With alarming frequency, a senior citizen ends up living in a residence that is not properly maintained. This lack of attention extends to a failure of the elderly person to properly keep up with what is considered general housekeeping. In what can be a relatively short period of time, the lack of appropriate cleaning can result in the property becoming filthy, unhealthy, and even unlivable.
You may find yourself at such a juncture with your own elderly parent. You may understand that your parent is at a point in life at which he or she is best served moving into an assisted living facility. If you are like many people, you may dread the prospect of approaching your parent about moving to an assisted living center because he or she no longer can maintain their residence in a clean, wholesome, healthy manner. There are five steps you can take to aid in convincing your senior parent to move from an unhealthy residence into assisted living:
- Ensure your parent that moving is his or her decision
- Fully include your parent in the decision-making process
- Provide your elderly parent with options
- Keep lines of communication with your parent open
- Engage professional assistance and support
Ensure Your Parent That Moving Is His or Her Decision
There are exceptions to utilizing this approach. However, as a general rule, you need to ensure your parent that moving into an assisted living center ultimately is his or hers to make. The only real exception to the decision to move to assisted living being your parent’s is if he or she is afflicted with some sort of mental or physical condition that prevents him or her from making an informed decision. You simply cannot impose a decision of this significant nature on your parent if he or she is capable of addressing this type of matter on their own.
Fully Include Your Parent in the Decision-Making Process
On a related note, assuming your parent has the capacity to participate, he or she should be included not only in the actual decision to move to assisted living but in the process leading up to that decision itself. If your parent is appropriately invested in the decision-making process, this family member will be more comfortable in moving from his or her current residence into an assisted living alternative.
Provide Your Elderly Parent With Options
On another related note, the decision-making process must be a real one. In other words, a faux decision-making process should not be created as a ruse to entice your parents to make one decision of another. As part of a true decision-making process, your parent should be provided with alternate living options when the time appears to have come to move out of his or her current home. These alternate options might include:
- Different assisted living options
- Moving into your own home (if that is a workable, practical option)
- Other type of supported living concepts or opportunities
Keep Lines of Communication With Your Parent Open
Communication is fundamental when you are faced with the need to move your parent out of his or her existing home because it has become unlivable. At the outset, you need to understand that your parent may be defensive about the state of affairs at his or her home. Your parent may be embarrassed about how his or her home has become poorly maintained and even filthy. Therefore, when you broach the subject of your parent moving to assisted living, you have to be particularly respectful.
In keeping the lines of communication open with your parent around the subject of moving to assisted living, you need to make sure you listen to what your parent has to say about the matter. Open communication is not talking at your parent without giving him or her a chance to respond. And you must listen to those responses.
Engaged Professional Assistance and Support
Finally, when faced with the need to convince a senior parent that the time has arrived for him or her to move to assisted living, consider engaging professional assistance. Professionals which can be helpful in this type of situation can include everyone from your parent’s doctor to a clergy member. It can also include a person associated with an assisted living facility who was explain the benefits available to your mother or father at such a facility.
You will also need to get your parent’s current home back in order once he or she moves out. You can best accomplish this type of cleanup through engaging the services of a professional like the residential remediation team at Eco Bear. The Eco Bear pros are available to thoroughly cleanup even the most seriously unkept home. The team at Eco Bear can also address any biohazardous situation that may have developed at an elderly person’s home.