If you are considering getting in-home care for your parents, then you undoubtedly have a lot of questions.
This is normal. Did you know that when home care is in place there is a 25% decrease in doctor’s visit for the elderly?
This is encouraging and is all the more reason you should consider in-home care for your aging parents. Everything requires preparation and in-home care will be a big change for your parents.
Here are some tips that you can use to prepare your parents for elderly care services.
1. Call a Family Meeting
Before doing anything, you should call a family meeting to discuss the issues at hand. It is never easy to raise the subject of in-home care, especially when your parents have been used to their independence and doing things their way for a long period of time.
It is best to call a meeting and have an open and frank discussion about the issues that have arisen. In this meeting, you should discuss health care, the legal rights of your parents and even their finances.
2. Call in Experts
Do not go it alone. There are a lot of experts who can help you. Here are some you may want to consider visiting or calling to help your parents.
- social worker
- geriatric care manager
- financial advisor
Visiting these experts or calling them in to talk with your elderly parents will make everything more transparent. These professionals can also provide you with helpful resources to make the transition easier.
3. Include Your Parents in Your Search for a Caregiver
It is only fair that you include your parents in your search for a caregiver, once they are still capable of assisting. You should sit down and discuss with them the qualifications that they would like the person to have and exactly what they want them to help them with.
When you get to the interview stage for the position, you can involve your parents. If you prefer you can interview people then do a final shortlisting.
Afterward, you can call in the two or three applicants you have narrowed it down to and do a test. This test would involve your parent asking questions and interacting with each person for maybe a day or two to see who they prefer.
4. Start Introducing In-Home Care Slowly
If your parents are extremely resistant to the idea of in-home care. It is okay to compromise.
You can do this by getting an in-home caregiver for your parents once per week or even for two or three days per week. This will help your parents to adjust to having someone help them on a regular basis.
Final Thoughts on Elderly Care Services
Getting elderly care services for your parents is a good decision if you are concerned about the quality of care that they can provide for themselves.
It is important that you involve your parents in the decision-making process when getting in-home care for them. Once you are transparent about what you are doing and take things slowly then you should find it easier to get their full co-operation.
If you would like more information on in-home care, please contact us.