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One of the benefits of choosing assisted living for your loved one is peace of mind. When your loved one enters into an assisted living community, you can feel secure in the knowledge that all of their primary needs are being met. While services vary, you can be assured that they will be safe and comfortable.
Unfortunately, for those friends or relatives in charge of caring for their loved ones at a distance, this is sometimes where that peace of mind ends. While safety, comfort, and nutrition are important, these are not the only aspects necessary to live a happy and contented life. It is important to make sure that emotional and social needs are being met. While this may not be easy from a distance, it is possible.
By establishing a few of these routines, you can help to ensure that your loved one is being cared for properly:
Establish a support tree
Just because you cannot be there to provide direct emotional support for your loved one does not mean that they will be neglected. Establish a support tree full of friends, relatives, and other caregivers. Ask them to visit the assisted living home often. You may even want to create a schedule of suggested visiting times. You will be surprised at how willing people are to come out and offer their support.
Contact staff
Frequently check in with the staff of the assisted living facility. Many long distance care providers make it a point to contact doctors and staff supervisors; however, this does not always help them accurately gauge the level of their loved one’s mental health and emotional well-being. Make it a point to contact the staff members who are directly in charge of providing personal care. These people who interact with your loved one on a daily basis can offer the best insight into their overall mood.
Visit Often
If you were local, you would make it a point to visit regularly. This does not have to change just because you are providing care long distance. Instead of viewing a visitation in terms of actual physical contact, view it in a more abstract way. Advancements in technology have made it easy to stay in touch. Use the phone, email and Internet. Some assisted living facilities even offer the ability to stay in contact through Internet conferencing. Just the simple act of sending a greeting card is a great way to express your care.
Contact Brookdale today for more information about our assisted living facilities and programs.
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