When evaluating your elderly loved one’s life and their need for care, it is easy to focus completely on their physical health challenges, needs, and limitations, but these are not the only issues that you should address when trying to give your loved one the quality of life that you know they need and deserve. It is also extremely important for you to make efforts to support and improve their mental and emotional health as they age in place. Many elderly adults suffer from feelings of isolation, loneliness, loss of connection, depression, and a sense of no longer being relevant or meaningful. Helping them to overcome these feelings supports a better quality of life, encourages higher motivation, and can help them to live a longer, happier, healthier, and more meaningful life throughout their years. One of the most effective ways that you can do this is by encouraging your senior to volunteer.
March is American Red Cross Month. This is an exceptional time for you to learn more about this impactful volunteer organization and encourage your loved one to find ways that they can make volunteering a part of their regular life, whether or not it is with Red Cross.
Some of the ways that volunteering can enhance your aging loved one’s life include:
- Social engagement. Interacting with others is extremely important for your elderly loved one’s mental and emotional well-being, and even their cognitive health. Volunteering gives your aging parent more opportunities to engage with others and keep their social life more active.
- Cognitive stimulation. Keeping your parent’s mind active helps it stay stronger and protects their functioning as they age in place. Volunteering is an opportunity to stimulate your parent’s cognitive processing, critical thinking, memory, and other skills for a sharper, more responsive mind as they age in place.
- Physical activity. Volunteering can be a great way to help your parent get more active and enjoy more physical activity on a regular basis, depending on the type of volunteering that they choose.
- Feelings of importance and validation. Knowing that they are doing good for their community and making a difference for others can be extremely meaningful for your senior. This helps them to remember that they are relevant and important, and that they still have significant and tangible value.
Starting senior care for your elderly loved one can be one of the most compassionate, nurturing, and effective decisions that you can make for them during the course of your care journey with them. Regardless of the level of care that your aging parent needs, a senior home care services provider can create a highly personalized set of services designed specifically to address their individual needs, challenges, and limitations in a way that is right for them. This means that your parent can continue to pursue the active, independent, and fulfilling lifestyle that they desire and deserve, while also staying safe, healthy, and comfortable. Their customized schedule means that your parent will have the care, support, and assistance that they need, when they need it, and that you can stay at the forefront of their care arrangement. As their family caregiver this can give you confidence that whether your parent only needs periodic assistance and support, or ongoing care 24 hours a day, they will have everything that they need both when you are with them and when you are not. One way that a senior care provider can help your loved one enhance their quality of life and enjoy a more active, engaged lifestyle as they age in place is to encourage them to volunteer. This care provider can help your loved one find opportunities that are meaningful to them, and then support them in following through with these opportunities by providing reliable and safe transportation, giving companionship and emotional encouragement, and even going along with them to make volunteering a more social and enriching experience.
If you or a family member are in need of senior care in Southwest Ranches, FL, call the caring professionals at Star Multi Care today at (954) 870-4770. Providing service in Boca Raton, West Palm Beach, Delray Beach, Boynton Beach, Weston, Southwest Ranches, Pembroke Pines, Cooper City, Lighthouse Point, and Wilton Manors.
Sources:
http://www.redcross.org/about-us/red-cross-month
http://www.redcross.org/
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