Regardless of how much you’d want to take care of your senior loved one, there comes a time when it becomes impossible based on your responsibilities and their needs. For instance, if you’re all alone with your senior loved one, and you land a job that involves lots of traveling, it might not be easy to leave them alone without anyone to take care of them. On the other hand, your senior loved one might be leading a lonely life that makes you feel they need to be around people of the same age. Let’s Get Care can assist you with your aged care needs and enquiries.
At this point, your better option might be moving them into an aged care facility. Unfortunately, doing so won’t be easy, especially since you want them to understand the move is for their good. If you’re planning to move your senior loved one into an aged care facility, here are some ways to help them settle effortlessly.
Choose The Right Facility
The facility you choose is where your loved one will spend most of their time. It will be their home. Therefore, you must choose the facility carefully and pick nothing but the best.
Among the best ways to determine if a facility is the ideal choice for your loved one is by understanding their needs and researching a facility that can meet them. You may also want to click here to understand what to expect from an ideal aged care facility.
Be Positive
Settling your loved one into aged care won’t be easy. At first, it might feel like you’re sending your loved one away or neglecting them. On the other hand, the person moving to an aged care facility might feel as if they aren’t loved anymore or are being separated from what they’re used to.
As a result, the journey might be bumpy and full of emotions. Nevertheless, it would help if you remained focused and positive. Try to explain the benefits of moving them to a facility. Assure them it’s for their best, and you’ll always be around.
Understand their feelings and fears and try to build positivity around them. For example, when they fear being alone with strangers, tell them that’s how they’ll meet and make new friends. Be their source of support and always assure them that you and everyone else will help them cope with the occasional loneliness, which is normal in anyone’s life.
Make The Facility Feel Like Home
As earlier stated, the facility you choose will be your loved one’s new home. Therefore, it’s important to make it feel like one. Though the space might be tiny compared to where they used to live, decorate it with favorite and familiar items to make it feel like home. While purchasing new bedspreads and decorations might not be wrong, old and familiar items can make transitioning a bit more effortless.
Be Available
Among the biggest fears older people have when moving into aged care facilities is being isolated and neglected. They tend to think they’ll be abandoned and forgotten. So, it’s essential to keep in touch with your loved one as much as possible.
Whenever you’re available, plan to visit them with family. On days that you can’t make it to the facility, ensure to call or send them letters. Sending your loved one pictures will also go a long way in ensuring they see the faces of their family members whenever they want.
Volunteer To Help At The Facility
There are many things to be done at senior care facilities, from washing dishes to doing laundry, tidying the place, and entertaining residents. In other words, there is always room for help.
However, suppose a particular facility doesn’t allow volunteers to participate in cleaning and such activities, but it allows them to entertain patients. In that case, consider playing musical instruments or singing songs to make residents feel special. This way, you’ll make more seniors happy and spend more time with your loved one, especially if you visit regularly.
Work Closely With The Staff
From time to time, your loved one might have concerns and requests that the nursing staff might better address. Therefore, it would be better to work closely with these professionals, especially when addressing complaints.
Always ask the nursing staff about your loved one’s progress to understand if you can do anything to help. When it comes to special requests, don’t hesitate to raise them with the nurses. They’re there to make residents comfortable and happy; hence, they’re always willing to go the extra mile.
Take Your Loved One Out
No one wants to spend time in one place for a prolonged period. The feeling can be depressing and devastating. Therefore, it would help if you take your loved one out and spend quality time away from the facility. Getting them exposed to other things will improve their general well-being while reminding them that the facility’s walls don’t restrict their freedom.
Conclusion
The process of preparing, moving, and settling your loved one into an assisted living Brisbane facility isn’t an easy one. It’s full of emotions and doubts. However, so long as you aren’t moving your loved one into the facility to get rid of them, the choice will bring more advantages than disadvantages. Contact My Home Care if you need further advice about home aged care.
You only need to select a facility with the best services and always check on your loved one. With help from your family, friends, and the nursing staff, your loved one will start feeling content with living in an aged care facility.