Family caregiver of senior loved ones is a role that knows no bounds of gender, age or ability — requiring only that one care enough to take actions that make better the lives of aging family members.
It isn’t even necessary to be in the senior’s home, city or state to provide valuable senior care. That’s fortunate, because families are so dispersed today. As millions of Americans demonstrate daily, providing care to a senior loved one is possible across distances near and far.
“Out of sight, out of mind” is not applicable to those who are — or want to be — long distance family caregivers. The opposite is often true, with the worry, stress and guilt felt by many being a factor that impact their own lives and ability to care for their children, other loved ones and themselves.
Providing Care from a Distance
We’re using the feature segment of this episode of the Senior Care Corner Show to tell distant family members they CAN be effective caregivers and discuss a few of the many, many ways they can take meaningful action from afar that makes better the lives of senior loved ones. Here are some of those we discuss.
- “Being there” for senior loved ones from a distance, including video calling, text messaging, social media and more ways made possible by digital technology.
- Using video and voice calls to monitor the health and well-being of senior loved ones, including those things for which we can look and listen and how to take action when there are indications of health or safety issues or other problems, such as elder abuse.
- Assisting senior loved ones in obtaining and understanding their healthcare and advocating for their care needs as well assisting with their finance management.
- Contributing in areas that match the senior’s needs with the family caregiver’s skills, knowledge or interest.
- Supporting family caregivers local to the senior loved one by using vacation or holiday time to give them breaks from their caregiving roles and other assistance.
Long Distance Caregivers Need Care Too
It’s important for long distance family caregivers to remember that they ARE caregivers and may have many of the same physical, mental and financial impacts as their local counterparts when it comes to the senior care they provide.
Caregivers need to put a priority on their own needs in addition to those of the ones under their care so they keep themselves able to give their best to loved ones.
News Items in This Episode
- Anemia in Old Age Linked to Dementia
- We Shrink as We Age, But There are Ways to Avoid It
- Many Doctors Don’t Discuss Dietary Supplements
- Could Hot Cocoa Improve Brain Power in Seniors?
In her quick tip for this episode, Kathy follows up on the news item regarding anemia with tips family caregivers can use to help seniors prevent anemia.
Link Mentioned in this Episode
We hope you enjoy this episode of the Senior Care Corner show and find the information helpful. Please let us know what you would like to hear us cover in a future episode of the show so we can make it a valuable resource for you.
Podcast Transcript – so you can follow along or read at your convenience
So great to see that technology is helping people stay connected – even over long distances.
I am so glad to see this discussion. It is sad to me when caregivers are away from a loved one, and do not see how they spend their days and nights. Some sit day after day, uncomfortable and leaning, their back is out of alignment and poor posture increases pain. I know any caregiver would want to help their loved one feel better. Without being there, comfort and safety is still available with the Acme Posture Partner, a unique design of cushions, made to enhance the quality of life for a loved one.
It’s very difficult decision for everyone to relocate our loved in senior care home. But with the help of technology now it’s possible to be in touch anytime with our loved one.