Tag: senior care services
admin Elderly Care, Elderly Care Home,

Transition to a care home: Tips to make the move stress-free for elderly with dementia.

While we all want our loved ones to age gracefully at home, sometimes it can become difficult to take care of them in the best way possible due to time constraints or lack of proper knowledge & skills. Especially when they have specific health conditions such as dementia. Dementia in elderly is caused due to damage in the nerve cells or loss of brain cells. Dementia can affect people differently and can cause different symptoms depending on the area of the brain that has been damaged. In such cases, moving the elderly to a care home can become the most optimal choice, where they are taken care of in a compassionate and skilled manner. However, this process of moving our aged parents or grandparents to a care home could be difficult and stressful for the family members and the elderly. 

Elderly with dementia often find it difficult to move from a familiar environment to a new place. As in a move, they can become disorientated, distressed, and agitated when they feel insecure. For families, it is crucial to understand and recognize the stress of a move on elderly with dementia as it can have severe consequences if not addressed promptly. Chronic anxiety, risk of depression and other emotional health problems are among these.

These tips are essential if you are planning to move your elderly loved one with dementia into a senior care home:

  • Familiarize with the place

Before you move your elderly to a care home, visit the community with the elderly several times to make them familiar with the place. Help them adapt to the new place and empower them to have a positive association with this new setting. Ensure that they feel safe and secure, try to stay there and participate in some activities.

  • Give the bedroom a personalized touch.

Arrange a bedroom with known items that the elderlyl will recognize immediately. Personalized touch and familiar objects will help them feel comfortable.

  • Organize the wardrobe

Often we notice signs of anxiety, frustration and twitching when a person with dementia cannot find clothes or frequently used items. Try to organize clothing on hangers in the closet and try to arrange things in a way familiar to the elderly.

  • Plan your visits regularly

Families and friends need to visit frequently in the first two or three weeks so that elderly do not feel abandoned. Request a copy of the daily schedule, including meals and activities from the care home. Always try and choose the time of your visits wisely. Do not let it clash with any other scheduled programs for the elderly on the given day. It is not necessary to have extended visits. The aim is to assure the person that they are loved and that you will return very soon to meet them again.

  • Communicate with the staff

Communication with the staff will help them to understand the elderly better. Always leave a note having your loved one’s likes and dislikes, favourite food, fun activities, name of their children or grandchildren and make a copy of it and hand it over to the staff. These notes will help the team to engage your elderly in meaningful activities and conversations.

With the help of the Senior care genie, the transition of the elderly from your home to the care home is made easy and less stressful. We at  Senior Care Genie go above and beyond to make this transition as comfortable as possible, while also helping families deal with the process better emotionally as well as logistically.

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admin Elderly Care,

Trust is a Two-Way Street! Help the Caregiver to Help your Parents

A caregiver’s job is not easy as it requires a lot of patience, expertise, and compassion. Mr Brett H. Lewis once said that “Doctors diagnose, nurses heal, and caregivers make sense of it all”.  On top of taking care of their personal lives, they take care of your parents with love, affection and kindness. Whether it is giving your parents their medicines on time or giving them the emotional support they need, caregivers go the extra mile to do their job with honesty and dedication. 

It is true indeed that to develop a healthy relationship with your parent’s caregiver, there must be a presence of mutual trust, understanding and effort. While caregivers do their job, it is our responsibility as their employer to establish a healthy & welcoming environment for them to work in. 

Why is it essential to cooperate with the caregiver?

As said before, the job of a caregiver is a challenging one. While they provide our parents with the best possible assistance and care, we can do our bit in making their work environment a stress-free one. It is crucial to cooperate with the caregiver to establish a healthy interpersonal relationship with them. When you and the caregiver cooperate, it strengthens the communication and allows you to get a better and more explicit stance on your parents’ well-being. Better communication enforces better work results. 

How can you help the caregiver? 

