What Factors Can Influence Whether Your Aging Adult Might Need to Consider Moving?
November 29, 2017
Moving is a scary proposition for your senior family member and possibly for you as well. Your elderly family member's health is one of the biggest influencing factors that determines whether she might need to move sooner rather than later. Getting a full assessment of all of these factors can help you figure out if the decision can wait.
Senior Care in Los Gatos CA: Is It Time To Move?Factor 1: The Level of Assistance Your Senior Needs.If your elderly family member is fairly independent now, she may not need a great deal of assistance at the moment. She might find extra help around the house helpful, but she handles most tasks and errands on her own. Some aging adults require more direct supervision, however, which can mean that your elderly family member is a little closer to needing to consider moving.Factor 2: The Amount of Help You Can Personally Provide.You might already be providing all the help that you can, either because of physical limitations of your own or because you only have a little bit of time available. As your senior's health worsens, however, that might not be enough help. Hiring senior care providers can help, however, so it's important to get a solid idea of where your upper limit is so you know when to bring in reinforcements.Factor 3: The Availability of Other Family Members.Another form of reinforcements could be other family members. Some family members may be able to offer more assistance than others. Talk to your family members and determine who can do what so that you know what you can expect. Make sure that your other family members are aware that you're not looking for an over commitment from them. They need to be realistic.Factor 4: Prognoses for Health Conditions.How your aging adult's health is likely to change in the future can have a tremendous influence on this decision. Make sure that you talk with her doctor about what to expect and when to expect those changes. Having a time frame within which to work allows you to really see what you're up against.
Unless your elderly family member is likely to need to move fairly soon, you might want to consider this information once or twice a year to see if anything has changed for her.