Having Elderly Parents At Home? Here Is The Senior Care Checklist!

Having elderly parents at home can be quite challenging. There will be moments when they feel cranky, isolated, or lonely.

What to do in situations like these?

Figuring out their needs and then making decisions for them is the answer.

How can you handle these things in a better way?

Here we have come up with the checklist of taking care of aging parents, making it easier for you to supervise them.

Let us begin!

How you are caring for them – It is understandable that you will be making a plan to care for your aging parents properly. But remember to revisit the plan regularly. The needs of older people change from time to time. So you’d need to change your plan accordingly. The points to consider in such a situation are:-

• Sit with your family and assign the caregiving roles to the members. And follow them strictly.

• Find out about various care options like personal care homes, and senior living (to name a few).As per airambulancenetwork.com, you can always opt for a medical escort service if needed. Do not compromise with the quality of their welfare. Always opt for trained physicians and staff ready to attend to your needs.

• Get in touch with your guardian’s doctors regularly. Accordingly, make adjustments to their needs.

Checking their finances: Do you often keep a check on your elder’s finances? If not, then it is high time to do that. Why are we stressing on this aspect? The following statistics should help answer this question.

• The elderly lose at least 2.6 billion US dollars every year because of financial abuse. The amount is high as many cases go unreported. It is alarming to know that only 1 in every 44 cases of financial abuse is reported as per the National Adult Protective Services Association (NAPSA). NAPSA also concluded that these older adults who become the victims of financial abuse are three times more likely to die and four times more likely to enter a nursing home.

• Financial abuse comes in many forms, for instance – identity theft, lottery scams, internet scams, and more. Experts also noticed that if a parent is living with their child who is unemployed, then they are at a higher risk of financial abuse.

If you don’t want your guardian to become a victim, arrange their finances in an orderly way. What can you look for? Keep reading to learn more.

• Keep a tab on financial help. Collect more information on public benefits like Social Security, Disability Insurance, Medicaid, and Veteran’s Benefits.

• Scrutinize the plans of retirement and insurance. See if they have life insurance, pension benefits, or disability coverage.

• Get the benefit of the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, which is a US labor law. According to this act, you are entitled to unpaid leaves of up to 12 weeks every year if you are an employee. This law is designed to help the employees so that they can balance work and family responsibilities. It is applicable to all public agencies, public and private schools, and organizations with 50 or more employees.

Health and medical needs: This aspect holds special importance. How can you look after this?

• Maintain good relationships with your parents’ doctors. Discuss the health issues and medical records with the health experts.

• Experts advise escorting the elders for their medical appointments with professional medical, hygiene, comfort, and companion care. You can choose  air ambulance services to take care of your loved ones for a seamless bedside-to-bedside transportation. These services have world class pilots, critical care paramedics and respiratory therapists that are available 24/7 and provide tailored solutions for specific needs. After their appointments, get a clear understanding of what the results of your loved ones are. This makes you more clear about planning their needs.

Legal issues: If your elders are relatively healthy, then it is time to pay heed to their legal issues. Let’s look at the following things:

• Who pays the bills of your parents? There will be a time when they no longer be able to pay it themselves. So, become an authorized user of your elder’s accounts.

• Maintain the documents of your parents and also organize them yourself. Essential papers include – Birth certificates, insurance policies, marriage certificates, pension benefits, deeds to property, to name a few.

• Give a helping hand to them in terms of the legal documents. Make them understand to grant you the power of attorney so that you can make decisions in case they are not able to do so.

• Meeting with an elder law specialist can ease things for you. They help in addressing common issues like seeking guardianship of your parents and managing their money.

Parents’ wishes: Have you ever talked with your parents about their wishes? As they grow older, they tend to forget more. Before this issue grows big, talk with them about their values and wishes. You can ask them about their fears, how they want to be remembered, what sort of things they want, and many more. Therefore, do not ignore this aspect!

To sum it up all

Caring for elderly parents may be an intimidating task, but planning ahead and knowing what resources you have can sail you smoothly through this process. You can’t steer clear of this aspect of life as your parents cared for you when you were young; care for them now that they are old.