Caring for Groups that Don’t Receive Attention

When it comes to the care of our elderly loved ones we have some big hurdles that we are still facing as a society. Earlier, we spoke about how poverty is a huge problem when it comes to the appropriate care of older individuals. People that come from low income backgrounds tend to receive late diagnoses when it comes to dementia, and Alzheimer’s disease particularly. The end result is that these people have a much lower quality of life because their symptoms are not managed at a time when they are still manageable. It leads to a shorter life expectancy, and a difficult one, at that. These are the groups that need caring for the most.

 

We wish there was an easy solution to this. There isn’t. However, over the years, there are a few things that we’ve noticed that might be able to help families. You might already know these things, and hopefully you do. If these ideas are new to you and they look like they can be of help, we encourage you to learn more so that you can help your mom or dad have the best quality senior care that they can have, regardless of their income or socioeconomic status.

 

Some groups of people need more attention and caring for than others.

 

First, always think of the individual first. This is an obvious point to many, but when you start dealing with rules and regulations, the individual side can easily be ignored. Insurance laws and more, by necessity, cannot speak to individual circumstances. They speak in very general ways to very general situations. But your mom is not a general situation. She is a person whom you love and respect. This mindset needs to be kept by you, and any caregivers or professionals that you might go to for assistance.

 

When looking for senior care, look at what your parent’s needs are. As an individual, they will have a different set of needs than someone else. For some people, in-home care is perfect, while others don’t mind leaving their home to go to a new location. Some people resist the idea of any sort of senior care completely, and would rather have a family member help them out. These cases, again, need to be looked at one at a time. Sometimes people are adverse to the idea of senior care because they really don’t need help. Others are against the idea because they think they don’t need it, but truly do. You will need to look at what your loved one needs with honest eyes.

 

Please don’t forget that being a family caregiver might not have an immediate cost associated with it, but there is a definite opportunity cost. In fact, there are studies that show that people who leave their job to help care for an older loved one actually lose more money than those who pay for an in-home caregiver. We understand that not everyone has the means to take advantage of this because of the immediate cost that is involved, but it is worth considering if you can.

 

Finally, look into assistance. There are a lot of organizations and opportunities that can help you to offset the cost of care, or even reduce it to zero. If you can find the right resources, use them. That’s why they are there.

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