Help out the family caregiver in your mom’s life during National Family Caregivers Month. Family caregivers take on a lot of added stress as they provide care to a parent, try to maintain friendships, and take care of their household, children, and pets. Here are six ways you can help the family caregiver in your life and how senior home care can help ease the stress.
Cook Meals for a Week
Offer to prepare meals for a week. Having one less task to do can make a big difference. It can take hours to prepare, cook, serve, and clean up the kitchen each day. If you prepare meals for them, it’s a lot of help.
Take Over Appointment Transportation
Offer to drive your mom to her weekly appointments. She might have medical care follow-ups, weekly physical therapy sessions, and eye doctor appointments. Add in dentist check-ups twice a year and podiatrist visits, and it’s pretty time-consuming.
Clean the Home
Stop by and clean the home. Start with vacuuming and mopping. After that, move to dusting the household furnishings and ceiling fan blades. Clean the toilets, sinks, and showers or tubs. Finish by sanitizing light switches, door knobs, phones, and remotes.
Change the sheets and towels and make the bed with clean bed linens. Hang fresh towels. When the laundry is done, fold it and put it away. If you have time left, wash the windows.
Help With the Pets
Your mom’s dog doesn’t often get to go for long walks. Mobility is limited, and the family caregiver doesn’t have a lot of spare time for taking the dog on a walk at the dog’s preferred pace.
Offer to take the dog with you for the day. Take the dog to a dog-friendly trail and spend hours burning off the dog’s energy. If the dog needs food or any supplies, you can stop and get those on the way home.
Run Errands
If there are groceries to purchase, make a list and go shopping. You can also run any errands like picking up packages, mailing returned items, and getting prescription refills while you’re out.
While you’re running errands, consider other things that you could stop and pick up to save time. Your mom’s low on batteries, so head to a home improvement store to stock up. You know your mom has been considering an elevated toilet seat to make it easier to sit down and stand up. Get one for her.
Offer a Day Off
Offer to take over for a full day or several days. While you’re helping your mom, your brother or sister can head off to relax at home, take a vacation, or spend time with friends. If you can’t help out, offer to arrange senior home care services for respite.
Respite care services are a great way for your sibling to have time off each week. That allows the primary family caregiver to return to his or her role refreshed and ready to help again. Call a senior home care agency to get started.
If you or an aging loved one is considering senior home care in Danville, CA, please contact the caring staff at Provident Care Home Care today at (209) 578-1210.
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