Pause for a moment to close your eyes and imagine yourself like this: You’ve spent most of your life providing care for and assisting others – as a mother or father, in your profession, through volunteering in your neighborhood, and as a grandparent. After a lifetime of living independently and being in control of your own decisions, you find yourself to have aged to the point that now you are the person in need of assistance with bathing and other care tasks. Imagine the sense of loss, vulnerability, and fear, and you’ll better understand the importance of preserving dignity in elderly care.
If you are taking care of an older loved one, it can help to put yourself in their shoes when facing challenges related to assisting him or her with personal hygiene tasks. The struggles your older adult family member is feeling are real, and a little empathy and patience can go a long way towards promoting a sense of peace about accepting your help. Let’s face it: permitting someone to help with such personal services as dressing, bathing, and bathroom needs is uncomfortable at best, and may feel as though dignity is ripped right away from the person if not handled sensitively.
Carolina Hearts Home Care understands these challenges, and recommends keeping the SMILE concept in mind to help these sensitive situations feel more comfortable for both you and your older family member:
- Safety: Adaptive products like electric razors, grab bars, a bathtub chair and a handheld shower can help.
- Modesty: Make sure there is privacy in the room and maintain modesty as much as possible.
- Independence: Empower older adults to retain the ability to make choices, to express their own personal style, and to do as much as they can independently.
- Levity: Accept imperfection. Make it fun.
- Etiquette: Treat the person as a respected adult, with dignity.
Carolina Hearts Home Care’s trained, experienced home health care specialists provide respectful personal care assistance for older adults. Our caregivers are compassionate, highly-trained, and have undergone thorough background checks – so you have peace of mind in knowing that your older loved one is always safe and secure in our care. Some of the many ways we can help include:
- Bathing, dressing and other personal hygiene assistance
- Light housekeeping and laundry
- Meal planning and preparation
- Accompanied transportation for errands, appointments, and fun activities
- Mobility assistance
- And much more – adapted to each person’s particular needs
Contact the senior care experts at Carolina Hearts Home Care at 1-855-277-2005 to request a free in-home assessment and to learn more about how we can help make life easier and more comfortable for a senior you love. Explore options for home health care in Raeford and the surrounding areas that can help preserve dignity and independence for seniors in our communities. Please see our full service area.
