Grandparents and older relatives often suffer from severe loneliness, especially if they live alone. When you have a family, a job, and other commitments, it’s easy to let weeks pass by without reaching out to a parent or grandparent.
As people grow older, they tend to become more disconnected from the ever-changing world around them. Family and friends provide a crucial support system for older people, and it’s something that they really need.
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to light how vulnerable the elderly are. Many people have been afforded the time to realize what truly matters in their lives, and time spent with family is one of them.
When lockdown has ended, and our more senior citizens can return to normality, here are six ways that you can care for them.
1. Make social calls
An unfortunate part of getting older is that you lose friends. What’s more, if you’re in poor health, you may not be able to visit or make social calls.
There are close to 3 billion active social media users in the world, with only a fraction of these being over 65 years old.
Social calls and arrangements allow your elderly relatives to have real-life social networks.
2. Teach them or help with technology
It’s crucial to enable the elderly when it comes to technology. We are edging closer to a paperless society, and so, it’s pretty important to be able to send an e-mail. Many of our grandparents can barely use a phone, so why not teach them?
Help them by slowly building on existing knowledge. Explain the relevance, introduce concepts, and avoid complicated instructions. Encouragement is key.
3. Tackle their home repairs
On a visit to an elderly relative’s home, ask if there is anything they need help with around the house. Even if you can’t do the work yourself, you can help arrange it.
Household maintenance can be tough for seniors, so it could be a good idea to regularly check their homes for potential issues.
4. Assist with their grocery shopping
Grocery shopping can be a difficult task for the elderly. From hard-to-push trolleys to small food labels, to difficulties in storing their food, it can be a lot of work. However, many older people enjoy the empowerment and social aspects of shopping, as well as the ability to get exactly what they want.
Assisting or joining your elderly relative while shopping is a nice social activity, and it provides them with significant help.
5. Investigate nursing home well-being
If your relative happens to be in a nursing home, ensure that they are getting the best care possible. Unfortunately, abuse and neglect are far too common in such facilities.
Take the necessary precautions and consult expert nursing home abuse attorneys if you sense that something isn’t right.
6. Involve your children in their lives
Children and the elderly (especially their grandparents) are mutually beneficial to each other. The elderly provide a sense of history to the youth and can act as support pillars.
Interaction with children can give elderly people a sense of pride and joy, which positively impacts mental health. However, they shouldn’t be relied on as caregivers if they are not capable of it.
7. Find the right care for them
It might seem as though a ‘residential home’ or asking for help with support services to help them keep their homes clean and to check on their medications when you don’t have the chance to can be helpful but make sure that the support you provide for them is actually what they need. For instance, often you’ll find that the capacities and amenities of a certain caregiving service can differ wildly from another. For instance, it might be that your relative needs access to the very best memory care services, those that understand how to properly treat those with the starting process of Alzheimer’s and Dementia.
With these tips combined, you’ll have achieved nothing less than looking out for your elderly relatives with love and attention.
