It isn’t easy to talk to your parents about home care. Even broaching the subject takes careful planning and a delicate touch. Acknowledging that you can no longer live alone and need long-term care is a frightening and painful experience for older people and others. Your family member may understand they need medical care, but aren’t sure how to ask for help at home.
Do you need help figuring out how to tell your elderly parents they need help? Keep reading for a few ideas to consider, so when you’re ready to start the conversation, you can handle it with tact and sensitivity.
Telling Your Elderly Parent They Need Help
Becoming responsible for a family member is a difficult transition. They may be someone who raised you or who you relied on in the past when you were struggling. However, it’s essential to remain positive and look at the situation thoroughly. Consider your family member’s situation and what they need to stay safe and healthy at home.
Does your loved one struggle with health issues? Can they maintain their personal hygiene? Is getting dressed, moving around the house, preparing meals, taking medication, and traveling possible without you being there to help? Understanding the exact services you may need a home care agency to provide makes it easier to convince your family member of their value.
Before you sit down to talk to your parents about home care, consider the following:
How To Bring Up Home Care
Talking to your parent about home care may be uncomfortable. To your family member, the idea of having a personal care aide around may feel invasive and like a threat to their independence. When approaching your parent about home care, lead with positivity. Acknowledge their fear and reassure them. Remind them that you’re focused on protecting their autonomy and their ability to live comfortably and safely at home.
Involve your family member in the conversation. Caring for your parents is important to you, but making plans for their care without their input will only foster resentment for you, your family member, and the home care professional assigned to your household. Be patient and understanding, and don’t try to figure everything out in one conversation.
Emphasize Independence
When older adults hear they need senior companion care or personal care services, their first concern is losing independence. They may think they’ll have a home care aide looking over their shoulder for the rest of their life or won’t have the freedom to plan their own schedule. When telling your elderly parent they need help, explain how working with a home care agency enhances their independence instead of taking it away.
Discuss how their quality of life could be impacted if their health issues worsen. Have they fallen or hurt themselves doing things around the house? Explain what could happen if they injure themselves at home and you aren’t there to help. Mention how living with a health condition without assistance can lead to broken bones, surgery, or prolonged recovery time.
Address Fear
Home care services are an adjustment. It takes time for people to get used to working with a home care aide. Before getting to know them, a new caregiver may seem like an outsider and a threat, leading your family member to treat them with hostility. Your parent may feel vulnerable or at odds with their caregiver.
It’s essential not to respond with more hostility when addressing such behavior. Be empathetic and patient. Set aside enough time to have the conversation and hear your family member out. Understand your own emotional experience and how it informs your answer.
Try Out Home Care Services
You don’t have to jump from no home care to full-time, long-term care support. Home care agencies offer many services that are available on a short-term basis. Slowly introducing your parent to home care eases their fear and opens them to the possibility of ongoing care.
If you or another trusted adult is the primary caregiver, allow a professional to provide respite care while you take a break from your duties. Similarly, if your family member has been discharged from the hospital following surgery, hire a caregiver to give recovery care or therapeutic services. Say that it’s for your peace of mind and that you’re open to discussing your loved one’s experience with the service.
Choose MDC Healthcare To Support Your Parent With Home Care
Your family member wants to be at home. Living with health issues is challenging enough without moving somewhere unfamiliar, like a nursing home, but it’s also unrealistic to expect family caregivers to provide intensive home care on top of their other personal and professional responsibilities. A home care agency offers relief to family caregivers and ensures their loved ones are safe and healthy.
There’s no replacing family, but MDC Healthcare’s home care services are the helping hand you need to keep your parent independent and comfortable. We strive to improve our clients’ quality of life by developing a care plan that suits their needs. If your loved one needs help with bathing, dressing, or meal preparation, services like our personal care and senior companion care programs have you covered.
Our care aides are trained, compassionate, and focused. We serve communities of every race, ethnicity, and culture in Georgia. When you work with our team, we assign you a care coordinator and caregiver who understands your life experience and can support you with the attention you need. Make MDC Healthcare your first call when you’re ready to find your parent home care.
