Elder Care Tips: Making Sure Your Loved Ones Feel Safe
Elder Care in Vienna VA
Taking care of your elderly loved ones is about more than just making sure that their medical needs are met, that they eat well, and that their home is tailored to keep them physically safe as they 
age in place. You must also keep in mind the need for them to feel safe. The feeling of safety and security is essential to mental and emotional health, but it can be a challenge to achieve when you are on an elder care journey with your parents. Particularly if your seniors cope with cognitive issues such as Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia, establishing and maintaining a sense of personal safety is something that you will need to work toward consistently and be willing to adapt as your parents’ needs change.
Use these tips, and share them with your aging loved ones’ elderly health care services provider, to make sure that your loved ones feel safe throughout their later years:
• Acknowledge them. Sometimes it can be difficult to understand why people are afraid of certain things or to not get frustrated when they are afraid or uneasy in situations that you feel are perfectly safe. It is important to remember that seniors who are dealing with cognitive limitations do not interpret the world around them in the same way as others, making it so that you cannot really understand what they are experiencing or how it is affecting them. Even if you find it strange that your parents are afraid, acknowledge their fear in a respectful and caring way so that they feel that you are their ally and support system.
• Keep them physically safe. Make efforts to keep your loved ones physically safe in ways that they can see and understand. This means showing them the locks on their doors, installing a security system, and even closing the shades before it gets dark so they do not feel like there are people are looking in at them.
• Ask questions. Do not just assume that your parents are feeling secure. Ask them how they are feeling, if they feel safe, and if there is anything that you could do to make them feel safer and more secure. If they tell you something, reiterate it to them and confirm why it would make them feel safe so that you can start to understand. For example, if your mother asks you to keep the light in the hallway on when she goes to bed, you could say, “I will keep the light in the hallway on for you so that there is some light in your room while you are sleeping and you can see where you are going if you get up in the middle of the night.”
• Remind them of visitors. Unexpected visitors or people who they do not recognize can be unnerving for seniors with cognitive limitations. Make sure that you remind your parents any time they will have visitors in their home, even if it is an elderly health care services provider. Tell them who is coming, their names, their relationship with your seniors, and why they are visiting so that your parents feel secure with the visit.
If you or an aging loved one are considering elder care in Vienna, VA, call the caring staff at Medical Professionals On Call today. 703-273-8818
Medical Professionals On Call has such a caring, professional staff who are available to step in with whatever level of care necessary for loved ones and to relieve you of that stress.
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