Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit our lives like a runaway train, you probably worried about your aging parents living alone, wondering, “Are they healthy? Taking care of themselves? Eating enough? Taking their medication on schedule?” What about the guilt of not visiting them as often as you probably should?
Today, with sheltering in place, your parents may be lonelier than you realize. If you felt you didn’t visit them enough in the past, the situation is likely worse now because you can’t visit them for fear of COVID-19 exposure. Don’t be hard on yourself —you can take steps to heighten your parents’ sense of purpose and provide them with something to look forward to every day.
Prevent the loneliness of isolation from damaging the already fragile health that comes naturally with age. Consider in-home care from a professional home care agency that practices CDC-recommended safety measures to help prevent exposure to and transmission of COVID-19.
Prevent your isolated parents from succumbing to loneliness
You may live a block away, an hour away or 2,000 miles from your parents. Even if you live near them, COVID-19 restrictions prevent visiting face-to-face today or in the near future. You’re concerned about their well-being, but what can you do?
Consider in-home care
In-home care is a robust and dependable solution to reduce or eliminate loneliness for your parents, providing peace of mind for you. In addition to caring for your parents’ daily needs such as dressing, preparing meals, running errands and light housekeeping, in-home caregivers do much more. Our SYNERGY HomeCare caregivers engage older adults in meaningful activities like arts and crafts, reading, listening to music, setting up video calls with friends and writing letters.
In addition to the activities mentioned above, there are scores of things seniors can do with their caregivers to feel more connected to others. With in-home care, each day seniors have something to look forward to doing with their caregiver, and that provides hope while reducing loneliness.
As social creatures who thrive on social connections, the prolonged disconnection from friends and family has been difficult. Professional caregivers understand the relationship between socialization and good health. They focus on activities that deliver interaction with the people your parents care about—video coffee chats with friends, FaceTime with the grandchildren, coordinating window visits and sending little gifts to the family that has special significance.
Connect through a project
Additionally, you can give your parents a project to do while they’re physically isolated. Ask them to be the family historian by journaling about the struggles your family, the country and the world are enduring as we navigate the pandemic. Or request they put a photo album together using the old box of prints in the garage. Call them daily to check on their progress, discuss and be a part of a shared project. The idea is to give them a purpose that makes them feel connected to family and special for being the one chosen to manage the project.
In-home care provides peace of mind
As an adult child, the peace of mind you experience from your parents’ home care stems from the daily communication provided by the caregiver. Knowing how your parents are doing, how their emotional and physical health is will be what you look forward to each day. It’s this level of contentment and the variety of services offered in their home that make a profound impact on the quality of their lives.
Home care is in demand today, particularly by adult children like yourself. Doing whatever it takes to ensure your parents are in a good place emotionally, distanced from potential COVID-19 exposure and well cared for within their own home by compassionate, friendly caregivers is your goal. SYNERGY HomeCare’s caregivers are committed to getting your parents through isolation with smiles on their faces, good health and warmth in their hearts.
The peace of mind you will experience is priceless.
“As the coronavirus continues to spread throughout the world, adult children of aging parents worry about their parents’ safety as well as the repercussions of isolation. With 16.9 percent of the U.S. population aged 65 and older, it is a concern many face.”
COVID-19 Isolation hits senior hard: Lonely, depressed & declining health Research has linked social isolation and loneliness to higher risks for a variety of physical and mental health conditions, such as high blood pressure, heart disease, obesity, a weakened immune system, anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s disease and even death.
The coronavirus has left many seniors unusually isolated, separated from friends and family they once depended upon for socialization, rides to the grocery store or trips to the doctor. These are the seniors who are at the highest risk for loneliness, depression and susceptibility to disease and illness.
Synergy Home Care
239.990.2935
synergyhomecare.com
9732 Commerce Center Ct., Suite C
Fort Myers, FL 33908