Caregiving: Helping Elderly Parents Make Decisions

helping elderly parents make decisions

Helping Elderly Parents Make Decisions

making elder care decisions

Making Eldercare Decisions

Caregiving Expert, Advocate, & Speaker

Pamela D. Wilson - Caregiving Expert

Helping elderly parents make decisions can be challenging for adult children when doubts exist about making the right decisions and confidence is lacking.

In a perfect world, the moment parents ask for help from adult children, conversations about aging and care needs happen. Unfortunately, discussions are rare until an emergency happens.”
— Pamela D Wilson

GOLDEN, COLORADO, USA, February 26, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Decision-making for parents is a tricky situation when elderly parents appear to be independent but may not be managing well. If children live at a distance, signs that parents need help may not be noticed until a visit occurs or parents initiate a phone call for help. Being unaware of what may happen next is a challenge of caring for elderly parents.

Caregiver Worry is Common

Worry about care for elderly parents is a common experience for caregivers. The unexpected aspects and not knowing what to pay attention to results in sleepless nights. Naïve caregivers lack knowledge of what parts of care for parents are more critical than others.

When caregivers know the little signs that indicate advancing health needs and how to manage day-to-day needs, caring for elderly parents can feel more manageable. Regardless of how advanced adult children may be in their lives and careers, the unexpected parts of caregiving throw life a curve.

Regardless of cultural beliefs, religious background, family upbringing, education, and life experiences, the emotional aspects, and unknowns of caregiving result in angst for adult children. When parents pass away, and children continue on with their lives, many adult children report looking back and clearly seeing what could have been done differently.

Most caregivers admit they were too stressed going through the daily motions of care for aging parents to pay attention to aspects of managing health that could have improved the quality of life for a parent. The cognitive overload and stress of caregiving impair decision-making. Caregivers suffer from as many if not more physical and emotional health concerns as the individuals for whom they care. COVID has greatly complicated care situations for all families worldwide.

Caregiver Support Offers Emotional Support and Confidence

Caregiver support through online caregiving groups, local groups, and educational courses can significantly reduce the stress and doubt involved in caring for aging parents. Finding reliable and trustworthy information can be challenging.

Caregiving expert Pamela D Wilson has provided 1:1 support for aging adults and caregiving families for more than twenty years. Specializing in providing care in the homes of the elderly and managing care as a court-appointed guardian and power of attorney, she has rare experience allowing her to personally relate to caregivers across time zones and locations and their day-to-day experiences.

While healthcare systems may be different worldwide, the experiences of caregivers are similar. Wilson's online course, Taking Care of Elderly Parents, offers in-depth information that all caregivers and aging adults can use to reduce worry, gain confidence about making the right decisions for elderly parents and gain advocacy skills.

Caregiving—the Everlasting Journey

Adult children caring for elderly parents may place thoughts of caregiving on the shelf when parents pass away. Dreams of returning to life before caregiving may take over thoughts of practicality or using the experiences gained taking care of parents.

What adults don’t realize is that there will be another caregiving event—whether for a spouse or a need for support from children or other family members. Instead of being surprised or unprepared, the opportunity exists for all adults to change the future of caregiving within families.

Wilson’s expertise in managing and planning for care from a family, medical, financial, and legal perspective offers rare insights for caregivers, corporations, and groups who take advantage of the programs she develops. Corporations have the opportunity to support working caregivers by bringing conversations about caregiving into the workplace.

Business, service, and social groups can support their members by providing education that shares a view about the future of aging. Wilson joins corporations and groups worldwide on-site and through virtual meetings and presentations.

Helping Elderly Parents Make Decisions

Helping elderly parents make decisions is part of ongoing interactions when an adult child is a primary caregiver. Decisions about living arrangements, healthcare, money, and legal matters are involved, in addition to navigating and managing family relationships that can be thorny when family members disagree about care.

While one adult child usually takes primary responsibility for the care of a parent, siblings may offer unsolicited advice or criticize the actions of the primary caregiver. As one might imagine, family relationships between brothers or sisters can become fractured and difficult to repair after parents pass away.

Adult children who invest the time to become educated about aspects of caregiving that affect decision-making can be confident. Rather than feeling pushed, pulled, and tossed upside down by interactions with healthcare systems and providers, the knowledge gained from in-depth support and education ensures caregivers become advocates for parents.

In addition to speaking engagements, caregiver support, and online education programs offered by Wilson, her weekly podcast The Caring Generation® is available worldwide through all of the major podcast apps: Apple, Google, I-Heart Radio, JioSaavn, Spreaker, Amazon Music, Pandora, Podchaser, Stitcher, Spotify, and Vurbl. She credits caregivers with the weekly topics that are by request.

Unique Education For Groups and Corporations

Wilson’s mission to reach one million caregivers worldwide is supported by her passion for working with groups and corporations to provide keynote speaking sessions live or online and unique online education programs. Wilson participates in live events and creates dedicated webinars, courses, and programs that meet information requests by groups and corporations.

Because of COVID, international corporations aware of working caregiver struggles are investigating programs to offer through internal learning management systems. Wilson creates education for family caregivers, caregivers working in healthcare fields, and companies interested in supporting family and working caregivers.

Contact Wilson for more information about caregiver support, resources, and education through her website, by emailing Inquiry_For_Pamela@PamelaDWilson.com or by calling 303-810-1816 in the United States.

P Dombrowski-Wilson
Pamela D. Wilson, Inc.
+1 303-810-1816
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What You Need to Know About Making Life-Changing Decisions