What Do You Most Need to Know about Respite Care?
If you’re a family caregiver and you haven’t already considered lining up respite care, you might want to rethink that decision. Respite care can be a critical part of caring for someone else and it can even help to ensure that you’re able to keep being a family caregiver for a lot longer than you might expect.
Respite Care Offers a Break
Senior Care Lowell, MI: Respite Care and Seniors
Respite care ensures that your elderly family member is safe under the care of someone else, usually senior care providers, while you take care of other needs. You might still be there with your senior or you might leave. Regardless, you’re not the one who has to handle everything, at least for a little while. There’s also a misconception that you have to do the “right” things when you’re “off the clock.” You can do nothing at all if that’s what you need.
You Can Set Respite Care up According to Your Schedule
You might be worried that you have to take respite time according to someone else’s timetable. But the reality is that you can set respite care up according to your own schedule. It’s about what works for you and for your senior. If you need respite care every other week, that’s doable. If you need help several times a week, that’s also doable.
Why You Should Take Respite Time
When you’ve got someone handling respite time for you, that frees you up both mentally and physically. The peace of mind is a huge factor in being able to truly take time for yourself that you need. You’re able to handle your own healthcare tasks, rest, and recharge. You’re also able to spend time with other people that might have been difficult to schedule otherwise.
Risks of Not Taking Respite Time Are Bigger than You Might Think
You can probably get away with not taking respite time for a while as a family caregiver. But there are risks. You’re running the risk of wearing yourself out constantly and getting no opportunity to do anything beyond being a family caregiver. That’s a fast track to burnout, which can take you out of the role of caregiver permanently if you’re not careful.
Respite care is a vital part of your own care plan, but it helps both you and your senior. You each need to be able to be around other people and have new experiences, and respite care can ensure that happens for you and your elderly family member.
If you or someone you know needs help with Senior Care 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.
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