The long-awaited holiday is finally here. It’s the time of the year when you get the chance to visit your childhood home and meet with all your relatives. After being away for long, this is the best time to spend quality moments with your aging parents.
Despite our love for our seniors, we can’t control aging. With age comes a lot of health complications. Only by providing quality senior care can we identify some of the health complications and handle them before they get out of control.
Chances are, while you were away, some caregivers were attending to your aging parents. But at times, there are red flags that might indicate the senior needs assistance that the caregivers could have missed.
Now that you are back home, it’s the best time you assess the well-being of your seniors. By assessing their well-being, you can determine whether their health is deteriorating and if they require assistance.
But do you know the various elements you should check for when assessing their well-being? Worry no more.
Here is a holiday well-being checklist for senior care
Physical Changes
There are the most shouting aspects that you can use to determine when there is a potential problem. If you realize your senior has lost weight, having difficulties when walking or moving around, it’s a sign; they are struggling.
Are they experiencing memory loss? Does their hair look untidy? If yes, it’s an indication that they need more assistance. If you can’t see your seniors personally this holiday, ensure to ask about their physical health from the caregivers.
Emotional Changes
We are very excited to meet our family members with holidays upon us. But for your seniors, it might be quite the opposite. They might be feeling depressed and anxious as they welcome back all their children and grandchildren.
But this will only happen if their well-being is not at its best. If you realize your loved ones don’t want to engage in holiday traditions they cherished before, you need to be concerned. If they also tend to sleep or drink more than they used to, it’s a sign they might be facing emotional challenges.
Ensure to have an in-depth talk with them to understand the cause of a change in their behavior. Even if they don’t admit something is wrong, it’s a good sign they need extra support.
Home Safety Needs
As your loved ones age, they might face old age health complications. Such complications might affect the way they walk, sleep or even sit. In ensuring they are comfortable despite such complications, changes must be done around the home.
During the holidays, it’s the best time to assess the changes made earlier and determine if they support the safety needs of your seniors. You have to check whether there are enough bars in the bathrooms and stairs to offer them support as they move.
Also, check whether there are reliable means of calling for help in an emergency. You must also assess whether the home is well maintained. Check for any objects such as exposed nails or hanging metal bars that might pose injury risks to loved ones.
Ensure to check the condition of smoke detectors, carbon detectors, and fire extinguishers. If there are any changes needed to improve the safety of your seniors, ensure to have them met immediately.
Transportation Needs
When checking the well-being of your loved ones, ensure to assess their transportation needs. Despite getting old, they might still need to rush to the grocery store or even for medical check-ups. For this reason, ensure there is reliable, readily means of transportation available.
If you seniors are still driving, assess whether they are doing so safely. If you find recent dents on the car, it’s a sign they are having trouble driving themselves around. It would be crucial to outsource a driver to drive them around in such a case.
Check the Medicine Cabinet
For your seniors to be in good health, they have to take the prescribed medicine as required. Check the refill date against the number of pills they have taken to determine if they take the prescribed medication regularly.
If you find something not adding up, you can consult with their caregiver or call the pharmacy. It’s essential to have all the medicine labeled appropriately to avoid confusion. The last thing you want is your senior taking an overdose or underdose.
Check the Refrigerator
The refrigerator might tell you more about the diet of your aging parents. If you realize the food in the refrigerator is spoiled, it’s an indication they might have forsaken eating regularly. If it’s also empty, it’s a sign that your loved one no longer goes to the grocery store.
With their declining health, they might also be tempted to go for convenience foods such as junk. To prevent their health conditions from deteriorating further, you need to get a caregiver to watch over their diet.
It would be important to take your seniors to an assisted living community for better care. In the living community, they will be given special care to promote their mental and physical well-being.
Check the Furniture and Countertops
The presence of dust in high areas indicates that household tasks are becoming challenging to your seniors. It’s important to advise them not to attempt to clean regions they cannot reach.
Get a person to assist them with household tasks they can no longer perform independently.
Use the Above Holiday Wellbeing Checklist for Senior Care
As your loved ones age, they are likely to face many health complications and might need assistance. To determine whether they need extra senior care, you must assess their well-being properly.
Read the above tips and discover the holiday well-being checklist for senior care that you can utilize.
Are you looking for a senior living community for your loved ones in Stanford, Frankfort, and the surrounding areas? At Exceptional Living Centers, we got you covered. We offer all the seniors’ care services to sustain their physical and mental well-being.
Contact us today for all your senior care needs.
