Month: January 2019

A “respite” is a short period of rest from something difficult. For caregivers, respite care is temporary care for your loved ones that gives you much needed time away from the duties of caring for another.

You can use the time to run errands, spend time with family, practice self-care, or anything else that helps you find a sense of relief. The important thing is you get time for yourself without worrying that your loved one is being cared for.

Respite workers help seniors with everything from daily activities around the house to traveling to medical appointments. This care can take place in a senior facility, an adult day care center, or the senior’s home.

Here are a few reasons caregivers might need respite care

–    To give your mind and body a break
–    To go to the doctor or other important appointments
–    To spend time with your friends and family
–    To take over care of your senior if you have a personal emergency.

And check out these facts about caregivers that show why respite care is so essential.

Caregivers can get depressed. Forty to 70 percent of caregivers have clinical symptoms of depression.

The average family caregiver spends 20 hours a week caring for others, and fully 13 percent of caregivers provide more than 40 hours of care. Despite this time commitment, 60 percent of family caregivers keep their jobs.

Caregivers sacrifice a lot to care for their loved ones, and respite care is one way to get a little relief from this most important of duties. To learn more about respite care and find resources near you, visit https://eldercare.acl.gov.

Get Help from EasyCall

Another way to ensure your loved ones are taken care of is with EasyCall. EasyCall is a personal medical response system that ensures help is never further than the press of a button. EasyCall is waterproof and can even automatically detect falls in case of an emergency.

 

As parents age, many will turn to their children for support. Shouldering this responsibility can be a recipe for family conflicts, as age-old resentments can rekindle. This conflict not only harms our relationships with our brothers and sisters, but it can also impact the quality of care our parents receive.

Take a minute to discover some of the common sources of family conflicts when children squabble over their parents’ care and strategies to avoid them.

Finances

Every family is unique, so not every family will deal with financial issues. However,  many senior care experts tell us conflicts often come down to money and the burden of care.

Inheritance is a major source of wealth for many families, so it’s natural that tensions can flair when thinking about dividing mom and dad’s savings. To compound the issue, American’s household wealth has been declining for more than a decade, leaving children to divide up increasingly smaller amounts—a sure recipe for arguments.

Sharing the Responsibility

When it comes to caring for an aging parent, not every task can be divided up evenly among siblings. Often, one child lives closer than others, and he or she takes on the majority of care. This commonly leads to resentment when one sibling feels like others aren’t sharing the load.

When it comes time to divide up any inheritance, this can lead many children who provided the bulk of care to expect a greater share of the money. A fight over money is sure to fuel the flames of family conflict.

How to Avoid Sibling Conflicts

Talk it Out—Ahead of Time

In a perfect world, conflicts are avoided because reasonable adults can communicate their concerns before they boil over into fights. In reality, we know things work differently. When it becomes obvious that a parent will need care as they enter their final years, setting up a family meeting can go a long way to avoiding conflict.

In such a meeting, each sibling should be comfortable discussing what kind of care they think is appropriate, how much they can contribute, and what they see as their responsibility. End of life care should also be discussed, so major decisions don’t have to be made under the stress of a hospital emergency room visit.

Seek Professional Help

If you’re at a loss for how to proceed with quarreling family members, it might be time to seek professional help. Senior living advisors, family counselors, and mediators can offer ways to work out disagreements. Because these professionals don’t have a stake in the outcome, they can help siblings discuss critical issues, especially if family members have ceased speaking with one another.

Whatever strategy you pursue, remember who you’re working for: an elderly parent who needs the love and support of his or her family at a critical time. Whenever possible, now is the time to set aside our differences and come together as families to care for our loved ones.