We’re living in a time when so many people aren’t able to go visit their elderly loved ones in a facility. Long-term care facilities have been shut down in most areas so that families are unable to visit their loved ones. This has created a more frequent situation of long-distance caregiving.
We wanted to share some tips for long-distance caregiving for elderly family members today. Whether you’re caring for a relative that lives in their own home or at a long-term care facility, we hope these tips help you be a part of your loved ones’ life from afar.
Evaluate What You Can Do
You may be able to change how your loved one is cared for. If you have the means, maybe allow your loved one to live with you. This will take some planning and a lot of meetings between your household and the elderly loved one, but you can evaluate what options you have.
Knowing what other options you have for long distances caregiving will help ease the burden and stress on everyone involved.
Host a Family Meeting
The best way to care for your loved one from afar is to have family meetings. You’ll want to meet at least once every other week, with every week being the goal. This provides your loved ones a chance to discuss any issues or concerns they have.
You can also use this family meeting as a time to determine adjustments in their long-term care or what else you can do to make their life easier and more comfortable.
Develop an Emergency Plan
Be sure to have an emergency plan ready for your long-distance loved one. You’ll need to know who is in charge if the worst-case scenario happens, and how the long-term care facility can handle everything with you being so far away.
If you’re not happy with the long-distance elderly care option, you can always find a way to bring your loved one back home to stay with you.
The costs of caring for your elderly loved one may be expensive, so you’ll need to do some financial research to make sure you’re able to support a loved one at home. If your financials simply won’t allow it, don’t worry!
You can use family tracking apps to keep a close eye on your loved ones while they live further away. You can use the phone and video chats to keep in close contact with them. There are many ways to stay in touch and care for your elderly loved one from afar.
Technology has improved so much over the years and has become a huge part of our everyday life. Chances are that your elderly loved one will learn how to press a button or two to chat with you over a video message with ease.
Just talk to your loved one, and those who help care for him or her to see what options are available for you to handle long-distance elderly caregiving with ease. Most facilities are happy to work with families to help ease their anxiety and stress during these current times.
Don’t forget to use your resources to track and maintain good communication with your loved ones. They may live miles from you but they are still beloved in your heart!
