Crystal The essence of daily care for the elderly is based on the physiological tolerance, psychological state and social participation needs of the elderly. Systematic care with the core of maintaining the current quality of life and delaying functional decline is far from being as simple as "serving meals and taking medicine" in the popular stereotype.
I have worked as a caregiver in a community nursing home for five years, and I have seen too many family members misunderstand this matter. For example, last year I met Aunt Zhang, a 72-year-old patient with diabetes, who fell and developed degenerative knee disease just two years after retirement. At first, her children thought that the care was adequate by asking an aunt to cook and take anti-diabetic drugs every day. As a result, the aunt stayed at home for more than half a year, sitting in a daze every day, with her blood sugar rising and falling, and she didn't even want to mention her favorite square dance. Later, we adjusted the care plan and walked her slowly for 20 minutes in the garden of the community every afternoon, and made an appointment with three people with diabetes in the community to make a low-sugar handmade meal once a week. Aunt Zhang's mood gradually brightened, and even her blood sugar level stabilized a lot.
There are also different views on the core priorities of daily care in the circle. Many family members believe that "no illness, no pain, no falling or touching is the highest standard." They would rather keep the elderly at home and not let them do anything than let them go out and take risks. Some of our colleagues in front-line care believe that "making the elderly feel that they are still useful is more important than any other indicators." Last month we picked up an 80-year-old man. Before retiring, I was a middle school teacher. My children were afraid that he would fall when he walked unsteadily, so they wouldn't even let him collect the dishes and chopsticks at home. As a result, the old man sat by the window every day for the first week and sighed, saying that he was a "superfluous person." Later, we tried to assign him some "small tasks" every day, such as helping us sort the magazines in the activity room into categories, and changing the screws of the reading glasses. Now the old man comes to "work" on time every day, and his appetite has increased by half a bowl.
If you really do it on the front line, you will know that the details of care are always more effective than the big principles. For example, when feeding an old man with a bad memory, don't chase after him and say, "It's time for you to eat." Put the porcelain bowl he usually uses in front of him and say, "Let's eat your favorite pumpkin porridge today. I have too much to drink, so you can help me share the load." Most of the time he will eat it smoothly. When dressing an elderly person with hemiplegia, don't pull his arm right away. Put his hand on the healthy side into the sleeve first, and then slowly put on the affected side. Be gentle and don't make him feel like he is an object to be played with.
To put it bluntly, there are no unified standards for daily care of the elderly. To put it bluntly, we just need to think more from the perspective of the elderly. If he wants to stand, don’t force him to sit down. If he wants to eat by himself, don’t worry about him spilling all over the table. As caregivers, we never want to take care of the elderly so that they don’t have to do it themselves. We just need to lend a hand so that they can live as comfortably as possible according to their own wishes.
