Your relatives will one day become old, struggling to take care of themselves on their own. This is a fact of life that many middle-aged adults must confront and find a solution to keep their loved ones as safe and comfortable as possible, giving them a chance for autonomy and happiness in the depths of old age. In this short article, we’ll look at how you can best care for elderly relatives that are experiencing cognitive difficulties and mental decline – something that can afflict up to 50% of seniors. Here are some key tips to help you manage that decline.
Monitoring
As one of the primary caregivers to an elderly relative who is beginning to experience some confusion and mental fog, you’ll be responsible for monitoring their health. If you notice the first signs of what might transpire to be a cognitive decline, it’s important to have them see a specialist to understand what might be happening to them. A specialist will be able to give them medicine and give you tips on what to look out for in the coming months.
Small Acts
If your elderly relative is becoming more forgetful, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they need more attention and care right away. It can simply be helpful, in the interim, to take some small acts to help them navigate their lives more easily. For instance, medical practitioners and psychologists recommend labeling some items that your relatives use a lot so that they can orient themselves in their home when they wake up. Simple steps like this can maintain the autonomy of your elderly relatives while they’re safe to still be living without live-in or round-the-clock care.
Paid Care
Some elderly relatives experience confusion to the extent that they can no longer take care of themselves. In these instances, as a caregiver yourself, you’ll have to decide on their future. Many middle-aged adults have childcare and professional responsibilities which means they cannot provide the level of care required for their confused relatives. In these cases, it’s important to consider other care avenues. One is to hire live-in care for your relative, while another is to look into care homes, such as memory care, which are dedicated to helping those who are experiencing a mental decline in the twilight of their lives.
Visits
A proportion of elderly people who experience cognitive decline will arrive at a stage in which they are difficult to communicate with. When you visit them in their care home, or their home if they’re receiving live-in care, you’ll find that they struggle to remember some things, and this can be disconcerting and concerning. However, what’s important to remember is that your elderly relative remains the wonderful person they always were. Keeping them comfortable and as happy as possible, even if your visits are a little difficult for you, is the most impotent thing to remember when you’re checking in on your loved one.
These four tips will help you navigate the cognitive decline of a loved one, deciding when to make certain decisions for their health and wellbeing.
