Princeton Care Center: Sub Acute and Long Term Care in Princeton, New Jersey

HELPFUL INFORMATION

Make the Most of Your Nursing Home Visit
Visits from family and friends are always appreciated by an elderly person living in a nursing home. They provide an opportunity to stay in touch, to express emotions, to share experiences, and to simply enjoy time together. The transition into a nursing home can be difficult - especially for the person making the move. Spending time together helps reassure the person you are visiting that he or she is still an important family member or friend.

Following are guidelines for visiting a family member or friend in a nursing home.

Before Visiting
What to do during your visit
Ending your Visit
Coping with Caregiver Stress
Caring for the Caregiver

Before Visiting
While spur of the moment visits are better than none at all, it is suggested to plan ahead. Most elderly people prefer knowing ahead of time when to expect a visitor. This way they can look forward to the visit with excitement. They will be rested and ready, with no other conflicting visits, activities, or therapy appointments scheduled.

To enhance the quality of the time you spend together, you should have a clear understanding of why and how your visit will benefit the resident, as well as yourself. Think about the person’s needs and interests, and what he or she will appreciate most in a visit.

Will Your Family Member Or Friend Enjoy

It is important to be entirely focused on your visit and the person you are with. Being attentive shows that you are enjoying the visit and value this person.

What To Do During Your Visit
While spending time together is reason enough to visit, here are some other suggestions for enjoyable visits:

Ending Your Visit
Ending the visit can be difficult. Many family members find that using the first few minutes of a visit to plan the next one is a good way to ease the transition of parting. The nursing home staff can also give you additional suggestions or assist you if saying good-bye becomes a problem.

Coping with Caregiver Stress
Many people who are between 45 and 65 years old are finding themselves caught in the “sandwich generation”, responsible for caring for elderly parents, children and sometimes even grandchildren. There are more than 76 million baby boomers in the United States, many of whom are entering the “sandwich generation” themselves.

Providing daily care for an aging parent or friend can be rewarding, but also physically and emotionally exhausting. Balancing the demands of work, home and caregiving are often a struggle.

When you are the caregiver it is important that you save some caring and compassion for yourself. Several studies have noted that family caregivers suffer from more stress and illness than the general population, and they have a greater frequency of depression. In fact, “well spouses” (overwhelmingly women), who care for spouses suffering from chronic diseases such as MS, cancer, Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease, often develop their own medical problems and other symptoms of stress overload.

Caregiver burnout is a common phenomenon, but there are practical steps you can take to reduce the stress of caring for an elderly parent, relative or ill spouse.

Many factors contribute to caregiver stress. Included are changes in daily routine, loss of privacy, conflicting demands from others, fatigue, financial concerns and worrying about “getting everything done.” These and other lifestyle changes might cause you to feel resentful toward others, trapped, troubled, helpless, depressed or just plain “burned out.” Following are some tips on ways to feel better by combating caregiver stress.

Caring for the Caregiver
Taking care of yourself is one of the most important responsibilities you have as a caregiver. More often than not, caregivers fail to make time for themselves, to do the small but important things that help them endure daily stress. You will be less able to provide adequate care if you are not well or if you allow yourself to become run down and overly tired.

Taking Care of Yourself - For Caregivers
As caregivers, we often forget about “taking care of ourselves” because we are so preoccupied with the care of others - whether it is a child, an aging parent or relative. Healthful living is an important part of the caregiver role. Following are specific good health practices most recommended by physicians and other health professionals.