Five Ways to Help a Highly Independent Senior Thrive with Arthritis
Everybody needs help from time to time, but sometimes aging adults don’t feel comfortable accepting assistance. If your elderly family member is both highly independent and is dealing with arthritis, she may be struggling more than she lets on to you. Having help from senior home care providers reduces the struggling and keeps your elderly family member as independent as she wants to be.
Work with Her Doctor to Formulate a Care Plan
It’s really important to understand as much as possible about your senior’s arthritis and how it impacts her life. Working with her doctor can help you both to find out as much as you can about what’s happening now and what might happen down the road. There might be therapies and tools that your senior can put into place now that will help her as her arthritis continues to change.
See if Assistive Tools Help
Some people with arthritis don’t realize that there are lots and lots of tools that can help them to manage daily life. Tools that assist with buttoning and zipping clothing, opening jars, and turning keys all protect your senior’s ability to keep up with her daily life. Sometimes, though, your senior may need more help than that. Senior home care professionals are experts in helping people with all sorts of challenges continue to live their best lives.
Make Sure She’s as Safe as Possible
Safety is always important when it comes to your elderly family member and arthritis can hinder her ability to be as safe as you might want her to be. Home care providers can watch for potential issues, like slippery rugs or other tripping hazards, and work to prevent possible issues for your elderly family member. They can also alert you to bigger issues that might pose problems, like not having handrails in the shower or tub that your senior can use to steady herself.
Get Extra Help from Senior Home Care
Above all, senior home care is able to take on a variety of tasks that might have become too difficult for your elderly family member to manage on her own. When your senior has help on a regular basis, she is better able to spend time and energy on what she is able to do easily. Then she’s not struggling through her day and ending up frustrated and upset, which is a huge waste of energy.
Keep Tabs on the Situation
Over time, your elderly family member’s situation is likely to continue to change. By keeping up with what is happening, you’re able to start anticipating what your elderly family member might need. This is another area in which senior home care can be a huge help. They’re able to use their experience to share information that helps you to stay ahead of your senior’s biggest needs.
Having help doesn’t mean that your elderly family member can’t still be independent. What it does mean is that your senior doesn’t have to struggle to do the things that she used to do so easily.
If you are considering senior home care in Henderson, NV, for an aging loved one, please contact the caring staff at Golden Heart Senior Care of Summerlin. 702-800-4616.