By: Marni McDuff
As many adult children are frightfully aware, being the caregiver is not easy. It is all-consuming because even when you’re not at home, taking care of your senior, you’re still thinking about them, worried if they’re okay and how they’re holding up at home.
We know it can be stressful and that’s why we try to make senior lifestyle transitions as smooth as humanly possible. With senior placement, you can get your life back.
Senior Placement Sanctuary
It wasn’t long ago when I was working with a client whose sister required more intensive care. He became her sole caregiver seemingly overnight and it completely shuffled his routine around. Every action, errand, and recreational activity came secondary to the care of his sister.
This caused the two of them to grow increasingly isolated – she was distanced from the people she knew and he didn’t have time for himself. He relented that he couldn’t go out and do the things he enjoyed because of the monolithic responsibility. He even expressed how he felt the weight of caregiving all the more because his sister did not like watching TV, so there was no break in sight. Additionally, his sister needed specialized care for her legs as they would swell and become painful.
However, he contacted us and last October, and together we finally moved his sister into an Adult Care Home.
Adult Care Homes Can Give Your Life Back
Of course, the brother was relieved of his caregiver duties and literally said, “I have my life back!” Like most of the families, he was blown away by the care his sister receives in the adult care home. They provide the care he couldn’t have possibility provided and that gives him peace of mind.
His sister’s new caregiver has even been massaging her legs regularly – so now they don’t swell anymore! She’s even walking regularly. And that’s perhaps the most important aspect to point out, it’s not only the brother who has been given his life back, but his sister as well.
Before she didn’t like watching TV, but apparently now, she’s hooked! Not only this, but because of her previous limitations, she didn’t have many friends outside of her brother, but now she has a good friend in the home and they spend much of their time together.
Moving your loved one to an adult care home is not easy. People feel reservations about whether or not their family member needs it and almost always they feel extraordinary guilt, like it’s their own fault for not being able to take care of their loved ones. But this is a job that people have been trained for years to do well, so you’re not alone and we are here to help.
Of course, our relationship with the families we help carries on well after the family members have been placed in a new living situation. Even now, I’m helping the family apply for Medicaid. Overall, it has been a great outcome and our ongoing relationship is one of the most rewarding aspects of what we do.
