Caring For Aging Parents Support Group
Caring for aging parents can be a difficul time as we become the caretakers for our parents. This broad responsibility can encompass such services as assisted living, adult day care, long term care, nursing homes, hospice care, and in-home care. Whether you have just started caring for your parents or just need a place to talk, we're here.
My father-in-law is a retired lawyer. Being a lawyer he was so strict but softhearted. Recently, he is showing some changes in his character. Somedays he doesn’t talk whereas, after a day or so, he sometimes will burst out in anger with no reason. I just don’t know what to do. I regret I am not able to spend enough time with him. My friend suggested me going for a nanny care service as she said my father-in-law needs utmost care during this time. I too feel the same and am planning to get the best service for him. He must feel that someone is always there for him to care him. Could you please help me with some other suggestions?
Normally care options are discussed along blood lines, with daughters taking the lead. (I'm not saying that this is the way it should be, just an observation about the way I've seen it.) For me it was different in that my sister passed away before either of our parents.
Soooo, are there grown children other than your spouse who are in the picture? If so then they should be involved.
Think back to when your father in law was of sounder mind (for lack of a better way to say it); did he express his preferences for how he was to spend his later years? If so, then that can act as a guide for you.
There are a lot of options available, many of them depend on how much money is available to take care of him. There are many levels of home care. In my state (California) the lowest level of care we have found is something called 'companion care' which is an unlicensed person who has training. They are, to put it bluntly, like a baby sitter for older adults. They are there to help with bathing, cooking, cleaning, medication, things like that. They can remind him to take pills on schedule, but they can not administer shots.
As his needs increase you can get licensed care that ranges from medical certificate programs, to LVN (typically a 2 year nursing program) to RN (typically a 4 year nursing program) and can include additional training such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, IV Medication care, wound care, etc. And as you can guess, the more training the help has, the more expensive they will be.
You can get care that comes in for specific reasons, such as a couple of weeks for post surgery care. It can also be 4 hours per day, 8 hours per day, 24 hour coverage. You get the idea.
There are a lot of companies out there that you can contact. If you are willing to share where you live, people may have more concrete examples. But be careful, saying you live in New York can keep your identity safe, but if you mention a small town of a few hundred residents, you may as well give your name and address!
(Sorry about the previous one, I am one of the user moderators here, and I like to make sure that people understand how to keep their privacy intact online.)
If you google things like "Home health" or "A Place for mom" you should get some leads.
Gentle hugs