimately their decision and you cannot force them to accept help or move to a senior living community.

This is easier said then done and it takes time to determine what your aging parents can safely do and what they are having difficulty doing. Their health may also fluctuate so at times they may be independent and at other times they may need some assistance.

Arranging help for elderly is more of a process than simply a task you do once. Abilities and needs change (sometimes quickly) so it's important to plan ahead. Even if the senior is safely living independently in the community, plan ahead and determine what they (and you) will do if they need additional help for elderly.

The next section describes different help for elderly that is available for seniors.

What Are The Options

There are a variety of different options to obtain help for elderly. It all depends on what you have discovered when assessing your aging parents situation.

The main options include: housing, legal and financial, equipment and products and health care.

Housing Options

Depending on how your aging parents are managing in their current living situation, they may be able to safely live in their home in the community or benefit from moving to a senior housing community.

If they plan to stay in their current home in the community, there are help for elderly services that may be beneficial. These include:

Home Care for the Elderly
Housekeeping
Ground maintenance (such as snow removal in winter and landscaping/watering/mowing in the summer)
Grocery delivery
Transportation

If your aging parents are not managing safely in their current living situation, then they may benefit from moving to a senior housing community. The type of community/facility depends on their needs. The types include:

Senior Retirement Community
Senior Independent Living
Senior Assisted Living
Skilled nursing facilities (Also called Complex care or Residential care)
Continuing Care Retirement Community
Low Income Senior Housing
Hospice (Also called End of life care or Palliative Care)

If you and your aging parents have decided to move, the following are some tips and advice for making it as smooth a transition as possible.

Help them sort through their belongings
Mail or deliver items they wish to give to family/friends
Store items they are not sure about keeping, moving or giving away
If they have pets, try to help them move to a place that allows pets as they are good companions (especially at a stressful time such as moving to a new home)
Consider having them move close to family and friends as they will likely benefit from having friends/family close. This could include assistance with shopping, transportation, outings, medical appointments, etc.
Bring photos of friends and family as it will make their new place feel more like home.
Send their address and phone number to family and friends. Ask them to phone and send mail so they feel welcome in their new home.
If possible, have them move to senior communities where they know other residents. Moving to a senior community can be very stressful and the transition can be smoother if they have friends already living there.

Legal and Financial

Your aging parents will also benefit from reviewing their financial/legal situation. This includes:

Legal and Financial Assistance for Wills, Power of Attorney and other legal documents
Life Insurance
Travel Insurance
Grants for seniors

Equipment and Products

Your aging parents may benefit from some equipment for seniors or elderly care products to make their everyday life safer and easier.

This includes:

Bathroom (walk in tub, raised toilet seats, tub transfer benches, tub rails, commodes and more)
House (chair lift for stairs and more)
Bedroom (bed rails for elderly, transfer poles and more)
Mobility (walkers, wheelchairs, electric lift chairs and more)
Dressing aids (reacher, long handled shoe horn and more)
Incontinence products
Communication Aids (phones, elderly medical alert and more)

Health Care

There are a variety of health care professionals that may be involved in your aging parents care. Depending on your aging parents needs, you may also seek to have these professional involved in your aging parents care as they can improve the quality of life of seniors.

These include:

Geriatric Care Managers
Doctors
Rehabilitation Therapists (including Occupational Therapist, Physical Therapist and Speech Language Therapists)
Dieticians
Community Care Nurses
Massage Therapists
Opticians

Tips And Advice

Help for elderly is rewarding but also challenging. Some tips and advice include:

Plan Ahead - Start discussing their living situation and their future options early. Due to the varying health conditions of seniors, it's hard to recommend a specific age to start talking. If your parents are of average health for their age, its a good idea to start talking to them about their future care needs when they are 70 yrs old. At this age, they are probably managing well living in their own home in the community. Start an open discussion by asking "In the future if you ever need more help would you want to move to an independent retirement community or would you prefer to get help at home?" If you already have a few options in mind if and/or when a crisis occurs, you and your aging parents are not only more prepared but the parent will be more accepting of the change.
Couples Manage Longer - Aging couples can often manage in their own home longer than singles. Often they help each other out. One senior may still be driving or able to still manage the finances. The average age for needing some help for elderly is 83 yrs old.
Involve Your Parents - Assist them in arranging help for elderly. Do not do everything for them as results are better if they are active participants in the decision making process (if possible).
Times Of Crisis - A crisis may be a good time (or only time) to make changes - Many seniors are reluctant to make any changes to their current living situation. So if they end up in the emergency room or with a hospital stay, it may be a good time to use the momentum of the situation to help your elderly parent see that it is time for a change.
Persistence - Be persistent and don't give up. If your discussions are not producing any changes, do not give up. Many people (young or old) are more comfortable with their current situation and are reluctant to change. Ask them to think about it and bring it up again and again until you can flush out major objections to the change. Hopefully at some point they will be more receptive to your discussion and in making changes. Their health may change or they may simply start to see that they are not managing safely. A good tip is to find out why they are reluctant (maybe finances, maybe they are worried about what will happen to their pet, etc) and then addressing that concern.
Know Yourself - Be honest about your emotions and capacity to help for elderly. Be open about what help you can provide and what help you cannot.
Tour Senior Communities - Start touring senior living communities. No one will ever want to move if they don't see it first. It can really reduce resistance once they see some of the senior living communities and how nice they can be. Some seniors have the idea that all senior living communities are the institutional nursing homes portrayed in the media.
Communicate About The Move - Communicate about the move and how you can help with all aspects of the move. The process can overwhelm them and may be why they were reluctant at first to the move. They know it is beyond their current capacity to organize and do on their own. If needed, senior move managers can also help adult children and seniors from start to finish with the entire moving project.
Stay Positive - It can be a stressful and challenging situation. Not all siblings will be involved at the same level and you may need to accept that. Ask for specific assistance at times or hire out for other tasks and services.
Respect - Remember that your aging parents are adults and can make their own decisions (unless deemed incompetent by a medical doctor). They are your parents are not your children. Remain positive and be persistent in negotiating their reluctance to change. Your aging parents need to be able to maintain their dignity while accepting their newly acquired limitations.