Category: Senior Care

elder care homes
admin Senior Care, Senior Care service provider,

How to ensure the right care for the elderly amidst Covid-19

With the Covid-19 wave taking over the world at a tremendous pace, the health of individuals, especially children and the elderly, have been put at great risk, creating uncertainty, fear and a need to stick to the guidelines outlined by the authorities. ‘Prevention is better than cure ‘ never held more relevance than today, with social distancing, lockdowns, and curfews becoming the new norm in a fight to control the growing number of cases. Every facet of our lives are affected, the senior citizens are even more exposed to the potential threats pertaining to their emotional, physical and social wellbeing. 

According to reports and statistics, the risk of mortality and susceptibility to the coronavirus for older people is at a far greater magnitude, making it essential for the right care to be deployed to them, whether it be within one’s home, elder care homes or retirement homes. The distance from loved ones, unavailability of skilled home attendant for the elderly, existing medical conditions, make the whole situation more challenging, magnifying the gravity of the impact both in terms of a possibility of worsening state of health and the quality of daily living. The same isolation needed to contain the spread of the virus can become the cause of many other issues for the aged, thus there is a dire need for urgent attention to the elderly’s psycho-social health. Following are the few ways in which the right support can be ensured for the seniors during these tough and challenging times:

Maintaining the elderly’s dignity & respect

During this especially sensitive time, it is essential to make the elderly feel acknowledged and heard through rightful communication. The ongoing circumstances might emotionally drain you, but being responsive, respectful, attentive to the various needs of the elderly would positively impact the psychological and emotional health of the seniors. The last thing you would want to do to aggravate their situation is to disregard them and treat them with disrespect, something which shouldn’t take a global pandemic for you to realize. 

Following the prescribed rules

Abiding by the rules and guidelines released by the authorities is not something to be contemplated but followed positively. When the impact of your actions can travel to other people in the form of onset of symptoms of a deadly disease, maintaining social distancing should not be an idea to be toyed with and moulded as per one’s convenience. The most basic way one can ensure the elderly’s betterment during Covid-19 is by not becoming the probable cause of virus transmission by observing rules you are supposed to follow.   

Including them in the conversation

Answer the questions the elders of your family have from you and make them an active part of the conversation by enlightening them about the various guidelines and measures conveyed by the authorities. Make them aware of sanitizing, keeping away from stoves when applying alcohol-based sanitizers, and maintaining basic hygiene.

Seeking the help of technology

Understand the medical requirement of the elderly and make the required preparations, like booking online consultations or telephonic appointments with doctors as per their condition. Discuss with their doctors the best way moving forward to keep their body healthy and their medical condition from deteriorating.

Social distancing, not social isolation

Social distancing should not be confused with social isolation. It should be ensured that the sudden disruptions in the elderly’s daily life like visiting a temple, walking in the garden, sitting in parks, doesn’t cause any negative repercussions on their mental peace. Help them keep in touch with relatives and friends, grandkids, children in the family through video calls to bring about an environment of joy where they are occupied with something they enjoy.  

Keeping stock of medicines

Depending upon the health of the elderly, they could be heavily dependent on daily medication for basic functioning and to prevent it from getting hampered; it is crucial to stock up on their prescriptions medicines as advised by the doctor. Also, keep an eye on the expiry dates of these medicines and don’t engage in panic buying. Be proactive about it while maintaining reason and caution.

Keeping them occupied & engaged

Make the senior citizens indulge in activities as basic as watering the plants, playing with kids, reading books, knitting, cleaning the bookshelf, helping with little chores around the house, to not let the feeling of isolation overpower them. Avoid them from participating in strenuous activities as something mild but engaging would do without running the risk of an injury. 

Spreading positivity

Keep your home environment, mind and things surrounding you like social media to be free from negativity. Ensure the same for your ageing loved ones by not spreading false rumours and forwards on platforms like WhatsApp.  

Ensuring optimal rest, activity & nutrition

Proper sleep, adequate nutrition and optimal intensity of exercises are important to be maintained the way they were before lockdown or social distancing. Seniors can do yoga, meditation and other forms of low-intensity activities to enable good health of their body and some break from the monotonous routine of daily life while being restricted in the four walls of one’s home.

Senior Care Genie provides holistic solutions for the elderly that includes guiding families with better decision making regarding the optimal care for their ageing loved ones, the formalities associated with the transition & move-in process to care homes, at-home blood investigations and skilled nursing support and medical equipment for the elderly at their homes. We are working to create a better future for the elderly where all aspects of their wellbeing are maintained by empowering one family at a time with the right information, assistance and resources.

senior care services
admin Elderly Care Home, Senior Care,

Covid19 Pandemic: A cue for amending the future of Senior Living in India


In India, the senior care services are still at the nascent stages but are forecasted to witness significant growth in the future as health concerns have increased lately, along with the brewing awareness regarding the state of the elderly during the Coronavirus pandemic. During the pandemic, amidst the distress and helplessness, one major issue that surfaced and caught massive attention was the particular difficulties the elderly faced, especially those living alone and in dire need of some assistance during the nationwide lockdown. 

