Caregiving

Have you been meaning to sort out old photographs? Dump a shoebox full of pictures in front of your loved one and ask for help identifying and sorting people. And if they can’t remember who people are, you can help them remember and get the task done with them.

If your loved one truly hates getting a bath or shower regularly, take him or her to a barbershop or salon once a week to supplement whatever they allow you to do at home. They’ll enjoy the outing, or at least, tolerate it, and their scalp and appearance will be much improved.

Put grab bars on door jams or large pieces of furniture, not just in the bathroom, if your senior walks in the home by steadying him or herself as she goes. Watch how they move through the home and put tape where a grab bar should go. They are not just for bathrooms.

Many folks are reluctant to use a walker because they look ‘old’ when using one. A creative caregiver, and walker user, can dress a walker up with clip-on bags, pretty duct tape or one with a camo design, a bicycle horn, plastic flowers or tool belt affixed to it. If the walker ‘makes a statement’, using it might become part of the user’s personality and an expression of adaptive ingenuity.