Aging Parents and Role Reversal - Elder Care Article

By:Marge Pickering-Picone

This is the day you thought would never happen. Your roles in life are reversing. You’re trying to make decisions for yourself and your Aging Parent. What will be best for them without altering your life too drastically. How do you keep up the pace and ultimately please everyone around you? You are not alone in life, you have a family, significant other, a career to think about. You want to balance everything to keep everyone happy and life as normal as possible. Think again! Those once a week visits or daily phone calls aren’t enough anymore. Your parent needs care, the real kind.

The care includes making sure they eat, that they take their meds, that their money isn’t being floundered away on TV shopping. You have siblings that think Assisted Living or Nursing Facilities are awful and they don’t want to put Mom or Dad in one even though they also don’t want to help out. How do you cope? How do you deal with this situation without alienating every member of your family?

First understand, it’s not about you. What I mean by that statement is that it is not about guilt and what some think is the “Right thing to do”. It’s not about hanging on to someone that they used to be. They are an elderly person in need of constant care and attention. If you need a dose of growing up, this situation will make it happen whether you’re ready or not!

Start with their doctor. Have an appointment to discuss the faltering health of your beloved parent. You can also check into the hospital that their health care is associated. Every hospital has an elder care group of some type. The medical coverage will also have affiliations with elder sourcing. Between the doctor and the medical coverage group, you may be able to determine the types of help and living style your parents current status requires. Keep asking until you have the best situation for all concerned.

It may be as simple as an Aide visiting once or twice a day to help with showering, dressing, meals and meds. Their health may need more than that and the visiting nurse or doctor’s office is the place to apply the concern. The best word to learn to help an elder parent is the same as if your infant child were being cared for and that is SAFETY. If safety is not at the level necessary, keep pushing until you get the help you need. Keep on insisting the area of SAFETY.

It may take you time to uncover everything available to your parent to help with this care process but trust me, it will be worth it in the many years elder care can stretch out to be. It is best to discuss with them all their health and medical, financial and personal situations before that day arrives.

When they are older the best thing you can give them is you. Spend quality time instead of stress time. Have them over for a day and dinner instead of needing to pawn them off on someone else. The resentment builds if you do this alone and there are many really good care facilities to take that burden off your shoulders.

Safety and honesty is what makes those later years a good memory!

Digg del.icio.us Blink Stumble Spurl Reddit Netscape Furl

Article keywords: aging parents, eldercare, role reversal, caring for elder parents, senior care

Article Source: http://www.articles2k.com

Marge Pickering-Picone is a Nutrition Consultant for Professional Nutrition Services of Rochester, Inc. and the Founder of www.aging-baby-boomer-guide.com

Top Elder Care Articles
1). The Benefits Of Continuing Care Retirement Community By : Henry Clark People nowadays have already realized the importance of saving for the future, especially for their retirement. This is because when they reach their retirement age, all they have to do is to relax and enjoy life together with the financial benefits that they themselves have tried to save little by little. That is why, when it comes to retirement and the benefits that can be derived from it, people should take the matter seriously.
2). Managing Caregiver Guilt: 5 Tips To Manage Guilt So Guilt Serves You, Not Imprisons You By : Vicki Rackner MD Guilt is a common feeling in the landscape of care giving. Guilt can propel you to be the best you can be …or it can immobilize you. For caregivers, painful feelings -- such as guilt, sadness and anger -- are like any other pain. It’s your body’s way of saying, 'Pay attention.' Just as the pain of a burned finger pulls your hand from the stove, so, too, guilt guides your actions and optimizes your health.
3). Hearing Impaired? Hearing Aids? Advice for “Deafies” and those who put up with us By : Russ Miles I have always had a hearing impairment. I was born with a 70% hearing loss in both ears. While I had a mother who was sensitive to my disability, I never believed there was anything wrong wth me. As a child, I refused to wear hearing aids. When, at 19 years-of-age, I bought one hearing aid, it was as if someone turned the sound up. I felt even more invincible.
4). Be Prepared For Assisted Living By : John Morris Assisted living is simply finding help in the form of a care giver or a family member assigned to assist an elder who with illness or diminished mental ability is no longer capable of living an independent life...
5). What's The Difference Between Alzheimer's and Dementia? By : Molly Shomer "What's the difference between dementia and Alzheimer's?" It's a common question, and doctors are some of the best at confusing us. Physicians seem to prefer the word "dementia," possibly because Alzheimer's has become such a loaded word. "Dementia" somehow sounds less frightening to many people, and now even the experts have started using the words interchangeably.
6). Is Exercise a Natural Sleep Aid for Seniors? By : Isabelle Boulay There are a number of reasons why exercise, particularly if performed at the right time of day, is considered the most positive sleep aid for seniors. None, however, are more significant than the fact that exercise is a completely natural form of aid. But before discussing why exercise is such a great sleep aid, it is important to examine both the definition of insomnia and the reasons that people suffer from this affliction.
7). Elder Day Care: A Novel Idea By : Jonesrck Okay, we all know how hectic life is for people nowadays. We have jobs, kids, social lives, and other things that keep us busy. People have been questioning for years the ethical argument regarding putting elderly people into nursing homes. Some people think that putting the elderly in places where they can be properly cared for is right, while others think that the abandonment of an elderly person's family just because of the complications is wrong.
8). The Differences In Elder Care Services By : Susie Drake Time marches on and so do we. Before we know it, we are older and so are our parents or loved ones. Caring for them and being sure their needs are met become a prime concern especially when they begin to not be able to care for themselves as they used to. This dilemma touches most every family. The thing to avoid is to remain under a veil of ignorance by not understanding your options and waiting until the last minute to make an abrupt and often uniformed decision.
9). Tips For Seniors By : Wade Gibson Since January, millions of seniors have enrolled in the new Medicare Part D prescription drug benefit plan. However, the task of choosing a plan may seem daunting and can often be confusing for seniors even after they have enrolled. The decision to participate is important, and careful consideration is vital to ensure a plan is chosen that best meets a customer's needs.
10). Adjusting To An Aging Mind By : Wade Gibson As our brains age, we're less likely to think as quickly or remember things as well as we used to. Research is now showing how the brain changes and adapts with age. You can use what we've learned and follow a few simple tips to help remember things and avoid scams. Dr. Denise C. Park, director of the Roybal Center for Healthy Minds at the University of Illinois, explains that the knowledge we gain from life experience can sometimes compensate for other changes in our brains as we age.

