Elder Care Tips: Convincing Your Parents to Plan for Long-Term Care

Elder Care in Matawan NJ

 

Not all seniors who are on elder care journeys with family caregivers need extensive care. In fact, many seniors, even those who have elderly health care services providers who come to the home and offer them care and assistance a few times a week, continue to live active, engaged, healthy, and largely independent lives. While living in cooperation with a family caregiver and elder care provider is a fantastic way for seniors to enjoy the highest quality of life possible as they age in place, it can result in a sense of over-confidence or complacency in which the seniors feel that they are strong, healthy, and vibrant and so they do not need to plan for any type of long-term care. To them, they might see this type of planning as “jinxing” themselves because they are contemplating something that has not happened and, in their minds, may not happen.

The reality, however, is that thinking ahead for potential long-term care needs is one of the most important things that you can do to help your parents remain in control of their care and for you, as well as them, to feel confident that they are getting the level of care and assistance that they need in order to maintain their quality of life as they age in place.

Convincing your loved ones to have these conversations with you and to make these plans can be challenging. You do not want to force the issue and create a negative emotional response that can make your seniors even less willing to cooperate with you on the issue, but you also do not want to just “let it go” and get to the point at which you would need these plans and they are not in place so you do not know what you should do.

 

Use these tips to help convince your parents to plan for long-term care now while they are still capable of making the decisions that are right for them:

  • Acknowledge their reluctance. Let them know that you know that they are feeling reluctant about the situation and that you understand. Make sure that they know that you are happy that they are as healthy and capable as they are now, but that you also want to make sure that they remain as healthy, strong, and happy as possible for the long term, which is why you want them to think about their long-term care.

 

  • Share the facts. If your parents are particularly thoughtful in terms of facts and structure, consider sharing the statistics with them. Let them know that while around 37 percent of adults believe that they will one day need some form of long-term care, nearly 70 percent actually do. Of these, more than 60 percent end up with home care, which allows them the opportunity to remain comfortably in their own home as they age.

 

  • Appeal to their emotions. Many seniors have little to no motivation to do something that they do not want to do when they think that it is about them, but are more willing to go along with it if they think that it will benefit the people who they love. Tell your parents that this is extremely important to you and that you want to know what to do if something should happen to them so that the situation will be less stressful and painful for you and the rest of the family.

 

If you or an aging loved one are considering in-home elder care in Matawan NJ, please contact the caring staff at Lares Home Care at 800-781-7435 or 732-566-1112.

 

SOURCE:

http://www.seniorcare.com/featured/misconception-on-aging/