A majority of older adults prefer to continue living in their home rather than moving in with a relative or relocate to a senior living community. However, with age, many people may begin having difficulties with every day activities like shopping, cooking, cleaning and personal care.
Some of the common complaints or concerns family members and caregivers hear include:
- “The stairs are getting too hard to climb.”
- “Since my wife died, I just open a can of soup for dinner.”
- “Doing the laundry wears me out a lot more than it used to.”
- "I don’t feel comfortable driving to the grocery store anymore.”
While family members and friends may lean in and lend a hand, assisting with even a few simple tasks takes time and effort. This can quickly grow into providing hours of help each week as their loved ones need increase.
Fortunately, there are a multitude of services for the elderly that can minimize caregiver burden, extend seniors independence, improve their safety and overall help successfully age in place. Keep reading on to learn more!
Here is a list of sources for assistance for seniors living alone:
- Housekeeping: if your loved one needs help with simple chores around their house like housekeeping and laundry, hiring a cleaning service can take these tasks off their plate and yours. It may be time to evaluate just how much of your time is spent on housekeeping chores. These services can be arranged weekly, biweekly, or even monthly.
- Running errands, shopping assistance and transportation: in recent years, especially since CoVID-19 has surfaced, many businesses have adopted additional convenience features like delivery service and curbside pick-up. This is great for those seniors that tire easily, have limited mobility or can no longer drive. However, if the primary issue is just transportation, there are several options for this service as well, including public transportation, taxis and ridesharing services.
- Meal preparation: seniors that are not nourishing themselves properly can take a serious toll on their health. While frozen dinners, take-out and meal replacement shakes can serve a purpose on a pinch, these are not ideal as a primary source of nutrition. Meals on Wheels America is one of the most well-known food delivery service for seniors. Basic services include healthy meal delivery to those 60 and over who have limited mobility and are challenged to provide themselves with adequate nutrition although these services vary place to place.
- Medication management: According to a 2015 study conducted by researchers at Oregon State University found that nearly 40% of adults aged 65 and older take five or more prescription medications. Due to that, it may be difficult for your loved one to keep up with all of their medications. It’s crucial that your loved one gets the help they need and while there are pill boxes, phone-call reminders and other products that assist with medication management, these options typically require another person to be present to confirm the senior has taken their medication as directed.
- Mobility: Many seniors feel less anxious and are actually more active when they know they’re being monitored and that help is close by. Getting around with limited mobility can be dangerous for seniors and this is where professional caregivers sweep in and help increase supervision and assistance with mobility and transfers which will ultimately help lessen falls and other household accidents.
-Personal Care Services: Unfortunately, as a senior’s physical and mental health decline, often so does their personal hygiene. Those simple tasks like bathing, shaving, brushing one’s teeth and even putting on clean clothes become tiresome and fall lower and lower on the priority list. Bathing services are usually provided only through home care companies or home health agencies.
It is important to include your loved one in making these decisions and talk with them about what they think their needs are and consult with other members of their care team. Once you have determined which tasks they struggle with and which services will be best to utilize, it is important to begin researching providers in their area.
Mountain Home Care could be the perfect fit for your loved one. For more information on services we provide that can help your aging loved one age comfortably, click here!