Having the conversation with your parent about home care is never going to be an easy one, for you or for your parent. It brings home to your parent the true extent of losing their independence as a result of failing health or recent disability.
It’s difficult enough to see that your parent will need a caregiver, and that you may not be in the position to become a full time caregiver due to outside responsibilities, but it can also make your parent feel that it must be worse than they thought, if you need to hire a caregiver.
Your approach is going to make all the difference to the outcome of this difficult conversation, but having a few pointers along the way may have a positive impact on to the outcome.
If you’re parent is already in the first stages of dementia it will more than likely become even more challenging, but with patience and a lot of tact, the conversation may lead to a positive outcome.
4 Tips that may help when you need to have the conversation
1. Highlight the positives of what home care is
There’s no doubt that if your parent is living with a condition or disease that is degenerative, it’s even harder to face the reality they might need help, which will more than likely make them feel defensive when faced with the reality that home care is becoming a reality.
Highlight the positives of hiring a caregiver to help them at home, as opposed to having to live in a nursing home or assisted living facility.
You could point out that if they did choose a nursing home, they may be in a crowded place in which the staff are unable to give the level of care or attention your parent deserves.
2. Give examples of how home care can help others in the family
Your parent may feel that they are managing on their own, in which case you need to be firm about their limitations. If your parent gets negative about home care, or tell them how much you’d love the peace of mind knowing that they’re being cared for safely at home.
Reassure your parent that they’re in no way a burden to you, especially when it comes to the financial aspect of hiring a caregiver.
If your parent understands that it’s more about the fact that you’d like to make sure he or she is safe at home, it’s going to make the conversation a little easier.
Let your parent know that it helps you to help them and let them know that as much as you’d like to, you can’t always be there and that you need a little help to make sure they have the best of both worlds.
Most important is that you are careful not to give your parent the impression that it’s too much of a strain to care for them yourself.
3. Ask your parent to join you in giving home care a try
Doing it this way means that it’s something you’re both in on out of love for each other. You could try it in a way that would make a caregiver necessary for a short while, which won’t make your parent feel like they’re signing on the dotted line for anything permanent.
Plan a weekend or week away and allow your parent to spend some time with a caregiver, this will at the very least give your parent a chance to see a kind human being behind the label of caregiver.
4. Call CareChamp for top caregivers in South Africa
If its professional advice you need, the management team at CareChamp will do all they can to make sure that an appropriate care plan can be put in place for your loved one.
Depending on the information provided by you, CareChamp will give you the opportunity to have a personal hand in the choice of caregiver you feel will best suit your parent. No one knows your mom and dad better than you do, which is why this choice is so personal for you.
Depending again on the background provided by you, CareChamp has professional, registered nurses on hand to do an initial home care assessment, from which they will be able to create an appropriate care plan.
CareChamp will do all they can to ensure that your elderly frail or disabled parent receives the level of care they really deserve, from the top trained caregivers in South Africa.