Growing older is often associated with settling down in the home and enjoying simple pleasures and hobbies. Most people assume that older folks live with their family or at least nearby, but this is not always the case. In some situations, a person may live states or even continents away from their senior parents.
As your parents are getting older, how do you take care of them when you cannot be present in person? It is important to establish accessible strategies to keep in touch in order to facilitate a continued relationship and ensure your loved one is safe while you are away.
Here are some effective long-distance support ideas for senior parents so they can continue to be social and safe at the same time.
Establishing Clear Communication Channels
As people get older, they often reduce their social interactions, whether due to mobility and cognitive issues, lack of opportunity, or many other reasons. It is important during this stage to maintain regular communication channels with senior parents.
Not only does this allow your family to check in and make sure your loved ones are safe, but it can provide a bright spot of socialization during their day. The right frequency will depend on family dynamics, accessibility, and needs; some families stay in touch every day, others check in once a week, and still others come up with a system unique to them.
Contact need not be limited to phone calls (though that is a viable option if your parents can navigate a phone). Consider other options, such as video chats, email, and even social media platforms.
Create a family Discord server or make a private YouTube channel where your loved one can upload videos of themselves talking to you. Whatever works for your family! You will likely need to educate your family members on how to set up these features, with some being more nuanced than others.
Coordinating Medical Care and Appointments
Another important part of long-distance support is managing medical care and appointments from a distance. Explore options such as telemedicine appointments, coordinating with healthcare providers, and organizing medical records.
Be sure to stay registered as an emergency contact or executor to ensure you have the authority to request and transfer records as appropriate. Establishing a tight-knit relationship with medical providers lets you stay informed about your senior parents’ health needs and advocate for their care.
Supporting Daily Living Activities
In many cases, a senior parent could benefit from assistance with their daily tasks. For families that are not able to do this in person, many alternatives are available.
Consider options such as meal delivery services, grocery delivery, and home assistance programs, which may help your family member with basic tasks such as bathing, doing laundry, and getting the mail. The family can coordinate these services on their own, or they can collaborate with the aging parent(s) to set up the process.
It is helpful to have the services share updates (via phone, email, etc.) to the older individual and their family to ensure that all tasks are being completed as intended and to alert them when challenges arise.
Building a Support Network
Families can remain in contact with their aging loved ones from afar and even schedule important life services for them, but one thing they cannot do is completely fill in their social circle.
It is essential that your aging loved one build a support network of their own. Locals are ideal when possible, as seeing others in person plays an important role in brain chemistry and mental wellness. However, even speaking with friends online is valuable.
Consider helping your loved one join groups, communities, and message boards centered around hobbies or topics that interest them.
Enlist the help of neighbors, friends, and community organizations to provide varied experiences, and encourage your family members to connect with siblings, relatives, and other family members to share responsibilities and support each other.
By building a wide-reaching support network of people of all types and relations, your loved one gets to enjoy a vibrant social life and has plenty of assistance and security from multiple sources.
Maintain Communication and Support with SCNOVA
One of the cornerstones of maintaining a healthy and successful relationship with your parent(s) across long distances is making sure your elderly loved one has reliable communication methods and options for in-person assistance.
The experts at SCNOVA can help in this endeavor by offering senior citizen care when you are not present. Contact us to discover how the Shepherd’s Center of Northern Virginia is making a difference in communities like Oakton, Vienna, Dunn Loring-Merrifield, Great Falls, Herndon, and Reston.
If you’re outside these areas but have questions, give us a call, and we’ll guide you to the Shepherd’s Center nearest to you!
December 3, 2024, we ask you to please keep the Shepherd’s Center of Northern Virginia in mind. As a non-profit we rely solely upon the support of community partners, grants and donations. To put your generosity into perspective, remember this, our funds go to enriching the lives of older adults in the communities we serve.