Falls are a huge, huge issue in elder care. Case in point. I was visiting my father-in-law in rehab. I saw his former room mate and I asked, “Rudy, why are you here?” He said, “I fell and I was on the floor for five days. Now I’m here in rehab.”
What I described in my last few posts are the activities of daily living, toileting, showering, eating and now I will write about the last two, dressing and grooming. In elder care all these activities are important for two reasons. The first is how they affect your schedule (everything takes so long to do) and [...]
My father-in-law wanted only a few things in life. The New York Times. Walker Texas Ranger. Concerts in the summer. And his sleeping pills. It was amazing how focused he was about his sleeping pills.
When dealing with an elderly person, one of the major issues is their sleeping at night, or more correctly, their inability to sleep at night.
One of the more difficult things to adjust to in home care for the elderly is taking care of an incontinent adult, especially if it your parent. Jill had to do it three times when I was not available, and it is a memory she tries to suppress.
There are a few more things that you can do to make the bathroom safer when you start to provide elder care.
For the elderly who are still mobile the bathroom is the most interactive room and the room with the most potential for falls and/or injury. What I mean by interactive is that there are activities that involve balance, slippery conditions, hot water, hard surfaces, and all in a confined space. My father-in-law would spend many [...]
When we started providing elder care for my father-in-law he could still do the five activities of daily living; toileting, bathing, dressing, grooming, and eating. He read the newspaper every day and was able to go for walks unassisted. As time went on those activities became harder and harder to do. Bathing was one of [...]
There is one sure correlation in elder care and it is this: The chances that a senior citizen will wind up in a nursing home will be dramatically reduced if the loved one has a daughter. A daughter will fight to keep her parent at home.
One of the hardest things about elder care is watching someone you love literally and figuratively shrink away from you.