The caregivers don’t ask for much, and you can help them work better with simple steps which go a long way: 

  1. Establishing mutual respect: When your Caregiver treats you with dignity and respect, you must reward them by extending the same. It speaks volumes about the ambience you’re setting up for them to work in. A simple essence of respect can make them feel more liberal and comfortable while working, strengthening their performance scale. 
  2. Extending emotional support in times of need: Similar to your parents, caregivers need emotional support at times too. Simple gestures like ‘you’re doing great’, ‘If you need a break, you can take it’, ‘why don’t you relax for some time?’, can make them feel less pressurized during working hours. It is perfectly fine if you wish to maintain a professional connection with your caregiver. It is always good to regularly ask about their mental and physical health to make sure that the person taking care of your parents is okay. 
  3. Respecting boundaries: We all expect people to maintain personal boundaries. Caregivers need personal space too, and it is our responsibility to take care of the fact that they have at while working. 
  4. Understanding personal problems and emergencies: Sometimes, personal emergencies and unavoidable circumstances can prevent the caregiver from coming to work. In this case, you can extend your support by telling them that it is okay to take a day off. This support can make them feel a little relaxed and even content with their job. 
  5. Taking and giving regular feedbacks: Once a week, you can sit down with the caregiver and provide them with feedback about their work. This will make them feel valued and make improvisations in their work if necessary. A positive direction can help them make amends in their job and work on results. While you are at it, you should also take feedback from them to make their work a little easier. You can start the conversation by asking, ‘How can I contribute to making your work here easier?’ or ‘What changes would you like from my side?’. This helps in building mutual coordination and trust between you and the caregiver. 
  6. Appreciating their work: Saying phrases like, ‘I am thankful for the work you do for my parents’, ‘You are doing great, keep up with the good work!’, ‘My parents seem much healthier and happy since you got here’ etc, can keep the caregiver motivated and encourage them to do better. 
  7. Confronting them about their mistakes in a healthy way: Humans make mistakes, and it is time we normalize it. If your caregiver makes a mistake, make them realize it subtly while being gentle. We all go through something we don’t talk about, and sometimes we make mistakes. Telling them, ‘It is okay, don’t feel guilty or pressured! You can work on it’, is a gentle way of confrontation. 

The Bottom Line: Caregiving is a learning process, and it is vital to establish a positive connection with the caregiver. If you are looking for senior care services and senior living consultant, contact Senior Care Genie for more details.

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admin Elderly Care Home, ,

Making independent at-home living possible for your ageing loved ones

In the quest to find the best care for the elderly, the most important thing we consider is their overall well-being and improving their capability to live independently. One wants to ensure that their ageing loved ones are equipped with the necessary resources, tools and assistance to enjoy unhindered quality living while also maintaining their independence. 

SeniorCareGenie, with our comprehensive elder care services, facilitate at-home independent living to be possible for the seniors. Our senior care solutions, along with our one-of-a-kind approach rooted in companionship and building relationships, ensure that the elderly can access whatever they need to realize the meaning of ‘independent living’ in their routines truly. Following are the ways we are contributing to making senior living comfortable, manageable and more convenient. 

The assistance of a caregiver

The help and assistance of a trained caregiver can truly be a gamechanger for promoting independent living for the elderly. It ensures not only skilled supervision of their health and prompt response during emergencies but also consistent support with daily living activities. Thus, helping the senior navigate the constraints of everyday life caused by their regressing bodily function, strength or memory. 

SeniorCareGenie enables this to an even higher degree of optimacy by first understanding the requirements of the elderly and then providing them with the caregiver trained to fulfil their specifications. Thus, offering customized elder care solutions to the unique expectations and lifestyle of the seniors and their families. 

Companionship

Everyone needs companionship, especially with older age when one wants to feel heard and acknowledged, more so because they become more emotionally vulnerable and sensitive. Our customized senior care programs cater to this aspect of elderly care by offering companionship of skilled caregivers, who interact, help and spend quality time with them.  Be it help with daily life chores, a walk in the park, assistance with unforeseen circumstances or booking appointments, independent living becomes possible and easier for the seniors with the help of a trained companion by their side. 

