If you’re feeling as if your hands are tied about your elderly family member’s hearing changes, you can actually do more than you think. Much of what you can do involves becoming as educated as possible about everything involved.
Learn about Hearing Loss and the Signs
The more that you learn about hearing loss and what it looks like, the better you can support your senior through these changes. Talk to her doctor about what she may need from you. You may also want to learn about other techniques that could help, like learning sign language with your elderly family member. You can support your senior so much more effectively when you have solutions ready to hand to her.
Reassure Your Senior that You’re There for Her
Reassurance can go a long way, especially when your elderly family member is losing something that she’s always relied on, like her hearing. This is a big change for anyone and it can leave your senior feeling insecure and upset. Knowing that you’re with her for the long haul is really key.
Encourage Her to Get Her Hearing Tested
Sometimes aging adults are resistant to the idea of getting their hearing tested. Your senior likely knows that she’s losing her hearing, but that doesn’t mean that she wants to know how bad the situation is getting. She may be feeling as if it’s more important to her to remain in the dark about what’s happening. But when you know where she stands, you can do more for her. Set aside some time to go with her for the testing so that she’s not on her own.
Help Her to Learn How to Use Her Hearing Aid
It really helps if you and your senior both know how to take care of her hearing aid. That way you’re able to help her when she runs into difficulties and she doesn’t have any excuses to fall back on about not knowing how to operate it. If either of you are still having trouble, make sure that you talk with her doctor or her audiologist to get your questions answered.
As her caregiver, you’re already there and supporting your elderly family member as much as you can. Helping her through this situation may be bigger than anything else that you’ve done thus far, though. It’s important that she knows you’re there to help however you can.
IF YOU OR AN AGING LOVED ONE ARE CONSIDERING CAREGIVERS IN LAS VEGAS, NV, PLEASE CONTACT THE CARING STAFF AT GOLDEN HEART SENIOR CARE OF SUMMERLIN. 702-800-4616.