Time to care, no time to work?
One of the realities of aging parents is that, inevitably, they will require more care and attention as they move from an active retirement to a more gently paced one.
They will need more support too, and as their adult children, they’ll be calling on your help far more often. There may come a point where you and your siblings see the need for care on a regular basis to help with chores and everyday tasks.
The problem is, you’re probably still working, running your own family home, and living in another area, city, province or country. It simply isn’t practical to “pop over” even at weekends, (and with the pandemic restrictions, it hasn’t actually been possible either for months at a time).
Working from home = available
One of the other unexpected after-effects of the pandemic is that many more people are now working from home. To the older generation, this can be difficult to understand in terms of contact boundaries. Where they would not dream of “disturbing’ you at the office, since you are at home, they can call at any time. each call may only be short, but it can disrupt your train of thought, or disturb a Zoom call, and affect your work as a result.
What’s more, any sudden change in health or deterioration in condition can lead to the need for more care in person. That inevitably will take up a lot of time even if shared amongst all adult children, affecting everyone’s work patterns, family life and (often) income.
Planning to retire yourself?
With older parents, all this can come just at a point when you are planning your own retirement and organising both finances and retirement goals. We have seen family members delay their own retirement by more than 10 years to help with care both financially and practically. This puts a lot of strain on all concerned.
This is exactly the impending scenario where home care can help both you and your aging parent/s. The first stage is to recognise the potential need for professional care early, and act NOW. By introducing the idea of extra help when they need it at a simple level, you can pave the way to more comprehensive care to help them age in place later on.
A personalized approach to home care
When you call us here at Vytality at Home, we will meet with you and your parent/s’ home to assess their current needs and requirements, and create a tailored, personalised care plan. This can evolve and change as their needs change too.
To begin with, home care can start gently as a regular visit by one of our friendly caregivers to do light housekeeping, take in groceries, wash a load of laundry, or just provide some face to face company for coffee and a chat. Our home care team can also organize other services provided by our trusted partners, including gardening, snow clearance and booking cabs for medical appointments.
As their needs grow, so too can the services Vytality at Home can provide to meet your loved ones’ needs. These can expand to become daily visits by a caregiver to help with washing, grooming and personal care for one person or both, as required.
Peace of mind and time to work
Knowing that someone is taking care of your loved ones while you work allows you to concentrate on your business, your work, and your career. With daily chores taken care of, you’ll be called less often, and visits to see parent/s can become more family time together and less of an endless list of jobs to be done!
Ned to talk to us?
If you want to discuss introducing home care services to your senior parents in the Calgary area, contact us. We’re happy to help.
