Many families will get together this weekend for Easter. Sons and daughters who may not see their aging parents often will travel to visit them and families will be reunited. The holidays are often when adult children notice signs of aging in their parents, whether its a physical decline or a change in cognition.
Encourage your parents to see their health care providers to address any changes that may inhibit their daily lives, whether it's a change in mobility or trouble with balance, or difficulty remembering things or worsening arthritis. Proactively addressing these issues can help seniors maintain their mobility, better manage chronic illnesses, and put support systems in place prior to a crisis.
It can be difficult to bring up issues like this during a family holiday, so you may consider scheduling another visit in the near future. Sometimes denial is the reponse to the aging process. If your parents don't want to discuss the issues with you, you can enlist the help of a health care provider or other trusted advisor (whether it's a geriatric care manager, their long-time CPA or attorney, or even a close friend) to encourage them to proactively address the issues.
Eric Tinsley
Posted by: josh stafford on Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Another option you have with caring for your parents is ResponseLINK Emergency Medical Alert System. They provide 24 hour assurance that if your parents need help, it is only seconds away with a push of a button. They also keep all of your emergency contacts at hand so that means no more lost contact numbers. They call the contacts you choose in the order you specify. You can also have the peace of mind that your parents are reminded to take their medications and that they are reminded to have their meals at a certain time if that is a concern as well. When I checked into it for my own parents, I found that it was easily affordable, and was easy to get set up with a subscription without a long term contract.