What Can You Do to Care for Your Senior When You Don’t Live Near Her?

Senior Care Evanston IL - What Can You Do to Care for Your Senior When You Don’t Live Near Her?

​Very often family caregivers find that their senior needs help sooner than expected or that her health has changed rapidly. This is particularly troubling when you live farther away from your senior and are suddenly trying to offer more care from a long distance. There are still things you can do to make that caregiving experience more effective. ​

Do What You Can to Visit and Make it Count  

Visits are huge for you and your senior when you don’t live near each other. But it’s possible that you won’t be able to visit nearly as often as you want or need to. That’s why you need to figure out what you are able to do and make plans well in advance whenever possible. When you are visiting your senior, it’s going to be really important that you do what you can to make the most of that visit. You’re there not just to check up on your senior, but also to spend some quality time with her. Both are important features of that visit. 

Set up a Few Sources of Information for Yourself 

Information is your biggest and best tool when you are a long-distance caregiver. That may mean that you need more than one source of information about how your elderly family member is doing. You’re going to want to hear from her, of course, but there may be things she doesn’t want to tell you because she doesn’t want you to worry. Having other sources, like her doctor’s office or senior care providers who stop in and check on her for you, is really crucial. 

Set up a Plan for Communicating 

Having a communication plan is another part of this process that makes a big difference. If you and your senior know that you’re going to touch base in specific ways, that allows you to know that all is well. When your senior doesn’t check in according to that schedule, that might be when you become concerned. Having backup plans can also help, especially if your elderly family member is determined to do as much on her own as possible. 

Caring from your elderly family member from farther away is definitely possible, but it may involve using techniques and resources that you weren’t expecting to need. Recalibrating your own expectations a bit can help, as can using every bit of the options that are available to you both. 

If you or an aging loved one are considering Senior Care Services in Evanston IL, contact the caring staff at Gentle Home Services. Call today (800) 860-9823.​

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