Tips for Talking to a Senior Parent About Hygiene
Personal Care at Home in Chadds Ford
As your senior parent gets older, they may start to have trouble keeping up good hygiene. It’s very common for seniors to experience incontinence as they get older. Even if they don’t have any underlaying medical conditions that make them prone to incontinence. Seniors may also develop arthritis. Which makes it difficult to wash in the shower, turn on the faucet, or hold a toothbrush. If you notice your senior parent has some hygiene challenges, it can be awkward to talk to them about it. But you can use these tips to make it less awkward:
Get Information About Personal Care At Home
Personal care at home is a specialized type of home care focused on helping seniors shower, brush their teeth, and attend other hygiene procedures. Dressing, bathing, and using the restroom are all part of personal care at home. Personal care at home is something many seniors prefer, instead of having a family member help them with hygiene tasks. Talk to a local agency about personal care for your senior parent. Then, you can share that information with them. Suggest they try it out to see if personal care can help them maintain good hygiene at home.
Ask If There’s Anything They Need
Your senior parent might need to switch to disposable briefs. Or they might need different items to help maintain their hygiene, like a large handled tooth brush designed for seniors. While being sensitive to the fact that it’s just as awkward for them as you, ask them if there are pieces of adaptive equipment that you can get for them to make it easier for them to maintain their hygiene.
Be Sensitive To Their Dignity
Always remember that it’s probably very difficult for your senior parent to discuss personal matters, especially with you. Many seniors were taught that hygiene issues or anything related to physical health were shameful to talk about. So they may not want to talk to you about hygiene issues. You can ask them if they would rather talk to a friend or home care provider about the issues they are having, and then you can get that information from the friend or care provider. Try to make the conversation as easy as possible.
Keep Your Tone Positive
It’s important that you not come across as negative or shaming when talking to your senior parent about their hygiene related issues. Keep your tone positive and emphasize that you are looking for solutions, and not blaming them for anything. All that matters is finding a solution that your senior parent is comfortable with, so don’t make accusatory statements, issue ultimatums, or tell your senior parent what to do. Just open a dialog about the issues they’re having, and stress to them that you’re doing it because you want to help, not because they did anything wrong or bad.
If you or an aging loved one are considering hiring Personal Care at Home in Chadds Ford, PA, and the surrounding area, please contact the friendly staff at Suma Home Care. (484) 206-4544
Ibrahim recently completed a Professional Certificate in Management; He is currently pursuing a Masters in Business Administrations (MBA) at a prestigious university in the UK.
With their passion for helping others and a strong background in customer services and clinical care, Ibrahim and his wife started assisting individuals in their homes.
Since started and operating Suma Home Care in 2010 in the basement of their home, Suma Home Care has provided professionals who work endlessly in providing clients with the highest quality of care, while enabling clients to maintain dignity, comfort and safety in their homes.
Suma Home Care, serves four counties in Pennsylvania, Delaware, Chester, Montgomery and Philadelphia. Ibrahim is firmly connected to his local community and is always looking for ways to give back whenever the opportunity presents itself.
Ibrahim enjoys spending time with his wife and children, travelling and enjoys sports.
Mariama Suma-Keita BSN RN
Born in Sierra Leone west Africa, relocated to America in 1999 from a civil war and settled since in the U.S.A as a Naturalized citizen Graduated from National school of nursing with an associate , and completed BSN in Nursing from Immaculata University graduated with Honor roll Alpha Lambda sigma, After escaping the war served as a refugee nurse in Gambia and Guinea to other displaced refugees before coming to America.
In the states started in Homecare then then transition into hospital, worked in Jefferson hospital as a Registered nurse on Tele and general medsurg floor, also worked in Einstein hospital as an oncology transplant nurse , I realized that I enjoy working with patients so much and believe in quality and compassionate care one at a time dealing with an holistic approach in caring for patients and family in a familiar environment called home , I see the impact and progress when they’re home , it makes them feel relax and progress fast with recovering at home. As a nurse and entrepreneur I understand that dedication to meeting people and families needs is a priority, and able to foster relationships with family and patients that is professional and friendly to help them stay and settled home as a desire.
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