Elderly medical equipment

Equipment stands crucial for maintaining and checking the elderly’s health and providing them convenience in their daily life activities like walking. They become the source for better managing their condition to analyze their various health parameters closely. SeniorCareGenie provides multiple medical equipment for the seniors ranging from wheelchairs, walkers, emergency bells to something more advanced for specific health conditions like dementia. 

At-home sample collection & additional services

The ability to go about their lives normally by being able to access whatever they need at the tip of their fingers is essential for the independent living of the elderly. SeniorCareGenie ensures this for the seniors by making it possible for them to contact plumbers, electricians, drivers, and other personnel for home-related services promptly and conveniently. Additionally, our at-home sample collection and report delivery service for medical tests make a hassle-free living even more plausible as routine health checks are essential for seniors, and we make it more manageable for them. 

Hence, we don’t just offer senior care services but create comfortable experiences for the elderly wherein they are assisted, supervised, supported and attended to without any lags or scope of negligence. Our solutions are holistic and caters to all the difficulties an elder and their family might face through personalized programs made for them specifically. 
As senior living consultants and holistic eldercare service providers, we emphasize relaying the right information to families and customizing our solutions to their unique expectations. The comfort and well-being of the elderly is our first priority. Our processes that involve continued support, thorough analysis of senior’s condition, a unique caregiver training approach, and more are testament to that.

senior care services
admin Elderly Living, Senior Care Consultation,

Being an elderly in Covid-19: the epidemic of social isolation & engaging activities to counter it

Amidst the exponential spread of Covid-19 various jarring scenarios have unfolded in front of our eyes, presenting a larger picture of the somewhat broken healthcare system and its inadequacies to cater to the ageing and socio-economically backward section of our society. While the lines were always blurred when it came to the elderly in terms of resources, senior care services, support, uplifting schemes available to them, but the pandemic has jolted the nation awake to the blaring pleas of the seniors who are often deemed and treated as a liability.   

Impact of the pandemic on the elderly

At this juncture of the pandemic, healthcare has not been relayed as a collective responsibility but rather as an individual effort, which fails to consider the vulnerability of our elderly populace. The seniors are scared to step out of their homes since they are more likely to be impacted, keeping them helpless about fulfilling their daily life needs. Whether it be an at-home setting or an old age home in Gurgaon, Mumbai or any other parts of the country, there has not been a qualitative attempt to maintain the overall well-being of the elderly due to lack of knowledge, ignorance and a prevalent ideology of disregarding the comfort of seniors during tough times. Those who live with their families or are more financially well off may still be able to retain their quality of life even within the constraints of their home, but that makes up a minuscule percentage of our population. Those who are not so privileged have been subjected to isolation, neglect, abuse and overall exposure to the sad reality of their redundancy in a nation with 136.64 crore people yet nobody to pay heed to their concerns. 

The financial dependency, degeneration of bodily functions, susceptibility to chronic and acute diseases makes the situation worse, especially when no mention of the elderly is found in government initiatives and considerations. This mute battle of stigma and ignorance associated with ageing is an age-old phenomenon that has taken the form of a raging issue at hand: the dire state of the elderly during the pandemic. At this point, there is much to be considered and undertaken to ensure that this negligence and incompetence of our healthcare system and government bodies, to reckon with and resolve the unique difficulties of the seniors, doesn’t leave the ageing hopeless to the relief they need. 

Fortunately, certain groups, NGOs, and individuals have been coming to the rescue of the older people in helping them fulfil their daily needs, with online doctor consultations becoming the new norm along with social distancing. However, the issue by large still remains unresolved at a nationwide scale with the further scope of improvement in our approaches even at homes. There are various measures that families can take to collectively play their part in maintaining quality living for the aged to ensure the right care for them as they are more likely to suffer from deteriorating social and emotional health. One step towards providing the required welfare for seniors is to give them attention, listen to their concerns and keep them engaged in activities. 

Here are few points highlighting the ways of engaging seniors and keeping them occupied to navigate emotional vulnerability due to the physical and mental isolation induced by the pandemic. 

