Articles
Look-and-See
Signs A Senior Needs Help
By:
Kim Henrichs-Suey
How to tell when the
elderly need assistance to stay safe and comfortable at home.
What
today’s seniors want most is to age in place. What they fear
most is to lose their independence. But what they’re least
likely to ask for is the kind of help that will keep them comfortable
and safe at home. That’s why it’s often up to the adult
children of aging parents to look for the signs that their elderly
loved one needs help at home. Neglecting those signs will likely
lead seniors to the kind of dependence that most would like to avoid.
Seniors
often don’t recognize when they require help,” said Kim
Henrichs-Suey, of Home Instead Senior Care office serving the Omaha,
Nebraska territory. “That’s why adult children should
identify where their loved ones need assistance. Home Instead
Senior Care has made this process easier by providing a list of
simple, look-and-see signs that adult children can use to identify the
types of services their loved ones might need. Providing seniors
assistance with a few basic tasks—such as meal preparation, light
housework, companionship and medication reminders—often means the
difference between whether they stay at home or go to a facility. And
that kind of independence is very important to seniors’ overall
happiness.”
Seniors’
expectations for remaining at home are high. In a survey
conducted late last year by Home Instead Senior Care, 83 percent of
seniors surveyed said they are very or somewhat likely to remain in
their homes rather than move to a care facility. Home Instead
Senior Care, the largest provider of non-medical home care and
companionship for the elderly in the U.S., sends CAREGivers to
seniors to help keep them independent and at home for as long as
possible.
“Most
people, in general, want to live at home or independently in a
retirement community,” said Mary Hujer RN, MSN, geriatric clinical
nurse specialist for the Cleveland Clinic. “Who wants to lose
their independence? The best approach to staying self-sufficient
is to plan ahead and accept help when necessary.”
Hujer
explained that some concerns of aging, which jeopardize independence,
could include isolation, weight loss, safety and transportation. “First,
research shows that routine socialization is one of the key aspects of
successful aging so it’s important for seniors to find social
activities,” she said. “Second, poor nutrition that leads to
weight loss can be caused by multiple factors, some of which may be
social. Up to one-third of patients I see experience some weight
loss at one time or another,” she added.
“Third,
safety becomes a real concern for seniors who are suffering illness or
mobility problems. To prevent falls, consider putting grab bars
in bathrooms, placing bright yellow tape strips on stairs or painting
the toilet seat yellow,” she said. “Finally, transportation
is a big challenge for those seniors who are forced to give up their
keys. Communities can offer the best programs in the world, but
if you can’t get the individual there, what good are they?” Hujer
said.
Oftentimes,
seniors are reluctant to seek outside help because they want to keep
doing things the way they always have. “Dementia, which
includes Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive problems, may
impair seniors’ judgment as well as their memory,” Hujer said. “That’s
when, with an older adult’s input, a caregiver can intervene to
promote a safe environment and help ensure quality of life.”
“By
helping adult children identify the types of resources that a senior
might need to remain independent at home, we hope that families can
avoid some of the stress that goes with caring for an aging loved
one,” Hujer said.
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For
more information about Home Instead Senior Care, contact Kim
Henrichs-Suey at (402) 498-3444 or visit the company’s Web site at www.homeinstead.com
