People in Melbourne often talk about the circle of life and when we are brought into this world, it is our parents that take care of us and guide us in the right direction until we become responsible adults. The circle of life refers to when our parents become older themselves and so they start to find things more challenging than they normally would. The difficulty arises when you are an adult with your own family and you want to also help out an ageing parent as well. This can be a difficult situation to find yourself in because you want to be able to take care of your family but also have the ability to take care of your parents.
When it comes to aged care in Reservoir, it’s hard to know what is the right thing to do, when you’re taking care of an elderly parent and you can’t be expected to know what the requirements are because this is something that you’ve never done before. The good news is that there is a lot of advice out there when it comes to taking care of your parents as they get older here in Australia and the following are some of those.
- Figure out their needs – Every individual is different so they might be finding something hard and other things just as easy. You should take the time to actually watch your parents and see how they function by themselves. Look for difficulties in moving around and are you noticing any signs of mental decline. If your parents need to take certain medications then are they taking them in full and on time? It’s important to know if they can take a shower, dress themselves and perform normal daily tasks on their own.
- Think about safety changes – Things that you take for granted as being pretty straightforward may become a lot more difficult for your parents as they age. Climbing the stairs will not be as easy as it once was so start making sure that the handrails are tight enough on the stairs. Simple things like putting non-slip mats in the bathroom and putting stronger lights in certain rooms of the house all help.
- Seek professional help when needed – You should never be embarrassed or feel bad about reaching out to professional care giving services to help you with your elderly parents. They have many years of experience behind them and they know exactly what they’re doing when it comes to seniors. They have staff that can come to your current home to assist with things like eating, dressing and generally taking care of themselves.
The day will come when all of us need to step up to the plate and try to take care of our elderly parents. We need to do whatever we can to make sure that their health needs are met and that we reach out to the professionals also.