There’s a lot going on for your entire family if your senior’s health has worsened. Dealing with those changes and with the new forms of care your elderly family member may be receiving can be a challenge.
Lean on the Experience of Hospice Care Providers
The best tool that you have as you cope with the changes that hospice brings are the hospice care providers themselves. They’re there to help your senior in all the ways that they can, but they’re also there for you and for the rest of your family. If you need bereavement counseling or other types of assistance, they can help you to find it.
Try to Connect with Your Senior
As your elderly family member nears the end of her life, it can feel more and more difficult to maintain the connection with her that you cherish. There are still ways for you to connect, though, even if she’s not able to communicate in the same ways that she did in the past. Use gentle touch and talk with your senior. That’s the easiest way to connect. You can also connect by reading to her, playing music that she loves, or simply being there with her.
Reconnect with Other People in Your Life
This is a time of transition for your senior and for you. You’ll be transitioning back to some extent to life as it was before you were a caregiver. This might feel difficult at first, especially if you’ve been your senior’s family caregiver for a long time. Reconnect with some of the people that have taken a bit of a back seat in your life. You don’t have to do this in large ways but doing so in even small ways can be incredibly helpful. You may also get more support than you expect.
Make Self-care a Priority
It’s vital that you’re focusing on self-care during this time, too. It might feel selfish to you to do so, but it’s really important. Self-care is going to allow you to weather the tougher times that will come as your elderly family member does eventually near the end of her battle. Rest when you can so that you can be on deck when you absolutely need to be.
Facing the end of your senior’s life is often extremely difficult. But hospice care services can help you to manage the experience in a way that supports everyone involved.
If you or your aging loved one could benefit from Hospice Care in North SC, contact the caring staff at Grove Park Hospice, (803) 536-6644.
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