Any caregiver has to practice their skills every day, especially amateurs taking care of their aging parents. You need to learn how to put your patient’s needs above yours and ensure their health and happiness. And when you look at just how much you’re improving their life with your actions and words, it’s easy to see why this work is so fulfilling and rewarding.
Providing care to your parents will put you face-to-face with many challenges, and in order to meet all of them, you need to have certain skills. But what should you work on to make your elderly parent’s life better and easier?
Learn to communicate
Effective communication is one of the main skills you need to have. It comes naturally for some, while others need to learn how to communicate properly, even with their own parents (something especially with their own parents). Sure, you want to have technical competence, but focus on your elderly loved one, stay happy and social by providing plenty of opportunities to communicate.
Show compassion
Are you able to tune into people’s feelings, sense their distress, and have the need to relieve it? That’s compassion! Many elderly people today find themselves in many distressing situations (pain, memory loss, loneliness, etc.) so you need to be caring and empathetic to provide your loved one with high-quality care. You might be busy with other issues like learning about medical things and managing your time, but don’t forget to be compassionate.
Work on your observation skills
While listening and talking to your elderly parent is important, they oftentimes don’t know how to explain how they are feeling or don’t want to admit they have health issues. In that case, you need to be observant during your visits or whenever you spend time with them and keep an eye on their health. Sometimes, your noticing something’s wrong can save your parent’s life, so learn a few signs that might mean trouble. Just to be safe, you can even go through an online ACLS certification course so you can offer emergency help in case of cardiopulmonary arrest or other cardiovascular issues. Since you’ll be studying from home, you don’t have to worry about catching COVID-19 and bringing it home to your beloved senior.
Improve time management
You’re probably not working for a caregiving agency, so you’re taking care of your parent on your own and you’re essentially being your own boss. However, that also means you need to manage your time and ensure everything gets done (medication, doctor’s visits, hygiene, cleaning, cooking, etc.) To achieve better time management, you might want to prioritize tasks. This will allow you to be efficient and not drown in many time-consuming duties that are of little or no importance.
Be organized
Your parent’s home needs to be well-organized, so you can always find important medication and documents, supplies and money. When you have some spare time while taking care of your elderly parent, you can have a look around, rearrange important items and place them somewhere handy. In the event of an emergency, your organizational skills might be a true lifesaver.
Maintain cleanliness
Most kids who take care of their elderly parents provide help with housekeeping, light landscaping, and cooking. But, maintaining your parent’s environment and person clean is probably the most important of these tasks. You will probably need to help your parent bathe and dress up, so you might want to learn how to do that properly, safely and with as little humiliation as possible. You will learn these skills as you go, but make sure to be understanding and patient, and keep safety as your number one priority.
Be flexible
Your elderly parent’s condition can change suddenly, so you need to be available to rush in and provide care. Having a flexible mindset and job schedule is very important so you can handle these situations smoothly. Make sure to relax, let go of your old ways, and embrace the unknown. In time, you will get used to your crazy schedule.
Take initiative
Most of the time, you will be alone with your elderly parent in their home. Of course, you will have some instructions from the doctor (on medication, wound care, diet, etc.) but all non-medical things are yours to manage and take care of. Since the doctor won’t sign off on your every move, you need to learn how to take initiative and be proactive. Making informed decisions and taking action can be very important in emergencies so make sure to practice some tricky situations and you will be much better at handling them as they occur.
Not every child is made to be a caregiver for their elderly parent. If you know you lack any of these strengths, you can either work on them or hire a professional caregiver. Those people who are naturally nurturing will love to take care of their parents, spend more time with them and make their life easier, healthier, and filled with love.