It can be difficult to accept the fact that an elderly relative’s health is in decline. Yet it is essential for their wellbeing that you provide them with the right level of care for their needs so that they can enjoy a greater quality of life. If you believe your parent, grandparent or another aging relative needs additional care, but you want to ensure they can remain at home, read the following tips for home healthcare.
1. The CDPAP Initiative
The last thing an aging loved one might want is for their home care decisions to be made by an outside party. The Consumer Directed Personal Assistance Program (CDPAP) can, therefore, help qualified patients to choose a family member or friend to become a paid caregiver, if it isn’t their spouse. By using such a program, it could allow you to care for your relative without impacting your finances.
2. Mobility Aids
Mobility aids can be a great support for dependent relatives, as it will allow them to move around their home without fear of falling or burning out. It can provide a loved one with greater independence, so they can enjoy a better quality of life and will depend on others less for daily tasks. There are a wide variety of low-tech and high-tech mobility aids on the market, and there are options to suit various lifestyles and budgets. For example, your loved one could benefit from crutches, canes, walkers, rollators, motorized scooters, power wheelchairs, and manual wheelchairs.
3. Emergency Alert Devices
Emergency alert devices are vital for home healthcare. Your loved one will wear the device as either a pendant or bracelet, and they will need to press a button in the event of an emergency, such as a fall within the home. Pressing the button will send an immediate alert to the operator, who can then send medical help to their home, which could potentially save their lives or could provide much-needed assistance to aging loved ones who live alone.
There are various systems available and different monthly fees to choose from, but all the devices are waterproof, so they will still work if a loved one cannot leave a bath or shower. It can, therefore, provide you with peace of mind that your loved one will be safe within their home.
4. Improved Daily Living
It’s important for aging parents to enjoy as much independence as they can as they grow older, so they will have a better quality of life throughout the years. You should look for different ways to support their needs as much as possible. For example, rearrange their furniture to ensure they have clear pathways in each room, and you should remove or pin down any rugs that could be a trip hazard.
Grab rails in the living room, bathroom and bedroom can also help your relative to stand and sit with ease, and you should install overhead lighting at the top and bottom of the stairs to prevent a trip or fall. Installing a shower chair, bath bench, or raised toilet seat could also make daily tasks much easier, and you should set their water to 120F.
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