Friday, September 10, 2010

Many seniors resist getting help at home

More than half of seniors resist asking for help, even from their adult children, fearing it signals a neediness that could land them in a nursing home, a new study shows.  That fierce resistance is playing out in so many family squabbles — from the silent treatment to bitter turf wars between aging parents and their grown kids — that the home-care agency Home Instead Senior Care has just launched a series of online self-help videos, one of them focusing on communication.  “This is a big problem for family caregivers,” says Bruce Mahony, owner of Home Instead’s Toronto office. “If seniors admit they need help, they think their independence is in question. They worry about losing control of their affairs.”  Fifty-one per cent of 24,147 adult caregivers surveyed across Canada and the U.S. by Home Instead Senior Care from 2004 to 2009 say their aging relatives can be so reluctant to accept help, they fear for their safety. Some worry their elderly parents are forgetting to eat meals or take medications in a misguided bid to maintain their independence.  Others are managing to hobble along with considerable help from elderly partners who are getting sick struggling to keep up appearances that all is well, elder-care experts say.

 Source:  Healthzone Canada (September 3, 2010)
Full story:  http://www.healthzone.ca/health/yourhealth/agingwell/article/856361--seniors-resist-help-at-home

It is precisely this type of situation that prompted me to look into the growing field of Life Care Planning.  Soon, an Elder Care Coordinator will join my staff to offer these badly needed services to elders and their families in our area.   Life Care Planning is a holistic, elder-centered approach to the practice of law that helps families respond to every challenge caused by chronic illness or disability of an elderly loved one. The goal of Life Care Planning is to promote and maintain the good health, safety, well-being, and quality of life of elders and their families. Elders and their families get access to a wider variety of options for care as well as knowledgeable guidance from a team of compassionate advisors who help them make the right choices about every aspect of their loved one's well-being.

Watch this blog and the Martinsville Bulletin for an announcement on Life Care Planning soon!