Starting elder care for your aging parent can be an exceptional step in protecting their health and improving their quality of life as they age in place. An elderly home care services provider can act as a support system for the care efforts that you give your parent and provide valuable personalized services tailored toward helping your parent reach care goals.
One particularly valuable way that an elder care provider can support your parent’s health is in your pursuit of infection prevention. Infections can be extremely dangerous for elderly adults, but the care and support of an elder care provider can reduce this risk.
Some of the ways that elder care can help your parent prevent infections include:
- Encourage good handwashing technique and frequency to control germs,
- Help your parent establish and follow a germ control approach in their home,
- Support your parent in keeping their home clean to reduce germs in their surroundings,
- Manage certain errands for your parent, such as grocery shopping, to reduce how much your parent is exposed to germs, particularly during cold and flu season,
- Provide support and assistance with mobility and other tasks that can help prevent falls and other injuries that might lead to infection,
- Encourage proper management of minor injuries such as cuts and scrapes,
- Observance of such injuries to detect potential signs of infection so that they can bring these to your attention, allowing you to make important decisions regarding their care.
Being a family caregiver for an elderly adult is challenging, and you may encounter times when you feel that you are not fulfilling all of your senior’s needs, or that they would benefit from additional support and care. Whether this is because you live at a distance or have a schedule that is so busy that you feel you are not able to be with your parent as often as you would like to be, or you have challenges and limitations that keep you from handling all of their care needs as efficiently as they need, this can leave you feeling stressed and like you are not giving your parent what they deserve.
Fortunately, elder care can help. An elderly home care services provider can step in to fill any care gaps that might exist and offer your parent support, care, and assistance specifically tailored to your parent’s individual challenges and needs so that they can stay healthy, happy, comfortable, and safe, while pursuing as much independence as possible. This not only improves their quality of life, but also eases your stress and enables you to focus your time and energy on them in the best way possible.
Sources: https://www.cdc.gov/hai/surveillance/index.html
