As a caregiver you know that you need more help, but that doesn’t mean your senior agrees. Easing into accepting the idea might have to be your approach.
Listen to Your Senior’s Concerns
Your elderly family member has reasons for not wanting to work with home care services. You might not agree with these reasons or find them valid, but they’re still her reasons. Hear her out. Once she realizes that you’re listening to her, she might get down to the real concerns she has and you can start to make some real progress.
Explain Your Reasons
Once you’ve listened to her, she might be more open to hearing your reasons for hiring home care services. Let your senior know that you’re concerned you can’t get everything done on your own and that you want her to be comfortable and safe at home. If you place the focus on how home care providers can help you to be a better caregiver, that can sometimes help.
Develop a Plan
Work together to develop a plan. Talk with your senior about what tasks give her trouble and which ones she’s willing to allow someone to help her with on a regular basis. You might also include some of the ways they can lighten your task load, like helping your senior to get where she needs to go on a regular basis.
List How it Can Help Her
This is another spot that can turn into a roadblock for you. Talk with your elderly family member about all the ways that home care services can make her life easier. She might not realize that she has a little bit of control about this, too. The more tasks that your senior is willing to let go of, the more energy that she has to devote to other things she wants to do.
Make it Temporary
Let your senior know this doesn’t have to be permanent. If this truly doesn’t work for her, you can try something else. But if she’s willing to give it a real try, she might just find that she’s a lot happier with this plan than she thought she would be.
Even if your senior agrees with a lot of your reasons, that doesn’t mean she’s going to be completely on board with home care providers visiting during the day. It may take some time and a few more conversations before she fully understands that this is not to take anything away, but a way to help her.
If you or an aging loved one are considering Home Care Services in Cambridge MA, or anywhere in Eastern Massachusetts, please call the caring staff at CARE Resolutions – (508) 906-5572.
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