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What is a caregiver to do when their loved one refuses to cooperate with this new addition to their care plan? Managing Seniors is not an easy undertaking.
Hiring in-home care for your senior loved one can be quite an ordeal. The company you chose and its professional caregivers were great, and the quality of care they provided was not the issue. The problem was that your senior loved one resented anyone, but you were helping them. It is important to consider effective ways in managing seniors.
Reasons Why a Senior Won’t Accept In-Home Caregivers
An in-home caregiver’s best efforts are often met with anger (even abuse) dished out by the elder they are supposed to be helping. It is vital for the family and hired caregiver to determine the underlying reason for a senior’s lack of cooperation and find ways to remedy the situation.
1. Fear of Losing Their Independence. People of all ages dread losing their independence. Relatively, aging is hardly agile, so who can blame your elder for digging in their heels? If a senior is still of sound mind, emphasize that home care enables them to continue living safely in their own home. The right caregiver will pick up on the senior’s desire to be self-sufficient and provide assistance to allow them to retain as much control as possible.
2. Fear of Strangers. Trust issues can also trigger anxiety in some seniors and their family members. Inviting a professional caregiver into the home to care for someone you love is a very personal decision. The best way to alleviate worries about a new caregiver’s character and trustworthiness is for the family, including the senior himself (if capable), to take an active role in the hiring process.
Getting a Senior to Accept In-Home Caregivers
You know your loved one best, so do whatever you can to help make them more comfortable with this new arrangement. Communicate openly with the caregiver and the home care company about any challenges you experience. Understanding the source of their resistance will help you cope with this problem, and a care plan meeting will allow all members of their care team to brainstorm solutions together.
If an aging loved one is mentally competent and still adamantly refuses in-home care aides despite your protests, that is within their rights. All you can do is your best to get them to accept help. Often a physician can assist in helping the elder relative understand the benefit and need for in-home help. Once your loved one understands this is more assistance and will not replace the primary family caregiver the option becomes more viable. Sometimes it takes people other than family members to provide the reason and reality of the need for in-home care. The family caregiver is an active participant but so long as the elder family member is of sound mind the decision will be easier to make.
On the other hand, the above concerns can be considered as one of the Family Caregiving 2023: Challenges and Expectations. Should you need help asserting these concerns, you might want to get a copy of Eleanor Gaccetta’s One Caregiving Journey book. This personal memoir will make you laugh or tug at your heart as the author shares her experiences providing 24/7 care to her mother for 9 ½ years until her mother’s death at age 102. The book is an easy read, honestly written, and provides suggestions and information that all caregivers can utilize. The author wrote the book over a long time, and it is a snapshot of the reality of the stages, changes, and many challenges caregivers face over time. It is a caregiver’s blueprint. Reading this book, you will feel you are in the author’s living room, and she is telling her story and offering an abundance of advice and information.
Author’s Bio
Eleanor (Ellie) Gaccetta, MBA, is an author, speaker, and home cook/baker. Formally she was a legislative and policy analyst for the State of Colorado, the City, and County of Broomfield, and after leaving government services, she was a private contractor. Ellie’s almost forty-year career ceased when her mother fell and broke her hip at age 92. Thus began Ellie’s journey of being a 24/7 sole caregiver for her mother for the next nine and one-half years. Today she lives in a suburb west of Denver where she enjoys spending time with family, being outdoors, cooking, baking, and gardening. She committed to remaining healthy, getting in shape, and staying fit during the pandemic. After the pandemic, she walks 2-3 miles daily and has become a gym shark.
