Home > Blog > January 2017 > Important First Steps for Caring for a Senior with Parkinson’s Disease

Important First Steps for Caring for a Senior with Parkinson’s Disease

Posted: 2/1/2017 3:44 PM by Interim HealthCare

The moment that you hear that your elderly loved one is suffering from Alzheimer’s disease is a life-changing and potentially frightening moment. You have found out that your parent is dealing with a debilitating disease that will eventually lead to their death and you know that everything that you have planned for the future of your care will now need to be evaluated and possibly changed. This will ensure that you continue to give your loved one all the support, care, and assistance necessary to give them the highest quality of possible. At this moment it is time for you to take valuable first steps that will get you started on your care journey and help to prepare you for the new chapter ahead.

Some of these important first steps for caring for a senior with Parkinson’s disease include:
• Educate yourself. In order to give your parent the best quality of care as they progress through Parkinson’s disease, you must understand the disease. Knowing everything that you can about the condition, its progression, and the types of symptoms and challenges that your loved one might experience enables you to understand what they are going through and prepare a course of care and management that is right for them.

• Pull together. Hearing this diagnosis will be an emotionally challenging moment for you and for your aging parent. Take some time to work through what you are going through and help your parent work through their own emotions as well so that you can pull together and head forward into this new chapter strong and united.

• Seek out support. You should not go at this alone. You will need all the help that you can get from the beginning of the experience on, both for your parent’s sake and for yours. This support can come in the form of a support group, friends and family, and professional medical team members. These will all work together to ensure that your parent gets all of the care and assistance they need, and that you can maintain your own health and well-being so you can give the most to your parent, your children, your partner, and everyone else who relies on you now and after your care journey comes to an end.

Starting elderly care for your aging parent is one of the most nurturing, caring, and effective decisions that you can make throughout your journey as their family caregiver. In this role you are responsible for making sure that your aging loved one get the care and support that they need to help them handle their current health challenges, reduce the risk of suffering others, and prepare for the possibility of future symptoms and challenges while also ensuring that they can live the highest quality of life possible as they age in place. When they are suffering a serious illness such as Parkinson’s disease, the highly personalized services of an elderly home care services provider can help your parent to manage the challenging symptoms that they are experiencing, prepare for the future symptoms that will develop as they progress through the condition, and maintain an active, engaged, and fulfilling quality of life. For maximum benefit, consider starting elderly care for your parent as early in their journey with the disease as possible. This gives them the opportunity to grow accustomed not just to the elderly home care services provider, but also to the need to receive care. This lets them feel more comfortable and be more cooperative throughout their progression while also preparing them for the changes that will come as their disease moves ahead.

More information about Parkinson’s Disease.