Helping our elderly relatives settle into a good quality of life is always a worthwhile responsibility to take on. As they grow older, they might not be as active or capable as they once were. While they might not be suitable for residential housing at the minute, offering a helping hand can be a fantastic way to keep them ticking over from day to day, happy and enjoying their golden years with dignity.
Yet it’s also true that you have a life to live too. Unless you’re a specific carer for them, you might have a job, a family to run, and general life goals to meet. You’re more than happy to help your relatives of course, but as for everyone, there are only a certain number of hours in the day.
As such, sometimes it’s healthy to prioritize the exact help you can give. You might not be able to help them with their grocery shopping every week or clean their house for them, but you can certainly help them arrange meal delivery services or drive them to their crafts club twice every month.
In this post, we’ll discuss a few essential means of helping elderly relatives:
Healthcare Checkups
Healthcare checkups go from wise to essential when you get to a certain age, and so helping your elderly relatives get there on time is key. You might assist them in visiting your local dentists for dentures and to inspect issues with their gums, or you might help them renew their optician’s prescription, no matter the course, being a solid rock for health attendance can be an essential duty to fulfill – and they’ll appreciate it.
Emotional Support & Familial Access
This subheading title is a rather formal means of suggesting that they need to be involved in their family life as much as possible. When you get to a certain age, those around you and your memories are mostly what will sustain you, to the point where you will cherish any and all time they have with their grandchildren, the family events you’re invited to, and the wonderful stories they can share or the advice they can give. Offering that emotional support, even if you just enjoy a slow walk in the park with them, can be nothing if not wonderful.
Home Improvements
It’s tremendously helpful to provide your elderly relatives with the home environment they need. That will often mean helping to adjust their own homes so they’re more supportive and in line with the general requirements of elderly living. That might include a bathroom alarm on a pulley rope in case they need assistance from local services, for example. You can also implement hand holds near their front step, stronger stair banisters or stair lifts, or even replace their bathtub with an easy sit-in shower so they can more easily attend to their hygiene with autonomy.
With this advice, you’ll be sure to help your elderly relatives in the best way you can, while managing your other duties and responsibilities going forward.
We’re very proud to bring you this feature in association with Direct Dental and C-Care. For more features, please pay a visit to our lifestyle page.