Society bore witness to the huge social media charade of lending out a helping hand to the seniors of our country, with even some companies reshaping their efforts to keep pace with the changes. However, despite all the buzz, the noise that was left resounding in our ears, and the fact that we were forced to realize was the subpar standards and resources of quality living in our country for the elderly. 

The Major awakenings amidst Covid-19

There has been a big change in the mentality of people.  People who were not ready to accept old age homes and senior care services considering it as something shameful and immoral are now prioritizing the wellbeing of their ageing loved ones and are ready for change. The pandemic unfolded the issues associated with the absence of continued support and all-around assistance to the elderly, especially for families that are bound by tight schedules, longer distances and time restraints to deploy the kind of aid the elderly need.

Those living away from parents are actively looking for senior care services for the wellbeing of parents, which will eventually have a domino effect on the overall standard of services, its demands and the growth of availability of such resources. The senior living sector has also been affected, and it has shown much greater significance than before because the awareness and concern about health have been growing after the Covid-19 virus spread. 

The Vulnerability of senior citizens

The severity of Covid-19 increases with age, which puts the already vulnerable older people more so at the risk of developing something severe. With these observations emerged the questions, how adept is their environment to combat that, do they have required medical assistance in the form of a skilled staff that they need, how connected are they to a community that can lend help when they need it and if not so what all other measures are there to ensure their well being.  

As the senior citizens are more vulnerable to the Covid-19 virus, it was difficult for them to visit nearby stores and shopping complexes to fulfil their basic necessities. Cleanliness was also a major problem, as the Covid-19 guidelines required sanitation and cleanliness to a much greater extent, and the elderly people who were living alone lacked a helping hand. Most of the senior citizens are also unaware of the technology trends and were unable to avail the facilities of the digital platforms, be it online ordering of products or online medical consultations. 

Expectations for the future

The major changes that the future of senior care living awaits is a more awakened community, especially the youth who are ready to break the societal constraints to get their ageing loved ones the help they need. Whether it be in the form of more understanding of psychological and physical issues of the elderly or registration of the fact that the elderly need more attention than they can extend for the moment and thus making it necessary to seek trained at-home care or assisted living homes. However, besides these awakenings, families will be more aware and informed in their decisions in the options they seek and will choose senior care services that meet their expectations. It will be a slow process, but at least there will be some movement. 

Even for senior care service providers, there will be changes in the protocols they employ, the staff they hire, the amenities they provide, the quality of services, accountability and policies to ensure elderly wellbeing by spotting elderly abuse and neglect. Similarly, more people will seek out professionals to ease their search for the right care for the elderly. 

Conclusion

Senior Care Genie works alongside families to choose the right care for their ageing loved ones by providing the most suitable options and facilitating informed decisions. We also support them with the transitional difficulties, connect them to the skilled home attendant for elderly and improve the quality of elderly living by providing medical equipment that caters to them at one platform.  We are shaping a better future for the senior by positively impacting families and influencing senior care service providers.

elder care services in Delhi
admin Elderly's social health, Senior Care

Neglected facet of ageing: emotional and social well being of elderly


Just like any other phase of one’s life requiring emotional support and social interactions, what the elderly also need are compassion, attention, empathy, and dignity. The growing age comes with its own set of challenges presented in the form of declining bodily functions, heightened chances of developing chronic diseases and increased susceptibility to serious mental health problems, necessitating the elderly to have a support pillar to ensure their health and wellbeing.

The elderly phase of life is often considered sensitive as individuals go through numerous changes in their own body and have to deal with the social changes. The entire process of coming to terms with the fact that you have shrinking social interactions as you age due to your condition or due to neglect from friends and families is challenging and can take a tremendous toll on the mental wellbeing of the elderly. However, today’s sad and harsh reality is that most aged people lack the accessibility to necessities of life or sometimes even familial support to cater to their overall emotional and social health, which is often not registered as necessary for the aged populace. 

Thus, while the need to be embedded in a social group and the necessity of being emotionally healthy doesn’t change as one age, despite that, this prerequisite for living a happy life is still often compromised with ageing. A better understanding of the issue at hand and awareness is required to combat this issue and provide the kind of assistance and resources the elderly deserve to maintain social interaction and mental peace. Some changes at the community level and even on an individualistic level, including our outlook towards ageing, need to be in place to make this feasible.

Exploitation and abuse of elders

The first step to promote the emotional health of the elderly is understanding the reality of how the aged are treated and often neglected due to their vulnerability. These issues collectively constitute and influence the much larger issue of the quality of living of the elderly and their emotional and social health.

Numerous headlines and news reports showcase how elderly adults are disregarded, abused and tortured, taken advantage of financially by their own family members. The people who should be taking care of them are the ones who end up harming them physically as well as emotionally. Losing familial support and being treated as an outcast by your own family makes it even harder for the seniors to trust anybody, leaving them searching for resources that can help them, often presenting a bleak picture of the future. It is heart-wrenching to witness such incidents, but there is not much intervention observed from society or individuals as this is deemed an inside matter of the families. 

