The #1 red-flag phrase by home care aides? Read on to find out.
Image source: Flickr user Stephan Mosel
If youโve done your due diligence, you probably went through a lot of workย to hire the right home care aide for your loved one. You checked their credentials, made sure they were from a reputable agency, and saw to it that they established a rapport with your elder. Youโve informed them of their duties and responsibilities, and you believe them to be the most capable person for the job. But do you know the one thing your home care aide should never say to your senior? โDo it yourself.โ
When seniors need assistance
The entire reason to hireย a home care aide in the first place isย to see that your senior hasย the assistance they need throughout the day. From getting up in the morning to washing up at night, the aide should beย there when you canโt be to help with ADLโs, or โActivities of Daily Living.โ There is good reason to hire such professionals: accidents and injuries around the home can prevent your senior from living a comfortable and independent life. In fact, according to the National Safety Council, adults 55 and older are more prone to becoming victims of falls, and the number of fall deaths among those 65 and older is four times that of all other age groups. Letโs take a look, step-by-step, at what can happen when an aide constantly says to a senior, โdo it yourself.โ
โDo it yourselfโ can spell disaster
Something as simple as standing up can mean falling and breaking a hip without the right assistance. If the senior isnโt holding onto something steady (a walker, a person, etc.), and their muscles are weak or their balance is off, a fall can easily result. An oversight in making sure an environment is safe for an elderly individual may also lead to an unfortunate accident if they attemptย to do something on their own. The same risk applies to a senior who tries to feed themselves unassisted. If your loved one suffers from a condition that makes their hands shake, they wonโt easily be able to get food into their mouths. This makes an unsanitary mess at best (and a possible recipe for infection), and deprives them of essential nutrition at worst. They may also accidentally burn themselves if theyโre unable to sense how hot food or beverages truly are. Dressing often presents another challenge to the elderly, who may have conditions like arthritis, or are unable to extend their limbs far enough to put on particular items. Without appropriate dressing for the season, theyโre vulnerable to catching contagious illnesses, which can be fatal depending on their age and other ailments.
Exceptions to the rule
Like all rules, the one about never saying โdo it yourselfโ has exceptions. You do want to encourage independence to whatever extent the seniorโs health and abilities allow. For example, if they are capable of walking but choose not to for long periods, the result may be leg and hip muscles becomingย atrophied. So if your senior received โhomeworkโ from a physical or occupational therapist to practice a particular skill, or certain activities were cleared by a physician, those might constitute exceptions. When I worked in a nursing home, we used to have the phrase: โUse it or lose it!โ This meant that if the senior didnโt do whatever physical activities they were capable of, they werenโt likely to retain those abilities. Unlike younger people, older bodies have limited powers of recuperation. Once a skill is gone, itโs possible it will be lost forever.
Hire a home care aide who knows what to say
An experienced home care aide will know which situations call for him or her to offer assistance (most) and which are exceptions to the rule (few). Take the time to not only observe the aide when sheโs with your senior, but also follow up later and ask the senior questions. Did the aide meet all their needs? Did she offer assistance before it was asked? Before long, youโll know if the aide is aware of the right and wrong way to work with your senior.
If you are unsure of how to best help an aging loved one, the trained and compassionate staff at the Institute on Aging is here to help you make that decision and gain the best in at-home senior care. Contact us to find out more.
