February 25th, 2016

Preparing for Respite Care in Your Elder Care Journey with Your Loved One

Elder Care in Highland Park IL

Respite care can be one of the greatest blessings you can encounter during your elder care journey with your aging parents. If you are the primary caregiver you devote an incredible amount of time to making sure that your elderly parents get the care, support, and assistance that they need, but this can often result in you forgetting to take care of yourself, your marriage, your relationship with your children, and your other obligations in life. When this happens, the stress can put you at serious risk of mental, emotional, cognitive, and physical health problems that can greatly diminish your quality of life. You might feel, however, that you do not have another option if you are an only child, the only child that lives close to your parents, or you do not have a regularly elderly health care services provider to be there with your parents. This is when respite care comes into play.

A respite care provider is one who can step in to provide personalized care and assistance to your aging loved one when you are not available to offer that care. This can be for just a few hours on an afternoon so that you can attend a function at your child's school or get your haircut, or even a few days so that you can take a much-deserved getaway with your partner. However you choose to use it, respite care gives you that additional "safety net" of care when you need some time to yourself but also want to make sure that your loved ones are getting everything that they need to stay safe, happy, healthy, and comfortable.

Taking time away from your elder care responsibilities with your parents can be a fantastic way to unwind, de-stress, and rejuvenate yourself, but it can also be stressful to feel ready for this change. Taking the time to prepare for your period of respite care with your parents is a vital step in making sure that all of you can make the most out of this experience.

Some ways that you can prepare for a period of respite care in your elderly care journey with your aging loved ones include:

• Talk about it. Make sure that your parents know about the upcoming "break" and let them know that they will have a care provider coming in to help them. Reassure them that their routine will stay as close to the same as possible and that if anything happens the care provider can handle it, and will call you to ensure that you can get home if necessary.

• Stock up the closets. The last thing you want is for you to leave on your trip only for your parents to find out that they have no toilet paper or are running low on pain reliever. Go through the home in the days leading up to your respite care break and evaluate all of the things that they might need. Stock up on essentials such as toilet paper, tissues, paper towels, detergents of all kinds, bath and body care products, and medications or first aid supplies that they use regularly so that you know they have everything that they need, when they need it.

• Prepare meals. Feel confident that their diet routine will stay on track and relieve the care provider of some hassle by preparing and freezing meals ahead of time. Leave instructions with how to heat up or finish preparing the meals and what types of sides or other foods they should eat, such as a salad or a fruit side. Label them clearly and consider adding color-coded stickers to other ingredients or to containers that go together for ease of serving.

• Give yourself permission. The most important thing that you can do is tell yourself that the decision you are making is acceptable. Give yourself permission to enjoy your time off and reassure yourself that your parents will not only be fine, but they will actually enjoy the time with a new and interesting companion while you are gone.

If you or an aging loved one are considering elder care in Highland Park, IL, contact the caring staff at Gentle Home Services. Call today (800) 860-9823.

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