Most of the aged people are not physically strong enough to fight back against the abuse. Elder neglect is also one of the prominent types of elder abuse. In this type of abuse, caretakers or family members tend to ignore the older people intentionally and fail to cater to his/her needs. Caregivers who take up the responsibility of providing aid and care to older people in many cases have been proven guilty of not giving food, health care services, assistance for daily living, and other services needed for sustenance to the seniors. The issue runs very deep in our society, shrouded in the veil of ignorance or the sheer disregard that we as a community have towards bringing some qualitative changes in the health scenario of the elderly. However, that can be changed by creating dialogues regarding this topic, creating resources that the aged can turn to for help, whether in the form of assisted living homes with standard protocols or inclusion of specific policies that target such cases of abuse. 

Social wellbeing of aged people

Another side of the coin when it comes to the overall well being of the elderly is their social health. In some ways or another, there is a correlation between emotional and social well being, as issues like depression and anxiety can push seniors to isolate themselves from outside contact or lose the will to interact with anyone. There could be two cases wherein an older person starts detaching from their community, social group, and the outside stimuli – out of their own accord and disinterest or isolation enforced by their abuser to keep them from getting the needed help. With more awareness around this parameter of elderly living, there has been a shift in the approach people have towards elderly concentrated communities like senior care homes and other assisted living homes catering to specific conditions of the elderly. Moreover, retirement homes meant for only the aged to live in are also slowly & steadily becoming mainstream.  

Maintaining emotional & social wellbeing of elderly

Extra support and care can allow the elderly to maintain a quality living and a good state of emotional and social well being. To achieve this, the caregiver or the family members of the aged person needs to ensure that they are getting regular medical assistance when required and needed. 

1) Acknowledging the need for the elderly to be physically active and ensuring that with some sort of guidance and assistance. The people living with them should be able to make them indulge in physical activities, and their diet should contain all the vital vitamins and minerals.

2) Participation in community events, irrespective of whether they live in an assisted living home, alone or with their family members, is one crucial aspect that needs to be ascertained. 

3) Giving them attention, listening to their concerns, paying heed to what they say and not shrugging their participation in household matters or significant life matters of their own shall be something that needs to be incorporated in how we interact with the elderly. 

4) Seeking expert consultation in case of visible signs of declining health should be ensured to avoid the cascading repercussions on the emotional or mental health of the elderly. 

Conclusion

Having witnessed the happenings in the senior care space through an experience that spans half a decade, Senior Care Genie which is one of the best elder care services in Delhi understands the concerns, inhibitions and difficulties of the elderly and families. From the very beginning, it has been our objective to empower families with the proper support ranging from consultation and transition to at-home care to make the process easier for them and create the reality of better living for the elderly possible.

elder care home
admin Senior Care, Senior Care Consultation, Senior Care service provider,

Importance of seeking help and assistance for the elderly at the right time

It is the family member’s responsibility to seek medical assistance for the elderly as they are often reluctant to get the right help themselves. Increased physical, pathological and neurological problems are prominent in older age that at times necessitates at-home nursing care and GDA support. Identifying the early signs of symptoms in the elderly, getting it diagnosed and then providing a supportive, empathetic and suitable environment for them to recuperate and live a quality life becomes important with the decision still remaining quite complex. The process can be time-consuming, challenging, but still remains a decision that cannot be delayed for long to avoid deterioration of the condition of their loved one’s condition.   

Mental health issues in older adults

The most commonly diagnosed mental health issues in the elderly are anxiety and depression. Many family members or caregivers live in denial that senior citizens can face mental health issues, but the truth is illnesses like dementia, depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, Alzheimer’s disease are more prevalent in the older population. These are often overlooked and unnoticed, resulting in enhanced chances of mishappenings and even self-harm tendencies in the aged. 

Statistics even show that there are a number of elderly suffering in silence, who need thorough monitoring, unfaltering attention and help with activities of daily lives. The absence of the right care not only adversely affects their life but also the other people associated with them. It can result in them feeling isolated, helpless and even in situations where the specific physical or mental problem gets out of hand. Herein, at-home care provided by a trained staff skilled in the specific condition of the elderly can be beneficial in improving their health outcomes, whereas assisted living homes can provide them with a conducive environment and community to improve their quality of living. Seeking the proper assistance at the correct time can make a massive difference in the comfort of living for the elderly in the future. 

  1. Providing care to the elderly by appointing the right nursing care and GDA support ensures professional management of the specific condition and complete attention to the elderly. It would ensure that your loved ones’ wellbeing is taken up as the priority that an expert skilled for meeting their specific needs as family members might be unable to offer unwavering attention to their ageing loved ones. 
  2. A proper schedule of medical appointments, a caregiver who can provide them medicines on time, and a healthy routine to follow all physician guidelines is the basic requirement of enhancing their physical wellness. 
  3. Assisted living homes or elderly care services at home provide support from a community of like-minded people that understand each other. One might feel isolated and shut off from society as they age, further affecting their recovery, overall health and mental state, but the social communications and interactions that elderly living homes have as a part of their amenities can alleviate that issue.