Senior care services in Dawsonville help manage parent care needs through the week when the adult child can't be there from another county. A Care Pro helps with daily needs for meals and personal care. Our care services also help with companionship. Your parent makes choices on their preferred routine and how they want to spend their day.
Not able to help on Tuesday afternoons doesn’t mean loss of control over your parent’s life. It means finding weekly support for needs that can no longer be left to your parent.
Our senior care services in Dawsonville can assist in your parent care support plan.
What Are The Most Difficult Routines To Cover While You’re Away?
Things near and dear become even more difficult when distance enters the picture. Distressed laundry and an empty fridge probably won’t make the news. But the absence of support is definitely a problem.
Suggesting a grocery run may not be as helpful because within a few days, the trip may have to be made again. Food may be needed. A ride may be needed. Laundry may have dozens of unwashed items. Company to help with morning routine may be desired.
I would start suggesting senior care services in Dawsonville based on those situations. Not with a list of everything your parent could receive senior care services for.
The situations can be:
Food preparation for daily meals.
Adjusting to simple daily routines and new routines that take more effort.
Staying engaged and present for company and conversation.
Along with the preferences of the other family members, helping to adjust to their normal routine.
Keeping the day’s activities planned timely so that little tasks do not become a big burden and lead to a stressful week.
A Home Instead Care Plan should reflect the needs of the care recipient, not the schedule of the adult child. Your parent may want assistance for some aspects of their day while still maintaining control of a large part of their day.
This makes a large difference in the eyes of the care recipient. The best support reflects the trade-offs a care recipient makes to maintain their independence.
How do you set up an update plan that doesn’t require a Care Pro to give every detail?
When you live far away, it is natural to want to gather a lot of information. This may feel like overseeing your parent's entire day.
It is important to determine what information actually matters.
For one family, this may mean knowing that their scheduled visits happened and if important routines were completed. For another family, this may mean being informed of any change to the Care Plan.
It is not necessary to have details of every conversation and every meal as well as every choice your parent makes.
How will you determine:
When should updates be given?
When should a call be made?
Who are the recipients of the updates?
What information should be kept private from whom?
When should the decision be made directly with the parent?
This should improve the way information is relayed to all parties. The care provider is given just enough information to stay involved, while care is not equated to surveillance.
It should also be noted that your parent is still the one living each day of their life. They should be involved in the decisions of what and how information is shared.
How do you prevent close neighbors and relatives from giving contradictory instructions?
Families of older adults often create an informal support network by assigning various tasks to neighbors and relatives. One relative may take charge of all the appointments while another is in charge of grocery shopping, etc.
While this is good, it can easily become a problem when the instructions that people start giving become contradictory
Under no circumstance should Care Pros be required to decide which family member’s instruction is prevailing in a given case.
It is simple to chose a family contact to be the point of communication.
This does not mean that you create a committee to take all of the decisions. It means a designated contact person should exist for all communication.
Even if your family members decide to meet and agree to a new plan of care, it should be communicated as one cohesive plan and not several fragmented instances of communication.
I'd also advise against changing the routine yourself, unless you have that role.
Your neighbor might believe that more help is needed with meals, and your friend that more help is needed with getting around. Your parent may believe the exact opposite.
The Care Plan needs to reflect the agreed on support, and not the last minute recommendation based on the last person to visit.
When does Distance make a few weekly visits insufficient?
Few weekly visits work well for routines that provide a lot of predictability to your parent's day. Things may be much more challenging when the support is needed at times outside of these visits, or when your parent's needs are more changeable than the visits can accommodate.
Look at the needs across the entire week.
Are the needs or difficult moments happening on days when no one has been scheduled to come?
Are your parent's care needs resulting in additional travel for family members?
Have family members had to make several extra trips to fill in the gaps in the days and times scheduled to provide care?
Has your parent's week become dependent on one neighbor or relative being available?
Those are all indications that the Care Plan may need to be revised.
Sometimes the answer is an additional visit, not constant care. The answer can be a shift in the time of visits, or providing support during times of the day that have become excessively difficult.
The quantity of care that a parent needs is dependent on their current needs, as well as what the family can reasonably provide..
Families with an interest in understanding regional services beyond what we provide locally can browse our Gainesville service area and find out more about our Home Instead office.
Frequently Asked Questions About Senior Care in Dawsonville
Do you provide care if I see my parent only on the weekends?
We can. We can offer in house care to assist with routine care and support as you have agreed to during the week. The schedule should be based on what will meet the needs of your parent, as opposed to the unavailable family members.
Do I have to be this involved in my parent’s Care Plan as I live further away?
Maintaining involvement but not dictating all the circumstances yourself is where you can be with this. The preferences of your parent should maintain the center of the Care Plan. Families can express their concerns, maintain order of schedules, and remain involved while respecting the wishes and preserving the dignity of the older adult.
Can a Care Pro update me on the status of my parent?
Communication is part of the process of care; however, families must agree on what updates would be helpful and appropriate. It is beneficial to designate a primary contact and determine what would result in a report.
What if my parent doesn't want assistance every day?
Some older adults only need assistance with certain routines or on certain days. Adjust care to fit the need, and start off with a limited schedule if it allows your parent to accomplish their goals at home.
What does home care exclude?
Home care does not substitute for skilled nursing, home health, or medical care. Care Pro's provides home care services according to the Care Plan. If your parent requires skilled nursing or medical care services, then they should be provided by the appropriate licensed healthcare professional.
What if my parent's needs evolve after care is initiated?
The Care Plan should be reviewed if the current routine no longer fits. This may mean a change in visit times, the addition of support, or the coordination with other providers if the needs go beyond non-medical home care.
How do I know if more weekly support is necessary?
Look at what happens in the gaps between your visits. If family members are making several last-minute trips, your parent needs assistance more frequently, or the current schedule no longer supports the goal your parent is trying to achieve, then adding more support is likely necessary.
If you are attempting to assist a parent from Dawsonville but live too far away, talk to our team in the Gainesville area about which days of the week are particularly challenging. We can work alongside you to develop a Care Plan to assist this parent while still awarding them as much independence as possible in the daily activities they prefer to control.
About the Author
Matt Cohn has spent more than 25 years helping older adults and their families find support that can help them remain safe and comfortable at home. He owns Home Instead locations serving Gainesville and other communities in Georgia, as well as locations in Louisiana.
