Tips for Building a Care Plan for Your Aging Parents

By Shanele Healy | March 21, 2022 |

Your parents are getting older, but they don’t want to downsize or move from the family home. How can you balance their goals for aging in place with your need to make sure they’re safe? It’s time to build a care plan that makes everyone happy.

Gather the Family

Personal Care at Home in Charlotte, NC: Building a Care Plan

You can’t create a care plan without input. Your parents need to be involved in their care. Use your judgment, but let them have their say. If they insist they take their medications regularly, but you’ve counted pills, and the quantity never decreases, you have to put your foot down.

If you have siblings and other close family members, ask for their input. What have they seen that you’ve missed? Build a list of the elder care services your parents need from this information.

Be Honest About Abilities and Schedules

Be honest when it comes to the care needs you feel you can help your parents complete. Don’t stretch yourself thin by agreeing to do more for them than you have time for. If you work full-time, there’s little chance you’ll be able to help four hours a day.

You have to consider your own need for social activities, downtime, and family life. You can help your parents, but it shouldn’t come at a cost to your well-being.

Others in the family also need to be honest. Your brother works second shift, and he’s often awake from midnight to 6 a.m. He could take an hour to refill prescriptions and order groceries online for you to pick up later. That helps other family caregivers out without interfering with his schedule.

Embrace Cloud Services for Organization

Google Drive and other online services allow you to share information easily. Others can add to the spreadsheet or document you create. A management system of this nature makes it easy to track who helps your mom and dad each day.

Online calendars are also handy. Put in the daily chores and set them to occur each day. The software carries the tasks through to every day of the year. People just need to put in notes that they’ll take care of that care task.

There are free family caregiver apps you can install onto phones or tablets. If that’s easier to set up and use, look into those. The spreadsheets and calendars are already created. You need to fill in the information.

If you use software, verify that everyone has access and can edit the information. If family members can’t get into it or figure out how to use it, it will cause confusion.

Use Personal Care at Home Services to Fill Gaps

Personal care at home aids your parents with activities of daily living. Talk to a specialist to learn more about the benefits of home care. Learn how personal care at home aides allow your parents to remain independent while they age at home.

If you or an aging loved one are considering Personal Care at Home in Charlotte, NC, please call the professional staff at Caring at Heart today at (704) 379-7510. Serving Charlotte, Statesville, Ballantyne, Mooresville, Huntersville, Matthews, Concord, Gastonia, Pineville and Indian Trail

Author
Recent Posts

Shanele Healy

Owner at Caring at Heart

Caring for others has always been a passion for the owner. She joined the healthcare field while still in high school believing that every health provider had the same intentions at heart. While working as a nurse assistant,Gloria quickly realized that those whom needed us most were being neglected and not receiving the best quality of care they deserved.
Knowing in her heart that families deserved better, she started Caring At Heart in 2008 with two key goals in mind: To provide clients and their families with an experience that was personable, easy, and reassuring and to create a working environment that employees were excited and proud to be a part of.