Providing Care at Home
It gives your loved one comfort and joy to be ageing at home — a familiar place — to improve their quality of life.
Enabling Your Loved Ones to Live Independently
You can enable your loved ones to live as independently as possible by taking some steps to make home living safe and comfortable. This includes home modifications, where you make changes to your house, enabling your loved one to safely perform daily activities within his or her ability.
Another way to boost your loved one’s safety is getting them assistive devices like motorised wheelchairs, walking aids, or vision aids such as glasses. These devices may help reduce their risk of falls, which is a common cause of injury among seniors.
How to Care for Your Loved Ones
It is common for caregivers to feel overwhelmed by the many responsibilities. For day-to-day activities, creating a care routine can help to make daily tasks more manageable. While you’re providing practical care, it’s important to also have meaningful engagement with your loved one to enhance the experience.
You can boost your skills and confidence by attending caregiver training courses. In cases where your loved one’s needs go beyond what you can do, there are care services in the community that can help to support your caregiving journey.
As your journey progresses, your loved one’s condition may change or an unexpected event could happen. Therefore, it is important to plan ahead for your own and your loved one’s future health and personal care.
Understanding your loved ones’ preferences and arranging for future care arrangements will help to alleviate the stress of your family members. This also includes preparing ahead in the event of an emergency at home.
Setting Up a Care Routine
As a caregiver, one way to manage your tasks and responsibilities is to set up a care routine. A care routine can minimise arguments, confusion and reduce the stress of decision making. This makes caring for your loved one easier. This consistent schedule can include daily activities such as personal hygiene, mealtimes, taking their medication or checking of blood sugar, exercising, and socialising.
Involving your loved one when planning a care routine helps you to understand their needs and wants, preferences, and abilities. It also gives them a sense of participation in having a say in their own care and increasing their enjoyment. Be flexible and creative in the plan.
If there is more than one caregiver, do regularly update each other on the information and progress of your loved one. This helps to reduce miscommunication and mismatched expectations in caregiving.
The 4 Ps — Planning, Perform, People and Pace
The “4 Ps” – Planning, Perform, People, Pace – is an easy guide to help you start planning a routine with your loved one.
As a caregiver, your time is precious, with many tasks to do in a day. With a routine, you and your loved one benefit from better time and care management. To begin, follow these four steps as a guide.
Who Should You Inform?
Planning
- List down the daily tasks and activities that need to be done (morning, afternoon, and evening)
- Understand the needs, preferences, and abilities of your loved one
- Have an open discussion with your family to decide who does what
- For caregivers, plan some activities for yourself
Perform
- Use the care routine as a guide on what to do and look out for throughout the day
- Adjust and improvise the routine as needed, so that you and your loved one are comfortable
People
- Plan for extra help in activities if you are unable to manage, due to physical or time limitations. There are care services available to support you
- Communicate regularly with other family members on the condition of your elderly loved one
- Allocate tasks and responsibilities to family members or friends to ease the load. This may include financial planning, transportation, and meal preparation
Pace
- Take the time to perform the activities without over-exerting yourself or your loved one
- Make sure you and your loved one get adequate rest between activities
Care Routine Template
We have prepared an easy guide to help you start planning a routine with your loved ones. Download our basic care routine guide and template here.
Useful Links
Learn More
Here are more tips to better care for your loved one.
Things to do with your loved ones if they are wheelchair-bound
