Our care giving dilemma derives many of its frustrations and heartaches from our parents’ and society’s centuries-old expectations that care giving for the elderly “is the children’s job.” This assumption is still the status quo even though you have no medical or gerontological training. It assumes that you will know the following:
-when, how and how much to intervene
-how to manage insurance benefits
-how to evaluate a nursing home
-how to cope Alzheimer’s disease
-how to resolve a host of other new and life altering care giving dilemmas.
1. Between 2001-2006: an average of 129 Americans 65 and older were treated in emergency departments each day for injuries from falls involving walkers and canes.
2. Fractures are the most common fall injury associated with walkers and canes.
3. People are seven times more likely to be injured in a fall with a walker verses a cane.
4. More than half of fall injuries associated with walkers and canes happen at home.
But wait…We are the first generation, ever in the entire history of the world, to face the difficulties of living in a time where we may spend more years caring for elderly parents than we spent caring for our children.
How do elder-caregivers cope in a world where less than 1% of doctors are trained in geriatric medicine? Where up to 140,000 deaths annually occur from Adverse Drug Reactions yet only 720 out of our 200,000 pharmacists have geriatric training? And the entire care giving system relies on poorly paid workers with only 40 hours of training for effective and compassionate care? Add to this the inherent determination of most parents to keep their adult children from knowing anything about their medical needs or financial status and it’s easy to see why continued attempts at intervention may seem like a waste of time. They’re not. Education, planning, and communication can help overcome much of our parents’ resistance to our help.
Therapists usually recommend mobility aids without knowing the intended use or safety issues. Until, therapists and others who recommend these products are educated we will continue to see the proliferation of low quality ineffective products. Those who recommend mobility aids should focus on effectiveness, safety and intended use otherwise we end up paying the greatest price when a fall happens.
Of course, you want to be a responsible adult child, and since you love your parents, you do want to make sure they are well cared for. However, you will not do anybody good in the long term if you do not accept some help when you need it. If you are feeling the strain, do not be afraid to look into sources of help.
Before you decide to intervene Take a step back and ask yourself these questions: Have your parents’ habits really changed? Did they manage their affairs the same way ten or twenty years ago? Is the difference simply that now you see the situation from an adult perspective rather than the way you viewed it as a child? If you’ve been truly objective and you still believe your parents are at risk and that you aren’t trying to change their long-established habits to meet your view of how they “should” live their lives, then trust your instincts and intervene.
Resource Author Francisco Rodriguez Higueras
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Tags: elder care, juegos, trabajar, trabajo