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Last posts on private forums:  sare  2008-06-16 09:56:33 matthew 2008-04-12 21:25:59 pieniadz 2008-04-12 20:52:26
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Last posts on private blogs: matthew 2008-04-12 21:25:17 mary 2008-04-12 19:27:47 |
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Lastly added medical terms:
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You are in: Main Page / Medical articles / Elderly / Needs of Seniors
What are needs of seniors? How to take care of your elder relatives and how to make their life better. The elderly have other nutritional and emotional needs than young people so read this article and make life of your father, mother better.
The world is constructed in such a way that during the first period of life parents take care of their children and children take care of their parents or grandparents in the later stage of their life. The emotional climate in the family is very important as the more warmth and respect is given to children, the bigger the chance to receive care and attention from them. They will take care of their parents and grandparents if motivated by love and respect rather than an unpleasant sense of duty. If a young child feels and knows that her/his parents do not care about them at all it is hard do demand from such a child to take care of an old, ill relative.
Undertaking care is an emotional, financial challenge, it also demands spending plenty of time on duties and things required during the every day care. It is often connected with a hard decision to make: Will we manage to provide due care for an elderly person? Do we need a professional support of a therapist, nurse? Or maybe we should place our old man to the nursing home?
The care over an elderly person, in the same manner as care over a baby, requires not only good will but also knowledge and plenty of skills. It cannot be limited to fulfilling basic biological needs such as the need of shelter, food and access to the doctor. Each person, regardless of age, has some emotional, intellectual and social needs - people want to feel the closeness and care of other person, especially the one from their family.
Old people are usually afraid of loneliness, they don't want to feel unwanted and forgotten by the whole world. They suffer severely when their beloved ones e.g. spouse, siblings or peers pass away. They are afraid of the oncoming death and realize they become more and more defendant on others and less self-reliant. Above all, the request for help is difficult to express or makes them feel ashamed. That is why, it is advisable to make them feel useful and appreciate their help and experience, let them take care of grandchildren so as they felt wanted and needed. All that leads to creation of close relationship among the generations, teaches tolerance and respect and shows the model of behavior. We should foster those relations and shouldn't let the rat race interrupt them. Let's be an example to follow for our children and teach them appropriate behavior. Close relationship are crucial for parents to accept our help and nursing in an natural and understanding way.
Organization
You should think everything over before you decide to nurse your elderly father or mother. Think of the organization of duties, check who is able to help you with that. Are your living conditions good enough for an ill person? Sometimes, it is definitely easier to find place for an ill relative at your home than taking care of two houses and cooking two dinners together simultaneously. Try to involve as many people as possible in the process of nursing. So, take your children with you to visit their grandparent, young people bring plenty of fun and joy to their life. Don't bear the heavy burden on your own, share the duties. It will also bring some joy to the life of your dad or mom. There are plenty of domestic chores you can distribute among others so you can go shopping whereas the children can stay with grandparents, read books aloud, play different board games. If possible, let your seniors do some things on their own. Find such things they can do on their own, e.g watering flowers, peeling vegetables or dusting. Arm yourself in patience so as not to get easily irritated when they break a glass or spill tea or coffee.
If you live together, don't isolate your old men! Involve them in the family and social life, help but don't replace them in getting dressed or washing. If it's possible try to invite other older people to your home, take him/her to the park or meetings with the elderly. If it's impossible for him to move, try to organize a wheel-chair.
If you decide to invite your father, mother to your home, organize the home in such a way that it was prepared for the new tenant. Prepare a room or at least a place where he would have tranquility, make him/her feel at home. Try to redecorate it in a cosy and practical manner, bring favorite objects of the old man too. It is crucial to remember that the furniture (chair, armchair, table) were adjusted to the ill person. That means that they can't be too low, nor too high, all the rugs which can make the person fall down should be removed.
Nursing is a hard work
Nursing is difficult not only because it's hard to organize or cope with plenty of duties. It's brings plenty of psychological challenges for the person who takes care of a chronically ill. Nursing involves observing the pain, developing dependence, changes of character, aggression or rapacity of your once energetic beloved one.
That is why it is very important to have lots of support from the family, which let overcome those hard days. It's normal to feel anger, irritation, discouragement, sadness but we should remember not to think about them too much. Pamper yourself from time to time and remember about your own and your family's needs. All we have to do is to accept the stages of aging of the body and mind, enjoy the last moments together and memorize good old days together.
Don't avoid talking about death, get accustomed with the inevitability of passing away. Don't be ashamed of tears when talking about the departure and try to make the most of the time left.
Added by:
mary
not connected with health care system
Added on:
2008-06-04 09:48:58 ,
Updated:
2008-06-04 11:43:55
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