Can We Prevent Isolation For Our Seniors?

Is “Isolation” more prevalent than in previous years?

What would all of the causes be?

Is it just the “way it is” or is it possible to “change this”?

These are just one of the many questions I ask myself when it comes to our seniors aging safely their homes by themselves. Most of us are most comfortable in our bed, in our home. Wouldn’t we want our loved ones to be ‘most comfortable’ too!

So, the questions are: how can families help their seniors “age safely home” and not be “isolated”?

• How can families help?
  • Adult children
    • How far away do they live?
    • Can they each visit once a week?
    • Could they have them over for a meal once a week?
  • Grandchildren
    • Are they old enough to visit by themselves?
    • Do they live nearby?
    • Could they visit once a week?
    • What else could they do to help?
  • Friends of Families
    • Could they visit once a week?
• What kinds of help do our seniors need?
  • Help with preparing meals?
  • Grocery shopping
  • Transportation to appointments
  • Laundry
  • Bathing
• Are services available in the community?
  • Adult Day Care
  • Senior Center
  • Library Groups
  • Local Coffee Shops
• Churches
  • Volunteers to Visit Homebound
  • Communion for the Homebound
  • Groups for Seniors at Church
• Intelligent Devices – too numerous to mention all of them – depends on specific needs – what type of needs does your senior have?
  • Alerts
  • Medication Reminders
  • Pads or Tablets
  • Many, many more . . .

This only mentions some of the ways to help our seniors age safely in their homes. If you are wanting to help your senior age safely in there home, maybe I could help you get started.

When is the best time to introduce your senior to new devices? From my experience, it would be best to be able to anticipate some of the major needs they might have and start before they really need the device so they get in the habit of using it.