Q: How do you know when your loved one needs more help than you can provide?A: There are a number of changes that may signal your family member needs help. You might notice that the house isn’t clean, or their mail isn’t being picked up and bills aren’t being paid, or that they aren’t taking care of personal hygiene. They may forget appointments or forget to eat. Things just don’t seem right; it may not be anything major, but you know that something is wrong.
It’s especially difficult when you don’t live locally, and have to base your opinion on phone calls. When you only get yes or no answers to questions, it’s hard to tell what’s going on. That’s why you need to ask open-ended questions to get more complete responses.
If you think something is wrong, it’s a good idea to call a certified home health agency. At Allegiance, for example, we will send out an RN/case manager to do a free home assessment to determine if your loved one needs help, whether from a medical perspective or with activities of daily living. After our visit, we talk to family members to determine how to procced.
Sometimes it can be as simple as identifying a community resource that can help a person live independently; other times, a loved one may need more help; for example, having someone come in four hours a day, three days a week. In this type of situation, we make a point of finding out what role that person wants to take; what activities they want to do, and what is limiting them from making those things happen. Then we find a solution to fill the gap.
For example, one of our clients is a retired baker, and we were able to match him up with a caregiver who had gone to culinary school. Not only does she take care of getting him to doctor’s appointments and managing his medications, but they have a great time together, and he has an improved quality of life because he gets to continue doing what he loves doing. He is now thriving at home.
