Most seniors enjoy the health that allows them to live independently and perform multiple activities and tasks without depending on anyone. However, some require assistance with certain activities necessary for daily living. The needs of these individuals may range from minimal service (e.g., travel companionship) to a significant and ongoing degree of assistance (e.g., personal hygiene). It may also be necessary to provide them with service in maintaining an appropriate relationship with their peers and the world they live in. In general, people who live to a very advanced age usually end up requiring, to some degree, help from other family members, friends, or neighbors for different facets of their daily lives.
Many people in our country dedicate a significant part of their time to caring for an elderly relative who depends on this help to get by in their daily lives. These people know that caring for someone can be a satisfying experience, but they also know that it is often a lonely, difficult, thankless and seldom acknowledged task.
We all know that the help that comes from family is, in principle, the best that can be offered to the elderly and that receiving this help is a good way for the elderly to feel that their physical, social, and emotional needs are met.
But the truth is that caring for an older adult entails effort, dedication and, in many cases, involves anger, frustration, sadness, giving up another way of life, a job or job promotion, continuing education, devoting more time to the rest of the family or friends, and so on. In addition, the older our older adult gets, the more likely it is that new and unknown ailments may appear or that those he/she may already have may worsen, which means that the time may come when the family’s care is no longer adequate or the one that can best adjust to the grandparent’s needs. This is when it becomes necessary to think about hiring senior care services.
The senior caregiver’s tasks will depend on the needs we have and the qualifications we require. However, to ensure that they do their job well, we must know the generic functions that caregivers perform:
- Help with or thoroughly perform household chores
- Assistance in moving the elderly
- Accompanies the elderly to any place, inside and outside the home.
- Able to perform primary nursing care
- Encourages communication with the elderly, socializes them, and gives them affection and companionship.
- Controls the follow-up of medication
- Prepares food adapted to the diet of the elderly person
- It helps the older adult to maintain good personal and household hygiene
- Resolves conflict situations
But not just anyone can take care of an older adult. To provide senior care New Jersey services, you must have a love for the profession, empathy, and strength, among many qualities that would be ideal to ensure the best possible care, so here you will find a list of the most important.
The work of assisting and accompanying the elderly has an important vocational component. Hence, the skills of a caregiver for the elderly are not only something that is learned and exercised but is somehow already present in those who are professionally engaged in this sector.
In addition to having medical knowledge, physical strength, technical skills, and extensive experience in the performance of their duties, they must also have other equally important qualities. For example, the greater the caregiver’s adaptive capacity, the more efficient their knowledge and the way they put it into practice in caregiving. In this sense, it is a question of skills and attitudes and a talent for dealing with situations that can be unpredictable and require diligence and sensitivity.
