How Can You Make Visits with Your Elderly Loved One More Productive?

By Gauthier Family Home Care | August 4, 2020 | Comments Off on How Can You Make Visits with Your Elderly Loved One More Productive?

If you are caring for your elderly loved one, especially if they have a neurological degenerative condition, you probably already know that interactions with them are not so easy. However, there are some ways that you can make visits with your elderly loved one more productive. By following the tips mentioned here today, you can improve the interactions you and your elderly loved one have together.  

Body Language is Important 

Caregiver Lowell, MI: Productive Elderly Visits

One of the things you should focus on during your visits with your elderly loved one is their body language. This can help you to figure out how your elderly loved one is feeling. You should pay attention to your own body language, as well. If your body language is showing that you are frustrated, this is likely to set your loved one off. They might become quite agitated. However, if your body language is calm, this could help your loved one to feel calmer, as well.  

Don’t Overwhelm Them 

It is important that you don’t overwhelm your elderly loved one with too much information at once. You should only ask them one thing at a time. You should wait for the answer before you move onto something else. Asking them open-ended questions could confuse them. Be sure the questions can be answered with yes or no.  

Validation of Their Feelings 

You should also make sure you are validating your elderly loved one’s feelings. No matter how they feel this validation is important. If your elderly loved one is feeling upset about anything, you should let them know that you are there for them. Ask them what is upsetting them and let them know this is a normal feeling. The validation alone could help your elderly loved one to feel a bit better about what is going on.  

Limit the Number of People in the Room 

Sometimes, your elderly loved one might get overwhelmed when there are too many people around them. For instance, if you, another family member, and one of their caregivers is in the room, your loved one might feel overwhelmed or agitated. If you can limit the number of people in the room to just one or two people, this could help your loved one to feel more at ease. You might be able to get more out of the conversations with your loved one, as well.  

 

These are some of the ways that you can make visits with your elderly loved one more productive. If you do these things, you can have better interactions with your loved one and find solutions to any problems that might be present, too.  

 

If you or someone you know needs help with a Caregiver in Lowell, MI, contact Gauthier Family Home Care. We provide quality and affordable home care services in our community. Call us at (616) 258-2300 for more information. 

 

Sources 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3074568/ 

Gauthier Family Home Care
Latest posts by Gauthier Family Home Care (see all)
Posted in Caregiver in Lowell MI, Productive Elderly Visits and tagged ,