Your mom has to have home care services, but you’re worried that she’s going to have a hard time adjusting. Your mom is a very proud, determined person who hates asking others for help. What can you do to help her adjust to her senior home care aide?
Involve Her in the Plans
Let your mom take the lead in decision-making when possible. If you know she needs care, let her ask questions when you call a home care agency. Ask her what she struggles to do each day, and go over the services that would help her with those tasks.
Go Over What Care Services Her Caregiver Will Provide
Once you’ve established a care plan, go over that plan with her. Be detailed on what the service is and does, how the caregiver completes that task, and what involvement your mom has in helping the caregiver.
Walk Her Through a Daily Schedule
In the days before the caregiver is scheduled to help your mom, go over what the caregiver is there to do. Walk your mom through a day’s routine. Be present in the morning at the same time the caregiver will arrive.
Cook breakfast and help your mom get showered and dressed if that’s a task on the care list. Clean the kitchen and make sure your mom takes her medications. Move to vacuum, making beds, and other housekeeping chores.
Once you’ve made lunch and cleaned the kitchen again, take your mom for a walk outside. If it’s not possible due to the weather, find a movie to watch together or get out a game to play.
Have Favorite Rewards Available
It may help to have something for your mom to look forward to as a reward. Suppose she cooperates with her caregiver for an entire day. Buy the items needed for your mom to have a banana split with her caregiver after dinner.
If you don’t want to give her food incentives, you could purchase a new book by her favorite author. Her caregiver can read it to her or play the audiobook version if your mom has a hard time reading smaller print.
Talk About It as a Trial Run
Talk about the senior care services as a trial rather than a permanent fixture. If your mom thinks this is a temporary situation, she may be less resistant to the change. As she adjusts to her caregiver, she’ll find out she likes having another person around to help.
Be Present Without Being in the Way
For the first few days, be present but stay out of the way. Let the caregiver do the job the professional was hired to do. You could set up a temporary home office in a den and close the door. If your mom is struggling, the caregiver can come to get you or ask for tips on things your mom likes.
As your mom starts to adjust, start making trips out of the home. Go to the office for a few hours or run errands. See how that goes. If that works out, you can start spending entire days at the office.
Professional caregivers are used to the adjustment period. Don’t overlook the fact that they’ve been there before. Trust in your mom’s senior care aide to help her acclimate to home care services. Call a senior home care agency to get started.