New Elder Care Articles
1). Special Considerations And Tips For Senior Citizens Travel By : Lee Dobbins Senior citizens are special and have special needs and considerations when traveling.
2). How to Protect Senior Citizens From Bird Flu By : Richard Stooker The elderly are especially at risk for catching bird flu, and so you must take special precautions to protect them during an influenza pandemic.
3). A Grandparent’s Guide To Choosing Age Appropriate Toys By : P. Davis According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 1.3 million children are entrusted to their grandparents every day. Roles of a grandparent include spoiling and enlightening their grandkids with toys they will enjoy. After all, toys are considered to be treasures of childhood. With this role comes an added responsibility to make sure that grandchildren stay safe and enjoy a toy that is age-appropriate.
4). Managing Caregiver Guilt: 5 Tips To Manage Guilt So Guilt Serves You, Not Imprisons You By : Vicki Rackner MD Guilt is a common feeling in the landscape of care giving. Guilt can propel you to be the best you can be …or it can immobilize you. For caregivers, painful feelings -- such as guilt, sadness and anger -- are like any other pain. It’s your body’s way of saying, 'Pay attention.' Just as the pain of a burned finger pulls your hand from the stove, so, too, guilt guides your actions and optimizes your health.
5). Emergency Response Systems: My Experience By : R. Kingsley One of the best ways to protect the indepencence of an elderly parent, or parents, as the case may be, is to set them up with an emergency response system. First of all, the emergency alert system will give them the freedom of living alone because help, when needed, is only the push of a button away. I know, because my 86 year old mother slipped and fell in her bedroom just a few feet away from her phone, but could not get to it to dial for help.
6). Stair Chair Lift: A Modern Day Wonder By : Teresa Lang Have you even been to one of those historical shrines or perhaps ancient wonders where in you need to walk up more than 200 steps on the stairs, just to catch a glimpse of history? Whew! I’ve been to one. But going back is the farthest thing on my mind. In fact, had I known it was too be that exhausting, I would not have given it a time of the day. But what if you had no choice but to climb that flight of stairs…and everyday nonetheless! Alright, so maybe not the 200 steps, at least a dozen or less.
7). 9 Quick Tips To Buying A Stair Lift By : Elizabeth Longbourne Stair lifts provide more than just a means of getting from the downstairs floor of a house to the upstairs - they also represent mobility and independence to an ageing generation. As time goes by, it is only natural that we find certain everyday activities, such as climbing the stairs, becoming increasingly difficult. For someone with limited mobility due to injury, disability or chronic diseases such as arthritis and angina installing a stair lift is a low-cost common sense solution.
8). Curved Stair Lifts – An Overview By : Elizabeth Longbourne If you are looking to purchase a stair lift and are worried about getting one to fit because you have a curved, odd shaped staircase or multiple landings – dont be! Curved stair lifts are just what you need. No matter what the configuration or layout of your staircase, stair lifts can be tailor made to the size and shape of virtually any staircase easily coping with bends, straights and landings.
9). Easy Movement with Chair Lifts By : Barney Garcia Chair lifts are useful in enhancing the mobility of the people with handicaps. There are various types of chair lifts in the market, ranging from those that raise the chair to another level for stairs or vehicles to lifts that raise a person to a level that will allow them to stand. The most popular chair lifts are those that help people in wheelchairs get up the stairs.
10). Are you or your elderly parents moving to an Apartment from a house? Here's Help By : Karin Ahrman So you're moving to an apartment, what do you do with all your favorite things you can't live without? Are your parents elderly and you're downsizing them? Sure you can't take everything, but you probably can manage your/their most valued pieces. Admit it. We all have items that are precious to us and must be in the interior of our homes to make it home! Lets say Grandmas "chamber pot".