July 28, 2009

Interactive Caregivers are a Very Important Part Of Healthy Aging with Elderly Senior Citizens Who Need Non-Medical In-Home Care From Comfort Keepers in Wallingford, CT

By Carol Carbutti

Any Comfort Keeper employee who refers to him or herself as a caregiver is hopefully interacting with the senior they are looking after. From the greeting a companion should try to be upbeat and positive leaving personal burdens at home. Seniors who are greeted by caregivers might live alone. Many elderly senior citizens are very lonely, they have no visitors and the last thing they need is for an in-home caregiver to enter the home and completely ignore them. We do not want our personal care employees to be grummpy. The companion should be there to give care and not spill his or her problems all over there senior client.
The care given should be interactive. Inter often refers to the experience between two people such as the word interpersonal. Active obviously refers to the motions or doings of the body. So when we put the word interactive together what we really mean is the experience between the caregiver and the senior occurs while they are doing an activity together. If we add caregiving, assistance or support during an activity we have interactive caregiving or the experience that happens between two people while doing an activity whereby one is assisting the other.

In practical terms what does this mean? It means that individuals offering caregiving services should try at every turn to engage their senior in the activity he or she is doing at whatever level of functioning the senior can participate. This can be small things like when doing the laundry you let a senior fold a towel or towels and you fold along with the person. If the elderly client becomes tired, you can offer to take over.

Many times our seniors have an activity they loved to do. For elderly women it could have been cooking or laundry (like folding the towels) and they can no longer do the entire activity but senior citizens can do parts. For senior men it could have been fixing the small things around the house like a loose doorknob or cabinet hinge. If caregivers slow down and learn these things about the senior they are going to help, the caregiving experience can be much more enjoyable to both the senior and the caregiver.

 

Interactive caregiving

stimulates the mind and body and may be the best way to help the senior maintain their independence and dignity. Our seniors worked hard all their lives either in jobs or raising families, they deserve to be treated with dignity and respect that interactive caregiving brings. Here at Comfort Keepers our personal care companions restore an elderly persons independance, and freedom by always remaining courteous and polite at all times, and engaging their seniors as often as possible.
　

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Topics: Communication, Healthy Aging Issues, In-Home Care Services, Senior Resources, Seniors Staying Healthy | No Comments »

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