  1. Make your ageing loved ones familiar with technology to enable them to access the outside world online while ensuring that they remain well aware of the rampant false rumours and news, especially on Facebook and WhatsApp.
  2. Plan activities that one can do with family and create daily rituals where everyone comes together, such as playing carrom, cards, ludo, chess and other games. This way, the elderly would have something to look forward to, and they will not feel left out.
  1. Have a morning routine where everyone does some sort of exercises, including mild activities like yoga and meditation for elderly parents and grandparents.
  1. Make good use of video calls to keep them connected to other family members and incorporate humour in their life by watching movies and providing them companionship. 
  1. Reading, writing, and collective or individual hobbies like gardening and knitting can also effectively keep the seniors away from dwelling too much about their movements being confined to their home.

Senior Care Genie is striving to improve the quality of elderly living by empowering families to make the best decisions regarding senior care. Be it finding the right old age home or care at-home and elderly medical equipment, we are a one-stop solution for ensuring the most suitable care for families’ ageing loved ones that match their healthcare requirement and budget.

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admin Elderly Care Home, Senior Care service provider,

In-home care or care homes: Making the right decisions for meeting the needs of elderly

Finding the time required to care for our elderly loved ones isn’t that easy any more while ensuring unwavering attention and assistance with their medical condition. With these rapidly changing times, requirements, and newfound awareness regarding elderly care, the outlook and approach of families regarding at-home care and care homes is changing. This doesn’t mean there are no family bonds anymore, but with developing times, there is far more emphasis on making the best decisions for the elderly rather than putting their wellness aside due to societal taboos. 

If you are confused about the decision of whether to consider at-home services or an assisted living home,  this article can be your handy guide to shed some light on both to make a better decision. 

1)  At-home care can include a wide variety of care, ranging from simple companionship to medical supervision by skilled carers. It can encompass assistance with daily activities, like nutrition, physical activities, non-medical care and more, and is more appealing for older people who want to live in the comforts of their home but need ongoing care that their friends and family are unable to offer.  

Whereas care homes with nursing care are more appropriate for individuals who want to be a part of a community of like-minded people for their social wellbeing, need help with daily living activities, 24×7 professional medical support and supervision. In the case of care homes without nursing care, there still be guidance from trained staff, but it may not be equipped to cater to specific health conditions of the elderly that need highly professional supervision. 

2) At-home care allows for more personalized attention on the elderly by the carer, but here the quality of care will be dependent on the skills, training of the caregiver and their behaviour and approach. 

Whereas, in the case of home cares, one can be ensured of round-the-clock professional help with disorders like Dementia for their ageing loved ones wherein everything from the utility bills, meals, clothing, activities and living will be covered. 

3) With at-home care, the elderly can continue living in a familiar environment with their pets, their neighbours and retain their independence. But on the flip side, there could be issues of lack of skilled carers, caregivers turning up late for work and elderly neglect. 

Whereas in the case of home care, there is a decline in the level of independence the elderly enjoy; they might not be comfortable living in a smaller allotted space, and families might feel guilty and not ready emotionally. However, the seniors will have company at all times, medical assistance required for their optimal health, and overall safety and security. 

This important decision requires a far deeper understanding of the healthcare requirement of the elderly, their social, emotional well being and most of all, their level of comfort. Thus, necessitating help from professionals for making the right decisions and facilitating the best for one’s ageing loved ones. 

Conclusion

There are multiple reasons to consider at-home elder care services or old age homes. One is having a reliable and fine caretaker for your elderly loved ones who are now unable to live independently and probably need somebody by their side all the time. But finding the right care for your loved ones can be time-consuming, challenging and stressful, wherein our consultation services can lend a helping hand to families to make their decisions more informed and most appropriate for their budget and requirements. 

Besides these, we also support senior care services providers’ growth with our mentorship and training, help with setting up the old age homes, etc. Our objective is to offer holistic services that benefit families and the elderly with assistance throughout this journey of transitioning from their home to assisted living home, finding the right old age home, buying elderly medical equipment, at-home care and blood tests, and more.

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.